well, bob woodward has done it again. he has written another book that goes deep inside he another presidency. and as usual, portions of the book appeared in the "washington post" first. they appeared today, a week before the book will actually be published. bob woodward has spent his career at the "washington post" and has written books about the inside workings of every presidency beginning with the nixon white house. bob woodward quotes white house chief of staff john kelly, calling the president an idiot. he quotes defense secretary james mattis comparing donald trump's comprehension level to "a fifth or sixth grader." he quotes james mattis telling the president he's trying to "prevent world war 3." he quotes donald trump calling his attorney general jeff sessions "mentally retarded." and he quotes the president's former criminal defense lawyer john dowd telling the president that if the president testifies under oath in the mueller investigation the president will end up in "an orangeup psuit." the lawyer told the p

the president -- >> in that conversation that the president had with bob woodward after bob woodwardlly finished the book in early august, the president said i would have loved to do an interview, but nobody told me. blah, blah, blah. he said i called everybody, i called kellyanne conway, i called the principal deputy white house press secretary, ra shah, who is that? this is unbelievable. >> its absolutely unbelievable and one of the challenges the white house is going to have in pushing back against this book is the president is on tape telling bob woodward i think you're fair and a widely respected journalist. he says he reached out to six people to arrange an interview with the president. the president said you never reached out it me and actually lindsey graham did tell me you were seeking an interview with me. i think that unlike michael wolff's book where they were able to try and discredit some portions of it, over here you have woodward saying that he has actual recordings and receipts. its worth noting, it also underscores that people are just at the whims of an impulsive p

don't give it to bob woodward. we're glad to have it in any way it comes.ny but why not at the time? one of the questions presented by this book is should you serve this president? for people who are doing it for the right reasons and are in national security roles, i commend them and thank them for serving the president. t but if you are going to leave or if you're forced out, make your resignation count. do it in a group. do it on the same day. and then immediately spell out in detail why you're doing it. >> david frum, tim o'brien, john heilemann, thank you for starting us off tonight. when we come back, the most revealing moment in the kavanaugh confirmation hearing today came when brett kavanaugh refused to shake the hand of a man whose daughter was killed in the mass murder at her high school in parkland, florida. that man, fred guttenberg, will join us and tell us what he wanted to say to the nominee. also tonight, we have more revelations from bob woodward's book and the "new york times" is reporting that s

this is the conversation between bob woodward and president trump, which bob woodward recorded. and he told the president he was recording. >> with his permission. >> with the permission of the president. and kellyanne conway was in the oval office when they had the conversation. listen to this. >> you and i spent a whole lunch on it, kellyanne. and i said i want to cover the substantive issues in foreign policy and domestic policy. and you said you would get back to me. nothing. >> yeah. so i did. i presented it to the people here who make those decisions, but -- but anyway. i'll give you back to the president. and i'm glad to hear that you tried through seven or eight different people. >> yeah. >> that's good. you should tell him all the names. thank you. >> but you never called for me. it would have been nice, bob -- if you called for me in my office. i have a secretary. i have two, three secretaries. if you would have called directly, a lot of people are afraid -- i hardly -- i do, i do. and kellyanne went to somebody. but she didn't come to me. >> well -- >> and she should

book is a scam and bob woodward is a liar. but there is an obvious contradiction in the president's statements on bob woodward's book. politico said, this book does not accurately portray my experience, former top stewards of the administration who shards with the famed journalist alarming details of how the white house functions. >>> joining our discussion now leading us off tonight, tim o'brien, he is the executive editor of bloomberg view. he's the author of trump nation, the art of being the donald. and an msnbc contributor. david corn is with us, washington bureau chief, coauthor of the book russian roulette and msnbc political analyst. and washington post and best selling author who has written biographies on presidents clinton and obama. let me go to david marinas on this. you have read books about presidencies. you have written books about presidencies. you have read bob woodward books about presidencies before. >> yes. >> the president tonight trying just the most lame white house reaction to a bob woodward book ever,

it scares me now that the president is outraged by the woodward go woodward book and going into a greater bunker mentality than in the past and now the op-ed and looking around saying, who can i trust? and for somebody that we think has boutds of paranoia at times a and bouts of anger and not able to keep it in check is scary. >> bob woodward writes in the book and describes that his aides think the president is lonely. they think he's paranoid. there is a quote where he says i think people are out to get me. i think in that case talking about robert mueller. that he is watching six to eight hours of television. when you have this and you have the op-ed and next tuesday you're going do see names attached and great detail in the woodward book i think it's going to add to the -- >> can i add one other thing to just -- sort of atmospheric observation that people who i talk to in and around trump world who are hopelessly optimistic no matter what happens, no matter how many cliffs they come to the edge of feeling and sounding beaten down today. there's just a different vibe. even coming throu

the woodward book is good.f donald trump woke up last wednesday morning feeling comfortable with people around him, that doesn't make a lot of sense. his lawyer was taping conversations. his closest aides are turning on him legally. and not to mention omarosa. sara: what bob woodward is writing, we have been hearing from people within the trump administration and people outside it. the overall narrative, we have heard it. phillipe: woodward might have gotten it right. howie: ahead, mike huckabee on an intense week of media criticism of the president, anonymous and otherwise. the serena policy. the press says a sexist power play ruined the u.s. open. (burke) fender-biter. seen it, covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your movement and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. it's the final days where all beds are on sale. the queen sleep number 360 c2 smart bed is now only

what gary cohen said according to woodward about how woodward describes in the book about stealing the document off the president's desk is this. i wouldn't let him see it. he's never going to see that document. got to protect the country. a country that needs protecting from its own president, can you see this happening? >> it's a great title, fear, because that's what this presidency causes for a lot of people who understand the presidency like myself. he gives me a knot in my stomach because i know he doesn't have a clue what he's doing and he has ever since election night. >> isn't that -- >> so they're acting wisely. >> was that a consideration? was that ever -- in nixon's time, to start swiping documents from his desk? >> no. i know staff at times moderated and fill ttered what he was say, but never took any documents. >> eliana, according to woodward, the white house is described as crazytown by john kelly. he also describes the president as an idiot and unhinged as we've talked about. they have had a touch and go relationship. what do you think the impact of this book is going

woodward reports that trump fails the test. what's more remarkable is that dowd and trump attorney jay sekulow then go and re-enact the scene to robert mueller himself in an attempt to convince mueller that trump is incapable of getting through an interview. according to woodward, mueller isn't convinced and responds, "i need the president's testimony," and then mueller says, "i want to know what was his intent on comey, i want to see if there was corrupt intent." dave, christine? >> certainly some startling revelations there, and some of the most startling quotes in woodward's book come from two of the president's top aides. chief of staff john kelly is reported to have called president trump an idiot, erratic and unhinged. woodward reports that he ranted in a staff meeting "we are in crazy town! this is the worst job i've ever had." james mattis is described as exasperated and alarmed by the president, saying mr. trump has the understanding of a fifth or sixth grader. officials are pushing back, chief of staff kelly saying he

bob woodward." and "the post" released a recording o record ing of a call between the president and woodward last month saying this. >> i think you've always been fair, but we'll see what happens. >> reporter: inside the tense west wing today, the president made clear he was keeping track of which current and former officials issued denials. >> already, general mattis came out very, very strongly. he was insulted by the remarks that were attributed to him. >> reporter: in the book, woodward said that the president had the understanding of a fifth or sixth grader during a discussion about north korea. mattis denied that account. >> general john kelly, the same exact thing. he was insulted by what they said. he couldn't believe what they said. >> reporter: and kelly is portrayed as describing the president as unhinged and an idiot. he, too, denied it. yet there was notable silence from other former officials. white house chief of staff, reince priebus, chief economic adviser, gary cohn, and rob porter

the president should be careful what he's wishing for in taunting woodward because woodward has done meticulous reporting. as jim comey once said, lordy, there are tapes. there are a lot of tapes. woodward recorded hundreds of hours of his interviews. he's said in a statement tonight that he stands by his reporting. and, you know, i think the president in saying that he has never used that phrase before, he better be sure he's right. >> indeed. i saw that your colleague and fellow pulitzer winner david mayor us in who has known woodward for 41 years said minutes ago he would stake his life on the accuracy of woodward's work. jeremy bash, i often ask you how you think the white house is functioning inside during our conversations in all the days that pass here. we now learn in the woodward book that sometimes this, these machinations, would take up days at a time. >> yeah, this is an effort by aides, by colleagues to hatch a plan to thwart the president's direct orders. you saw in the context of an illegal order given to secretary of defense mattis about assassinating a foreign leader

. >> tonight, "fear," the explosive claims deep inside bob woodward's new book. >> they are all fighting each other. they are chaos creators. >> setting off a fire storm of white house fury. >> this idiot, woodward, who wrote this book, which is all fiction. >> the big pushback tonight and the new details now emerging. the legendary watergate reporter standing by his story no matter what. >> too many people are disturbed and worried about what's going on in the trump white house. >>> plus -- >> did you just take my picture? erase it. >> i guess i'm probably not the kind of person you're normally friends with. >> oh, you do not want to be friends with me. trust me. >> blake lively and anna kendrick in "a simple favor." >>> a not so simple clash between two moms with sinister secrets duelling in unexpected ways in this twisty mystery. >> i think the idea that there are these dark secrets is really exciting. >>> but first, here are t the "nightline" five. (music throughout) >>> good evening, and thank you for joining us. we begin here tonight with an all-out assault by the white house on a

i'm talking about woodward, you never told me. >> bob woodward's bombshell. democrats stage a rebellion. >> what is the r

this is bob woodward.omebody who has a long track record, president trump, himself praised in the past. he's a tougher guy to push back and accuse of making things up. but now the wheels have turned into motion. i think mattis and kelly's deny yams were a big part of. that but in the white house a lot of people talked to woodward, right? so privately, i'm sure they're concerned about what they told him, what the reception of the book is going to be. but now we are getting this public defense. >> so one of the things that we constantly hear about the president. he has said this in the past, he doesn't like to prepare very much before big meetings or the big debates we used to see on the campaign trail, even meetings leak the north korea one with the national security counsel. if true, what are these claims of him practicing for a mueller sit down imply? >> right. so in woodward's telling, dowd the lawyer, thinks that this practice session was a disaster. trump corrected himself. you know, he said things tha

everybody else will believe woodward. >> ryan, i've known bob woodward 40 years. i don't even know what party he's in. never heard a liberal sentiment once come out of his mouth, annie. >> he comes across as a sober mind the counter point to trump. the recording that was released to the washington post of donald trump talking to bob woodward was such a sober minded individual talking to him very calmly, which is -- to your point, the exact opposite of trump's demeanor, which is to kind of go nuts on someone. >> you have bob woodward, amoroso's book and this article running in "the new york times" a couple days ago. the president is consumed by who wrote that op-ed, describing a resistance inside the executive branch. a new quinnipiac poll is out. they asked reuters whether the allegations in the op-ed in "the new york times" that trump advisors worked behind him back to stop him from making bad decisions, here are the numbers. mr. president, bad news for you. 55% say they believe the allegations are true, while only 28% say they believe the allegations are false.

bob woodward hours of time, and that he himself did not participate, the president thinks he is his own best mes n messenger, they they did not bring the opportunity to him aggressively to participate in the book. >> this audiotape that bob woodward recorded with the president. bob recorded it and he was saying he was disapointed that president trump did not participate and president trump said i did not know about it, nobody brought it to me, and he says i spoke to kellyanne co conway, and he says i didn't know anything about it, and she walks into the office and is confronted by president trump. >> she said he spoke to you, but you never told me. why didn't you tell me? >> remember two-and-a-half months ago you came over and i laid out they wanted to talk to the president. >> i do, and i put in the request, but it was rejected. i can only take it so far. >> so the president now saying he would have wanted to participate. >>> he says some of them are scared of me, and he was frustrated that he wa

and now with woodward's book. woodward is saying his book is a wakeup call for the public. >> you look at the operation of this white house and you have to say, let's hope to god we don't have a crisis, people who work for him are worried that he will sign things or give orders that threaten financial security or the national security of the world. >> who do you believe, the president or bob woodward, that is an ongoing argument. but is it an argument that the president is going to win? what about the issues of credibility here? and what about the astonishing claims in the book and in the new op-ed. and let's talk about it, it was someone who knew the president way back when, tony schwartz, he was the co-author of "the art of the deal" and schwartz now an outspoken critic of the president. tony, thanks for being here. since we're talking about books, we wanted to talk to someone who worked with the president on a book several years ago. what is your reaction to the tall revelations in woodward's book? >> it's text

in fact, he called bob woodward to say so and woodward got that all on tape. a conversation. unbelievable. at this point the trump administration has had more men tell alls from the bachelorette. >> president trump once told rudy giuliani that he was a baby and then out of habit he added "but i'm not the father." >> jim mattis struggled to convince the president to keep troops in south korea. afterwafrds mattis told associates that the president acted like and had the understanding of a fifth or sixth grader. it's all in the hit new game show "are you smarter than the president?" the show where everyone's a winner. >> was that jeff foxworthy, this picture they used there? >> these guys were on vacation for two weeks and you can tell they were itching to get back in their game. >> and unshaven. >> interesting, what does that mean? >> coincidence? >> a rash. >>> social media executives on capitol hill to answer questions about what their companies are doing to thwart russian efforts to influence u.s. elections. details ahead. the all-new lexus es... ...is stolen

talking to bob woodward, telling bob woodward that bob woodward has always been fair to him. >> that's right. >> we'll play that tape coming up. it's not just the president. a number of administration officials have come out against the book in different ways. >> that's true. and anderson, one thing we should point out, this did not all come out when these excerpts came out this morning. this took some time. this white house was caught somewhat flat-footed by all of this. they did not have a response for several hours, but sarah huckabee sanders put out a statement, the press secretary saying this book is nothing more than fab indicated stories, many by former disgruntled employees told to make the president look bad. but anderson, as you know, many of the people quoted in the book are still in the administration, including john kelly, the chief of staff who, yes, is pushing back on some of the comments, but not all of the comments. but, yes, the secretary of defense james mattis has put out a statement saying that portions that have been attributed to him are not true, as has rudy giu

woodward is a dem operative. notice timing? woodward is a democratic operative?mean that's beyond ridiculous. >> first of all, the president will have a little trouble here because he has been very complimentary of bob woodward in the past. i think if we want to go back to that audio tape, he says that bob has been fair to him. do we want to play that tape again? i'm not sure. >> we can't. we cannot. >> we cannot? okay. >> legally we cannot. we only have a certain amount of time. >> okay. so he says that bob has been very fair to him. he has tweeted in the past about how bob's reporting was great. to all of a sudden do what i now call a trump 180, which was as he did with saying, oh, nobody ever told me you wanted to interview me. then he says, oh, yeah, lindsey graham did, that's true, that's true. i think that trump is going to punch back because that's what he does. i think as he learns more about the book, it may get more heated. we'll see what those tweets look like at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. but bob woodward has a lot of credibility. he has written majo

the woodward book is good. if donald trump woke up last wednesday morning feeling comfortable with people around him, that doesn't make a lot of sense. his lawyer was taping conversations. his closest aides are turning on him legally. and not to mention omarosa. sara: what bob woodward is writing, we have been hearing from people within the trump administration and people outside it. the overall narrative, we have heard it. phillipe: woodward might have gotten it right. howie: ahead, mike huckabee on an intense week of media criticism of the president, anonymous and otherwise. the serena policy. the press says a sexist power play ruined the u.s. open. >> you owe me serena williams says ramos stole the game from her. in slapping her of three penalties not only robbed her of her chance of coming back. he took the match away from both womens and left her in tears. serena said it was sexist. >> because i'm a woman, you are going to take it away from me? howie: serena's meltdown was painful to watch. but the comment

woodward is a dem operative. woodward of two pulitzer prize fame.g about that bob woodward of watergate. again, this isn't some gossip from a bar. he's got hundreds of hours of background interviews, dozens of firsthand sorurces, includes those in trump's inner circle past and present. the real problem is trump said woodward is fair on tape when he called the writer. listen to this. >> it's really too bad because nobody told me about it, and i would have loved to have spoken to you. you know i'm very open to you. i think you've always been fair, but we'll see what happens. we're going to have a very inaccurate book, and that's too bad. but i don't blame you entirely. well, accurate is nobody has ever done a better job than i'm doing as president. that i can tell you. that's the way a lot of people feel that bob. >> i believe in our country and because you're our president, i wish you good luck. >> it's not a fact. it's how the president feels, and that's h. you heard that. i think you've always been fair. the proof of what is in the book is also sho

yes, i spoke to bob woodward.ublic to know they're trying to blow the whistle or save the country. incredible set of circumstances. and as you said, this is very, very rare. only a few times in the paper's history to publish something like this. >> thank you so much. let's bring the panel back. from an anonymous senior trump official. the bigger concern is not what mr. trump has done to the presidency but what we have allowed him to do to us. we have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility. senator john mccain put it best. all americans should heed his words and break free of the tribalism trap with the high aim of uniting through the shared values and love of this great nation. jeffrey toobin, i don't think this op-ed is going to make that point so much as underlining the point of the woodward book. what do you think? >> no. i think it is cumulative with the woodward book, with the omarosa book and the journalism we see every day. i mean, you know, journalists, our cnn colleagues wh

was bob woodward believed back then? >> it was bob woodward and carl bernstein. they were metro reporters on the washington post. they were relatively new to it and they were out there on an island along for quite a while before anyone else was reporting what they were. so it took a while, but as bob said, our editor in that period, ben bradley would say the truth eventually emerges, and it did, but there was a long time when they were out there alone, and it took the truth a while to emerge. >> christian, it has been by my count, two and a half weeks without a white house briefing. >> ali, pretty stunning. we are hoping for one our fingers and toes are crossed they'll add one to the schedule today. the question why, it's not exactly clear. we know that obviously there's a new communications director in bill shine. of course, the former fox news executive, and there's a sense and a feeling within the administration that they want to as much as possible allow this president to drive the headlines and the narrative coming out of this white house. and so that's why

woodward is "straight and never makes up quotes." fox news is treating the book as true, noting it depicts a dysfunctional white house. woodward has his own receipts showing his high-level contacts with trump aides. they had a long phone call about that. woodward reiterated his reporting is from firsthand sources. >> and i think there's nothing in this book that doesn't come from a firsthand source. is that correct, evelyn? >> are you naming names or do you just say sources? >> well, names, real incidents. >> no, but do you name sources? i mean, are you naming the people or just say, you know, people have said? >> i say at 2:00 on this day the following happened and everyone who's there, including yourself, is quoted. and i'm sorry i didn't get to ask you about these. >> now, finally, perhaps no inside trump account would be complete without some baby talk. the president is notoriously prickly about being called or considered a baby. but he does project that insecurity by using that attack on others. in a copy of this book reviewed b

i'm talking about woodward, you never told me. >> bob woodward's bombshell.mocrats stage a rebellion. >> what is the rush? >> tonight, senator's cory booker and kama

when the woodward excerpts came out this week, i thought, great that they talked to woodward, it's a fantastic way to corral this journalism and reporting. how much more powerful would it be if jim mattis came out and said them publicly. >> so i've been arguing that, for that, and i think at this point the likelihood of that is way less because it hasn't happened. i'm more doubtful than you are that we're going to know the identity of this person. you know, any time within, you know, think about it, the 30 years it took us, right, to find out that mark felt was deep throat. >> why the timing today? we have the brett kavanaugh as the headline. is someone attempting to derail brett kavanaugh, for whatever reason, why would you release this today? >> it's funny you say that. i agree. i have a question about timing. is it, woodward gave them a spine? is it that? i don't know, you're right, is it somebody that wants to derail kavanaugh. >> doesn't sound like somebody who wants to derail. it sounds like a true believer. >> the whole point, i do think it's a fair point, if it's woodward tha

i'm much more interested in bob woodward. >> it is quite a tell. at this point, he should be freaking out. the walls are closing in. there's a lot of reasons for trump to feel as though he's in the cross hairs. but in may, if he were innocent and the special counsel was appointed, it would have been the easiest thing for a confident president to be like, whatever, we're type. special counsel, come on, i'm fine. instead he's freaking out from day one, which tells you about a consciousness of dwiguilt and h own understanding what he was in for in the months ahead, which he's gotten that and then some. >> but it isn't just his consciousness of guilt. it is the sense that the people around him, including his own lawyers who believe he is too, and they're doing everything that they can to protect that -- protect him from that. i look at dowd and i think, my gosh, what kind of an attorney basically says to the president himself, you will not be a good witness? >> it's remarkable. mike and joyce, i would like both your thoughts on that. i heard months ago

the woodward book is a joke. just another assault against me in a barrage of assaults using now disproven, unnamed and anonymous sources. many have already come forward to say the quotes by them, like the book, are fiction. dems can't stand losing. i'll write the real book. but as with the anonymous op-ed, the book is packing a punch and driving down support for the president because it relies on dozens of interviews with people closest to the president. the resistance within. here's woodward explaining those denials to the accounts in fear by some of the president's advisers. >> they're not telling the truth. but, look, what's going on here, and my old boss at "the washington post," ben bradley, the great editor, used to say the truth emerges. sometimes it takes time. these people, these are political statements to protect their jobs. totally understandable. but this is as carefully as you can do an excavation of the reality of what goes on. >> here to help us sift through the day's developments, some of our fav

doing it with bob woodward now. he may hate alabama, but in the words of skynyrd, a southern man don't need him around anyhow. now that i've gotten through that, because mika thinks i'm incapable of asking you a question, because i went to the greatest university on the planet. >> this guy, the phrase he uses, mentally retarded. a dumb southerner couldn't even be a one-person country lawyer down in alabama. >> he has hatred and contempt for my people, and, yes, my people, places that i grew up in and was raised and went to school in, in one of the great state schools in america, alabama. now, let me get to the question. >> uh-huh. >> what was your big takeaway from the book? a certain story? a certain element that struck you? >> i'd say one. after a series of books, the president, when he's on tape with woodward, oh another one of these bad books. he's had a bunch of bad books. "fire and fury" biggest selling so far. woodward's may exceed that, who knows. they all paint a consistent picture. draw a line between "fir

woodward report, i stole it off his desk, i wouldn't let him see it. he's never going to see that document. got to protect the country and apparently this is not the only time this has happened. rob porter has described in the book taken things off the president's desk and this is just a small part of this. >> that or what the defense secretary james mattis said after a meeting that the president educational level for certain things was on a fifth or sixth grade level according to what bob woodward says in this book. you saw that statement from sarah huckabee sanders saying it was disgruntled former employees trying to paint an unflattering picture from the president. i talked to several people as we were reporting on the unease over the west wing over the publication of this book and a lot of people who did talk to woodward which was a lot of people still work in this white house right now. its not these people that are disgruntled, exemployees like maybe a rob porter or someone who left the white house, its people that still work this that have this

woodward or the book. is that this is meant to be a jumping off point for more reporting. and frankly, for calls for explanation from people who are quoted in the book in relation to these provocative but open-ended assertions. let me give you an example. this is from page 230 of the book. quote, on july 25th -- this is 2017, last year -- the president again berated national security adviser h.r. mcmaster. he had no interest in allies, trump said. he didn't want any troops in south korea, even when reminded about the differential between the seven seconds it would take to detect a north korean icbm launch from there as opposed to the 15 minutes it would take to detect such a launch from alaska. on the colonnade outside the oval office, mcmaster spoke with gary cohn, the economic adviser, and rob porter, the white house staff secretary. mcmaster said that at 6:03 a.m., trump had tweeted ukrainian efforts to sabotage trump campaign, quietly working to boost clinton. so where is the investigation, attorney ge

ha woodward's credibility. but in that phone conversation that woodward had with the president last month, the neesident is quoted as woooodwad as calling him someone who has "always been fair." t glor: so major, what other fallout are we talking about in your estimation tonight? >> reporter: well, white house aides are going to understandably keep a close eye on the president's mood and his twitter feed. they expect a couple days of volatility. and with the president's ongoing usiticism of his attorney general, the book adds fuel to that already conspicuous fire. in the book, woodward says "at tne point the president described jeff sessions, his attorney general, as 'mentally retarded' and a 'dumb southerner.'" but the feeling here, jeff, is this book does little to this already fraught relationship and doesn't really do anything to make the relationship between the president and his attorney general any more strained or uncertain than it already is. >> glor: major garrett, thank you very much. in just a few h

clearly when you get into a battle of credibility between bob woodward and this white house bob woodward wins hands down. i'm sure he learned everything he knows from carl, he has a 50-year track record of get things right. on the other hand you have president trump, just today they came out with the latest fact checker saying president trump lies an average eight times a day. they lie more than the nixon white house did. they have negative credibility, less than zero credibility, so it's just hard to take on faith anything they say and denying anything in this book especially because it paints a consistent picture if you read like what michael wolf said or omarosa said, it's very similar where people around trump have contempt around him. they view him as an an idiot, a liar. >> and it's very consistent the credibility -- >> yes, he adds details. >> this is something because when you were telling me to go down the line and name all these people. this is cohn and one that illustrates a level of distrust for president trump. president trump was about to sign a letter that would have ended

president was apparently a nerd by an interview on the today show with woodward trump tweeted bob woodward is a liar who is like a democratic operative prior to the midterm elections he was caught cold even by n.b.c. . woodward is defending his book saying that all anonymous sources quoted are from interviews conducted not on the record but instead on deep background which is a standard and perfectly legal practice in journalism woodward has also been very open about his reaction to the accounts shared with him by top level trump insiders i want you to take a listen as he describes the danger of trump's lack of knowledge concerning matters of u.s. national security well i've never seen instance when the president is so detached from the reality of what's going on in one n.s.c. meeting a year after trump was in office the secretary of defense has to tell him because the president's complaining about all this money we're spending and u.s. forces abroad james mattis says to him we're doing this to prevent world war three now the idea that the secretary of defense has to tell the president tha

that on top of what he said about woodward over the past few days. >> then this idiot woodward who wrote this book, which is all fiction. this woodward book is a total fraud 37. >> back at the white house, aides literally dusted off the podium for the first white house briefing in 19 days. they did not verify some of the most damning statements and stories that have been so far released. >> a number of people have come out and said that woodward never even reached out to corroborate statements that were attributed to them, which seems incredibly reckless for a book to make such outrageous claims to not even take the time to get a $10 fact checker to call around and verify that some of these quotes happened. when no effort was made, it seems like a careless and reckless way to write a book. >> a $10 fact checker. when it comes to woodward history, he's shown he's cover ed reliability. this is into the trump's only target, now. the president and liz administration slamming the author of that op ed. >> the white house and the staff here are focused on doing our jobs. and trying to show up h

president trump apparently no longer believes woodward is fair.s nothing. it's a work of fiction. if you look back at woodward's past, he had the same problems from other presidents. he like to get publicity and sell some books. >> woodward's book officially arrives tuesday. joining us now to discuss the book and how it will impact the white house we have the president historian, president and ceo of the lbj foundation michael waldman. former chief speech writer for president bill clinton and back and danielle and evan also back with us. mark, let's start with you, new to the panel here. what do you make of the excerpts so far from woodward's book about to officially come out on tuesday and if the president actually rejects these excerpts, this is different. this is an investigative journalist that actually has notes. that has recordings. >> this is different this time as you point out because this is bob woodward. he has amassed a certainly credibility in his time as a journalist going back to water gate of course. since then he's come up with a

i'm assuming you read bob woodward's book, i know a lot of us have. can we expect, other than repeating denials from john mattis, john kelly, john dowd, can we expect the white house to give us a list of all the things in that book that are wrong and can qualify bob woodward as a liar? >> i think that would be a complete waste of time. >> that goes to the fact that 55% of americans believe the op-ed is right and the president is getting a 60% negative rating. 60% of the american people think he's a dishonest person, so does the president think he can win a credibility battle with bob woodward who has taken nixon down and is a legend. >> personally i think i would rather take the actual on-record account from people who are here, who have been working in this building, who have interacted with president day in and day out, like general mattis, general kelly, like myself, not disgruntled employees who put their names on things when they attack the president. i think those are far more reliable voices within this administration, and they can accurately t

it's not just woodward. it's going to be other validaters like that coming out that speak to different groups, who are going to make the difference in this election. woodward is a tough name to, you know, carry out a character assassination on. >> exactly. >> very tough. >> this goes to if way that he's inserting himself as a potential lie detector. the things that are being said cannot all be true, only some of them are true. either these people, through a journalistic mechmechanism, lea about a president, and talked about him trying to kill a foreign leader, or it didn't happen. so here was woodward pressed on this today. this is the first day he's speaking out about those inconsistencies. take a look. >> are they lying? >> they are not telling the truth. >> that's lying. >> these people, these are political statements to protect their jobs. >> so if that was one of the questions hanging from last week, he's referring to generals mattis and kelly. he's saying yeah, okay, because their jobs depend on it, th

i was amazed by woodward and bernstein's resolve.t they were doing. but i thought it was important to portray the tedium, the hard work, and of course the feelings about the film from a studio standpoint was non-commercial. newspapers, typewriters, phones. mm-mm. washington, uh-uh. >> and bob did something which was brilliant. he said these guys, even though they're from separate -- you know, diverse backgrounds, think of them as one. particularly when they're interviewing people. he said let's learn not only our own lines but let's memorize the other guy's lines. >> what's this? what are you -- sloan. >> sloan was treasurer of the committee -- >> his wife did what? >> his wife is pregnant and she made sloan quit because apparently he no longer wanted to be part of it. >> we've got to go see sloan. >> make a note of it. what have we got? where is that -- >> each of us would come in at any time. we would take one half of a sentence, we'd finish it -- >> how do you know that? >> because she said it. right here. she said at the time of

the woodward book drops tomorrow. trump calls bob woodward a liar.d says, america better wake up to trump's attack on truth. who will readers believe? we have the latest on which way that might go. inside the white house, they are chasing down the anonymous op-ed writer. outside, they're doing their best to tamp down the impact of that, the book and the mueller probe. one man trying to do all three for the president has some skin in the game himself, roger stone. a ninth associate of his just questioned by the mueller team. does he think mueller really is out to get him? all these political storms are nothing compared to what's headed straight for the east coast. hurricane florence. now a category 4 and growing. you have to look at its size and think about what will come

according to woodward, the president is obsessed by the fact the u.s. pays $3.5 billion a year to station troops in south korea as a first line of defense against the trump. >> i don't know why they are there, he said. let's bring them all home. at another meeting secretary of defense james mattis explained why the u.s. has 28,000 troops in korea. we are doing this in order to prevent world war iii. >> the united states has great strength and eff it ally, w totally destroy nort korea. >> the standoff with north korea has been eased for the moment by the singapore summit, which brought together two leaders who had been trading nuclear threats and schoolyard insults. >> rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. >> the president later made that little rocket man on twitter, when he said may be my best ever. when porter asked if it might provoke kim, the president replied -- >> its leader versus leader. man versus man. me versus kim. >> the most dangerous moment of the standoff, woodward says, came when the president went to work on

however it's worth looking at what woodward writes. kelly is quoted saying he's an idiot so general kelly denies that but the quote goes on, it's pointless to convince him of anything, meaning president trump, he's gone off the rails, we're in crazytown. general kelly doesn't deny anything else in the quote and there are other quotes woodward has from him saying the president's unhinged, that there are dangerous impulses, erratic. again, general kelly has not come out to say those. and, frankly, saying someone is unhinged, especially the president of the united states, i think is of a great deal more concern than someone maybe throwing and saying oh, someone's an idiot, unhinged, erratic, these are very concerning. >> it's all awful when you look at it. i want to bring in our chief political correspondent dana bash who has been following this. reaction is pouring in. what are you hearing? >> well, southern democrats and republicans reacting to the term that the president allegedly used about jeff sessions. >> let me read and remind our

this is bob woodward. all the people around him at the very highest levels do not trust him and believe he's unfit to be president of the united states and commander in chief of the u.s. armed forces. that's made very clear. the next question is, does jay sekulow, his lawyer, and does secretary of defense james mattis and his chief of staff general john kelly, do they deny this or do they resign? because these -- that's going to be the question before them. do they say out loud that bob woodward made all of this up, or do they walk away after enacting a practice session and playing trump before bob mueller at the special counsel's office and proving to the special counsel he's a liar. how is jay sekulow going to answer to this? >> a lot of these senior people, they've been ridiculed publicly, humiliated in private meetings. they haven't resigned for the simple reason they are convinced that this president represents a specific threat to the united states, and they have to protect the united states from the