Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20171127

Minnesota. While in alabama, Republican Senate candidate roy moore returning to the campaign trail tonight after an 11day disappearing act. And President Trump now saying the access Hollywood Tape he acknowledged during the campaign is a fake. Whos the boss . A tug of war over just whos in charge of the Consumer Watchdog Agency as the acting director sues to keep control but President Trumps budget director arrives early to take the reins of an agency he has vowed to eliminate. Do you believe you have legitimate authority over this bureau. Yes, yes, i do. And when harry met meghan, prince harry says he is over the moon announcing his engagement to american actress megan markle as the couple stepped out to show off the ring which includes stones from harrys mother princess di. Was it romantic . Very first time we met. And happy monday. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington as we kick off a wild week in politics. First on capitol hill, embattled democratic senator al franken and 27term democratic congressman john conyers both preparing to face a wave of reporters armed with questions about accusations of Sexual Harassment leveled against both. In alabama, republican roy moore in the stretch run expected to come out of hiding and hit the campaign trail tonight. They expect at least after weeks of denying alleged Sexual Misconduct when moore was in his 30s and some of his women accusers were in their teens. The Republican Senate nominee was virtually endorsed by President Trump slamming democratic candidate doug jones on twitter by falsely calling jones a former tough prosecutor soft on crime. All this controversy hovering over a jam packed congressional agenda for republican majorities hoping to avoid a government shutdown. Pass tax cuts and avoid a showdown over protecting the dreamers all in just two legislative weeks. A brewing court battle over who is in charge of the Consumer Watchdog Agency created by doddfrank. Joining me now White House Correspondent Kristen Welker and political analyst robert costa, National Political reporter of the Washington Post and moderator of Washington Week on pbs. Kristin, first to you. The president now first of all, telling people close to him that he had nothing to do with the access Hollywood Tape, that it was a fake after he initially said it was real and apologized for it. How does he expect to get away with that . Reporter well, i think its going to be a tough line to walk, andrea. Look, he came out and apologized for that tape. It was one of the pivotal moments of the campaign and never once did he deny that that was his voice while that tape was actually aired and during the campaign and at that moment that it really shook up his campaign and, of course, weve heard one of his former top advisers steve bannon talk about that moment publicly and essentially saying it was a critical moment within the Trump Campaign because it really drew the battle lines of who was standing with 24e7b candidate trump and who was against him. But i think, this all underscores just what a tough spot the president is in when it comes to responding to whats happening in alabama embattled alabamas Senate Candidate roy moore. I pressed him on whether or not he supported roy moore last week before he left for his thanksgiving holiday. And he all but offered an endorsement of moore saying that doug jones, the democratic candidate, will be bad for his agenda as effectively is his argument and also saying that you have to believe roy moore too when he denies the allegations against him. Of course, those include misconduct against teenagers. So andrea, i do think this is a tough needle for the president to thread. But it is one that i anticipate he will continue to try to as it gets closer to that all important special election december 12th. All eyes on that special election. It has implications not only for the Republican Party but obviously the republican agenda and tax reform, as well. And, of course, the republicans in the white house welcoming what happened with the democrats and while i clear my throat look at nancy pelosi on meet the press. Just because someone is accused and was it one accusation, is it two . There has to be john conyers is an icon in our country. Hes done a great deal to protect women. Do you believe the accusers . Excuse me . Do you believe the accusers. I dont know who they are. They have not come forward. And that gets you dont know if you believe the accusations . Thats for the Ethics Committee to review. It was a blowup after that. Robert costa, first of all to say she didnt know whether to believe them because they hadnt come forward. Some have not because confidentiality agreements and these very secret agreements that many people, men and women, are complaining about which protect members of congress including payoffs, payments made from taxpayer money. Robert . Leader at the pels statements reveal a broader challenge facing both parties on capitol hill, whether its paul ryan, former House Speaker john boehner or former speaker nancy pelosi. The process in which women come forward with Sexual Harassment allegations on capitol hill has long been secretive. Its been a culture inside of congress of keeping information kind of quiet, settlements quiet. Now all of that is coming under the spotlight, under real scrutiny. And take a look at another clip from meet the press. This was anita hill. Its been 26 years since that we thought definitive moment in american politics, the thomas hearings. I was covering it at the time. Anita hill interviewed by chuck today saying shes not sure that thing have really changed. Well, we have made progress, but unfortunately, 26 years ago, washington wasnt ready to lead on this issue. And im afraid even today, washington cannot lead the country on this issue. There seems to be too many conflicted feelings and understanding about what is what needs to happen when Sexual Misconduct occurs. And at the same time, were hearing now that the president will not be according to a. P. , will not be campaigning for roy moore. Hes going to i guess endorse him in his comments to you and on twitter. Kristin . Reporter well, i think thats right. And all indications are that President Trump wont be xabing with roy moore. Were working to confirm the a. P. s reporting. Basesed on my conversations with sources inside and close to the white house, all signs have been pointing in that direction and it goes back to this point trying to sort of thread the needle on this very difficult topic. But i think, too, anita hills point she was making, what we are seeing now is just how difficult and how dug in people are on both sides of the political aisle. Were seeing political tribalism to some extent take root which is standing in the way of people standing out speaking out i should say firmly against allegations and accusations of Sexual Misconduct. Not the same thing in hollywood where people who are facing these accusations have either come out and apologized, gone into some type of Treatment Program and there has been sort of this broad denunciation of that type of activity. So i think anita hill underscoring the fact when it comes to politics, that have still muddies the waters to some extent. Weve seen in journalism and in hollywood, careers end abruptly. Theyre over. Right. Movies are canceled, shows are yanked. In politics, their lives seem to go on forever and ever. Theres after life. Speaking of lives that go on forever and ever and morph and change, Jared Kushner. Robert, theres the report from the New York Times that his role has been diminished or i guess that was the Washington Post ashley parkers reporting more to the point about kushners role being diminished because in part of the new chief of staff kelli having more authority than Reince Priebus had over him but also that he was taking on so much, it was an improbable task to start with. Middle east peace, reinvent government, to do lobbying for taxes and everything else. So how diminished is his role . What is the reality . His role has been diminished in the sense his portfolio has been scaled back. He remains a point person for the middle east peace process. At the same time, this is a person in Jared Kushner who has been dogged by controversies inside of the white house about his own familys financial dealings. Hes had to bring on a legal team. Its been a difficult year for him. He remains a confidante of President Trump but when it comes to him being the core operator in this white house, thats faded. Its more about general kelly and the president and the cabinet at this point than Jared Kushner. Robert costa, Kristen Welker, thanks for launching us today. On sunday, senator franken chose three minnesotabased news out lets to hold his first interviews on one allegation of Sexual Harassment and three separate complaints about his behavior at public Photo Opportunities including the minneapolis startribune. If you had asked me two weeks ago would any woman say that i had treated her with disrespect, i would have said no. So this has just caught me by surprise. Minneapolis startribune washington correspondent Jennifer Brooks joins me now. Thank you so much, jennifer. How shocking was this when it first broke to you who cover him most closely . It was it was it flabbergasted everyone. Al franken was the guy out front cheering on the me too movement. He was saying how wonderful it was that all these women were stepping forward to share their stories. Up until that thursday when is someone stepped forward to share a story about al franken. Now, he had a best selling book. He was even talked about as a 2020 possible hopeful. But in his past as a comedian and a writer, he had a lot of controversial things when he was first running for the senate. And every single one of them came back to haunt him during his First Senate Campaign in 2008. We remember that campaign. And that campaign i believe went for several months of recount. He wasnt brought into the senate for a couple of months. It was that close. Yes, and he was forced to cop out and issue a series of apologies for things had he written offcolor, raunchy jokes he had pitched including a rape joke. Thats probably accounted for why they had to go through months of recounts. But since then, hes been an incredibly you know, visible democratic force. Hes a huge fundraiser. He fund raises for other democrats across the country. Hes been up front on a lot of issues, challenging Trump Administration appointees. And all of a sudden, he has people taking the money he donated to their campaigns and their regifting it to battered womens shelters and things like that, which is a big change. When he first came in, i know he would never joke. He was so serious. He was almost like another celebrate Hillary Clinton when she was first elected to the senate doing only very sparingly local interviews no, National Interviews trying to keep his head down. Then he gradually emerged and again, another part of your interview. Lets play a little bit more of it. I dont remember these photographs. I dont. And this is of not something i would intentionally do. How do you not intentionally do something as described or i mean, hes taking thousands of pictures with campaign supporters. But do you think that if nothing else emerges that he can survive politically back in minnesota . Well, he has until 2020 to win back the voters trusts says he likes. He stopped short of saying that he has never put his hand on a womans butt. He says hes a woorm warm person who hugs. I dont know what kind of hug would involve the butt, but you know. Actually we do know what kind of hug. Now we know what kind of hug, bad hugs. Its a whole new game now in washington. Jennifer, thank you for sharing your interview. Congratulations on a big exclusive. Turning now to the joyous announcement from london this morning. Prince harry fifth in line to the throne, one of the most eligible bachelors is officially spoken for. The prince and his new fiance Meghan Markle posing outside Kensington Palace this morning showing off the royal engagement ring. Congratulations from all of us. How are you both feeling . Thrilled. Over the moon. Meghan, how are you feeling . Was it romanticing . Ing. When did you know she was the one . The very first time we met. The couple tried to keep their courtship private for more than a year making their first public appearance together at the Invictus Games in toronto this past september. Joining me now is kami la tominy. Thank you for being with us. The excitement is palpable on this side of the atlantic. But i gather it is, as well in the uk. Thats right. On both sides of the pond, theres a lot of excitement around this couple. Prince harry a universally popular figure. When people look at him, theyre reminded of his late mother princess diana. Settling down at last with an american princess. Its the stuff of disney fairy tales, isnt it. It is indeed. Shes unusual in that we all know the last time an american divorcee wed a british royal. It didnt end well for the monarchy. He not being directly in line. Hes fifth in line. There is less at stake in terms of the succession to the crown. Yes, thankfully, weve moved on a bit from the days of the abdication in the 1930s. Actually, the old sense of royals have having to marry other royals and marriages being arranged has been swept away. We have a tori low modern capital, a transatlantic relationship. Meghan has been married before. Prince charles married before, too. And equally, of course, in terms of their modernity moving forward, were expecting them to have perhaps a little bit of a different Royal Wedding because prince harry is the socalled spare to the heir, he hasnt got the responsibility of say prince wilyax. And its also a very busy spring given the pregnancy the third child expected for his brother Prince William. And, of course, catherine. So how are they going to organize this . When are we expects this the wedding . Were expecting more details about the date and the venue tomorrow, andrea. I think it is quite tricky. The Royal Household has a big job planning for the third royal baby. Thats expected in april. Theyve said its a spring wedding. I would imagine theyll probably want to get married before the baby is due because we expect Prince George and Princess Charlotte to take a starring role. I would imagine just speaking as a mother that kate might want to do that pregnant as opposed to with a newborn in her arms. Well have to wait and see till tomorrow for the finer details to be announced. There is a lot of excitement. A quick question about the british tabs. Are they also on board here with the excitement . How is it being covered over there . Reporter its very much excitement because of prince harrys popularity and the sense that hes been this worlds most eligible bachelor for so long. I think everyones willing him to settle down and have the kind of family life and marriage weve witnessed with Prince William and kate and their children here. Theres always been a sense that prince harry will make a good dad once he finds the one. Clearly after the press conference today, it was love at first sight. Its a very happy ending. We love happy endings. We can use more of those. Thank you so much for being with us. Thank you. And coming up, cutting ties. Michael flynns legal team tells Donald Trumps lawyers they will not be talking anymore. What does this mean for the mueller investigation. Thats next right here. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. You know what, im not buying this. You gotta come a little harder dawg. You gotta figure it out. Eh, i dont know. Shaky on the walk, carriage was off. Randy jackson judging a dog show. I dont know dawg. Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money lisa saved by switching to geico. Wow performance of the night. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Pepsoriasis does that. It was tough getting out there on stage. I wanted to be clear. I wanted it to last. So i kept on fighting. I found something that worked. And keeps on working. Now . They see me. See me. See if cosentyx could make a difference for you cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Find clear skin that can last. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Never give up. See me. See me. Clear skin can last. Dont hold back. Ask your dermatologist if cosentyx can help you find clear skin that lasts. Former National Security adviser mike flynns legal team has cut ties with the president s lawyers. That could signal a shift in the special counsels russia investigation. Joining me now is the former counsel to robert mueller, former chief of staff to james comey and former acting head of dea, chuck rosenberg, now an msnbc contributor thankfully. Its great to see you. Great to meet you. We havent met before. Ive been watching you with rachel and others and you are so well suited to sort out what this could and does not necessarily mean. What can we infer if anything from the fact that they are no longer talking . Im going to try. I hope im well suited. When defendants have a common interest, in other words, theyre all sort of in the same boat, they can create a joint Defense Agreement with their attorneys. And they can try and sort through the issues together. Its apparently what mike flynn had done. When you withdraw from a joint Defense Agreement, it usually means that youre cooperating. It doesnt have to mean that, but in my experience, its because youve broken off because youre trying to work out something with the prosecutor. Thats probably whats going on. Can you still use the privileged information that you received when you were once a part of that joint agreement . Well, no, it remains privileged. And thats why joint Defense Agreements can be tricky. What is printed, whats not, what can you take, what must you leave. By and large, what he has to provide to the prosecutors is independent stuff, stuff that he knew outside of the joint Defense Agreement. There can be other reasons why hes leaving it but again the most likely reason, hes cooperating. What is so murky, if you will, about mike flynn, he has so many roles. We believe based on people who have been questioned that theyre looking not only at russia but also at turkey. And that for something beyond just the fact that he didnt declare his you know, secret representation of turkey. It could mean things steps that he took, meetings that he attended discussing the future of gulan, the cleric in the poconos we know erdogan wanted brought back under any means. There are all kinds of reasons he could be subject to this probe. Theres a bunch of reasons why mueller and his team would be interested in him. You articulated a bunch of those reasons. There could be others we dont know about and that might never become public if the mueller team decides not to pur seem independently. That said, youre right. Hes very valuable to them for a whole bunch of reasons. If hes cooperating it could be against others part of the joint Defense Agreement. Which ones, how many, we dont know yet. Could be Jared Kushner, could be even as high as the president. But normally, it would be someone higher up or a bigger fish. Thats the way prosecutors try to work. You start low and you go high. You work up the ladder. It doesnt always happen that way but thats certainly sort of the model. And one reason why he would be so valuable one other reason is that when comey testified, he declined to say what he knew about mike flynn. But he certainly indicated that in those private meetings which about you know, the propriety of which was very suspect to some people, during those meetings with the president , the president asked him not to go hard to, go easy on flynn. Hes the only person that the president seems to have made that special plea for. First, its an odd request. Second, it flags that the president at the very sleest either concerned about the man, mike flynn or something that he knows, maybe both. Maybe it was just out of the goodness of his heart. More likely, it reflects a concern about something that mike flynn knows that could implicate others. Thats why hes of so much interest to muellers team. In contrast to manafort and theyve tried to minimize by saying he was only Campaign Chairman for a couple of months. Flynn was with him through the campaign and into the oval office. To your first point, this is something that bugs me. The notion that someone is only with the campaign for a short time or with mr. Papadopoulos only a volunteer. Completely misses the point. Think about a bang robbery. It might be the guy sitting outside a bank, perhaps a homeless man who gets the license plate. The fact he doesnt have a job and sitting outside the bank in the middle of the day is meaningless. Does he have information thats helpful to prosecutes. A guy outside a bank who gets the license plate of the getaway car is valuable. So all of these characterizations he wasnt paid, he was only here a short time, he was a volunteer, he was back benching this whole thing, meaningless. Did he hear and see stuff thats valuable to an investigator. Thank you so much. Its great to hear from a pro. My pleasure. Great to see you. Coming up media matters. What is really behind the president s latest attacks on journalists. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. Stay with us. Ancestrydna is the gift of the season. And its now just 59 but the real gift isnt whats inside the box. Its whats inside the person who opens it. Give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions and open up a world of possibilities. Save 40 at ancestrydna. Com. The lowest price of the year ends monday. For over 100 yearsaking like kraft has,al cheese you learn a lot about peoples tastes. Honey, what do you want for dinner tonight . Oh whatever youre making. Triple cheddar stuffed sliders. Sold morning on the beach until. It. Wasnt. Dont let type 2 diabetes get between you and your heart. Because your risk of heart attack or stroke is up to four times greater. But there are steps you can take to lower your cardiovascular risk. Talk to your Health Care Provider today about diabetic heart disease. And find out more at heartoftype2. Com. Your heart and type 2 diabetes. Make the connection. We are the driven. The dedicated. The overachievers. We know our best investment is in ourselves. We dont take no for an answer. We fight for what we want. Even for the things that were once a given. Going to college. Buying a home. And not being in debt for it for the rest of our lives. But were only as strong as our community. Who inspires and pushes us to go further than we could ever go alone. Sofi. Get there sooner. I dont know what winning looks like for roy moore. If he wins, we get the baggage of him winning and it becomes a story every day about whether or not you believe the women or roy moore. Should he stay in the senate, should he be expelled. What i would tell President Trump, if you think winning with roy moore is going to be easy for the Republican Party, youre mistake. And its pretty clear to me the best thing roy moore could do for the country is move on. In my opinion and the opinion of many republicans and conservatives in the senate, it is time for us to turn the page because it is not about partisan politics and been electing republicans versus democrats. This is about the character of our country. Key republican senators continuing a very Public Campaign against fellow republican roy moores senate bid in alabama this as the president reinforces his support for moore in a series of tweets slamming his tweet. His endorsement for moore is seemingly very personal. According to the New York Times, president moore is identifying with moore because of his own Campaign Experience with 16 women accusing him of Sexual Misconduct. The president is now even disavowing that infamous access Hollywood Tape suggesting it was not authentic although he said it was when it was first released and apologized for it on camera. Joining me now is eugene robinson, msnbc contributor. Weve got so many accusations flying around. Its hard to disaggregate them and to start putting a value, one is worse than another. Certainly the republicans have a godsend in the democratic scandals in congress. What does congress do as they come backing in terms of trying to expose themselves and permit victims to have an easier path to make these accusations . First of all, congress can do that. Congress can make clear that it takes these accusations seriously. And second, congress has to do what you said is difficult but not impossible. It has to disaggregate the allegations. It has to. And its not rocket science. You can investigate and you can make judgments as to certainly if not as to nature or kind, certainly as 0 degree. You can look, you can see if there is a pattern of such behavior. And you can look at how the member if were talking about congress, how the member reacts to the disclosure, including and lets not just talk about congress. Lets talk about the president. Speaking about the president , lets play a little bit of what he said during the campaign after the access Hollywood Tape was revealed. Ive said and done things i regret. And the words released today on this more than a decade old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words dont reflect who i am. I said it. I was wrong. And a poize. So how does he now tell people that that tape was fake . He doesnt. I mean, he can but he cant credibly, once youre on videotape saying i said it, i was wrong, i apologize, you cant say but then again, i didnt say it. I think even the most staunch trump supporter will find it difficult to swallow. The other thing that was really striking this weekend was the president attacking cnn and its International Coverage in particular, praising fox news, not a surprise but attacking cnn so blatantly on twitter saying that cnn outside of the u. S. , cmn international is still a major source of fake news. They represent our nation and the world very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth for them. Christiane amanpour tweeted a responsing on others. Tweeting about her camera woman who was shot and killed during their coverage, their heroic coverage of bosnia. Very few people around the world were paying attention to what was happening in bosnia and other of these dreadful genocidal wars. You know, screaming fake news about Cnn International is i think properly seen as an assault on all the Many American journalists who risk their lives overseas on a regular basis. Youve covered Foreign Affairs for a long time. I was a foreign correspondent. Look, we know, we had at the Washington Post, we had our correspondent in iran. You had to make decisions as Foreign Editor whether to send someone . This was very difficult. How do you decide whether or not to let your correspondent go to cover the rwanda genocide, for example. How do you decide whether or not to send people into dangerous situations all the time. And you always have them in the back of your mind, did i make the right call. Its a dangerous world out there. And theres so many people who do this in good faith with just the right sort of motives. Its appalling. And the committee to protect journalists has cited the fact that there are more journalists now in jails in turkey than almost anyplace else while the president praises president erdogan, makes deals with him regarding syria, and giving up on backing kurdish fighters in the syrian civil war. So there are real policy implications of his attack on journalists overseas. There certainly are. And his praise for dictators. In turkey, for example, in russia, his friendliness with putin in a country where journalists who are critical of putin have a habit of getting killed. This is this all has consequences and to have a u. S. President who doesnt stand up forthrightly for freedom of the press in repressive societies is a knock of the frankly. Ive never seen it in my lifetime. Have you . No. One quick point about the trump tweet about Time Magazine that he was asked to pose for a picture and to possibly be person of the year, that he was probably going to be named person of the year. This is something that he certainly has bragged on even appropriately. Youre own david fahrenheit reported he has fake covers of person of the year in some of his hotel properties. Time immediately disputing his account of what the process is. Hes got a thing about the cover of Time Magazine, doesnt he . Mentioned it on the first day in office when he was at the cia that he had more time covers than tom brady. Its typical this particular tweet was typical trump, you cant fire me. I quit, right . You know, he thought he wasnt going to be named person of the year. So he claims that he was. And that he turned it down. We could come to expect that from the president. Its great to sue you again. Thank you so much, eugene. We have breaking news. Senator al franken expected to speak shortly from capitol hill. More on that next right here on Andrea Mitchell reports. Stay with us. For your heart. Your joints. Or your digestion. So why wouldnt you take something for the most important part of you. Your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Theres a showdown, an unusual one over who is going to lead the governments top Consumer Financial Watchdog Agency coming to a head today as the president picked someone to lead the agency, omb director nick mulvaney. He is the person tapped by tapped by the president against the former director who chose his deputy or his chief of staff. Mulvaney has opposed the agency both in congress and now the cabinet. He grabbed the chair today. According to email, the budget director has already instructed the staff to disregard directions from the acting director lee andra english who has gone to court asking for an injunction. She was appointed by outgoing director richard cordray. Its in the courts. Lets get the scoop. Jonathan swan, axios National Political reporter. Jonathan, first to you on this. This as unusual agency in that it was created under doddfrank after the financial crash. It answers basically to no one. Theres no congressional appropriation, no inspector general. So it has its own funding that comes from the federal reserve. And so the question of whether its part of the executive or whether its independent and, of course, theres now this two legal opinion whos gets to replace the outgoing richard cordray. So youve got feuding legal opinions, the department of justice and the counsel inside the bureau siding with the packet that trump has the right to appoint lee andra english has filed her own lawsuit. But i just think its so revealing where were at in washington that you have, this is the most meaningless fight at this point because this is just an interim appointment. Trumps going to appoint who he wants for this position and were already at the lawsuit stage. We go straight to nuclear in this town. Everything. Its just amazing. And speaking of going straight to nuclear, the whole fact that john conyers who was described by nancy pelosi memorably on meet the press as an icon because of his past but his past in terms of his contributions to the civil rights you know era, hes the longest serving member of congress now that john dingell has retired and the fact that the reaction to that was so immediate online against the democratic leader that conyers quickly resigned. As we saw from your twitter feed, you did not expect it. What were you doing when conyers resignation was announced . I was definitely trying on my Wedding Dress for the first time when conyers said he was stepping down from this committee. I got a source from his office to hold me the news and i basically wrote the story in my Wedding Dress. Its a great image. Its emblematic of the trump era where the news cycles are so fast and so many things are happening. I had just talked to his lawyer on wednesday and he said hes not resigning. He can do his job effectively. Two days later, im completely throwing my laptop in Wedding Dress fitters lap and trying to get the story out. This was a very big decision. His lawyer said it was a very tough decision. I think the swift reaction between pelosi illustrates the generational divide by the Democratic Party in that shes trying to balance an act here. Conyers was endorsed by Martin Luther king and seen as an icon. He also has big problems when it comes to these settlements. One of the things not widely known or discussed is that he has been slipping in recent years. Hes quite elderly. At least it was reported i hadnt seen this myself that he twice showed up at public wearing his pajamas. Can you shed any light on that . We have sources that tell us that representative conyers has been going down and really slowing down in recent years. We do have sources that tell us he showed up in his pajamas to several meetings. People were close to him tell me he has xwod days and bad days. Sometimes his staff is running all daytoday operations and sometimes hes clearminded and can do his job. But at the end of the day, democrats have been frustrated with hip for several years now and trying very hard to get him off that ranking democrat on the house judiciary committee. So this was kind of an opening for them to do that. Weve seen this in both parties. I remember covering Strom Thurmond in fact when he was chairing judiciary for the hearings of clarence thomas. Meanwhile, theres really big issues. Tax cuts and here youve got wavering republicans. My own sense is that we should keep an eye on the deficit hawks. There are more of those and theyre in both parties potentially. And there are more deficit implications the more and more we learn about this bill. Theyre also the deficit hawks are the people who made the most declarative statements. This is very different from health care. When we had health care, people drew red lines, i will not vote for this bill unless you change this in writing. To the extent we have ha, we have people like bob corker saying if it adds one penny to the deficit, i wont vote for it. You need to look at corker, john mccain, jeff flake, they also all happen to be sort of out of the sphere of political dynamics. They arent answerable to the electorate again. Two of them are retiring. Mccain has health problems. None of them feel bow holding to the president. Quite the opposite. Well, a busy time in washington. And yamiche, a one of advise from Peter Alexander wrote a column that i read in the local paper in arlington which is that his rule of thumb heavy is to put down the phone when he goes hope to play with his two darling little girs. Maybe when youre trying on your Wedding Dress, i dont know, i break this rule all the time, put down the phone. I wont do any more stories in my Wedding Dress. Keep the scoops coming. Thank you very much. Jonathan, thank you. Coming up, power struggle. Ill ask the mayor of san juan how Puerto Ricans are faring two months after their i land was devastated by hurricane maria. Youre watching andrea mitcheal report reports. [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. Our advisors can help you find both. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. Yours. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. But he hasoke up wwork to do. In. So he took aleve. If hed taken tylenol, hed be stopping for more pills right now. Only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Aleve. All day strong. Theres nothing more important than your health. So if youre on medicare or will be soon, you may want more than parts a and b heres why. Medicare only covers about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. You might want to consider an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Like any Medicare Supplement insurance plan, these help pick up some of what medicare doesnt pay. And, these plans let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. You could stay with the doctor or specialist you trust. Or go with someone new. Youre not stuck in a network. Because there arent any. So dont wait. Call now to request your free decision guide and find the aarp Medicare Supplement plan that works for you. Theres a range to choose from, depending on your needs and your budget. Rates are competitive. And theyre the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. Like any of these types of plans, they let you apply whenever you want. Theres no enrollment window. No waiting to apply. So call now. Remember, Medicare Supplement plans help cover some of what medicare doesnt pay. Youll be able to choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. Whether youre on medicare now or turning 65 soon, its a good time to get your ducks in a row. Duck quack call to request your free decision guide now. Because the time to think about tomorrow is today. I didnt put the name on fema. I didnt. Put somebodys going to have to tell me the meaning of emergency. To me when were talking about this is the little thing i know, is that emergency means one thing. People are hungry. When youre hungry, its today. Americans in puerto rico, were hungry. And we were not delivering food quick enough. Famed chef jose andre on 60 minutes last night expressing his frustration with fema. He spent his entire thanksgiving weekend, hes been there for weeks, cooking for the people of puerto rico. He has served more than 3 million meals since hurricane mar marie hit the island two months ago. Joining me is the mayor of san juan, who was in new york city this week. Mayor cruz, thank you for being with us. The state of the reconstruction in puerto rico, there are so many conflicting numbers. We have numbers from fema that 41 of the power is restored. From your understanding, what is the restoration of power, which is one of the most criticalle issues which affects Potable Water as well . One of the things youll hear people talk about generation of power. Generation of power does not mean that people have power in their homes. All of the power in puerto rico right now its been generated from the southern part of the island and gets distributed everywhere. Three weeks ago we have a general power shutdown. Two weeks ago we had another general power shutdown. Just yesterday f you look at the tweets from the army corps of engineer and so forth, theyre talking about all of the supplies theyre bringing to puerto rico in order to get the electricity on. When youre talking about power, youre not talking about comfortable things like air conditioning orphans. Youre talk willing about children being able to go to school on a full schedule. Youre talking about a hospital being able to operate on a normal basis. Youre talking about the entire economy of puerto rico that needs to be just jumpstarted. Without power, without sustainable power and without just putting the fun page, changing from foss sill fuel to renewable energy, we wont be able to make there are still towns, which the names will always make sense to those that have flifd puerto rico, live in puerto rico or know somebody there that still have absolutely no electricity. What youre seeing out there, its very difficult. Most areas that do not have water right now dont have water because theres no power. So, people are drinking still off creeks. We have had a blessing in san juan. We have the support of operation blessing, a Nongovernmental Organization out of virginia that has been putting generation, and the generosity of americans that continue to send their love, their affection, and moved over there. The aflcio took 2100 Union Workers from different unions in the united states, doctors, medics, people that went to puerto rico out of san juan, for two weeks we hosted them in our municipality and were able to touch 34 communities outside of the san juan area. So, were still in a life and death situation. And we need to get our power back, get restored. But we need to also get alliances in place like the Clinton Foundation that is energizing part of san juan, farmers market, with solar pane panels and solar energy. We need to set that foundation to move forward. How much of a risk to the future of the island is it that so many people several thousand now have left permanently, are migrates because they dont see a future there . Its been reported 100,000 people have already left the island nation of puerto rico. More Puerto Ricans live now outside of puerto rico than in puerto rico. Of course, new york is one of those areas. Orlando is another area. Here bill de blasio have set up a center for people to know what theyre moving into. Some have tom cut on any type of orientation. I would like to thank the new york City Government for that. There is a risk of brain drain going on for some time. The job of those that stay in puerto rico is for us not to judge. Its for us to make sure that we look at things that, how do we deal with the debt. In my opinion it should be wiped out. How do we move from fossil fuel to nonfossil fuel so its available, how do we get education, how do we look at the jones act and make sure its a huge its a huge undertaking. The heart of the American People has been there. Unfortunately, the Trump Administration has not been up to par. They have not been doing the job with the respect and dignity we deserve and thats contrasting startling with the heart of the American People. Well stay on this. Thank you for having me. Thank you very much. Chris jansing is up next right here msnbc. Andrea mitchell, thank you very much. Good afternoon from msnbc Head Quarters in new york. Im in for craig melvin. Any moment were expecting senator al franken to give his first Public Comments since returning to work after three women accused the minnesota democrat of Sexual Misconduct. Garrett haake is on capitol hill. Do we know what to expect there . I think we can expect to hear versions of the answers senator franken gave in interviews with local media over the weekend