Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20181213

Telling his friends that he is worried about impeachment. And the reason why it is so nerverackinging for h ining nerveracking for him right now is they dont know what is coming next. Good day. With this breaking news, im Andrea Mitchell in washington. Moments ago a russian woman who has ties to key players and the National Rifle association pleaded guilty in 23ed ral court for failing to register as a Foreign Agent. 33yearold Mariia Butina is a foreign student here in washington operated in Top Republican circles while reporting back to the circles in russia including is sergey lavrov. Joining us is intelligence reporter ken delainian, and jim vance, a former u. S. Attorney, and analyst fred ceglusi, and first, tell us what you saw there there. Yes, we saw her coming out from the court with green jumpsuit, and her hair pulled back in braids and she was stoic as they read the answercharges. And her answers were yes, no, oneword answers. And it with because guilty plea, and the judge took a moment to say that the government has phone calls that butina had with a journalist while in detention and that is when the government heard reference to her lawyer Robert Driscoll that he had perhaps set up the phone calls and put him in a conflict of interest to influence her plea. That is why the judge called in a public counselor, and that she understood that. That is a unforeseen and strange aside that we saw today. Robert driscoll is part of the federalist association, and it is a group of conservative lawy lawyers and his position isle well noted. We did is see her plea guilty and the prosecution is going to delay the sentencing, because of the cooperation which is of interest to robert mueller. He is not bringing the charges here, but he could be asking her, and privy to some of the information from her cooperation since her goals are the same as a lot of the people who are being investigated to the influence the republican par the ti in the 2016 election. And ken delainian, you have been on the case for quite a while and a copy of the draft agreement, and it is surprise hag that the lawyer had set up this conversation while in jail and under the judges gag order, and that is another part of it, is it not . I believe so. And there is also some question about who is paying that lawyers bill, because initially, the russian government embraced butina and were complaining about the treatment of her, and one wons how they will feel now that she has decidedcooperate. And this would be a fascinating case even if we were not in the middle of a are russian investigation. Because this woman came here as a student, as the cover, but she was an agent of influence and she was with working for a russian central banker named Aleksandr Torshin who is according to the spanish prosecutors a money launderer with are russian ties and you cant make this stuff up. And she was trying to infiltrate the National Rifle association, and she had a gun rights group, and that is kind of odd since there are no gun Rights Groups in russia. But they were attending the nra functi functions, and inserting themselves into the Republican Party circles, and trying to build influence with the Incoming Trump administration, and butina decided early on that trump would be elect and she appeared in a trump rally at the q a event and asked a question that led him to make a pronouncement that he want withed to improve relations with russia and lift the sanctions on russia, and so those are not random and so we want to know how that is set up. And that is true, and funny you should bring that up, because we sha tape in july of 2015. If you were elected as president , what is your foreignle politic especially with the relationships with my country, and do you want to continue the politics of the sanctions that are damaging both economy or you have any other ideas . I dont think that you need the sanction, and i think that we would get along very, very well. Well, this first of all, as ken, you just said, these questions are not random. She is the first person he called upon. And he then signalled that he did not agree with the sanction, and that is the beginning of a whole series of positions that he took on russia that has been confusing to people given that he is the National Republican candidate in a party that has always been antikremlin. Frank pugh llisi, what would yo see . Well, it is interesting a that someone would call on her first and solicit the question first, and that is right at the heart whether or not someone around trump is actually in conspiracy with now someone who said that it was a Foreign Agent of russia. This is a big deal. And then from the Counter Intelligence lenses, andrea, what we are seeing, and people need to understand this, it is the new approach of the russian Intelligence Services, and what do i mean by that . They got burned badly several years ago when the fbi wrapped up a cell of 10 illegals operating for ten years here, and putin said that we will do it differently from now on. And what we are seeing in butina is an opportunistic approach which is someone volunteers and welle positioned, and they are in d. C. And ready to go, and we train her up quickly with minimal orientation, and we use what we have got where we have got her when we need her. And the question might b how many more marias are there out there, and how is she going to cooperate and what was she privy to. And to follow up with you, if she is post sentencing now that she has pleaded guilty and after the cooperation, generally, this is going oneed to be deportation, and what are the risks to her in terms of the witness protection, and the risks if she is sent back to russia . Well, ordinarily, you would return a hero if you have been fulfilling tasking from the the government. The problem with with her is that if she is cooperating and it certainly appears that she is, then her hero status erodes quickly. So she might actually ironically at some point say that i cant go back and i have cooperated so much that i need some kind of protection status, and the government can, our government can hold that out to her and say, look, you do the right thing and it is significant enough, you are here to stay. And lets point out that Aleksandr Torshin as years of the deputy head of the central bank which is a very big position, and also, you know, someone who has been influential as pointed out with ken delainian in other, you know, criminal enterprises that have been alleged has disa appeared. He has left his job two weeks or maybe 11 days ago and he has not been heard from, and we dont know where her contact or the person who was running her in this whole undercover operation has now disappeared from the high levels of the russian government. And joyce, lets talk about first this case, and then how it may or may not relate to the other cases that we are watching, because this is a definite russian connection. Well, it is interesting a that this case was prosecuted by the u. S. Attorney in the district of columbia. That means that at least initially mueller if he was given that opportunity by dc passed on this as being apart from his core prosecution which of course involved coordination between the campaign and russia. But these cases have a way of developing more as the facts come to light and the incredibly interesting suggestion that you and frank discussed this notion that someone encouraged the president to call on butina and that is what led trump for the first time to indicate that he might be willing to relax sanctions against russia, and that is a little tidbit that is too tempting for the prosecutors not to follow up on when you are combining this with what we have confirm confirmed today in the hearing about her immigration status. That is something that i looked for carefully, andrea, and in the colloquy with the judge, it confirmed that she was advised that she would likely face deportation as a result of the agreement. She has had number consular interactions, and members of the government with at least one possibility that we should not ignore that butinas cooperation is coming with the tacit approval of moscow, an frank talked about the fact that she would not go home a hero if she cooperated too much, but russia at this point may benefit from injecting more, sort of the conflict and chaos into the entire scenario with her cooperation which could have the potential to do that. Fascinating story, and while we have you, joyce. Lets talk about, and with all of you about cohen and pecker and all of the events from yesterday, because with the president denying that this was even anything other than a civil case, and that it was up to the l lawyer to know the law, he has been tweeting all about cohen and these finance violations were not criminal, and give us a reality check on that. They are in fact criminal allegations, and mueller a has a full hand and he is not just relying on cohen, and by the time he talked to cohen, he likely had the elements of this cases fully established, which is what we learned yesterday is that there is an agreement to work with ami, and that means both david pecker and his chief operating officer who was involved in the removal of these sensational documents that we have heard about in the safe that was in peckers office an those documents were removed ahead of trumps inauguration, and presumably in bob muellers hands, and whatever proof that he needs to establish that trump direct directed this activity is undoubtedly there or the federal prosecutors would not be fronting it out in these pleadings. And there is a lot of bravado, ken delaine iian, but circle is closing around those close to the white house and those close to the family and you have pecker, and the cfo and obviously michael cohen, and now this is undeny bli not directly connected to the president , but it is certainly the high levels of the Republican Party a russian connection. Yeah, and on the Campaign Finance thing, donald trumps, how the story has changed and he is sort of lightly acting as if that didnt happen, and as if when he was first asked about the payments on air force one he didnt say he knew nothing about them, and now he is acting as if he knew about them all along, and it was not a campaign violation. And this is going to be a difficult case, because the Campaign Finance felonies are difficult to the prove and you have to prove intent, and you cant indict a sitting president , but the Southern Court of new york has a ton of evidence to support the idea that payments were made to make these stories to go a wway to become a Campaign Finance contribution, and it was not properly accounted for. And julia for the court proceed in proceedings today, it is clear that she is not doing well according to the lawyer in isolation and they did not put her in the general prison population, and she is remaining in jail. Am i correct in that . Yes, they said that she is living in solitary confinement, but she has a little bit more Human Interaction than previous previous previously. The defense tried to say that she should be living in a communal setting earlier in the month, and the judge shot it down. So in the meantime, she is in solitary confinement, but able to get out a few hours especially at night, and meeting with a Russian Orthodox minister and also speaking to journalists, and that is a surprise takeaway to day as well, a wund of the things that the judge wanted to make sure of in the sentencing that she was of sound mind because the argument had been from the defense that it could relate to a Mental Health issue if she wasnt released from solitary confinement, and that everything that Marina Butina said today that she knows that what she did and whether or not this is going to the commute her sentence. And she plead guilty knowing that the judge does not have a say over the deportation question, and this is not decided here, and the judge only decides on the sentencing, and not the deportation which is trouble for Mariia Butina if she is deported back to russia. And so joyce has raised the question if moscow is approving of this, and frank from your counter intel experience, is this a way of inserting more confusion, and disinformation into the the American Intelligence Community . Yes, joyce raises an interesting question, because clearly the Russian Services would have a field day with this, and they would double her up, and direct her. But here is the good thing about that possibility is that it is very, very likely that the u. S. Intelligence community would have that kind of thing covered, and so they know since they have disclosed much of it the way that the communication was occurring and who she was directed by and they are already general generally going to have the Intelligence Services covered to russia, and if they were to attempt that, there is a high likelihood that the bureau or the nsa or the cia would know that and they might actually let that play out knowing what is happening on the other end and then a la manafort at the very end say at the very end, maria, you have been pretending to cooperate, and you have not been cooperating. And double, and triple, and triplecross and who knows what is going on. Right out of jean le curie. And now, thank you all. And coming up, fear and loathing in the white house. And the president is lashing out on twitter as he is increasingly becoming worried about the possibility of impeachment. We will have the exclusive report coming up on Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. Your roof struggles to support the heavier me. [laughter] whoo. [crash] and your cutrate insurance might not pay for this. So get allstate, you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. Mayhem is everywhere. So get an allstate agent. Are you in good hands . Discover card. I justis this for real . Match, yep. We match all the cash back new cardmembers earn at the end of their first year, automatically. Whoo i got my money hard to contain yourself, isnt it . Uh huh let it go whoo get a dollarfordollar match at the end of your first year. Only from discover. So shark invented duo clean. While deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles. Duo clean technology, corded and cordfree. But he has plans today. Ain. And fearlessly devours piles. Hey dad. So he took aleve. 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But the colleagues at nbc have learned that the president has confided in friends that he is worried about that the prospect, impeachment, and the fear escalating when his personal lawyer was sentenced to prison is and several associates are remaining under investigation. And joining us is Kristen Welker who is part of the team that broke that story, and also, jeff from reuters who interview ed te president this week and they talked about impeachment. And so you are reporting it, and it is on his mind . It is certainly on his mind and on the mind of the allies, and he is based on the conversations concerned about it. He is concerned obviously from the democrats are beating the drum. That is not what is concerning him, andrea, but what is concerning him is what he is hearing from the republicans, senator marco rubio and bill cassidy and marco rubio said no one is above the law, a and that set often alarm bells of the cracks in the walls surrounding the president. And the other concern is that he does not have a strong ap rparas in place he feels to protect him once these onslaught of investigations and subpoenas come down from the democrats, and the president is growing increasingly frustrate and we are seeing it play out on the twitter feed today. It is another twitter day. And so, jeff, you were sitting across from him, and i dont know if you can tell us about the mood, but one of the thing ths that he said is so striking. He said it is hard to impeach somebody who has not done anything wrong, and who has created the greatest economy in the history of the country, and we can fact check that. And people would revolt if it happens and that is a striking quote quote. Yes, that second quote was a follow up, and he said that he was not worried about it, and why could you impeach somebody who has done such a great job and he has listed off the accomplishments and the things that he is proud of the Supreme Court nomination, and other judge, and the economy and the deregulation, and all of those things, but of course, that is not what impeachment is about. A soy asked him again, is it not on the radar and are you concerned, and he says, no, i am not concerned, and i think that people would revolt. And it is a strong word, you are absolutely right. I think that he had the supporters in mind when he is talking about that. He would probably be echoing what many people with who voted for him would say is that you are trying to undo a democratically elected president , but it is clearly on his mind, and even if he says it is not something that he is concerned about. And we saw it both in the response there, and also as kristen says in the very transparent twittering that he is doing. And i was interviewing brook holmes yesterday who said that he was basically saying to you, and the people would revote, and he is say revolt, and he said that he is not upholding the constitution that he has sworn to protect and uphold and this is a frighten iing thought. And jeff is hitting to the heart of it. The president wants to energize the base, and that is another way of doing that. We with saw it in jeffs great interview with the president. But there is some concern amongst his allies that he is using language like that. It is not just his critics, because they feel as though not only over the top, but it is suggesting that he doesnt have a plan in place, and that he should be talking about his own strategies, and his own strength to combat the democrats once they start to unfurl the investigations, and instead, to use the term which as you pointed out is a lightning rod. And jeff, how concerned do you believe he is that he has a new white house counsel, but not a real team, and he doesnt have a whole team in place to counteract the new House Democrat democrats, and the subpoena demands that are going to be coming, and they need a real war room. For sure. We did not talk about the team, but we did talk about how he is going to handle dealing with the democrats, and that is just our interview just an hour or two after the raucous meeting with the democrat leadership and he said either one track or another. There is one track in which we get a lot of legislation passed with the democrats, and the other is the track of president ial harassment which are his words and he said no middle ground. One or the other. And so he is very sort of setting himself up perhaps and setting up the democrats to say that this is only going to be one way. And obviously, with we know that on the hill, they dont see it as a one way or ooh the other. One of things that he is seizing on in the later tweets this morning before our program is the friend pleading, and his lawyers were saying that there was a presentencing memo when they first came to him, and Andrew Mccabe and peter struck when they first came to him in the white house, they did not identify themselves as being part of the criminal investigation or they did not give him warn ings that lying could lead to these kinds of the penalties, and now, you would think that a National Security adviser who had spent 30plus years in the military and heading the Defense Intelligence agency would know that you dont lie with the fbi with his contacts with kis lee y kislyack. And they gave him a deal because they were embarrass ed by the way he was treated. They wanted to scare everybody into making up stories that are not true by catching them in the smallest of misstatements. Sad. Then he went on with the second tweet. Witch hunt. All caps. So he is seizing on what you have heard from corsi and otherses who have not been hit by the Legal Proceedings or complaining they are being forced to lie. It is fitting into the broader strategy that we have seen, andrea, in which he is trying to the paint the fbi, and the Justice Department as having set some of the people up, and to your point, look, even the critics of this process have said that Michael Flynn should know that he should not lie when he speaks to the fbi. Regardless of the broader circumstances. And does that give the president fodder of more of what we will see from him . Absolutely. Bau loft the legal experts think it is a tough argument to make. Kristen welker, and we will see you soon. And jeff mason, thank you so much great interview. And of course, kristen will have more anchoring at 1 00, and she is here for velshi and ruhle. And she did it her way, and nancy pelosi is winning over the democratic critics and giving her the votes to become the speaker in january, but not everybody is on board. Kasie hunt is coming up, and so you are watching Andrea Mitchell reports only on msnbc. Great news, Liberty Mutual customizes uh uh i deliver the news around here. Sources say Liberty Mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Over to you, logo. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. New johnsons cottontouch™ a wholwash and lotionre for newborns is born made with real cotton and enhances your gentle touch a new soft a new touch a new gentle new johnsons cottontouch™ baby cooing choose gentle discover. O. I like your card, but im absolutely not paying an annual fee. Discover has no annual fees. Really . Yeah. We just dont believe in them. Oh nice. You would not believe how long ive been rehearsing that. No annual fee on any card. Only from discover. 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Call or visit jack in the box pannidos nomess bag deli trio pannido it while youre twerking at a construction site wear a hardhat youre gonna do it right panni panni pannido it low panni panni pannido it slow panni panni pannido it low [airhorn] [construction noise] and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. Like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. phone ringing get details on this state program call or visit nancy pelosi is clearing another hurdle in her bid to become House Speaker and strikinging a deal with the insurgent democrats who are asking for a regime change. She is saying that they have to limit their post for three years. This is a significant concession to pelosis challengers who are bolstered by the newly elected democrats who are demanding a leadership shakeup. Reports from kasie hunt on capitol hill, and that right . Is that the state of play that she is on the glide path perhaps, perhaps prepared by her performance propelled by her performance at the white house. She is sure to take back the gavel. And this is one of Nancy Pelosis best weeks in politic, and she has had a long career that. Moment in the oval office could not have come at a better timer for her in trying to corral the dissidents, rebels or whatever you want to call them inside of the Democratic Caucus who are pushing for the new leadership, and it is one of the criticisms of that group of people has been that they dont necessarily or that they didnt necessarily have any material reason other than they wanted to have generational change. And you know, one thing that we are hearing up on the hill in the wake of the meeting is that nancy pelosi showed what experience was, and why it is that she has been sitting atop the Democratic Caucus for so long. She is simply really goodt a it. She understands where all of the votes are, and she is often called the best vote counter in congress, and she understands the dine mix, and she understands how to the negotiate and the argument behind the scenes is why would you give that up at a time when you have this chance as the democratic p party to take on President Trump, and why would you abandon your battletested and wartested general as you were about to seize the momentum of the war with the republican president , and that has been really effective and she did as you point out give in a significant concession here, and say that she s gois going to se no more than four years, and much more likely it is two based on the package of rules changes they are going to be talking through with the Democratic Caucus, and other leaders unhappy with the deal, and steny hoyer is saying that she is not negotiating for him and possible that the package may not be a agreed to by the Democratic Caucus, and pelosi said that she will abide by it regardless if they make the formal rule changes to limit pelosi to the three total terms, but also any future leaders of the Democratic Party, andrea. Which is of course going to affect steny hoyer and jim clyburn and others in the team. And he is as she agreed to the deal. I feel comfortable about what they are proposing, and i feel responsible to do that whether it passes or not. And, you know, kasie, i am also hearing that it is beyond the Leadership Team that some of the freshmen have been so bold as to ask for the chance to interview the prospective chairs of committees who have been waiting in the minority status as ranking members for years w now, and they are finally going to get to chair the committees, and they want to, and they are asking for a chance to interview all of the people and see if they are ready for leadership. There is a lot going on behind the scenes here, isnt there . There is a lot going on behind the scenes, andrea, and this freshman class is enormous with 40 new members ash and they have considerable power, and it is basically one quarter of the Democratic Caucus here in the house. That is huge. And frankly, they have a much different set of political experiences than, you know, members who have been here for a really long time, and typically being a freshman member of the house in the minority i guess is the lowliest position, and they are in the majority which is going to give the members a much different experience of how things work on capitol hill, but together, they have really demanded quite a bit. And a seat at the table, and they are getting more than most freshmen classes have in the past. They are getting some concessions, and lets remember, too, andrea, i am interested to see how the vote goes on the floor for speaker, because nancy pelosi does want to have some of the are freshmen who are in tough districts to vote against her, because that is what they pledged in the campaigns. And this is part of what is going on, because the more of the rebels she can get on to her side, the more she can protect the people who have tough reelection fights coming up in 2020, 2022, and et cetera. Andrea. And of course, that is a vote of the entire house. You dont know yet what kind of behind the scenes machinations may come from the republican side as the vote takes place and everybody has to fully declare with whom they are voting for. Thank you so much, caskasie hun thank you for being there. Coming up, humanitarian crisis, and senators today voting to end u. S. Military support for the saudis in yemen. Senator Bernie Sander s s is th leader and the cosponsor of the first direct challengele ono the trump Foreign Policy is joining me next right here. Stay with us. 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Add on advantage. Only when you book with expedia. volunteer hey. old man come on in. volunteer you taught me the rules. vo you do more than feed seniors when you share the love. You feed souls. Get a new subaru, like the all new forester, and charities like meals on wheels can receive two hundred and fifty dollars from subaru. avo get zero percent during the subaru share the love event. Senator Bernie Sanders is making his case to cut off American Military aid to saudi arabia and yemen and a civil war that has led to the death of 50,000 children from starvation alone in the last three years. The fact of the matter is that the United States with very little Media Attention has been saudi arabias partner in this horrific war. We have been providing the bombs, the Saudiled Coalition is using, refueling the planes before they drop the bombs, and assisting with intelligence. In too many cases, our weapons are being used to kill civ civilians. His bipartisan resolution is expected to pass the senate later today, and faces little chance of winning in the house, and now another sneak attack by the house leaders and the republicans on the issue, and Speaker Paul Ryan attaching a restriction no popular mustpass farm bill to prevent the lawmakers from taking up any resolution limiting the war in yessen in. And republican tom massey says that ryans move is despicable, and joining me is Bernie Sanders who qcaucuses with the senate democrats. And congratulations, because you won the motion to proceed by 6039 and going towards the final passage and give us an update on the latest count today. We have a couple of amendments that are being offered which are going to be destructive to what we are trying to accomplish. But i think that we have a bipartisan support to defeat those amendments. The bottom line here, andrea, as you have just discussed is what is going on in yemen right now is unspeakable humanitarian disaster. Some 85,000 children already starved to death and many more are facing imminent starvation. I think that what we have got to do is to tell the world, and i hope that we with will today that we will not be part of this saudiled war in yemen with which is causing so much destruction, and that we are going to tell the saudi regime which is a despotic undemocratic regime that we will no longer be part of their destruction, and lastly, andrea, what today is about is that for the first time in i believe 45 years, the congress will go forward in utilizing the war powers act in telling aing a president it is congress and not the white house who has are responsibility for war, and that we will take the responsibility back. Now, you have got a very strong republican partner in all of this, but what about the house . You are a former member of the house, and how has paulle ryan in his new rule on the farm bill impeded you from any chance of getting passage in the house . Well, andrea, what paul ryan did is exactly why people hold the United States congress in contempt. What in gods name does the horrific war in yemen have to do with agriculture in the United States . What i believe is the case is that you now have a majority of members in the house who want to do the right thing, and who want to end the u. S. Participation in that war. Ryan knew it, and he did not want to give them and up or down vote, and he forced them to vote on a farm bill which is popular and need ed ed in this country, that is exactly the type of the politics here in Washington People despise. If you want to vote for the war in yemen, vote for the war in yemen, but dont tie it to aing a are ri cultural bill. You can argue that, maybe you could argue that there is some predicate for the war in afghanistan. I think it is, you know, really it could be debated, because we are 17 years into the afghanistan war, and the fact that 9 11 happened is not really permission to stay in afghanistan according to jim cain and a lot of your colleagues, but yemen, it is only three years. Already three years, and no vote no, approval for this . How can they defend our being in yemen has nothing to do with the prior terror acts and with 9 11 . Well, you are raising a broad question and my answer is a simple question, in that the constitution is very clear. It is congress and not the white house who determines whether our young men and women are engaged in war. And whether it is afghanistan, we have been there for 17 years, and whether it is the entire war on terror, and i think it is time to are rethink that, but it has to be done by the congress, and think they what we are doing today is a good first step. I have to ask you about 2020 because you have taken leadership on this issue, and people are demanding leadership on a lot of issues and more than 20 of your democratic colleagues and many of them sitting right there in your caucus are thinking of running, and when are you going to the have a much more Vigorous Campaign than you did in 2016 . Andrea, today, we are trying to end the worst humanitarian di sas ter on earth, and so i will focus on that. I would like to focus on the real issues impacting families and crisis of health care and the high cost of prescription drugs, and i will pake that decision, you know, when i think it is appropriate. If, and that is and if i decide to run, we will be taking on, you nknow, the pharmaceutical industry, and the Insurance Industry and wall street and all of the powerful special interests who now control much of what is going on in congress. It is not an easy decision. We have to determine what kind of grass roots support exist, and that is what we are looking at right now. According to Jonathan Martin of the new york times, you went over to see Elizabeth Warren last night, and presumably 2020 came up. You share a lot of common beliefs. You think that the American People are eagerly interested . I talked to Elizabeth Warren everyday. Yes. I dont. I think that the American People want to know how to provide health care or people, and lets discuss it and how the take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and how to end this terrible war in yemen and the fact that two senators get together to chat becomes a big deal, that is a real problem for the media that we should be thinking about it. But, those of us, all of us who cover politics, believe that d democrats now confronting a big, a big class of people who want to run, young, old, experienced, inexperienced and less experienced and the young people like bett toe orourke, and castro saying that he has an exploratory committee, and the prime goal is how to organize for the issues that you care about passionately, and i was on the road with you and you are vigorous in campaigning, and how do you get the issues in front of the American People if you have twotiered debate structure with 20 or 30 people dividing the Democratic Party and not sign ing t signing the one or two or five people who are best capable of challenging . Well, we will do it, andrea, by asking people like yourself, and msnbc, and nbc and abc to talk about the burning issues facing the American People so that the American People can then determine with which candidate, republican, democrat or whatever is addressing those issues. But you have heard me say a million times, andrea, and let me mention it again right now, we need serious discussion in this country on serious issues, and we have to can do it in congress, and we have to do e it in do it in the media, and our job is to give the views on those issues and let the American People decide who they believe can do a good job in protecting their families and addressing those problems. Well, fair point, and you are doing it today, and you did it yesterday, and days before on the senate floor on this issue. And we welcome that debate any ti time, and please come back. Okay. Thank you very much. Very early and often. Thank you. And senator claire mckass kill just finished her remarks on the floor, and she said that the United States senate is no longer the deliberative body, and people need to quit saying it, and she got emotional and this is part of what she said. My mother said that i must say trick or treat, and vote for jfk when i was 7. 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Someone who can help him navigate the divided government. Former new Jersey Governor Chris Christie along with the former Deputy Campaign manager appear to be in the mix but im cautioned by almost all of my sources things change. Things change. Lets go through first of all Chris Christie would have to be working with jared kushner. Chris christie was in charge in the Justice Department in new jersey when Jared Kushners father was jailed. That would not seem to be a great way to start a beautiful relationship. That is true. And that looms over the kushner christie relationship. It always has. If someone put your father in prison, youre not going to be exactly warm with them. But allies say hes more concerned with kushner, making sure his projects wouldnt be affected, that christie himself is not someone he has a problem with. The historys always going to be there but he thinks he can work with christie if necessary. Lewandowski told us he and bosse were going to have lunch tomorrow at the white house and his complaint has all along been the people in charge at the white house, john kelly are not letting trump be trump. Is david bosse a serious contender . Hes a serious contender. He has a rapport with the president. Some white house Officials Say look for him to think about coming in, even if hes not chief of staff. He used to be a congressional investigator back in the 1990s. Theres a talk about if he doesnt become chief, he could be at least a help, someone to fend off democrats. Newt gingrich posted a photo of them at the Christmas Decorations yesterday. He said later he was just looking at the decorations. But is he possibly a contender . No one knows the house better than Newt Gingrich. Never count out gingrich. If you told someone 30 years ago that political reporters would sti still be calling Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich for information on national politics, it would have been a little surprising. His wife is the ambassador to the vatican. He has a lot of private sector initiatives. It is power. Power is the ultimate of an afr december yak. And of course trying to drum up business. Cant make this stuff up. More ahead. Well be watching Washington Week friday night. Of helping people. Were in the business of helping you. Business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. The powerful backing of american express. Dont do business without it. The meeting of the executive finance committee is now in session. And. Adjourned. Business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. The powerful backing of american express. Dont do business without it. A lot will happen in your life. 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My concern is the president might be concerned in the crime of course. The national enquirer. The tabloid dedicated cover after cover to the bid for the white house may now play a