Transcripts For MSNBCW First Look 20181211

Good morning, everyone. It is tuesday, december 11th. Im Ayman Mohyeldin alongside Yasmin Vossoughian. We begin with the president s search for a new chief of staff. Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin suggested that he would have a hard time getting to a yes. The wall street journal reports that white house budget director Mick Mulvaney is also taking a pass. One source tells nbc news that he could be convinced. Heres what conservative congressman mark meadows said about the possibility of being picked for that job. Hes got a number of people whod gladly serve, you know, in his administration. So any narrative that would suggest otherwise is just not accurate. At this particular point, im looking forward to having conversations with the president if he so chooses. And yet at the same time, im focused on my day job, which is really about representing the people of Western North carolina. People familiar with the matter have also told the journal that President Trump is also considering former new Jersey Governor Chris Christie for the position. Nbc news has learned that Paul Manafort plans to file a the formal response in federal court this week to the crimes and lies laid out by the special counsels office. In Court Filings on friday, Robert Muellers team said manafort broke his plea deal by lying about his contacts with russians and with Trump Administration officials, even after agreeing to cooperate. A federal judge has ordered manaforts attorneys and muellers prosecutors to appear for a scheduling conference this afternoon. Yesterday the judge said she would proceed with the hearing if there is no filing from manaforts defense team. A source familiar with the manafort teams plans tells nbc news the defense is working on that submission right now, but would not say what the filing would actually entail. One of the key questions is whether manafort will name the Trump Administration official he allegedly had contact with back in 2018. A spokesperson for manaforts legal team declined to comment. One of the Top Republicans in the house says that his democratic colleagues should not make investigating President Trump a top priority once the new year hits. Speaking yesterday, House Majority leader Kevin Mccarthy said there are bigger issues for democrats to focus on when they retake the House Majority next month. I think america is too great of a nation to have such a small agenda. I think theres other problems out there that we really should be focused upon. Weve investigated this for a long period of time. Both sides have come up with nothing in the process. Despite mccarthys claim of coming up with nothing in the process, Robert Muellers russia probe has actually resulted in some pretty significant indictments or at least guilty pleas from at least 33 people so far. In 2014, mccarthy and other House Republicans set up a special committee dedicated to investigating the 2012 attacks in benghazi. The following year mccarthy celebrated the fact in this his eyes the committee put a dent in Hillary Clintons poll numbers. Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right . But we put together a Benghazi Special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today . Her numbers are dropping. Why . Because shes untrustable. Okay. So in a rare tv Interview White House Senior Advisor and the president s soninlaw Jared Kushner last night discussed the Trump Administrations bid to over haul the criminal justice system. Kushner laid out the bipartisan bill and the timeline for passing the plan. This bill will accomplish a lot to make our communities safer. The recidivism rate we have is way too high and not doing anything thabout that is irresponsible. The president s built an amazing Bipartisan Coalition of democrats and republicans and were very close right now and hopefully this will get to the floor and well be able to have a big bipartisan celebration before christmas. So before the interview wrapped, kushner was asked about the murder of Jamal Kashoggi by a team of Saudi Arabian operatives but kushner was not pressed on the new reports that he kept in close contact with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and advised him on how to deal with the fallout over the matter. This was his response. I think our intelligence agencies are making their assessments and were hoping to make sure theres justice brought where that should be. Were focused now on the broader region, which is figuring out how to hopefully bring a deal together between the israelis and the palestinians. British Prime Minister theresa may has postponed a parliamentary vote on the brexit deal she struck with the European Union. That pivotal vote was originally set for later today. However, it became increasingly evident that the deal had little chance of being approved as both pro and antibrexit lawmakers came out against it, including a significant number of lawmakers from theresa mays own party. Now, the main Sticking Point remains what happens to the border between northern ireland, part of the u. K. , and the irish republic, which is a separate country that is actually remaining inside the European Union. It all comes hours after the European Unions top court, the court of justice, ruled that the u. K. Could unilaterally cancel brexit without asking the rest of the European Union first as long as a final agreement has not been implemented. French president emanuel macron broke his public silence on yellow vest protests. Bending to increasingly violent outrage, macron took responsibility for his part in triggering the public anger and outlines selfmeasuveral measur ease tensions. Macron addressed protesters demands in addition to announcing a minimum wage increase, macron offered tax free over time pay and other tax relief measures to help low and middle income families. He also promised to act more quickly to heal frances economy, declaring an economic and social state of emergency. Despite a conciliatory tone, macron condemned the violence that has wreaked havoc across france as yellow vests held their fourth weekend of demonstrations which left nearly 300 injured, 2,000 arrested and several store fronts and monuments defaced. Joining us now, world news editor for axios. Is president macrons response being taken as a concession to the violence in paris . How are we looking at his reversal on some of these controversial issues that triggered these protests. It had to be viewed as a concession. Its a crucial moment for macron because he put himself forward as a different kind of french president , somebody who wasnt going to give to the streets as his predecessors had, somebody who had a big, ambitious agenda and wasnt going to be pushed off course. This is the first time in his presidency that hes really admitted that hes rubbed a lot of french people the wrong way. They dont think hes fighting for them and he needs to start listening a little bit more. It will be interesting to see if this protest movement, which is really kind of a leaderless movement, its like negotiating with jello almost, but it will be interesting to see if they take this as a real sign that hes shifting directions. Lets talk brexit as well. What is the delay on the brexit vote mean for the country . Just to put things in perspective, its been 900 days since britain voted to leave the European Union. They have about 100 days left before this brexit deadline and were moving backwards. Theresa may admitted her brexit plan had nowhere near the support it needed to get through parliament. Thats an indication that the sides are still so far apart on this very complicated negotiation. Theyre not even really looking at the same reality. If you talk to somebody whos pro brexit and somebody whos antibrexit, they wont even give you the same set of facts. The question is can they all be squeezed that they can get a deal passed before this march 29th deadline. If not were going to get a no deal brexit thats going to have all sorts of economic consequences. What global stability looks like from those capitals, right . Instability everywhere it seems right now. The Washington Post is adding a new category to its Fact Checking system taylor made for t tailer made f eor made for era. To get this rating claims must have received three or four pin noek owes and must have been within repeated at least 20 times. Right now the only person who meets that standard is President Trump. The post writes most politicians quickly drop a four pinnochio claim. The president keeps going long after the facts are clear in what appears to be a deliberate effort to replace the truth with his own for a far more fafvorabe version of it. Here are examples cite fwid pd post. The economy is the strongest its ever been in the history of our country. Except for one senator who came into the room in 3 00 in the morning and wont like that, we would have had health care too. Ive had the head of u. S. Steel call me the other day and he said were opening up six major facilities. Our country lost last year 817 billion in terms of deficit. 450 billion worth of things ordered from a very rich country, saudi arabia. Theres no russia. It was all made up by the democrats. The Mexican Border is very unprotected by our laws. We have horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the United States. Bottomless. In an oped for the Washington Post, 44 former senators are warning current senators that the United States is, quote, entering a dangerous period and must, quote, stand for democracy. They write in part this, were on the eve of the conclusion of special counsel Robert Muellers investigation in the houses commencement of investigations of the president and his administration. The likely convergence of these two events will occur at a time when regional conflicts and power confrontations continue to threaten our security, our economy and stability. It is a time, like other critical junctures in our history, when our nation must engage at every level at strategic position of both the president and the senate. We are at an Inflection Point in which the foundational principles of our democracy are at stake and the rule of law and the ability of our institutions to function freely and independently must be upheld. Powerful words. Still ahead, two people in ohio with no apparent connection arrested for plotting separate terror attacks. And later accused russian spy Maria Buttina reaches a plea deal with federal prosecutors. The United States Postal Service makes more holiday deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. With one notable exception. New listerine® ready tabs™ arent gum, mints, or marbles. Seriously, what is this . If you guessed theyre tabs that turn into liquid as you chew, so you can swish and clean your whole mouth instantly, then you were correct. And that was a really good guess. Nice job. Unstopand its strengthenedting place, the by xfi pods,gateway. Which plug in to extend the wifi even farther, past anything that stands in its way. Well almost anything. Leave no room behind with xfi pods. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Click or visit a retail store today. Welcome back, everybody. Authorities in ohio have made two arrests thwarting a pair of terror attacks. Officials say an area woman planned to carry out an attack at a local bar, while an area man planned to attack a synagogue. Social media posts led the fbi to arrest a man and a woman in northwest ohio whom they call would be terrorists, though they have no apparent connection. Authorities say 23yearold elizabeth lachron wanted to kill. She discussed plans to launch what she called an upscale mass murder at a bar in toledo. Her social media account was filled with pictures glorifying mass murders. She corresponded with Charlotte Church shooter dylann roof and visited columbine high school. They said she thought she could make pipe bombs. 21yearold damon joseph planned to attack a synagogue. The isis supporter was arrested after receiving two semiautomatic rifles from an undercover agent. He made very clear that his personal goal was to kill a rabbi. Inspired by the pittsburgh synagogue shooter, joseph deciding between two targets allegedly stated, which one will have the most people, what time and what day. Go big or go home. So the five marines who are missing after last weeks plane collision near japan have been declared dead. A pair of planes with seven people on board collided after a training accident off the coast of japan. Two Service Members were rescued although one later died from his injuries. The names of the oh ther marine who died have not yet been released. Russia sent bombers to venezuela yesterday. Those russian jets can carry conventional or nuclear tips cruise missiles. Their deployment comes after venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro visited moscow last week to garner additional political and economic support even though venezuela already owes billions of dollars in debt to russia. Secretary of state mike pompeo responded to this move on twitter. He wrote, russias government has sent bombers halfway around the world to venezuela. The russia and venezuelan people should see this for what it is, two corrupt governments squandering public funds and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer. Lets switch geers fars for moment. Its another frigid morning on the east coast, no surprise there. Theyre still digging out in the carolinas. A lot of kids were out playing yesterday and also a lot of people were cleaning up too. The snowfall totals, mt. Mitchell is the highest peak on the eastern seaboard in the appalachians. They reported 34 inches of snow by the park ranger there. A lot of the cities had about 612 inches. Its still there. Charlottes at 29 degrees, raleigh at 30. They still have Winter Weather advisories out there because of black ice. Lets talk about the next storm. Right now it slammed into the pacific northwest. We are seeing a good deal of rain. Well get some snow in the cascades here. This storm will eventually move through the rockies over the next couple days. This is going to put down a good deal of snow. Heres the cascades here. Northern idaho gets it good. Around Salt Lake City only 46 inches there around provo. In colorado we could pick up 46. The storm weakens as it travels through the mountains. But it will head down through into areas of texas by thursday. Today the eastern half of the country is just fine. But by the time we get to thursday, the storm taps moisture out of the gulf. Whats good about this storm is theres not a lot of cold air with it. This is going to be a big rainstorm through the south thursday friday and then along the east coast as we go through friday night. My advice to you guys is if you have friday night plans on the eastern seaboard for holidays, its going to be a rainy one, but at least it wont be snow and ice. Probably be spending it at home. Sounds good to me. Still ahead, defense Reigns Supreme on monday night football. Lebron and wade back together one final time. Details next in sports. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. Appointments available now. 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. And feato be there. S piles. For the good. And not so good. For the mundane. The aweinspiring. The heart racing. The heart breaking. Thats what life is all about. Showing up. Unless migraine steals your chance to say i am here. Thats why, we created aimovig. A preventive treatment for migraine in adults. One dose, once a month. Aimovig is proven to reduce the number of monthly migraine days. For some, that number can be cut in half or more. The most common side effects are pain, redness, or swelling at the injection site and constipation. These are your days what will each one bring . Doesnt matter, as long as you can say. I am here. Talk to your doctor about preventing migraine with aimovig. And be there more. Welcome back. Time now for sports. The nfl wraps up week 14 with the seahawks hosting the vikings. It was all about the defense. For the fourth win in a row, after doubling his 30 lead with a second field goal, seattle stopped minnesota on a pair of scoring chances, including a controversial blocked kick that gave life to the seahawks offense. Thats carson for the score. Theres kirk cousins. They paid a lot of money for him in the off season, not for that. Thats a sack. Thats a fumble. And this is a touchdown by defensive back justin coleman, 29 yards for the score. Minnesota eventually found the end zone very late in the game to avoid the shutout. The seahawks nice win 217. The Oakland Raiders have fired general manager reggie mckenzie. The team will begin an immediate search for a new front office executive. Anyone see what amare cooper did this past weekend . He used to be a raider. Ten players are named to the a. P. All American First Team including four that belong to the top ranked alabama crimson tide. A leading six alabama players were chosen to the three all american teams. And finally two los angeles for the final meeting of two of the nbas alltime greats. Former teammates lebron james and dwyane wade faced off for the last time last night. As fate would have it, the game came down to the final possession. With the heat down three and the ball in wades hands. At the last second lebron switched to guard him and forced his friends into firing an off balance heave. The pair hugged off the game and swapped jerseys. Lakers win. Great memories from those two. Look at the love on the court there. Theyre good friends. I think they had two championships and made it to the final one year. Its really nice to see that kind of friendship among players on different teams. Lebrons defense there in the end kind of did not look like he really tried to block that threepointer. That would be rude. You dont want to have the game tied because you dont want to block your friends shot. Totally. Do you want to correct bill about the ncaa . She can. What Top Republicans have to say about allegations he directed Michael Cohen to make illegal hush money payments during the campaign. Protesters take to the hill to demand action on Climate Change. Plaque psoriasis can be relentless. Tremfya® is for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. With tremfya®, you can get clearer. And stay clearer. In fact, most patients who saw 90 clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. Tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin, and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. Tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or have symptoms such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. Before starting tremfya® tell your doctor if you plan to or have recently received a vaccine. Ask your doctor about tremfya®. Tremfya®. Because you deserve to stay clearer. Janssen wants to help you explore cost support options. With my bladder leakage, the products ive tried just didnt fit right. They were too loose. Its getting in the way of our camping trips. But with a range of sizes, depend fitflex is made for me. With a range of sizes for all body types, depend fitflex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. Welcome back, everybody. Im Yasmin Vossoughian alongside Ayman Mohyeldin. It is the bottom of the hour. Lets start with the mornings top stories. Some Top Republicans are dismissing allegations that donald trump directed his former fixer Michael Cohen to make illegal hush money payments to two women during the 2016 company. Senator orrin hatch said the democrats will do anything to hurt this president. When he was told the allegations came from the Southern District of new york, hatch said, okay, but i dont care. All i can say is hes doing a good job as president. Hatch was asked whether he was concerned about the allegations. He said, no, because i dont think he was involved in crimes, but even then, you know, you could make anything a crime under the current laws. If you want to, you can blow it way out of proportion. You can do a lot of things. Louisiana senator john kennedy said, quote, let me say this about mr. Cohen. Jesus loves him but everybody else thinks hes an idiot. I think most americans think hes a sleazeoid grifter. Chuck grassley also dismissed the allegations telling cnn they based it on what a liar says so it hurts the credibility of it. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is weighing in on Michael Cohen and the russia probe. In fact, he tweeted yesterday it would help if mueller would release the 70 hours of interviews of Michael Cohen. The American People could see how many different stories he told, how much he was threatened and how the prosecutors blackmailed and bargained to get what they wanted. Release the tapes. A Russian National accused of running a secret campaign to influence powerful conservative americans as agreed to plead guilty. According to Court Documents, Maria Buttinas plea deal includes fully cooperating with federal prosecutors after spending five months in jail for alleged crimes that predate the 2016 election. The 30yearold previously pleaded not guilty in july for conspiracy in failing to register as a foreign agent. Prosecutors allege that buttina purposefully infiltrated gun rights activism circles, particularly within the National Rifle association and the Republican Party to influence u. S. Politics in russias favor. Buttina also allegedly tried to broker a 2016 meeting between then candidate donald trump and russian president vladimir putin. The times reports that buttina will work with federal, state and local authorities in exchange for what could be a short prison term. She will most likely be deported after her release. Additional Court Documents request for the plea deal to be signed off by a d. C. Judge tomorrow afternoon. The search for the next white house chief of staff is on, but finding a candidate to fill the position may be harder than expected. After announcing that john kelly would be exiting the white house and being turned down by his pick to replace him which was nick ayers, President Trump now finds himself racing to find someone to help guide his administration through a growing list of possible legal troubles. Hallie jackson has more on that search. President trump under pressure legally and about to be understaffed internally now that john kelly is on his way out. John kelly will be leaving. I dont know if i can say retiring, but hes a great guy. The chief of staffs resignation has been rumored for months as his relationship with the president deteriorated. People leave. They come in, theyre here. Its a very exhausting job. Now the hunts on for chief number three, a title typically among the most coveted in washington, but this time contenders arent exactly knocking down the door. Nick ayers who works alongside the Vice President had been expected to take the job temporarily, but those talks fell apart. Multiple sources familiar with the discussions say the scramble for a plan b includes candidates like matt whittaker, budget director Mick Mulvaney and mark meadows. Its flattering. Im not out campaigning for the job. Whoever it is will have to handle looming legal challenges from democrats controlling the house, promising investigations and possibly from the special counsel. The president has denied any wrongdoing, tweeting theres no smoking gun, no collusion. But james comey, the former fbi director fired by donald trump, now one of his critics, argues the president s tiptoeing toward becoming an unindicted coconspirator over those hush money payments to women during the 2016 campaign. If hes not there, hes certainly close given the language in the filing that the crimes are committed at his direction. Keep in mind that the next chief of staff will have to juggle not just those russia investigation questions, but the 2020 Reelection Campaign too. That means political strategy skills will be especially important for whoever the president picks. Theres new reporting on a new deal that nancy pelosi is negotiating with rebel democrats to win their support for speaker. Four democratic sources tell politico that it includes a proposal to term limit Party Leaders and committee chairs. The deal would reportedly cap her time as speaker to four years. Politico also reports that under the terms of the agreement, pelosi, hoyer and clyburn would be able to serve three terms and a fourth if they won the support of the caucus. This would include the time spent in leadership from 2007 to 2011. Pelosi can only lose 17 democratic votes on january 3rd. Right now about 20 members of her caucus say they will vote against her for speaker. Joining us again dave lawlor. Lets talk about nancy pelosi here first reportedly brokering this deal, enough for her to gain the votes that she needs. Do you think she has it . Im not up on capitol hill counting votes but ki tell you shes been remarkably effective at sidelining opposition to her returning as speaker. This is an interesting deal. If you look at the Incoming Committee chairs and the leadership, its not a young bunch on the democratic side. Maybe this is an opportunity for younger members to get in the mix. Lets switch gears and talk about the search for a new white house chief of staff. What kind of issues might a new chief of staff for President Trump face as Robert Muellers probe rages on . And what kind of qualities should the president be looking for in a new incoming chief of staff . Youre probably going to need a lawyer based on the experience of past senior white house officials and the kind of conversations youre going to be on. Youre probably going to be worrying about subpoenas as much as legislation as you come into that job. And you really could find yourself running a white house thats really in survival mode. Thats certainly a possibility here. And you might not last that long based on past experience. Theres a lot of reasons why people are questioning the idea that this is a great step up for them and their careers. In terms of what trump should be looking for in his next chief, he probably has different criteria than most past president s. He obviously wants somebody whos loyal, he wants a fighter and he wants somebody he trusts. So that kind of narrows it down a bit. I think its interesting the kind of names being floated now. Theyre not necessarily people who have held positions like this in the past. Mark meadows is an interesting option, somebody whos clearly on the right flank of the Republican Party. That would send a pretty clear message. Im glad im not running this search. And i think who is running the search, by the way . Any idea whos actually responsible for that . I think its a trumpled search a search. Obviously we know theres a change happening, but we had the Reince Priebus who was a fullthroated politics guy. Then we had a general as the chief of staff. It seems as if the president really wanted someone as his chief of staff that is completely, as you said, loyal to him, someone that could really sort of just lead at his own direction. Im wondering in all these front running candidates who that person could feasibly be. He doesnt like to be managed. Who knows . Ive never met matt whittaker. Hes viewed as a loyalist. Thats what President Trump seems to find appealing in him. But really people who have expressed loyalty to trump in the past and people like john kelly, who came in at a time when there was a push for strong leadership. Trump wants somebody who will be his guy. It also seems like theres the jared and ivanka factor that the chief of staff is going to have to deal with. All the reports indicate that john kelly didnt necessarily get arolong with them. Dave lawlor live in washington. Thanks, dave. Hundreds of students gather in the halls of capitol hill demanding action on Climate Change. If you were on twitter yesterday, you may have seen the president s use of the word its supposed to be smoking gun. I think he wrote smocking, not once but twice. Details on who offers him a lesson on what smocking actually means. Bill karins back with another check on your forecast. tand in your garage,son a brand new john deere. Thats not a mirage. With 60 months financing at 0 , say happy holidays to money well spent. If additional offers are what you desire, visit your john deere dealer before they expire. Now, start up your engines and drive out of sight. New john deere equipment for all and to all a good night. See your john deere dealer today to discover more great deals and special financing offers. New year, new deere. With my bladder leakage, the products ive tried just didnt fit right. They were too loose. Its getting in the way of our camping trips. But with a range of sizes, depend fitflex is made for me. With a range of sizes for all body types, depend fitflex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. man dont. Go. Down. Oh, no aaaaballooned your car. Call meeeee burke a flyby ballooning. Seen it, covered it. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum mauntil i held her. Diabetes wasnt my top priority. I found my tresiba® reason. Now im doing more to lower my a1c. Once daily tresiba® controls blood sugar for 24 hours for powerful a1c reduction. Tresiba® is a longacting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. Dont use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Dont share needles or insulin pens. Dont reuse needles. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headache. Check your blood sugar. Low blood sugar can be serious injection site reactions may occur. Tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. Taking tzds with insulins like tresiba® may cause serious side effects like heart failure. Your insulin dose shouldnt be changed without asking your prescriber. Get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue or throat, dizziness or confusion. I found my tresiba® reason. Find yours. Ask your Diabetes Care specialist about tresiba®. Welcome back. Hundreds of middle and High School Students from across the country lined the halls of capitol hill yesterday demanding action on Climate Change. 138 people were arrested for unlawfully demonstrating in the cannon and Longworth House Office buildings. Students packed into the Capitol Hill Office of nancy pelosi, calling on her to prioritize Climate Change in the democratic majorities agenda next year. Sun rise movement, the group that organized the protest, says they already gained the support of 22 Congressional Democrats who will tobacco creation of a committee that will focus on solutions to combat Climate Change. In the last couple president ial elections Climate Change has not been an issue at all. I think ten years ago it wasnt brought up in any of the debates. I think last time it was like one or two questions. The topic is only growing in importance and urgency. Well wait and see. Lets talk about what the two storms were dealing with. The one is the one thats exiting in north carolina. A little bit of snow overnight in areas near fayetteville too, very rare. A lot of schools are delayed because of black ice. Then we have a new storm coming into the west here, pretty significant storm with a lot of rain for the lower elevations. Snow at the higher elevations. Anyone traveling in the passes will have to deal with putting the chains on. I5 just a rainy commute for you. The cold blast has made it all the way to florida. Its a jacket day even in areas like orlando with a frigid morning. Im sure people in miami arent thrilled with 55 degrees. Orlando is at 43. Richmond is at 27. The sun will be up so it will warm up a little bit but by florida standards this is a cold day, only highs in the low 60s. Richard up to 41. By the time we get to tehe end f the week we start to see things m. D. Ra moderating a little bit. D. C. By friday gets to 53. Along with the warmer temperatures will come some rain for the east coast at the end of the week. Theres no snow in sight. All of a sudden were getting into that countdown period where were worrying about whos going to get a white christmas. A lot of areas in the northeast, doesnt look like youre going to get snow. The focuses at hmerriam webster have taken upon themselves to correct President Trump. The president misspelled the word smoking twice. Quoting a fox news report on Robert Muellers russia probe, trump wrote, democrats cant find a smocking gun tying the Trump Campaign to russia after james comeys testimony. No smocking gun, no collusion. I remember when i saw it i actually had to reread it a couple times. Just to make sure. Merriamwebster offered him the definition of smocking. Shocki in smocking is a type of embroidery made of many small folds sewn into place. We all learned a new word because of the president. Still ahead, the market volatility continues as the dow fights back to cut a more than 500point loss. Apple suffers a major blow as china bans the sales of some of its iphones. Details in the business battle at the center of the move and the other stories driving the business day coming up. 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Stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and twohour appointment windows. Click, call or visit a store today. Welcome back, everyone. As Global Markets struggled yesterday, u. S. Stocks actually ended in positive territory after another wild session in which the dow erased a 500point drop. Whats behind yesterdays volatility and explaining this sudden uptick . Well it was a roller coaster day yesterday for u. S. Markets for sure. It was largely about tech. Early on we saw tech stocks sell off with apple down more than 2 on with apple down 2 on the back of news around qualcomm and apple. This has been a long standing dispute between these two companies. Early on, qualcomm said this banned the import and sale of imports in china. But later, apple came out and said no, in fact, this only pertains to their older iphones. So this, then, in turn, lifted apple shares to close higher on the day. It provided a boost to the broader seco broader tech sector. Should we read into the timing of these developments given what we heard around huawei last week and the broader u. S. China debate there. So may prove to be gens coincidental. Its too early to tell at this point. Lets talk verizon here. It seems as if theyre restructuring, theyre buying these employee buyouts. They want to cut costs and ramp up their investment. Theres a lot of takers to this Buyout Program thats going on. What have you got . There have been, indeed, a number of takers. More than 10,000 people have chosen to opt into the package that verizon is offering. Verizon is caught up in this race to be the dominant player in 5g as were seeing this race take place on a worldwide scale. Verizon is targeting 10 billion in sales by 2021. They are looking to funnel their growth efforts into 5g and this is all part of that Prime Minister. A number of employees are looking at decent packages from verizon and taking advantage of that. Interesting to see that the instability in brexit vote did not cause a big ripple in the market. Coming up, axios has a look at this mornings one big thing. And more for what manafort plans to file a response the to the Senate Intelligence committees office. And why theres not enough evidence against President Trump yesterday for impeachment, plus the expected next chairman of the house intel committee, adam schiff, will explain why he thinks the president faces the real prospect of jail time. Morning joe is moments away. Its the time of the season for loving for a limited time, 50 for them 10 for you. Applebees. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. 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 with my bladder leakage, the products ive tried just didnt fit right. They were too loose. 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The trump reality tremor, were still unpacking the fallout from the Mueller Investigation and the similar investigation by the Southern District attorney of new york. One person in the white house called it a reality tremor showing people the political and legal risks the president is facing. Particularly the investigation in new york, the investigation about whether trump was involved in potentially Illegal Campaign contributions. Some of trumps harder supporters are still that is something to worry about. An issue inside the white house and outside the white house, were one election down, we have another one coming up. The 2020 race for presidency is coming up soon and some of trumps allies are start to go worry about the Political Part of this. Juxtapose it in terms of how its playing out for the president s search for his next chief of staff. How much is that weighing in on who he decides to be his next chief of sav. Its something thats factoring into this. After the president s previous plan to replace john kelly with john ayers over the weekend blew up, perhaps find someone who worked in the 2016 campaign, someone who can help managing that messaging and the political fight that will grow particularly when democrats take kang control of congress. President trump likes to work the phone and the people he calls like to tell a lot of reporters about it, so dont trust anything until the president himself tweet s or sas it. A lot of these names being floated now, like chris christie, steve munchin, mark meadows, could slip into that position. The reason why it didnt work with nick ayers is because the president wanted him to make that commitment, wanted someone on for the full two years, not just a caretaker. Let me ask you about googles ceo taking his place on capitol hill after announced google will shut down google plus. What more can we expect from that testimony . Im lookinger for less about the google ceos testimony than the lines of questioning he receives. What are they thinking about as far as tech regulation, on advertising networks, privacy, you mentioned google plus shutdown because of a lot of information breach. How are they going to push him on this . Are republicans going to hammer him on conservative issues about youtube . Thing google ceo isnt his own boss like the other ceos. The google ceo reports up to larry page, the founder of google who is the ceo of the parent company. Interesting to see if they try to get him to hill next time. Thanks. Were going to be reading axios a. M. In just a little bit. Signup. Axios. Com. That does it for us on this tuesday morning. Morning joe starts right mow. Certainly they will be impeachable offenses. Even though they were committed before the president became president , they were committed in the service of fraudulently obtaining the office. 10,000 protesters on the street, thous of arrests and a police crackdown. Its the start of a revolution. As a result, if we went had ahead and held the vote tomorrow, the deal would be rejected by a significant margin. Wow, talk of president ial impeachment in america. Paris in flames and a brexit deal ripping europe to pieces. As Richard Haass frames it, a bad day in politics for what we used to call the west. Welcome to morning joe on this tuesday, december 11th. Joe is off today, but with willie and me, we have mike barnacle, noah rothman, susan dellpercio, Richard Haass, eugene robinson, as well. Richard, lets go right there. Are all these crises, if you could speak to them, are they one offs or are are they worldwide populism still burning . I wish they were one offs, but at the risk of starting