Him in jail. That hearing is happening right now. The judge overseeing his criminal trial, she scheduled this hearing after stone posed a photo of her after what appeared to be crosshairs of a gun next to her head. It was asking for contributions for his defense fund calling Robert Mueller a deep state hit man. It was up for an hour before it was removed and replaced with a statement saying it was a random photo from the internet. But then, stone filed an unusual notice of apology calling the photograph and comment improper. Jackson is the same judge overseeing the criminal case against former Trump Campaign chairman paul manafort. Just last week she said manaforts efforts to shield a russian conspirator gives rise to length legitimate questions about where his loyalties lie. Stone faces seven charges including one count of obstruction. Five counts of making false statements and one count of witness tampering. A gag order was ordered on stone prohibiting from him from speaking to the press. Joining me now is anna scheckter. How is this unfolding so far. He is apologizing to the judge, he says he is sorry and he let his family down. He said yes, he sounds pretty contrite. He also says he is not the person that chose the photo, but he did post it. He does have a group of young people around him that do his graphics, but he is the one that posts them. So he is explaining all of this to the judge and well see if it works. He continuously posts photos, mess ans on instagram, saying he is a victim, a target of the deep state, and decembisparagin court. And he is trying to say the photo of her informs no way meant to disrespect the court and threaten her. Do you get the sense that stone is being consistent in his statement and his hearing. Im just sffollowing the notes from charlie gile. Well, he is saying that he didnt mean for it to company the court, but the judge is pressing him saying you have been continuously posting these messages about how youre a victim, didnt you have any sense there was a bad outcome from this and he switches and says yes. So yes, but i think he will say since monday when he took it down he dent mean for it to be threatening. And since it could be con chuted this w construed as threatening. Anna schecter, thank you very much for that update. While that stone hearing is under way, trumps former fixer, Michael Cohen, is on capitol hill talking to lawmakers and aides. That is in addition to his scheduled testimony before the house overtight and intelligence committees wednesday and thursday. Last night a chairman of the Oversight Committee released an official briefing memo outlining what lawmakers man to address. Business practices and other matters. Speaker pelosi already talked to the announce mement. Any efforts to intimidate family members or pressure witnesses will not be tolerated. Joining me now from the hill is Garrett Haake who has been chasing Michael Cohen. What did you learn . Relative silence seems to be the theme of the day. Michael cohen was not talking to me in either of the two times i was talking to him. He got into a lot of trouble with richard burr when he was supposed to be here last year and released his testimony ahead of tomb, that is very much frowned upon. Sir, were you meeting with the senate intel team today . So, casey, that was Michael Cohen in the second of our three mostly silent interactions. There is an area reserved for the capital. This was clearly a wind up towards cohens meeting with the full Senate Intel Committee next week. Lawmakers from both parties want a lot of answers from him. He will have to run a gauntlet next week. Thank you, garrett, as always, my friend. I want to bring in my panel now. Joining me is ari melbur. And msnbc political contributor jennifer reuben, opinion writer for the washington post. I want to start with you. The apology that roger stone gave to the court, outside of usual protocol, but im reading what he said to the judge, the judge said my lawyers wrote that and i signed it, it doesnt seem terribly cooperative to me. You were questioning, as we get these notes were seeing a picture of him under pressure. This is the first time he has been questioned by a mueller prosecutor. Roger stone called this into a theater of the absurd and used his own arrest and the video and the leak and sinclair and all of this to attack what is essentially the pro pryty of the fbi and the probe itself. I would say at a minimum this was not going well for him. He was clearly trying to show some contrition in court. They said on the stand that basically this was a bad idea, they are preserved to be challenging the court and potentially threatening the judge through that post, but they were widening it saying look, you have been out on tv doing this, do you think that is appropriate . So we are breaking new ground as we speak. So to pick up on the phrase theater of the absurd, how does that attitude play on prosecutors that are running this show in muellers image, so to speak . It doesnt go well and now he will be cross examined. Dont you just wish we had cameras in the federal courtroom . I am shocked on some level that his lawyers voluntarily put him on the stand when they came in their plan was to put roger stone on the stand, i dont really get that. On some level i hope im wrong. Why would anyone put him on the stand and suggest him to the prosecution of a mueller prosecutor and the judge in this case, that seems od to me and predictably he is not doing well. He is saying one thing and the judge is intervening and saying didnt you say five minutes ago under oath something different. So the transcript of this hearing will be wonderful reading. Do you get a sense here that the audience is the president of the United States . Thats what theyre trying to do and that is what is getting them in trouble. You cant play to donald trump who wants theatrics and talks of conspiracy, and stay on the good side of the judgment. On what we expect in a normal courtroom setting, and we have seen this time and time again what gave paul manufacture tafo could conspire with the lawyers. So the arrogance of some of these people that made their livelihood, made their image in this acting out sort of way in this theatrical way, now have to learn a new repertoire which is no comment. Lets talk about this broader picture here. Pete williams is reporting that we expect the broader Mueller Probe to be sent to the defendant of justice. Potentially as soon as this week. Im so sorry, we have news in the Jussie Smollett case, we have to interrupt, a judge set bail at 100,000 for the empire actor. He made his First Court Appearance hours ago. He turned himself in on charges of filing a false police report. Jussie smollett who is black and openly ga say two men attacked him, put a noose on his neck and poured bleach on him. Two brothers were arrested from Surveillance Video. They say the men who worked with him on empire started to cooperate and tell authorities about the scheme, they have not been charged with a crime. They explain why smollett staged the attack. When his letter didnt work, he paid 3500 to stage this attack and drag chicagos reputation through the mud in the process. It was because he was disfied with his salary. He enjoys the presumption of innocence particularly when there has been information like this one. 20th century fox issued a statement that said we understand the seriousness of this matter and we respect the legal process. Were evaluating the situation and looking at options. Ron, some fast moving developments here, what do you know . Well, we know there is a lot of people up on the landing here. We dont believe that he will come through those doors, the front doors, because he has to reportedly go back over to the jail to make arrangements for that bail of 100,000. One of the more eye raising elements is that according to testimony in the court today, one of these brothers provided drugs, molly to Jussie Smollett. It was at that point he looked away from the proceedings. He was expressing what appeared to be looks of frustration by some of the things said by the state. It has taken a turn after seven or eight days. We have to interrupt and go to a press conference here, hang tight for me. This trip was scheduled to take place on the evening of january 29th, 2019, and it was planned by the brothers, who are 27 years old. After able confirmed the date and time of his trip, dth efend smollett said i might need your help on the low, they spoke that afternoon where the defendant subsequently trove him home to ables apartment. He indicated his displeasure that the empire studios handling of the racist and homophobic letter that he received three days prior. He said he want today stage an attack where able would appear to batter him. He also suggested that his older brother assist him with the attack. Department smollett met his brother on several occasions through additionally he had been an extra on empire. Theyre both dark skin black males born in the United States with nigerian decent. When they reached his apartment at 5 00 p. M. On january 5th, 2019, he was summoned into smolletts vehicle. He asked if he could trust him. Smollett detailed his plans of the attack to the brothers. Smollett stated he wanted hem to appear to attack him on the evening of january 28th, 2019 near his apartment building. Defendant smollett said they wanted to catch his attention by calling him an empire f and empire n. Th he wanted them to attack him but not hurt him too badly. He also wanted ola to place a rope around his neck and say this is maga country. He gave him a 100 bill for the rope, gasoline, ski masks, gloves, and red baseball caps that resemble the ones in a say make America Great again. The meeting between smollett and the brother Social Security corroborated by cpd pod videos and cellular phone data. They went to pick up the brothers and show them the scene where he wanted the staged attack to take place. Smollett drove the brothers to the corner in chicago where the staged attack was to take place just outside of his apartment building. Further details were provided by smollett that the staged attack was to take place in the southwest corner. Smollett also instructed the brothers not to bring their cell phones with them. He believed it would capture the incident. There was a change in the plan, in that bleach would be used instead of gasoline in the simulated attack. Smollett drove the brothers home and provided them with 3500 personal checks made pay able to able back dated to january 23rd, 2019 the date of the planned attack, the brothers purchased the clothing items at a local Beauty Supply store and the rope at a Hardware Store using the 100 bill that smollett gave them. Able also dpoesed his check that same day. Later the plan changed and the time of the attack had to be pushed back because smolletts flight had been delayed by four hours. It eventually landed at 9 23 a. M. During this call, he smollett said the attack should happen at 2 00 a. M. Cell phone records and uber records confirm this call and the uber ride, the brothers took the uber to the 1400 block of north wells where they flagged down a taxi that took them to within three blocks of the scene at 1 22 a. M. The taxis in car video captures them flagging the cam a cab ad in the cab. Columbus drive to the west, illinois to the north, and Chicago River to the south. Video evidence shows that from the airport at approximately 1 30 a. M. At 1 45 a. M. , smollett left his building to walk to a Subway Restaurant at illinois and mcclare court. At 2 00 a. M. The brothers were at new street and north water street, but the defendant smolle smoll smollett did not proceed on time. They waited near a bench when smollett arrived 4 00 later. During his interview on abcs Good Morning America that aired on february 14th of 2019, he identified the people shown in the still of that Surveillance Video as his attackers. Also in that interview, smollett said he was positive those were his attackers. It was at this time the brothers staged the attack of defendant smollett just how he instructed them. While it was occurring with a witness who is an employee of nbc news chicago just parked his vehicle around the corner from the location of the staged attack. It was despite the that e fact that cpd detectives were yelling racial and homophobic slurs at them. The attack lasted 45 seconds and they pointed out to the brothers practically 15 hours earlier. Will thor Video Evidence shows the run southbound toward the river. Vid Video Evidence also shows them entering a taxi at 2 10 a. M. The brothers exited the taxi and walked northbound. The brothers lake view apartme apartment. The video shows the brothers walking from where they were dropped off towards their home. Two minutes after they left the t taxi, defendant smolletts manager called police to report the incident. The police observed that smollett had a rope draped around his neck. It was captured on police body wa worn camera, smollett claimed he was the victim of an attack. Smollett asked said they put a rope on his neck, poured bleach on him and said this is maga country. He received a phone call from an unidentified phone number in which an unidentified male caller stated hey, you little f, before ending the call. Smollett told police it happened near a camera that he stated should have captured the attack. This is the same camera that he pointed out to the brothers in preparation for this staged attack. Police said the initial attacker was wearing a ski mask that covered his face. The area all around his eyes. As stated earlier, the brothers are dark skinned male blacks. During the Good Morning America interview smollett stated it feels like if i was a muslim, a mexican, or someone black, i feel like the doubters would have supported me more, much more. They mislead the police to believe his attackers were white. On january 29th, 2019, just less than 18 hours following the attack, he placed a call to able and the duration was five seconds. On january 2019 at 10 46 a. M. , he called able, who was in istanbul, turkey, and it lasted 8 28. Chicago police investigated this matt matter. The investigation, using Surveillance Videoest, taxy videos, credit card records, bank records, and a store recei receipt. On february 13th, the brothers returned from nigeria and landed at the Chicago Ohair International Airport and they were detained. Members of the Chicago Police department placed them into custody nap same evening the Chicago Police executed a search warrant where they recovered evidence that rinked z able tv show. The brothers agreed to cooperate in the investigation. In more evidence, text messages, phone records, bank records, surveillance records, this investigation shifted from a hate crime to Disorderly Conduct. The States Attorney Office chang changed that looks luke that is all we had from the state attorneys office. Cook county. Back with me is ron mott. That was alleged, still, but that was a detailed list of events from the attorneys offi office. If these allegations a true, this is Extraordinary Police work to pin this all together. It sounds like there was some planning allegedly to stage this hoax. He lives just off of the Chicago River in a neighborhood called streeterville which is just across the street from the nbc news bureau. And according to the complain you just heard, they were just a few blocks away when they were supposed to meet him around 2 00, Jussie Smollett was not there. He apparently got home from this trip from back east, he said he walked to a walgreens first, he thought it was a 24 hours wall gre walgreens, then he went back to sub way and then back to his apartment. These are just allegations, but if he wanted this alleged attack to be captured on camera he was too far south of the camera at that corner of new street and lower water street across the street from his building. That camera, you may have remember those images, they turned out to be these brothers who, from nigerian decent, that was them, both of them affiliated with the show empire. They were on the east side of the street, jussies building was on the west side of the street. And it happened on the stairway up to the next level. There is a street level above it where the cars and traffic go by. That is where he says this attack took place, but there are no cameras shooting that particular location. This was planned by this actor, but the attack was not seen on camera. Some of the things that i think we should also point out he has been charged, two Police Officers who responded to the initial call found it unusual given the jobs they have for the victim to still be wearing a chemically stained shirt that he says the perpetrators threw on him along with the rope on his neck. Ron mott outside of the courthouse there for us, thank you. Police say the attack was a hoax and now there are fears future hate crimes will face criticism and rev ridge al sharpton. Host of politics nation. Rev,ly start with you. As you have watched these events unfold, what damage has been done here, and just take me through how you see the situation that you have seen so much. I think first these allegations, if it proves to be true, it would be very pain much for those of us that jussie and supported him when it was initially reported, and then at the same time if they do not prove to be true, whoever is guilt, whether or not he is guilt, or if is is what he said originally, i think the real problem is if it a racehate based crime or lbgtq, we always face skepticism. This raises it any more. It is not like people go with no questions asked. They still say maybe that it was not happening, and you know i remember early in my career i would get involved in cases, some would say that is a okay, we have been very caution about getting involved. One thing you did see here is people expressing outrage including president trump, there was no rallies or marching. People waited and saw where it is going and they said either way we want to see justice done. It did not build a Movement Even when we have movements that are questioning about the skeptical part of the situation. There are two communities here that have been deeply affected by hate crimes that have been going up skeptical, what kind of damage is done when someone like Jussie Smollett does Something Like this allegedly. Even allegedly were seeing tremendous damage already. Many far right groups took this as narratives being rampant and not true. Right now theyre really frantic, how do we correct this message because they have been doing tremendous work for years highlighting a rising epidemic this country. People of color face tremendous amounts of violence. Last year but saw more tra trans women of color attacked more. They are facing tremendous violence and no one is believing them, this is a case that many of these groups and politicians, senators Kamala Harris and corey booker, do want to pass things like this awe on the floor in is a moment in a long long battle to show that violence is real. And it many of the groups are sprining to figure out what is happening next. You yourself said my neighbors spewed hateful words and lit a grill under my porch and tried to smoke us out. At the time i was a reporter for the guardian, i was reporting on crime and the police. I was throwing a big brunch for black gay men. And the police said there was not enough to file anything and i should just take time to talk to my neighbors. As a reporter i see this constantly. People want to come to me and tell their stories and they fear they will not be able to prove it. And sometimes there is not footage to show that a racial epithet was used. It can be very hard to show and if you go that rout you can lose the case if youre not able to prove the hate crime. Refverend sharpton, how do w recover from this. The country is so incredibly divided. What is your advice to those Going Forward laid out by the police department. My advice would be to tell the truth and i think that if he or anyone is in a situation where they fabricated something, you have to deal with who the victim or the alleged victim was. In the sense that if we are building and having an equal protection under the law, because you have to ask yourself why do people believe this in the first place, because they have been on the rise, because these things are not nothing that is not a reality in some of our communities, its not like anyone wakes up and says i want to believe hoax today. We have to say why are people on one side, as you say, casy, having one view saying this is really believable and horrendous, and on the other side they say oh, it is a hoax. So we have to take a step back on all sides and say we need an equ equal criminal Justice System. They had a case where they did not provide sfrap a dash cam, and they held the tape until after the mayors election. After awhile the policeman was dieted. If you have people that are skeptical, thats why. I think you were watching quite a few people scrambling to get camera shots and pictures of a couple men we have identified as Jussie Smollett east brothers. Zach, to the revs point, how do you think the Chicago Police department handled this, they were investigating it as a hate crime in the first few weeks. It was shocking to hear them say this is a racist and homophobic attack. As someone that has been investigating these for years in chicago, that was really unprecedented. People are really worried about them getting into the victim part of the story and they want to use it against him at the end. Traditional information like this has not leaked to quickly like this. Theyre not doing it to other parts of the story, to due to the vocal connection, they have a deep history of openly lying to citizens. They did openly through their union spot trump, many people felt they have been so hewillin call this a hoax. They have not been as cooperative as they have been in this round and they do not openly get information, they lie and hold information in cases. Two do we talk to in these cases. Rop, what did you learn . The gaggle that you learned back there with some family members. They are going down toward the jail. They believe he has processed out and paid his bond, and he will make his sbie a vehicle over there and go off to where ever he will go, his attorneys in this hearing said they will argue for no bond in this case at all. The studios where the show empire is produced is maybe a mile or so to the northeast of here. They are scheduled for today. Well see what is involved in todays shooting, but it will be interesting where that vehicle goes. No, i can still hear you, question, this Disorderly Conduct charge, i know i heard you on the air today talking about it as a serious crime, as a sflon, is it unusual for the bond to be so high in a case like this. Is it because she a celebrity or is this usual practice . Im not a legal expert, it seems high for this sort of offense. It is illegal to file a false police report. Superintendent johnson, at this turning the way it did, so many here in chicago and around the country wanted to believe this happened, as horrific as it had been, when you saw the states attorney lay out this case, a detailed case with forensic evidence in there, the bar will be pretty high to defend this successfully. What the rev and others have said are basically here are some things he could do to ease the pain caused by this. Number two, apologize to the city of chicago, and everything that the city has to endure here over the past 23 days, and as the superintendent of police here said offer something up to the city here. They spent a lot of money to investigate the claims and last friday it turned into him being a suspect to him concocting this whole thing. Chicago was a place where a man, an actor, attacked by people claiming to support the president and make America Great again through chemicals and home homophobic slurs on him. Were still keeping an eye here down to the south of me here to see if he comes out. Please keep an eye on that. I want to go back to zach quickly. We have gotten a little bit of a an idea of what Chicago Police think was the motive here. It has been unfolded as it alleged to. You have to have a strong reason to do Something Like that, no . Why would you do something that could be proven to be false so quickly, even i spoke to sources in his camp right before jumping on here and theyre still stating that he is holding true to the story and he disagrees it is about a salary. So what many people are fearful of is that he was using this incident to highlight his own beliefs around the president. If you look at the artists work in 2017, he relaceased a video that said fuw. It was violence based on race, gender, and sexuality. He has attacked the president on twitter, and he has a track record of trying to show our Current Administration not supporting people like him that are black and queer. So the big fear here is that he may have created a whole situation to highlight a reality that is happening every day, it was not true when they thought they needed it to be true and they are now fearful to report incidents on the street. Why do this, rev . I certainly agree with zach there, there is no rational that i have heard from anyone. Since the incident first happened, so i have no primary information, but i will say what was interesting is that on one interview that he did he said no there wasnt maga hats there and he kind of took that off of the table, said he never said that. I dont know where that came from. I think everyone will be asking why. If he is wrong, or if he is right, it needs to be some kind of accountability here. I think that activists and those on these cases have stood up to say it has to be done right either way just like we stand up when we feel it is the other way. We have a responsibility to be consistent and to keep fighting to make the criminal Justice System consistent. A very difficult story, thank you both for your insights on this. It is a very busy day an we again have breaking developments in the roger stone hearing, the judge has just taken a break and were expecting the ruling any minute now. Anna schecter at the white house, the judge has been pressing about his use of social media, give us a update. The judge is grilling stones lawyer, he is insisting on being in the press ive single day, and his lawyer says look, this incident has he learned his lesson, and he will shut up and not do it any more. And the judge said what changed. Were waiting to see and we will find out any moment how what she decides to do. The governments lawyers have been arguing that maybe a gag order is not enough for stone. Well see what she says but were all waiting. We have not heard her bring up any mention of jail time. We dont know it could be a wide range of outcomes. Im sure we will be back with you soon, anna, as soon as we get more information. I have one more question for you before i let you go, i think were getting some pictures in here. How much trouble could roger stone have gotten himself into as opposed to what he could have already done before he sat down on the stand. It wasnt just the monday post. He has continued to pose, and he posted another Instagram Post invoking the deep state, the antidonald trump deep state, and the governments lawyers have brought up the fact that he continues to post. So even after stone realized he went too far on mind, he continues to engage with the public and i think the judge will take all of that into account. Now when he was on the stand, the judge did not necessarily take his answers at face value and they have been arguing his testimony today is not credible. You cannot believe what he is saying today on the stand that he is contrite and he will stop and that it was a momentary lapse in judgment. He keeps on posting and it sort of seemed to me from what the judge was saying that she was not yet convinced that he was actually going to stop. She said she was considering a court order. Were taling you to stop, he will stop, well see what she decides. Ari said what roger stone ten tends toward as the theater of the absurd, for our viewers who are just kind of catching up on this, just to clarify what he was able to do before, we noted he had a form of a gag order originally. He goes out and makes an Instagram Post and now were thinking likely perhaps the gag order can be strengthened. What was he allowed to do under the first gag order they could potentially take away here . The first gag order didnt talk specifically about his instagram or facebook accounts. He couldnt make public statements on the courthouse steps because of a risk to the public, frankly. The judge was concerned that theres so much hype around this case and theres so many people around that when he goes and makes these public statements in front of the microphones, in front of the cameras, that it could actually taint the jury and affect the trial. So now clearly shes really upset about his social media posting. So i think what we can expect is shes going to come back and rule on whether or not he can continue to put up these Instagram Posts. Another thing we learned from the testimony today, which those of you who have been reporting on stone for a long time know, is that hes got a group of young people around him that actually create his graphics, and hes the one who says i like that, im going to post that. So we learned a little bit about the mechanics of how that worked on monday. So one of his aides, his assistant, found that photo on another website, and essentially created the image and then he wrote the text, which chastised Robert Mueller, chastised the judge, and called her an obamaappointed judge. And then with the hashtag roger stone did nothing wrong. Thats also come up in some of the dialogue today in the courtroom. The judge and the governments lawyers are saying, you keep roger stone keeps invoking the fact the judge was appointed by obama. Why does he keep doing that . And what is going to make him stop . The judge is going to decide, does she shi she needs to put the gag on all of his social media, take his cell phone away . The government already has a lot of his other devices but he does still have this cell phone. It became clear today hes not always in possession of it. Hes got this house down in florida and hes got five or six young people milling in and out of the house, creating his social media posts. Thats like his fulltime job. This is stones m. O. , creating a narrative, changing a narrative to help him and, frankly, to help him make money. A lot of these postings have been with the express intent to raise money. Hes saying for his legal fees. And i have also come to learn these legal fees have been mounting and hes having a hard time paying them. I think making money is a top priority, and he uses social media to do that and he plays the victim card to do that. Very interesting. Joining me now, nbc news Intelligence National security reporter ken dilanian to talk a little more about this as well. Ive got to tell you, ken, one feature of some of this coverage weve done the mueller problem broadly has been judge is getting very irritated by the bad behavior of various people who have been indicted for various things. This just seems like an incredibly bad plan. Yes, roger stones worlds are colliding. He was living in the political world. He was an agent employ volk tour. Hes gotten so used to saying outrageous things to say money on social media. I guess he didnt understand there would come a time where he would be sitting in front of a federal judge who would be grilling him exactly how he got her picture, who put it on his phone . There could be real repercussions from this. There could be a strict gag order coming down the pike. We were talking about the first gag order was sort of not totally complete. Why do you think that was in the first place . The judge is always trying to respect peoples First Amendment rights. Roger stone has a right to speak and express his opinion. The issue becomes when is it witness tampering . When is he affecting the jury pool . People are reading these comments every day. Will this affect the ability of the government to get a fair trial . Is his audience here for all of this really or just the president of the United States . I think its also people who send him money. Its been clear hes having trouble making rent. This defense could cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hes trying to raise money. He is trying to send a message to the president that hes standing strong, however. And its a play for him in the long run to try to get a pardon . Who wouldnt want a pardon if youre roger stone, right . Im certain he would love a pardon. But hes also got some of his image to maintain among his faithful. Hes been saying that he will not crack, hes going to go to war with the deep state that Robert Mueller represents. Of course, its one thing to say that and another thing to raise it could be millions of dollars to mount a thorough white collar defense. How does what were seeing with stone play into the broader kind of Mueller Investigation . Do you see that as the kind of culminating indictment the most mueller has . Its a real mystery. If stone is the last indictment, there will be a lot of disappointed and mystified people out there. There was always a theory stone was the linchpin. If there was collusion, it was stone. Stone talked to trump about emails. We have not seen any evidence of that. Hes been charged with lying, not charged with conspiracy. Theres been many legal Analysts Expect i superseding indictment, more charges. Remember jerome corsi showed a plea he was given and no charges against corsi. But the Mueller Report is imminent and we all wait and see. Indeed. Weve been waiting a very, very long time. Lets hope we get a chance to see it. Ken dilanian, thank you very much for jumping in the chair. Forgive me, were going to nbcs leon caldwell. Shes in carolina where the election board is going to decide if theres going to be another election after absentee ballot fraud. The candidate who was declared the winner now wants a new election . Kasie, it was a Stunning Development in this situation where theres a monthlong investigation, a fourday hearing but at the end of this lunch break that went into closed session, the candidate, the republican candidate mark harris came out and said he wants a new election. He was the unofficial winner of this election by 905 votes. But this election has been tainted with this or absentee ballot scandal and thats what this entire investigation was about. So whats happening right now in the room behind me is the North Carolina board of elections is deliberating on if theyre actually going to hold a new election, even though the candidate says he wants one, the board still has to vote. There are three republicans on the board excuse me, three democrats on the board, two republicans and they need four members to vote for a new election. Kasie . So, leann, just give us a sense of how quickly you think the remainder of this is going to unfold. Is this a decision were going to learn imminently . How have things been going . Yeah, this hearing, if it was if the past is an indicator of the present right now, it would be a very long time before we hear about this decision because the hearing has been dragging on. But the sudden development will really speed things up and we could hear a decision within minutes, maybe within the next hour. But were expected to hear something this afternoon and if there is a new election, if the board does decide that, that election doesnt take place until november though or until the fall, so were going to have a few months of an empty congressional seat for the residents of the ninth congressional district. Leann, how unprecedented is Something Like this happening . Its quite a bit of expense for a state to put on something, new like this. Have we seen this happen often before . Its really unprecedented actually. Theres been some complaints about this absentee ballot fraud in past elections but nothing really ever came to it. But the fact that there was a federal election that was involved in this, the congressional race, and the fact that the winner of the race, unofficial winner was just such a slim margin, just 900 votes, that really elevated this. The board of elections was forced to take this up. And so they were really in uncha unchartered territory. It does not happen very often. But mark harris came out and decided there should be a new election because his son came to the witness stand yesterday and testified against him. Completely undercut his entire defense that he was unaware of this illegal activity happening or that he knew that the central character could be engaging in this absentee ballot fraud in his own election. And so it was just too much for mark harris to overcome. He said that he also is having Health Issues so he just decided to kind of throw in the towel and say, look, lets do this again, lets hold a new election. But we dont know if mark harris will be the candidate in this new election, if the board does call for a new election. Theres still a lot of Unanswered Questions, kasie. A lot of Unanswered Questions indeed. A remarkably dramatic trip for you down to North Carolina. I know longer than you originally intended. Nbcs leann caldwell, thank you so much. That will wrap things up for this very busy hour. Im kasie hunt, in for ali velshi. I will see you back here this sunday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on kasie dc. Thank you very much for watching. Deadline white house with Nicolle Wallace starts right now. Hi, everyone, its 4 00 in new york with two of the president s longest serving advisers rearing their heads in washington, d. C. Today, one on capitol hill in advance of his testimony before Congress Next week and the other in the hot seat in a d. C. Courtroom, the dark cloud of the russia investigation hanging over the Trump White House got a little darker today. Michael cohen was behind closed doors on capitol hill today ahead of appearances next week before three committees in the house and senate. And president ial adviser and master of the dark arts of politics, roger