Stage a press conference and publicly claim that nike executives were corrupting College Basketball by funding money to Young Players and families unless he was paid to conduct an investigation himself. Joining me now, nbcs tom winter for the latest. He gave the latest the day that Michael Avenatti was arrested quite unexpectedly. Tell me what happened. What happened since the day when i sat with you and came in here that he had literally been taken in custody on the west side of manhattan, charged in two additional cases and that case that day, the initial arrest, the case is resolved and the manhattan jury convicted him on all counts tied to the nike extortion scheme. Michael avenatti caught on tape on a fbi recording saying im not f expletive around with this and not playing games he told them. He said you know enough now to know you have a serious problem referring to the allegations from avenatti that nike was paying players and he said its worth more to blow the lid on this, a few Million Dollars doesnt move the needle for me now. The jury found the governments case convincing and found guilty and faces up to 20 years in prison for the counts found guilty on today. It is not likely that hell get the full amount of that because theres no Violence Associated with this extortion but as you said the 25 million amount is not why was the fbi on to him in the first place . Had nike said . Everybody involved had gone to them saying this guy is trying to extort us. He is allowed to advocate for a dollar amount on behalf of a client. It was subsequent conversations that he had with them saying you have to hire me. You have to pay me Michael Avenatti the money, not so much for the client. As an attorney you can say if im representing you, hey, ali should get 20 million in a settlement. You have to pay. You have to come forward. Thats fine. Saying tom winter says you need to pay me and not something on behalf of the client where he is jammed up here. Thank you for your reporting on this. President trump has reasons to love and hate the Justice Department on this valentines day. Hes likely going to love this news. Two people familiar with the inquiry tell nbc news that the Justice Department recently opened an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the fbis interview of this man, Michael Flynn, while he was still serving as National Security adviser. Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements during that interview but he has recently asked to withdraw that plea. This shines new light on this. Trump will likely not like this piece of news, however. The Justice Department will not pursue charges against this man, former fbi Deputy Director andrew mccabe. Prosecutors were investigating whether mccabe lied about disclosing information to a reporter in 2016. The president has very publicly accused mccabe and other senior fbi officials of illegally targeting him. Heres what mccabe told cnn about the decision. As glad as i am that the Justice Department and the d. C. U. S. Attorneys Office Finally decided to do the right thing today, it is an absolute disgrace that they took two years and put my family through this experience for two years before they finally drew the obvious conclusion. We are seeing things happen every day in this country that many of us never, ever thought wed see here. The pursuit of political enemies and the use of the criminal Justice System and criminal investigations to exact some sort of revenge on those political enemies is not something that should be happening in the United States of america. All of this comes as attorney general barr fights back against accusations of political interference in the case against the president s friend and former political adviser roger stone. On tuesday the Justice Department overruled career prosecutors to reduce the recommended sentence for stone. Barr told abc news that there was no pressure from the white house to make that change but trump says he can intervene in criminal cases. He tweeted this this morning. Quote, this doesnt mean that i did not have as president the legal right to do so, i do. But i have so far chosen not to to do so. Sound familiar . Joining us is intelligence and National Security correspondent ken dilanian and charlie salve sanlg, a contributor, a first reporter to break the news on the flynn investigation. Hes the author of power wars. Charlie, on the Michael Flynn news, we heard some days ago that he wanted to withdraw this plea and now we hear that there is that barr has gone to an outside lawyer to look at this case again. What are we talking about here . So what happened is two weeks ago when a new interim u. S. Attorney was installed by barr to lead this office which has the politically fraught investigations with trumps allies and trumps adversaries, he one of the things that happened that we didnt know about until this morning is that attorney general barr sent a team of outside prosecutors, some from st. Louis, some from the Deputy AttorneyGenerals Office to come in as a kind of second layer of review and supervision over all the political cases. Is most prominent of which is the Michael Flynn case, at least of those public that we know about. And so, they are looking at this, looking at the past investigative actions, the fbi interview, about prosecutorial steps like the sentences recommended if we have gotten that far and theyre in a position now to second guess the line career prosecutors and micromanage their decisions Going Forward on that case and many other cases, as well. Ken, i want to talk about barr saying, you know, that giving the reasons in the abc news interview why he intervened in the sentencing of roger stone and sounds if you listen to in it a vacuum reasonable. They wanted seven to nine years, his team. He didnt think that was right. The lawyer came to him and told him. You have to change the recommendation. Its not actually normal at all. Theres no part of this that is normal about the attorney general intervening with senior prosecutors of a recommendation they have already made about a case. Thats correct. That was so frustrating about the interview is barr never explained why of all the hundreds or maybe thousands of sentencing decisions that occurred across the nation in the department of justice this week why he picked this one to second guess when, in fact, there was a new policy put forth by his predecessor Jeff Sessions which said essentially the prosecutors should argue in most cases for the federal guidelines and thats what they did in this case. A lot of people will look at this saying seven to nine years, the guidelines probably too high an the judge unlikely to hand down the sentence and no reason on the merits to argue against the guidelines and the prosecution, the line prosecutors made a persuasive case and barr never explained in the interview why he chose to second guess them and how unusual that was and what they you know, what the reaction was inside the Justice Department and thats hugely important. Great, credit barr for doing more than others in pushing back against the president s tweets but what barr was talking about was the appearance problem. That trump made it appear that he was interveering but barrs not addressing the substance, why is he second guessing the cases that stem from the Mueller Investigation . Stone and now flynn. Whys he doing that . Never explained that to the public. Charlie, this thing, barr saying that the president s tweeting makes it tougher for him to do his job, whos the audience for that . President or everybody else . Well, clearly, the initial audience is the president. Hes telling trump, stop it. Apparently he said that privately before and it didnt stop him and publicly on thursday and still didnt stop him and trump did it again this morning or claimed a right to do it, to keep doing it, so hed like the president to knock it off because when the president says, go light on this guy and then maybe already decided to do it and then president says great job doing what i told you to do it makes lit doing trumps bidding. Leave me alone. Ill do what you want me to do but you dont need to not actual heroics saying that. Basically saying i know what you think. Dont interfere. Remarkable, remarkable development. On the other hand, mccabe cut it is other way. President trump would prefer mccabe to be charged and barr didnt do that today. One thing has not gone the president s way in this particular case as it pertains to the Justice Department. Thank you very much. All right. Congressional democrats are also reacting to the attorney generals moves. Joining me now, Maryland DemocraticCongress Jamie raskin on the House Judiciary Committee and scheduled to hear from attorney general barr on march 31st. Congressman, good to see you again. Thank you for being with us. I want to just get to the march 31st. What do you believe you might get out of the attorney general . What do you hope to get . If it was a really good day, what does success look like in an interview by the Judiciary Committee of the attorney general in this circumstance . Well, we want to know why theres an onslaught against all of the president s perceived political opponents taking place and why they want to reopen all of these cases and revisit the work of the career prosecutors. You know . Attorney general barr himself blew up at the president saying that the president s tweets making it impossible for him to do his job and his job, of course, is to defined as doing the president s bidding so basically what hes saying is, mr. President , im a sycophant and going after your you dont have to tweet and tell me what to do. I know what to do. It blows the cover and gives the game away to the rest of the country but it is an outrageous interference with centuries of understanding of criminal Law Enforcement in america. We have always understood the prosecutorial function to be independent of the political agenda. So let me just address it. This is really interesting. On another network they talk about the fact that the department of justice is a branch of the executive, the president s part of the government. And the president continues to talk about how this isnt illegal and barr talking about it isnt illegal and not a matter of illegal but the attorney general doesnt get involved in the hundreds, thousands of case that is go on so why the within that is affect the president or the president tweets about . Theres something about convention thats wrong here. Theres something that feels wrong about it. Is there something that you have identified as legally wrong . The president tweeted this doesnt mean that i do not as president have the legal right to do so, i do. I have chosen not to. The president s job under article ii of the constitution to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. The laws are written by congress and all of those laws insist upon the neutral and Impartial Administration of the laws free of political interference and bias. So the president seems to be saying, both in this encounter and in the ukraine episode and so on, that because he sits on top of the executive branch he can rewrite the laws in his own favor to advance the political agenda and it is completely intolerable. We impeached him for it. He is a disgraced president. I know that the republicans in the senate did not behave like impartial jurors but members of a religious kulcult and we have uphold the real rule of law in america so people dont forget. What do you think about the idea that barr seemed to have cherry picked prosecutors around the country to take a sort of whats deeming an outside look at Michael Flynns guilty plea after he lied to the fbi . I think thats scandalous, too. You got to rewind the clock to before the Trump Administration to remember when there was a time when everybody across the aisle, across the political spectrum, thought its outrageous for the president of the United States to interfere in an individual prosecution or trial in order to fix the joutd come, in order to gerrymander the results and yet this last week we have seen the administration interfering to throw out the sentencing recommendations of four career prosecutors who said we think that stone should be sentenced for seven to nine years for lying to congress and obstructing a governmental investigation and yet the president and the attorney general then get involved and those four prosecutors end up youing from the case and one of them resigning in protest and disgust at the situation. This is a naked violation of the rule of law and what we understand the proper role of justice is and the proper role of the president is which is always to stay a million miles away from individual criminal investigations. Does the propriety of it in a country where the evidence didnt convince the republicans . I hear you loud and clear. Does improper mat tore a lot of people . Well, its got to matter. We have to stand up every time now because, look. If the president can essentially operate with immunity and immunity and we know that his personality is lawless and ungovernable and incouragible but a party to go with him and a senate to go with him, the rest of us cant go along with him, too. We have to blow the whistle saying thats not how we do justice in United States of america. The line prosecutors run the case and of course they have to follow their superiors coming to Actual Department of Justice Policy but this is nothing to do with policy but to do with the political preferences and the friendships of a can you want president. Congressman, good to see you. Thank you for joining me. Great to be with you. Coming up, Michael Bloomberg seems to be gaining momentum in spite of major bumps in the road and potholes. A look at where he stands trying to heal old wounds with black voters. Plus Pete Buttigieg looking west. The former mayor in california today, a big and diverse state that could test his mettle next month. You are watching msnbc. Introducing even more value from fidelity. Fidelity now has zero commissions for online u. S. Equity trades and etfs. And fidelity also offers zero account fees for brokerage accounts, plus zero minimums to open an account. And only fidelity offers four zero Expense Ratio index funds directly to investors. With all of those zeros, there are zero reasons to invest anywhere else. Fidelity. So maybe ill win saved by zero so maybe ill win wheneveryone is different. A, which is why Xfinity Mobile created a different kind of wireless network. One that saves you money by letting you design your own data giving you more choice and control compared to other top wireless carriers. Now you can choose unlimited, shared data, or mix lines of each and switch any line, anytime. No one else lets you do that. Design your own data with Xfinity Mobile. Its wireless reimagined. Simple. Easy. Awesome. All right. Now to the 2020 race for the democratic nomination. According to nbc news, as of today, Pete Buttigieg has the lead with 23 delegates. Bernie sanders close behind with 21. Ignore the percentages. These are actually delegate counts. Elizabeth warren has eight delegates. Amy klobuchar seven and joe biden has six where they stand . Delegates but none of this really matters because there was 1,991 delegates needed to win on the first ballot. 1,991. March 3rd, keep that date in mind. It is super tuesday. Heres why its super important. 14 states, American Samoa and democrats abroad hold caucuses and primaries. 1,357 delegates that day up for grabs. That matters. One of the states on super tuesday is california, a key battleground with the most delegates of any state. 416. More than one tenth of the total. For former mayor Pete Buttigieg california could be what he needs to prove he can win the democratic nomination. He is out west Holding Events in Northern California and wrapping the day with a rally in sacramento and find political reporter vaughn hilliard. What is the story out there . Reporter it is it. This is go time for Buttigieg Campaign. He is not heading back to the east coast until after the nevada caucus taking place a week from this saturday, he is here in downtown sacramento. We are here at chavez plaza where hell be appearing this afternoon before heading back over to nevada where he was just this morning. I want to let you take a listen to Pete Buttigieg just last night. He is speaking at the lulac forum taking on head the understanding and the acknowledgement that he has to expand his base of support beyond white voters, break in with communities of color, when you look at here in california and you look at the electorate in nevada theyre similar. 50 of the democratic electorate is white and a quarter in both States Latino voters and 10 americ africanamericans. Take a listen of Pete Buttigieg from last night. While im very proud of what we were able to do to succeed in rural and urban and suburban states, they do not reflect the totality of the country and why what happens in nevada and the other states to come will be so important. I respect and welcome the opportunity to now reach out to voters who reflect in different ways the racial diversity that makes our country what it is. Reporter now, the tough part for the Buttigieg Campaign is the fact they dont have Unlimited Money like moichael bloomberg does. Pete buttigieg without a Simple Campaign ad run here with 18 days left. The big question is, can he penetrate . More than ten media markets. Can he be relevant in california on march 3rd, ali . Vaughn, peete buttigiegs ga. It doesnt come up a lot, doesnt talk about it out of context a lot. Rush limbaugh said the country wont elect buttigieg because he is, quote, kissing his husband on stage after debates. Any response from the campaign . Reporter you know, its more than just Rush Limbaughs comments. It is you could suggest complicity or silence of others in the republican party, just after Rush Limbaugh received that president ial medal of freedom mike pence said on fox news he up holds the values of this country and what Pete Buttigieg would likely be up against and talking with the Campaign Official earlier telling me that, look, their campaign nor the candidate will not give oxygen to hate, a campaign not to divide but bring people together around the country. Pete buttigieg just last night at that same forum saying theres lgbtq individuals in every community in the United States from the black community, brown community, white community, from Rural America here to the urban cores. He said that he intends which is a message of iowa, New Hampshire, he intends to represent every american to the best of his abilities, ali. Vaughn, thank you, sir. Still to come, attorney general william barr tells President Trump to stop tweeting about legal cases on the associates dockets. Is there really any rift between the president and his ag . We are looking at accusations of political interference roiling washington and the Justice Department. You are watching msnbc. Been a tough week for the Justice Department. The decision to overrule prosecutors and reduce the recommended sentence for roger stone led to accusations of political interference by President Trump via attorney general barr. Barr sat down with abc news far exclusive interview saying no one pressures him to do anything. Im not going to be bullied for influenced by anyone, congress, newspaper, editorial boards or the president. Im going to do what i think is right. And, you know, i think the i cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me. Joining us to take a closer look, Natasha Bertrand for politico and contributor, Michael Conway who served as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee in the impeachment inquiry into president nixon. Natasha, was he really being critical . I dont think theres criticism there but the idea is that bill barr knows exactly what donald trump thinks, probably before donald trump thinks it. As seen from the memo that he sent to Rod Rosenstein in the investigation. He also said in that interview he doesnt know about the twitter all that much and didnt know that trump had been tweeting of roger stones sentence. Yeah. I think thats pretty unbelievable but the fact is that the president doesnt need to explicit tell the attorney general what he wants him to do because as you said barr knows pretty much at this point where the president stands on the issues. He does not view the department of justice as an independent body. He views it as his own personal police force in a way and he tweeted just this morning that he does have the legal right to interfere in criminal cases. Pretty much undercutting everything the attorney general said yesterday. So the New York Times has since reported that barr did run certain aspects of what he was going to say in the abc interview by the white house before he said it, further indicating that this might be theater, right . The department of justice has been under fire. Bill barr under fire over the moves perceived as politically and furtherance of the president s agenda. This is not the first time that doj lawyers withdrawn for a case in similar circumstances in this administration. Absolutely. Bill barr had trouble in the case involving whether there should be a Citizenship Question on the census. It went to the supreme court. Supreme court ruled against the Trump Administration and went back to the lower court and unbelievably the Justice Department said they were going to put the question on there. 11 Justice Department lawyers asked to resign from the case just as the 4 did this week and the judge actually held their feet to the fire and he said he wanted to know the reason. Two were changing jobs and the other nine he made them come in and explain why. It will be very interesting to see if judge jackson next week wants to know the reasons that the four doj career attorneys withdrew and that the Justice Department substituted a new recommendation. It will be a very interesting hearing. Natasha, it is interesting because there are a whole loft of people that dont like donald trump and hoping for a result from the Mueller Investigation who will say that this is terrible. But the Justice Department as an institution takes some pleasure in not being politicized. This has actually according to a piece you cowrote about this is really sent shock waves through the institution of the Justice Department that takes itself quite seriously. It has. This is a pattern that we see throughout institutions in this country under this president who tends to politicize these agencies within the xoektiexecu branch to his liking. The Intel Community, they dont want to touch the investigations to draw the wrath of the president. So its not only just an optics issue. It is not just the fact that judges might perceive cases brought by prosecutors with more skepticism or that the Intel Community might be perceived as perhaps more political. Its also that these people are not necessarily going to want to pursue these investigations and that puts the National Security at risk even further. We have heard of several people within the department of justice and within the Intel Community saying, look, there have been concrete instances where we say this is just too politically toxic to touch. We know that Senior Leadership wont want to even go there. Look at what happened to peter strzok, lisa paige, et cetera. This is dangerous consequences for the country. The committee is hearing from bill barr on march 31st. Do you have any hope that anything comes of that in a world where there doesnt seem to be consequences for anything that this administration does . I think a public hearing, you know, we used to worry that someone to put the thumb on the scale of justice. Bill barrs breaking the scale of justice. Hes become the errand boy for the president and politicize the Justice Department completely. What natasha said is right. The career members of the Justice Department are very demoralized by this. And i think that the House Judiciary Committee will grill him but we have seen in the hearings that he had before the senate Judiciary Committees confirmation, bill barrs a wiley speaker. He is not going to be flumoxed by this questioning. He said hell enforce the rule of law. Thanks to both of you. Natasha bertrand, michael con way. Coming up next, we are just over a week away from nevadas Democratic Caucuses but only a few of the candidates are actually in that state today. We are looking at whats at stake in nevada after the break. Mornings were made for Better Things than Rheumatoid Arthritis or Psoriatic Arthritis. When considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a oncedaily pill for adults with moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis or active Psoriatic Arthritis for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. It can reduce pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. Xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections like tb; dont start xeljanz if you have an infection. Taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra can increase risk of death. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. As have tears in the stomach or intestines, serious allergic reactions, and changes in lab results. Tell your doctor if youve been somewhere fungal infections are common, or if youve had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Dont let another morning go by without asking your doctor about xeljanz xr. All right. Now just five days away from the democratic debate in nevada and even though the caucuses one week from tomorrow, one 2020 contender held an event there, senator klobuchar, but it is an important point for a few reasons. First, nevada has a much more diverse population than iowa and New Hampshire where the first primary and caucuses were held. Nevadas population almost 30 latino and data of last year tells us that nevada is home to 200,000 union workers, almost 15 of all wage and salary workers in nevada. Thats much, much higher than the national average. Joining me with more on whats at stake in nevada is Garrett Haake in las vegas. It is a different test, right . This is going to tell us whether the people do well in a more diverse environment and whether the contenders do well amongst the unionized workers. What is the game plan . Reporter ali, its small, ethically diverse and caucus and happens late enough in the calendar that the candidates to look ahead to super tuesday and the delegates at stake there are doing so. You have Bernie Sanders, Michael Bloomberg, joe biden and Elizabeth Warren fanning out to campaign in the other early states and then candidates that need to nevada as a springboard to South Carolina and beyond are focusing more here now trying to raise their numbers so thats klobuchar who you mentioned, buttigieg who was here briefly last night and back this weekend and steyer, dont forget about him, spending millions and millions of dollars on the air waves here and for those not named Bernie Sanders the opportunity here in las vegas in particular, where about 80 of the vote in the Democratic Caucus comes from, to different yate yourself, to make yourself the non bernie moderate alternative. Today i heard from Amy Klobuchar trying to do that on the issue of medicare for all to make it an issue democrats here dont want. Here is what she told reporters earlier this morning. The Affordable Health care act is now nearly ten points more popular than the president of the United States so i dont think we should be blowing it up and thats a disagreement i have with senator sanders and senator warren. Two thirds of the democrats in the u. S. Senate are not on that bill. The Sanders Warren bill. And so thats another reason. We are not going to pass it. And since we are in vegas, id say if your number on the wheel, maybe you dont want to bet on that number. Reporter gaming analogies very popular here over the next week and a half but klobuchar linking warren and sanders with med car fir all. The powerful Culinary Union against medicare for all and klobuchar would like to get the support of the membership. She is a candidate that needs nevada as a springboard, bang, hit it hard here next week and use it as momentum for South Carolina and beyond because, boy, this thing gets so much more complicated and difficult for those underfunded candidates gets to super tuesday, ali. Good to see you. I hope our paths cross on the road. Important reminder, next wednesday, nbc news and msnbc will host the democratic debate live from las vegas. Our moderators lester holt, hallie jackson, chuck todd, vanessa and john ralston to put them to the test three days ahead of the las vegas caucuses. Watch here on msnbc. Despite Michael Bloomberg being in the news for less than positive news, the former new york mayor sees a climb in the polls and growing support from black voters. According to the latest economist ugov poll of the must win voting bloc of africanamericans, bloomberg in third place trailing by two points and as the candidacy moves into the spotlight he has to answer about his record with black communities. Joining me now is pastor reverend a. R. Bernard from new york, the ccc is a mega church with more than 45,000 active members so what this gentleman tells me is like a poll because you have your pulse on this. It was in your church that Michael Bloomberg said that he regrets stop and frisk. Thats correct. Tell me about this. Look. He called me and hes been working through a process deciding to do this. I know that the timing is suspect. But be that as it may, people will interpret it however they want but the reality is he reflected on his time in office. What he did right and wrong and stop and frisk has been something that has stuck with him. Yeah. So he decided, you know what . I need to say im sorry. I need to apologize and what better place to do it than in a church . The place of redemption. So i gave him the platform and he shared and he said he was sorry. Thats not enough. There has to be some action behind that. You know . Repentance is a change in heart but its reflected in the change in action. Look. Stop and frisk as a racial profiling did not begin with Michael Bloomberg. It is 120 years of explicitly racial policies of federal, state and local governments that have defined the quality of life of africanamericans. Michael bloomberg, his insensitivity to the negative aspect affords him to craft a black agenda and make that a priority. Why do you believe that a guy who says things listen. Ive heard his apology in your church. I have heard him talk before. But the stuff that leaked this week kind of has a tinge for people it sounded like racism. What about his actions that you have watched for 20 years tell you that thats not true . Michael bloomberg you heard in leaked tapes this week is not the one that people think should be president. Ive known him for 20 years. Served him 12 years while he was in office as mayor of new york city. I will tell you, i got to know the person. Does he make flippant remarks from time to time . Absolutely. Is he someone who was totally removed from an understanding of the black experience until he became mayor of new york city . Yes. Does he need education . Absolutely. I dont think he needs motivation. I think the motivation is there. The education is necessary. And thats why when he need to reeducate Michael Bloomberg with regard to the plight of africanamericans in this country. What can he do . For africanamericans voters in this country theyre used to being let down. What do they believe Michael Bloomberg will do to address the issues . We are looking for an agenda. Not for him to be the black president quote unquote. Looking for him to craft a black agenda for america. Racialized police system, criminal justice. Inequities in education. Inequities in economic opportunity. Take that up. Show us its a part of the campaign. Itss one of your priorities and well begin to look at him in a different way. He has the opportunity to do that and well take a look and understand. Is this the best person for us . Look. Talk about the red line. Right . That comment. Red lighting for our viewers, its been around since 1930s. He seemed to imply that it was the removal of this prejudicial practice that led to the financial crisis and sorts of poor people in neighborhoods got loans and crashed the economy. We cannot drop that at the feet of Michael Bloomberg and not stop and frisk at the feet of Michael Bloomberg because as you know housing discrimination unawful since the Civil Rights Act of 1966 and not enforced until nobodys blaming him but it is tone deaf for a really rich guy to think that poor black people caused the recession. Right . Rich people gambling with everybody elses stuff caused it. People only think to the level of what theyre exposed to. When mike took on the responsibility of mayor in new york city,be the world. Now he had to become sensitivities that he was not aware of. Thank you. My pleasure to see you again. Thank you. All right. Up next, a conversation with the Iranian Foreign minister. When you shop with wayfair, you spend less and get way more. So you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one. For small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. Shop everything home at wayfair. Com pnc bank has technology to help a pnc business line of credit, because sometimes inner peace requires a little external soundproofing. Or pnc total auto. A place online to easily find and finance the right car for you. And your passengers. Or pnc home insight, to search for a new house within your budget. Hopefully with a grass yard. Pnc make today the day. On a flexible wealth plan. And with new brokerage accounts, your cash is automatically invested at a rate thats at least 20 times more than other advisory firms. Personalized advice. Unmatched value. At fidelity, you can have both. Its timcan it helpltimate sleep nukeep me asleep . He sleep number 360 smart bed. Absolutely, it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. Save 50 on the sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus 0 interest for 36 months. Ends monday. A new kind of investor is changing things up. [ indistinct talking ] with an app thats changing the way we do money. Download robinhood now. Were following breaking news overseas today. The u. S. And taliban have agreed to a sevenday truce. This could finally lead to the withdrawal of troops from americas longest war. But while the United States appears to be making a move in afghanistan, its a at a stalemate with iran. And richard, what were your takeaways from this interview . Reporter so, first about afghanistan. So, im in munich, germany, to set the scene. Theres an annual security conference here where world leaders, academics, journalists get together and talk about issues of National Security. So, its a Good Opportunity to meet with officials too, get their read on what they see as the challenges Going Forward. Iran was a subject of discussion. The coronavirus also on the agenda. Afghanistan a subject of discussion as well. About that framework for a peace deal, it is not set in stone yet. Ive spoken with u. S. Official whose are directly involved. They say theres now a framework in place, not a signed deal yet, that could lead to initially a reduction of violence. Its a stepbystep process. Where first the taliban would have to demonstrate their willingness and ability to reduce violence and if theyre able to do that, the u. S. Would sign a preliminary agreement with the taliban and potentially reduce u. S. Troop levels. There are 12 to 13,000 u. S. Troops in afghanistan and they could go down to around 8600. So encouraging process but a stepbystep process and theres still a lot of room for this to fall apart. On the other side, yes, i did sit down with the iran foreign minister and a lot of our conversation was about how close the u. S. And iran are to war. The u. S. , on President Trumps authorization killed irans top general. In response iran fired Ballistic Missiles at a base in iraq housing u. S. Troops. And about 100 troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. But it was a very dangerous situation. A situation still very tense. And i asked are we still close to war . How close were the United States and iran to war . Seemed pretty close from where i was. I think President Trump was misled to believe that this would augment the u. S. Security. It worked the other way around. It was the beginning of the end of the u. S. In the region and we were very close to a war. Because the United States initiated an act of aggression against iran in a very cowardly way. They couldnt confront him in the battlefield, so they hit him in the dark of night through a drone attack on a car on a peace mission. Which is beneath any dignified way of dealing with this. And came very close to war. Iran responded in a p proportionate way against the operations soleimani were carried out. Reporter u. S. Officials dispute that version of events. They say Qassem Soleimani was not in iraq on any kind of peace mission, was not there to ease tensions, but was there to organize attacks against u. S. Interests in the region. I also asked the foreign minister about the plane. The commercial jet that iran now admits that it shot down by accident during this very tense time. If you remember those very tense days, the u. S. , in a drone attack, killed the iranian general. Iran was bracing for a counter attack and while it was doing that that, it shot down the Ukrainian Airline plane. I asked why lie about something that seems to be so easily proven with satellite images . You can see antiaircraft missiles fired from the ground and hitting the plane. He said effectively the iranians did it. It took time for the military to realize what was going on. And he said it was the mistake of the operator, of the antiaircraft missile system. Thank you for joining us. Richard. [ fastpaced drumming ] [ fastpaced drumming ] that wraps up the hour for me. Tune in tomorrow for the premier of velshi premiering this weekend. Deadline white house with Nicolle Wallace begins right now. Hi everyone. Its 4 00 in washington d. C. Where the new gods are serving up breaking news in barrels and much of it centers around the brewing storm that the Justice Department over the ay