2 00 p. M. At the white house. Any minute well get what could be a fascinating press briefing from Sarah Huckabee sanders where if she wasnt already snowed in by the storm outside, shes likely to get snowed in b. Can she and Trumps White House drive a plow through the fallout. Any words about steve bannon . I dont know. He called me a great man last night. He obviously changed his tune pretty quick. The president wasnt just stunned by bannons claims, he was furious and disgusted. Reporter reportedly growing more furious by the minute. If steve said that was treasonous, he should retract that. I can sense that hes probably very frustrated and disappointed that steve would do this. I think steve actually is somewhat delusional with some of these claims. Michael wolf is a sleaze bag. I was asked to talk to him in the white house when he floated around the west wing and i refused to talk to this guy. Steve bannon said he would go to war for President Trump when he left the white house. Now the white house is going to war on him. And the author of the book who claims he has tapes. Bannon, author michael wolf, and the books publisher have all gotten cease and desist letters if one of the president s lawyers. Today bannon may have been trying to smooth things over. There is no one we think higher of than President Trump and the agenda so lets not let the left wing media stir that up. Are those comments accurate that have been reported . That you have said . I think we got to wait for the book to come out and let people see it and then well comment at that point. No, he did not retract anything or apologize. Lets get to our team of reporters. Nbcs Kristen Welker is with us. Julia ainsley and White House Reporter for the washington post, josh dossie. Kristen, lets start with you. A little while ago on camera the president seemed restrained when it came to the book. Behind the scenes though whats it like there at the white house . Reporter well, i can tell you that senior officials here are fuming. The mr. Ez is fumging, increasingly angry with the headlines after this book and the revelations of this book came out yesterday and the explosive statements made by the president s former top adviser, steve bannon. They are trying to paint the book as fiction, dismissing it. President trump yesterday said, of course, steve bannon had lost his mind since he lost his administration. Katie, youre absolutely right. He was far more restrained today and pointed to the fact that in his radio show steve bannon essentially praised the president. Take a listen again to what the president had to say today. Did steve bannon betray you, mr. President . Any words about steve bannon . I dont know. He called me a great man last night so, you know, he obviously changed his tune pretty quick. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you. I dont talk. I dont talk. I dont talk to him. Thats just a misnomer. Reporter katie, significant that President Trump really wanted to stress that fact, that he doesnt talk to steve bannon. Look, we know that the two have been in communication since steve bannon left the white house, that bannon has continued to advise him on a range of issues. But now the president and officials here who i have been speaking to making it very clear that that relationship is over. I spoke with one senior official and asked if this was a temporary pause or if this was permanent. This official indicated that it is all but impossible to conceive of this relationship being repaired. We will ask Sarah Sanders about all of this when she comes to the podium in just a few minutes from now, katie. No doubt about that. Ive been going through the book, josh. The running theme in the book is Donald Trumps mental state. Michael wolf wrote a little bit more about this today, an article for the Hollywood Reporter saying, quote, everybody was painfully aware of the increasing pace of his repetitions. It used to be inside 30 minutes hed repeat word for word an expression for expression the same three stories. Now it was within 10 minutes. Indeed, many of his tweets were the product of his repetitions, he just couldnt stop saying something. At maralago just before the new year a heavily made up trump failed to recognize a success of old friends. In the book he discusses trumps paranoia about being poisoned. A lot about his mental state. I dont know what your sources have been telling you. Ive been talking to people inside the white house, people who were close to donald trump and folks have been a little bit concerned about his mental state, not just now but for some time a few moments ago i had one former staffer text me to say, doesnt look like hes lost a step to you. Are you hearing anything along those lines . Well, im obviously not a psychiatrist and i dont want to start characterizing the president s mental state. But what the sources are telling you. Im not analyzing his mental state either. Sure. He does repeat things over and over. One of his advisers was on tv and said that. Thats true. The president will get fixated on something and will repeat it over and over. As weve reported and others have, he will deny things that he has previously said were not true. He said that wasnt his voice on the access hollywood tape. He said that, you know, he still wasnt sure if president obama was born in the United States even though he publicly said he believed he was. So there are Different Things that the president has said i think that has raised concerns among some of his aides. Some of his tendencies are he lives in his own world. He makes his own weather. He firmly believes he can wake up in the morning and Say Something enough and he can convince others its true. Hes always selling himself. How much he actually believes and how much hes doing to try to change the perception, its hard to tell. Hes actually openly denied saying things that we have him on tape saying in the past. Julia, Anthony Scaramucci who was on the Communications Staff and left for several days. Hes been close to the president and he spoke with our own Stephanie Ruhle this morning. Heres what he said. A lot of it is nonsense. Michael wolf wrote a nonsense sickal book. Hes trying to say the president didnt want to win the presidency. We thought losing is winning. That is a bunch of total and complete nonsense. Hes calling it total and complete nonsense. Who else is denying whats in the book, julia . There have been a number of push backs today, katie. Katie walsh a former Deputy White House chief of staff said that she was misquoted. Tom barrack, a good friend of donald trump jr. Said he was misquoted. Natal natalia said she never saw or met the candidate, trump, at the trump tower which is a key because it goes against the big take aways saying that it was treasonous to have that meeting. She has denied that. Theres a grain of salt that a lot of people are urging people to take when reading this book. I think were already seeing some of those lines crack. Were definitely seeing the president s legal team push back on this as well. Lets talk about how michael wolf went about writing this book and how he used his sources. He does say today that he has dozens of hours of tapes to back up his book. It seems like bannon and former deputy chief of staff katie walsh, as you were just mentioning, julia, are on those tapes, but theres also a question of the credibility of the book which everyones wondering. In the authors note, i always check out the authors note, i find it really helps you have a clear idea how theyre quoting things and the access they had. He writes that he has hundreds of interviews with the president and senior staff. To many people they in turn spoke with, and thats where i think things can get a little hairy. These are potentially third hand conversations where people are rehashing what they heard somebody else say about somebody else and that can get a bit hairy. Theres also something in the authors note where he talks about not having a consistency in stories and sometimes allowing players or characters within the book to tell their own version of stories and allowing the reader to judge. Do we have a clear idea though, josh, from your reading of this when the author is just merely allowing the reader to judge when he cant authenticate a fact from this book . Well, katie, i think the point he made in his authors note is, you know, there were various accounts of meetings at different times. I think youve covered trump and i have, and i think we both know you can talk to several people in the white house about this same event and sometimes get pretty differing accounts. Its sometimes impossible to know exactly what happened in a meeting or a place and you have to, you know, just be honest and say what you know and what you dont know. I think there are a lot of people challenging different details of his book as julia said and theyre saying this parts not right. My comments are misappropriated. Someone else said i said this, i didnt really say this. That said, a number of reporters saw michael wolf there at the white house wearing the blue pass so he could walk around the west wing fairly unimpeded. It seems that a lot of people participated in the book. Youre not hearing any sort of denuns seeation by steve bannon of his comments in the book. There could be some details of the scenes that arent quite right. Many people are implying that. But we do know the author had quite a lot of access to the white house and some of his reporting tracks with what we reported early on, what the New York Times reported, other outlets reported. Some of his reporting tracks with that pretty closely. It tracks with my reporting during the campaign from sources who would openly question whether or not donald trump should be in the white house who then went on to work for the campaign, there are some things that ring true. Theres a curious moment, kristen, i want to ask you about it, in the first anecdote of the book. It reads as if michael wolf is in the room. A dinner between steve bannon and longerroger ales. Incredulous that donald trump, who has, you know, no background in politics, didnt seem to have any political believes or back bone actually did win. Turns out that michael wolf, according to him, was the host of this dinner so he was there, but in this there was one moment where ales asks bannon about russia and he says, what has he gotten himself into with the russians . Mostly, said ales mostly, said bannon, he went to russia and he thought he was going to meet putin but putin couldnt give a blank about him so hes kept trying. This is bannon telling roger ales. What struck me was the present tense, so he kept trying. There seemed to be some moments of this book that would certainly be of interest to Robert Mueller. Are you getting any sorts of push back about that . We have repeatedly given responses to any anecdote in the book. They refer us back to the president s very fiery statement yesterday in which he unleashed on steve bannon and said that he seemed to have lost his mind since he left the white house. And i think youre going to hear a similarly very firm push back today from Sarah Sanders. She likely wont delve into the specifics but will continue to suggest that this book is nothing more than fiction. And i think thats why you are seeing the president s legal team essentially step up its offense against this book threatening to take legal action against the author, against the publisher, calling for a cease and desist order calling for this book not to move forward. Now for the broader context here, the president has threatened to take legal action in the past and hasnt followed through. In fact, during the campaign i believe it was some 20 times that he followed through with two of those legal cases. So well have to see whether this, in fact, gains any traction and thats, again, one of the agenda items here on our mind today, katie. Julia, quickly because were out of time. Theres a new policy in the white house about personal cell phone use . Thats right. Its normal, katie, you know this, that there are certain areas in the white house and the Justice Department that are known as skiffs. You dont bring in any cell phones because theres an idea that you could be tracked or the conversation could be recorded even if your phone is off. But this rule im not being able to use your personal sell phones, seem to have to do with personal politics, that they dont want anything more like this recorded. They hit a book like this. It seems to be more of a plan to keep everybody on board and it raises a few questions and red flags, frankly, about how people are able to kind of live in an uncensored environment inside the white house and what they may be trying to squash down. Yeah. Julia ainsley, Kristen Welker, thank you very much. Richard painter served as chief ethics lawyer under george w. Bush. He joins me now. Lets talk about this cease and desist letter that Kristen Welker was just mentioning. Theyre accusing that confidential has been disclosed. Theyre also talking about bannon violating a what is the order called, richard. Help me. The nondisclosure agreement, im sorry, that he signed during the campaign. Does that nondisclosure agreement apply for when youre in the white house and when the president is the president . No, it does not, and in any event, the socalled nondisclosure agreement is a contractual arrangement with the Trump Campaign. If they want to turn around and sue steve bannon, they can try. I think theyll lose, but the one thing is very clear, theyre not going to be able to stop publication of that book. We have the First Amendment, freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the United States. You cannot stop the publication of any information. Even classified information that is leaked to the New York Times, the New York Times has the right to publish and we found that out from the Supreme Court and the pentagon papers case. This book doesnt have classified information. What theyre calling confidential is just information thats politically damaging to the president. So the book is going to go to market. The lawyers are full of baloney. There is no way theyre going to be able to stop publication. No way in the United States. This is not russia. The president of the United States cannot stop publication of a book thats critical of him simply because he believes whats said in it are not true. Its also notable that michael wolf thanks his like lawyer really high. You know what, Sarah Huckabee sanders just took the podium. Im going to have to go straight to her. Richard painter, thank you very much. The president s economic agenda of lower taxes, less regulation and more opportunity for all is already paying off and American Families and workers are the big winners. With that in mind, we have a message from a special guest that id like to share with you. Ill ask you to tune in to the screens and then ill continue from there. Thank you for being with us today. The historic tax cut eye signed into law just two weeks ago before christmas is already delivering Major Economic gains. Hundreds of thousands of americans are seeing larger paychecks, bigger bonuses and higher pension contributions and its all because of the tax cuts and the tax reform. And i want to thank all of the companies that worked so hard to do it. Workers at at t, bank of america, comcast, southwest airlines, American Airlines and many other companies are receiving bonuses of 1,000 or more. Aflac and others are investing more in employees 401ks. Cvs announced it will hire 3,000 new workers. Boeing, another great company, is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in employee trading and infrastructure. More than 60 companies have announced they are raising wages, including many that have voluntarily raised their minimum wage to 15 per hour, and i mean they did that voluntarily, which many politicians said could only be achieved by government mandate. Investing in the American Worker is the most important investment a business will make. I cant to thank all of these companies to putting their tax savings to the best possible use by creating more jobs for the american family. When the dreams of the American People are unleashed, there is nothing, absolutely nothing we cant achieve. We are going to make America Great again and its happening a lot faster than anyone thought possible. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President. As he said, this is only the beginning and we are excited to see the Economic Growth and optimism continue to soar in 2018. Earlier today the president hosted republican senators to talk about responsible Immigration Reform. He reiterated our view that any action on daca must come with action on the immigration principals. Interior enforcement which is more ic e. And Border Patrol agents as well as a crackdown on sanctuary cities and reforms like ending chain migration and visa Law Enforcement program. Next week the president is inviting a Bipartisan Group of senators to the whies house to discuss possible Immigration Reform and to continue that discussion and with that ill take your questions. Jeff . Sarah, followup on the steve bannon issue. Did white house staff, including steve, have to sign nondisclosure agreements when they came to work at the white house . Theres an ethics agreement. Beyond that i cant get into any additional details. Does the president want to have steves support for antiestablishment political candidates going up to the mid term election . The president wants allamericans su pord. Every american wants us to do bigger and better things. Thats his focus. He wants to bring everybody together to move this country forward. Thats what he campaigned on and thats what weve done over the last year and thats what were going to continue to do for the next seven years. The whites house has said there were false statements in this book. The president s lawyer have said there were liablous statements. Could you give a few examples of things that are said in this book that are false that you would like to set the record straight on . Im not going to go through every single page of the book threw falsehoods. The fact that there i was a claim that the president at any time know who john boehner was. Several of you have even tweeted out that the president not only knows him but has played golf with him, tweeted about him. Thats Pretty Simple and pretty basic. Ages of employees, which would be super easy to fact check, are wrong. There are numerous mistakes but im not going to waste my time going page by page talking about a bood thats full of fantasy. Our administration and our focus is going to be on moving the country forward. John . Thanks a lot, sarah. I read the cease and desist letter that was sent by the president s lawyers to both michael wolves and the publisher of his book which seeks to stop the sale of his book. Did the president s lawyers share with the president that this was a prior restrained and that theyre inconstitutional. I would refer you to them for questions regarding that matter. Does the president believe in the First Amendment . Does he believe in prior restraints such as the one contemplated here . The president absolutely believes in the First Amendment. As weve said before, the president also believes in making sure that information is accurate before pushing it out as fact when it certainly and clearly is not . Jordan . Whats the president s thought that hes unfit to serve as president . The same thing weve had when it was asked before, that its disgraceful and laughable. If he was unfit, he probably wouldnt be sitting there, wouldnt have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the Republican Party has ever seen. This is an incredibly strong and good leader. Thats why weve had a successful 2017 and why were going to continue doing great things in this administration. John . Thank you, sarah. Two questions. First, the book repeatedly says that candidate trump, his family and the top officials of the campaign did not believe he would be elected. It was the farthest from their mind. You said yesterday you believed in this campaign and felt he would win. Can you name anyone else who said at the time on the eve of the election they felt he would win and did the president himself believe he would not win . Look, as weve stated many times before, go back and look at some of the interviews. Specifically kellyanne conway, i know she did several leading up to the days just before the election saying directly that the president can win and would win. I know there were a number of other Campaign Officials that echoed those same sentiments. The president , the first lady, his family, they wouldnt have put themselves through that process if, one, they didnt believe they could win and, two, if they didnt believe they could win. They have been continued to do so over the next seven years. It is absolutely laughable to think that somebody like this president would run for office with the purpose of losing. If you guys know anything, you guys know that donald trump is a winner and hes not going to do something for the purpose of not coming out on top and not coming out as a winner. Its just i mean, thats one of the most ridiculous things, claims in the book. My other question is tomorrow can we expect a major personnel going to be asked . I have no reason to know of any effort. Gary has committed to saying hes committed to being here. We have come off on a successful win on the tax cut and reform package which gary was one of the key leaders of that effort and were moving full force ahead into 2018 to make sure we get a lot accomplished. Francesca. Thank you, sarah. I wanted to follow up on something you said yesterday. The last time the president spoke to steve bannon. Secondly, the thing he said today, i dont talk to him. How much were they in contact from the time you left the white house to that early call. How close were they when they were in the white house . One of the claims written in the book was that he frequently dined with mr. Dan non . The book also says that he had been side lined by april which i think goes further to indicate that he had very little credibility to give much information, most of it at that time. This book was mistake after mistake after mistake. Were they not close . Im not aware they were particularly close. Theyve spoken a few times since he left the whies house but not reg gu 4rr8 already called. Does the president does the president favor a National Voter i. D. . Looks, were still going to continue to review the best way forward just because the election commit is no longer in condition. Why did the dhs instead of the doj be more of an investigative body . That was the administration. First, does President Trump see marijuana as a states issue or a federal issue . The president believes in forcing federal law. That is regardless of what the topic is whether its marijuana or whether its immigration. The president strongly believes we should enforce federal law. The move the department of justice makes is what youre referencing. It gives prosecutors the ability to take this on and enforce the law. The president s position doesnt change but he does strongly believe we have to enforce federal law. Without getting ahead of the president , the meeting this afternoon with the rnc chair woman, do you imagine theyll be discussing a potential run by mitt romney in utah . Like you said, im not going to get ahead of a meeting that hasnt fried to take place and discuss what may be discussed. Maybe we can follow up with that question letter on. Its a great space to finish. Why does he think its a great use of resources to marshall the attention . In terms of a legal argument, i would refer you to the president s attorneys, but in terms of the merits, i think its pretty clear. I dont think we have been tiptoeing around our feelings on this. Its completely tabloid gossip full of false and fraudulent claims and i would refer you to the president s attorneys on what that looks like. Sorry. Brain is slow today. Will the president go to court. Again, thats something i would refer to to the president s attorneys. We think it is full of false information. How far is the president to go. He believes it shouldnt be but i would have to refer you to the president s team on that. Sarah, is i know were talking about steve bannon. Hes not the only person quoted in this book. Katie walsh who is quoted on the website who i believe has tut the a statement. Is there any kind of access to these individuals who are quoted wlompt their numbers. They made reports that there will be implications for her to be implication. I do not that she has come out and said the quotes were not attributed to her, as had many other people that this has been that theyve been quoted in this book. Take their word and there wont be implications . Absolutely. Particularly people like secretary mnuchin who has pruchd back on this. I think you have to look at this authors track record where he has had a problem with this and that makes us make the assumption that this is a practice he is used to doing. No further legal action against any of those individuals . Not that im aware of at this time. Kevin . Sarah, thanks. Just a couple. I want to ask you broadly speaking whats your level of exhaustion when you have to have this issue out there when there are other policy issues youre trying to get to and trying to communicate to the American People . How do you balance that . , i guess the honest answer is what has been released about this. I have spoken with the president about some of the specifics that have come up. In terms of my level of exhaustion, im more worried about the peoples concern versus all of these falsehoods. I dont think they care about some trash that an author that no one had ever heard of until today or a fired employee wants to peddle. This is the focus of this administration is moving our country forward and hopefully everybody in this room will join us in that effort and focus on some of the policy components instead of some of the ridiculous lies that we have to spend all of our time in here focused on. If i could follow up on immigration quickly. Is it your thought that there will be a grand announcement on the wall . Again, wed like to make sure that we have a responsible Immigration Reform as i said at the front. Wed like to have a deal where we have daca as well as the priorities and principles laid out and met. Thats the reason the president has invited members from the Democrat Party to come over next week so we can have that discussion and see if we can move that ball forward. Kristen. Thank you. As a candidate President Trump threatened some 20 lawsuits and followed through on two of them. Why should steve bannon and michael wolf be concerned . Regardless of whether or not theres a lawsuit they should be concerned about peddling fake stories. They should be concerned about putting out information thats not true. They should be concerned about the fact that were spending all of our time here focused on talking about this instead of things that people in this country care about. I think thats a really sad process and i think that should be everyones concern. Is the president committed to following through with these lawsuits . I think thats a question youd have to talk to his attorneys about. Doesnt this run the risk of increasing book sales, sarah . I think you guys are the ones that are drawing the attention. Every question basically that ive been asked has to do with that. Its not like i came out here and read excerpts from the book. I dont think that i can be responsible for the questions that you ask. In fact, if i tried to do that im sure i would certainly be attacked for trying to because i did that ones and it didnt go over really well. Go ahead. Bannon response to revelations in this book . Absolutely not. Thats a ridiculous characterization. This is about the security a integrity process in the white house. This has been in process for six months. We were making sure that all of the information and the ability for the government phones to increase their ability for other application so that we can comply with president ial records act. That was a big piece of making sure that this was done. Now that that process is completed we can move forward and that will start next week. Mike . How would you describe the president s relationship with im sorry. The president s relationship with the mercer family. How would you explain that . I believe its good. I havent heard otherwise. Im not aware of anything specific. You were eager to call espn to fire one of its sportscaster. It wasnt just criticizing it was a little bit different. Shut breitbart part ways with steve bannon . I certainly think that its something they should look at and consider. Brian . Id like to drill in on some of the things from yesterday. I profess my ignorance you said it, not me. Dont smile. If you want to call yourself ignorant, im not going to argue. I am. Make me smile. Next week when he goes to his physical, are there mental acuity tests that go along with that or is it purely physical in nature . Well discuss as i said when i announced that he was going to be doing the physical, well have a read outof that after that is completed and well let you know at that time. The second question i have for you is yesterday you said steve bannon was entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts. This administration has said on many occasions that they are entitled to alternative facts so how is that different with steve bannon . This administration is has not said on numerous occasions that there are alternative facts. I know that there was one reference in which they were saying there was basically two sides to the story. I think thats very different than completely false information and an opinion. Dave . Sarah, thanks. The president said today that steve bannon changed his tune about him last night. Does the president feel that the cease and desist letter had the desired effect on steve bannon . Im not sure what aspect made him change his tune, but i think that there was certainly a difference in some of the language that he used for this book versus the language that he used last night. Is there a question on oil drilling please. Rick scott, the governor of florida, has been expressing concerns about the administrations new oil drilling off shore oil drilling plans which will allow obviously drilling in most coastal waters. Can the president afford to cross this important political ally . What do you plan to say to Governor Scott about the whole plan . Our goal certainly isnt to cross Governor Scott. We have a great relationship with him. Well continue those conversations. Absolutely not. There is more access for information. Within that. He never discussed this book with the president and to me that would be the most important voice to have if you were writing a book about an individual would be to have some time with him. He never did. He was repeatedly denied that. We saw him for what he was. There was no reason to ill let you have one followup. I appreciate that. Should the letter from the president s lawyers aimed at steve bannon and aimed at the publisher be interpreted as a threat from the United States government, from this administration to not publish this book . Its a is that a censor. Its not from the United States government, its from the president s personal attorney and i think it is very clear what its purpose is and theres nothing to add beyond that. If you have specifics on that i would refer you to the president s attorneys. Thanks so much, guys. In case you missed it, the president taped a flattering message about his administration to play at the top of the press briefing which is weird because hes right down the hall. If the president wanted to deliver a statement to the assembled press, he should walk down the hall and deliver it in person, face reporters, answer questions. A lot in that briefing. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was repeatedly asked about michael wolfs tellall book about inside the white house. She said it was mistake after mistake after mistake. Called it tabloid gossip. She was asked by a number of reporters in the room these sorts of questions. Will he go to court . Should bannon be fired from breitbart . Is the new white house cell phone policy in response to wolfs book . And most interestingly by a reporter from playboy, the president s going for a physical next week. Will there be a mental acuity test along with that physical . Joining me now to debrief nbcs Kristen Welker who was in the Briefing Room and back with us nbcs Julia Ainsley as well as richard painter, former ethics lawyer under george w. Bush. A lot of questions there. A bit contentious, kristen. What struck me was the mental acuity test. She said essentially that theyd get back to the reporters. Thats right. She said, look, well have a readout of the results of the president s physical after it happens. And sort of dodged that question, but youre certainly right, it was an interesting one, particularly in the wake of another question she was asked, which was to respond to the allegations in the book that perhaps the president is struggling with his cognitive capacity right now. Theres one section, for example, in which michael wolf says in the Hollywood Reporter today in an article thats out today that President Trump continues to repeat things over and over again and that that has raised some alarm bells for some of his top officials. Let me tick through some of the other headlines that caught my attention here today, katie. At the top of the briefing Sarah Sanders was asked to provide specific examples of why this book is filled with so many falsehoods, and she said, look, im not going to go page by page, but ill give you one that is absolutely ridiculous, which is that President Trump didnt know who former House Speaker john boehner was. She pointed to the fact that they played golf together. When she was asked to respond to whether or not the president is struggling with his mental capacity she said thats disgraceful and laughable and then she was also asked a whole range of other questions about the legal actions that are being taken, those threats, those cease and desist orders from President Trumps lawyers to steve bannon, to michael wolf, the author, and to the publi publisher. I asked Sarah Sanders if they should actually be afraid because the president has threatened legal action in the past. Take a look at that exchange. President trump threatened some 20 lawsuits and followed through with two of them so why should steve bannon and michael wolf be concerned . I think that regardless of whether or not theres a lawsuit they should be concerned about peddling fake stories. They should be concerned about putting out information thats not true. They should be concerned about the fact that were spending all of our time here focused on this instead of sort of things that people in the country care about. I think thats a really sad process and i think that that should be everyones concern. Is the president committed to following through with these lawsuits . I think thats a question youd have to talk to his attorneys about. And then, katie, i asked Sarah Sanders about that cell phone ban that was announced today and i asked her if it was in response to the revelations in the book. She said that that was a ridiculous notion. She said this has been in the works for six months and has to do with maintaining security here at the white house as well as keeping president ial records. Katie . Richard, isnt it remarkable that were talking about the president s mental state and asking honest questions about his mental state . You also have members in Congress Meeting with psychiatrists to talk about the 25th amendment. Well, i think its long overdue that we address this issue. Just a few days ago many of us were terrified to see the president of the United States on twitter communicating to north korea that his button Nuclear Button is bigger than theirs. This is not mentally stable behavior. You combine that with knew the clear weapons. We are all at great risk, and this is a situation that needs to be addressed by the cabinet and congress as set forth in the 25th amendment. We cannot risk having a president who is mentally unstable and Controlling Nuclear weapons. It is interesting that the president hasnt had a press conference, an open press Conference Since last year. Since february of last year. He didnt have one at the end of the year, and in the book richard wolf not richard wolf, went to the author went to talk about an interview that the president was supposed to do with 60 minutes that hope hicks decided against because he was repeating himself so much that she needed the questions beforehand, which is why they went with sean hannity. Unclear if that is true, but that is what is painted in this book. Julia, special counsel Robert Muellers team, how much are they going to be looking at this . Well, katie, a lot of what Robert Muellers team has on trump and the presidency has already been assembled. A book like this would take a lot of corroboration. Its almost like dealing with a raw piece of intelligence information. If you think about the fact that they are zeroed in not on whether or not the president is fit for office or what it may have been, whether or not there was actually collusion between this campaign and russia, a lot of this book isnt good for that. It gives us a window into the questions they might be asking. I thought the press conference gave us a window into the way the Trump Legal Team works. They see their job as keeping the president calm. Theyre doing that in the Mueller Investigation by trying to undermine Robert Mueller and theyre doing that here by trying to undermine the author, steve bannon and the publisher by authorizing the cease and desist. They see it as their job to keep their client calm. Yeah. To do his bidding as well it seems. Mitch mcconnell, Senate Majority leader just reacted to the book. Lets take a listen. Steve bannon in a new book is reported to have said that the contacts took place, the meetings between Trump Associates is trees sen news. Id like to associate myself with what the president said about steve bannon. Mitch mcconnell obviously pleased because Mitch Mcconnell is no fan of steve bannon. He tried to put his candidates above mcconnells candidates and look what happened in alabama. Richard painter, your last take aways of where we stand now. We are in a very dangerous situation. The president does not understand the First Amendment of the constitution when he continually attacks the press and is taking concrete actions against the press, including retaliatory action against the Parent Company of cnn and now we have his lawyers who think theyre going to go into court and stop publication of a book critical of the president. As i say, this is not russia, this is the United States. He is not a dictator. He doesnt get that. And he also doesnt get that he needs to control his anger, particularly when hes talking about nuclear weapons. And we have reached a point where the cabinet and the house and the senate need to look both at the 25th amendment and impeachment provisions of the constitution because were in a situation where we do not have a safe person in the oval office and despite all my disagreements with mike pence on a range of issues, at least he would calm things down and we would feel a little safer at night. This book is just one more piece of evidence that this president is not fit for office. Its just one. As i said, he has done tweets just 48 hours ago that convinced many of us that hes off his rocker and can i ask you and let me just ask you about michael wolf, the way he went about this book, the way he went about amassing this information. He talks about the conversations he had, a lot of them on deep background, some on the record, some off the record. When its off the record its not supposed to see the light of day. How do you explain it getting into a book . I dont know how it did, whether he went back and asked the person he interviewed whether it could be put on the record or whether he broke the agreement. If you do break the agreement, what does it say about the journal lis stick integrity of what you write . It may very well Say Something about t. Im not here to talk about the author of the book and whether its a high quality book or not, but the problem is that every day brings us new evidence that this president is not fit for office and is not psychologically stable and doesnt understand his role under the constitution. We dont need to read that book to figure it out, we just look at his own twitter feed and the book is just yet one more piece of the puzzle. I dont know why steve bannon is saying these things. Im no fan of steve bannon, but if this book just existed alone in a vacuum, we wouldnt be having these concerns, but its yet one more story about this president that is making it increasingly clear that he is not fit for office and his reaction to the book is extremely troubling. He doesnt understand freedom of the press. He doesnt understand the First Amendment. Richard painter, Julia Ainsley, kristen well ter kerwe luck in there. Members of congress are going there regardless of what you think of it. Theyre asking, is donald trump mentally fit, i. E. , sane enough to be commander in chief . One of them is kentucky Democrat John i cant remembyarmouth. As we head to break, a look at the dow which reached another record today crossing the 25,000 mark. The president claimed today that decembers positive jobs report and flourishing 401ks are behind todays record. Right now the dow is up around 165 points. Well be right back. James r. And associates. Anna speaking. Yes, i understand. Well, well whats your guess . thanks. James r. And associates. Anna here. Its ridiculous, pour into the hudsons a. James r. And associates. Anna. No. No, no, no, no. What i really wanted to do. [phone ringing] baker architects. This is anna baker. Hi, thank you so much for getting back to me. This is what our version of Financial Planning looks like. I am so excited to be working with you. Tomorrow is important, but youre ready to bet on yourself today. Spend your life living. Todays the day. Find an advisor at northwesternmutual. Com. They appear out of nowhere. My secret visitors. Hallucinations and delusions. The unknown parts of living with parkinsons. What plots they unfold, but only in my mind. Over 50 of people with parkinsons will experience hallucinations or delusions during the course of their disease. If your loved one is experiencing these symptoms, talk to your parkinsons specialist. There are Treatment Options that can help. My visitors should be the ones i want to see. Whats the president s reaction to the suggestion both in the book and in the media hes mentally unfit to serve at president . The same way we have when its been asked before, that its disgraceful and laughable. If he was unfit he probably wouldnt be sitting there, wouldnt have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the Republican Party has ever seen. This is an incredibly strong and good leader. Thats why weve had such successful 2017 and why were going to continue to do great things as we move forward in this administration. The white house is dismissing questions about President Trumps Mental Fitness but in sm members of congress have questions. Met with a Yale University psychiatry professor last month he briefed them on President Trumps health. Dr. Brandy x. Lee warned him the president would unravel. Its a collection of testimonials from psychiatrists who assessed trumps mental state, important to note none of them actually examined the president , but lee says this about the experts findings. We feel that the rush of tweeting is an indication of his falling apart under stress. Trump is going to get worse and will become uncontainable with the pressures of the presidency. Joining me now is congressman John Yarmouth, democrat from kentucky. Hes met with dr. Lee and her team on december 6th and cosponsored articles of impeachment against the president. Congressman, thanks so much for being here. What precipitated this meeting . I dont know. I think dr. Lee actually called our office and explained what they was doing. She was trying to meet with members of congress to relay to us her observations and the observations of the other psychologists and psychiatrists part of that book. And their concerns about the danger that President Trump poses to the country, and basically she is an expert in violence and the medical component of violence and i think what they said was, they have noticed patterns of behavior in President Trump which mirror what they have seen in their practice, and while they havent treated him personally, they are concerned about this pattern of behavior which they say often leads to violent behavior, are you now concerned . I was concerned before. And, you know, one of the things theyve said which ive actually been concerned about and spoken about in the last year is that President Trump lives in the moment. He is incapable of thinking either through the past or through the future, and when yi the moment, thats concerning. And to invoke the 25th amendment, Vice President pence and majority of cabinet members must agree trump is unfit. Pence would become acting president. Trump an opportunity to dispute it in writing and pence and the cabinet would have four days to challenge trump. Ultimately, its congress that would decide, who to side with. If it takes twothirds of congress to vote him out, right now republicans control the house and the senate. Dont you think trying to get the 25th amendment through is a bit of a long shot . Well, i think right now its more than a long shot. Its an impossibility. But i think what about taking the house and senate . I still think very difficult given his current behavior. If he spirals in a more dangerous direction, though, i think youre going to see a lot of republicans understand that the welfare of the country and security of the country comes first. Thats really why dr. Lee was coming to members of congress. To say, if by any chance there is in the future a 25th amendment process that theyre available to consult with members of congress in helping them make a judgment. Congressman, can we talk go ahead. Keep going. Thats all right. Go ahead. We talked last week how you thought dr donald trump was mentally unfeel and cosponsored articles of impeachment but dont think democrats should run on impeaching him. If you think hes unfit and met with a psych coy tryiatristpsyc your responsible to get him out of office, if you really believe that . Yeah. I mean if we win the majority id be happy to do that. The reason i said i voted to table that last resolution, that wasnt the resolution that i had introduced. Basically al greens resolution impeached him just a because he was a jerk. That was the idea. We actually will grounds for the impeachment in the resolution i cosponsored and the problem is, again, if you dont do impeachment with anybody bipartisan participation at all, then it has, it does not have the credibility with the american public. It become as political weapon. And you cant use it, impeachment, that way. I was a staffer on the hill during watergate, and i watched that process with great interest, and there was when nixon finally saw the handwriting on the wall, it was because he understood it was a bipartisan sentiment that he had to go. Why dont you think republicans believe the way you believe . I mean what do you say to critics who say this is all a big nothing burger and being blown way out of proportion and the president is somebody whos the victim of people who are trying to take him down . I dont think there are more than a couple dozen republicans in the house of representatives who dont think that they have questions about President Trumps Mental Fitness for the office. They have come from districts where President Trump is still fairly popular. Ive talked to my republican colleagues from kentucky. They say they go home and people ask them, why arent you defending President Trump enough . These are republicans who vote with him on everything. So theyre representing their districts, but at some point, again if things get rougher, then i think everybody will take a different perspective on it. I wonder what it looks like if things get rougher . I dont know. I dont want to see it. Yeah. Congressman John Yarmouth of kentucky. Congressman, thanks for being here. Thanks. That is where well leave it this hour. Tomorrow ill speak with congressman jim jordan who penned an oped today saying its time for Jeff Sessions to go and former Trump Campaign aide sam nunberg on mtp daily with my friend chuck todd a little later. Youll want to see that. Hes quoted in the Michael Wolff book talking about donald trump not being able to for one thing get through get through the constitution, excuse me. Tune in for that. Chris jansing picks things up right now. Always a pleasure, katy tur. Thank you. Good afternoon, i am Chris Jansing in for ali velshi and the fallout continues this afternoon over Michael Wolffs explosive tellall book about the inner workings of the president s white house. The president passed up a chance today to say on camera what he did in his scathie ining respon the book yesterday. Did steve bannon betray you, mr. Trump . Any words about steve bannon . He called me a great man last night. He obviously chi lly changed hi pretty quick. Thank you. I dont talk to him. I dont talk to him. Thats a misnomer. But trumps legal team is now doing Everything Possible to try and squash this book sending a cease and desist letter to the publicer and author and the former chief strategist, steve bannon. Wolff today in the Hollywood Reporter details headlines from his 200 interviews with trump and senior staff. Over 18 months of conversations repeatedly, according to wolff, questioned not just the president s fitness for office but worried about his mental health. We should note. Nbc news has not confirmed much of what appears in this book. Just a short time ago, White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders slammed the book as complete fantasy. Im not going to waste my time or the countrys time going