Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Stephanie Ruhle 20180918

Know. Maybe this is merely a distraction from the kavanaugh problems. Were not getting distracted. The stage is set for a monday morning showdown. Both kavanaugh and his accuser, california professor christine b blasey ford, scheduled to testify with nothing other than the lifetime appointment of the highest court in the land at stake. I may vote he should go on and fill the seat, i may not. If judge kavanaugh has lied about what happened, that would be disqualifying. And another 2 billion bucks worth of tariffs announced against china. Just days before the two countries are scheduled for trade talks. So we got three huge stories this morning. You do not want to miss a minute. Because were going to analyze all of them. We got to start with the public hearing that has quickly turned the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee kavanaugh, seen as a done deal, into absolute uncertainty. I have a great team to break all of it down. Heres what we know so far. Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey ford. She is the woman accusing him of Sexual Assault when the two were in high school in the 80s. Theyre set to testify under oath before the Senate Judiciary committee on monday. Senator Chuck Grassley announcing late last night he will delay kavanaughs confirmation vote after facing mounting pressure from both sides of the aisle. Obviously, if judge kavanaugh has lied about what happened, that would be disqualifying. Thats why its so important that we have testimony under oath with a lot of questions to ask of both of them. It is an insult to the majesty of the Supreme Court to rush this through. When these serious allegations have come forward. What i insisted on is we not have a vote. I would have voted no. This week, absent her being able to tell her story. So im glad shes going to be able to. And while the testimony could impact the vote of some key senators, others on the hill think the decision to hold a public hearing is too rash. This morning, senator feinstein calling on the fbi to investigate the allegations. Writing in a statement in 1991, five days after anita hills allegations became public, against her wish, the Judiciary Committee held three days of controversial hearings. Now, just one week after Christine Blasey ford had her story, they want to make the same mistake. The decision to hold this hearing echos hills testimony against then nominee thomas. There are some key differences. This time, the two will answer questions against the backdrop of the me too movement. This time, the two will not testify before a committee entirely made up of men. So what does the president have to say about the controversy surrounding his Supreme Court nominee . Judge kavanaugh is one of the finest people that ive ever known. Hes an outstanding intellect, an outstanding judge, respected by everybody. Never had even a bill blemish on his record. At the same time, we want to go through the process. Well, mr. President , this is certainly a blemish. I want to go straight to nbcs Garrett Haake on the hill. The vote to confirm delayed. The hearing set monday. Set the stage for us. Stephanie, this really is extraordinary. When you think about it, so much of what happens in washington and on capitol hill, even in this modern era, has a paint by numbers feel to it. You can predict the timing and the pace of how some of these things go. We are so far off the scale when it comes to this hearing that its scheduled to happen on monday. We dont necessarily even know that both parties are actually going to be there yet or whether this will happen. There is so many uncertainty in this moment about the kavanaugh nomination and how and whether or not it goes forward. And what this hearing will like if it happens. You mentioned anita hill, the ghosts of 1991 are very much present in this moment. Theres a number of senators who dont want to see anything like that happened in 1991 play out here. If this hearing takes place, well go beyond what has been up to this point this idea of an audience of two who werent in the room, right. During the first stage of confirmation hearings for kavanaugh. So much of this is what were Susan Collins and lisa murkow i murkowski, the theoretical republican swing votes on his nomination, going to think about this . This hearing, this question of a possible Sexual Assault opens up an entirely larger universe of people who might say, you know what, this is not for me. It really throws this entire nomination into a level of uncertainty that has not existed up until this point. I want to bring my panel in. My friend barry weiss, a reporter at the New York Times. Joe bennett, who we havent seen in ages, a former democratic strategist for Hillary Clinton. And rick, oftentimes, i get excited, hey, this is about to happen. You knowing politics so well, like, hey, stef, this is a show, nothings going to change. Votes arent going to change. Opinions arent going to change. How it this week . Is this week different . You cant make this stuff up. This you cannot. Whether its going to change anything . Yes. Possibly. Right now, we have a he said she said. We have one other witness who would be a corroborating witness whos not corroborating in her favor. Shes not been able to name the time and location you mean the guy who was in the room who wrote a book who said during his High School Years he was blackout drunk, a guy whose High School Yearbook quote said women should be clubbed but its a he said she said story. Hopefully when we get to hear drives me crazy when senators prejudge this. Because anita hills oped today pointed out, i think shes right about this, the Senate Confirmation process is not a process designed to get at the truth. Wow. It is designed to put on a show. To put on a show because some of these people are running for president or want to preserve their reelection campaigns or power. And that has evolved. It wasnt always the case. But it is now. So is it going to get at the truth . I doubt it. Youre going to hear one side whos going to present one side of the story and one side is going and well all be left to decide. But is it really to get at, you know, where did this alleged incident take place . And will people be able to make a judge . I think the burden of proof here is actually lower than a criminal proceeding. I think it was senator byrd who said, you know, nobody has a right tob be on the supreme cout and ultimately you have senators who will presumably get out of the committee. But jeff flake, he just has to say no and the process stops and we move on. Its going to be a he said she said after monday too. But it doesnt have to be because Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein are saying hold on, before these public hearings, which you know will be devastating for both of them, how about the fbi spend some more time investigating. Which is i think what anita hill is saying. The senate committee, its not an investigative body. Its a confirmation hearing. It doesnt mean they have the wherewithal to have all the facts about a case like this, where the incident happened decades ago. Weve got, you know, making it sound like a he said she said i think is a little unfair in a moment only because charthis wo has put herself on the line. Theres a lot at stake here. Christine ford, i think the woman was made also use her name. This is not kavanaughs accuser. This is a woman who before anybody in america heard of kavanaugh discussed with a therapist about this attack. Has notes from it now. Has taken a polygraph test. She is putting her name on the line. By coming before this country. Especially in the way weve seen women treated so many times before in these settings. You could see it now if you look if you look at twitter, if you look at the attacks that come at the end of this. Brett kavanaugh could be a Supreme Court justice for life. At the end of this, christine has just i believe shes completely sincere in what she believed happens. And maybe it did happen exactly as she said 36 years ago although we know memory is capricious. The idea its not a he said she said, thats exactly what it is. Whats different about this case, its like that famous New York Times ad that i think is so excellent. This is not a paid ad from me for the times by the way. Its he said she said. She said, she said, she said. The whole thing in all these instances is theres been a sustained and that was around and by the way, we can go through them. The ones that have stuck, theres been a pattern. By all accounts, other than this instance, Brett Kavanaugh has a reputation as being a prince of a man frankly other than this. Now, i believe her. I believe what shes saying. Im just saying in the end of the day, it is heres what i dont understand then okay Dianne Feinstein gets a letter, right, and its a none muss. And senator chris coons said this morning that this letter was leaked and apparently it was leaked by feinsteins staff. She did not want to come forward. Shes been forced to come forward. We can say and i think thats important, but i dont know she wrote the letter. I dont know what she expected to happen. That if she writes the letter, it was Dianne Feinsteins just going to how was she to present it . Im confused about that part of it. If she didnt want to come out, how is it her staff was allowed that letter to be leaked . What do you think, joel . What do you think about this . Ford didnt want to come forward. Feinsteins team leaked it. How this whole thing played out. Right. I think this is not a good situation for anybody right now involved in this. Its not good for judge kavanaugh. Its not good for christine blausy ford. Its not good for the committee. Because they dont have the wherewithal to deal with it and theyre not taking anita hills advice, which i think was spot on also. Take a step back. I think thats what i meant by more than a he said she said. Theres a lot at stake. Dont turn this into a circus. Dont do what you did, you know, decades ago. Make sure you handle this in the right way. What is the hurry here . We have the seat on the Supreme Court well, ill tell you what the hurry is. Its a hyper partisan suspicion that this is a delaying tactic. Hold on, we had eight justices on the Supreme Court for nine months thats right. And it didnt bother Mitch Mcconnell a wit so dont stand before but there are politics in this. Im sorry, do not stand before america and say youre suddenly in a rush what about the deeper like the ethical question here . Lets say he did this exactly as she said. Shot fact that a 17yearold presumably very drunk kid did this, should that be disqualifying . Thats the question at the end of the day. Were not talking about should he be disqualified to be a dog catcher. A Supreme Court justice. So maybe they should choose amy comey barrett, one of my friends on the right. But to her point, if thats the most interesting question. If kavanaugh for rest of his life was a prince, if he did this, is it disqualifying . Well, i think that one of the things we have to do is see how does he address this. We have, by the way, a candidate for the Supreme Court who apparently based on emails has already perjuried himself once. Back in 2006. Good point. He said the senate tried to cover it up by marking the email confidential. Where two emails at least say he was involved in a secret meeting yes, but david lat blew that whole thing up. Im sorry, youve got confidential emails saying call me when a person wants to talk to him about the nomination and also inviting him to a very important meeting. You dont then say i had nothing to do with that. When you testify under oath before the senate at a judicial confirmation hearing and say i had nothing to do with that and that is patently false based on whats in those email that the senate tried to cover up in this hearing, something about his integrity is not quite as pure as everybodys saying it is. Its only going to take one republican on committee to say. Its only going to take two republicans in the full sentence if it gets out of committee to say its disqualifying. I think the burden again, the burden of proof here isnt a criminal burden of proof. This is a politician picking a Supreme Court member. If they dont like the suspicion, they can say move on, get another judge. It says something so deep about our culture that in the past 24 hours ive talked to so many women including just the four in the makeup room with you, with everyone in there. Most women i know, Something Like this has happened to them. So what if someone was chosen who doesnt think this is acceptable. What if women like you and i and every other woman can say weve had similar things happen and weve accepted it. What if this is the moment to say, lets take a stand and not say this is life, people get drunk, yikes, and actually move in another direction and say, this does disqualify you, lets find another pick. Yes. Im just saying that its whats striking to me is i guess im thinking of it today from the perspective of lets all think about our worse instance thats happened to us in this world and imagine it paraded out in front of, you know, the country. Its a horrible reality. Im just saying im interested in the deeper its a horrible reality. Disgusting reality about our broken sexual culture. Maybe thats why professor ford, the question is why did she white rite an anonymous let. Because when she thinks back to the worst grossest thing that happened to her as a 15yearold girl and she watches that person be honored to possibly be posted to the highest judicial post in the land then it would be up to presumably feinsteins staff to say is there enough evidence here to be clear and convincing and right now there isnt. There may be on monday. But im skeptical. But beale see. But well see. I hope it doesnt end where we dont know definitivdefinitivel. How will we know definitively . There will be other people at the party. He says he wasnt at the party who remembers when they were at a high school party. Do you remember what happened last week . Gli can remember things back in my youth more than last week. If youre the woman and this happens to you, you remember. I would also say, youre making a fair point, you know, if this is one isolated case at age 17, but this was Sexual Assault. If this thing is given time to be actually investigated as it should be, there may be others who come out. Im not saying there are. I have no information. I have no idea. But you know how this has unfolded with others. Or maybe it gets investigated and its a one off. But the American People certainly deserve transparency before giving a position like this for life. Coming up, the president orders the Justice Department to declassify documents related to the russia investigation, much to the surprise of the democrats, the president s own Justice Department. What exactly is in these documents . Next. But before we go, an update on aftermath of hurricane florence. Authorities now say at least 32 people are dead and rivers are still rising. Others across the region expected to stay at or above flood level until saturday. More than 340,000 people without power. And with Property Damage from the storm expected to exceed 22 billion. So for anyone who said the storm is exaggerated, get your head around that. How do you win at business . Stay at laquinta. Where were changing with contemporary makeovers. Then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. Who has the upper hand now . Start winning today. Book now at lq. Com. And i dont add up the years. But what i do count on is boost®. Delicious boost® high protein nuritional drink now has 33 more protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals boost® high protein. Be up for life. But he has plans today. Ain. Hey dad. So he took aleve. If hed taken tylenol, hed be stopping for more pills right now. Only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Aleve. All day strong. Welcome back now to the other big story. The president s bombshell decision to publicly release classified documents that are directly related to the investigation into his own Campaign Team and their contacts with russia. As we speak, the Intelligence Community is scrambling to review those documents, to make sure that releasing them will not pose a danger to National Security. So heres what the president is calling for. President trump wants to declassify and release 21 pages of a highly sensitive federal surveillance application against his former aide carter page. He also wants to release fbi interviews that went into preparing the application. Second, the president wants to release scores of Text Messages from current and former department of justice and fbi officials. Including former fbi director jim comey, former Deputy Director andrew mccabe. Former fbi lawyer lisa page. And doj officials. It was used to obtain authorization that let the government conduct surveillance on carter page for nearly a year, starting in the fall of 2016. But republicans argue that it should never have been authorized in the first place because it relied on information in the socalled steele dossier. They believed by declassifying more of the application it will prove the fbi got the warrant under false pretenses. Devin nunez is one of the lawmakers who has been calling for this. Heres what he said back in july. Those of us who have been providing oversight over this issue, weve had several of our members who have been painstakingly going through it piece by piece. And we are quite confident that once the American People see these 20 pages, at least for those who get real reporting on this issue, they will be shocked by whats in that fisa application. The argument from the president and his allies goes like this. The steele dossier is just a partisan document made up of madeup allegations paid for by the clinton campaign. Because of that some republicans say the warrant itself is illegitimate. They also say the fdi lied to the court, proving theyre corrupt and out to get the president and his allies. In other words, its all a witch hunt. Hold on a minute, how about some facts. Previously released information shows the fbi did tell the judges about the steele dossier and it shows that the fbi had suspicions about page and his russian contacts that went far beyond what steele had uncovered. Whats more, the fbi had to apply for surveillance warrants four different times in front of four different judges. All of those doctors appointed by republican president s. The warrants were approved every single time. Each judge finding the government showed probable cause that page was acting as an agent of russia. Now democrats, they are furious. Insisting that the president is only releasing the top secret information in order to help themselves politically. Well, i think its first and foremost a way of donald trump helping his own defense, providing these own materials to his own legal defensed team. This is coordinated between the president and his lyallies. And the president dent acedent e had since watergate that a president does not interfere at specific cases in justice is shattered. Lets be clear, theres no question that the president has the authority to do this. He can declassify anything he wants. But in doing so, he appears to have caught even his own intelligence officials way off guard. A Justice Department spokesperson said that the president s order has triggered a declassification review by the fbi, the Justice Department, the White House Council and the director of national intelligence. An official with direct knowledge tells nbc it is a geneses will not be able to do a Damage Assessment on the Text Messages because theres simply too many of them. Im joined by Kristen Welker at the white house and nbc intelligence reporter ken dilanian. Ken, you said this is more than not normal. You have never seen anything like this. But heres the thing, thats the case in almost anything surrounding President Trump. Explain what you mean. A trump supporter could say im tired of you saying unprecedented. Thats why i voted for him. I wanted a change. You put your finger on it, stephanie. This president shattered so many norms. Its hard for people to understand when he does something thats truly damaging, this is one of those times. Current and former intelligence officials ive talked to are stunned. They say theyve never seen a president overrule his own intelligence and Law Enforcement professionals and try to force the release of highly sensitive documents from a pending counterintelligence criminal investigation. That would be bad enough but the obvious motive is the real scandal. The problem is the subject of this investigation. As adam said there, hes helping his own defense. Hes helping to fuel whats essentially a conspiracy theory. Which is the carter page surveillance was the genesis of the russia investigation. We know thats fulalse. That started because another aide was bragging that the russians had offered him Hillary Clinton emails. Its one thing for the republicans to want to have oversight of this fisa process but nunez, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, as far as were told, has never actually read these highly sensitive documents and neither has donald trump. So theyre not sure what sources and methods could be compromised. But fbi and Justice Department officials have told members of congress it would be very damaging if some of this stuff was released. Apparently donald trump is willing to take that risk because he thinks its going to help his case. Nunez in a speech a few days ago was clear why he wanted this material out. He said it would help the republicans live the fall election. He said we need to push this message that the democrats have corrupted the fbi and Justice Department. Corrupted. Stef, this is not an area that normally has been politicized. From devin nunez. Hes talking about political corruption. All right, Kristen Welker, the white house says that theyre doing this for reasons of transparency. I mean, first of all, Sarah Sanders must be the World Champion of staredown contests because i dont know how she can say that with a straight face looking anyone in the eye. Theyre doing this for transparency . Transparency would be the president showing his taxes. Would be the president sitting down with robert mueller. So, stef, taking a look at that argument that Sarah Sanders is making in her full statement, she says, look, they made this decision because they had gotten multiple requests from members of congress and also for transparency. President trump up and tweeting about this today, stef, not surprisingly. Let me read you what he has to say before we do some analysis on the other side. The president saying, quoting congressman king effectively, saying what will be disclosed is there was no bias for these fisa warrants. That the information was kept from the court. Theres going to be a disproportionate influence of the, quote, fake dossier. You have a counterterrorism tool used to spy on a president ial campaign which is unprecedented. Congressman peter king. Really bad things were happening, but theyre now being exposed, big stuff. It underscores i think the argument youre going to hear from republicans which is by exposing this information, it will show there has been some bias that has run through this investigation from the very start. But as ken is pointing out, this is an open investigation. So to reveal these documents, if you talk to Law Enforcement officials and a lot of democrats, will undercut the mueller investigation. So this is undoubtedly going to be a political lightning rod heading into the midterm. This comes as the white house is dealing with this ongoing controversy over the president s Supreme Court nominee, judge kavanaugh. This is a way certainly to change the conversation back to a topic he wants to be talking about. Except of course in the 24 hour news cycle, cable news, social media, mr. President , we dont get distracted. We got time to cover it all. Im joined now by shannon pettypiece, White House Correspondent for bloomberg news. Daniel goldman, former assistant u. S. Attorney and nbc analyst. Weve said this is unprecedented. Can anyone stop President Trump from doing this . He is arbitrarily releasing part of a fisa warrant. You cant say this is not politically motivated because it doesnt make sense because hes not showing anything more than that. When you say republicans are backing him, its only some republicans. A lot of other republicans are quiet. Can no one stop and say this is a threat to our National Security . Well, the fbi, the department of justice, the department of dni can absolutely say that go to him and say do you understand what you are doing is going to jeopardize National Security. Okay, great, daniel, but theres no evidence of the president ever putting country first. Remember this carter page fisa application has undergone a dehas declassification review. Some of it has been declassified and released. This is the stuff already that the Intelligence Community and the department of justice has determined should not be declassified. The president is going over their heads and ordering this for his own personal protection, political gain. And it risks any number of precedents, norms and sources and methods which i can explain is very important that really goes to the heart of our National Security. Okay, shannon, is there a risk these documents are released and theres information that is damaging to the president . Because i think back to nunez, release the memo, release the memo, and that thing to me made him look like a chump. There is this risk. The strategy among the president and his allies is to so discredit the investigators that any of their findings wont mean anything. Take the carter page warrant. What has been released so far. It says carter page was asking essentially as a russian spy and he was about to or had committed crimes against the u. S. So this application basically says there was a russian spy or someone working for the russians, working for the trump campaign. That should be damaging earth shattering information. The republican i say, well, but look, it was only based off of this fisa, this, you know, d discredited dossier, but the other parts of the warrant that could prove there was other evidence that backed up this claim is all redacted. So thats a strategy. The president s allies will try and undercut it by attacking the messenger. When we say the president s allies, who are we talking about here . Giuliani and hannity or Mitch Mcconnell and Lindsey Graham . Because those two groups are entirely separate bodies with different motivations. Yes, its nunez. The republicans the republicans on the House Intelligence Committee. There are republicans on the House Intelligence Committee who is not one to go out front blabbing about this. Hes one of the people who we believe does know much of the information in this. What does he think what does gowdy say . Hes been mostly quiet. I dont think weve heard a statement from his office. My reporters the reporters we work with on the hill were saying they didnt expect to. Hes mostly quiet on this. Somebody who hadnt been quiet months ago was marco rubio, daniel. I want to share what he said about the application because he doesnt think he at least didnt think it was illegitimate a few months ago when asked about it. As far as you know and you remember the Senate Intelligence committee, the surveillance was justified. I dont think they did anything wrong. They got the judges to approve it. There was a lot of reasons unrelated to the dossier why they wanted to look at carter page. So walk me through, daniel, how do you get a warrant like this right . The fbi just cant pick somebody wearing a fishermans hat on the street carter pagestyle and say you look fishy. Its a lot more than that. In fact, a fisa warrant has several layers of review to make sure when you go to the court and ask for this, everything is properly vetted and sourced. So this is not a willynilly thing. Just throw this dossier in a warrant application and go to the judge. This is a rigorous methodical tool used very sparingly particularly on american citizens. So it is by no means any kind of a mechanism, a political mechanism that they use to try to get this. By the way, when they got it on carter page, he was off the campaign. Hard to square that with the president s argument that it was an intent to infiltrate the campaign. To that exact point, shannon, why would the president go to war over a guy like carter page . Right. Who the u. S. Intelligence community deemed was a russian agent. Its just this attempt to just try and discredit this investigation in any way they can. I think theres definitely an element that they know some of this information is going to come out anyway. That it would come out in Robert Muellers report. So they are trying to in one sense get ahead of this and in another sense continue this counter narrative of this spy gate. Of this deep state. This wide vast conspiracy within the Justice Department. And every top official and low ranking official is all conspiring against the trump campaign. To build that story and muddy the water so much that when Robert Muellers report comes out, the public is so confused. The public might be confused. You know who woke up in jail today, paul manafort. Who pleaded papen dope lus, michael flynn. It is time now for my favorite part of the show. The Trump Administration took another shot in the trade war with china with another round of tariffs on chinese goods. President trump announcing last night 200 billion bucks worth of tariffs on more than 5,000 chinese goods. Its going to into effect monday, september 24. Including items like furniture, even soap. China responded with 60 billion bucks worth of tariffs on u. S. Imports. One industry currently taking the hit in the first round, nuts. Nbcs Vaughn Hillyard joins me live from an almond farm in california. Walk me through this. 80 of the worlds almonds come from california. Tell me what youre hearing from farmers. Something ive found stunning since youve been speaking to farmers and manufacturers across the country. The farmers youve spoken to have said weve been getting screwed on trade for years. Maybe what the president is doing will cause shortterm pain but long term help us. Is that what youre hearing from these almond farmers . Stephanie, thats what you hear from an almond farmer, a Third Generation almond farmer here in california. Thats exactly what he told us just yesterday on the heels of this 200 billion worth of tariffs on chinese goods. Almonds have already been hit. Theyve seen an 18 price drop in almondings. An 18 drop. 4. 5 billion almond industry here. As you said, 80 of the worlds almonds come from here. I asked him, at what point do you really become concerned . He said it comes in january. Because theres 90 Different Countries they send almonds out to but number three on that list is china. There are many foreign markets we participate in. We export 90 . Its very important to us. Every market is crucial. If you lose any particular market that crowds more almonds into the markets that are leftover. So were concerned about the tariff situation. Were hopeful that its settled soon. Chinas already placed their tariffs on almonds. What is the impact youve seen . So we havent shipped a lot to china. This year, we havent booked any shipments to china. Doesnt mean theyre not going to come. Right now, theres a 50 tariff. So theyre expensive. The new year is when theyre going to begin to see those almonds pile up. As you just heard dave say, theyve had no sales to china this harvest season. They began just two weeks ago. Senior Administration Officials said yesterday that china is not at the negotiating table and there is no end to this trade war in sight. He said very clearly he is concerned. Help h he has 50 employees here. This cant go on that much longer for him. Trade, its a complicated issue. Coming up, we spoke earlier about the order to release classified documents as well as judge kavanaughs impending hearing on monday. The politics of distraction. Thats next. I was just finishing a ride. I felt this awful pain in my chest. I had a pe blood clot in my lung. I was scared. I had a dvt blood clot. Having one really puts you in danger of having another. My doctor and i chose xarelto®. Xarelto®. To help keep me protected. Xarelto® is a latestgeneration blood thinner thats. Proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt or pe blood clots from happening again. In clinical studies, almost 98 of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. Xarelto® works differently. Warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your bodys natural bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase risk of blood clots. While taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. Learn all you can. To help protect yourself from another dvt or pe. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. indistthat was awful. Tering why are you so good at this . Had a coach in high school. Really helped me up my game. I had a coach. Math. Ooh. So, why dont traders have coaches . Who says they dont . Coach mcadoo you know, at td ameritrade, we offer free access to coaches and a full education curriculum just to help you improve your skills. Boom mad skills. Education to take your trading to the next level. Only with td ameritrade. You always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed . Lets say it in a really low voice. Carl . Lowest price, guaranteed. Just stick with badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com we got to get back to our two big stories this hour. President trump ordering the department of justice to immediately release documents tied to the russia probe including a secret order to monitor his former aide, carter page. This comes as trumps nominee for the Supreme Court is set to appear before a Senate Judiciary committee monday. Rick, help me, you know politics, does it help the president to bring up this declassification, the russia investigation . I would think hed want to avoid that. Thats the conventional wisdom. Hes out to prove a point. Theres no reason. First of all, its dangerous to release this information. He doesnt care about that. Especially in parts, right. Hes not releasing the whole thing. The fisa court is where we prosecute people who are spying or intend to do the United States harm. By releasing information, whether you think it does or not you reveal sources and methods. Thats a dangerous thing to do. He wants to get it out there because it fits his narrative this is all a witch hunt. But it fits his narrative for people who are already voting for him. People who believe that its a witch hunt. Does he need to feed them more . No, i think its just part of hes the master of distraction. He likes distraction. He wants people to chase something other than what Paul Manaforts going to say but bob mueller doesnt get distracted. Doesnt doing this possibly put the president at greater risk . I certainly believe so. Especially if the democrats win the house. I think thats the key. Even if democrats win the house and i think thats probably also a little bit what hes afraid of but i dont think hes thought through this. I dont think he thinks through things. He reacts impulsivmpulsively. And thats what hes doing. It wont pay off for him in the long run. Because the democrats are going to win the house. Then theyll have subpoena power. Theyll create headaches every day. Is the issue salesmanship over strategy . He knows how to get them riled up and excited for the moment. But then the aftermath is where he suffers. Its where mike pompeo has to deal with north korea. Its where mnuchin and kudlow have to deal with china. If democrats win the house and the president and his team get buried in inquiry after inquiry, he doesnt even have enough people working there to handle it. It is remarkable to me his response to the whole kavanaugh thing because i think kellyanne got to him and said you need to berave have in this way. You think kellyanne got to him . I do. Went rogue yesterday because people inside the white house are in survivalist mode. Shes spent a great deal of time with him and said this is what you need to say and he did it. To your point, though, he doesnt think longterm strategy. He announced we solved the korean problem. Theyre still building the bomb. Look, hes a political tornado. I mean, he blows through with enormous force. He can tweet with enormous force. He leaves devastation in its wake. Republicans, if you talk to republicans all the time, theyre terrified of losing. You got a president whose Approval Ratings are mired well under water, still double digits negative. They cant figure out how to get around them. Joe and i were talking about this. One of the advantages the republicans have had is the gerrymandering. Where all these districts, like maybe 12 seats up theres 60. Because you cant draw women out of districts. Cant draw us out of districts. Were hear to stay. More than 50 of the population, girls. Deal with that. Up next, despite the latest trade war escalation, the markets are up in a big way. Ill speak to a man who has led multiple fortune 500 companies about why the economy keeps moving forward. N you book direct at choicehotels. Com you always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed . Lets say it in a really low voice. Carl . Lowest price, guaranteed. Just stick with badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com if youre waiting patiently for a liver transplant, it could cost you your life. Its time to get out of line with upmc. At upmc, livingdonor transplants put you first. So you dont die waiting. Upmc does more livingdonor liver transplants than any other center in the nation. Find out more and get out of line today. So lets promote our falle a homecomingtravel dealame, on choicehotels. Com like this. Touchdown. Earn a free night when you stay just twice this fall. Or, badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com the president escalating the trade war with china and imposing tariffs on 200 billion worth of goods and theres no sign he is backing down. The latest round of tariffs put a massive impact on keoconsumer. One person who knows a lot about keeping a company afloat, nigel travis. After joining duncan brands, he details what he believes is the key to success in his book, the challenge culture. Nigel travis joins me now. Lets start with tariffs for a moment and the president not backing down. He argued that china has been taking advantage of the United States for so long and its time to standup and fight back. What do you think, as a businessman . Well, i think there is some truth, you know, in china. I remember blockbuster when we tried to set up in china and there were all kind of barriers. There are certainly barriers that need to be dealt with. At dunkin, we are watching the trade war closely. We are a major exporter of ice cream, in particular. We want free trade. So, what is important to us is free trade. So, however we get there, clearly, the president has one way of negotiating it, other people have other ways. I think we have to get to a situation where we can remove tariffs and move our products around the world. One of the things that certainly concerns us is the transpacific alliance. We think that was a great opportunity tpp, which president obama put forward. We think it would have helped us export more ice cream around the world. We are going to remove the Tariff Barriers we are facing. The center thesis is Companies Need to push back to push forward. Yes. As it relates to government policy, is this a time Companies Need to step in and push in policy . Nike taking a political stand. Thats a very different place than Corporate America has been in the past. Absolutely. One of the things i think dunkin has been a leader is pushing back an various administration, be it Obama Administration or the current administration. I think both administrations, we have worked extremely hard. I have been down to washington probably five or six times a year. I think we were very involved in the tax bill when it went through. Trying to put the case for Small Business people. I think pushbacks are a great way of putting it. One thing people dont realize is government is much more accessible in other countries, even my home country. And we certainly have influence. We certainly had influence on many labeling that went on for several years. I dont think enough ceos, enough companies have constructive, thats the point of the book, its about constructive, positive, civil discussion. Without respect and civility, we have nothing. What is unique about dunkin is you are a big company of small companies. Do you think the little guy hasnt been rewards, what do you think . Theres discussion about wages. I think it was good for Small Business people. We pushed for the tax cut. We pushed for the small entities. Remember, we are 100 franchise. My previous company, papa johns were very much franchise. We represent Small Business in america. We managed to get that message over to government. I guess they heard it. The tax cut did happen. Check out the challenge culture. When we come back, we are covering good news. Stick around. At fidelity, our online u. S. Equity trades are just 4. 95. So no matter what you trade, or where you trade, youll only pay 4. 95. Fidelity. Open an account today. So shark invented duo clean. While deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles. Duo clean technology, only from shark. And fearlessly devours piles. The Kenya Tea Development agency is an organization that is owned by tea farmers. Every week we sell this tea, we get paid in multiple accounts. We were looking for a bank to provide a safe and Efficient Technology platform to pay our farmers. Citi was the only one that was able to ensure that this was done seamlessly. And today, at the touch of a button, all the farmers are able to get their money, Pay School Fees and improve their standard of living. With citi, we see a Bright Future for our farmers and their families. A hotel can make or break a trip. And at expedia, we dont think you should be rushed into booking one. Thats why we created expedias addon advantage. Now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. Addon advantage. Discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. Only when you book with expedia. You know how we like to end the show, no matter what, there is always good news somewhere. Ed sheeran made a visit to a children os hospital. He posed and performed his hit song perfect for the patients, family and staff. What an extraordinary day. Certainly good news to celebrate. That wraps up this hour. Im stephanie ruhle. Now, a woman who has been working so very hard, always. Im going to say the last 24 hours. Im not sure if she went to sleep. I praise you, thank you, Hallie Jackson. Im eating bonbons, chilling in a hammock. Its life. Thank you much, my friend. I am Hallie Jackson in washington. A supreme showdown will go down in a matter of days, or it may not. We are learning Top Senate Republicans have not heard back from the women accusing the Supreme Court nominee of Sexual Assault. Brett kavanaugh is heading to work in crisis control hiding behind the umbrella, answering no questions. He will have until monday when he is expected to face senators. His accuser has been invited, also. As of this moment, no confirmation she will be there. Coming up, what else democrats want related to the allegation. The risk and the huge multimillion dollar campaigns launched to sway certain key senators. The strategists driving that,