Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Velshi And Ruhle 20171120

Newspapers urging voters to reject moore. Rnc withdrew support for moore. Mitch mcconnell is withdrawing support. So is the young republicans, withdrawing support. A lot of women. I dont think a lot of people are going to be voting for roy moore. Roy moore should find Something Else to do, which is my way of suggesting he shouldnt be in the race. I think the president has talked about roy moore. Hes said he thinks that the voters of alabama should decide. Congressional leaders are hoping the president will shift his focus back to tax reform. The biggest miscatake was putting in a provision into the senate bill thats not in the house bill. I think the bills are reconcilable. The big issues, there are some things. With or without the repeal of the obama individual mandate. Depends where the votes are. I dont think anybody doubts where the white house is on repealing and replacing obamacare. We absolutely want to do it. Youd support taking the individual mandate out . Well, let me first say, this is all about getting this passed in the senate. Thats the objective. This isnt a bargaining chip. Theres no need to feel guilty. I havent done anything im ashamed of. The subject of repulsion, devotion and endless fascination. Charles manson is dead at the age of 83. The mayhem known as helterskelter began in los angeles. Manson brainwashing members of his cult, preaching about a race war. He was a truly evil, dark person, and i always believed he knew exactly what he was doing. So much to cover this morning. Lets begin with new developments in the roy moore scandal. Just 22 days before the special u. S. Senate election in alabama. The republican candidate remains defiant in the face of Sexual Misconduct allegations by a total of nine women. This morning, the first woman to come forward spoke out in an exclusive interview on nbcs today. Her first tv interview. Leag leigh kcorfman said she was 14 when moore sexual aabused her when he was a 32yearold district attorney. You said you were 14 years old, sitting in the courthouse with your mom. Right. He walked up, introduced himself. Right. Then ultimately called you and asked you out for a date. Right. Well, i wouldnt exactly call it a date. Id say it was a meet. At 14, i was not dating. At 14, i was not able to make those kind of choices. I met him around the corner from my house. My mother did not know. And he took me to his home. After arriving at his home, on the second occasion that i went with him, he basically laid out some blankets on the floor of his living room and proceeded to seduce me, i guess you would say. During the course of that, he removed my clothing. He left the room and came back in wearing his white underwear. And he touched me over my clothing, what was left of it. And he tried to get me to touch him, as well. At that point, i pulled back and said that i was not comfortable and i got dressed. He took me home. When he called beg eed again, i go. I made an excuse. Roy moore denies these allegations and, further, says he does not even know you. I wonder how many he doesnt know. Were hearing from roy moore himself, speaking out with talk radio host and Breitbart News reporter aaron klein. They brought up matters supposedly of a sexual impropriety, which never happened, never wouldve happened, and never wouldve been brought up but to detract this campaign from arguing the issues which mightily affect our country. I believe with all my heart that Mitch Mcconnell and the establishment are in cahoots with the democrats to stop this campaign. All this comes a day after a scathing editorial was published in three of alabamas largest newspapers, all owned by the same group, and on a. L. Com, the website for the group, urging the states voters to, vote, stand for decency, reject roy moore. The editorial endorses democrat doug jones. Joining us is Vice President of content for Alabama Media group. Shes a member of the joint Editorial Board for the newspapers and al. Com. Michelle, the Editorial Board wrote a vote for roy moore sends the worst kind of message with alabamians struggling with abuse. If you ever tell your story, alabama wont believe you or, worse, well believe you but we just wont care. The editorial says it is not only moores record on women and children that diskwaqualifies h. Can you explain that . The information thats been coming out in the last couple of weeks around roy moores behavior toward young women, toward children, is indeed repulsive. Our editorial makes that point. But even before that, roy moores position on who is a citizen and how we represent gays, muslims, atheists, transgender people, imfwramigra in america is wildly out of step with what most alabamians believe. Most alabamians believe in loving ones neighbor. I believe this strongly. The Editorial Board believes this strongly. We believe that on for so many reasons, roy moore cannot support the people of alabama. It shou he should not be in the United States senate. One of the things your board wrote, the accusations against roy moore have been horrifying but not shocking. One of the points roy moore keeps making is if ive been doing this all these years and its been such an open secret, why hasnt it been written about . What do you have to say about that . Why have things that have been known for so long not been covered in the news . I think a whole lot is cracking open in the american consciousness right now. I think we are coming to a time when women are saying, these things that have happened to us cant be silent anymore. I dont think that the culture in 1970s, 1980s, 90s alabama o coming forward. I think the sweeping changes were seeing now means its time. And women are looking at the potential of a roy moore United States senator and saying, its enough. Its time to step up. Its time to speak out. One of the arguments roy moore and his supporters are using is, this is the washington elite coming after us. This is the Washington Post sweeping into town. Why was it the Washington Post . Why wasnt it alabamas local papers who know things the best . Even if things were different the last 40 years, if youre saying today is a different time in history, why is it the Washington Post, not the papers, who know the area best . Well, congratulations to the Washington Post. Im glad theyre doing this reporting in alabama. Im happy when any Media Company cares enough to be paying attention to the important things that are happening in alabama. Do i wish my News Organization had reported this first . Of course. Have some of our longtime columnists and reporters said that they never heard any of this . You know, it is frustrating to them. Its frustrating to us. Right now, the important thing is its out. Were continuing to follow up independently on our reporting and have been able to bring forward more and new accusations. You know, i think oftentimes, we see the distance a national Media Company can take, coming in. Gives more room for a story to break. We welcome that. Are you worried he is going to sue you . Pardon . Are you worried roy moore is going to sue you . Roy moore has threatened us. Hes threatened our news accordingization, t organization, trying to slow our reporting. He wont be successful. We continue to report. We continue to have our editorial voice. Well not be cowed by roy moore, will not be slowed by roy moore. His team can go forward. I think, you know, we welcome the opportunity to defend ourselves fully if it comes to that. Michelle holmes, thanks for joining us. Michelle is the Vice President of content for Alabama Media group. Lets bring in a strong supporter of roy moore. Janet porter, the founder and president of the ohiobased group faith to action, which hosted a News Conference by faith leaders in birmingham, alabama, that roy moore attended. You say youve known roy moore more than 20 years. Tell us about the man you know. I know the man that is good. Who has a character of impeccable values. He is godly. Thats just not something you can fake every single day for 40 years in a row. It just cant be done. Thats not necessarily true. There are a lot of people in history who have claimed to be men of the cloth, faith leaders, and turned out to be scam artists. Im not saying roy moore is. But we cant say you cant fake it for 20 years because people have. Lets look at the evidence. Not only do we have this man of impeccable character, 40 years without a rumor of anything possibly going wrong with his behavior, but thats not true. There are definitely rumors. This is a man who was removed from the bench twice. Cant say impeccable. He was removed from the bench for standing for the ten commandments. Itd be a good thing if they were still in place. People would see things like thou shall not he was removed for breaking the law. He was standing for religious liberty. Lets get to the case. We have a separation of church and state. We have the freedom of religion, not from religion. Lets get to the facts of the case. Not only do i not believe the Washington Postdriven, baseless allegations without evidence on the eve of an election. We have even the own accusers stepson, beverly nelsons stepson doesnt believe her and her attorney doesnt believe her. Gloria allred, why wont she release the yearbook . Listen to the interview on your network on thursday by kate snow. She asked the question no one is asking. If independent Analysis Shows this is not his signature, does that disprove the claims of your clients allegations . Glor glorias response was, quote, no, it doesnt. What it means is i dont care if my client is lying. I dont care if the evidence is a forgery. It is not going to stand in the way of my campaign against judge moore. Its not about the facts. Its not about the evidence. Its not about the women. Its about an effort to take down a good man and elect a democrat in alabama. What about Leigh Corfman who spoke to Savannah Guthrie this morning on the today show. Do you disbelieve that, too . If you talk to her mom, as breitbart did, nancy wells said, you know how this originated . We were convinced to do it by the Washington Post. Thats not a direct quote. Janet, thats not what happened. Ill give you a direct quote. From the mother of corfman, we wouldnt have done it if the reporters hadnt contacted my daughter. Were you convinced to do it . The answer was, yes. Theres a lot of context youre missing there, janet. Leigh corfmans words, we have leighs reasoning, why she came forward. Lets listen . I think that we have were going to listen in on leighs words. Okay. We dont actually have it in front of us right now. I played it in the last hour. Let me excuse me. So leigh had said she had dealt with this for years and years. She struggled with it. But she felt empowered after the reporters came and met with her. She said, i cant keep this a secret anymore. I have to tell my story. It is not her mother, a third party, but leigh herself. According to her mother, she said it was driven by the Washington Post. But heres the deal, weve got all kinds of baseless accusations. Lets look at the facts. Theres one piece of evidence, which did you want prove guilt, but there is supposedly a signature in the yearbook. Gloria allred said, here it is but im not going to show it to you. There is a way to prove what is going on and put it to rest. All gloria what are you let me issue youre having a conversation about allred right now. Were having a conversation about roy moore. I get your point. Heres the point we brought up this is the youre going back to all red. I guess my point is well, youve got allegations without proof. If we were going to try people in a court of Public Opinion in the media, then the players, the lacrosse players from duke would be in jail today. Its not how it works. We are innocent until proven guilty. Lets solve the whole thing right now. I call on Gloria Allred to release the book. Or admit that youre just a shill for the antimoore campaign. If you withhold evidence, you should frankly be disbarred. Thats the issue right here. The evidence, the single shred of evidence is a forgery. A hint for next time, if you want to forge something, pretend this is a signature from judge roy moore from 1977, dont add on the initials from his assistant in 1999. Thats not the way youre going to win a case. No wonder she doesnt want to show the yearbook. Look at the facts. Janet, ultimately thats what shes refusing to show us. The propriety that would have crossed the lines of the law isnt beverly. This is with Leigh Corfman. I get what youre doing, and it is savvy, but this isnt anyone on trial. My question is lets talk about the politics of this for a second. I appreciate if we dont go back to allred for a second. Of course not. What is your reaction to the conversation we had about the editorial in the three largest newspapers and al. Com denouncing roy moore and telling alabamians not to vote for him . This is the thing i know, not only about judge moore, hes not going to be bullied and bought. The people of alabama are the same way. Theyre not going to be fooled by the media. Theyre not going to be fooled by the baseless allegations. I predict theyll come out and vote for him in huge numbers. This has a proven track record of being a good, godly, principled man every day in his 40year public career. You cant fake it. Ali, if i were to ask you the question, have you stopped beating your wife . What would you say . Probably say, ive never beaten my wife. Yeah, i guess what if my next question was, how do you feel about wife beaters . Should they be network news anchors . All these followup questions are irrelevant because you dont beat your wife. Thats the case with moore. All these accusations, theyre baseless. I got it, janet. I appreciate what youre saying. I guess the point is, a lot of the defense youve prose eposed roy moore, that he was taken off the bench twice for what a lot of people in the country think was breaking the law as a judge, and what his supporters say was standing up for something that was against the law, it speaks to something about roy moore. You and i have different opinions about why roy moore was taken from the bench, but you continue to say his breaking of the law twice and being removed is actually defensible. I believe, and the people of alabama believe, that the reason judge moore it is pretty out there that he said, i want the religious freedom to display the word of god and the ten commandments. Nature and natures god. Our declaration is were endowed by our creator. Take some whiteout to the declaration of independence. Its still there. He wants to display what our laws are based on. I think hes a hero. The people of alabama do, too. All the people who are trying to say hes going to lose, i would say, i hope you have a refundable deposit on the firework display. I believe judge roy moore is going to win because the people of alabama trust him because hes trustworthy. Way more trustworthy than the Washington Post and all those attorneys, like Gloria Allred, who is withholding evidence and should be disbarred. You have your own alabama newspapers. Just before we go, because you know roy and youve known him for many years, gadson mall, is moore allowed to go to the mall . Heres the thing you all need to check maam, can you answer the question . Im going to answer the question. The manager of the gadson mall said it is completely false. Yall wonder why people use the term fake news. The gadsen mall, he was never thrown out of it. We have to look at the evidence. Thats why we need to not have this media circus to try and condemn an neinnocent man. Were watching a movie of allred in 2011 against kane. Weve seen it against Clarence Thomas and the lacrosse. I mean, if we want to base who is innocent and guilty on who should get an academy award, it is not how elections are run. The good news is, the people of alabama are going to be the ones deciding and not the media circus, not the washington establishment. We appreciate you joining us. I want to make sure i have it when we leave. Youre saying hes never been banned from the gadsen mall. Not according to the manager of the gadsen mall. He should know. As an adult in his 30s, he never dated minors under the age of 18 . He never dated an underage woman and never engaged in any Sexual Misconduct. Period. The end. Janet, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. Janet port serer is a longtime friend of roy moore. Another woman accusing democratic senator al franken of inappropriate behavior, this time while he was in office. In a tweet sent last week, 33yearold lindsey menz claims in 2010, franken grabbed me while taking a photo together at a Minnesota State fair. I felt violated and embarrassed. I 100 believe your account of him and his actions, Leeann Tweeden. Thank you for sharing your story. Metoo. Nbc hasnt convinced the accusation. It comes less than a week after los angeles talk radio host and former model Leeann Tweeden accused franken of kissing and groping her during a tour without her content in 2016. The Trump Administration could drop a controversial part of its tax overhaul plan to get the Senate Republicans on board, as yet another Senate Republican puts the future of that plan in doubt. Well talk to a House Republican who voted no on the plan yet. St youre watching velshi ruhle. Y, and it really shows. Weve got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. Had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa before we called the police. Usaa was there handson very quick very prompt. I feel like were being handled as people that actually have a genuine need. Were the webber family and we are usaa members for life. Usaa, get your insurance quote today. Bounty is more absorbent,mom per roll so the roll can last 50 longer than the leading ordinary brand. So you get more life per roll. Bounty, the quicker picker upper welcome back to velshi ruhle. Turning to the tax battle. The senate is expected to vote on its version of the bill next week, but it is unclear if the gop has the votes to get it passed. With senator Susan Collins of maine and senator ron johnson both asking for changes. President trump is putting pressure on republicans who could be holding out. He sent this tweet out, attacking jeff flake, senator from arizona, yesterday. He said, quote, jeff flakey, unelectable, was caught purposely on mike saying bad thing about your favorite president. Hell be a no on tax cuts because his political career anyway is toast. Flake was not actually assumed to be a no vote on the tax bill, but he has yet to make his position on it public. Lets look at the state of the bill right now. Couple things happening. Assuming all democrats vote against the bill as expected, the gop can only afford to lose two votes from its own party. Senator ron johnson has said he will not support the bill in its current form, meaning all eyes again are on Susan Collins of maine, who says it needs work, particularly the portion of the bill that would repeal the individual mandate. It is an obamacare regulation that all adults have to pay a fine if they dont have health insurance. According to the Congressional Budget Office, repealing the individual mandate as Senate Republicans are trying to do would save money to the tune of about 338 billion over the next ten years. But those savings would come at a cost. Wont be in the budget. Itll probably be to real people. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that repeal of the mandate would lead to 13 million more uninsured americans by 2027. And premiums are expected to rise by 10 over and above what they already are. Stephanie . Man, ali, this thing. To help us break it down, were joined by congress man zendon. Youre negotiating the details of this bill. You voted no in the house. What do you really want to see change here . As i look at the situation for my home district, home state, and im approaching this as someone representing a Congressional District on long island in new york, when i looked at all of the dynamics of the house bill, while there were good components to the bill, no doubt for my district and my home state, i had too many people who were going to have to pay more. One of the biggest reasons is because of the proposal to eliminate the state and local Tax Deduction. The Senate Proposes to etirenti eliminate it. The house made progress in having a 10,000 property Tax Deduction cap. Its progress for my area. Its not enough progress. Senator johnson wants to work on pass through rules. It is important for people in the personal service space, no doubt. People who use the medical deduction. On the senate side, they propose to keep the medical expense deduction. Im giving you a few different examples. When i added it up for my district, i had too many people who would be paying for and i had to oppose it. One of the things when weve been interviewing architects of the bill and people who support it, they say most americans take the standard deduction and theyre getting a better result as a result of the bill. Really itemizing is for the rich. Apparently, that doesnt match up with what you say about your constituents. Well, about half of my constituents itemize. Middle income for some of the people who may be watching your show, they may be thinking 80,000. Someone else might be thinking 120,000. You get to other parts of this country, you get to a new york city area, new york city suburb, and that ends up approaching into the 2s or 3s, which are numbers that may be shocking for some of the people who are watching your show. Look at the cost of living, the money doesnt go as far. Half of my district itemizes, including a lot of people struggling to make ends meet. Lets say they fix the pass through thing were talking about johnson opposing. Lets say they take a closer look at student debt or medical expenses or state and local. All things that matter a ton to you. I know they matter to the two of us. But you put those things back in and you have the massive Corporate Tax cut, youre going to balloon the deficit. And you balloon the deficit, hello inflation. Hello cutting necessary programs that keep people alive in this country. How do you resolve those two issues . Well, so for one, as the rules are set, you cant have more than 1. 5 trillion over ten years. What id be interested to see is how the bill is dynamically scored. So if you what do you assume is going to be the business c e climate or impact on gdp, jobs or Consumer Spending or deficits in washington when you have a Corporate Tax rate that stays in 35 verse how are you calculating the impact on everything that i just mentioned if the Corporate Tax rate is, say, 20 . So i want to look at how the bill is dynamically scored because, obviously, there is a positive impact to the economy when were able to do a better job, bringing businesses and jobs back from overseas, do a better job in preventing other businesses and jobs from leaving our country, and for the companies here to be able to expand and grow. Listen, there are some businesses out there, when they get tax relief, you know, the money is going to go towards maybe the shareholders or the ceos. If you look at the stories all across our country of how companies grew to have, you know, hundreds of jobs or thousands of jobs, it is looking at both sides of the ledger and having room for the growth. There is no doubt it would have a positive impact on our economy. For our economy to grow faster than government is. Thats why i want to see how the bill is dynamically scored in the final product. We also need to have targeted corporate cuts. Right. You have to have targeting getting rid of the loopholes. Cutting the Corporate Tax rate, there is no lever that will force any of the companies to quote, unquote, pay people more wages, quote, unquote, do the right thing. It might end up in the pockets of shareholders as dividends or things like that. Lee, good to see you, as always. Good to see both of you. Maybe a ceo would buy an nfl team, and it would be considered an llc and hed get a great tax rate. All right. Were going to take a break. Russell simmons and hollywood director brett ratner both named in a disturbing Sexual Assault allegation dating back to 11991. Youre watching velshi ruhle on msnbc. Alright, off you go. Casual fridays at Buckingham Palace . Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money nathan saved by switching to geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Welcome back. You are watching velshi ruhle. Nbc news learned the Los Angeles Police department is now investigating nearly two dozen cases of alleged sex crimes against hollywood heavyweights. The allegations range from misdemeanor Sexual Battery to felony rape. The cases include people named in public and those not yet identified. Prosecutors created a task force to tackle just this issue. Officials tell nbc news theyre not commenting publicly on these investigations but we do know some of the men theyre looking into. The men accused deny the allegations or are not commenting. Nbc news confirmed at least four investigations in the Los Angeles Area connected to weinstein and Sexual Misconduct or Sexual Assault allegations. Two of those investigations are being handled by the la Police Department. The nypd says it is also investigating a credible Rape Allegation against harvey weinstein. More than 80 women total have come forward against him with varying allegations of Sexual Misconduct. Director james toback faces multiple allegations of Sexual Misconduct following a bombshell report in the l. A. Times. They reported more than 200 people contacted the paper. Can you believe that number . About the report that shares stories about to back after the initial report was printed. The Beverly Hills Police Department is ib venvestigating. Former gossip girl actor ed westwick is being investigated by the lapd. Christina cohen filed a report alleging he raped her. Two other women accused him of Sexual Assault. It goes beyond actors and directors. La police are looking into highprofile talent agent adam Holiday Party last year of assault. Russell simmons asking, did he ever apologize . Did the agent a pass. Ask hereinstated. The l. A. Times reports Russell Simmons is accused of Sexual Assault th assault. She alleges in 1991 when she was 17 years old, movie producer brett ratner watched, watched, and did not to stop it. Simmons and ratner deny the allegation. Simmons says, quote, everything that occurred between keri and me occurred with her full consent and participation. I completely and unequivocally deny the horrendous allegations of nonconsensual sex against me with every fiber of my being. Ratner says he has no recollection of her asking for help and denies witnessing her protest. Of course, this isnt a problem only in hollywood. These kinds of allegations are found in all industries against across all social dynamics. This is stunning. We know from the coverage of this recently, and i think everybody knows, that in the Service Industry with bar and restaurant service, with hotel housekeepers, this kind of thing exists. There is, even in this environment where people are coming forward now with their stories, for people in some industries, theres no coming forward to be had. Theres nowhere to report that story. Theres no it doesnt have the ability to attract the attention because it doesnt have stars and powerful people involved. The lower wage job it is, the less opportunity you have. First of all, you need the job. You cant say, take the job and shove it. You cant rock the boat. If it is a small, private company, who do you go to . Think about the restaurant industry. I interviewed a pay trewaitress recently who said, we dont make minimum wage. We make a couple bucks an hour. Everything is based on tips. I feel like she said to me, im there to perform. Unfortunately, you dont know what all guests or patrons are going to be asking you to do. This is a very, very big issue. So much, you and i talked about so much of it having to do with hr in companies. For so many of the people experiencing this, hr is not the option. What do you have to do about it . Lets bring in a woman who helped break the story youve been talking about though in la. Amy kaufman is a writer for the la times. Thanks for joining us. Walk us through what allegedly happened with Russell Simmons and steve ratner and brett ratner. Im sorry. Brett ratner. My apologies. Arent you glad we have a two anchor on that one . Yes, thank you. On the night in 1991. Sure. So brett ratner was a protege of Russell Simmons, who is a music mogul, founded def jam recordings. The two of them would often go out together. In 1991, keri alleges she went back to russells apartment and brett was there. The two of them the three of them watched a music video in the apartment. That was when keri says that russell began to force himself on her. Tried to force intercourse, which resulted instead in oral sex and later became more serious in the bathroom following the incident. Brett rat naner was there. Keri said she looked at him and asked for help and he did nothing and watched. Brett ratner was in the room while they were having some sort of forced or nonconsensual sex . That is what keri ah ledgell yes. Ratner and simmons adamantly deny this. She said the two of them were there. She looked at brett and said, help me. And realized, oh, my god, the two of them had a plan all along to do this to me. What has the have these two been accused i mean, we know brett ratner faced accusations but what about the pair of them together . Well, recently, it came out in 2001, the 20two of them were investigated for Sexual Battery. That never went forward because the police say they didnt have enough evidence. You know, the two of them have a long history of being interested in women. There have been public articles written about them. One in playboy in 2005 that describes an anecdote in which the two of them openly talk about having sex with the same women within the span of an hour. It hasnt been entirely under wraps. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. Amy kaufman from the la times. Can we take a closer look at culture and behavior . Why was a 17yearold girl in a situation with two grown men . Please, lets take a closer look. Lets change how we behave. Lets take a break. Well be right back. 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[ male announcer ] if youre eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. Call now and find out about an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Like all standardized Medicare Supplement insurance plans, it could save you in outofpocket medical costs. Call now to request your free decision guide. Ive been with my doctor for 12 years. Now i know ill be able to stick with him. [ male announcer ] youll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. Plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. See why millions of people have already enrolled in the only Medicare Supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. Dont wait. Call now. Welcome back to velshi ruhle. You are watching the white house right now. President trump is hosting a meeting with his cabinet. Were about to get video of the meeting any moment. Well bring you any news out of it as soon as we get it. Remember the last one, when everybody was congratulating the president . The Cabinet Meetings are fun. This is the greatest, super special honor of my life. Weird moment. Wonder if well get another one. New developments in the russia investigation. The president s soninlaw, Jared Kushner, neglected to disclose a russian back door overture and dinner invite involving ad banker with allege ties to organized crime. This is far from the first discussion about meetings with the trump team and russian officials. In 2016, george papadopoulos, who recently joined the campaign, met twice with a professor during a visit to europe. One of the meetings was also attended by a woman falsely presented az p eed as putins n. Papadopoulos kept in touch with the russian associates for months after that. In april, trump, kushner and Jeff Sessions all individually met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at a reception before trumps first major policy speech. Remember, this was during the campaign in possibly to deliver a message. Guess what . He ended up meeting with donald trump jr. So Jared Kushners lawyer can say all day long, Jared Kushner is a hero here. If jared was such a hero and if receiving this email was back practice and jared didnt think anyone should ever meet with this guy, why didnt they turn that email over to the authorities, and how did d jrj. Sit next to the guy . Excellent question. It is something the intelligence committees want to answer when they get donald trump jr. In front of their committees. Youre absolutely right. I mean, yes, Jared Kushner instructed the campaign not to meet with this man, who has been accused by spanish prosecutors of being a godfather in the russian mafia, something he denies, but he gets a meeting with donald trump. It was initially described as having dinner with trump junior. His lawyer said it was men in the same room, exchanged pleasantries and talked about guns. If he wanted to pass a message from putin to trump, and hes in the room with Donald Trumps son, im sure investigators want to know if a message was passed. His note to other officials about the request for the meeting, it says, a lot of people claiming to carry messages. Very few are able to verify. For now, i think we should decline such meetings. Interesting, you know you read into that. It is not that it is illegal or unethic unethical. It is that maybe these people who say they have messages dont really have good stuff. Thats right. Maybe hes not close enough to putin. Thats how a lot of people are reading it. It is extraordinary and reminds us that it is not normal for a major president ial campaign to have multiple contacts with russia. No other campaign in history we know of can boast these contacts. And it is very clear that none of the trump people it didnt raise eyeeyebrows. They werent discussing, hey, is this proper . Should we be reporting this to the fbi . They were taking it on board as normal, guys. Thats a part of this investigation. Ken, good to see you. Nbcs intelligence and national. Why is it time and again found out in emails. It was republican Chuck Grassley so fired up over this saying why havent you disclosed these documents. Stick around everyone. Still ahead, one of the most notorious kill in other words our nations history has died. Stay with us. Youre watching velshi and ruhle. Its the ultimate sleep number week on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort your sleep number setting. Does your bed do that . Right now save 50 on the ultimate limited edition bed. Ends monday. Visit sleepnumber. Com for a store near you. Respect to north korea. Kristen welker is at the white house with it. Kristin. Hi, ali and steph. President trump Just Announced during his Cabinet Meeting today that he intends to designate north korea as a state sponsor of terror effectively reversing a decision that was made by former president george w. Bush to take north korea off of that list. Why is this significant . Well, of course, it comes in the wake of recent provocations by north korea. It also comes after the death of american Otto Warmbier and after the president s 12day trip throughout asia when the whole focus of that trip was to try to turn up the heat and put pressure on north korea to abandon its nuclear program. This move will allow the administration to put stiffer sanctions on north korea for all of those actions. When will those sanctions come . We are expect agannouncement from the Treasury Department as early as tomorrow. What will the scope and size of those sanctions be . That is still unknown. The question a lot of people are asking though, what will the real world impact of this move be . Of course, north korea is heavily heavily sanctioned already, not only by the United States but by the international community. Will this be more symbolic in nature or will it ultimately hurt the north korean economy . Those are some of the questions that remain unanswered as we get this breaking news in. But again, this is significant. This is something that President Trump had talked about and had floated throughout his trip in asia and now it seems its what he intends to do. Lets listen to the president. We are just getting tape. From a historic 12day trip to asia. Everywhere we went, the american delegation was greeted with tremendous hospitality and tremendous respect. People are respecting our country again. Believe me. We brought back more than 300 billion worth of deals which could reach well over a trillion dollars within a very near future. That means jobs for the United States at a very high level. As you know, weve just come up with the best Job Performance in over 17 years. But this is a lot more jobs. We think the number is going to get a lot better. Were also going to put a lot of people that have not been able to find jobs back to work because theyre not registered right now. Theyll be registered in a positive sense. Japanese Car Companies will be opening up and expanding their plants in our country. We worked very closely with Prime Minister abe on that. Were renegotiating our bad trade deal with south korea and weve started talking about bilateral trade with many countries in asia and most importantly, weve made clear to all countries that we cannot continue to be treated unfairly when it comes to trade any longer. Its not fair to our companies and its not fair to our workers. Last year, we lost over 800 billion on trade, on trade deals with other countries. So we had a negative number, a trade deficit of almost 800 billion with other countries. Thats not going to be happening. Thats changing. And i explained that to them from the standpoint of asia. They understand it. Every one of them understand it. One of the primarily goals of our trip was to pursue the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. I want to begin this morning by meeting and by talking about the fact that we will be instituting a very critical step and that will start right now. Today, the United States is designating north korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. Should have happened a long time ago. Should have happened years ago. In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, north korea has repeatedly supported acts of International Terrorism including assassinations on foreign soil. As we take this action today, our thoughts turn to Otto Warmbier, wonderful young man. And the countless others so brutally affected by the north korean oppression. This designation will impose further sanctions and penalties on north korea and related persons and supports our maximum Pressure Campaign to isolate the murderous regime that youve all been reading about and in some cases writing about. Tomorrow the Treasury Department will be announcing an additional sanction and a very large one on north korea and this will be going on over the next two weeks. It will be the high left level of sanctions by the time its finished over a twoweek period. The north korean regime must be lawful, it must end its unlawful Nuclear Ballistic missile development. And cease all support for International Terrorism, which it is not doing. Today cabinet discussions will also focus on crucial domestic policy issues. I want to congratulate the house of representatives for passing a vital and historic tax cut last week, and im very hopeful the senate will do the same very soon. Were going to give the American People a huge tax cut for christmas. Hopefully that will be a great big, beautiful christmas present. With the democrats giving us no votes for tax cuts for purely political reasons, obstructionists, it will be up to the republicans to come through for america. I think they will. I hope they will. Its up to the senate. And if they approve it, the house and the senate will get together. Ill be there right in the middle of it and we will come up with a bill that will be spectacular for growth and spectacular for the people of this country. Our tax plan will bring urgent relief to hard working families. Well reduce rates, increase the amount of income taxed at a rate of zero, expand the Child Tax Credit very important, and simplify taxes as most families will be able to file on a single sheet of paper. Well restore americas Competitive Edge so we can bring back our jobs. We want to bring our jobs backing to our country. We were decimated over the last 40 years. We want to bring our jobs back to the United States. Well go from being one of the highest taxed nations in the world to one of the lowest taxed nations in the world. Corporate rates will be