Daily. Im katy tur in for chuck todd. We are following quite a scene at court right now in manhattan. We are in the midst of a big moment in american politics. Moments ago a judge denied President Trumps lawyers requests for a temporary restraining order on documents sized in that raid on his lawyers office. At the courthouse today, lawyers for president donald trump, lawyers for President Trumps lawyer Michael Cohen, Michael Cohen him and team of federal prosecutors, and adult film star Stormy Daniels her lawyer. Folks we know that cohen had three recent clients. The president , elliot broidy, and someone who didnt want their name released in the Court Filings but during the proceedings today that third name was revealed. Sean hannity. The fox news host. Yes, this is kyte quite a moment in american politics. It comes after fbi agents seized Michael Cohens office and home and hole room last week. Both the president and his lawyer wanted to see what authorities have before the investigation moves ahead. So the president and his personal lawyer have been fighting against the president s justice department. Yes. Thats the moment we are in right now in american politics. And heres the thing. Michael cohen is as close to mr. Trump as anyone, and theres perhaps no one closer to all of mr. Frumps business dealing. And that seems to be why the white house is so rattled. Remember the New York Times reported friday that the white house thinks this he coulden probe quote pose as greater and more imminent threat to the president than even the special counsels investigation. We dont know what federal investigators have, but we know they have got enough to make President Trump and Michael Cohen try to wage a battle to keep this from Going Forward and we know cohen is under federal criminal investigation for his own business dealings. We know from Court Filings that some of cohens communications have already been under covert surveillance and we know that mcclatchy is reporting from sources that mueller has evidence that cohen was in practicing in 2016 confirming, maybe, part of that controversial dasier. He coulden adamantly denies, however, ever being in practicing. All of this comes just as fbi director james comey, whose spiring sparked the appointment of the special country sell to begin with, is embarking on a highprofile media blitz torching the president as morally unfit and partially compromised by russia. Like we said this is quite a moment in american politics right now. That picture is live. Court has adjourned. Joining me from Downtown Manhattan outside that courtroom is tom winter, nbc news investigations reporter. Also peter alexander, nbc News National correspond end with the president in florida, and mimi rocha, form u. S. Assistant attorney in the Southern District of new york. Tom i want to start with you. Get us up to speed. What exactly happened in court today . Did the judge rule on whether or not there would be a special master . Moments ago cart wrapped up here in, no. There is a temporary prestraining that was requested that has been denied. But i want to get to hanna rapidly with the nbc news investigative unit. She stayed in court through the conclusion of the proceedings today and mass more information about what prosecutors and attorneys are going to have to work out. Right. So the judge did not rule out the possibility of a socalled taint team or a special master. Right now see said that the government has to start producing the documents they seized. They are going to share those on a rolling basis with opposing counsel and then we are all going to meet again to determine the best course of action. And also, counsel as well as u. S. Attorneys are going to be submitting names of possible special masters to be used in the future. Bottom line, katy, we havent quite figured out the question of what is going to happen next and what prosecutors are going to be able to have a chance the look at. This certainly slows things down. It is an active investigation. S we know from Court Filings last week Michael Cohen is underel federal criminal investigation. As you highlighted there has been covert surveillance done on mr. Cohen. My understanding is that that includes a wiretap in this case. This is an active investigation thats now being slowed down a little bit. Obviously still thing to be worked out by attorneys in probably another hearing to come. The government has to share all of what they found with Michael Cohen . Yes. So according to what happened here at the hearing, the government will have to share with him exactly what they found. Now that may sound like a big deal. There were ten physical boxes of evidence according to what we heard in the hearing today katy that were taken from Michael Cohen but a lot of the electronic evidence, the out kpooers, the hard drives, et cetera, those were imaged on the spot, meaning the government copied the hard drives in that media when they were doing the search and they theft them with Michael Cohen. So in reality, he probably has a real has good idea, particularly on the electronic front exactly what it is that the government has that probably shouldnt be too much of a surprise to him. Obviously, if you have one filing cabinet at home you may have a hard time remembering what you have inside of it. So as far as the physical evidence they are going to have to make copies of that and get it back to him. Peter, i know you have been following along with this as you have been traveling with the president down there in florida. There was a notable piece in the filing this morning from Michael Cohens attorney asking for a special master saying essentially the d. O. J. And the u. S. Attorneys office has been under partisan attack. And that is why a special master should be appointed. So it takes us out of the partisan sphere and puts it into a more independent setting. The judge, according to a note from tom winter, took issue with that, saying that boat mr. Cohen and mr. Trump have made inflammatory remarks about the case, accused them of drumming up media attention, and amplifying the debate. Im sorry, that was federal prosecutor todd mckay who took issue with that. But thats true, though. Michael cohen might be complaining about the d. O. J. Being under attack. But his primary client, donald trump, is the witness attacking the d. O. J. Well, its the president himself who appears to be most concerned about this right now businessed on our conversations with president s allies in recent days. Even with all the focus on the james comey interview, even with this upcoming visit here with shinno abe the japanese Prime Minister where they are expected to focus on trade deals. The president s mine we are told hand heavily focus on what is happening inside that manhattan courtroom. There was a dramatic collision, a clash of so many parts, controversial portions of the president s life, the allegations of sex with other women outside of his marriage. Those allegations of affairs. The details as they relate to the russia investigation. And now with the revelation today that Michael Cohen had been representing at least according to cohens own attorney, sean hannity. It also intersects with the conservative media world as well. Sean hannity is someone who is close to the president. He was down here at maralago with him only weeks ago when the president was here for that easter weekend break. The bottom line here is that sean hannity is someone who publicly railed against this investigation without ever making public that he had a relationship to Michael Cohen. He insists that he wasnt formally represented by him in a traditional way. But the bottom line here is this just shows you how tied up this circle is, now. Increasingly getting tied into knots. Anyone in the white house talking about in sean hannity might have needed legal representation or legal advice from Michael Cohen . Out of all the lawyers in all of the world that he could be talking to about things, why Michael Cohen . Why the president s attorney . Well, the white house hasnt commented on it. Frachgly the president himself hasnt commented on it either. But obviously, that relationship between the president and sean hannity has been strong. Hannity has been one of his fiercest defenders for months, which may explain how they are all interconnected here. Hannity, for his part, insists that there was no third party payment, that the relationship he said i may have given him 10 at some point to help secure Attorney Client privilege. The concern according to cohens lawyers is that it would be embarrassing to hannity but hannity pushing back on social media insisting there was infer any payment made. Sawn hannity insisting that is not the case with him. Mimi, we dont yet know if the judge is going to rule on appointing a special master to go over this information. As opposed to just allowing a filter team im not going to use the word taint team because its just kind of weird. Im going to use filter team Going Forward. Instead of allowing a filter team to go over it alone and handing it over to the clean team, there could be a special master that comes in with this. But Michael Cohens lawyers wanted not just that. They themselves wanted to be able to review all of the material, all of it, and decide for themselves what is Attorney Client privilege. Is there precedent for that . Absolutely not. And it sound like judge wood has essentially rejected that notion. I know it sounds like there are open issues and details we dont know about her ruling. She left open the possibility of the special master. But it sounds like she has pretty much ruled out the possibly that these are going to go over to the target of the investigation first to look at before the government even gets to which would really just eviscerate the purpose of a search warrant. And i think not only is judge wood recognizing, you know, that in this case thats not warranted. But judges are afraid of slippery slopes. And if you did that in this case, there are many other cases where targets of investigations are going to try to invoke some kind of privilege to say they should get the look at the documents before a search warrant. And remember, thats because the search warrant was approved by a judge ahead of time and they went through all the proper procedures. Judge wood knows that. I think she showed today that she is a no nonsense judge and she is going to cut through a lot of this circus atmosphere and shes going to treat this not like any other case because its obviously not but she is going to treat this in a judicial way. It looks like thats what shes doing. It wasnt just approved by a judge. It was approved by the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein as well. You have Michael Cohen arguing Attorney Client privilege and arguing they should be able to look at all the material first in order to insert executive privilege, is there any precedents for that . Not that i know of it. Doesnt mean they dont get to make motions and i cert privileges. But the idea that they get to do it first thats what is so unprecedented. It sounds like im learning the facts as you are about what happened in court today but it sound like the judge is asking the government to do that we call rolling discovery. Usually discovery you tornado over evidence in your case after charges are filed but hear given the privilege issues it sounds like shes saying the government should give over some of those materials starting now. It doesnt mean that this that they get to look at it first, meaning the president or mr. Coc cohen. It doesnt mean anyone is going to look at it yet. It means she is going to identify what was seized so the attorneys can work something out or special master will be appointed or she will approve the filter team. Elliot spitzer comes to mind. Wiener comes to mind as well. Anthony wiener. Tom, though, this one is pretty unusual despite all of that. Describe what it was like in the courtroom when it was sean hannity revealed to be Michael Cohens third client. I think, really, any name at that point would have been surprising. But to think that it was a host of a news network who is represented by or had some legal dealings with the president s personal attorney was a shocker for everybody. There was definitely a moment of where that air gets out of a courtroom. Katy, you know what im talking about when it just tells like all of a sudden everybody exhales, and cant believe we heard that name. That was definitely surprising. It was packed here. My colleague, hannah rapidly spent two hours waiting in line just to get into the main courtroom. For those of us in the overflow courtrooms they were packed. I have down here for major terrorism trials where there was plenty of seats in the regular courtroom you could have a bench to your. Today they needed two overflow courtrooms. Every seat was occupied. Martha stewart, anthony wiener, i have been here for most of those cases and i cant remember more cameras than were here today. It is a big deal. The president of the United States is being talked about by federal prosecutors in a courtroom involving a case that involve at least a federal criminal investigation. We know that from Court Filings resolve involving the personal attorney to the president of the United States. It was an extraordinary day and an extraordinary moment this that courthouse when it was blurted out that sean hannity was the third client in 2017, 2018, rene representation between hannity and cohen. Every day you have to wake up and remind yourself yes, this is real life. Peter alexander, stormonty daniels was there, Michael Avenatti was there. This circus atmosphere i dont want to take away from the serious allegations at hand here, because they are very serious allegations. But when you look at all the optics of it, does the white house think the optics work in their favor because it looks from the outside so ludicrous . I think the white house thinks all of this attention in their eyes, frankly, in the words of Sarah Huckabee sanders is effectively ludicrous. She thinks americans want to be focusing on issues separate from the russia investigation, separate from anything associated with Michael Cohen. But the of the about om line is, i think as emphasized by what we witnessed today, this president , because of his years of business dealings in some of the back room deals in effect that may have existed, including those hush money payments in the past that Michael Cohen had paid out, perhaps on behalf of the president , that its impossible to escape right now. I have been at that courthouse on a series of other cases in the past, bernie nay dove among those. This was a crush of cameras. I think its certainly demonstrative of everything the president touches. Everything the president seems to have touched is associated with something at least his critics suggest is much dirtier and they are trying to get to the bottom of just what that is. Does this mean mimi that a special master is more likely than it would be than in normal scenarios. Yes, i think there is a better chance here than in a normal case, full, that the judge does approve a special master to try to tamp down, you know, accusations of unfairness. And you know, you couldnt blame here if she does do that. I dont personally think its warranted, but i would understand that kind of ruling here. But we all know that the president and his allies will then come out and attack the special master if they dont like the rulings of the special master. I have a feeling they will be calling that person partisan. From special counsel to special master. Who knew . Tom, peter, and mimi, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Ahead, this has been a truly extraordinary day. We are going to break down all the big developments at the Michael Cohen hearing with tonights panel. Stay with us. When i grow up . I want to be someone who. Makes the world beautiful. And builds up my neighborhood. I want to be someone who helps others. And teaches them new things. Every year, comcast employees and their families come together on comcast cares day to give back. Its a celebration of their yearlong commitment to their communities. What do i want to be . I want to be someone who cares. Today in meet the mid terms our new poll has evidence for democrats to be optimistic at their chance force a big blue wave this november. 47 say they would like to see Democrats Control Congress compared to 40 who would rather see republicans in control. Thats slightly better for republicans than a month ago when it was 50 to 40 for the democrats. At this point in 2010, republicans had a two point lead in the generic congressional ballot in our poll. Remember, republicans gained 6 seats in the house that year. Our poll has voters overall preferring democrats handling of sexual harassment, health care, immigration, and changing how washington works. And republicans have the advantage on reducing the deficit, protecting americas interests on trade and taxes. But so far, taxes havent been the magic bullet republicans were hoping for this midterm season. Just 27 think the republican tax law is a good idea. We will have more from that poll coming up. We will be back in 60 seconds with more on the president s personal lawyer fighting against the president s department of justice. It takes dell technologies, a family of seven Technology Leaders working behind the scenes to make the impossible. Reality. Were helping to give cars the power to read your mind from anywhere. And were helping up to 40 of the nations donated blood supply to be redirected to the people that need it most. Magic cant make Digital Transformation happen. But we can. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Welcome back. Lets get right to our panel, caitlyn huey burns. Noah rockman. Danielle moody mills. Welcome. Here we are. The president of the United States arguing against his own justice department. President s lawyer arguing against the justice department. What in the world is going on. This is just you really can make it up. Today i was asking who is writing the script for this day. What is interesting about Michael Cohen is that this is outside the purview of the Mueller Investigation now. Remember, this is in the Southern District of, no. So the president really doesnt have much control over this at all. Thats why you see him, you know, feeling embattled, because this is his personal lawyer, but as you know from covering the campaign this is someone who is involved in pretty much everything the president has done. He was more of a fixer as evidenced by this payment connecting this altogether alleged payment to Stormy Daniels. So you have this is something thats not going to go away. And something that, you know, you have to watch to see what his reactions are as it draws nearer to him. Its extraordinary for the president s lawyer to argue that he should see all the materials first. Its extraordinary for the president to say, i need to see all the materials first to decide what is fair and what is not fair, essentially. Why is this administration so rattled by Michael Cohen . We had a New York Times story from friday saying trump sees inquiry from cohen as greater threat than mutualer. It tells you what donald trump has to worry about, which is really his prepolitical career. They are right to be nervous that a judge saw the information on Michael Cohen and said yes there is enough here for a search warrant. A raid. This isnt really having a political effect. We have been talking about Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen for several months. Donald trumps polls have been doing up. The republican congressional ballot going up. Generally the public is becoming inured to the public approximate. It tells you about what they are thinking in the white house. What does it say about the electorate or the way this is all covered, i guess, that people are becoming numb to it, that his poll numbers are going up, and that the republican ballot generic ballot is looking better than it was a week ago, a month ago . I think it says that what the republican strategy has been is actually working. Right . We are going to throw everything at the American People, and eventually they are going to consider this normal. They are going to forget what its like to have a normal administration. And what it means to have an upstanding president who you believe is morally fit to serve, as comey said. So its troubling that the numbers continue to go up. But i think that the reality is that we have a lot to under about the devious behavior of this administration. What connects these men to cohen is scandal, sex scandal. Now that we have this admission that we know that hannity is a part of this trio, the question lingers for everybody else what has hannity been involved in . Is he paying off women as well . Its absurd but i think the American Public need to know. He says there have been no third person payments. I guess that in his way of saying it it rules out the idea that there was somebody else involved. That is what hannity is saying. Im not saying it is fact. I think its interesting the way that hannity has been railing against the raid, before it was revealed today that he was a party to it, essentially, that he was one of Michael Cohens clients listen to how it described it last week on his show. Living up to its antitrump representation the liberal Mainstream Media have gone off the rails over the fbis raid on Michael Cohen and President Trumps criticisms of Robert Muellers witchhunt. He is one of the people whose information is getting raided from Michael Cohens office, yet he is railing against it. I mean when you are looking at this from the outside, even if you are a fox fan, a fox viewer, a President Trump fan, doesnt that all look a bit fishy . Well, certainly, especially when you have the president consistently directing people to watch hannitys show. And then he will have people on who are completely denigrating the whole entire process. And so the fact that you know, and hannity, too. He was trying to make the case that he has never paid or officially retained cohens legal retained him as lawyer but still wants those conversations to be confidential under some kind of privilege that of course wouldnt exist if you are not an actual client of his. Noah, what do you think . I think its fair to say we probably dont know the whole story at this point. Its probably unwise to speculate further than that. Why he is being represented, fine. Of all the lawyers in the world you are seeking advice from the president s personal lawyer. Fine. The fact that he is involved in it, going after the raid without saying he was involved in it. Legitimately even if he didnt think he was doing anything wrong. He said please go in there and say i dont know to put this man or this persons name on the record because the person that i represent doesnt want his name on the record. He was actively trying to continue to conceal it . Correct. And there should have been disclosure there. To the extent there was malice involved, i dont think we can say. Okay. Really . I think that its apparent that there was malice involved because he was to. He was trying to conceal night he was trying to conceal his name were being spoken. He is a public figure. What are you hit hiding . The idea that he got on dispels rails against this raid and wants to swing our attention back to hillary clinton, who, mind you, only on fox does she occupy the white house. In foxs world, its ridiculous. But what it reaffirms for us, the viewers is that we under that fox really is state tv. Right . Fox news really is state tv. And this sean handity and the rest of the gaggle of people over there, they are under the thumb of this administration. When he rises, they rise. And my hope is when he falls they fall with them. There are folk at fox who will take issue with that. Folks earlier in the day that take issue with what happens in primetime and this feeling that everybody over there is advancing a trump agenda. I think there are exceptions to that description. It would have taken an extraordinary thing to knock james comey out of the forefront of the conversations today. This did. Lets listen to james comey saying what he thinks should happen ultimately when it comes to the Mueller Investigation and the president in regards to impeachment. I think impeaching and removing donald trump from office would let the American People off the hook and have something happen indirectly that i believe their duty bound to do directly. People in this country need to stand up and go to the voting booth and vote their values. So impeachment, in a way, would short circuit that. Noah, what do you think . I think he is absolutely right. The voters bought their ticket. They should take the right. To the extent there is an Impeachable Offense will result by impeachment and removal is probably extreme and people should probably remove that from their expectation set. This is the way the republic is supposed to work. You vote in a candidate for four years, possibly eight years. And he has a mandate to govern and its his prerogative to pursue it. Thats not the relate reality we are living in. The republic used to work that way. The American People were sold a counterfeit ticket to this election. This election we know was part of russian machine. To say that the American People should be on the ride they bought. They didnt buy this. We need to understand that yes an idea that impeachment will happen probably wont, but the idea that they bought the ticket thats not the case. I got an email from a voter and a viewer who looks at all of this who says you are trying to take away my vote, nullify my vote, you are trying to say i made the wrong decision in the election and thats not fair. We voted and this is the way it worked out. Exactly. We talked to supporters of donald trump. They absolutely say that. And this is why the president has had success in undermining the russia probe and the investigation by speaking directly the those voters. Saying look they are trying to in his words take this away from you. You helped elect me. Im representing you. Its always been about the represent snigs by attacking me, they are attacking you. Yeah. Heres the thing, the margin he won with is extraordinarily small. So give or take a lint in places like detroit or pennsylvania, that Electoral College win will not be as easy in 2020. We will see. We are still so far away, guys. Caitlyn, so many more news headlines. What could possibly come out in the nest two years . Stay with us. We will come back to you. Ahead though the aftermath of the syria strikes. Buildings are left in ruins after the u. S. And allies struck friday night. The question now though is what is next . This is a story about mail and packages. And its also a story about people. People who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams theyre handing us more than mail theyre handing us their business and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you what vote remembers saying about President Trump, the enthusiasm for the gap in congress and so much more. Stay with us. David. Whats going on . Oh hey thats it . Yeah. Thats it . Everybody two seconds dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance. Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. Most people come to la with big dreams. We came with big appetites. With expedia, you could book a flight, hotel, car, and activity all in one place. Mitzi Psoriatic Arthritis tries to get in my way . Watch me. mike ive tried lots of things for my joint pain. Now . Watch me. joni think id give up showing these guys how its done . Please. Real people with active Psoriatic Arthritis are changing the way they fight it. Theyre moving forward with cosentyx. Its a different kind of targeted biologic. Its proven to help people find less joint pain and clearer skin. Dont use if you are allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms of an infection. Or if you have received a vaccine, or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Mitzi with less joint pain, watch me. For less joint pain and clearer skin, ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. Is part of a Bigger Picture. That Bigger Picture is statewide mutual aid. California years ago realized the need to Work Together. Teamwork is important to protect the community, but we have to do it the right way. We have a working knowledge and we can reduce the impacts of a small disaster, but we need the help of experts. Pg e is an integral part of our Emergency Response team. They are the Industry Expert with utilities. Whether it is a gas leak or a wire down, just having someone there that deals with this every day is pretty comforting. We each bring something to the table that is unique and that is a specialty. With all of us working together we can keep all these emergencies small. And the fact that we can bring it together and effectively Work Together is pretty special. They bring their knowledge, their tools and equipment and the proficiency to get the job done. And the whole time i have been in the fire service, pg es been there, too. Whatever we need whenever we need it. I do count on pg e to keep our firefighters safe. Thats why we ask for their help. So you will see that russian sanctions will be coming down. Secretary mnuchin listen announcing those on monday if he hasnt already. And they will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to assad and chemical weapons use. Welcome back, that was u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations nikki hayley just yesterday previewing sanctions against russia for supporting the assad regime in syria. But today the Washington Post reports that President Trump has decided against new sanctions on moscow for now. According to the post, moscow pushed back on the sanctions yesterday, and President Trump scrapped the plans because he was not yet comfortable executing them. President trump tweeted, Mission Accomplished after the u. S. Led air strikes. The pentagon says, dealt a very serious blow to the Syrian Chemical Weapons program. But his next move in the region is unclear. Joining me now is ambassador chris hill. He is the former u. S. Ambassador to iraq under president obama and an nbc news analyst. Ambassador thanks so much for being here. What do you make of nikki hayley going on camera yesterday in an interview saying these sanctions are coming, and now news that the president is not comfortable with them . Where is the disconnect there . First of all, i suspect that its not that nikki hayley was out on the edge of her skis. I suspect that it was agreed something that she was told was going to happen. And then the president , its not for the first time that he has wrongfooted one of his aides. He just doesnt seem to care. And so he just wrong foot them and its usually over this issue of sanks. Do they go to him first and say here is what we are doing . Is he not listening . Or is the administration trying to force him to be tougher by making these moves and booking him in with it . For some time its been pretty clear that there is a whole group of people, including secretary mattis and others, who feel that the approach to russia should involve a heavy dose of sanctions for all the things that they have done. And for some time the president has kind of felt outnumbered by them and has often acquiesced which is what happens when the expulsions took place although you note the president was pretty upset when he saw the u. S. Was this the dozen of expulsions and some of the main allies were just in single digits. So he has been kind of outnumbered by people. I suspect what happened, they brought the memo to him, he signed off and then caught wait a minute. According to the woefts talking about the diplomats, a story they posted yesterday, the president was angry that they expelled so many when the european allies only expelled a handful. And he said something to the effect of according to the post, i cant turn on the charm if you are doing this. I cant be president if you are doing this. When it comes to thats just run American Relations having to do with what happened this the uk and the meddling. But when you are looking at somewhere like syria, if we are on the one hand using military strikes and on other hand not pushing back on russia, which is propping up the assad regime, what happens next . First of all, its not just propping up the assad regime, terrible as that is. Remember, it was russia back in 2013, who told obama, dont do it, we will take care of this. And russia took the lead in claiming could have gotten all of the chemical weapons and sent them out of country and sort of claiming this as a great diplomat diplomatic coup for russia. Turns out russia didnt dissuade their client from doing this. Overall, i think russia needs to take a lot more responsibility for the issue of chemical weapons than they ever have. Why can are they propping up assad. Well, they have long term interests in syria. Frankly in fairness of the russians i dont often use that term but the United States has never made the case for getting rid of assad, what are we replacing assad with . We have never put together a policy there. We have never suggested that we have something in common with russians, namely keeping syria together. Syria has been in tatters for a long time. As we get to what looks like the end game, where assad seems to be running the table he does one last kind of punitive thing against his diminishing number of people fighting him. He uses chemical weapons. And i think, properly, the Trump Administration has had something to say about that. But clearly the russians have not. Do these military strikes, these missile strikes, have any teeth with the assad regime . I think the trouble with strikes like, that clearly its limited. By the way we had to do it. I think it was the right thing to do. But clearly it is not going to limit his war machine. He is in a very strong position. I doubt it has had any strategic effect on assad. And frankly, he only needs chemical weapons to be punitive. He doesnt even need them to complete the work of wrapping up this rebel onwho has gone on for several years. So what should we be doing. I think what we need to do, if we are going to be engaged in syria as opposed to engaged in trying to reestablish deterrence and make it clear to countries, thousand shall not use chemical weapons but if we need want to get involved in syria we need to get serious. We need to decide that we want. Do we want a unified syria. Are there some arrangements we want to see happen. Should we Start Talking about your european allies about. What have we said to russia . Should we say to the russians we would like to work with you on a new model for syria . We have done absolutely nothing. At this point, frankly, the trains left the station. So we have an administration that has just diddled and dadleed, not done anything dealing with the political effect of all of this. And by the way, the president has gone and talked to the saudis, they have strong views on this. But has he done anything to address the underlying causes the issue of iranian enproechment in sunni arab space . No, he hasnt. So this is a product of when you are not serious this is what happened. It is a complicated region. You laid it out perfectly. Chris hill. Good the see you in person. Come by more often. Up next, the latest on the health of former first lady, barbara bush. This is what getting your car serviced at lincoln looks like. Complementary pickup and delivery servicing now comes with every new lincoln. I won. Giving you, the luxury of time. Thats the lincoln way. Fight security threats 60 times faster with ai that sees threats coming. The ibm cloud. The cloud for smarter business. The ibm cloud. Well, heres to first dates you look amazing. And you look amazingly comfortable. When your vneck looks more like a uneck. Thats when you know, its halfwashed. Add downy to keep your collars from stretching. Unlike detergent alone, downy conditions to smooth and strengthen fibers. So, next time dont halfwash it. Downy and its done. The matriarch of the bush family, mrs. Bush, is of course the i have would of former president george h. W. Bush and the mother of former president george w. Bush n. Statement, the bush family said the following, it will not surprise those who know her that barbara bush has been a rock in the face of her failing health. Worrying not for herself, thanks to her abiding faith, but for others. Nbcs jenna bush spoke about her grandmother on today this morning. Barbara and i talked to her last night. Shes in great spirits. And shes a fighter. Shes an enforcer. She reminded me not to believe everything you read. And so we are grateful for her, for everybodys prayers and thoughts. And just know the world is better because shes in it. Of my while i was overseas serving. It was my very first car accident. We were hit from behind. I called usaa and the first thing they asked was are you ok . they always thank you for your service, which is nice because as a spouse you serve too. Were the hayles and were usaa members for life. See how much you could save with usaa by bundling your auto and home insurance. Get a quote today. A hilton getaway means you get more because you get a break on breakfast get an extra day by the pool get to spend more time together get more from your spring break getaway with exclusive hilton offers. Book yours, only at hilton. Com hey, im curious about your Social Security alerts. Oh well alert you if we find your Social Security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so youll be in the know. Ewww being in the know is very good. Dont shake ahhh sign up online for free. Discover Social Security alerts. With moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis . How do you chase what you love do what i did. Ask your doctor about humira. Its proven to help relieve pain and protect joints from further irreversible damage in many adults. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira has been clinically studied for over 20 years. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Ready for a new chapter . Talk to your rheumatologist about humira. This is humira at work. Welcome back. Time now for the lid. The panel is back, kaitlyn, noah and danielle. A whole set of polls out getting the pulse of what voters are thinking, who should control congress . Most people in april of 2018 say democrats. Theyre up seven points as opposed to republicans up two points in 2010. We know how that turned out really well for the republicans. Whos going to do a better job on issues, democrats sexual harassment, health care, immigration and changing washington. Republicans get reducing the deficit, trade and taxes. Interesting because the deficit has skyrocketed in the past year. But then theres this one which i find interesting, the competency poll. Is the Trump Administration competent. No, 56 . Yes, 43 . Noah, do you think thats going to be a number that well be looking at and pointing to come the midterms or come 2020 . Perhaps. It just about tracks with the president s job Approval Rating so its probably a proxy for job Approval Rating. If you support the president , you say hes competent. If you dont, you dont. A poll had a shrinking generic deficit and they attributed to an intensity gap which is shrinking. Republicans are getting more engaged. Why . Because guns are an issue. Because all after sudden democrats are talking about gun restrictions and the president is talking about gun restrictions. When the democrats Start Talking about their agenda and not just serving as a reasonably competent alternative to donald trump, they get in trouble. Republicans are otherwise pretty depressed. They want to go vote. What do you think, kaitlyn . Democrats i talk to say the base is energized but republicans say theyre not going to really have trouble turning out the Republican Base because they show up in midterms and youre going to have the president out there talking about a lot of these cultural and social issues despite the fact that people want them to be talking about the economy. That will get the base up. Their problem, though, is losing independent voters to the democrats and also just an overperformance by democrats. So when you see those numbers and the generic ballot dissipating a little bit, democrats i talked to say they need to be talking more about the economy and what they want to do as opposed to donald trump, Donald Trumps been in the news for the past several days. In trying to run against trump, is it difficult when you look at everything thats happening, danielle, you have Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen, the Mueller Investigation, all of the talk about russia, now syria. Theres just a new set of a dozen headlines, it seems, every hour. I use this analogy and its kind of junkie but i like it. Donald trump is like somebody who got a stain on his shirt. Got mustard on his shirt eating a hot dog. And most people would say, gosh, i have to get a new shirt, get the stain out. Instead he took the ketchup and the relish and whatever else was on hand and got it all over his shirt and said this is the way the shirt is supposed to be. Donald trump with all of these headlines and all of this noise, thats just the way hes supposed to be. Does that make it increasingly difficult for democrats to find something to run against . No, i think it makes it really easy. Why wasnt it easy in 2016 . Lets talk about 2016 because 2016 was not easy and the reality is that america just didnt like hillary clinton. Thats the fact, right . There is patriarchy at play, reasons why people didnt like hillary clinton. There are a whole host of other things, cambridge analytica, reasons why 2016 was not easy for anybody. But lets be clear when we keep saying that the democrats, oh, they need to run on the issues, all the republicans ran on was against barack obama and somehow they were able to claim every branch of government. I cant to continue to allow the line of conversation around, oh, yeah, democrats need to focus on the issues. We always poe cufocus on the is. We try to tell the American People all the time. When youre running against somebody as incompetent and as illegitimate as this current president , like you can pick an issue and just run with it. Pick the relish, pick the mustard, its all a mess. Who should they be focusing on . Which is the voter democrats should be looking at to turn out to make the real difference for them in the next set of elections . We need to get people to the polls. I also dont really believe in the mythical independent voter that they exist anymore. The world is wholly partisan. Comey called it like he didnt want to wear gang colors. That was one of the phrases he said in his book about the red or the blue. He opted for no tie when he talked to stephanopoulos. The reality is we need to talk to the people and get them to the polls and Pay Attention to all of the voter restrictions and obstructions the republic kwanled states are doing. I heard an interesting fact we have only 20 seconds more people work for arbys than in coal mines in this country. I think democrats are targeting voters who will be receptive to the message about this administration and chaos and those will be moderate republicans perhaps who are just tired of the way things are going. Kaitlyn, noah, and danielle, guys, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Happy monday. When you have something you love, you want to protect it. At legalzoom, our network of attorneys can help you every step of the way. With an estate plan including wills or a living trust that grows along with you and your family. Legalzoom. Where life meets legal. Your society was led by a woman, who governed thousands. Commanded armies. Yielded to no one. When i found you in my dna, i learned where my strength comes from. My name is courtney mckinney, and this is my ancestrydna story. Now with 5 times more detail than other dna tests. Order your kit at ancestrydna. Com and with free access to dettvs hottest shows tests. From netflix, showtime, starz, hbo and more, youll want to tap out of your regular life and go binge. For you. Go binge. I got this. Thank you. Call back next week. Amy are these timesheets still. Youre not amy. I am now. [snaps] dont miss the greatest week in tv. Show me watchathon. Binge now with on demand or the Xfinity Stream app until april 22nd. Thats all for tonight. Well be back tomorrow. The beat with ari melber starts now. You know the 99 problems has a great Fourth Amendment search warrant analysis in that song. I do not. It does and i appreciate your shoutout. There you go. I hope you have a great monday. You, too, ari melber. Have fun tonight. We have a lot to get to. A federal judge just dealt a big blow to donald trump in the Michael Cohen case. Heres whats brandnew this hour. A federal judge tonight ruling on what was happening all day, what you see on your screen there, a request in court by President Trump to stop the feds from reviewing evidence gathered on his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen. So thats a loss for trump, the judge leaving open, however, the possibility that maybe they would have a Third Party Review the evidence on cohen and it relates to Attorney Client secrets. Cohen forced to disclose that one of his only other clients is