Is the president s fear of a deep state throwing american democracy off the deep end. Plus the changing face of the democrat party. How female candidates are shaking up the mid terms. Where no one is unseen, no one is unheard, and no one is uninspired. And later, a game changer. The nfl takes its own political stand against players who take a knee for their political views. This is mtp daily, and it starts right now. Good evening, im chuck todd here in washington, welcome to mtp daily. We begin tonight with multiple developments involving the russia investigation. I know, i know, but its just within the last few hours. Lets try to sort it out for you. In a major reversal for now, the president s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani is now suggesting that the president should sit for an interview with bob mueller. Giuliani told the washington post, quote, i guess id rather do the interview if it gets it over with. It makes my client happy. Speaking of mueller interviews, nbc news has learned that the president s soninlaw, Jared Kushner sat for a second interview with the special counsel in a sixplus hour grilling that apparently covered everything from the campaign to the transition to jim comeys firing. Thats according to a source familiar with the matter. Its important to note that hes been in front of mueller twice, one would assume if you are being interviewed by mueller you are not a target. This comes as kushners lawyer confirms he has been granted a permanent security clearance, which would suggest that his exposure is limited. We are told that those kind of clearances are generally delayed otherwise. All of these developments come as the president s attacks on the Mueller Investigation look less like criticism and more like propaganda. And that is perhaps the most Important Development of the day. The president is now claiming that a spy was somehow planted in his campaign by a criminal deep state for political purposes. Think about that. Im not kidding. Thats his claim, the fuel argument from the sitting president of the United States. Is there any evidence to support any of that . Arguably, no. But there is evidence that the president is using his allies in the house to find the, quote, evidence for him. He basically said as much today. All you have to do is look at the basics and you will see. It looks like a very serious event but well find out. When they look at the documents, i think people are going the see a lot of bad things happened. I hope its not so. Because if it is, there has never been anything like it in the history of our country. I hope its not true, but it looks like it is. So he has no idea. But he is certainly giving a hint as the what he hopes his allies find. Those documents refer to a heating the president personally brokered allowing his allies in the house to personally comb through information about the russia investigation. Ryan ghibli said point blank democrats are not invited to see the documents. They are livid. They want both parties to be briefed or they are not allowed. The president today said he wants quote total transparenty and hinted democrats could go if they wanted. Well see. But, folks, this latest spectacle illustrates an alarming cycle where president ial falsehoods and conspiracy theories, some might call that propaganda is ampl amplified by republicans in congress. Not all but a significant chunk of them and their goals to discredit the russia investigation before its completed. The goal isnt necessarily to prove lie its simply to sew doubts about the truth. Lets get right to the panel. Welcome all. Thank you. First let me get to the developments of day, the significance of the Jared Kushner news. We dont know why he got the permanent security clearance, we just know that it happened. I still have questions about it my. I wonder. Because at the end of the day the president decides approximate control of classified information. Its not controlled by statute. I wonder if this happened through the normal chain of business or whether there was an intervention from the top. An interesting important point. But the fact that kushner has gone twice before mueller. There are two ways to think about it. Roger stone, michael cohen, donald trump jr. And pars jr. Havent gone in front of mueller. But kushner has been, twice. I think the dogs that havent barked are the dogs that are in trouble. You are not going to be called if you are the target of an investigation. You are ifg given the opportunity at the end but it puts you in an uncomfortable position. The fact that kushner has been there twice, even though it was for a very long time. Its actually a good news day for Jared Kushner. Thats how i look at it. Both on that and however he got it on the security clearance. Rudy giuliani says interview. Now he wants to sit down. This feels like its every week it is change the story the change the story. Its all made up. Its all kind of fictionalized storylines that create a moment to get through a current moment that they dont like. Distract over here, make noise over there. The bottom line is they are very worried about where this investigation is and where it ultimately may end up. This idea that the president is going to sit down in front of mueller is not something, despite what the president says, that Anyone Around him wants him to do. I doubt will it happen. Again, its like, just move the pieces around on the table enough to pretend there is motion in a particular direction. The president wants to be cofreightive, transparency. The meeting on oh, yes, transparency. We want transparency but we dont want the democrats to be in the room. They know what happens once they are actually in room. They may tell you what is kpa actually in the papers. Whats in the appears. Exactly. A lot of this is the administration sort of moving through the game on their pace in their way keeping evan distracted with talking points and bright shiny objects that go down rabbit holes to nowhere. I want the show some of the president s tweets. Let me put two together. Look at how things have turn around on the criminal deep state. Phony collusion with russia, a made up scam, then they are caught in a major spy scandal the likes of which this country has never seen before. James clapper, turns out he was happy that the fbi was spying on his campaign. No, James Clapper im not happy. Spying on a campaign would be illegal and a scandal to boot. Let me show you what James Clapper said. Heres what we think he was referring to. Was the fbi spying on Trumps Campaign . No, i no, they were not. They were spying on a term i dont particularly like but on what the russians were doing, trying to understand were the russians infiltrating tritrying gain access and leverage and influence, which is what they do. Why doesnt he like that . He should be happy. He should be. Hes happy because hes happy to leap on any word you say that can be useful to him that he can take out of context. Right. And just throw up a lot of smoke around whats going on. What we are seeing here is the fascinating waging of asymmetric warfare between the president who has this bully pulpit and is just absolutely unconstrained by facts or propriety in terms of using it. And the special counsel, who has one weapon on his side, which is the grand jury. Yeah. But thats a weapon that he only deploy appropriately and intermittently. He cant stand up for himself. So trump is winning the week in terms of making an argument that a lot of people are buying even if its got nothing to it. I just both of you are saying this is winning the week or he is always doing and this is the narrative to get through that moment. I have to Say Something feels different about right now. We have these moments of intensity and they wax and wane. This is a particularly intense moment. This is a remarkable moment. Trump is ordering the Justice Department to open investigation into the people investigating him. He is not just throwing bombs at the Justice Department. He is actually asserting political control over the apparatus of law enforcement. That is new. Thats a line he is crossing. And with help from the republican allies like devin nunes and so forth on the hill he is engineering or going along with the engineering of the outing of an intelligence asset who was trying to figure out what russia was doing and turning this into the scandal. I mean, this is not something we have seen before, even from this president. And so where this is going feels tight. What is striking about that point is that republicans are on the watch, holding up the torchlight for this president to take down the Democratic Institutions that just a few short years ago they were officer venly out there going up against the Obama Administration over fervently out there going up against the Obama Administration over, spending precious time and resources investigating ban ghazi. So this is a space that when its all said and done take trump out of this. This is really not so much about him anymore as it is about the republicans who control the house and the senate who from day one day in and day out have allowed this craziness to fester and now to your very important point change the very fabric of how we look at these institutions and what they mean going forward. I want to read a quote from gary casper often. Its about vladimir putin. But it may ring familiar. On putins propaganda on putins propaganda he said this, its about destroying the notion of truth. Of course it aims at democrats institutions because if nothing is true then everything is relative. Whats the difference between democracy and dictatorship . They are all bad . Everybody is corrupt. Hannah errant wrote this decades ago. This is way propaganda works most effectively. You start with this lie that there was an fbi plant inside the campaign to spy on donald trump for the purpose of spying on his campaign and not getting him elected which they didnt do he will very well. And then you lay impropriety on top of it. His ordering an investigation into the investigators is improper. Also lets not let the Congressional Republicans off the hook here. They should not go to that meeting without their democratic counterparts. They shouldnt be demanding that meeting but they shouldnt go to it without their democratic counterparts. Everybody is going the rue this day. Speaking of throwing something into that explodes things, maybe its nitroglyce n nitroglycerin, mr. Clapper is still talking. He did an interview on news hour. Later tonight he will say he has personally concluded that russians not only influences but decided the outcome of the to 16 election. Quote, 80,000 votes in three states. I dont think he can know that. I was going to say, that feels he said personal conclusion. At the end of the day its just clappers opinion. Yeah. Jim clapper is under a lot of pressure right now. And hes being he is. His reputation is being sleddsled shredded by the president and others for hoping to portray this grand conspiracy to help trump lose the election except they forgot to tell everyone until after the election. Dr. Strange love fallure to launch the device. I dont know about that statement . I have heard him say it elsewhere. We dont know. We can never know for sure. I think what he is saying is it only makes sense that they spend this much money that the election was so close. When you have a close election, everything matters. Failing to go to wisconsin could have thrown it. We cant know that. But what we can know is this is a really dire and important moment for democracy. And we have to do our best to make sure it doesnt happen again. I dont see the evidence, given what the Homeland Security secretary said yesterday oh, she wasnt aware of that that they are really making sure that they wont let this happen again. Im a he not sure what comes of good if we have a former Administration Official suddenly deciding to put out their own conclusions. Thats going to create a he said she said while you want to talk about lack of trust in institutions. What if we have an exiled government and an trump is the only one who gets to attack . No, no no. It is a legitimate worry. Democrats play by the rules and trump isnt. It goes to a bigger point. I think chuck you put your finger on something that i think is essentially important here. Its something that worked to Donald Trumps advantage, that everyone has played by the rules. I know. He uses your integrity against you. He uses your integrity against you. And folks, we have got to stop it. You have got to be able to push back against the crazy in order to show that it is in fact crazy. Of course when you go down to his level you end up at marco rubio. Exactly. Can i tell you there is a way to do that, folks. Trust me, there is a way to do that without getting rubio. There is one person who i think has been extraordinarily clever at pushing back on the president without looking like he is pushing back on the president. Listen to the latest from Rod Rosenstein. The dictionary defines piling on as joining other people in criticizing someone usually in an unfair manner. I also have experience with that. [ laughter ] so i am definitely against piling on, no matter what definition you use. Rod rosenstein is going to be there is a chance he is history will treat him kindest of all. Right now, there is a lot of disgluntlement among former Justice Department official types of both parties at what rod rose roz has been doing. He has been appeasing the president by continually giving grounds, okay see this, okay. He has also been protecting mutualer. The question is, is he giving up by inches so that there will be nothing worth preserving at the end of the day. Heres my argument. We dont know what Rod Rosenstein knows about what mueller is up to. But he knows more than any of us do. Right. If mueller in some far off way may final get to the final pars of this investigation, obstruction and russia and completion and so forth but thats not emment, this looks one way, he is appeasing. If mueller is a week or two away from something and he just has to get across the finish line then how we look at the apiecement measures in retrospect is going to be different. One persons appeasement is another persons deflection. Its hard to know from the outside how to look at it. This whole spying controversy i have a feeling will be tiny and irrelevant in three months. Im convinced of it. Like the taping. Stick around. Up ahead in the battle of stacey versus stacey, we already know who the winner is, its stacey. Last nights georgia gubernatorial victory is more evidence of a trend, not just more women running for office, but winning nominations. Traders theyre always looking for advantages. The smart ones look to fidelity to find them. We give you research and datavisualization tools to help identify potential opportunities. So, you can do it this way. Or get everything you need to help capture investment ideas and make smarter trading decisions with fidelity for just 4. 95 per online u. S. Equity trade. Fidelity. Open an account today. Open an account today. Oh hi sweetie, i just want to show you something. Xfinity mobile find my phone. [ phone rings ] look at you. This tech stuff is easy. [ whirring sound ] you want a cookie . Its a drone i know. Find your phone easily with the xfinity voice remote. One more way comcast is working to fit into your life, not the other way around. Trp. Trps. As one of the nations largest investors in infrastructure, we dont just help power the american dream, were part of it. This is our era. This is Americas Energy era. Nextera energy. Welcome back. We are going to keep the conversation on this issue of propaganda and politics going with someone who knows a lot about both of them. Joining me now is a staff writer for the new yorker, ander thou of the future is history, how totalitarianism reclaimed russia. Ms. Guessen, welcome back to the show. Thank you for having me. I want to use the sort of the tweet we saw this morning. From the president. Because it may you even more prescient than anybody realized two years ago when he came into office. So the president included a nontruth about the fbi and all of these things. And he writes this, look how things have turned around on the criminal deep state. They go after phony collusion with russia, made up scam and end up getting caught in a major spy scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before. What goes around comes around. What does that tweet mean to you . What due read into it . It reads weirdly familiar. Et cetera a not familiar in the sense that the Communication Style of the american president is in any similar the putins smuks style. Thats not the case. What is the case, though, is that they both you know, that kind of propaganda serves to undermine any accepts of a shared reality. And thats a really frightening thing and thats an impossible thing to negotiate. Thats what is destroying the politics in this country. What why is it that its been so frankly fairly easy for the president to do this . Is it the communication tools . Is he just unique about this . As it turned out we had a larger chunk of the country that was more susceptible . What is your read . I think there is a lot of us who probably arrogantly believed oh, this will never happen in america. Two things. I think a sense of shared reality had actually been eroding for a very long time. More broadly, trust in the system had been eroding for a very long time. And donald trump was obviously the master of using that. Now he has the bully pulpit. The trump tweet is an impossible thing to negotiate. You cant ignore it and you cant take it seriously. When you take it seriously you are playing into his hands. But he is the president. You cant ignore what he has to say. Its funny, you have outlined the trap that i always say all the time i am well aware we are this the trap. People say dont cover his tweets. Okay. Then what do you do . You dont have a choice. Right . And then the question is how do you get folks to put this stuff in context, to trust that actually there need to be context the these things. Frankly we have been searching for that formula . Look, we are going to lose in the long run i halloween we are going to emerge from this with losses. There is no way not to lose. There are just ways to minimize our losses. And Fact Checking is incredibly important. Creating context is incredibly important. Being able to call the president is a liar is incredibly important. So you wrote this, and im curious if you would revise it today. You outlined you call it your rules for surviving an auto accuracy. You put this out right after President Trumps election. Your rules were there, number one, believe the auto accurate. What does that mean . When he was talking about his intentions two years ago, a year and a half ago people you know, if you recall, people were talking about how he was going to become president ial, how he was never going to introduce tariffs, how he was never going to build a wall, how he was never going to do any number of things that he said he was going to do. In fact, hes doing exactly what he said he was going to do. And there was really no reason to doubt that his intentions were serious. Why do you think we all fell for the im with you. There was at love stuff that felt like empty promises. I think that we are taken in by our own failure of the imagination. You know, it was impossible to imagine donald trump as president. And rather than make the effort to man it we would try to figure out how we are going to work around that. Number two on your list is do not be taken in by small signs of normality. Welcome to the Republican Party in 2018. You know, i think its in even so much about normalization. Its actually what im really concerned. And dalia lit wick had a column about this just a couple of weeks ago. You wake up every morning you realize that the world hasnt ended, your kid is still going to school and you are going to the Grocery Store and you dont need to be so catastrophic. Thats what i mean by small signs of normality. So far, the world hasnt ended. Fact check true on that one. Number three is institutions will not save you. Why do you have so little faith in institutions . Its not that i have little faith in institutions. That institutions need a kind of consensus, and often they need societal pressure in order to function. And we are having issues with that. You know, even the courts need major societal pressure in order to function. But also a lot of things that we think are institutions are actually norms. We have learned an incredible thing about that in the last year and a half. Anything i say about that now will sound obvious but a year and a half it wasnt so obvious. Essentially you are saying the people dont just sit back. Speak out. You say all those last three things meaning what, get active . Keep fighting it . I think yes, get active on the one hand but you have to be selective how you get active. Every so often people want to figure out a way to get a group of psychiatrists together to remove trump or say, you know, there was the hamilton electors movement in december of 2016. Right. But those are things that are fine if we are never going to have a president ial election or president ever again because we dont want a group of psychiatrists that has the power to remove an american president , right . We have to be mindful of what we go into the post trump era with. It will happen eventually. Everything ends. Thats what i remind everybody. Everybody needs to ask themselves how did we get here in the first place before we figure out how to solve this problem. Thank you for coming on and sharing your views. Coming up, the nfl says if players dont want to stand for the National Anthem too bad. They can stay in the locker room or if they do want to kneel prepare to be fined. A lot of people are not happy about what was supposed to be a compromise. Well be right back. What matters to you . You got a1c, heart, diet, and exercise. Slide em up or slide em down. So lets see. For most of you, its lower a1c. But only a few of you are thinking about your heart. Fact is, even though it helps to manage a1c, type 2 diabetes still increases your risk of a fatal heart attack or stroke. Jardiance is the only type 2 diabetes pill with a lifesaving cardiovascular benefit for adults who have type 2 diabetes and heart disease, significantly reducing the risk of dying from a cardiovascular event and lowering a1c, along with diet and exercise. This really changes things. Jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration. This may cause you to feel dizzy, faint, or lightheaded, or weak upon standing. Ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, and trouble breathing. Stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of ketoacidosis or an allergic reaction. Symptoms of an allergic reaction include rash, swelling, and difficulty breathing or swallowing. Do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. Other side effects are sudden kidney problems, genital yeast infections, increased bad cholesterol, and urinary tract infections, which may be serious. Taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you have any medical conditions. Man ask your doctor about jardiance and get to the heart of what matters. One picky customer shouldnt take all your time. Need something printed . The Business Advisors at office depot can assist with exactly what your Business Needs to grow. Get your coupon for 20 off services, technology and more at office depot and officedepot. Com. Technology and more the first survivor of ais out there. Sease and the Alzheimers Association is going to make it happen. But we wont get there without you. Visit alz. Org to join the fight. You might or joints. Hing for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. And its also a story mail aabout people 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 welcome back. Tonight im obsessed with President Trumps phone. We learned earlier this week that President Trump has gone rogue with his own phone service. We all know how that feels. According to politico, he uses two cell phones. The one he uses for tweeting doesnt have security to prevent hacking or surveillance. He is resistant to switching out his phone on a monday low basis because he considers it inconvenient. You might say thats irresponsible, puts National Security at risk and its like having an unsecured private email server. A lot of people had a lot to say about unsecured private email servers. What she did, meghan, is really unprecedented and incredibly reckless. She is just going to get away with this in the sense that she grossly was negligent. See mishandled classified information and thousand she wants to be commander in chief. How could you be commander in chief when you are accepting Sensitive Information on a server that you know others can spy on . Those folks werent alone. There was one more republican who had something to say about the security of a certain email server. Her illegal server that put our National Security at grave risk. Hillary clinton should have been prosecuted and gone to jail for what she did. I wonder if we are going to hear from any of those folks about the president of the United States using an unsecure phone line for tweeting. Our phone lines are open now. Warning, unsecured. Well be right back. With the first ever ford ecosport. Woman my niece maria. Maria hi woman perfection by connecting drivers to whats important. Maria i love that. And by protecting those who matter the most. The allnew ecosport. Its the big upgrade in a small package. From ford. Americas bestselling brand. See what you can get for under 20 grand with the allnew ecosport. Yes. Its a targeted medicine proven to help prevent severe asthma attacks, and lower oral steroid use. About 50 of people with severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. Fasenra™ is designed to work with the body to target and remove eosinophils. Fasenra™ is an addon injection for people 12 and up with severe eosinophilic asthma. Dont use fasenra™ for sudden breathing problems or other problems caused by eosinophils. Fasenra™ may cause headache, sore throat, and allergic reactions. Get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. Dont stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. Tell your doctor if your asthma worsens or if you have a parasitic infection. Fasenra™ is a targeted treatment for eosinophilic asthma. Thats important. Ask an asthma specialist about fasenra™. And i am a senior Public Safety my namspecialist for pg e. My job is to help educate our First Responders on how to deal with natural gas and electric emergencies. Everyday when we go to work we want everyone to work safely and come home safely. I live right here in auburn, i absolutely love this community. Once i moved here i didnt want to live anywhere else. I love that people in this community are willing to come together to make a difference for other peoples lives. Together, were building a better california. We are writing the next chapter of georgias future, where no one is unseen, no one is unheard, and no one is uninspired. Welcome back. That was Stacey Abrams, get to know her. Shes the woman who won the democratic gubernatorial primary last night in georgia against what happened to be another woman named stacey. This is starting to look like a trend. Women are winning a lot of primaries all over the place and its not cookie cutter type candidates either. They are different kincandidate. Amy mcgrath, a Fighter Pilot won the presumary in ken condition. And Lindsey Fletcher won against laura mowsier. That was like the stacey primary, woman versus woman in that one. 72 women have won a Majority Party nomination for the u. S. House. That is already more than the total number of women who were nominated in the 1990 election cycle. It wasnt that long ago. And guess what. We have 35 and then some more state primaries to go. So there is going to be quite a few women nominees this cycle. Will it translate into victories for democrats in november . Let me bring in shear boostos of illinois. She was one of the few candidates in a district that donald trump carried, being a democrat, who actually won by a land slide herself. Congresswoman boostos welcome back to the show. Thank you, chuck. This has been in some ways organic with the number of women candidates wanting to run this year for congress. And in some cases its been a recruitment too much of its been the party wants to go out and find new candidates, find women candidates who want to do this. What has been your case to women to get them to run for office who have never thought about politics before . Whats been your pitch to them . That this is the way to change the world. You know, i believed that way before i ran for any office myself. It is through Public Service that we can change the world. I think what these women are seeing is that we are in great need of wanting to change the world. Im so glad you started this segment with Stacey Abrams. I literally just off the phone with her. I was walking down the Capitol Steps after votes and she gave me a call back. And i am so proud of her. She is not only would she be the First American female governor, but she would be a great governor, period, regardless of her gender, regardless of her race. She would be fantastic. And i am all in for her. Glad you maenged amy mcgrath, chuck, because you know as the first marine female Fighter Pilot, this was all against the odds. When you are going against a mayor of lexington who has a great deal of wealth she gets in on her own. It wasnt even a Major Recruitment effort. But she wanted to change the world. And here she is winning this primary, a potentially tough primary and she was the winner. Its interesting you bring up amy mcgrath. It was the dccc, the National Democrats, they wanted the person they knew, right . And you understand the argument. Hes been there before, hes run for office before, hes the mayor, and mayors generally do well in congressional elections. There has been this fear among some National Democrats to roll the dice with inexperienced candidates. You just talked about amy mcgrath as a potential super star. What do you think the dccc missed with her . Well, i would argue that the dccc didnt miss anything. I supported amy mcgrath from the starmt i am the chair of the heartland engagement strategy. Kentucky is part of the heartland. But they had been pushing the mayor as their candidate. That was the narrative that was out there but not the reality of it. I can tell you this, when folks from the dccc went down to kentucky they talked with amy mcgrath and they talked to jim gray. There wasnt really a matter of jim gray pushing her aside. But i can say personally im very pleased with the outcome. I want more women to be serving here. Again, not just because they are women, but because the things that we fight for are typically just a little bit different, more family friendly, more child friendly, looking out for the just making sure that people who aspire to the middle class can get there. I mean its what we stan for as women. Let me ask you its interesting you brought up Stacey Abrams on your own talking about that you have exchanged phone messages for her in congratulations. You and i know there are plenty of democratic consultants who would have said Stacey Abrams, i dont know if you can win statewide. And there was this sense that oh, no you have got to try to appease the middle here. There seems to be a new argument, progressive versus electability argument, that its not being received the same way as it used to. What do you think changed with voters when it comes to the question of electability versus progressive values . I dont think it is an either or. I think what people are looking for is people who lid their lives, who had some challenges, but people who will show up to every nook and cranny of a Congressional District or a state. Gladstone, illinois, small towns, he show up, listen to people, and you know, enough of the phoniness thats associated with politics. Listen to people, tell them your own story, and you know, then its our job once elected to fight for people and do whats right. I think when it comes to Stacey Abrams she is a great person, shes smart shes accomplished and people didnt see one bit of phoniness in her. Thats why she won this race last night. It is interesting that you use the word phoniness. Give her advice to talk to a trump voter. You have had trump voters voting for you. Whats your advice. I dont think she needs my advice but if i were to talk to anybody running for office, its exactly what i just said. Showing up, not taking any voter for granted, asking for this vote. Using these two ears and this mouth proportionately. People love to if you are in politics, and i tell you what, sometimes im like just, please, can you just listen. If you do that and take what we have learned from those listening sessions and then do something about it i think thats the secret to success. Its showing up, its working hard, listening and then getting results for people. Congresswoman shear boosos, im going to leave it there. Democrat from the illinois part of the quad cities. Up ahead, the nfl takes an official stand on players kneeling during the natural anthem. And the Trump Administration is declaring victory. Well be right back. Picking the right style takes time. One picky customer shouldnt take all your time. Need something printed . The Business Advisors at office depot can assist with exactly what your Business Needs to grow. Get your coupon for 20 off services, technology and more at office depot and officedepot. Com. Technology and more i needthats whenvice foi remembered that my exex exboyfriend actually went to law school, so i called him. He didnt call me back if your exex exboyfriend isnt a lawyer, call legalzoom and well connect you with an attorney. Legalzoom. Where life meets legal. Welcome back. Today in meet the mid terms, republican missouri governor eric gritens, we told you he is not running for reelection this year but he is running to save his job and has take tony the air waves as lawmakers consider whether to impeach him. He faces allegations of sex misconduct and abuse. But he is blaming the scandal on his enemies and the media. He is doing it in paid ads. Court documents prove the fake news paid thousands for allegations against gritens. A liberal st. Louis prosecutor funded by george sorrows pressed charges and democratic leadership orchestrated the false attacks. Dont get the liberals get away with it. The Republican Controlled Legislature decided to deal with impeachment here. Missouri republicans have called on greitenss to resign, including the likely nominee to run against mccaskell this fall. But thats not the only ads. A governor under fire. A capitol awash of corruption. In the middle, attorney general josh holly. Obviously, this is all a headache for republicans, which shows no sign of stopping any time soon. If you were the scc and you put up that ad yesterday the thing you would love is Eric Greitenss going on tv. And thats what he did. The nscc pulling their her out. Well be right back. Protected against fraud, theft and trafficking. This is a financial Transaction Secure from hacks and threats others cant see. This is a patients medical history made secure while Still Available to their doctor at their fingertips. This is an asteroid livestreamed to millions of viewers from 220 miles above earth. This is ai trained by experts in 20 industries. Your industry. Hello. This is not the cloud you know. This is the ibm cloud. The cloud thats built for all your apps. Ai ready. Secure to the core. The ibm cloud is the cloud for smarter business. No one thought much of itm at all. L people said it just made a mess until exxonmobil scientists put it to the test. They thought someday it could become fuel and power our cars wouldnt that be cool . And thats why exxonmobil scientists think its not small at all. Energy lives here. Time now for the lid. The nfl announced a new policy today. All players who are on the field during the National Anthem must stand according to a new league real. They can remain in the locker room without penalty but kneeling can be subject to a fine. Does this solve the pr problem . For the time being. Look, this is one of those compromises. You had owners like jerry jones who were adamant in the argument that there should be a high price to pay for these types of protests. I think they didnt go as far as they do in basketball. Right. But the fact of the matter is, this seems to be the space. Even though the nfl players association, the union is upset on behalf of the players, i think this works itself out. This is such a nonstory. I agree it is a nonstory except they have continued to play into it. I dont know why the nfl bothers with night exactly. To me they have actually created. Ruth, what i dont get here is so they are saying they dont want players to express their political views but the players have to abide by the owners political views. Thats what this comes across as. The players arent the good news about this policy is that the players arent conscripted to stand there when they dont want to be standing there. I personally dont see what the big deal is about kneeling, kneeling feels likeme. But the players arent able to, in an appropriate, respectful way to express they views. They dont have to be conscri conscripted, but they dont get to remember the athletes with the black power salute, they dont get to express their views during that time. I have never understood why it was so disrespectful to the flag to have a cow about them doing it. It seems to me to be respectful to the constitution to allow some respectful things. Heres why they did it, though. Pull up the mike pence twitter feed today. I understand that. Mike pence believes, hey, winning, thats what he tweeted. Winning. Winning by silencing. Winning. Culture war winning. And youre like, because you got the nfl to be cowed by donald trump. I think the longterm solution to all of this is just to depoliticize the games entirely. We didnt used to have all of these you know, the standing and singing God Bless America in the seventh inning. You know, this goes back to the pageantry of the hyperpatriotism after 9 11. Sports really doesnt need any of that and its just asking for trouble. All the different kinds when weve gotten into these things about doing the National Anthem. Its always been a around a time of when weve been, you know, about our democracy and stuff like that, so its showing respect in a moment. Tying the Yellow Ribbon when the hostages are there. Were not in that moment. Thats the thing, chuck. Its a moment in a game. It is the beginning of the game. It is the seventh inning in baseball. Those moments, theyre nice, but they now seem to consume the sport. And thats what i think the owners and the management of these teams have to get away from. This is not a playground for you to express your political ideolo ideology, day in and day out, game after game. Youre there to play the game. And you take that moment, to your point, ruth, you can either go on the field and stand or stay in the locker room. But you cant protest. Can i just say, though how is that american . The one league thats struggling with this is the nfl, whose ownership demographic is closer to trump than any other sports. Thats it. Not baseball, not basketball certainly not basketball. You cant tell me that isnt a part of this, ruth. I dont. That if it werent if it werent for the ownership demographic, we wouldnt be having that the nfl would have ignored trump. Yes. But, you know, but trump went on his rampage against the nfl and trump argued, dont know w, i guess were back to James Clapper territory about what the impact is, that his rampage and the nfl players behavior was responsible for lower ratings. Who knows . But they clearly were responsive to him. Look, on the culture wars, trumps people follow trumps lead. They watch roseanne, because roseanne is protrump. Hey, i watch roseanne. But they got that extra boost. In some ways, this is good for the nfl because were not talking about concussions. Youre right. They have an existential threat to their game thats much bigger. Players are wrecking their brains to play the game. And when you think about that, you cant enjoy the game. Ruth, charlie michael, thank you very much. Up ahead, President Trump versus the teleprompter. Sfx muffled whistle text alert. Im your phone, stuck down here between your seat and your console, playing a little hidenseek. Cold. Warmer. Warmer. Ah boiling. Jackpot. And if youve got cutrate car insurance, you could be picking up these charges yourself. So get allstate, where agents help keep you protected from mayhem. Like me. Mayhem is everywhere. Are you in good hands . Prilosec otc 7 years ago, doctor recommended. 5 years ago, last week. Just 1 pill each morning, 24 hours and zero heartburn. Its been the number 1 doctor recommended brand for 10. Straight years, and its still recommended today. Use as directed. Well, in case you missed it, nobody puts words in President Trumps mouth. I dont get up here with teleprompters. I dont have teleprompters, folks. These stupid teleprompters. Teleprompters. Teleprompters. Teleprompters. And i definitely dont read the speeches. Except when he does. So your vote in 2018 is every bit as your vote in 2016. Although im not sure i really believe that, but you know. I dont know who the hell wrote that line. Im not sure ah, the beloved teleprompter. Its always there when politicians need it. Its on the left, its on the right, always just out of frame. Like most Live Television shows, we have one of them things here at mtp daily. Allowing me to read our writers outstanding copy while staring directly into your soul. But a warning, mr. President , the teleprompter can be fickle. Dont believe me . Ask my colleague, ron burgundy. Well, thats going to do for all of us here at channel 4 news. You stay classy, san diego. Im ron burgundy . Dammit, who typed a question mark on the teleprompter. All right, so we did the clean version. You have to read what youre about to read before you actually read it. Because you never me whats going to pop up on that screen as it scrolls by. You cant just trust it of course you can trust it. Just keep reading, chuck. Wait who put that in there. No, i will not just keep reading. I will not just mindlessly read whatever appears on some piece of glass stop it get out of my head mr. President , i implore was, say what you mean and mean what you say. Use your words. Dont let your words use you. Heres my favorite part of the president s reaction, though, to that. Finally, a politician being honest that maybe, just maybe, their own election was the most important election to them and not the next election. In that sense, thank you, President Trump, for actually being one of the few politicians to be honest about whats the most important election and whether your vote is as important this time as it was the last time. Thats all for tonight. Well be back tomorrow with more mtp daily. The beat with ari melber starts right now. I see you out there with the anchorman reference, and i have to say, milk was a bad choice. You stay classy, ari melber. You too, chuck todd giving us some food for thought with the teleprompter. We begin the beat now with some breaking news. Bob mueller is now circling the people closest to trump including the family. His soninlaw and adviser Jared Kushner sat with muellers team for a second time. Heres the news on that. This interview, were told, lasted over six hours. Kushners lawyer is speaking out about it tonight, which in itself is important. Hes telling msnbc the client answered every question, on the campaign, on the transition, including russia and sanctions questions, and we know there are questions about the activities postinauguration, including something at the beating heart of the obstruction query. How and why was James Comey Fired . Kushner a key figure, a lawyer in his own right, someone who was with trump from the start, and has been involved