Transcripts For MSNBCW MTP Daily 20181130

We go against the original number one. Good evening, im chuck todd here in washington. Welcome to mtp daily. The weight of public evidence of individual one is, to put it frankly, overwhelming. We know trump had one clear motive to cozy up to putin, trump tower moscow. In any normal white house, a bombshell that a candidate had financial dealings with, one, a global adversary while running for president , that alone would be enough to many to all but functionally end a presidency, certainly a political career. But were just Getting Started. Mr. Trump and russia were working on that trump tower moscow deal at the same time russian intelligence was hacking the Clinton Campaign to help candidate trump. At the same time the campaign was meeting with russians and looking for dirt on Hillary Clinton at that trump tower meeting. Russia found a lot of dirt and they went looking for more dirt after mr. Trump publicly asked them to. The campaign was apparently tipped off about the dirt, then russia delivered the dirt. And trump used it. Again, in any other normal white house, revelations like these with the evidence sitting out there and these alone would be enough to all but functionally end the presidency. Again, were just Getting Started because we havent even mentioned the following. The president firing the director over what he said was russia, ordering his staff counsel to fire bob mueller, and we havent even mentioned the National Security adviser lying about russia or the Campaign Chairman lying about his financial ties associated with russia. As we started this whole thing off today, the president s lawyer lying about, you guessed it, russia. Again, in any other normal white house, any set of these revelations and its game over. Lets face it. Weve moved so far beyond the realm of normal with this white house that that aint going to happen for now. Dont forget, everything i just outlined is just the tip of the iceberg because its the only stuff we publicly know. There is so much more we know we dont know, because every time bob mueller speaks, he proves he knows a lot more than we do. Lets bring in tonights panel, shannon stewart, and msnbc contribute tore and Washington Post columnist editor. Shawna, tip of the iceberg on one hand. What we see in front of us, in many ways you could sit here and say its probably more public evidence than the public knew was staring at nixon, than the public knew was staring at clinton. We go through the Different Things people probably have memories of. Again, we dont know what we dont know yet. Yeah, and what we dont actually know yet is exactly if there is a crime that President Trump committed. Thats one of the things. I mean, one of the things i thought was interesting was earlier this week we had the entire manafort situation go down. Which was, apparently he isnt actually cooperating with the people he said he would cooperate with. That was actually kind of good for President Trump, because that meant the one guy who was in that trump tower meeting with the russians wasnt actually giving up any information, or at least he was caught in some kind of lie, and possibly by next week we will find out what those lies looked like. Then we came back to this Michael Cohen situation, which he thinks he was lying on behalf of protecting the president. Then the next thing is, who are the next people they can go after . And the only things sort of left are kind of the family and the president himself. And what we dont know is who else lied about the same thing that Michael Cohen says he lied about. Did donald trump jr. Tell someone that the russian deal ended in january of 2016, and it actually went to june 2016 . We dont know that and we dont know what President Trump lied about. But we actually dont know yet if President Trump committed a crime. Thats right, its political. Im curious of something. Michael steele, you worked for jeb bush. I did. And im curious, because this letter of intent. An amazing paper today did a tic ticktock of moscow and noticed the date that the letter of the intent was signed. Heres the section on putin. I know nothing about russia. I know about russia, but i know nothing about the inner workings of russia. I dont deal there, i have no business there, i have no loans from russia. Sorry, that was the general Election Debate, that is not the clip i was referring to. I want to play the primary debate right here. I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 minutes. We were stablemates and we both did very well that night. But you know that. But if putin wants to go and knock the hell out of isis, i am all for it 100 . The idea that its a good idea for putin to be in syria, let isis take out assad and putin will take out isis. Thats like a board game. Thats not how the real world works. I dont know much about putin but i know hes a gangster. What we have to recognize right now is putin is really trying to spread his influence throughout the middle east. Heres what im curious about, michael steele. What if you knew at that moment in time, what if Republican Voters knew at that moment in time that when the president was praising putin, he had a signed Development Deal to do business with putin in moscow . I need to start with the fact that this has pained me ever since the board game he was referring to was risk, not monopoly. Its hard to clean up after these candidates. You have to play cleanup three years later now. Every republican political official in america had a greater suspicion of Vladimir Putin. Every elected official this is a bipartisan issue. Skepticism about putin is a bipartisan position understanding the brutal pressure of the regime. If we had known this, we would have been screaming it from the rooftops and would have changed the fundamental nature of this debate. Its incredibly frustrating to find out so far down the road that we were right all along to have these suspicions. We have known for many months now that at the time he was talking about his stablemateness that there were these investment efforts going on, so weve known for many months that he and his associates were concealing if not keeping from the American People. Whats surprising is the number of months that it continued, not just january but into june, and that it intersected throughout the nominations of the president. The first instinct is to tell the lie you need to tell at the time and clean it up later. And except cleaning it up later now involves the federal government, it involves the department of justice. Theyre still doing it today. Of course, i had no dealings with russia, no diealings with russia. Oh, you found out about that . I was still running my business while i was running for president. Its all cool, man. Even in the press releases, they totally lied about that, and they had to clean that up. Thats what the American Public i dont know if actually that matters anymore. Its like im sorry. If we had known, if the American People had known during the campaign that the man running for president while russia was busy hacking into Hillary Clintons emails and doing other things that we learned more about after the election, of course, was also aggressively, eagerly trying to do business in russia, i think they would have found it sail yen salient. And i think your question about whether it all amounts to a crime is an interesting question and an important question but not the only question. Because as weve learned, impeachment does not require all of the elements of a criminal offense. It requires and i dont know that were at the impeachment level yet, but the American People were fundamentally misled here and then they were lied to for months. And there will have to be some consequences for that. I want to play the other debate clip we meant to play because its the general Election Debate clip where he has total denial about russia business deals. Let me play that one. I know nothing about russia. I know about russia, but i know nothing about the inner workings of russia. I dont deal there, i have no businesses, i have no loans from russia. Okay. Its amazing that trump 11 months earlier is bragging about what he knows about putin and russia. Because hes so smart. This resembles a criminal enterprise in the sense that the truth has no bearing on what they say. Reality has no bearing on what they say. The only thing that has a bearing is what they think they can get away with in that moment. Thats it. Thats the bottom line. Thats been Donald Trumps m. O. Basically since hes become a public figure in the business world. Yeah. In some ways the 2018 election shows that people the 2016 election was all about donald trump, they gave the house election over to the democrats. Thats the way the public has presented their ire about the president of the United States. The thing is, is there some other way for the public to present their ire when we find out more and more that the president was connected to russia . While the house will be controlled by the democrats, there will be a lot of talk of impeachment. I get that. There is a political issue with impeaching that nancy pelosi is even trying to walk the line with right now. But i would argue there is a time limit. At some point if mueller doesnt issue a report to me before easter, then i dont think impeachment is on the table anymore. By the fourth of july, were too close to 2020. At what point are we too close to 2020 where this is in the hands of the voters rather than congress . It feels as though 2019 is the right time to release that report. That way congress can do its job, continue oversight based on the report, and reach a result before we have another president. And i would argue thats fair to the republican candidate, give them time to do that. But there are issues of fairne fairness. Not coming out in the middle of election season is a matter of fundamental fairness. Not coming out so close to 2020 is monumental fairness. But when youre dealing with a bunch of people who were lying personally, lying after theyve agreed to cooperate kwu, i have some empathy for mueller in terms tft amount of time this is taking. There is one thing that has happened that i think has not gotten a lot of attention in the last couple weeks maybe it was still this week, everything blends together. But the significant part of Paul Manafort, maybe its helpful to donald trump if Paul Manafort isnt cooperating. Not just not cooperating but funneling information to donald trump. But when the president comes out and says a pardon from manafort is not off the table and basically signals that if he just stay silent, he could get a pardon. That is witness tampering in plain sight and youre digging yourself in further. And there is a Bigger Picture here. Were talking about politics and timing and all that, but running the executive branch of the United States federal government is a big job. Being commander in chief when we still have troops overseas is a big job. Having a president who is dealing with court battle. The leader of the free world cannot confront europes chief adversary right now because hes politically compromised, pure and simple. They cant have this meeting. I think the other thing that i would be concerned about from what you were saying is that if they really are moving up the chain and we find out something about a son or a daughter of trump, how do you focus on your job if your kid has just been indicted . Another reason why i think people want nepotism laws is that reason. That goes exactly why there were questions of why you would want to have people if i were the president facing these kinds of charges, i would want to confront Vladimir Putin regime. The president was in helsinkeie the opposite of what you should be doing. Whaef fld. What does putin have on. This week weve started to see some possible answers to that question. They have been lying about business dealings. If this story from buzzfeed is true about dangling the free penthouse it probably is truthful. You offer a Prime Minister a penthouse, everyone will want to live there. Possibly not the best criminal ploy. A felon is as felon does. All right, guys. We will pause here. Good news is you get to come back and we will talk some more. But up ahead, its the way all the cool, strong men are greeting each other these days. Were trying to figure out what to call this shake. And vladimla Robert Muellers r probe appears to be moving quickly. That leads us to ask, what more does Robert Mueller know that we dont . Severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. Eosinophils are a key cause of severe asthma. Fasenra is designed to target and remove these cells. Fasenra is an addon injection for people 12 and up with asthma driven by eosinophils. Fasenra is not a rescue medicine or for other eosinophilic conditions. Fasenra is proven to help prevent severe asthma attacks, improve breathing, and can lower oral steroid use. Fasenra may cause 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 you have a parasitic infection or your asthma worsens. Headache and sore throat may occur. Havent you missed enough . Ask an asthma specialist about fasenra. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. This is moving day with the best inhome wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. And this is moving day with Reliable Service appointments in a twohour window so youre up and running in no time. Show me decorating shows. This is staying connected with xfinity to make moving. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and twohour appointment windows. Click, call or visit a store today. And i found out that ima from the big toe lian. Of that sexy italian boot so this Holiday Season its ancestrydna per tutti order your kit now at ancestry. Com we were talking about the model t. Now here we are talking about winning the most jd power iqs and appeal awards. Talking about Driverassist Technology talking about cars that talk and listen. Talking about the highest Customer Loyalty in the country. But thats enough talking. Seriously. That was a lot of talking. Back to building welcome back. We know that Robert Mueller knows a lot more than we know he knows. The big question in our minds today, what else does Robert Mueller know about President Trump, also known as individual one. More than 18 months into the special counsel investigation, secrecy has become one of its hallmarks. And if the scope of the Mueller Probe is a known unknown, its timetable is another one. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the probe, quote, hopefully is nearing an end. Anyone who makes a prediction now is just making a prediction to make a prediction. We have msnbc analyst mr. Willis with us. Good to see you. Good to see you. You said the story is like toll get worse for individual one. Thats the president. Thats president individual one to you. Why do you believe its going to get worse . When you say worse, is it worse as far as what we know privately or worse in that what were going to learn publicly . As we were going to go to press with that story last night, literally minutes before, Buzzfeed News dropped a the latest revelation in that story which was that, you know, they had contemplated creating a 50 million penthouse for the president of russia in trump tower and giving it to him. And so, you know, when we woke up yesterday morning, people did not know, the public did not know, and actually there hadnt been any leaks to this effect or we hadnt found out that Michael Cohen was going to plead guilty that day to matters related to trump tower moscow. By the end of the day, he not only pled guilty, but we had a next set of revelations about it. So i think you should start with the assumption, as you said in the introduction, that there is a great deal that we dont know here, and the fact that we dont know it doesnt mean its not serious and it doesnt mean were not finding it out tomorrow. One of those fun, blind quotes that sometimes theyre blind quotes meaning theyre anonymous so take it for what its worth, and dannys piece in the times says they didnt know this was coming. They knew some of the manafort stuff but this blindsided them and has them worried that some say did mueller entrap the president in those written answers . Look, it is not entrapment and it is not a perjury trap to know more than you tell the person that youre interviewing who is obliged under the law to tell the truth. That is something that prosecutors do all the time, and by the way, if they didnt do it, they would be idiots. You dont mueller is not obliged to warn the president , by the way, here are all the things ive done in preparation for this question. Its the president s job to answer the questions truthfully. Now, people do have memory lapse slips, people do remember things different frl oly from one anoto im not making an argument for tricking people. But thats a different thing from an expectation that the president s lawyers seem to expect, that bob mueller is going to warn them, by the way, i know a whole lot more than you think i do. Not the way it works. Youre a legal expert. Our job is to deal with the politics of this. In this trump tower, too, one of the president s defenses is, well, there was nothing illegal about what i was contemplating. Hes right. But he was hiding it because he knew it would be a political problem if it was known at the time, as i was pointing out earlier. Did you find any new legal problems for the president . So there is at least two, and maybe three, distinct issues there, right . One is, is there anything on its face illegal about the trump tower moscow deal . At least as described in the criminal information yesterday in the cohen case, no. I think its describing a kind of gross deal and looking for, you know, support from a hostile, strong man in an adversary country. There is nothing obviously illegal about that. As ruth marcus pointed out in your last segment, if youre talking about giving a gratuity of 50 million to the russian president , that is not considered illegal. And the other question, what is in that working document . Theres probably more than mueller gave out yesterday. The third question is, has everybody been honest about it . We know that the answer in Michael Cohens case is no, because Michael Cohen pled guilty about lying about it yesterday. We know the president was asked about it. We dont know what he said in his written answers so we cant evaluate it yet, and we dont know who else was asked about this in a forum in which they would be obliged to answer and precisely what he said and how it interacts with those facts. I think theres at least three Big Questions there. Sarah sanders today talked about a probe she hoped was coming to an end. It was supposed to end last thanksgiving, too. Rudy giuliani has been out there, ty cobb before rudy giuliani, they always talk about, we have another six months, maybe three months, maybe by the end of the year. There is one person who has never put a timetable on it, and thats mr. Mueller. I take a look at whats happened in the last ten days and i think, there is no way hell have a report to file for anybody in the First Quarter of next year let alone by this year. Why should we believe that mueller is anywhere close to wrapping up . There have been certain signs of winding down. I dont think those are trivial. On the other hand, there is pending litigation about grand jury matters that presumably means the grand jury is still active if those litigations are still active. There are cases that we all expect are going to materialize. For example, the special counsel sought a plea deal with jerome corsi and seems to be investigating roger stone. This doesnt look like winding down. Then there is this whole obstruction side, which is supposedly going to end in some kind of a report. I dont think anybody should be talking about what the time frame on any of that is. Its going to end when it ends. You brought up jerome corsi and roger stone. Jerome corsi is the person who probably did more to spread the false allegation that the dead dnc staffer was somehow involved in the hack. He actually now knows he knew something in the event. He spread a lie that he knew himself wasnt true. Is he now legally vulnerable on that front, for spreading misinformation about suffrage from his family . I dont know the answer to that question for a variety of reasons, and one of them is that, you know, you would have to know first of all, there is a sifld. That door is wide open. If you sort of maliciously spread false information this is clearly malicious. Right, so i think there are several civil liability questions that would come out. Did he do anything in the context of that in which he was obliged to not be lying . As a general matter, lying is not a criminal act, right . We in the quest would be sui suing. Up ahead, Vladimir Putin and mohammad bin salman, mbs. And the high five seen around the world. Could it have had something to do with america and our Foreign Policy . Im alex trebek here to tell you about the Colonial Penn program. If youre age 50 to 85 and looking to buy Life Insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. What are the three ps . The three ps of Life Insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. A price you can afford, a price that cant increase, and a price that fits your budget. Im 65 and take medications. Whats my price . You can get coverage for 9. 95 a month. I just turned 80. Whats my price . 9. 95 a month for you, too. If youre age 50 to 85, call now about the number one most popular whole Life Insurance plan available through the Colonial Penn program. It has an affordable rate starting at 9. 95 a month. No medical exam, no health questions. Your acceptance is guaranteed, and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock, so your rate can never go up for any reason. And with this plan, you can pick your payment date, so you can time your premium due date to work with your budget. So call now for free information. And youll also get this free beneficiary planner, and its yours just for calling. So call now. [ horn honking ] critics are raving, green book is hugely entertaining. What experience do you have . [ grunting ] public relations. Audiences are cheering and giving it an a . I dont think ive ever met anyone with your appetite. [ laughing ] welcome back. Tonight im obsessed with math, especially of the fuzzy variety. Wisconsin Governor Scott walker lost his bid for reelection this month and said, no longer do i see it as rejection, just more rejection than apolboonyara bef. Heres his twitter post from yesterday. We received more votes for governor than any other republican. Thats true. By the way, he was the only republican running this year. Do you know who received more votes, tom evers. He was defeated and there was novick to her. The leading Super Bowl Team that scored more points than any other Super Bowl Team in history still lost. Sorry, tom brady. Elegant in its breft, donvity, you think . Governor walker, there is nothing wrong with being a successful loser, but in this case it still means you lost. There is no shame in it. Well be right back. [ horn honking ] audiences are giving green book an a . Woo oh, that was a good time. Its one of the best films of the decade. Whatd you say . Its one of the best films of the decade. Its amazing you said that. Short and sweet. Welcome back. It wasnt just putins embrace th that caught our eye. No, this was putins high five with mbs at the g20 summit today. Neither of these two leaders will be formally meeting or publicly high fiving President Trump in argentina, but both of these strong men have been accused of having journalists or strong men killed. And they are both similar with how trump comes first in Foreign Policy. Mr. Basser, good to see you, sir. Thanks, chuck. Let me start with this issue of everybody has been focused on the mueller and cohen aspect of this, but if you broaden out over the last ten days, the president s business relationships with two countries in particular, russia and saudi arabia, seem to be perhaps having an impact on american Foreign Policy. How do we unpack this . I think weve never seen a situation like this in all of american history. Weve never had a president who wasnt transparent, at least in modern times, last century about his finances, who didnt stop doing business when he ran for president , especially business with the most dangerous adversary the United States has, the russian federation. I think weve all been scratching our heads the last few years. President trump seems incapable of criticizing Vladimir Putin for anything, even when he breaks International Law as flag rant flagrantly as he did last season. And now there seems to be no penalty for Mohammed Bin Salman. There doesnt seem to be a willingness to take him away privately and chastise him for the murder of jamal khashoggi. It almost seems like hes incapable of having a normal relationship which would be critical with the russians and wouldnt always be so happy with the saudis. Given the recent history both with the saudis and the russians who believe diplomacy the only thing that matters in diplomacy is the color green, money, that they just buy all these things. At this point, why shouldnt Congress Just start to wonder, weve got to understand more of the president s Financial Connections to these two countries . Well, i certainly hope that happens when the new socongress sits in january. First, we have to know more about the president s finances when he tried to do business with russia. This gets to our basic National Security. We havent had a president in the last 70 years who hasnt stood up to the russians or the soviets before them when they were clearly out of line, and this president hasnt done that. Weve had a relationship with saudi arabia since the fdr administration, but its always been clear who is the senior partner in that relationship. Its been the americans. Not clear now. So i think it affects the president much more broadly, chuck, than true relationships. He looks erratic in bayuenos a s aires. He doesnt seem to be able to focus on issues for our country. He doesnt appear to be willing to make the tough message and to tell people some bad news if they are flattering to him. I think a lot of countries are on to him and thats not good for the United States. Is there a preason not to punish people as hard we want him to for the khashoggi death . It is always about, you know, with russia, its about doing bigger deals and things like this. Has he sent the message that americas Foreign Policy is for sale . I think the problem that the president has, one of the problems, is that he does describe our Foreign Policy in almost completely contractual terms. Youre right about the relationship with the European Union and the nato allies. Its all about their defense spending, about nothing else. When he made the case to the American People a couple days ago whether Mohammed Bin Salman committed the murder or whether he didnt, were still going ahead because its about money. There has been nothing like, were about deals and believe in american democracy. Chuck, i think if the American People had gone to him and said, what happened to ka khashoggiing khashoggi was a horrible crime. There will be a punishment. I think they would have understood it but nobody did that. There was a weird hand shake between mbs and putin. The first thing that jumps to my mind, what do they have in common . They both had People Killed in the last six months. But as a producer pointed out right before we got on, it was like, huh, i guess mbs doesnt care that americas number one backer around the world is Vladimir Putin. I saw it, chuck, as putin does this, ill never judge what you do. For mbs, it was his way that bro hand shake, as people are calling it, a signalling to donald trump, if you have sanctions over yemen, and the president hasnt taken a moral stand over jamal khashoggi. The decision by the president to cancel the meeting with putin, whats been interesting here is ive heard arguments made by folks on the right who both say, thank god, its canceled, god knows what he will did. Or thank god, its canceled and thats the camp that he deserves. Which camp are you in . Im in the camp that we have to send a really tough message to russia that hes not going to get away with it. I doubt the president is constitutionally capable of giving a when he at mirs. He appears soft, but now the meeting is back on and we may have the worst of both worlds. Well, quite the picture being painted there. Up ahead, a congressional race thats still undecided because of possible fraud. This kroefrg is growi controv is growing and it could stay that way. If you have psoriasis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not a cream. Its a pill that treats moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis differently. With otezla,75 clearer skin is achievable. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. Welcome back. We are hijacking our 2016 version into the 2020 election cycle that could last well into the 2020 election cycle. Last night was a great and historic night. It looked like republican harris was the winner in the 19th congressional district. Once all the votes were counted late last night, the results showed a clear win for mark harris. 19 points separated harris and his opponent dan mccready. We didnt win this race, but there is no doubt in my mind the last 14 months moved our country forward. Despite that, the state decided 90 not to enforce the rules of that state. Why . The ideas of fraud. As i look at that map tonight, thank god for bladen and union county. Bladen county is the place for fraud. And people were coming to homes to collect absentee ballots. The democrat there, dan mccready, handled absentee ballots except one bladen. They hope to hold a legendary hearing in the next three weeks before they contemplate again this ruling. Only about 80 of your part b medicare costs, which means you may have to pay for the rest. Thats where Medicare Supplement insurance comes in to help pay for some of what medicare doesnt. Learn how an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by United Healthcare Insurance Company might be the right choice for you. A free decision guide is a great place to start. Call today to request yours. So what makes an aarp Medicare Supplement plan unique . Well, these are the only Medicare Supplement plans endorsed by aarp and thats because they meet aarps high standards of quality and service. Youre also getting the great features that any Medicare Supplement plan provides. For example, with any Medicare Supplement plan you may choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. 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Theres one story that is sort of the underground weird story of the day. Congressman from arizona, democrat, and ryan zinke, the interior secretary are in a bit of a back and forth. In a usa oped, bench called in ryan zinke to show that he is unfit for office. Well, ryan zinke decided to respond. His response was, well, i think nuclear is the way to describe it. He said, its hard for him to think straight from the bottom of the bottle. This is coming from a man who used nearly 50,000 in tax dollars as hush money to cover up his drunken and hostile behavior. He should resign and pay back the taxpayer for the hush money and the i thought we had an ounce of decorum left. He is probably going to be the house leader who controls the department. I dont know if its a good idea for a man who has subpoena power to use ryan zinkes official twitter account to punch this is gone. Donald trump probably thinks this is hilarious. Of course. And this goes to the fact i think were missing a lot of all of this underbrush of scandal is kind of rumbling background noise because were all so focused on trump and mueller and the main event that were missing cabinet secretary after cabinet secretary. Some are leaving, some arent with these congressional scandals. Were missing all of this stuff that would be huge scandals without trump blotting out the sun. Leaving aside the fact that if were here a week from today the federal government is probably on the verge of shutting down. Mike is totally right. The degree to which our focus on trump and theres no real solution to this because of course we have to focus on trump. He is the president and he has his own scandals, and we are not inventing what mueller has on this issue and that issue and this indictment and this guilty plea. However, the fact that there are so many other compromised cabinet secretaries ill bring out another one. The labor secretary. Unbelievable story. The miami herald as well. Miami herald whos playing a starring movie by gary hart these days im glad to see a reminder of hard core journalism these days. Just to bring viewers up to speed, this is an amazing piece of reporting by the miami herald that explains how the current secretary who was the former prosecutor in florida, in miami, gave what looks like an unbelievable sweetheart deal to a guy named Jeffrey Epstein who was accused of molesting and trafficking in scores of underaged girls and being part of a ring there. He ended up spending 13 months in a county jail with workrelease. All sorts of wait, workrelease, not to chop stones or cleanup highway, workrelease to his own office. El, it was still work. And, you know, the notion that you would use your powers as a u. S. Attorney to provide this kind of break to somebody who did these Disgusting Things and apparently there were Something Like 80 women identified and it looks like it was to cover up something bigger, too. Because bill clintons name has been attached to Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trumps its a whos who of people, and it just smells as if some large hand said we dont want this. And its a whos who of defense lawyers on the other side. And theres some evidence that possibly acosta misled the senate. It is unclear if those answers were fulsome, and its something we should talk about it. But its really hard to talk about when were worried about whether the president is possibly liar under oath. And therefore you get the situation where a scott pruitt can last beyond where the laws of political gravity, for months where they would tell you he should be fall, he has hung on and saying what he other compromise secretaries know. Maybe someone will run on a president ial pledge to drain the swamp. Good idea. And im wondering if that would work. What would the rultd of that look like do you think, in terms of governing in washington . I dont know. I am curious, mr. Steele, how much patience do you think they have . I think one of the things President Trump needs to think carefully about is that Senate Majority leader, cocaine mitch mcconnell, as hes occasionally referred to, his job isnt protecting donald trump but protecting the senate in 2020. And as till now protecting the Senate Majority and protecting the president did not diverge. We may see a point in these coming months where senator mcconnells responsibility to his majority in the senate does not line up exactly with the president s priorities and preferences. As weve learned about mitch mcconnell, hes a disciplined go. He will just go with where the transactions best for his senate republicans. His guys. Thank you all. Happy friday. Up ahead, somethings different and i can put my finger on it. Plaque psoriasis can be relentless. Tremfya® is for adults with moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis. With tremfya®, you can get clearer. And stay clearer. 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And that means some people can take some much needed time off. Some of us deserve it more than others. Im speaking of course of the unung hero of our election coverage, im talking about the big board people. We think youre great too, steve. Imagine what its like. You come to work every day, you get poked and prodded and swiped at like youre some sort of piece of equipment and then youre pushed into a corner and forgot about until 2020. So underappreciated. Sad. Thats why the mtp daily team has decided to pool our money and send the big board on vacation, really unplugged. So we went around the room this morning and discussed ideas. Maybe a seaside retreat with a boardwalk where board shorts are appropriate. Perhaps the bordeaux region of france. Or the finger lake region of upstate new york, honestly maybe well just send it to the border wall. Wed like to come up with more, but you might get bored. We will be talking a lot on the russia connection, plus the president s big meeting with china. Will it help or hurt, the American Economy . The beat with ari melber starts right now. Thank you very much. We are covering a lot of news tonight. Donald trump overseas right now with World Leaders but unable to escape the legal and political firestorm back here in washington. You can see donald trump standing in a line with Vladimir Putin today but forced to call off their planned sit down with revelations Michael Cohen was working with the kremlin on potential business in moskow. Also later tonight, a beat special report. What happens if donald trump just defies the subpoenas from the new Democratic House next year . Well, theres actuall