And good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 258 of the trump administration. And on this day without irony and for the first time in memory, the state Department Spokes woman reported the secretary of state had a good phone call with the president of the United States. More on that story, that complicated relationship in a bit. Today also brought some clarity on the status of the Russian Investigation on capitol hill. The two senators leading the Intel Committee came forward with a status report today. Some numbers at around the ninemonth mark. They have interviewed more than a hundred people. They have reviewed almost 100,000 pages of documents, held 11 open hearings. There are 25 more interviews scheduled before the end of this month. Senators richard burr, the republican from North Carolina and mark warner, the democrat from virginia said they have more work to do, but theyre starting to develop a clearer picture of what happened. And this feels like its taking a long time. It is taking a long time. But getting it right and getting all the facts is what we owe the american people. The issue of collusion is still open, that we continue to investigate both intelligence and witnesses and that were not in a position where welcome to any type of temporary finding on that until weve completed the process. Im not going to set an artificial deadline, but i think mark and i would agree, weve got to make our facts as it relates to russias involvement in our election public prior to the primaries Getting Started in 2018, which means sometime the first of the year. Make no mistake, these are two solid members of the u. S. Senate running this effort. Burr went on to say that deadline may be an aspirational goal. Went to issue a stop warning that russia has not stopped trying to medal with our democracy or other elections. What i will confirm that the Russian Intelligence Service is determined, clever and i recommend that every campaign and every election official take this very seriously as we move into this novembers election and as we move into preparation for the 2018 election. The russian active measures efforts did not end on election day 2016. And we need to be on guard. One of the things that is particularly troubling to both of us is the fact that it became evident that 21 states Electoral Systems were not all penetrated, but there was at least trying to open the door in these 21 states. There is also this toebt. A word of caution aimed at those who may be expecting too much from the Mueller Investigation. This word of caution comes from sally yates who youll recall was fired for not enforcing the travel ban. She says mueller is going to determine whether theres proof beyond a reasonable doubt that floens were committed, that crimes were committed that can be used for prosecution or impeachment. Mr. Mueller is not going to answer the question of whether anything bad happened here, she said. Which brings us to our leadoff panel here on a wednesday night. Jeremy bash back with us. Former chief of staff at both cia and pentagon also former counsel to house intel. Michael kroully is back with us. Narl security editor at politico. Kimberly atkins. A local by training. Welcome to you all. Counselor bash, you get to go first. Your takeaways from that interesting session from these two very interesting members of the u. S. State today on the hill. First, brian, i think they made clear that investigating the ties between the Trump Organization and the Russian Federation is not a republican thing. Its not a democratic thing. Its an american thing and its an american imperative that we get to the facts. Second, i thought it was interesting they said collusion is still open. Theyre still looking at it. They are also looking at business ties between the Trump Organization and the Russian Federation. And i thought it very significantly they said they had all but concluded that with regard to the republican platform during the Republican Convention in 2016, that everybody had the same story. That they were directed by somebody to make the platform more pro russian. Michael, take on collusion specifically. And as a subset, in what other world would a president of the United States not be on a soapbox daily telling us that we have to arm ourselves and our electoral process against russian attack . Right. So on that second point, i think people should be concerned that more is not being done to prevent a repeat of what clearly happened in 2016, and i think thats one of the headlines from this press conference today. An affirmation that russia did interfere in our election. And brian, by the way, i dont think this gets enough attention. Its coming into clearer view as were learning more about what russia did on facebook, twitter, and potentially google. The russian interference in this election quite possibly could have affected the outcome. Ziet the fact that donald trump dismisses this out of hand, i think we still have to take it seriously. Indeed, i think it becomes all the more plausible overtime. And as you say, where is the highest level of attention to this question . This is a dire National Security issue that goes to the fundamental pillars of our democracy and donald trump just doesnt take it seriously as far as hes concerned, its still fake news. Kimberly, because all good lawyers can argue both sides. Lets say you are watching this from 1,600 pennsylvania avenue. What was the good news for the trump team in this event today . Well, i think there were little bits of news that perhaps they can take away. I think overall the folks at the white house are still not happy because there is still this ongoing probe which seems to be just getting into the collusion question and that investigation is going to go on. But one of the things that senators burr and warner said today is that they were essentially setting aside the investigation into the firing of james comey, that they were going to leave that to other agencies to look into and for the most part while its not closed, that part has sort of wound to an end. So remember, thats the reason that we got this, the probe, at least the bob Mueller Probe thats ongoing. But when it comes to the senate Intel Committee, they have moved beyond that. And jeremy bash, how about a bit of a viewers guide to whats coming specifically visavis the yates quote that we just ended our initial segment with, kind of controlling expectations. Whats going to come out of the hill versus whats going to come out of the Mueller Investigation . More importantly, whats not coming out of the Mueller Investigation. I think this is a credit kalt point that sally yates noted. She basically said dont forget, bob mueller may bring dooimts against some players, but at the end of the day he probably is not going to indict a sitting president of the United States. At the end of the day hes probably going to issue a report. The report will go to congress and congress will make a decision, a political decision, a constitutional decision about whether to impeach and ultimately to convict the president. And so fundamentally this is going to be going back to congress for that ultimate question. Viewers will remember the talk of the dossier that came out a few months back. Along with its unsavory details, it is still out there for those who want to read it. But it was mentioned today in this event on the hill. Well show you that, talk about it in a moment. To the steele dossier, unfortunately the committee has hit a wall. We have on several occasions made attempts to contact mr. Steele, to make with mr. Steele, to include personally the vice chairman and myself as two individuals making that connection. Those offers have gone unaccepted. The committee cannot really decide the credibility of the dossier without understanding things like who paid for it, who are your sources and sub sources. Michael, what should we make of that . Well, steele is a fascinating, mysterious character. Hes a former british tell us agent who many current and former u. S. Intelligence officials have vouchd for and said this is a credible guy. He compiled this report on trump and his potential connections to the kremlin. People should remember, by the way, when theyre looking at the dossier which is available online, much to the con ternation of donald trump that a lot of that is raw intelligence. You know, the u. S. Intelligence Community Gets this information it sure is. And analyze z it, decides what is and is not true. The dossier itself was not purporting to be the definitive final word. That said if you go back and look as some have done, many of the assertions in the dossier are consistent with information that has come out in this investigation. Its not clear why steele is quite so elusive, and it would be great if he would meet with investigators and he would fully disclose his sources and methods. You have to keep in mind to some degree that assuming that what he was doing was credible and legitimate work, its a very dangerous. He purported to be getting information really from inside the kremlin, so there is that sensitivity. But everything around the dossier is extremely strange and of course, the most sensational allegations which are hard even to describe on television, those have not been borne out at all. But again i reiterate if you go back and look at some of the more basic assertions such as the idea that the russians offered the Trump Campaign damaging information about hillary clinton, which we know was done in june of 2016, some of those things have been borne out, so i think you cant dismiss the dossier out of hand and hopefully we will hear more from steele. Kim, Nicole Wallace on her show this afternoon seemed to note that this was not a dismissal of the dossier out of hand and not quoting directly, confirmation that enough people think its a thing. Yesel. I mean, they could. They couldnt really rule on it one way or another, which kind of leaves it hanging out there. Im sure thats something that the white house is still very upset about as well. The white house and donald trump allies have been dismissing this dossier out right because and it is a problem. It does, as michael said, have some alleges some of the closest links of potential collusion if that is ultimately found. And i think they really wanted that to be dismissed. This wasnt good news for them either. Mr. Bash, another viewers guide from, please. The name Michael Cohen was invoked today. Were going to be hearing and seeing a lot more about him. Remind folks of his role and remind folks his level of potential exposure here. General counsel of the Trump Organization. A longterm adviser of donald trump. And the pont man for the Trump Organizations potential deal to build a sky skarp in moscow during the president ial campaign. So all the way up to december 2015, just weeks before the iowa caucus, this guy was working deals in moscow to have that building built. It is another point of leverage that the Russian Federation had over the entire trump apparatus. Were going to hear more from cohen before both committees in the next month. 30 seconds from mr. Crowley. What to look for, especially having heard this event today. What are you looking for seven days out, ten days out, ten weeks out. I do think that indictments could be coming soon. Paul manaforts apartment in virginia was raided several weeks ago now. A raid would be followed relatively quickly by indictments. That was a big deal. That was a big deal. And a Manafort Indictment is significant not only because the charges against manafort would be striking, but the possibility that manafort would try to bargain his way out of that predicament, potentially flip against donald trump if he knows incriminating things about the president or other people on the campaign. Sim laefrl, there are signs suggesting that michael flynn, the former National Security adviser is in deep legal jeopardy and we could be seeing charges brought against him. I think thats likely. Those are likely to be the next big shoes to drop, and i would be waiting for that. And by the way, the amazing, astounding development somewhere down the road is that Robert Mueller is probably going to want to talk to donald trump. And we are not there yet. Hes going to Start Talking to senior white house staffers. At some opponent there is going to be that amazing, dramaticic meeting between mueller and trump, one assumes, but that may still be months away. Ken starr said on this broadcast he predicted donald trump would be placed under oath before the end of this. Our thanks tonight to jeremy bash, to michael krouly, kimberly atkins. Thank you all for returning to the broadcast. Our first break this evening. And coming up, what made the secretary of state, it is reported, consider resigning from his job. And what is the chance of another vacancy in the trump cabinet this early on . The 11th hour, the wednesday edition, is just Getting Started. Ah, dinner. Throughout history, the one meal when we come together, break bread, share our day and connect as a family. [ bloop, clicking ] and connect, as a family. Just, uh one second voice guy. [ bloop ] huh . Hey . I paused it. Bam, family time. So how is everyone . Find your awesome with xfinity xfi and change the way you wifi. Mr. President , any response to Rex Tillersons comments, allegedly . Yeah. Im very honored by his comments. It was fake news, totally made up story. It was made up by nbc. Thank you. Total confidence in rex. I have total confidence. Thank you very much, everybody. President trump there talking about something that originated in this building, an explosive nbc news report that says among other things trump secretary of state Rex Tillerson wanted to quit this summer. It says further that he called the president a moron. The reporting is based on over a dozen sources and details how it all played out, quote, the tensions came to a head around the time President Donald Trump delivered a politicized speech in late july to the boy scouts of america, an organization tillerson once led. Tillerson, himself, by the way is an eagle scout. After tillersons return to washington, pence arranged a meeting with him, during the meeting pence gave tillerson a pep talk but also had a message. The secretary needed to fg out how to move forward within trumps policy framework. The moron comments came following a july meeting about afghanistan policy at the pentagon. Politico is on the board, adding to that reporting tonight. Quote, the original report sent trump into a fury this morning. A white house official said and tillerson moved with corporate efficiency to attach it down. While trump was expressing total confidence in tillerson by the midafternoon, the episode further complicated perhaps the most fraught relationship between a president and a secretary of state ever seen. Tillerson in a rare public statement, pledged his loyalty today but did not deny insulting the president s intelligence. Let me tell you what ive learned about this president , whom i did not know before taking this office. He loves this country. He puts americans and america first. Hes smart. He demands results wherever he goes. There has never been a consideration in my mind to leave. I serve at the appointment of the president and i am here for as long as the president feels i can be useful to achieving his objectives. Could you address the main headline of this story that you called the president a moron and if not, where do you think these reports are im not going to deal with petty stuff like that. Nbc news choef Foreign Affairs andrea mitchell. We also welcome back to the broadcast elizabeth bu miller for the new york times. Two veterans of our business and trade. Andrea, about every other day thaurs a Panel Discussion on cspan about the era of the National Security adviser and the white house and the friction it has sometimes caused between president s and their secretaries of state. But in your time and in your knowledge has there ever been a briefing where the spokes woman for the secretary of state denied that he called the president a moron . I mean, its no. The short answer is no. And we should point out that heather new wart says that that did not happen. We have sources, our reporters who worked on this, and it was a large team, had sources who say it did happen and who were in the room and misnew wart was not in the am radio, but she says she discussed this with the secretary. He very pointedel did not deny it himself, but he later told her that it did not happen. Elizabeth, i dont know if you have any eagle scouts in your life or i do, actually. Oh, thats fantastic. Well, then you know what a towering achievement it is. Yes, i do. And you know what an honor it is. And they are eagle scouts for lie. They wear it proudly as they should. So as we watch these comments delivered by the president at the boy Scout Jamboree and im going to ask you to comment on thm later. Imagine the eagle scout, now secretary of state, former ceo watching this. Do you remember that famous night on television, november 8th, where they said these dishonest people, where they said there is no path to victory for donald trump . They forgot about the forgotten people. By the way, theyre not forgetting about the forgotten people anymore. By the way, just a question. Did president obama ever come to a jamboree . And by the way, under the trump administration, youll be saying Merry Christmas again when you go shopping, believe me. Merry christmas. Well, elizabeth, how do you think it was viewed . By mr. Tillerson . Uhhuh. Not well at all. This as we reported at the time many president s do go to the jam boor oh. President obama appeared by video. But no president has ever used that jamboree to make a political speech like President Trump did and the boy scouts were extremely unhappy with it. Boy scouts leaders all over the country were very up happy with it and so was mr. Tillerson, obviously. I mean, its not considered a partisan event. Andrea, i have a clip for you to watch. This was senator corker, republican of tennessee, chairman of Senate Foreign relations and interestingly a guy who has said im out. Im not going to run for reelection, so politics cant be hung over his head, unlike so many of his senate colleagues. This is what he said today about the circle of it was men he mentioned around President Trump. I think secretary tillerson, secretary mattis, and chief of staff kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos. I mean, look, i see whats happening here. I deal with people throughout the administration, and he from my perspective is an incredibly frustrating place. As i watch, okay, and i can watch very closely on many occasions, i mean, you know, he ends up not being supported in the way that i would hope a secretary of state would be supported. And thats just from my vantage point. Andrea, that was a jaw drorp to me today because this is a senator with a reputation as a workhorse, not a show hos, not bombastic, not hyper bol ilk, but this is the second time he has sounded a real warning. And whats really interesting about this, he sees them as he was describing them basically if you could shorthand it as the grownups standing between, you know, preventing chaos from taking over National Security policy. But the fact is that they havent been able to prevent it, that john kelly hasnt been able to stop the tweetsz. The tweet on sunday morning that was so disoh nent, just hours after tillerson landed at 3 27 a. M. On a sunday morning from a flight from beijing to have the president in two tweets disagree with what the secretary just described, this back channel which could lead to talks with north korea. He said they were probing. He didnt say they were talking already, but he was slammed by his own president. And that so undercuts him that people like nick burns and in elizabeths paper david sanger and peter baker as well as former ambassador burns, former under secretary burns as well as richard haus saying that he need to resign because he no longer has credibility with foreign leaders. Look, corker has been very critical of Rex Tillersons budget. In fact, the appropriations subcommittee of Foreign Relations unanimously rejected the budget and added 11 billion back to the bgt. And thats one of the things that tillerson has been criticized for. The way he embraced the budget from the white house, tried to ingreat 80 himself, i believe, and prove that he could cut the fat out of the state Department Without really understanding the state department. So corker is really trying to be an honest broker here, and its very difficult for him. Elizabeth, its an established fact that weve never seen the state department so diminished in terms of the vacancies, the depth chart is just an unbelievable thing. Just domestically and then you look at the ambassador or ships overseas, some critical ones. Is it also true weve never seen a secretary of state this diminished and what do you think happens here . Where does this go . Well, the assumption is that this is not going to last, that by the end of the year secretary tishl son will be gone. Theres already talk that nikki haley, the ambassador to the u. N. Will succeed him. This is not a sustainable situation right now where you have the president of the United States undercutting the secretary of state, not just in the ways we mentioned, but dont for get, you know, last summer when secretary tillerson said that he wanted to try and open negotiations between qatar and its arab neighbors and then trump within less than an hour President Trump had said that qatar was a financer of troem, completely undercutting. Its time after time after time. And, you know, we are told the reporting of our wonderful white house correspondents, maggie haberman, peter baker, that in oneonone meetings with the president , mr. Tillerson makes it quite clear he does not approve of what trump is saying. He slouchs. He listens to trump. Hes told associates that hes astonished by how little trump knows about Foreign Policy and then when trump will Say Something tillerson will say to the president well, thats your deal which further infewer yates the president. So this is not sustainable. And elizabeth, i get that a smaller state department is fitting with the destruction of the administrative state. But after a while to run this government and be a leader in the world arent they going to need to fill in some of those slots. Yes, of course. There are major negotiations where theyre not sending people. This big issues with major countries. We do not have ambassadors in place. I could give you many examples. Again, this is unheard of to have the top floor of the state department so unoccupied. You know, tillerson has complained he cant get people he wants confirmed. But hes not really moved in a big way on most of them. All right. Elizabeth, andrea, thank you both for coming on. Thank you for your reporting all day. In addition, as a member of our team, andrea mitchell, elizabeth bu miller, thanks. Coming up, a day after his awkward visit to puerto rico, the president headed west to las vegas with ran even more serious task ahead of him. The 11th hour back after this. Hi, im the internet you know whats difficult . Adulting. Hi, guys. Im back. Time to slay no,i have a long time girlfriend. You know whats easy . Building your website with godaddy. Get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. Build a better website in under an hour. Only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort your sleep number setting. Does your bed do that . And right now queen sleep number beds start at just 699. Save 200 during our fall sale. Ends soon. Many families tonight will go to bed in a world that is suddenly empty. The people they so dealer love were topper away from them forever. Our souls are string enwith grief for every american who lost a husband or a wife, a mother or a father, a son or a daughter. We know that your sorrow feels endless. We stand together to help you carry your pain. Youre not alone. We will never leave your side. That right there was one of the necessary set pieces of the job of president. President trump today with a very somber assignment following the worst mass shooting in modern american history. Speaking in front of las vegas first responders, the president honored a Police Officer killed in the shooting and recognized the heroism of those who risked their lives to save others. Todays prepared remarks a contrast from the president s trip to hurricane ravaged puerto rico just a day earlier when his interaction with residents and local leaders garnered a slew of negative headlines and coverage. The visit will be forever remembered by the visual so many found so disrespectful, throwing rolls of paper towels into the crowd in san juan. Lets talk about all of it. With us tonight, eugene robinson, jonathan la mere, and vif january so lamb a. Welcome to you all. Jonathan, you went there with nicolle at 4 00 p. M. On a day like this, after an event like that, people in our jobs ask each other did the president do what he had to do . And you say . Today, he did. Yesterday, not so much. Some of what got under the circumstances to that result happened well before too wide. The white house just handled this crisis differently than puerto rico. They were slow to respond. It took days for the devastation, the images of puerto rico to really filter through the white house. This was something right from the get go, john kelly as chief of staff preefd him as to what happened. Hes receiving peeredic briefings from kelly and tom bossert, Homeland Security adviser there at the white house. He did the right things on monday. He oversaw the moment of silence. He read from prepared remarks, many like he did today. And he seemed in control. In control and also lets remember in his comfort zone. He has deep ties to las vegas. Right. He has a hotel there. His name looms over the strip. He has told people around him that he knows that site. He can imagine where it was. He has no such connection to pr prp. He saw him today also praise law enforcement. Thats something that he reflexively always does, not just because they as he says voted him last year, but these are people he does hold in high regard. And we did not see that in nearly that respect in puerto rico. Instead we saw him to say paper towels into the crowd with a reasonable u jeem after victim blaming puerto rico after getting in a scrap, as jonathan says, with elected officials there, what do you think his problem is with puerto rico full of american taxpayers who volunteer for service in our military at disproportionately high levels . Well, you know, were talking about empathy, right, and he showed empathy today. He clearly put himself in the shoes of the people of las vegas. He felt their pain. Ep didnt seem to feel the pain of the people of puerto rico. Is it because its an island in the middle of the sea as he keeps reminding us or its a territory, not a state . Its a place hes not that familiar with. There are people who speak a different language, in addition to english and dont look like him. There are a lot of reasons why that might be the case, but it seemed to be the case for why he said such a jarringel inappropriate tone in puerto rico. But totally appropriate tone in las vegas. So, vivian, we learn more today about this now dead psycho path who shot and killed all these people. The coverage is so acheingly sad. For some of us we can hardly look at it. We fastforward to this national tragedy. And now the first glimmer of a conversation, certainly the debate started right up over gun control. And this is where the president finds himself next. Thats right. And yell there was so much discussion today was he somber, did he react differently to his reaction to puerto rico. You feel, out of a lot of tragedies comes opportunity for political change. We saw this debate after sandy hook, after charleston with president obama trying to push some new gun legislation, stricter gun laws in the country. And now its a little bit more of a sensitive issue with the republicans, but there is an opportunity for President Trump to go to lawmakers and say lets Work Together on this. Maybe not to restrict, you know, any Second Amendment rights because that is such a contentious issue, but at least to start with these bump stocks to really restrict the type of weapons or the type of modifications that people can make to weapons, which is something that we saw with the las vegas situation. And have some legislation passed basically to use this tragedy to bring people together and bring about a positive difference. And thats really where the ball is in his court at this point. A couple pieces of business. The panel will stay with us. Were going to get vivian a complimentary new microphone. Well take a break. Our conversation will continue right after this. No, im scheduling time to go to the bank to get a mortgage. Ugh, youre using a vacation day to go to the bank . I know, right . Just go to lendingtree dot com. Get up to five loan offers to compare side by side for free. Wow, thats great. Wait, how did you get in my kitchen . Oh, i followed a raccoon in through your doggie door. [gasps] get a Better Mortgage on your schedule. Not the banks. Lendingtree. When banks compete, you win. Just think of em as a big cat. With rabies. We are back with our panel. One of our top stories tonight that nbc news reporting Rex Tillerson rocky relationship with the president. As the Washington Post writes tonight, quote, trump has been piqued by rumors of disloyalty that have filtered up to him from the state department over at foggy bottom. Trump as chafd as what he sees as arrogance on the part of an employee. You dont usually get piqued and chafd in the same pair dpraf. Well done. As tillerson has traveled the globe trump believes his top diplomat often seems more concerned with what the world thinks of the United States than with tending to the president s personal image. Eugene robin sop, jonathan la mere, vivian sew lamb a. Eugene, youre the one here with a pugh litter, so you let this quote. Thanks to bill kristol for remembering this today. He was a blanket i blank stupid moron. He hate it when you called him a moron. All morons hate it when you call him a moron. That from kauch catcher in the rye. It seems to be. I mean, the thing about this whole story today, you know, what tillerson said or didnt say or didnt deny saying, thats one thing. But this image of the Vice President of the United States going to the man who occupancy an office, Thomas Jefferson occupied hey, pal, time to get on board. Exactly. And instructing him in essentially how to suck up to the president of the United States, because thats the way you stay on the team. Thats the way you stay in the administration. Thats the way you get anything done by the sort of flattering and the sort of and then the videotape appearance for an audience of one. Somebody on social media said it looked like a hostage tape. This level of object seekousness is something were not used to seeing in the United States of america. We see it in north korea. Will this define the rest of the tenure of tillerson and do you agree with the view expressed by Elizabeth Bumiller and others who were talking the end of 2017 gloo it certainly seems that way. I think you would be foolish that Rex Tillerson is going to be a longtermer in a trump cabinet. Now, we have seen cabinet members survive withering criticism from the president. Jeff sessions, hes gone after him harder than rex tiller. The secretary of state had to go up there to deliver a message to audience of one flying to las vegas. We talk about empathy. Lets remember, hes flying out there to console these victims of a mass murder, whats he tweeting approximate about . Fake news. And the Rex Tillerson story and trying to suggest that it never happened. There is a suggestion these two men have never really fully clicked. They didnt really have a relationship before the transi go. The has been bothered by a number of contributions that tillerson has felt like hes undermined him of the the president has felt like hes had to correct him in public about what he wants. And it would be unhoikel, i would say, that if tillerson it might not be next week, next month, but i dont think anybody thinks hes going to be around a long time. Our friend vivian is a former bag dad bureau chief. Shes lived and worked around the world. Vivian, having had the view of the u. S. From overseas that not everyone gets, what must it be like in field offices and embassies around the world seeing this from the secretary of state . Its extraordinary and its sort of emphasizes this notion that of our foreign allies and countries around the world do not have a partner in the United States, that they dont really know who to go to. Already we have so many seats in the state department that are unfilled because of budget cuts. And Rex Tillerson has generally played a hands off role in some of the day to day dealings of the state department. But really its so i mean, you have our diplomats around the world who are utterly flabbergasted by what theyre seeing. It shouldnt come as a surprise to everyone that diplomats believe in diplomacy. They have this situation where they have a secretary of state who has been very hands off on the day to day dealings and then you have a president that is contradicting so much of the work they do, even, you know, praising the russians for kicking out some of our dlim mats and a number of other series of events that have gone on sips the beginning of this organization. A lot of mixed messages and a lot of allies not knowing who to turn to at this point in time. Our thanks to three of our friends. Appreciate it tonight. Up next, our friend Charlie Sykes explains how the right lost its mind. Those are his words, in fact, the title of his new book. Were back after this. A few days ago i called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are. Some of the fake news said i dont think donald trump wants to build the wall. Fake news. Fake, fake news. Im changing it from fake news, though. Very fake news. Dont be rude. Dont be rude. No, im not going to give you a question. You are fake news. Im very honored by his comments much it was a fake news. It was a totally phoney storyment it was made up by nbc. It was just made up. Common refrain there from donald trump and now as president we saw on the Campaign Going after the institutions of american society. Judges, elected leaders, a free press. Its an atmosphere new to america and us americans. It has staggered the Democratic Party to be sure, while it has also staggered what we used to think of as the Republican Party, especially want once proud modern conservative movement that dates back to buckly and gold water and their like. As the dust was settling around all of us, our friend Charlie Sykes started writing and the result is his new book how the right lost its mind. Notice that hat. Anything about that hat look familiar . The work of a longtime conservative radio host and frequent guest on this broadcast, we welcome charlie back. Thank you. Good luck with this, first of all, its interesting reading. It is triage, i think, of what just happened, but it happened in slow motion. And it also wrierd a lot of people to acquiesce. Yes. And it was a painful book for me to write. I had to step back and say, okay, you know, what just happened to us . How did this happen . How did a movement that i thought i understood, how was it taken over by donald trump . How did it acquiesce in this . Why would it enable this . How did we move into this post factual era . Thats what i tried to break down. The betrayal of many of the thought leaders. Not all of the thought leaders, but the conservative media. And i was part of the conservative media. You have to ask tough questions about what role did we play. What role did we play moving from being an alternative voice to being a reality silo moving into this era in which apparently the right had lots its immunity to fake news. And now the nra is back in the news big time and the Republican Party is going to have an interesting time with gun control. Well, you know, one of the themes of the book, and i think over the last two years, has been the way that the Republican Party and the kebt movement have outsourced their thought leadership to the drunk at the end of the bar, the loudest voice at the end of the bar. And thats certainly true when it comes to gun control. I think most gun owners are responsible, safety oriented, want common sense solutions. But whats happened is the most extreme, most angry voices have been the ones that increasingly and shape the direction of the conservative movement. Already today we have news that could be another chapter. How are you going to roll with it, keep updating the book . Its moving toos. Well, youre talking about Rex Tillerson. Yeah. Look, here is the reality that people understood. And, you know, we went through this in really time recognized that donald trump was unfit to be president , that he did not have the temperament or the character or the judgment to be president. And this was remarkable for me as being part of the conservative movement to watch as people who understood this, you know, as the year went on, rational iced to themselves or rolled over or, you know, told themselves, okay, this is a binary choice. Were going to go along with this. He may be a textbook example of racism. He may be the last person on earth you want around the nuclear codes, but least hes not hick. And that was an Extraordinary Movement for news. I really thought i understood what the conservative movement was about and when i went back to write the back, i had to ask myself, so was this a hostile take over . Was this a black swan event . Was this a cleatel freak event or was the dysfunction a preexisting condition . And thats what i try to explore here because theres something deeply wrong in our culture and deeply wrong in our politics that donald trump would rise to the top and that at least one Major Political party is unable to stand up to him. It goes into religion. It goes into media. As it must. Asking all our friends to buy a great book by one of our great friends. How the right lost its mind. Written by a man who miraculously has kept his throughout this crazy political season. Our friend Charlie Sykes. Thank you, sir, very much for coming on. Thank you. Come up, a bit of good news for puerto rico tonight when the 11 owed hour comes. Larsz thing before with go here tonight has to do with the relief effort in puerto rico. Youve no doubt heard the stories and seen the pictures of shipping containers, the trailer portion of tractor trailers that have been delivered to the port of san juan, but for a number of reasons havent been delivered to those with the most need. One of the reasons mentioned, a shortage of truck drivers. And considering theres no way to contact them and considering many of them are huddled in the dark with their families and whats left of their homes, sure, you could call it a shortage of truck drivers. Well, thats where the teamsters come in. They are truck drivers, and today a number of them boarded a united flight from newark to san juan to go drive trucks and deliver supplies. Also on the flight, around 300 nurses and members of other trade unions, volunteers all along with 35,000 pounds of food and water and relief supplies on a triple seven. After dropping off all of them and all of that tonight, that aircraft will come back to the mainland full of evacuees. That is our broadcast for tonight