Question on so many minds tonight how could such tragedy unfold in a horse of worship. What were the signs . The 11th hour begins now. With the, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in north korea. Day 291 of the trump administration, and tonight finds the president on the other side of the world. Landing this hour in seoul, south korea, which will put him roughly 120 miles away from kim jongun, about 30 miles from the dmz border to the north, easily the most tense stop of his 12day asian trip. And back home the crush of russia related events is a huge preoccupation. As is the drum beat of record low numbers in terms of polling responses on what this president has done or not done in office thus far. A new cnn poll says 36 of americans approve of the job trump is doing as president. A new low for him in this poll. 58 disapprove. Its one of several polls out just these past few days showing record low numbers. Nbc news has him at 38. Pugh research 34. Fox news 38. And on the russia front the issue that will not go away, former Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate rick gates back in court today. The judge decided they need to stay on house arrest. He did make one exception for gates. Hes allowed to leave home tomorrow just for enough time to vote in the virginia gubernatorial election. Nbc news also has some new reporting on special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. The headline on this one reads mueller has enough evidence to bring charges in flynn investigation. Three sources say mueller is applying renewed pressure on flynn following the indictment on manafort. And as muellers investigation progresses incrementally, it can be easy to lose the forest for the trees. The Washington Post has put together a big picture look at where we stand to date, and its all under a headline that certainly gets your attention. At least nine people in trumps orbit had contact with russians during campaign and transition. This examines the contacts from done junior, jared kushner, trump attorney michael cone, George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, carter page, jeff sessions, Michael Flynn and the Campaign Foreign policy adviser j. D. Gordon. Here are just some of the ways trump allies have defended those individuals and those contacts. Paul manafort, who is a good man, also by the way, Paul Manafort was replaced long before the election took place. He was only there for a short period of time. Even general flynn was a volunteer of the campaign and then obviously theres been discussion of Paul Manafort, who played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time. Carter page is an individual who the president elect does not know and was put on notice months ago by the campaign. Im very disappointed in jeff sessions. You can fire him. I could. Well see what happens. But i was i pond a man to a position and then shortly after he gets the position, he recused himself. I said whats that all about . Why didnt you tell me that you were going to do that and i wouldnt have appointed you. As far as my son is concerned, my son is a wonderful young man. He took a meeting with a russian lawyer, not a government lawyer, bt a russian lawyer. It was a short meeting. It was a meeting that went very, very quickly, very fast. Mr. President , do you remember George Papadopoulos during that march meeting . I dont remember much about that meeting. It was a very unimportant meeting. Took place a long time dont remember much about it. With that lets bring in our leadoff panel on a monday night. Robert costa, Nbc News National Political reporter carol lee, who is one of the by line reporters on this new reporting about Robert Mueller and jeremy bash. Good evening. Welcome to you all. Carol, your piece, again, you were one of three by lines, deservedel got a lot of the attention this weekend. It was kind of a case you could see people shifting their focus almost a next man up kind of thing. Right. What are we comfortably reporting tonight about the status of the flynn investigation, which you point out certainly seems to be a classic squeeze play. Right. Thats exactly right. What we have been told by multiple sources that the special counsel has essentially gathered enough evidence to bring charges in the investigation into not just Michael Flynn but also his son, michael g. Flynn. Now, the significance of this, you know, is that this is the first, as we all know, Michael Flynn served in the white house, and this would be the first time this investigation is moving that close to somebody who had served inside the white house. The other key piece here is that we know that the special counsel is not just looking at things that you would expect like did Michael Flynn lie to the fbi, did he properly disclose his contacts with foreign officials, but also what he did while he was serving those 24 days inside the white house specifically as it relates to his dealings with turkey. And that opens up a whole other avenue that hasnt so much been zplord as some of these other things that we know Michael Flynn did, such as not registers as a Foreign Agent when the Justice Department said he was doing work that would have benefited a foreign government. So we dont know exactly where this is going to go. The reason why weve worded our story so carefully is because this could go in the direction of charges being brought. This could go in a direction of Michael Flynn and or his son deciding to cooperate with the information if theyre not already. But this is clearly a move by the special counsel in the wake of the Paul Manafort indictment to put a real tight squeeze on Michael Flynn. Carefully worded stories are good. Okay, jeremy bash, put on your lawyer hat. Lets say you are representing mr. Flynn, perhaps even mr. Flynn and his son. What are you thinking and what are you hoping tonight, incidentally, as we watch live Camp Humphreys as the president and secretary of state arrive there. Go ahead, jeremy. Yeah. I think the Flynn Legal Team has to be worried about three main claims. First, unrecommending sterd lobbying on behalf of the government of turkey. Secondly, potentially conspiring to deport or maybe even kidnap one of the turkish leaders enemies who is a resident of pennsylvania. This figure who mike flynn talked with some folks about trying to get him out of the country. And third, of course, lying to the fbi when he was National Security adviser and he was questioned importantly about his conversation with the Russian Ambassador after the Obama Administration put sanctions on russian for their meddling in the election. So they are facing jeopardy on a number of fronts. I think its important to distinguish, this is a guy, mike flynn who unlike manafort, mike flynn served in the highest levels of our military, the head of the Defense Intelligence agency, held the highest security clearance and during the president ial campaign he received Intelligence Briefings from the cia and from our Intelligence Community and so he had access to all that information while he was potentially conducting these illegal acts. Is this purely transactional as weve seen it on the tv shows. You give and you get and you up the antion your recollection of, you know, i can speak to this one conversation i had with the president and you hope that time gets taken off at the other end . I think theres an element of that, although i would remind folks that mike flynn is a very big fish. He was National Security adviser. Yep. Of the United States of america. So this is not just an effort to get someone up higher in the food chain. Hes pretty high up there. All right. Robert costa, what do you hear on all of it . Also, how the Trump White House and the trump circle are reacting to this. Following up on those comments, especially carols sharp reporting, we see this is a time of choice for general flynn as he faces this grand jury investigation. And no one inside of the white house and around President Trump, who im talking to is really aware of how this is all going to unfoldment and it has some people on edge to be sure, because they are weary of flynn. They know he may be in a tough financial situation personally. Does he become someone who in their description flips and starts to really talk to the special counsel about all elements of not only the Trump Campaign but President Trumps orbit of network and associates and the Foreign Policy front. And robert, you go back a bit with donald trump and this campaign. The axe i dont mean at the time in the early days was all the best people were gone. They were spoken for. They were hired. So a lot of the outer rings of the Foreign Policy intelligencea werent there. Is that when the kind of russian cracks and fiz urs started appearing and this started seeping into the trump circle . Thats exactly right, brian. I remember if the spring of 2016 i went to the trump hotel, still unfinished trump hotel in washington with my colleague bob woodward at the Washington Post to interview then candidate trump and we encountered one of these Foreign Policy meetings. All these different figures, sam clovis and others around the table meeting with the candidate in kind of a ram shod way. It wasnt a formal meeting that you would expect out of a president ial campaign and people like carter page and sam clovis were not part of that beating heart of the Foreign Policy establishment in washington. Thats not any excuse. This is a major president ial campaign. At the same time it was evident to me as a reporter that these were people who were operating on their own islands, sometimes in coordination with the campaign, sometimes on their own, and they were not the people youd really find as a reporter on Foreign Policy in washington. Yeah. I just think people forget the genesis of that and how kind of unstructured this campaign always was. Carol lee, i dont want you to engage in ramp ant speculation, tempered by knowing you wont anyway, but what else can you gather from even the publicly available moves youve witnessed from the mueller team. In addition, what you may have gathered and been told about where they are . Well, i think what youve seen is a very method cal, calculated investigation where, you know, if you look at it from going to the outer circle into closing in on the bigger, bigger fish, thats how this feels that like its going. I also think that this this idea that the trump that mike flynn may have done something while serving as this president s National Security adviser is a very significant development. And specifically, you know, that the special counsel is looking into whether he made moves in regards to turkey with the expectation that he might receive millions of dollars on the other end of that if he were to be successful. This is something thats clearly this investigation as a whole is starting to take a toll on the president. Polls are starting to show that and thats only going to get worse for him. This Washington Post piece that mentions the nine people that have been gotten to around trumps orbit. Youve got some consistency here in tell us of russian trade craft. The general pattern of russians appearing to try to find soft spots, to find the soft under belly of the campaign to make contact. After 30 years running and managing russia operations. So no rookie. Quote, i just think there is way too much smoke out there for there to be absolutely no fire. Do you concur to that based on all that you know, jeremy . Yeah. If you look at the situation with papadopoulos, he clearly met in london with someone who looks like a cut out or hand her for russian intelligence. And also tonight we got the fist glimpse at the testimony of carter page, who testified last week in front of the House Intelligence Committee. The transcript was relead tonight. He details all of the russians he has met with and interacted with from a business perspective over many years. Its clear that russian government officials and intelligence were all over carter page. They may even have sent him to the Trump Campaign. He may have been unwitting that they were trying to use him to get inside that campaign. Weve got the president overseas. Weve got this russia preoccupation and then we have 535 individuals in the building behind you underneath that dome, elected representatives of the government. What are they doing and what are they thinking right about now about the trump circle, their ability to work with them and get anything out of this effort . Theres a lot of action, actually, brian. And theres a lot of silence. And what i mean by that is when we look at what the House Intelligence Committee is doing, interviewing carter page, releasing the transcript today, youre seeing these congressional investigations, which have been pretty slow over the last few months, start to pick up speed and provide new information on this national skpugs investigation. At the same time the republicans control both the senate and the house. And when im talking to lawmakers up there, they dont want to talk about russia or President Trumps conductor anything about the campaign. They want to talk about the proposal on taxes. Well see how long the republicans in power will be able to avoid having this be at the forefront. Journalism gets no fresher than this. Our great thanks to you. Up next, will the president change his language toward little rocket man now that theyll be only about 120 miles apart . Well cover the south korea leg of the president s trip, Getting Started as we mentioned, at this hour on the pacific rim as the 11th is just Getting Started on a monday night. Building a website in under an hour is easy with gocentral. From godaddy in fact, 68 of people who have built their. Website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too. Build a better website in under an hour. With gocentral from godaddy. Pressure relieving comfort, and our 90day, complete satisfaction trial, will make tossing and turning a thing of the past. Plus, during our veterans day savings event, save up to 500 on select Adjustable Mattress sets. Find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic. Com. 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. Rocket man should have been handled a long time ago. This shouldnt be handled now, but im going to handle it because we have to hamds it. Rocket man is on a Suicide Mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. The era of strategy patience is over. Some people said that my rhetoric is very strong, but look whats happened with very weak rhetoric over the last 25 years. Some of the president s rhetoric on north korea and its leader and the threat that the north poses to all nations within its reach. Starting tonight this trip the president is on will put him about 30 miles south of the dmz with north korea, give or take, and we will get to see if proximity has an effect on language. We have a First Class Panel to talk about the Korean Peninsula tonight. Steve submit is with us. And the mccain president ial campaign and a devoted student of u. S. History. Sue my terry is senior fellow of the korea chair at the center for strategic and international studies. A former senior Senior Analyst ke cia. Bob kerry is with us former u. S. Senator from neck. Former governor, a member of the 9 11 commission, former navy seal who was one of the 73 living recipients of the medal of honor. And we welcome our panel. We want to get a report from the traveling white house. Jonathan la mere is in seoul, south korea to cover the president s visit and set the scene for us after what im told is about a three second satellite delay. So jonathan, lay out the stakes for the president s arrival. Hi, brian. Its tuesday afternoon here in seoul. The president as you say has just touched down here in south korea, where hes greeted with a lot of uncertainty. There are a number of questions facing him. Three in particular. First, what sort of relationship does he have with the south korean president , president moon . We just saw two days in japan where it was almost a buddy movie with Prime Minister abe this. They ate meals together, they golfed together. They even had custom made hats together. He has no such close ties with this president. Theyve only met once. And they have very different views in some ways, you know, president moon perhaps not as hawkish as to what to do with north korea as President Trump. A second issue, of course, is the rhetoric as you mentioned. Fire and fury, little rocket man. Does President Trump say those things here just 40 miles or so from the dmz . What does the south Korean Response to those things . Does he use that rhetoric. And thirdly, perhaps most importantly, what is the North Koreans response to that rhetoric . It is certainly their custom and in major events here in asia that they often time their missile tests to a landmark, whether in china or somewhere else, something involve the u. S. Will President Trumps presence here in south korea prompt them to next their muscles . That was a good reminder. And thank you for that preview. Jonathan la mere, who just happens to be for the purposes of tonights broadcast our correspondent on the scene in seoul, south korea awaiting the president s arrival in seoul. Proper from the military base. Thank you. We turn to our committees and sue my terry, this is what i want to hear the language you believe the president should use and the language were you counseling him as amen of the president day nsc and white house staff, the language he should strive to avoid . Well, language he should avoid is about, you know, saying hes going to totally destroy north korea. I think that kind of language is absolutely unnecessary. He should focus on reaffirming the alliance with south korea, showing that we are committed to the security of south korea. South koreans are very anxious about trumps potential military option, using military option against north korea. South koreans are also anxious that their security doesnt matter to President Trump. Because if you remember senator Lindsey Graham said once that mr. President trump told him that if thousands are going to die, theyre going to die over there. This kind of language is very you know, South Koreans are obviously they dont like this kind of language and theyre kind that the u. S. South Korea Alliance support as strong as before. The u. S. Does not care about their security as before. So i think we need to reaffirm our alliance and show that their security, South Koreans security is absolute from our perspective. Senator kerry, what are you hoping for to come out of this . Well, i hope the president understands that when he says weve done nothing, weve had a weak policy over the past 25 years, that simply is not true. People have worked decades. Weve had an arm stis in place since 1953. And a very strong Deterrent Force against north korea. And its worked. And if you want to provoke them to take a per emt other attack against us, the president is actually following that course of action. So hes actually taking a much weaker course, my personal opinion is it made it even worse by throwing out the Transpacific Partnership, which put us in a very strong position in asia. Hes going to go to china as well, and hes going to find china in a much vonger response as a consequence of us baling out of the Transpacific Partnership because all the asian nations now are saying we cant count on the United States, particularly when it comes to the economy, and so theyre going to go to china. Steve smith is coming on later in the broadcast to talk about plings, but i asked him to be part of this discussion because, steve, we saw this letter from the pentagon this week. The two members of congress who were asking a question the pentagon says to totally rule out all of the norths Nuclear Facilities would require a Ground Invasion of north korea. And you alone for a long time have been saying to people if you want to talk tough about north korea, all this what it will need to be called, the second korean war. Yeah. The second korean war is a frightening prospect and weve not talked openly and honestly about it. There are casualty estimates that range as high as a million on the first day of war. We have 250,000 fend ents in south korea around seoul. Weve seen the competency of the government of the United States with regard to delivering potable dlinging water to the island of puerto rico, which is much closer to home. And you look at the size of the marine corps today. It can fit inside the university of Michigan Football stadium in its sboirt. The u. S. Army is down to its smallest size since 1940. I think theres a real question when you look at the totality of the active duty components of the u. S. Military, throw in all the National Guard and reserve, whether we have enough force to take to occupy, to disarm north korea. One thing is for certain. Youll see more american casualties in the first five minutes of a second korean war than weve seen in the last 17 years in the wars in iraq and afghanistan. What weve seen from this administration is not a lot of thoughtfulness, not a lot of commitment to diplomacy, but a lot of blustering, a lot of loose talk and a lot of loose talk about Nuclear Weapons that could have profoundly tragic consequences, not just for the United States but for the whole of southeast asia. Senator kerry, on whaf of 50,000 americans in japan, the 28,000 in south korea, talk is one thing. Its quite different when you talk about an actual land war. Well, yeah, absolutely. I mean, i think steve is right. The casualty rates would be enormous. But i again repeat, brian, weve had a very strong deterrent action against north korea since 1953 and it has worked. So when the president says we havent done anything, god, im here now, were going to handle this, hes just wrong. Hes making it worse. Theres no need to provoke north korea. Necessity, their nuclear are a threat. Yes, their rockets are ai threat. But we have a very strong did he terpt force. But if you want a land war on the Korean Peninsula, i think steve is absolutely right. It will substantially nipish our capability across the world. And unacceptable casualties. Do you think we have a back channel open . Do you think were talking to somebody through somebody . Probably. Certainly not a sign of weakness, you know. No. It oftentimes is seen and suggested as a weakness, but i dont think its a sign of weakness at all. Again, ill receipt pete it. Weve got a very capable, Deterrent Force against north korea. Theres no reason for us to suggest somehow that were not doing anything. Were doing a lot. And if you provoke it and make it worse, you could certainly get the North Koreans to do something we wish they wobt do which is to launch a preempt to her attack against the south which would be a disaster for them and us. You get the last word. What is the best Case Scenario where youre concerned . Well, that trump leaves south korea with reaffirming alliance and washington needs to get on same problem. North korea problem is already difficult enough. We cannot have a divided capital. Seoul and washington need to get on the same page. And President Trump needs to get president moon on board whatever the next steps that hes going to purview. Consider this a viewers guide as the president is only in his first hour on the ground in south korea. Our thanks to steve submit, sue mi terry, to senator bob kerry. And msnbc for preveeg this trip. Thanks to you all. Were the signs already there that this was somehow coming in an fbi veteran is with us to take us inside the investigation into this Church Massacre in texas. That and more when we come back. Accused of obstructing justice to theat the fbinuclear war, and of violating the constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down news organizations that report the truth. If that isnt a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president , then what has our government become . Im tom steyer, and like you, im a citizen who knows its up to us to do something. Its why im funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. A Republican Congress once impeached a president for far less. Yet today people in congress and his own administration know that this president is a clear and present danger whos mentally unstable and armed with Nuclear Weapons. And they do nothing. Join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing whats political and start doing whats right. Our country depends on it. I think that Mental Health is your problem here. This was a very, based on preliminary reports, very deranged individual. A lot of problems over a long period of time. We have a lot of Mental Health problems in our country, as do our countries. But this isnt a guns situation. I mean, we could go into it, but its a little bit soon to go into it. President trump in japan last night reacting to this Texas Church Shooting that killed 26 people, wounded 20 more. Weve learned a lot more about this gunman in this case, including the fact that he died of a selfinflicted sun shot wound to the head. 26yearold devin kelley was emotionally disturbed. He was court mashld out of the air force on two charges of assault. He was convicted of fracturing the skull of his infant stepson. And of assaulting his wife. He spent a year in military prison. He was bumped down a rank, discharged on bad conduct. His wife divorced him. Two former girlfriends said he stalked them. He had an arrest record for animal cruelty for abusing a dog. He has managed to purchase guns at regular intervals over the past several years, despite a conviction on his record. And as one official connected to the investigation said today, he shouldnt have been anywhere near a gun. Tonight the u. S. Air force is being blamed for not entering his criminal record into the National Database. Tonight the fbi field agent in charge of the case addressed the handling of this dead gunmans records. I know theres a lot of questions about the fbi n ci c system and how did the person get the weapons. I can tell you that for the four purchases he made, the n ci c system did their required checks and there was no prohibitive information in the systems that we checked that said that he could not have purchased that firearm. In light of that we are fortunate to be joined tonight by a veteran investigator, shawn henry. Hey, shawn, you and i both know there are about a hundred people in texas today and tonight Walking Around saying some version of i knew this guy was going to go some day. I knew this guy in the plain english was crazy. How many people have to miss how many signs for this horror we witnessed yesterday to happen . You know, brian, when you talk about the n ci c system for the National Database that the fbi oversees to check these records, that database is critically important, but its only as good as the data thats entered into it. And there was some administrative issue, somebody failed to enter, there was some backlog, perhaps, i mean, that contributes to what occurred here. But this comes down to your point, that there were a lot of people who knew him, exgirlfriends, family members, people around the courthouse. And one of the big issues in these types of investigations is for Law Enforcement to be apprised so they can take action. They cant take action if they dont know it and the Community Needs to come forward when they see something. Theyve got to advise and alert Law Enforcement. Id add that in many cases ive been involved in cases where Law Enforcement has been apprised, but the person hasnt done anything to actually cross a line. Theyve not gone over the threshold. They may have walked right up to it and Law Enforcement hands are tied. Thats troubling oftentimes, and there may have to be some legislative issues entered in order to ensure that those who have access to weapons are held to a higher standard, brian. I just mentioned some of what we learned about him today. What strikes you from what weve found out about him so far . Well, certainly the sort martial. Youve got multiple counts of domestic abuse, including against a minor, a young child. Youve got the incident where he abused animals. I mean, these are clear signs of somebody who has got some violent tendencies or some emotional issues and certainly the type of thing that should be caught by Law Enforcement if hes entered into the National Database. But without access to that type of information, they really are tied, Law Enforcement, from actually preventing that type of attack, brian. So if you were in charge of this, if you were running the field office, whats yet to be learned about a dead guy that could help in any way put something together . You know, i think the fbi this is being run by the local authorities there. The fbi is assisting in this investigation. But i think now theres lessons learned. Who was he connected to . Who did see the type of activity that were describing here that might have alerted them . Where did something slip through the cracks . What are the best practices that we can learn from here. But brian, you know, this is a national crisis. We have 11,000 people that are murdered with handguns every single year and while we have this incredible tragedy yesterday, there were 30 people that were killed by guns today and there will be 30 more murdered tomorrow and 30 more murdered on wednesday. If i were to tell you that 200 americans were going to be murdered by isis next month, of course everybody would be up in arms and it would be all hands on deck. Yet thats what were seeing on a monthly basis here in this country. So i think we really need to come together. There need to be a lot more actions taken in order to address this crisis. Im a believer in the second amendment. I own weapons. But weve got to find ways to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and people who have Mental Health issues. Weve got to do that and ensure that lawabiding citizens have access, but were able to stop that, brian. Important note to end on from a Law Enforcement veteran. Always a pleasure. Thank you so much for being here with us. Brief break for us. Our broadcast continues on the other side. My business was going nowhere. So i built this kickin new website with godaddy. Building a website in under an hour is easy 68 of people. Who have built their website using gocentral, did it in. Under an hour, and you can too. Type in your business or idea. Pick your favourite design. Personalize it with beautiful images. And. Youre done and now business is booming. Harriet, its a double stitch not a cross stitch build a better website in under an hour. Free to try. No credit card required. Gocentral from godaddy. I do hundreds of deals. I deals deals come out of my ears and theyre good deals. Most of them are phenomenal deals. Were going to keep our nation safe from a thing called terrorism. A great healthcare system, a system that you deserve. Thats what were going to be doing. And thats one of many things. A lot of promises, not a lot of follow through in the eyes at least of the american voter. A new Washington Post abc news poll shows while donald trump started his presidency with big plans, big prolsz, his support is breaking down on some big issues. When asked about his ability to deal with terrorism, 43 took a positive outlet. On his handling of the economy, 44 think hes doing a good job. On his ability to improve healthcare system, hes at 26 . Thats down to one in four americans. And 18 point loss on that category from january skpchlt what may be the most upsetting to the author of the art of the deal, 58 do not believe trump is good at making political deals. With us tonight, heather mcgee. Also with us our political analyst steve submit, as we mentioned a veteran of the Bush White House and the mccain campaign. Welcome to you both. So heather, im going to throw a bul kind of looping change up thats going to come in right over the plate and ask you what do you do with or about all those numbers . Well, im really focused on the question of accountability right now. While all of this political back and forth is going on, the American People are suffering. The country is losing its standing in the world. And there is an investigation going on with indictments being handed down. And one of the things thats been very clear to us from the beginning when we understood that this person was walking into the white house without a lot of Popular Support with a potentially tainted election was that whether or not he had Strong Political standing was, unfortunately, going to be the difference between whether or not republicans were able to put country ahead of party and potentially follow where any investigation was going. Whether they would be able to really recognize that unpopular things like a Health Care Reveal that only had 20 something of the American Public supporting it or this tax reform bill that also has only 20 of the American People supporting it. How far are they willing to go to protect a potentially corrupt administration and to push pieces of legislation through that arent popular. The more we see these numbers coming down, i hope that we see some backbone starting to be inserted into the republican members of congress who frankly are the only thing that we have right now until the next election to put our hope with. Okay. As a classic republican, lets call it that, for all of your life, how do republicans govern with these numbers . Do you know that ryan and mcconnell have a secret path just kind of around the president running toward daylight, real leadership, real consequences and a terrific list of achievements for the American People through congress . Well, you cant govern with numbers like this. And in fact, republicans are not governing. Havent been for some time. Youve seen the complete and total collapse intellectually of any rig or around the policymaking process inside republican washington. And you really you unpack these numbers, its Pretty Simple to understand what the American People are saying. Theyre saying that this president of the United States is dishonest. Hes incompetent. Hes corrupt. Hes divisive. And they dont like him very much. And when you see these numbers, its incredible to see the fidelity that republican members of congress have towards this president , whether its his attacking the wid oi of a fallen gray beret, the hundred other out rages or degradations hes brought to the office of the presidency of the United States. Your typical men of the Republican Congress looks at him with the same moony eyes that the con gre gats of the peoples temple used to look at jim jones with. Its quite remarkable. Heather, i have to ask you about the democrats. We have to keep this fair. Yeah. So ive heard it described a couple of ways. Ive heard the democrats described as they lost all four tires. Theyre on the side of the road. They just get the jack up on the rear end. Donna brazile came and knocked the jack out from under the carr. What is going on in the Democratic Party which as much as much as donald trump is relitigating the 2016 election . So i think its fair. I think Donna Brazile is playing a small roles, but i think in some ways its a proxy thats going on for the heart and the soul of the Democratic Party. And i think in many ways its understandable. Were at a moment of massive political realign am. Record inhe quality, record discontent with the political elite because half of American Families couldnt pay a 4 hundreds bill without going into debtor selling something. We have at this moment in the Democratic Party a question about how populist were going to be. The clintons in the 1990s had a very successful movement to bring the Democratic Party over to the right on Economic Issues while remaining progressive on social issues. And right now at a moment of record economic inequality, there is a lot of tension about where the Democratic Party is going to go. I think, frankly, that in many ways this fight has already been won. The warren wing of the party, a party that says we are for a multiracial, inclusive populism is the party thats going to win the day. But, you know, there are some, you know, candidates, you know, all across the country that still dont have the kind of bold visionary, i think, vision, bold and visionary, ambitious vision about what government can do to help right the ship of the American Economy and of our, frankly, of our democratic fabric. And so youre going to see some resistance to candidates like that. Steve submit, you get the last word. In 45 seconds or less, are republicans enjoying perverseel because this is politics, after all, the sight of the aforementioned circular firing squad on the other side of the aisle . Well, they may be, but it certainly has this strategic effect. Look, when you look at some of these polling numbers, one of the interesting findings, despite donald trump being as weak as any president has ever been in the history of polling this soon into his term, he still basically in a tie race when you pose the question against donald trump versus Hillary Clinton in a rematch. And so, you know, i do think that inside the Democratic Party, eric or saet, the mayor of los angeles, mitch landrieu, far away from washington, d. C. Appearing together, it may well be that were going to see an ideological fight inside the Democratic Party but i also think were going to see a couple of insider candidates running against washington, d. C. And they may come out of the mayoral ranks. Not just ideology. Id love to have that discussion, especially discuss those two namesment were just Getting Started. However, weve run out of time for this opportunity. Im saying were going to have our two guests back to have that conversation. Our great thanks. Thank you both for being here. Another break for us. Coming up, a power play across the globe praised tonight by the american president when we continue. I love you, couch. You give us comfort. And we give you bare feet, backsweat, and gordos. Everything. I love you, but sometimes you stink. Soft surfaces trap odors. Febreze fabric refresher cleans them away for good. Because the things you love the most can stink. And plug in febreze to keep your whole room fresh for up to 45 days. Breathe happy with febreze. We are the driven. The dedicated. The overachievers. We know our best investment is in ourselves. We dont take no for an answer. We fight for what we want. Even for the things that were once a given. Going to college. Buying a home. And not being in debt for it for the rest of our lives. But were only as strong as our community. Who inspires and pushes us to go further than we could ever go alone. Sofi. Get there sooner. There is a big story unfolding tonight halfway around the world where something between a purge and a kind of organized coup is in progress in saudi arabia. This started over the weekend with reports that sawedy princes, government officials and business chefs, 49 men in all have been taken away and detained. Adding to the upheaval, saudi arabia is threatening iran on the military front and suddenly a long stable u. S. Ally is undergoing a sweeping and unsettling change. We are joined tonight by a man with extensive experience in the military, especially among the allied barry mccalf friday. How big a move is this . Its monumental. Saudi arabia, notwithstanding its many problems, has been an island of stability and wealth, tremendously advanced technology in armed forces for a decade now theyve essentially been at peace with israel and theyve been confronting what they saw as the major threat, the ian shia threat across the persianian gulf. Now this is up in the air. The crown prince has almost emerged. Hes now grabbed control of the armed forces, the National Guard and the interior ministry and ar amoco and hes locked up a lot of the competing royal family members and this who ive met before, one of the world famous investors. So, you know, hes a man in a hurry. Hes age 32. His father, the kipg, is 81. He thinks hes got to get ahead of the power curve and have vision 2030 in place before the king dies. But hes ended up in war with the yemen i didnt see, confrontation with qatar. Hes now threatening war with iran. Hes actually somewhat threatening war with lebanon. So its a very fractured, unstable situation. People may have read that he is a cultural reformer, that he wants them to enter the new era, the modern era. But that kind of clieds with other parts of the portrait of him. 32 years old . Well, you know, i think weve got to remind ourselves at age 32, 70 of their population is under the age of 30. And hes got a following among the young people of saudi arabia. And hes made dramatic measures to curb the power, the intrusiveness of the religious police, who have always been sort of an arm of the government. And hes trying to move women out of the 18th century and into the committee and into some form of public life. So there is room to argue that if he pulls this off, saudi arabia will be immensely better in the coming 25 years. But for now most of his initiatives have not worked. General, in 30 seconds or less, how will you know . What indicator are you looking for . Well, i think all of us ought to be extremely concerned that saudi arabia remains not only just a huge source of energy in the worlds supply system, and by the way, the price of a barrel of oil went up 57 today. So weve got to be concerned. Our interests are at risk. The sawed i didnt see have been allies. Weve got to stay with them. All right. General barry mccalf friday on the subject of saudi arabia. General, thank you so much. As always for being on with us. Which brings us to the end and the last thing before we go tonight is about something the president said. It so often comes down to something the president said and this particular comment was in japan this weekend directed at japanese automakers. Here is the quote. I also want to recognize the Business Leaders in the whom whose confidence in the United States, theyve been creating jobs. You have such confidence in the United States and youve been creating jobs for our country for a long, long time. Several japanese Automobile Industry firms have been really doing a good job. And we love it when you build cars. If youre a japanese firm, we love it. Try building your cars in the United States. Instead of shipping them over. Is that possible to ask . Thats not rude. Is that rude . I dont think so. Now, to be fair, you heard there were other comments before and there are some after that praising the japanese as job creators in the u. S. , but a lot of people rushed in to correct and school the president on automotive history. Japanese automakers operate 24 plants and 43 r d facilities in 20 of our states. They average 4 million cars a year. They are huge u. S. Employers. Toyota for one exportsz the cars they make in america all over the world. The whole thing was a big deal back when so much of the car business moved here from japan in the 80s. Japanese trucks made in america. These men are called technicians, not Assembly Line workers at this brandnew nissan brandt in smir that, tennessee. The plant sits on 1,300 acres of what used to be rolling bluegrass. Workers inside produce as many as 280,000 toyota cam riz a year. It was dedication time for hondas first u. S. Auto manufacturing plant. One million square feet of it. The newest in technology with the capacity to turn out 150,000 cars a year. So you see, thats how it got started. And even though car industry types believe the president had his automotive history wrong this weekend and some of them said so, aaron blake of the Washington Post defended the president s comments in context and something of a newsletter to his cohorts in the media. The headline screamed stop cherry picking that trump quote about japanese cars. Its not what you think. Noted. That is our broadcast for tonight. Thank you for being here with us. My thanks to ali velshi and Nicolle Wallace for covering for me while i was on sick leave. Tomorrow night our broadcast will include the election returns from the commonwealth of virginia. For now for all of us here, good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. Tonight on all in Michael Flynn, general flynn is a wonderful man. I think he has been treated very, very unfairly by the media. An nbc news exclusive. Robert mueller has enough evidence to bring charges in the flynn investigation. Tonight the latest on flynn, flynn jr. , trump jr. , and Paul Manafort. I feel badly for him, because i always found him to be a really nice person. Then, what were learning from the transcripts of carter pages marathon testimony to house intel. Im not going to deny that i talked with them. And senator Kirsten Gillibrand on the face of politics in gun violence thinking isnt a guns situation. When all in starts right now