Sexual misconduct claims against him completely false. And were live in vietnam as President Trump is half a world away from the problems back home in washington. The 11th hour on a friday night begins now. And good evening once again from the nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 295 of the Trump Administration, and tonight it is now clear that the attention of Robert Mueller is, for the time being at least, bearing down on mike flynn, the retired u. S. Army general who was one of the stalwarts of the Trump Campaign effort and who served as National Security adviser for 24 days in the west wing. Nbc news reports today mueller is investigating a possible deal between senior turkish officials and flynn during the president ial transition. This report says in part, quote, four people familiar with the investigation said mueller is looking into whether flynn discussed orchestrating the return to turkey of a chief rival of turkish president erdogan who lives in the u. S. Flynn was offered upwards of 15 million to be paid directly or indirectly if he could complete the deal according to two sources familiar with the meeting. Flynns lawyers released a statement about the story saying, quote, we have intentionally avoided responding to every rumor or allegation raised in the media, but todays news cycle has brought allegations about general flynn, ranging from kidnapping to bribery that are so outrageous and prejudicial that we are making an exception to our usual rule. They are false. Flynn, you recall, among trumps earliest campaign supporters, he served on the Transition Team before following the new president in the white house. Former acting attorney general sally yates over at justice testified that six days after trump took the oath of office, she warned the white house flynn was compromised with the russians. She also testified that Vice President mike pence had unknowingly made false statements about flynns conversations with the russians. And an Administration Official said pence was relaying what flynn told him. 18 days after yates warning, trump fired flynn. Heres how he explained why he did it. Reporter did you fire mike flynn . Mike flynn is a fine person. And i asked for his resignation. He respectfully gave it. He is a man who, there was a certain amount of information given to Vice President pence who is with us today, and i was not happy with the way that information was given. Reporter did you direct mike flynn to discuss sanctions with the Russian Ambassador prior to your inauguration . No, i didnt. Reporter and would you have fired him if the information hadnt leaked out . No, i fired him because of what he said to mike pence, very simple. Mike was doing his job, he was calling countries and his counterparts. We ultimately fired him but for different reason. Reporter youre talking about general flynn, because of lying to the Vice President. Yeah, but everything plays into it. But we fired him because he said something to the Vice President that was not so. Lets bring in our starting we, National Political reporter julia ainsley, one of the authors of the flynn report we quoted. More on that in a moment. Politico White House Reporter matthew nussbaum, and here in new york, jennifer rogers, former attorney for the Southern District of new york. Julia, you get to go first, because of the panelists you made the news today. Tell us this story as best you can for a lay audience, including how in the name it also includes the pocanos and pennsylvania . Thats a good question and ill break that down for you as simply as i can. Basically, we know Robert Mueller is looking into whether or not Michael Flynn and his associates met in a december 2016 meeting at the 21 club in new york. That is an upscale restaurant just blocks away from the trump tower where flynn was serving on the president ial Transition Team. We understand from sources who are familiar with this meeting that they allegedly talked about a 15 million bribe that they would try to give flynn once he was National Security adviser if he could see that gulen was removed from the United States. Gulen is a turkish president to erdogan living in the pocanos. In order to remove him, that could have been through a kidnapping operation or through extradition. We also know that the fbi had reupped their investigation, they were asked to reup the investigation into gulen at the beginning of the Trump Administration when flynn was National Security adviser. This was after they dismissed this investigation under obama. So we are looking at a number of pieces, but what mueller is trying to drill down on here is whether or not Michael Flynn, trumps first National Security adviser was exploited to use his position in the u. S. Government in order to serve the interest of another country. That country being turkey. And julia, isnt it true that we also know about this meeting and the turkish angle because a certain former cia director came in and thought it didnt look or sound right to him and he has since told that story . So the former cia director woolsey is referring to a september meeting before the election when the turkish flynn about using his position just within his own lobbying firm, the flynn intel group, and trying to orchestrate a forcible removal, possibly a kidnapping of gulen. This meeting that we know about now actually happened during the transition when flynn knew he would be becoming National Security adviser later. It may have involved a more legal route, such as an extradition. Of course, it is not normal, not appropriate route for an extradition request to come from the white house. Its supposed to come through diplomatic channels in the Justice Department. So counselor, this comes down to you, someone said on social media today that if there could be anything funny taken out of this, this could be the plot from a Cohen Brothers movie with general flynn driving around the pocanos looking for the old guy to send out of the country. As a former prosecutor, what alarm bells go off in your head . Well, its not good for flynn no matter how you slice it. If hes talking about taking money to try to orchestrate a return of gulen to turkey through official channels, then youre talking serious bribery offenses. Youre not allowed to do that except your salary. If youre trying for him to conduct a legal operation, youre orchestrating a kidnapping that crosses international lines. So either way you look at it, hes talking about committing a very serious crime if these allegations are proven to be true. Matthew, how does this continue to haunt the administration that after all continues, even though the traveling white house right now is on the other side of the world . In some ways it is convenient that they are overseas while this news drops, but Sarah Sanders will have to confront this when they get back. It is hard to overstate how serious this is. Obviously, the Manafort Indictment was serious for this white house, but that was someone who left the campaign in august. Mike flynn is someone who was with the campaign through the end, prominent on the transition and served in this white house over the warnings of people like president obama, who told President Trump not to hire him. And you have to remember, it was Michael Flynn who donald trump was defending to james comey and said, hey, cant we find a way to let this go . He went on later to fire james comey, which led to bob mueller getting here in the first place. This flynn case is very, very serious for the white house. Even more serious than the manafort case. Matthew, lets go a little deeper on that, because this is more than just a news media distinction. Flynn does put it closer to the oval office of a sitting president than anyone else. People may have seen splashy headlines about Paul Manafort and others, but this would put it in a different category. Thats right. At the end of the day, as important as Paul Manafort was in this campaign, he was the campaign chairman. He was helping to lead a political campaign. What were seeing with flynn with these allegations is possibly using his government office, his position as the National Security adviser to basically do deeds on behalf of a foreign government. Its a question of who in the white house knew about this. We know that flynn allegedly misled the Vice President. But having this so close to the oval office, and then again, having the president himself ask the fbi director to back away from this investigation, that raises so many red flags. And obviously bob mueller is digging into that. Julia, assisting the prosecution as often is the case, there is a grand jury sitting in washington, d. C. , youve learned further about their schedule of late, what can you report about that . Yes, thats right, brian. So we know that the grand jury thats been impanelled by Robert Mueller is interviewing witnesses about flynns lobbying activities through the end of next week. Thats important because a lot of people have been waiting for a flynn indictment for some time. Since the Manafort Indictment, we have thought flynn would be the next shoe to drop. We know that mueller is continuing these interviews, which shows us two things. One, that he really wants to drill deep and get as much information on flynn as he possibly can. And it also shows that flynn perhaps could be cooperating. And thats why this timeline has been extended. Counselor, i want to hear you out on a piece in Time Magazine written by the former assistant director of Counter Intelligence for mueller while at the fbi, robert anderson. The headline is how Robert Mueller works a case. And heres a quote from it in part, when you talk about people who are used to spending nearly 1 million in three years on business suits out of a place in cyprus, these guys are not going to do 25 years in jail. Thats why bob muellers going about this the way that he is. He knows these guys are not seasoned criminals. And he knows theyre going to roll over on each other. Mark my words, it will start becoming a race to the special counsels office. I also heard someone today refer to mueller as an acupuncturist for the precision with which they have gone about the case so far. Your reaction. Well, thats the idea, clearly. That was the point, i think, behind the substance in the Manafort Indictment was to get them to cooperate. And similarly here, they have charges to bring on flynn already, but the registration, the foreign agents registration is may not be enough to get him to flip. So you bring, potential will i if you can, these charges that are significantly more serious. And flynn already unlike manafort has indicated an interest in getting immunity and perhaps cooperating. So i think they think if they can get a serious enough offense against flynn, hes definitely flipping. Do you concur with what seems to be the present attitude, we know between 1 and 10 of what is going on . For all our fancy reporting and all the talking we devote to this, mueller runs a very tight ship. I think thats right. And thats the way it should be, honestly. These are confidential investigations going on. And until they bring actions that are meant to be public, i agree they should stay considerable, despite the great work of the news media. But i think we have a lot to learn still. And hopefully they will be able to do their work and well find it out when its time. Matt, lets just delve briefly into the trump agenda. While all this is going on, were hearing a lot about tax cuts and tax reform and soon the traveling circus is going to come back to town and were going to be all about capitol hill once again. Thats right. I mean, we know this administration has a hard time driving one message. We have seen that this week when tax reform and the asia trip were supposed to be the big thing. Obviously, roy moore made short work of that. Between this controversy down in alabama and the white house having to answer for that and muellers investigation expanding and these new questions about flynn, you couple that with the fact that this tax bill looks like it actually raises taxes on a fair amount of middle class families. Thats a lot of issues for the white house to be coming back to. And this is not an environment thats friendly to something as complex and politically difficult as tax reform. Our thanks to the members of our leadoff panel for leading off our coverage on a friday night. Julia ainsley, great work again, thank you very much. Matthew newsbomb, thank you. And announcing they no longer supporting the candidacy of roy moore in alabama. We have the latest fallout for the gop. And later we go live to vietnam with perhaps the most controversial item on the president s agenda prior to wheels up and heading home, the 11th hour just Getting Started on a friday nigh i dont know miss corfman from anybody. I never talked to her, never had any contact with her. Allegations of Sexual Misconduct with her are completely false. I believe they are politically motivated. I believe they were brought only to stop a very successful campaign, and thats what theyre doing. That was Republican Senate candidate roy moore of alabama today categorically denying a Washington Post report that he initiated a sexual encounter with a 14yearold girl back in 1979. Moore was then a 32yearold assistant d. A. At the time. The post also interviewed three other women who said moore took them on dates when they were teenagers. Nbc news has not verified the allegations. The post says its reporting is based on over 30 interviews with people who knew moore during that time. The women have not filed Police Reports or civil suits here. More than a dozen republicans have called on moore to step aside if the allegations prove to be true. Just three senators, john mccain, mike lee and steve daines, have fully denounced moore as a candidate. And former gop standard bearer mitt romney wrote on twitter today, quote, innocent until Proven Guilty is for criminal convictions, not elections. I believe leigh corfman, the woman in the article, her account is too serious to ignore. Moore is unfit for office and should step aside. President trump continues his asia trip this week, hasnt addressed these allegations directly. Today, however, during a press briefing on Board Air Force one, press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders chose her words carefully here. Like most americans, the president believes we cannot allow a mere allegation. In this case one from many years ago, to destroy a persons life. However, the president also believes if these allegations are true, judge moore will do the right thing and step aside. Well, lets talk about all this. Stewart stevens is with us tonight, hes a campaign and political veteran, he served as mitt romneys chief strategist for the 2012 campaign. And columnist for the boston globe is back with us, thank you, both, for being with us. Stewart, what is going on here . We heard a days full of News Coverage today, various people coming on television and radio, normalizing an adult and a teenager girl. Listen, its really not complicated. Roy moore in this interview with sean hannity did what all the bad guys do on law and order when they dont have a lawyer, he basically indicted himself. He said when he was in his 30s with an assistant attorney. He went out with girls young enough to ask their moms for permission. Now, i guess he thought that was a defense, but i mean, look, if youre in your 30s and youre going to take girls young enough you feel like you have to ask their mother, that should have been the first clue something was off. And so hes saying these girls are 16, 17, and he was attracted to them in his 30s, which is weird, but he doesnt have any, cant imagine him doing anything with someone a couple years younger. I mean, look, he should step aside. Its clear, its a disgrace. Where is your party, stuart, and where are the profiles in courage in the u. S. Senate for starters . Well, this is really a situation where the president could be very helpful. Hes wildly popular with republicans in alabama. I think that they would listen to him. And i think that the president should look at this and ask roy moore to step aside. There are various mechanisms that could still guaranty republicans have a shot at this election. Otherwise, to condone this, to accept it is to condone it. And if you dont call it out, in my view, youre condoning it. Andeera, your view on what were witnessing here. And another curveball, the bannon effect on all of this. Right. Well, of course, steve bannon of donald trump is the guy who backed roy moore and pushed for him against luther strange, who would have been the straightly more mainstream candidate, but what i have to say about this, theres so many disturbing elements. One is, as stuart said, during the interview with sean hannity, roy moore said, i did know two of these four women. And then not only did he say, i never asked any teenager out without getting her moms permission, which again is sort of stunning and shocking that he was doing it in the first place, but then he said that the girl who he supposedly plied with alcohol when she was under age, he said im sure i didnt do that and she would drink as under age because i remember her being a good girl. So immediately trying to put the blame on the young woman herself. The other thing here that is so disturbing is how the alabama gop has reacted. I mean, pretty much across the board alabama republicans have stood by him, saying that even if the allegations are true, that they still would vote for him over the democrat and one of them, the Auditor General of the state, even came out and compared this to mary and compared this to mary and joseph and said mary was a teenager and joseph was an adult carpenter and were parents of jesus. I thought, oh, my goodness, the bible says mary was a virgin and god was the father of jesus, and how in the world can you use this to justify dating teenager girls. Its apalling. And the senators in the u. S. Senate who are coming out against him keep saying, if true, if true, he should step down. Well, how are we supposed to prove this . What are these four women have possibly to gain by putting their names out there, their entire life histories, many of them were republicans, they did not come to the Washington Post. The Washington Post sought them out over the course of weeks. And it really did bulletproof reporting on this that i find very hard for anyone to say, thats not true. It required some courage from the women they encountered and interviewed. Also, i have heard it said this week that if true as phraseology goes, if true has become, the thoughts and prayers of last week. So stuart, on the bannon angle, we have this immovable object who is going to be a part of our politics, whether republicans or democrats like it or not. I want to play for you Jeremy Peters of the New York Times talking to steve bannon about the majority leader in the u. S. Senate. Well talk about it on the other side. Reporter do you think Mitch Mcconnell will be majority leader at this Time Next Year . I definitely do not think hell be majority leader. Reporter is that your personal mission . It is not my personal mission but i have an objective that Mitch Mcconnell will be not majority leader and i believe it will be done before this Time Next Year. Stuart, what do you make of that threat . The idea that were on National Television talking about a weirdo like steve bannon is just sort of stunning. I dont know, this guy was in the hate business professionally at breitbart. And the fact that he latched onto this campaign in the right moment of the campaign, won unexpectedly, he seems to think people were voting for him. I dont think anybody really cares what steve bannon says any more that they cared what karl rove said or any Office Working in the campaigns say. Hes called himself a leninist. I think hes someone who obviously doesnt look like a very happy person, who is kind of working through the issues on a national platform. Well, how else to explain what a weird turn our politics have taken . Yeah, its upsetting. And, you know, when there are republican strategists out there like stuart who were taking a stand and saying, this is wrong. I mean, at least we can have hope, mitt romney coming out and taking such a strong stand i also thought was extremely reassuring. And, you know, we know that of course hes looking into a Senate Campaign from all the reporting. I just want to contrast this moment in history, though, to 2012 when todd aiken you may remember was the republican who was running in missouri against Claire Mccaskill and made the appalling comments of saying that cases of legitimate rape, that womens bodies have a way of shutting down and preventing them from getting pregnant. And if you remember, he was so roundly attacked for that. Womens groups like emilys list raised money against him and he was defeated, of course. What is really different here is the way that even though theres been all these avalanche of allegations of Sexual Misconduct coming out in all different professions now, ever since the Harvey Weinstein thing, that the Alabama Republican Party and the Current Senate gop we have is still at this moment backing him, as you say, using this if true without ever telling us how are we supposed to prove whether it is true or not again when the women have nothing to gain from this other than putting their names out there in a very embarrassing way. So i hope that there will be more in the party who will stand up about this and really push roy moore aside so that there can be a better republican candidate who can run in this race. Always a pleasure having you on. Stuart, its great to have you back on our broadcast. Come visit us anytime. Our thanks to our guests in this segment. Up next, peggy noonan is here with us to talk about another week that was from what is now Donald Trumps republican party. Party. The 11 hour back after this. O youre being audited. Now what . Well, after your first reaction, consider your choices. Go it alone, against the irs and its massive resources. Hire a law firm, where youre not a priority. Call your cpa, who can be required to testify against you. Or, call the tax law firm of moskowitz, llp. I went from being a cpa to a tax attorney because our clients needed more. Call us, and let us put our 30 years of tax experience to work for you. We are back and with so much in the news this week, we thought we would call in a friend to help us sort through it. Peggy noonan is here, winning columnist for the wall street journal, former speech writer for president ronald reagan, and forge nat to say an msnbc analyst. Thank you. I want to take you far back to a simpler time, tuesday night. So long ago. With these news cycles, it sounds like a year ago. What happened in virginia . And i ask you knowing a bit about your theory that it was broader and deeper than virginia. Yeah. We had westchester and long island that had been reliably kind of republicanish. And suddenly were kind of democratish. New jersey wasnt surprising. Heres the thing about virginia, everybody thought it would be close. Everybody thought ed gillespie might be catching up, as he caught up with mark warner a few years ago. And yet it was a blowout, just a blowout. He lost really big. The issue i think the president took it right in the face in this. The issue was donald trump. Spoke to a whole lot of people down there, i also was down there on my own. This was about trump and it was about people saying, i dont like what youve been doing. It was an indignant reaction to him. A republican officeholder told me literally people were showing up at voting places to say, im here to vote against trump. So that is it was a route and a warning, i think, for the white house and for Trump Supporters who always have a sense of i think they always think their numbers are much bigger than they are. And i think theyre not sufficiently disturbed about the president s inability to expand from a core, so far an insoluable core to a base, and a base thats growing. That hasnt happened in the first year but is the big story of the first year. With all that as the predicate, what do you think is happening in alabama . And what about when the bills come due for the conversation that is going on in this country . Oh, the Sexual Harassment thing . Oh, man, i think this is huge. I think it is really epic. In my time as an adult, i have never seen a country suddenly take issues of Sexual Harassment and abuse in the workplace so seriously. I think the key here is, first of all, journalistic entities, newspapers and magazines, should be should be padding themselves on the back for having committed the resources and the time you know how timeconsuming these investigations are. They are real investigations, it is not just, this happened today. Its something more. An editor has to say, okay, you can take two months and were going to put ten people on it and they get the story. What it comes down to, the big change now is the predators have good reason to believe in the future they will not get away with it. Why . Because on Sexual Harassment, we have broken the code. Old cases used to be, he said she said. The cases now that are so convincing and believable have to do with numbers, the sheer number of people giving their testimony, both with their names or not named. And the sheer detection of patterns. Its what got Harvey Weinstein. Its whats gotten a lot of these fellas. Im so interested in the fact that its hit so Many Political and media and showbiz personalities. Somebody said earlier today, its as if everybody in front of a camera is nuts. You know . In 30 seconds or less, your reaction to the great newspaper war of 2017. It happened too late to save print, per se, but to your point, these are great days to be in the news media business. Oh, yes. Many people are disturbed that institutions in American Life are failing. You know what . The law seems to be doing pretty well. The courts seem to be doing pretty well. Journalism as i observe it is flourishing. I have my own problems with what i perceive to be its biases, its assumptions, its narrowly classbased look at the world. That having been said, investigative prowess and the joy of you sense in newspapers and magazines lately the joy of getting up in the morning and going after the story. I think its actually moving to see. I love it. Another day well debate the word joy. I keep going too long, im sorry. Somewhere between joy and trepidation. Always a pleasure, thank you, peggy noonan, for spending time with us here in the studio. Up next, the president is half a world away from washington. We are tracking his travels and are live in vietnam after the break. Hey julie, i know todays critical, but i really need. A sick day. Dads dont take sick days. Dads take dayquil severe. The nondrowsy, coughing, aching, fever, sore throat. Stuffy head, no sick days medicine. I just saved thousands in less than a minute, i found out how much home i can afford. I like how you shop for loans the same way you shop for flights online. I didnt realize at lendingtree you can save money on almost any sort of loan. I consolidated my Credit Card Debt with a personal loan. I found a new credit card with 0 interest for 15 months. You just shop, compare, and save. And its all free. Go to lendingtree right now and start saving. Three days remaining in the president s asia trip after his stop in vietnam, the president heads to the philippines where hes expected to meet with the president , rodrigo duterte, who has been trying to solve the drug problem in the country. Last may trump drew fire for saying duterte was, quote, doing an unbelievable job. Lets look at the next portion of the asia job. And with us in vietnam is Jonathan Lamere for the White House Associated press. We saw jonathan in one of the photos on this trip on board a u. S. Military helicopter with another of our friends, Ashley Parker of the Washington Post. Great to see the kids grow up and fly around in blackhawks. And we are joined by one of jonathans colleagues as we welcome to the broadcast, ken thomas, also an a. P. White house reporter. Jonathan, im told we have a sizable satellite delay between you and us, but ill go ahead and ask, was there as much surprise on the trip as there was back here to hear the president s comments on china after running so hard against china in the campaign and as president saying he really doesnt blame china for what they have been up to economically, visavis the u. S. . Reporter theres no question, brian, that the president pulled his punches. We know night after night on the campaign trail, rally after rally, he accused china of manipulating the currency of healthy and terrible trade imbalance. He one night said china is raping our country. We heard none of that in beijing. Instead, he flattered president xi and praised the skill of chinese negotiators. In the room, he repeatedly was set up where he had a moment to scold xi. He could have delivered this sort of tough negotiating deal maker tactic that he ran on and he didnt. Instead, he said he didnt blame china, he blamed the u. S. Predecessors. White house aides said this was deliberate. That though the, i dont blame line wasnt in the president s prepared remarks, the sentiment was. They feel they are better off to flatter the chinese, as to not embarrass them publicly, but to work behind closed doors toward the issues, not just of trade, but also north korea. So ken, theres all the evidence that this was intentional and theyre willing to live with how different this looks and sounds from the guy who was campaigning to the base because they say theyre going to do the work of this gathering behind the scenes. Reporter thats right. They feel like it was better to flatter xi, try to establish a relationship, accept his hospitality and not say anything in front of him that would humiliate him. And you have to keep in mind that this is a very important relationship on north korea. Hes trying to get xis help on north korea to go after him publicly on trade, i think it probably would send the wrong signal. Do you think thats a sign . We dont mean anything patronizing on this, but theres a diplomatic maturity at work where the u. S. china relationship is concerned . I think theres the realization that this is a huge piece of the portfolio that the president really feels like, if he can establish good personal ties with xi, that it will pay dividends down the road as it relates to north korea, as it relates to perhaps improving the trade imbalance. All right. Jonathan lamere preview the portion of the trip, this is fraught and had a longterm relationship with the United States. Thats right. The president goes to the philippines on sunday here in asia. We as you chronicled, president duterte has sanctioned a drug war that includes extrajudicial killings. It is customary for president s past to try to rebuke, to school on human rights, to make that Public Statement about why these kind of things are not american values. I dont think we should expect to see this president do that here. The white house has sent signals, if trump delivers any kind of message like that, it will be done in private, it will not be done in public to upset duterte. They value this relationship with the philippines and dont want to push the philippines closer to beijing. Also, it fits a pattern, right . This is a president who has cozied up to strong men, whether king salman or putin in russia. This week we saw this week with xi no mention of any kind of Human Rights Violations or any individual liberties in china. Thats not what this president does, thats not his style. I would think despite uproar from human rights organizations around the globe as to what the philippines and duterte have done in this drug war, i dont think well see the president talk about it publicly. Two of the very best of the associated press, foreign and domestic tonight, different ends of the earth, Jonathan Lamere, ken thomas, gentlemen, thank you both for coming on the broadcast. Another break for us and coming up, our next guest considers it his job to regularly remind us these are not normal times were witnessing. That when the 11th hour continues. Jack why am i sitting here at jack this ridiculously long table in the middle of nowhere . Jack to invite all my friends in the industry to try this. Jack fast foods first ever ribeye burger. Jack made with 100 ribeye beef, grilled onions, a red wine glaze and creamy havarti cheese. Jack ahh, here comes the competition now. Jack and of course, since they work for my competitors, ive obscured their identities jack except for this guy. Jack he is so screwed. Jack try my new havarti grilled onion and allamerican ribeye burgers. Its not normal for the president to obsess about cable News Coverage of himself, to publicly criticize the mayor of london on the basis of flawed facts right after a terror attack that killed people. Its not normal for the president to attack, and this is purely hypothetical, of course, tv news hosts by name including a personal attack on a woman as intellect and appearance. Brian, its want normal. That was from this very broadcast on the sixmonth mark of the Trump Presidency and that was michael lesson, our veteran of our business, cofourpd of axios, of politico. Hes worked at the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine among others. And were happy to have you back, michael lesson. Im guessing your look at whats not normal, the lead story tonight would be attempts to normalize any kind of relationship between an adult male and a 14yearold girl. Certainly not normal, brian, and brian tonight is going to be meet the cousins night. I have a couple of cousins for you. Cousins of its not normal. One of them is never before. So, brian, never before have we had a president who would publicly threaten, prod the Justice Department and his own prosecutors to go after the Opposition Party as the president has done over the Donna Brazile incident and the democratic party. Never before, brian, have members of the president s own party been so reluctant to say publicly what they say privately. Publicly you have just a couple of senators, senator mccain, senator flake of arizona, senator corker of tennessee publicly denouncing this president. Privately, broin, as you know, theyll say plenty, put bubbly as you said at the top of the broadcast, this is the president s party, no doubt. Michael lesson, you have published a number, i call it the pessimism index. This really got our attention. 59 of americans believe that the United States is currently undergoing the lowest point in its history. This is according to the American PsychologicalAssociations Annual stress in america poll. But notably, this includes 56 of those age 72 and over who lived through pearl harbor, world war ii and 59 of millennials who largely came of age post 9 11. This is about the most depressing number ive seen published in recent times. And id have to tell you some of the news we cover night to night, it seems like this number could be true. No. Brian, thats exactly right. And whats striking to me about that and so congruent with the reporting we have from throughout the country is that this is not just the bubble. So much of what we talk about has to do with the belt way or perhaps the Silicon Valley bubble or the d. C. Or new york bubble. No. This is america. And like youve always been so in touch with america, red states, blue states. And even in states where the president won and the nbc wall street journal poll this week showed that erosion out in even the trump counties in the trump states. So there you have it down to the county level. Then, brian, at the very most macro level the corps of the economist this week, they have the balanced eagle with donald trump like hair and its saying in danger. Americas stand in the world. So, broip, its not normal for the president to walk away from some of the powers of the presidency raerp projecting power abroad, rather than at home acting as the consoler in reach, another power of the presidency. Its not normal for the president to put those aside. So the last time we talked the president had the little clip you showed, the president attacking the mayor of london. After the terror attack on the bike path in new york, you have the president attacking the leader of the senate democrats, chuck schumer, saying that he was partly responsible for immigration policies that allowed this individual to be in the country. Brian, thats just not normal. Thank you, michael lesson, for preserving your role as the guy who reminds us of what normal is or should be. The cooffender of the axios news service. Thank you as always. Before, brian, happy weekend. Thank you. You too. After our final break here, a story you may not know about someone youve seen here on the air on the 11th hour many times before. Hi, im the internet you know whats difficult . Armless bowling. You got this, jimmy you know whats easy . Building your website with godaddy. Pick a domain name. Choose a design. You can build a website in under an hour. Now thats a strike get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. Build a better website in under an hour. I love you. 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. Last thing before we go here tonight has to do with veterans day which begins manipulate from now with the arrival of the 11th day of november. If youre a regular viewer around here, youve heard me introduce one veteran in particular many times as a retired u. S. Army colonel, but much more importantly youve heard me say he is one of 73 living recipients of the medal of honor. Our colleagues and coworkers have gotten to know jack jacobs as the nice man who comes in on occasion to analyze military stories for us. Most folks have no whied what jack jacobs was came of on the worst day of his life that earned him the nationess highest military honor. So here is the citation that was read aloud on the day president richard things on placed the medal of honor around his neck. At the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, Captain Jacobs then First Lieutenant infantry distinguished himself while serving as assistant battalion adviser, second bat an al16th infantry ninth infan friday division. The second battalion was advancing to contact when it came under intense heavy machine gun and mortar fire from a vietcong battalion positioned in well fortified bunk irs. As it floyd into attack formation, its advance was halted by devastating fire. Captain jacobs with the command element of the lead company, called for and directed airstrikes on the enemy positions to facilitate a renewed attack. Due to the intensety of the enemy fire and heavy casualties to the demand group, including the company demander, the attack stopped and the friendly troops became disorganized of the although wounded by mortar fragments, he assumed demand of the allied company, ordered a withdrawal from the exposed position and established a defensive perimeter. Dispute profrus bleeding from head wounds when chaired his vision with complete drard for his safety returned under intense fire to evacuate a seriously wounded adviser to the safety of a wooded area where he add mird life saving first aid. He then returned through heavy automatic weapons fire to evacuate the wounded company commander. Captain jacobs made repeated trips across the fire swept open rice petitions evacuating wound skpd their weapons. On three separate occasions Captain Jacobs contacted and drove off vietcong squads who were searching for allied wounded and weapons. Single handly killing three and wounding sefl others. His gal laboratory actions and extraordinary heroism saved the lives of one u. S. Adviser and 13 allied soldiers. Through his effort the allied company was restored to an effective fighting unit and preveptd defeat of the Friendly Forces by a strong and determined enemy. Captain jacobs by his gal laboratoryry and brairy in action in the highest traditions of the military service has reflected great credit upon himts, his unit and the u. S. Army. That was the citation for our friend jack jacobs, and that is what veterans day should be about. Its about jack and everyone else who has worn the up form of the United States. Our friend jack did not know we were going to do this tonight, but ill deal with him. That is our broadcast for this friday night and for this week. Thank you so much for being here with us. Good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. Roy moore speaks out. I dont remember ever dating any girl without the permission of her mother. Reporter tonight roy moores selective defense and the republican party, trapped between roy moore and Corporate Tax cuts. Then. Lock her up. Lock her up. Explosive new reporting that President Trumps National Security adviser may have been secretly bribed on behalf of a foreign government. General flynn is a wonderful man. And from roy moore to louis c. K. And allegations against powerful men multiply, why the if its true response season enough when all in starts right now