Official. These allegations pertain to democratic senator al franken of minnesota. They come from a woman who performed on a uso tour with franken for u. S. Service members overseas. Leeann tweeden says while they were rehearsing a sketch, that the former sketch comic turned senator wrote that featured a kiss, franken forcibly kissed her. He put his hand on my head and came in and it was so fast and aggressive that obviously i wasnt going to have time to react at all. And he came in and he just sort of mashed because it was, you know, it wasnt finessed at all. He mashed his mouth against mine and stuck his tongue in my mouth. It happened so fast and was so just i was so unaware it was going to happen, and i just remember i mean, in my mind, i was so shocked that it happened, right, when youre not expecting something, right . Youre shocked. I remember pushing him off me. And i clenched my hand into a fist, and i remember thinking, if you ever do that to me again, and i was just going to clock him in the face. Tweeden also shared this photograph. She says it was taken while she was asleep and she did not know it existed until she looked through the Courtesy Photos at the end of that uso tour that the photographer had handed out. I was angry. Anger was sort of my first response, like belittled, ashamed. You know, its like you dont even have the balls to do that to my face. You did it when i was sleeping, and then you knew i would see it later. Tweeden is a married mother of two, a radio host in los angeles. Franken initially released a statement saying in part that the photo, quote, was clearly intended to be funny but wasnt. He went on to say, i shouldnt have done it. He then put out another, much longer statement. In it he says he does not remember the rehearsal the same way tweeden does, saying in part, the first thing i want to do is apologize. I dont know what was in my head when i took that picture, and it doesnt matter, theres no excuse. I am asking that an ethics investigation be undertaken and i will gladly cooperate. Were also getting a new look at where the Alabama Senate race stands after nine women in all now have stepped forward to make claims about the conduct of the republican in that race, judge roy moore. A new fox news poll shows alabama voters now favor moores democratic opponent, doug jones, by eight points. Moores accusers include tina johnson, who spoke to nbc news about an incident that allegedly happened in 1991 when she was in her 20s. My mother went first. Then when i got up and went out, he grabbed my behind, just hard. He had power over me. He had me in a position where i couldnt do nothing. I didnt want it. You know, i was vulnerable. And he took advantage of that. And he knew it. Moore has not specifically addressed all of the latest allegations made about him. He has repeatedly denied any Sexual Misconduct with anyone. He did again today with a group of his supporters in alabama. As you know, the Washington Post has brought some scurrilous, false, charges, not charges, allegations, which i have emphatically denied time and time again. Theyre not only untrue, but they have no evidence to support them. I said i wanted to see unity. I never dreamed that i would succeed even before i got elected. But i have unified the democrats and the republicans in fighting against me, because they dont want me there. President trump has not discussed the accusations made about moore since returning home from his trip to asia. Today press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders, holding her first press Briefing Since the trip, was asked about it. Thats also something and a decision that the people of alabama need to make, not the president , whether or not they want roy moore to support them in the senate. The people of alabama should be the ones to make the decision on whether or not to support roy moore. Its up to the people of alabama to make the decision. I dont have anything further to add on that front. She said something to that effect six separate times during that same briefing. She was also asked about the accusations made about senator franken. On senator franken, it appears that the senate is looking into that, which they should, and we feel thats an appropriate action. Lets turn to our leadoff panelists for tonight, eugene robinson, columnist for the Washington Post, shannon pettypiece, White House Reporter for bloomberg, and michael crowley, Senior Correspondent for politico. Shannon, because youre still on the beat tonight, i guess youre never off of it, the president of the United States has once again taken to twitter. I guess to no ones surprise, but this was kind of unbelievable to read tonight. The Al Frankenstein picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures two, three, four, five, and six while she sleeps and to think last week he was lecturing anyone who would listen about Sexual Harassment, lesley stahl tape. I believe he chronicled in his book offcolor jokes he had made preparing a comedy sketch in the mid90s about lesley stahl at the time. Shannon, here we go, the president has joined the fight against al franken. A democratic strategist said earlier today, well, hes not going to be able to criticize al franken if hes not going to criticize roy moore. And i thought, well, hes going to do whatever he wants to. Thats the thing about this presidency, he will say whatever he wants to. There is no playbook. It might seem contradictory, why arent you saying anything about roy moore when you will Say Something about al franken. This administration has been full of theres been good people on both sides, its been full of firing the fbi director and inviting the Russian Ambassador into the office the next day. I mean, its just a pattern. I know a lot of people are scratching their heads. I think we can just continue to expect this president to lean into controversy, to pick and choose what he wants to get involved in, and to not back down. And shannon, let me quickly add, he is very anxious not to take on the roy moore case if he can avoid it and very anxious not to address it. I was in an event yesterday where we shouted questions at him about roy moore, he could have answered them. There was a group of reporters there, he didnt. Today on the hill, we shouted again. They have clearly made a strategic decision not to address the roy moore controversy. So eugene, this topic, what were witnessing, is clearly going to be one of the big defining moments in 2017. And again, we see that if change is going to be made, its going to continue to require, put the burden of proof on women to not only relive the worst days or times of their lives, but to publicly out themselves in the telling of it. Right. And to expose themselves to the sort of attacks and beyond criticism that the women in the roy moore case are getting now. The paradigm has clearly shifted. And, you know, the sort of conduct that never was acceptable but was tolerated in some way is no longer acceptable. And so i think this is just going to continue rolling. A couple of thoughts about today, a blizzard of news, but, you know, al franken is very credibly accused of kissing a woman against her will, uninvited. Another person who is accused of that very same thing is donald j. Trump. And by criticizing franken, he does invite the resurrection of all that. And number two, i do wonder if the president wouldnt rather have us talking about Sexual Harassment than the tax bill and what congress is attempting to do. He really wants a win, he really wants a big legislative win. And if i were he, i would worry that the longer that this tax bill is out there and available for criticism and people really look at it and look at the health care aspect, does it really raise taxes on people making 10,000, you know, its going to lose support. So maybe he would rather we talk about this. Michael crowley, were you surprised the president , a man with a dozen accusers, went there tonight on the senator from minnesota . As surprised as you can be by anything that donald trump does, brian, which maybe is a way of saying not surprised. But its hard to understand any sort of rationality to it. The guy is incredibly exposed. It doesnt seem like a subject he wants to linger on. This tidal wave of allegations and scandal knows no party. I dont think theres a partisan advantage here. Its possible that trump sees the franken story as somewhat neutralizing the moore story, so therefore its to his advantage to get to pump up the franken story because maybe in his view it mitigates the moore story. But its not like this is some you know, this is some bad story for democrats overall that trump wants to pump up. And obviously hes extremely vulnerable himself. I mean, this is an incredible dynamic in this country right now, brian, that powerful men are being toppled left and right for their behavior toward women. But this man, who has been captured on audio and video bragging about grabbing and groping and pawing and basically by many definitions assaulting women, is president of the United States. One other point on this, a smart democratic friend of mine today suggested to me that al franken could offer to resign if donald trump also resigns, which would put the president in an interesting box. I dont know that franken is going to do that but it sort of captures the very strange dynamic at play right now. I want to read you, eugene, a fellow university of michigan trained journalist, jeremy peters, our friend at the New York Times, writes this tonight. There was a time when the question of whether to disown a candidate accused of sexually abusing a 14yearold girl was fairly straightforward. Jeremy makes a point there. I would like to think there was such a time. How did we get here . Because certainly its anything but straightforward at the moment. People are rallying to his cause. And in the face of a whole lot of evidence, nine accusers, a very credible account by a woman who was 14 at the time. I dont see how you can you can just look past this and say hes a member of my tribe, therefore im going to support him, but thats what people are doing. Shannon, any guidance in covering the white house, and why the white house, except for ivanka this week, is staying so quiet specifically on roy moore . You know, its interesting, a lot of people were saying, i guess as recently as this morning, just as michael was pointing out, well, we dont want to bring up, you know, any sort of sexual misbehavior things because everyone will drag up allegations against the president. And then the president waded into it himself. I mean, i will note that this tweet came late in the evening, so maybe it wasnt necessarily a managed, you know you know, who knows, whether it was 10 00 at night or something so maybe after everyone was sleeping he got his phone. But no, it doesnt make much sense. There was an idea in the white house that they were going to stay out of all this, then the franken story came and maybe it just became too easy a target not to punch at. Hey, gang, i have something to bring to your attention and to our viewers attention. It happened this evening, and we have just received video. This was a dustup as part of the Senate Finance committee tonight, their vote, voting out of committee this tax bill. I want to show you this exchange, thats a polite word for it, between orrin hatch of utah, senior republican senator, president pro tem of the senate, which as you watch this, remember, puts him third in line to the presidency, and the democrat of ohio, sherrod brown. Each one of them, as youll hear, taking their side in the tax debate. But it was notable that this broke out the way it did tonight. Well talk about it on the other side. Ive been here working my whole stinkin career for people who dont have a chance. And i really resent anybody saying that im just doing this for the rich. Give me a break. I think you guys overplay that all the time and it gets old. Frankly you ought to quit it. Mr. Chairman wait a minute. Im not through. I get kind of sick and tired of it. True, its a nice political play. Well, mr. Chairman, with all due respect, i get tired of the rich getting richer and richer and richer. Regular order and over and over again, how many times do we do this before you learn . Listen. Ive honored you by allowing you to spout off here. What you said was not right. Thats all im saying. I come from the lower middle class originally. We didnt have anything. So dont spew that stuff on me. I get a little tired of that crap. And let me just Say Something. If wed Work Together, we could pull this country out of every mess its in. We could do a lot of the things youre talking about too. Well. It wasnt a boring thursday night in the u. S. Senate. Eugene, theres a lot to mention coming out of that. First of all, orrin hatch. As we said, senior man, president pro tem of the senate. Its been rumored he may not run again. Mitt romney has been keeping his powder dry back in utah. But when ted kennedy was in the senate, ted kennedy had no closer friend in the u. S. Senate. So when he talks about an era of cooperation, he did live that in a prior time. Right. And so what you just saw was a man from that much earlier era, it seems like hundreds of years ago now, it was only a few years ago, trying to deal with today, with the way the senate is today. The senate used to be a body where people did reach across the aisle, they had friendships across the aisle, they had interests across the aisle, there would be military experts on the democratic side and the republican side and they would Work Together on defense bills. Thats not what it is now. Its a smaller, less efficient version of the house, basically, where it splits along partisan lines, so were always talking about those one or two votes that will tip the scale. All the republicans are over here and all the democrats are over here. Thats the way it is and i dont think its going to change. I think he was speaking for an earlier time and wistfully for an earlier time. That aint coming back anytime soon. Michael crowley, ill use the expression, elections have consequences. The senate, and the democrats in the senate, are so hugely frustrated at watching this tax bill they think getting just rammed through the process. Yeah, first, brian, you know, the u. S. Senate is a pretty collegial place even given the partisan tensions in washington right now. Sometimes you see footage of these brawls and fist fights in Eastern European and asian parliaments. Orrin hatch was kind of at the end of that exchange, playing this credential of where i come from, i wasnt born rich, i come from a blue collar background. And i think Sherrod Browns response is, thats all well and good, but were talking about the policies on the table right now. Orrin hatch is making a point about your present day actions. I think thats probably the more powerful point. I think its a losing argument to say this is how i grew up. I dont know whats in orrin hatchs heart, but i do think you should be arguing about the legislation on the table and not what your life was like, for hatch, 70 plus years ago. Never a dull moment in the u. S. Senate or on this broadcast. Our thanks to eugene robinson, shannon pettypiece, michael crowley, terrific conversation. Ahead, whats behind a change in the rules regarding big game hunters who kill animals in africa for sport . Also tonight, shes 29 years old. Shes been there from the start of the campaign. She has seen it all. Tonight, how hope hicks could play a Critical Role in the mueller investigation. Well discuss that and more, just Getting Started on a thursday night. Under the heading you cant make this stuff up, we have new reporting tonight that may give us some fresh insights into how special counsel mueller may be working the russia investigation. Julia ainsley who was here on the broadcast with us last night reports this. A gold trader who is close to the turkish president erdogan is cooperating with prosecutors on a Money Laundering case. They may be seeking information on ties between the turkish government and mike flynn, investigating whether erdogan offered flynn upwards of 15 million to use his upcoming position as National Security adviser to return his top political rival from the u. S. To turkey and see what the gold traders case see that the gold traders case was dropped. Also tonight, the wall street journal reports special counsel Robert Muellers team in midoctober issued a subpoena to president Donald Trumps campaign requesting russiarelated documents from more than a dozen top officials according to a person familiar with the matter. The subpoena marked mr. Muellers First Official order for information from the campaign according to the person. Here with us to talk about all of it, ken vogel, political reporter for the New York Times. Annie carney is back with us, White Reporter for politico. And mieke eoyang, former counsel on the hill. Ken, show mercy on us and try to use short words and draw pictures with your language. What does this gold trader have to do with Robert Mueller and buy extension, i guess, donald trump . Well, it has to do with putting pressure on mike flynn. The alleged scheme that you just sort of laid out there in the intro, wherein the turkish government or an intermediary would pay mike flynn 15 million to potentially help with the extradition of this gold trader and gulen, both of whom are rivals of or concerns to erdogan, the leader of turkey. If that is true, that is certainly contrary to u. S. Foreign policy interests, that mike flynn would potentially seek to leverage his position to extradite to win the extradition of these folks. Thats something that u. S. Foreign policy, weve already sort of discussed this, and, you know, joe biden was pressured by erdogan to bring both these guys to sort of facilitate the extradition of both these guys to turkey and said no. So the fact that mike flynn would even potentially consider this is deeply problematic for him. Obviously he has not there have been no charges against him. But we are kind of seeing a little bit more of the contours of the types of things that he could be charged with, and they certainly would include violation of the foreign agents registration act, which would require that a meeting like this or a proposal like this would be disclosed to the department justice. It was not. Nor was his work for another Dutch Company owned by a turkish businessman. He has a lot of exposure. Thats important because it means theres going to be a lot more pressure on him to give up something to reduce his exposure. And whoever is making the movie of this story, their budget just ballooned, because it will now include shooting weeks in turkey of all places to tell this story. Annie, a surprise subpoena to the campaign, whats notable about that per se . Two things struck me about this story. One is it came as a surprise to the campaign, which means they dont necessarily know what mueller is after here. The investigation is very broad. And two, it shows that mueller is potentially not happy with the documents that the campaign and that trump operatives are turning over. The white house has consistently said theyre fully cooperating with the investigation, they think this is the best way for everybody. You issue a subpoena if you think that something is being held back potentially or as a threat that this could be obstruction of a grand jury case if you dont turn these documents over. This plus the story we heard today about Jared Kushner not fully disclosing his contacts to congress is showing a pattern that there are questions potentially that muellers team has about the documents being turned over to them. Yes, were going to get to mr. Kushner in the conversation. Mieke, given the fact that youre the lawyer here, what do you make of this move by mueller . So i think that when hes issuing the subpoena, hes not actually looking for information. Hes checking facts. He has many ways of getting this information from people, either through intercepts they may have at the foreign end, from other people who are cooperating who have turned over documents already. So this is a test to the campaign to see how forthcoming they will be and whether or not they will in fact share all the information that they have. Its a little bit like a paperwork prisoners dilemma, to see how much they can get from them and how truthful they will be with the investigators. And if theyre not, thats a real problem. Were going to ask everyone to remain where they are, fit in a break. Panel is staying with us. Coming up, well talk about Jared Kushner. Well talk about hope hicks and what both of those individuals could mean to Robert Mueller, when we continue. I had frequent heartburn, but my doctor recommended. Prilosec otc 7 years ago, 5 years ago, last week. Just 1 pill each morning, 24 hours and zero heartburn. Its been the number 1 doctor recommended brand for 10. Straight years, and its still recommended today. Use as directed. 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. Were back with more on the latest in the russia investigation, this time focusing on two people in the Trump Administration. Communications director 29yearold hope hicks and the president s Senior Adviser and soninlaw Jared Kushner. About kushner, the New York Times headline is this. Jared kushner failed to hand over documents about wikileaks and a russian back door overture. The Top Republican and democrat on the Senate Judiciary committee sent kushners lawyer a letter saying documents he gave them were incomplete. Senators grassley and feinstein wrote that they had received several documents from other Trump Campaign officials copied or forwarded to kushner which he did not provide. Those include, quote, september 2016 email communications to mr. Kushner concerning wikileaks, which mr. Kushner then forwarded to one other campaign official, and documents concerning that socalled russian back door overture and dinner invite which mr. Kushner also forwarded. The senators also requested kushners correspondence with former National Security adviser mike flynn. Abbe lowell, kushners lawyer says they were responsive to all requests. We provided the Judiciary Committee with all relevant documents that had to do with mr. Kushners calls, contacts, or meetings with russians during the campaign and transition which was the request. And tonight politico reports, quote, special counsel Robert Muellers team is preparing to interview the woman who has seen it all, Communications Director hope hicks. The report adds that muellers decision to request an interview with hicks, who hasnt been named in any criminal wrongdoing, also indicates he has reached a critical point in the overall investigation, according to former prosecutors. That was a lot, but we had to lay out the parameters here. Still with us, ken vogel, annie carney, and mieke eoyang. On hope hicks, who as far as i can tell is somewhere between selig and clark clifford, 29 years old, comes from old greenwich, connecticut. Started life as a fashion model for ralph lauren and others, ended up in the marketing wing of the trump family, but has been with that man and this president ial effort since it was embryonic and remains the insiders insider. What kind of exposure will she have legally . She has a lot. Shes been at trumps side for a lot of russiarelated moments. One thing that has really come up this week is the emails that have been forwarded to her throughout this process. We found out this week that Jared Kushner, after don junior, donald trump jr. Communicated with wikileaks, he forwarded an email about that communication to Jared Kushner, who forwarded it to hope hicks. The question is, is he forwarding her that email in her role as spokesperson for the campaign . Or is he forwarding her as a, this is for trumps eyes . And its the latter that people think is why shes of particular interest to muellers team, that a lot of communication that went through hope was there because shes supposed to show it to the president. What hope sees can be interpreted as what donald trump sees. So that makes her even more important. But shes been at his side, shes been in the room. She has no privileged relationship with the president , so she is a critical witness for muellers team if she is truthful, and everyone ive talked to expects her to be. Ken vogel, same question regarding the exposure of mr. Kushner. Yeah, i mean, theres a commonality. Obviously kushner has huge exposure, in both the way the interactions hes had with different folks affiliated with russia, up to and including the Russian Ambassador, but also his handling of this inquiry and the shifts in his stories, and the holes in the documents that hes produced. And thats why its so important, brian, that mueller is subpoenaing these documents from the campaign and that the senate is Judiciary Committee is going back to kushner and saying, hey, we were able to turn up things from other peoples document production that show that there were holes in what you produced here. And so the wider the dragnet, the more opportunity there is to be able to sort of pit individual stories or documents against other individuals documents and to find discrepancies or to find holes in it. Jared kushner is one guy in this investigation in particular who has been sort of at the center of a lot of these inconsistencies and a lot of these holes. And its you know, its becoming increasingly apparent that he is, you know that theyre not only looking at the ways in which his story differs from those of others but looking at the centrality when it comes to his handling of the investigation with an eye towards possibly building an obstruction of justice case. Mieke eoyang, one of your fellow washington attorneys, abbe lowell, was hired by Jared Kushner. You dont hire him for a traffic ticket, you hire him for exactly this. Having said that, it cant charm the mueller forces. How many times weve read, how many times its been reported that kushner and his legal team have either withheld, small w, not capital. Items have gone back and changed submissions theyve made. Or theyve been questioned about an incomplete submission. That could be a tough aspect of this. I think thats right. And you have to remember, Jared Kushner has changed his legal team a number of times throughout this. Each time he still is coming up short in information, right . He had to amend his security clearance forms a number of times. Were not sure even now if theyre complete. Hes not been forthcoming when giving information to the Senate Judiciary committee. Im not sure his lawyers are as thorough as they should be in a case like this, or theres a serious question about whether or not hes deliberately holding back and trying to obstruct these investigations. Either way, i think its really troubling and it doesnt speak well of his legal team. Our thanks to ken vogel, annie carney, mieke eoyang, well have you back. The only thing we know for sure about this story, it keeps on giving. Yet another dissolving of another Obama Administration rule. This one has Animal Rights activists up in arms. The Trump Administration confirmed today it lifted another obama era regulation, this time rolling back a ban that prohibits hunters from bringing trophies of elephants killed in zimbabwe and zambia back into the u. S. The original regulation was implemented in 2014 after the population of African Elephants fell and was seen as a significant milestone to combat illegal poaching and ivory trafficking. The numbers here are shocking. It is estimated 33,000 elephants are killed every year, 33,000, most of them for their ivory. And so for good reason, the African Elephant has been listed as threatened under the endangered species act going back to 78. The u. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is defending this action, saying the money paid for permits to hunt these animals will actually help fund their conservation effort. Animal lovers, Animal Rights groups on the other hand are outraged about this. The ceo of the Humane Society of the u. S. Not mincing words, saying, quote, the u. S. Government is giving american trophy hunters the green light to kill them. And of course its already being pointed out the president s two sons, eric and don junior, are both big game hunters. They themselves have posted numerous photos of the big game animals they have hunted and killed over the years. For more on all of this, were happy to be joined by zoologist and nature tv host jarod miller. What was wrong with the existing rule that needed changing . Well, brian, i mean, first off, we have to say that elephants are among the most magnificent, 9,000 pounds of pretty much the most beautiful animal on the face of the earth. To see one of these creatures up close, whether here in the zoological community or those who have had the opportunity to see them in the wild, its a onceinalifetime experience. These animals are that special. Now, with this deregulation, obviously it is as controversial as you can get. Back in 2014, obviously because of those declining numbers, we wanted to make sure that these populations are sustaining, that, you know, theres not going to be any of these parts being brought to the u. S. Trophywise, but also keep in mind that there is a difference between the illegal ivory trade, brian, and the what u. S. Fish and wildlife is moving forward with, with a permit system to bring awareness and funds to the conservation of elephants. Lets give them the benefit of the doubt that american big game hunters who pay the fee, do everything right, that the fee is actually going to get to conservation efforts right now in zimbabwe. Right now theyre in the middle of what appears to be a coup. Theyve decided mugabe should spend more time with his family and hes in military hands right now. So the government is a little shaky there right now. Even giving them full credit, is this not some kind of an inside back door deal . Well, i mean, you made a good point, brian, in africa, and its two countries, zimbabwe and zambia. But all throughout africa we know that some of these countries, you see this instability which, you know, affects human populations, but also it does affect wildlife in a large way as well. To see this, and again, the point being is that money needs to be raised to conserve these animals. You need boots on the ground, guns in hand, to guard these creatures from poachers. The poaching epidemic is the major issue here. What fish and wildlife is moving forward with is, like we said, giving this oversight, making sure that any funds that are collected for a very strict regulated permit process, and its and again, i hate to say this, being an elephant lover and an animal lover, but if you look at the 8,000 elephants, if one or two or whatever this permit process allows, allows the protection of that large amount, through the funding of a very expensive initiative, i mean, to have people physically guarding these animals 24 7, unfortunately the problem exists, but it does need to be paid for. And again, with extreme oversight and really making sure that the elephants do not get exploited, like if this moves forward with, you know, lets say a little bit of a trophy which im not personally not comfortable with or not something i, you know, recommend or would want in my living room, but if that is going to help the greater good, there might be some scientific and economic merit to it. Ive been lucky enough to see them in the wild and the word you used is absolutely correct, theres nothing to say about magnificent. Jarod miller, thank you so much for helping to explain this issue for us tonight. Well have you back on, if its again in the news. Coming up for us, the judge in the case against senator bob menendez declares a mistrial. So what does that mean for the new jersey democrat and the balance of power in the senate . More on that when we come back. My name is Cynthia Haynes and i am a senior Public Safety specialist for pg e. My job is to help educate our First Responders on how to deal with natural gas and electric emergencies. Everyday when we go to work we want everyone to work safely and come home safely. I live right here in auburn, i absolutely love this community. Once i moved here i didnt want to live anywhere else. I love that people in this community are willing to come together to make a difference for other peoples lives. Together, were building a better california. The house of representatives voted to pass the tax cut bill. The pressure is now the senate republicans. You saw how well theyre getting along tonight to pass their own bill, but with one defection already, several other republicans invoicing concerns. Its no sure thing. One senator is less pressured today, under less pressure today is bob menendez, democrat of new jersey. The judge presiding over his corruption trial declared a mistrial today after telling the kort jurors were in fact hopelessly dead looked. Prosecutors have charged menendez and a wealthy eye doctor with 18 counts, including bribery and fraud. The case was inside mel engine gifted menendez luxury jets, several hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign contributes ors. Defense attorneys said any gifts offer favors between the two men were only art of a decades long friendship. One juror told reporters they were hung 102, ten nothing, two were hanging on to guilty on most of the counts. Menendez thanked two colleagues in the senate who testified on his behalf. I want to thank my colleague senator cory booker who has been supportive from day one, traveled the state and spread the good word, was here on the first day of trial and came and testified and was in my mind a profile in courage. I also want to thank senator lindsey graham, my friend and colleague for once again crossing the aisle and coming to testify as to my career, my truthfulness and my honesty and while i know he came is a friend, i appreciate the Political Capital he used as a republican to come and testify on behalf of a democratic colleague. To those who were digging my political grave so that they could jump into my seat. I know who you are and i wont forget you. So this now gets interesting. It goes back to the justice department. It will be a long and costly effort, but they can do it all over again, try a second time. Prosecutors havent decided whether to do that, but menendez now faces a renewed investigation on the hill. The Ethics Committee in the Senate Released a statement on its own inquiry into menendez. They had paused that in deference to judge, quote, at this time the committee intends to resume the process. And to the president s cabinet now, the Washington Post reports interior secretary reason zinke has failed to maintain complete travel records since taking office. Deputy Inspector General is investigating allegations of improper travel practices. Interior Department Lawyers and ethics officials have not yet been able to, quote, distinguish between permanent, political and official travel. Deputy interior secretary david bern heart responded in a mm oh promising to turn overall travel documents for zinke, but he found a way of blaming the Obama Administration for when he called an organizational and operational mess. Zinke is one of four current and former trump cabinet officials whose travel is currently under investigation. Another break and coming up, are there signs of buyers remorse within the president s voting base . Well hear some voters, democrats and republicans in the critical state of North Carolina when we come right back. Last thing before we go tonight has to do with a friend and colleague of ours named peter heart. Peter is more or less the dean of political pollsters in this country and from time to time we get to commission his work and then ride along when he talks with voters. His business is not a science, but voters come close. In the end the American People have a funny way of speaking for themselves at the polls and defying predictions. Peter allowed our cameras into a 12person focus group held yesterday in wilmington, North Carolina. There were seven clinton voters, five trump voters and peter started out by asking them all for a word or two to describe the president. Incompetent. Child like. Troubled. Loose cannon. Dispickable. Bold. Immature narcissist. Crazy. Embarrassing. Ignorant. Fights back. Im still optimistic. Still has a lot of time to prove something. Its still better than having a career politician in there, but he has had a harder road because everybody hates him and not just the democrats and not just the republicans. But youve been pretty tough on him too. Yeah. I mean, i expect a lot out of him. I thought his ideas appealed to me. Since hes been in there hes embarrassed me by his behavior. He behaves unpresident ial. I cant imagine how they let him build a country club let alone be in one, because we dont behave that way. He doesnt facilitate working together. He comes out with these grand owes ideas and theres no follow through. Our thanks to peter heart and the good people of wimg top, North Carolina proving the same political discussions go on no matter where you are in this country during this politically charged here of 2017. That is our broadcast on a thursday night. And we do thank you for being here with us. Good night from nbc news Head Quarters in new york. The president remains silent. The president has put a statement out. As senator al franken apologizes over Sexual Assault allegations. Roy moore follows the bannon trump playbook. The Washington Post has brought some scurrilous, false charges. Then, what did Jared Kushner know . I had no improper contacts. The senate says kushner withheld emails about a, quote, russian back door overture. And House Republicans pass the trump tax plan. I dont benefit. New Analysis Finds that the plan saves trumps family over 1 billion. I pay as little as possible. I fight like hell to pay as little as possible