It is the eve, of course, of alabama special election for the u. S. Senate. The race for a senate seat in the state of alabama which has attracted global attention and the involvement of the two Major National political parties, of course. Starting just hours from now, really, alabama voters will go to the polls to decide between the republican candidate, the ousted judge roy moore who has since been accused of Sexual Misconduct involving teenage girls or the democratic candidate doug jones. Roy moore has indeed denied the allegations made against him. The candidates both held rallies at just about exactly the same time tonight, a chance to deliver their closing arguments to voters. Weve had this history in the past of going on a road that has taken us down a path that has not been productive for this state. It has caused us to lag behind. It is time that we take a road thats going to get us on a path of progress, that everybody deserves. [cheering and applauding] this is the last rally before the vote on tuesday. And were not going to stand by and let other people from out of state and money from california control this election. [cheering and applauding] this election for the people of alabama, we dare defend our right. Both campaigns, both parties brought in air support in the form of surrogates tonight. Former white house strategist steve bannon was in midland city for roy moore. You know what theyre doing . You know what theyre doing, theyre trying to shut up President Trump and judge moore. Judge moore is a good man. Good judge moore is a righteous man. [cheering and applauding] and judge moore, theyve tried to destroy judge moore. Nba star and alabama native Charles Barkley was in birmingham for doug jones where he also talked about judge moore. Theres no way possible this guy should, number one, be in an election. [cheering and applauding] i mean, thats no way. I mean, its unbelievable that this guy is still in the race when people in your own party say they wont vote for you or support you. I am begging and urging everybody to get out, call all your friends. We got to at some point, weve got to stop looking like idiots to the nation. Both the current president and the former president recorded robocalls for their respective candidates. The polls in the race have been volatile. A new fox news poll is generating a lot of chatter tonight because it shows doug jones leading roy moore by ten points, 50 40. Other recent polls have shown a much tighter race with roy moore ahead by a few points. The prospect of moore arriving in the senate has created something of a crisis of conscience for a lot of his fellow republicans, including the current senior senator from alabama, republican richard shelby. There is a time we call it a tipping point. And i think so many accusations, so many cuts, so many dripdripdrip, when it got to the 14yearold story, that was enough for me. I said, i cant vote for roy moore. The state of alabama deserves better. Doesnt matter if youre the senior senator or a lifelong republican. Notably, shelby was mocked at tonights steve bannon event for his comments on roy moore. Bannon also took aim at mainstream republicans. To Mitch Mcconnell and senator shelby [ booing ] and condifficult ric rice, and that establishment up there every day that doesnt have that doesnt have trumps back. You know they dont have his back at all. What they want him for is that Corporate Tax cut. Thats all they want him for. As soon as they get that tax cut, you watch what happens. There is a special place in hell [cheering and applauding] for republicans who should know better. That special place in hell line was assumed by a lot of folks who saw it and maybe even acknowledged by bannon there to be trolling the president s daughter ivanka and what she had originally said about roy moore. Some of those mainstream republicans in congress are very concerned about the idea of a roy moore victory come about this time tomorrow night. Roy moore will be the gift that keeps on giving for democrats that will define the 2018 election, at least 2018. And to think you can elect roy moore without getting the baggage of roy moore is pretty naive. I didnt have to withdraw my endorsement of moore because i didnt endorse him in the first place. I think roy moore is an abomination to the Republican Party, and thats one thing republicans and democrats agree on. After all that, time now for our lead off panel as we start a new week. As i said, peter baker, chief White House Correspondent for the New York Times. Kimberly atkins, chief washington reporter for the boston herald. And robert costa, National Political reporter for the Washington Post, moderator of Washington Week on pbs. Robert is just back from an extended trip to alabama. All three of our startoff guests are msnbc political analysts. And, robert, you having just come back from your travels get to go first. I know a lot of folks are asking you various forms of this question. How close is this . Theres three major polls, some of them with better methodology than others. In short, there is a poll to match your opinion of this race, whoever you think is ahead or tied. And walk us through the prospect of a moore win and a jones win if you would. Brian, polls only tell so much of the story in a complicated race like this because when youre on the ground in alabama talking, especially to suburban Republican Voters, business minded republicans, you see how close so many of them are willing to come up right to the line to vote for the democrat doug jones. Some of them at this 11th hour, down in alabama, they are deliberating still. Can they vote for someone who supports abortion rights . Or is that too far of a bridge to cross . Republicans are enthused at this late moment because President Trump is in the corner of roy moore, trying to rev up that base in the state. The stakes are enormous and its really at this point a jump ball because President Trump has put his Political Capital on the line and the 52seat Senate Majority is also on the line for the gop. A lot at stake and at this moment the top party strategists on both sides are telling me they really are not sure if suburban voters like we saw in virginia in november will really flip, even in the deep south, because they have moral concerns and also economic concerns about what roy moore would mean for the state. Well, peter baker, lets do something the president loves. Lets speculate, having watched Luther Strange go down, but in fairness, the president peppered his speech that night with the possibility that Luther Strange might go down. What happens to the president s political clout coming off what robert just said if, indeed, we are covering a Roy Moore Loss tomorrow night . Yeah, if youre the president of the united states, you dont want to go 02 in alabama. Particularly strong republican state. The previous embarrassment during the primary was one thing. This would be far bigger. Hes invested not only himself and his own capital in this race, he has gone against every National Republican pretty much of his own party, and he basically dared them and said, fine. You guys can go against roy moore. Im sticking with him. Thats a huge rift with the national party. I think he would be obviously embarrassed if he loses. On the same token, if he were to win, if roy moore were to win, thats a big win for President Trump. He will say, im the one who brought him back from the brink of disaster. He wouldnt have won had it not been for me. And thats a reasonable argument. That may in fact be the case. I think President Trump has made it possible for republicans in alabama who might have been on the fence to say, well, maybe i will stick by moore since the president is. And, kim, right where peter left off, that is all true, and donald trump will say that and will publicly claim credit in his own way if roy moore wins. But a lot of folks see the biggest danger that a newly empowered steve bannon will start seeding the political clouds with his candidates, a laroy moor la roy moore all over the country. That is right. Republicans are really afraid of what the ongoing effect of a roy moore win in alabama will be tomorrow, that steve bannon will be empowered to start backing even more challengers, people who are not perhaps any more well vetted beforehand than roy moore was. People who one republican strategist described to me as crackpots, running for office across the country, scaring away other people who would be seen as more qualified republican candidates in 2018 and beyond, and having this really sort of give steve bannon a big victory in this ongoing civil war of sorts that we see playing out. Not just in washington, d. C. Now, but around the country, and making it very difficult, not to mention having roy moore in washington making it very difficult to get anything done. And, you know, as senator graham pointed out, in an election year, being a very big distraction at a time when republicans are trying to hold on to fairly slim majorities in both houses. Robert, the stories that they have come after roy moore with, Sexual Harassment and worse, if you were exit polling tomorrow night outside some half a dozen sample precincts, what percentage of the vote do you think youd come away with people saying, those stories moved my vote, it affected my vote . Its important to begin by stating that those are credible accusations by the women against roy moore. Many of them reported by my colleagues at the Washington Post. However, as a reporter, being down there on the ground, its also fair to say as an observer reporter that some people do not believe the allegations. They do not believe the accusations against roy moore. I do see in my reporting is a divide, a divide between some Republican Voters who say they do not believe the media, that they will stand by moore because disbelieve the media itself as an institution, has lost some of its influence and some of its credibility. There are other republicans who believe the accusations are entirely credible. And where that divide is, and how many people are on each side in the gop in alabama is really going to be a determining factor in this race because senator shelby and others talk about how huntsville and mobile and birmingham have all this Economic Growth thats on the table tomorrow. But its also a moral question for many of the voters ive spoken with. So, peter, could you make an equal kind of a lawyerly case that no matter who wins tomorrow night, it will have an equal amount of impact on 2018 . Well, look, you know, we always try to judge these special elections, these off year elections as harbingers of bigger elections to come. And a lot of times were wrong. But i do think in this case, you know, some of the themes and some of the discussion points that were having right now will play out into 2018. Weve seen that in the past where some candidates got caught up saying things or having been accused of things that were embarrassing or scandalous and it did have sort of a spill over effect into other races, not because it necessarily reflected on other candidates, but other candidates were forced to answer questions they might not have wanted to answer. You have in terms of 2018 a whole series of candidates all across the country getting ready for their own races for the house and senate having these Uncomfortable Conversations with strategists right now. What have you done in the past, what are people going to say about you . Is there anything in your closet we need to worry about . Thats going to affect recruitment, thats going to affect who the strongest candidates available in the races. Its going to affect the conversation no matter who wins tonight. Tomorrow night. Kim, im going to play a comment without comment of roy moores wife who talked tonight. Im going to play it because it is already starting to get into the Cable Television conversation, and then hopefully on the other side ill ask you a question completely unrelated. But lets listen. Fake news will tell you that we dont care for jews. I tell you all this because ive seen it also. I just want to set the record straight while theyre here. [cheering and applauding] one of our attorneys is a jew. So, kim, here we are all four veterans of the fake news business. Lets talk about the stakes for the gop. Is this truly lose lose if they win they lose, if they lose they lose because of the unknown what happens when the people send a duly elected senator roy moore to washington . I mean, i think to an extent. I think that republicans are genuinely concerned about roy moore coming to washington, about his scandal, his controversy really tainting the Republican Party more broadly. I think we have to wait and see. I mean, if its a situation where remember, there were a lot of republicans who were uneasy about donald trump when he was a candidate for president and distanced themselves from him then. And now are working to put forward his agenda and pass it. So, once roy moore gets here, if he becomes more of a, you know, reliable 50th vote for key pieces of legislation, we might see some of that disgust fade. I think ongoing especially as this conversation about Sexual Harassment continues, i think it is going to become an increasingly big problem for roy moore if hes here, just like its becoming an increasingly big problem for the president and well have to see how history judges them both. Perhaps the folks at home can tell kim is the one laura mong the four of us. And i think we threaded that needle rather a adroitly, with thanks tonight to our lead off guests peter baker, kimberly atkins, robert costa. Really appreciate you joining us on the eve of the election in alabama. Still ahead for us on a monday, the latest on the russia front. What 18 critical days may reveal about the white house and possible, possible obstruction of justice. And up next, the calls today for President Trump to resign as women accusing him of Sexual Misconduct share their stories. Some of them again. The 111th hour just Getting Started on a monday night. Usaa was there handson very quick very prompt. I feel like were being handled as people that actually have a genuine need. Were the webber family and we are usaa members for life. Usaa, get your insurance quote today. Going somewhere . Whoooo. Heres some advice. Tripadvisor now searches more. Than 200 booking sites to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30 . Trust this birds words. Tripadvisor. Anyone ever have occasional y constipation,diarrhea, gas or bloating . She does. She does. Help defend against those digestive issues. Take Phillips Colon Health probiotic caps daily with three types of good bacteria. 400 likes . Wow try Phillips Colon Health. You know, were private citizens and for us to put ourselves out there to try and show america who this man is and especially how he views women, and for them to say, meh, we dont care, it was it hurt. And so, you know, now its just like all right, lets try round two. The environment is different. Lets try again. Three women who have accused donald trump already of Sexual Misconduct renewed those claims today. Speaking out publicly and calling for the president , as you heard, to be accountable. I am hoping that this will come forward and produce enough pressure on congress to address it more than just for their own members, but to address it in the president. The president has in the past denied the allegations against him. Those comments came a day after nikki haley, one of the highest ranking women, of course, in this administration, as u. N. Ambassador, said every woman should have the opportunity to speak out, even those who have accused trump. Women who accuse anyone should be heard. They should be heard and they should be dealt with. And i think we heard from them prior to the election, and i think any woman who has felt violated or felt mistreated in any way, they have every right to speak up. Not surprisingly, this topic came up at the White House Briefing today and things got contentious. I wanted to ask you about the women who came forward today against the president. They first were on a Television Show and then they were at a press conference, and they said that he should resign and then also that there should be a congressional investigation. Look, the president has addressed these accusations directly and denied all of these allegations. And this took place long before he was elected to be president. And the people of this country had a decisive election, supported President Trump. The president told howard stern in 2005 that he had walked into a teen beauty pageant dressing room where he said that teen contest ants had no clothes on because he could sort of get away with things like that. Is that not an admission of Sexual Harassment . Look, the president spoerk about this directly. I dont have anything about this on the process. Can you stand here 100 without a doubt of uncertainty, the women who came forward and accused the president of Sexual Misconduct, do you have any problem wrestling with this . I am here to speak on behalf of the president. I can say the president has responded. Well, with us tonight to talk about this, jill colvin, White House Reporter for the associated press, and shannon for bloomberg news, we welcome both of you back to the broadcast. Shannon, just talk talk about the timing of this. Talk about the, the meaning and the moment and the wait and the impact of seeing these three women and hearing their stories, in some cases all over again. It certainly is in a different environment and different context than it was in the election season. There are a lot of ishikasues g on. Of course our consciousness as a nation is much more focused on this. However, i still, you know, dont know if this would even at this moment change a lot of peoples minds necessarily who voted for President Trump because a lot of those people knew this information, knew who he was. You had the access Hollywood Tape out there. Even in a different environment, i still think the people who supported this president filth it w felt it was for issues bigger than someone on the moral high ground. It was about immigration, the Supreme Court seat. Even despite this environment, i dont know this is going to stickney mo stick any more than it did now. Indeed, it is pointed out 63 Million People who heard the access Hollywood Tape or certainly knew what was on it voted for donald trump. Jill, your colleague, our friend jonathan la mere wrote today about the president s reaction to what he must view as friendly fire, and thats nikki haleys comments. Absolutely. Nikki haley is already someone who was in some corners of the administration viewed a little suspiciously because people are curious about her ambitions and from what weve been told, the president and his staff were really caught off guard by her comments today. The president was furious that she got up there and said what she did, taking that subtle hit at him as it was interpreted by many. There is also growing concern within the white house now that just in this new environment, despite the fact that the president has such a loyal base here, there is still growing concern. Every single day it seems like every hour, youve got new accusations being leveled, people being fired. People under fire in the media and congress and all different real realms of life, these accusations taking on different meaning. Especially with the race of roy moore how this will impact the president. Indeed, we are reacting in realtime to a societal wave, the president having been elected to office is now in this odd position of hearing again the role he plays in this conversation. Exactly. And, you know, you have the president who chose here not only to tacitly endorse roy moore, but to go out there campaigning for him, which doesnt give the president much moral high ground. You hear questions Sarah Sanders has to answer and shes standing there up in the podium and all she can really say is, look, the president has denied this and the people voted for him anyway. You know, you can say that and you can repeat that answer a whole bunch of times. But when you listen to those women and hear their stories, i can only imagine were going to be hearing from all those women again and again. It is i think 16 women in total who came forward during the campaign with elections and i do wonder what impact that has on especially women, the suburban women who voted for the president and whether it changes their perception of him. And, shannon, indeed, that Briefing Room today yet again was a tension convention. And i is there any reason you have to believe that doesnt continue, that the president doesnt get heckled questions about this at every availability . Until some other scandal supersedes it, i suppose, until were back to russia or north korea or who knows what else is around the corner, because i mean, the stories come and go so quickly. Things that would dominate a week of news dominate a morning. So, i mean, while this story about Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct across the country across all industries, it has had a really long life by our 2017 news cycle standards. I just i do still feel like it is something that this president is not going to be is not going to be damaged by. I think it is something that is going to continue to bounce off of him. I dont think thats what he was elected for, to be sort of a role model even or a moral authority or guide post this this country. It was about jobs, immigration, military, strength. You know, those were the issues. People knew what they got when they voted. Two of our great friends from print journalism, jill colvin, shannon petty piece. Thanks for joining us this monday night. Coming up, an examination of an 18day period during the first days Trump Presidency first days of trumps presidency could be critical now in the mueller investigation. Well have an nbc news exclusive report when we come back. Remember how the economic crash was supposed to be a wake up call for our government . People all across the country lost their savings, their pensions and their jobs. Im tom steyer and it turned out that the system that had benefited people like me who are well off, was, in fact, stacked against everyone else. Its why i left my Investment Firm and resolved to use my savings for the public good. But here we are nine years later and this president and the Republican Congress are making a bad situation even worse. They wont tell you that their so called tax reform plan is really for the wealthy and big corporations, while hurting the middle class. It blows up the deficit and that means fewer investments in education, health care and job creation. Its up to all of us to stand up to this president. Not just for impeachable offenses, but also to demand a country where everyone has a real chance to succeed. Join us. Your voice matters. When you have doctors working as a team for your health, you get the care you need to help you thrive. Visit kp. Org to learn more. Kaiser permanente. Thrive. Did you direct mike flynn to discuss sanctions with the Russian Ambassador prior to your inauguration . No, i didnt. Why did you fire him if the information hadnt leaked out . I fired him because of what he said to mike pence, very simple. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is trying to find out when President Trump learned mike flynn had lied to the fbi. Julie ainsley and carol lee of nbc news report mueller is zeroing in on what happened in the days before flynn was fired. They write in part, quote, special Counsel Robert Mueller is trying to piece together what happened inside the white house over a critical 18day period that began when senior officials were told that National Security advisor michael filibuster was susceptible to blackmail by russia. That warning, youll recall, came from acting attorney general sally yates who testified before congress under oath that she told the White House Counsel Don Mcgahn on january 26th that mike flynn was vulnerable because he misled the vicepresident and others about the nature of his conversation with Russian Ambassador sergey kislyak. Would you tell the white house . So, i told them, again, there were a number of press accounts, of statements that had by made by the vicepresident and other highranking white house officials about general flynns conduct that we knew to be untrue. We also told the white House Counsel that general flynn had been interviewed by the fbi. Mr. Mcgahn asked me how he did. And i declined to give him an answer to that. I remember that mr. Mcgahn asked me whether or not general flynn should be fired, and i told him that that really wasnt our call, that was up to them, but that he with were giving them this information so that they could take action. Even with that warning, the president kept flynn on as National Security advisor until he was fired 18 days later on february 13. Again, from nbc news reporting, quote, multiple sources say during interviews muellers investigators have asked witnesses, including White House Counsel Don Mcgahn and others, who have worked in the west wing to go through each day that flynn remained as National Security advisor and describe in detail what they knew was happening inside the white house as it related to flynn. Well, here to talk about it, julia ainsley, coauthor of that report and nbc National Security and justice reporter, and jeremy bash, former chief of staff to cia and pentagon. Hes also an msnbc National Security analyst. Julia, first from your colleagues here, terrific work yet again. Thank you. My question would be for viewers, especially who dont follow at the molecular level, underscore why these 18 days matter so. Yes. Id be happy to. Especially in this investigation we need to make sure we kind of zoom out and put all of this in context each time. So, the reason why Robert Mueller is so focused on these 18 days is hes trying to understand what the president knew about flynns interview with the fbi. On january 26, sally yates who was acting then as attorney general, came to the white house chief counsel don mcgahn and told him that flynn was lying to senior officials at the white house, like pence, based on those press accounts. And he also she also conveyed he had had an interview with the fbi. Mcgahn, as you just saw in that testimony, asked sally yates how flynn did, and she wouldnt say how he did. She didnt think that was appropriate. But it is obvious that was of interest to the white house, and most lawyers would tell you that mcgahn likely then went to flynn and said, so, did you lie to the fbi . That is key, if mcgahn and then trump knew that flynn had lied to the fbi, especially at the time that President Trump then pressured jim comey to drop the investigation into michael flynn, that could be a key that mueller could use for an obstruction charge against the president. And, jeremy bash, at the risk of repetition, what are all of the ways donald trump could have learned that mike flynn, his guy, had lied to the fbi and underscore for our viewers what it would take to put together an obstruction case here. Well, the president could have directed mike flynn to lie. Thats first. He could have learned that mike flynn lied from don mcgahn. He could have learned that mike flynn lied from mike flynn. And possibly what really happened across those 18 days, brian, was that there were numerous conversations inside the west wing about how precisely to thwart the fbis investigation into the russia matter because they came from mike flynn, that surely meant they were going to come interview others. They were probably going to come interview steve bannon. They were probably going to interview kellyanne conway, reince priebus, others, maybe even the vicepresident , maybe even the president. There probably were numerous strategy sessions that maybe the president presided over, maybe he was briefed upon, at which they discussed, how do we get the fbi off of our trail . And when you put the president atop a large discussion, a large meeting, an ongoing role in a meeting, that in effect is sitting on top of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Julia, you report that the d. O. J. Assumption was that flynn would get canned right after sally yates dropped this bomb in the west wing. What is the status of muellers investigation into exactly why 18, why it took 18 days . So, the status as we know now is that his team has been questioning people who were in the white house during those 18 days. A lot of those people are in the white house now, like chief counsel don mcgahn. Hes trying to figure out a lot of what jeremy just ran through, kind of who knew what when, and what conversations transpired around this time and why it took 18 days for flynn to be fired. Of course, the timing we well know now is because of Washington Post report that came out right before his firing. So, it is looking like in retrospect what they really did was they fired him because they realized they had an image problem. It wasnt to preserve the integrity of their white house. Justice officials said, yes, they expected any president to get rid of their National Security advisor as soon as they found out that he had lied to federal agents. And, jeremy, what else that might have been embedded in julias reporting today did you Pay Attention to especially . I just think its Crystal Clear now based on her reporting and reporting of her colleagues at nbc news that the president approved of mike flynns conduct. He approved of the secret deal that mike flynn launched into with the russians. He approved of mike flynns misstatements, his lies to the fbi. That felony. And he approved of the effort by his team to cover up that activity and to Work Together to thwart what the fbi was really looking at. Thank you both for joining us and needing to take a step back as we do occasionally and update people on the incremental developments. A lot of them thanks to julia ainsley. Julia, thank you. Jeremy bash, thank you sweas we for coming on tonight. Coming up, the one tweet from President Trump today wasnt about the attempted terrorist attack in new york. It was instead to dispute the volume of television he watches every day. One of the reporters who broke that story and many more of the details with us next. We are back with that after this. I can do more to lower my a1c. And i can do it with whats already within me. Because my body can still make its own insulin. And onceweekly trulicity activates my body to release it. Trulicity is not insulin. It comes in a onceweekly, truly easytouse pen. It works 24 7, and you dont have to see or handle a needle. Trulicity is a onceweekly injectable medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. It should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not take trulicity if you have a personal or Family History of medullary thyroid cancer, if you have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if youre allergic to trulicity. 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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. Helping small businesses. Ut, jamie damage your vehicle . We got you covered. [ glass shatters ] Property Damage . Thats what general liabilitys for. What . injured employee . Ow. Workers comp helps you pay for a replacement. Whats happening . This is carla. Hows it going . And if anything comes up, our experts are standing by. Boo so, i want to start by saying that early this morning i turned on the television. I listened to a bunch of stuff last night on television. Did you see her on television the other night . I watched him yesterday. I heard him on television yesterday. On television. So, today im in the plane and i see on television. Im watching television at my holiday inn express. The next day i saw it on television. I saw it on fox. In fact, i saw it on television this morning. I look on television. Last night on television. Every night on television. You saw it today on television, right . How would you like to be me watching television . Man loves him some television. That was president and then candidate donald trump admitting to getting information, as you might have heard, from watching television. A the New York Times article published this week into the life and presidency of, lets face it, the first Reality Television star to be elected president. It says, quote, before taking office, mr. Trump told top aides to think of each president ial day as an episode in a Television Show in which he vanquishes rivals. People close to him estimate that mr. Trump spends at least four hours a day and sometimes as much as twice that in front of a television, sometimes with the volume muted, marinating in the no holds barred wars of cable news and eager to fire back. The president , as expected, fired back today on twitter. Saying, quote, another false story this time in the failing north county times that i watch four to eight hours of television a day. Wrong. Back with us, peter baker of the aforementioned New York Times. Peter, there is some sensitivity in attempts to depict his day. We have heard him kind of brag as recently as his presidency of reading so many documents, reading a lot of documents, spending a lot of time with documents. The truth is his Television Viewing habits, whether theyre four hours, whether theyre eight, affect everyone down the chain. Well, they do exactly. Theyre sort of an Early Warning signal to his staff what kind of mood to expect him in over the day when they see what hed been watching, what hes tweeting about from television in the early morning. Its part of his daily routine even in the oval office where he has a 60inch set, what he calls a super tivo tracking different cable shows. Even if he doesnt have the volume up, sometimes during meetings or while reviewing papers, documents, hell keep the tv on, check the scrolling headlines underneath to see what is going on. As you point the out with your monday t montage, what he sees affects what he says out in public. Its in addition for his twitter feed and helps shape his understanding of political and policy world hes inhabiting. I want to show you what Mike Barnacle said on twitter tonight. Ive never seen your article, three of you on the by line, quoting 60 advisors, associates, friends and members of congress. So, Mike Barnacle says, excuse me, mr. President , but while you were changing batteries on your remote clicker, the nyc subway stop at 42nd street was attacked by a bomber. Sorry to trump your tv time. Thought youd want to know. And again, thats the risk of these depictions of what is a true reflection of how he spends his time, peter. It is why hes sensitive to it, obviously. When we sent in some Fact Checking questions to the white house and mentioned some of these findings, he got mad about it. He was on the trip to asia at the time and very shortly after learning about the Fact Checking questions about his television consumption, he wandered to the back of air force one talking to the reporters. I read a lot of documents, i dont have much time to watch television. Nobody understood at the time why he was bringing it up then. But it was in reaction to the idea he does in fact watch a lot of television. What is interesting of course every time he says i dont watch a lot of television, pretty soon in 24 hours he shows he does. Gosh, how awful it was i had to watch cnn because i couldnt watch anything else in these international hotels. Nobody forced him to watch cnn either but he chose to because he wants to. He gets a charge out of it to some extent. It gets him riled up for the day. Some of his friends suspect he specifically watches some television hosts, some Television Programs he knows will make him agitated because it kind of riles him up and he likes to be riled up, battling the forces against him is part of who he is, part of his political person a. And lets be honest, we can trace so many of his tweets to a segment he just saw on fox and friends in the morning. What a great piece of work you shared with your two colleagues. Peter baker, thanks so much for sticking around to talk about it. We appreciate it. Thanks, brian. Coming up tonight, why new yorkers are thankful that a troubled 27yearold man wasnt better at his task today. More on the story we just mentioned. Well have that right after this. Er . A tiny sword . Bread. Breadstick . A matchstick a lamppost coin slot no . Uhhh. 10 seconds. A stick a Walking Stick eiffel tower, Mount Kilimanjaro ding time sorry, its a tandem bicycle. What . What . as long as sloths are slow, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. I used to have more hair. I used to have more color. And. I used to have cancer. I beat it. I did. Not alone. I used to have no idea what the American Cancer Society did. Research . Yeah. But also free rides to chemo and free lodging near hospitals. I used to maybe give a little. Then i got so much back. I used to have cancer. Please give at cancer. Org. When you have a cold, stuff happens. { sneezing ] shut down cold symptoms fast [ coughing ] with maximum strength alka seltzer plus liquid gels. New yorkers got lucky this morning when an amateur terrorist attempted to blow himself up in the new york city subway and only partially succeeded. He apparently secured a pipe from a job site, assembled a makeshift bomb at home, attached it to himself with velcro and zip ties. Surveillance video shows him detonating it. The bomber is hospitalized with burns. He received the worst of it. You might say by design. Three other people were injured but did not require hospital stays. It happened during morning rush beneath the Port Authority terminal, and the police and fire response, as you can guess, was robust. Hes been identified as a 27yearold, akayed ullah, a legal permanent resident with a green card. Immigrated from bangladesh in 2011. He told police he was motivated by u. S. Bombings in isiscontrolled territory. He had not been on law enforcements radar prior to this incident. His brooklyn neighbors, by the way, told the New York Post he was aloof, weird, and always angry and there was a loud fight in his residence just last night. With us this evening, malcolm nas, veteran of naval intelligence, sperpg v special operations, homeland security, 35 years of experience in working in terrorism and counterterrorism. Malcolm, i almost made you a terrorist. That would have been a shame given your career. Are we lucky most of these guys are just amateurs . Yes, were very lucky theyre amateurs. Lets just take a look at todays case. He built this fiveinch pipe bomb, apparently didnt do the chemicals right to our benefit. And for the most part he just went up and thought this thing up. Of course new York City Police is going to be determining whether there were other people involved in this, whether there was a conspiracy, whether he was motivated by individuals or whether he was part of a cell. But what were seeing right now, and were very lucky, his amateurish attempt only injured himself. Obviously selfdetonated this device which he had on his waist. And fortunate ly nobody else wa injured or killed severely. Why is it always the case that people tell people as they told the post today he was weird around his neighborhoods, he was always angry . And i guess that speaks to the likelihood of being influenced. If someone is working at a job, maintaining a family, compos mentis every day of their life, arent they less likely to get some harebrained idea off the web . Well, you know, the web is a very powerful influence, and were talking about an ideology here that is near cult level. In terms of how it draws people in, how it allows people to alienate themselves from their own natural religion and their families. Just being weird and loud in new york city is certainly not a qualifier but it does give us some idea of his personal internal feelings about how he may have behaved on some issues. I think that when interviews start and people are going to Start Talking about what did he actually believe, what did he actually see, youre probably going to find that people who were around him knew that he had these this anger towards the issues that he claims he represented isis for. But may not have actually enunciated that he was a member of isis. That being said, you know, you can never predict whats inside a persons mind. They can just go ahead, think up a plot, get the materials, and do it. And the crudeness of this device tells me theres a mental factor here, a mental defect here, because it is nothing like some of the plots that weve seen before, where at least the devices were competently built, they were tested ahead of time, and some planning and forethought went into their missions. All of which is why we invite malcolm nance to join us on a night like this after a day like this here in new york. Malcolm, cant thank you enough. Its my pleasure. And coming up after our final break, you can call it a blast from the past. Back in the news as part of an aggressive Trump Administration campaign. Well explain after this. Whoooo. Going somewhere . Heres some advice. Tripadvisor now searches more. Than 200 booking sites to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30 . Trust this birds words. Tripadvisor. To to me hes, well, dad. Son pro golfer. So when his joint pain from Psoriatic Arthritis got really bad, it scared me. And what could that pain mean . Joint pain could mean joint damage. Enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop further damage enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. Serious sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma other cancers, nervous system and Blood Disorders and allergic reactions have occurred. Tell your doctor if youve been someplace where fungal infections are common. Or if youre prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for Heart Failure or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness. Dont start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. Since enbrel, dads back to being dad. Visit enbrel. Com. And use the joint damage simulator to see how your joint damage could be progressing. Ask about enbrel. Enbrel. Fda approved for over 14 years. Do you want clean, stain free dentures . Try polident. The four in one cleaning system kills 99. 99 of odor causing bacteria, cleans where brushing may miss. Helps remove stains and prevent stain build up. Use polident daily. There it is. The last thing before we go tonight. Its a name from the past that may conjure many things, including nothing, largely depending on your age and your consumption of history. The mere sound of the alphanumeric combination b52 means something very powerful to folks who were around during the vietnam war. The b52 was the military pride. Cold war era. A heavy lift High Altitude longdistance bomber that brought us the appropriately named Rolling Thunder Bombing Campaign and generally delivered death and terror from the sky several hundred pounds at a time. There it is. Eight engines in all under those wings. Unbeknownst to a lot of folks, b52 bombers have returned to the skies, this time over afghanistan. They are part of a steppedup campaign that was dropped upwards of 4,000 bombs and missiles on taliban targets. Their mission, profiled recently by the New York Times, about 75 of the flying dreadnoughts are still air worthy, one tenth of ow former fleet. The planes are old enough to have been flown by the grandfathers of todays pilots, and their official name, the strattofortress, just sounds like the heady era of their birth and American Military supremacy. Now they are at work in americas longest war, part of the pentagons belief that fighting from 20,000 feet will save the lives of american fighters on the ground. And about how the name of the b52s means Different Things, entirely Different Things to different generations, in a later era the b52s were only weapons of peace and joy and later karaoke. Love shack and rock lobster would not exist were it not for the modern version of the b52s. For a more modern era. And the iconic vocals of the pride of newark, new jersey, fred schneider. Something completely different to end our broadcast for tonight as we start a new week. Thank you so much for being here with us, and good night from nbc news headquarters in new york. All right. Its been a lot of news today, and theres been sort of two big political stories that have been happening simultaneously, and then one story that is totally off of politics but has riveted the nations largest city and to a certain extent the country. New york city was the target of a terrorist attack today for the third time in 15 months. September of last year it was i Pressure Cooker bomb that detonated in the chelsea neighborhood in manhattan. Which is on the west side of the city, north of Greenwich Village but south of midtown. That was september last year. Then halloween this year it was a guy driving a truck down the west side bike path in northern manhattan, deliberately hitting cyclists and pedestrians
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