Favorite journalist, who has a law degree. My first question, though, is what did bob mueller teach trump about our republic this year . As part of this report i want to begin with a quick tour of key moments that turned the probe from aides to federal probe en12k3wr0i67b8g9 under siege from day one, Michael Flynn is out. Flynn they say had lied to the president and Vice President. General flynns resignation is not the end of the story. It is merely the beginning. Moments ago sessions held a press Conference Announcing he is recusing himself from any investigation involving the trump campaign. President trump has fired james comey as director of the fbi. Ive just heard from a former fbi official describe this as shocking, as insane and question whether it could amount to obstruction. Did President Trump pressure comey to drop his investigation into former National Security adviser Michael Flynn . I hope you can let this go. Now, those are his exact words, is that correct . Correct. I was going to fire regardless. I said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a madeup story. Legislative agenda of republicans has been absolutely derailed by this president and the drip, drip, drip. The u. S. Justice department has named a special counsel to investigate the possible role Donald Trumps campaign played with russia. The special counsel investigation into russias election meddling has entered a new phase. Robert mueller has impaneled a grand jury. The first indictments in Robert Muellers investigation the indictments of former Campaign ChairmanPaul Manafort and his righthand man rick gates. This is what it looks like when you follow the money. Guilty plea by third adviser. George papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. Its october 30, 2017. Mr. President , call your lawyer. This bombshell coming on day 315 of the Trump Presidency. Mike flynn admits he lied to the fbi about russia and will cooperate. I dont want to talk about pardons for Michael Flynn yet. Well see what happens. I have a tree falls in the forest question for you. If the president issues a pardon, do we have to know about it . Joining me, howard fineman, editorial director for the huffington post. Nick ackerman, former Watergate Special prosecutor. And the new schools maya wily, former lawyer for the mayor of new york city. Going around the horn with a question. What has bob mueller taught donald trump this year he may not have known . And anything else you want to reflect to reflect on more widely with respect to 2017. Nick, go ahead. Taught him we dont live in dictatorship. Because youre president of the United States doesnt mean you decide whos going to be prosecuted and whos going to be investigated. We live under a rule of law. Despite the president s firing of james comey, his efforts in calling people in the congress and in the National Security agency to stop the investigation into russian conspiracy with the trump campaign, the investigation has continued, people have pled guilty, theyve been brought to justice. And this is something that i dont think donald trump had a clue about before he became president. I would absolutely echo that. I would say that were a democracy and not even the president of the United States is above the law and that our arms of government, including the u. S. Department of justice, is an independent arm because its job is to uphold the laws of the United States, not to uphold the special interests of a particular president. Howard . Well, donald trump came into the white house dragging this blossoming controversy behind him and it hasnt left him and its not going to leave him anytime soon. His people told him it would be over by this year. Its not going to be over. I think its going to last at least one more year, maybe longer. And the reasons are as others have said people have been indi indicted, people have decided to cooperate with the investigation, and i think that looking at two things, the obstruction part of it is going to be more political and in the end i think more difficult for bob mueller because of the campaign thats begun and will be continued to discredit james comey. The collusion part of ti think is where the money is and where the real controversy will be in the next year. And howard, youve covered so many administrations. There is a fair argument that inexperience, especially when it comes to washington, can be good for a president. As you know, a lot more candidates have gotten into the white house saying they dont Like Washington or they dont know washington than the opposite argument. Senators rarely leave their Hallowed Chamber with a ticket from the American People to the white house. And yet donald trump went further than that. He said he didnt only know washington, he didnt know the constitution, he didnt know how government works, he didnt know much of anything. He really ran on that. Speak to how that may have backfired for him. It seems like person more responsible for appointment of bob mueller which has haunted this whole year is donald trump more than any other individual in the world. I think thats spot on, ari. I think he had no concept of the ball game he was getting into coming to washington. In new york he was used to throwing his weight around in real estate development, somewhat fungible or expandible or contractible legal situations involving zoning or lawsuits or bankruptcies or whatever, where he could really push the system and ignore the system. Not here. At least not so far. His own ignorance is actually the deepest challenge to the Constitutional Order and rule of law here. And hes tried to make a virtue of it. But its been disastrous. Its his ignorance that led to the special counsel to begin with, especially the dramatic firing of james comey, and his saying to lester holt on our air that he did it because of the russia investigation. Donald trump in essence was in a way admitting to obstruction of justice on national television. Now the question is whether that will be politically muddied by the effort to discredit comey. Thats what the white houses strategy to get out of trumps own ignorance is all about. Right. And the other point, maya and nick, that comes up so often is oh, donald trump wont criticize putin. Hell criticize everyone but putin. I think this year amends that. Hell criticize everyone but putin and bob mueller. Which is extraordinary when you think about it. There are other efforts, as howard mentions, by people who are empowered by trump, who work with or for trump, who are attacking mueller. But im going to show you a lot of the comments hes made this year. He is unusually careful when asked about this one powerful man. Take a look. Have you thought about or considered leading to dismissal of the special counsel . Anything that bob mueller could do to send you in that direction . I havent given it any thought. Mr. President , are you considering firing Robert Mueller . Are you going to fire mueller . Would you be willing to speak under oath to give your version of events . 100 . So if Robert Mueller wanted to speak with you about that i would be glad to tell him exactly what i just told you. Passing notes to special counsel bob mueller . Can you talk about not notes. Were working with him. Theyre investigating something that never happened. Do you think you would ever consider having mueller removed . I hope hes treating everything fairly. And if he is im going to be very happy. Robert mueller, do you think he should recuse himself . Well, hes very, very good friends with comey, which is very bothersome. Nick, you know its hard for him. You know its hard for him in every one of those interviews for him thats holding back. Well, hes not holding back. Hes got other people doing this for him. Doing the dirty work. Sure. Look at the latest example with the gsa emails. That was the most bogus Public Relations effort you could see. Its so transparent. If they really had a problem with mueller obtaining these gsa emails, they would have gone into court and filed papers. The reason they couldnt is they dont have a leg to stand on. There is no privilege. Theres no executive privilege. Let me push you on this. There is a difference here. Im not saying its good or bad. I dont think it much matters what a client says. But in this case youve gotten this voluble, loud, undisciplined president of the United States to avoid the bait. Just about anyone else, comey, sessions, democrats in congress, hear a lot more than were not thinking about it. But the reason is hes got others doing it for him. Hes got members of congress doing, it hes got this group from the Transition Committee that is making up this bogus pr firm with the gsa emails. Hes got other people beating that drum. Thats why hes holding back. He doesnt have to say anything. Ari, youve pointed this out on previous shows. Its also the way fox news will be the megaphone for those positions. And i think hes learning hes not above the law and has something to fear from the obstruction of justice charge. I would disagree with howard on that one point, that as a matter of political theater it may appear that way but from a legal standpoint hes extremely vulnerable on obstruction of justice. He has publicly admitted to it, essentially. Hes learned that hes got to curb that. So i think its much more about strategy and finally listening to his attorneys than anything other than and maybe realizing he cant directly fire the special counsel. Let me give howard rebuttal on that. Howard, as you know, anyone whos seen a Police Procedural knows it can take a long time and a are lot of interrogation to get someone to confess or in Donald Trumps case it was why did you fire jim comey and he said russia. As i say, he said it on television. I think hes aware that firing comey is one thing, firing bob mueller might be another. Im not arguing hes growing to do that. I think he will pardon some of these people that have been indicted possibly. I also think that donald trump thinks in his own mind that he did not collude, that there was no and in his mind that means a phone call to putin saying okay, lets do this deal. I think donald trump is convinced they dont have that kind of thing on him, so thats one reason why hes holding out hope that ultimately mueller might possibly exonerate him. But anything short of that, hes going to do i would insist that the obstruction case, if there is one, is more complicated in the context of impeachment and trial in the senate. Donald trump is fully aware of the fact of one number, and thats 67. Thats the number that would be needed to convict him in the senate. He doesnt think they can get there on the obstruction charge im sure because theyre going to continue to politicize it with his people, to attack mueller, to attack comey and the whole and to assert that donald trump was perfectly within his power as president to fire comey. Right. Thats the groundwork thats going to be the argument. Thats the groundwork theyve been laying. Collusion, if they make the case in the house and senate for impeachment and conviction, its going to be on collusion. And thats why this is going to take another year. Everyone stays. You mentioned the pardons and the future of that. We have a lot more. Legal fights against trump in 2018. And also, remember this . Youre saying its a falsehood. And theyre giving sean spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts. Alternative facts. Remember that . Remember the womens march . Were going to look at the resistance from the courtroom to the streets which helps explain where trump is headed next year. And you might not want to miss our beat highlight reel. The reporting, the interviews, the highlights, the bad jokes. Ive got them all. Im ari melber. Youre watching a special edition of the beat on msnbc. Hi, im the internet you know whats difficult . Armless bowling. Ahhhhhhhh you know whats easy . Building your website with godaddy. Get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. Build a better website in under an hour. Every president has power in the courts, but few have faced as many legal setbacks in year one as trump. The military transgender ban is under fire, doj reviewing how to defend it. And former trump aides Paul Manafort and rick gates facing frierl money laundering, part of the russian probe. Personally donald trump also faces a court battle, a Defamation Case brought by a former apprentice contestant. Trump came into the white house as the most litigated person to ever enter the office, with a lot of experience giving depositions. I dont have my glasses. I am at a disadvantage. Because i didnt bring my glasses. This is small writing. You dont email, and i observe thats because youre a very smart person. Yes. Weve figured that out. Took a lot of people a long time to figure that out. When you say you think he would have gotten additional business, additional compared to what . I think my running for office potentially would have helped him as opposed to hurt him. The panel is back with me. Ill start with nick akerman, who didnt forget his glasses for this interview. I didnt. If i talked to you the way trump talks in depositions, you could barely hear it. Its a different trump. Exactly. What is that about . The strategy is to try and play stupid, to try and forget as much as he can about what the real facts are. And to basically deflect. Thats what he does. He deflects whats going on. Hes lied about this whole conspiracy between the campaign and the russians, right from the beginning, and we keep finding in this past year, that lo and behold in april of 2016, he was fully aware of the emails that were hacked out of the dnc through papadopoulos. The june 9th meeting occurred at trump tower with his son. You cant tell me for a second that his son didnt tell him what happened at that meeting with the promise of dirt on hillary clinton. We also have right after that meeting roger stone goes out. Hes dealing with gucifer 2. 0, who publishes those stolen emails. Then when these dont gain traction you have roger stone dealing with wikileaks, who then publishes a whole slew of those emails just before the Democratic Convention and just at the time that that videotape comes out with trump on the bus. And everything youre referring to is called evidence. And maya, thats the big difference. Not only on russia but on an unusually active first year, with travel ban, with immigration, with the ethics suits. And were going to have one of those lawyers later in the show. What you see is the president who, out of the courtroom, has really stretched and broken they talk about breaking the internet. You know, if you get enough likes. He has broken some of what the press does. And if youre purely a cynical political operative, you think great, thats a win. Fact checks dont matter as much. If you care about facts, if you care about the country, if you care about the republic, that might bother you. And yet that doesnt work as well in a courtroom, where theres rules of evidence. Talk about that in the cases of, say, the travel ban or immigration, which are still upcoming. Absolutely. And it relates to the conversation we were having about the russia investigation, which is donald trump comes into washington, doesnt understand the law, doesnt really seem to care about it very much, and then makes a lot of public statements, for instance, on the travel ban, where he has said things that link him directly to antimuslim views and a view that hes actually trying to keep muslims out of the country. And that for civil rights lawyers is pretty much a smoking gun in similar ways. Lets dig into that. Whats so important about that is its not searching someones heart. Were talking about race this year, and its difficult. I hear from people all the time who say hey, can i Say Something without being accused of being racist . This isnt that, though, is it . No. This is how did you build this immigration policy . And if it was, as you campaigned on, targeting religion, if you can prove that, and this is going to be litigated next year more so, the Supreme Court traditionally has said if you can prove that it goes out the window because you cant just target a religion or race. Thats right. And thats why they tried to amend it by adding venezuela, for example. But as a matter of law, if you try to fix something by covering up your racial discrimination, its still racial discrimination. So the fact that you harmed some other people in addition, and even in those instances its still pretty clear that they were trying to target muslims. And its bad policy. At the end of the day, if were trying to protect the United States, part of what were examining is are you actually formulating a policy that is actually advancing the interests of the country and certainly security is one of those interests. But you dont meet it by just taking a whole population of people and branding them as an enemy of the state. Howard, this is something that is so important that can get lost. Everyone understands the politics of immigration, and they are complex. And by the way, ive made this point before. Plenty of democrats have demagogued on the politics of immigration. I dont see it so much as a partisan issue as looking at whether this stuff is real. Are we trying to get security or is it demagoguery . But in this case, talk about what it would mean if Donald Trumps first big loss before the Supreme Court next year would be a full narrowing of that now famous travel ban. Well, i think if that were to happen it would be the Supreme Court making a statement about what kind of country that we are, that america is, thats different from the one that donald trump is formulating. He said in his final Cabinet Meeting of the year that america stands today as a different country in the world. I thought that was actually a very profound statement by the president , whether he intended it to be or not. It will be up to the Supreme Court whether that different kind of country is one that fits with the constitution, and with our conception of ourselves as a people. Sometimes the Supreme Court is required to make a very big statement about who we are as a society. They did it in brown versus board of education. They did it in the in the in many other cases. This is that profound, because it deals with how we present ourselves to the world and how we see ourselves. And by the way, the polls show that a majority of the American People dont like the ban. They like us to be open to the whole world, and thats the president s political challenge. That whole statute of liberty thing. Apparently, thats some people feel that way. Right. I will say this because were wrapping on this special part of our yearender. Its pretty hard to launch a tv show. I found it very difficult. I am indebted to the producers who work so hard on this show. And also indebted to our regulars. And the three of you have been such a voice of expertise and thoughtfulness during a busy year. Thank you, howard. Thank you, nick. Thank you, maya. Thank you. Thank you so much. Were going to fit in a break. But ive got a lot more ahead. Those ethics questions i mentioned. Richard painter is in the building. And yes, a yearender fallback friday. Remember that robot guy . Terrifying. Also, later, some of the best moments that have happened on the beat. The interviews, the arguments, even some hiphop. All of that straight ahead. Donald trump brought more conflict to the white house than any president in history. Remember those files he was showing when he outlined his white house Business Plan . The conflicts of interest laws simply do not apply to the president or the Vice President , and they are not required to separate themselves from their financial assets. He instructed us to take all steps realistically possible to make it clear that hes not exploiting the office of the presidency for his personal benefit. If it wasnt clear to everyone, trumps hotel in washington, a magnet for foreign officials. Ethics groups suit. Then trump doubled the cost of maralago membership and six cabinet members have been investigated for misusing your money, your tax dollars, for private travel. Im joined by white house ethics chief richard painter, who served under president bush and is filing a lawsuit against trumps hotel in washington. Richard, you have been busy in a bad way this year, by which i mean your ethics group and others have had to keep up with a whole range of conflicts. What have we learned and what are you seeking to stop in the next year . Well, what we have seen is a president who has more financial conflicts of interest than any other president in history. And a congress that wont do anything about it. Wont do anything about his financial conflicts of interest. Wont do anything about their own, including their campaign money. We have democrats who will throw out a senator i think on paltry evidence of sexual misconduct, but retain another senator who has been indicted on bribery for over a year. We have republicans that will defend President Trumps financial conflicts of interest, including his violations of the United States constitution, which specifically prohibits any Person Holding a position of trust with the United States government from accepting any profits and benefits from dealings with Foreign Governments. And its not just about the hotel rooms and the ballrooms at the trump hotel. Its about the financing of his real estate empire. We have no idea where hes getting his money. Whether its in dollars or rubles or any other currency. Congress doesnt bother to find out, because congress theyre happy to obsess on sex but when it comes to money they all put their head under the table and they dont want to talk about it. You make a great point. I think a lot of members of congress are gun shy, because on the gradations here, they spend a lot of time fundraising, they talk to a lot of the donors and maybe theyre worried about where a real cleanup operation would go. It does hit both parties, yet its so vital. The other issue is what lawyers call a case of first impression. And thats what your constitutional suit probably is, right . I mean, you know this better than anyone. The courts have not had the opportunity to rule in great depth on the emoluments clause because no other president in either party ever sought to try to break it like this. So what does that mean for you . Is that good news because you get a clean swipe at this in the courts or is it bad news because you dont have a lot of precedent to prove whether the hotel and the other things are a violation of the foreign gifts. Well, we dont have the legal precedent in the courts. Of course, we have not had this precedent, of course, with any other president or Senior Office holder who has accepted profits and benefits from Foreign Governments. We hope to succeed in the courts. There are other lawsuits, as well. One lawsuit brought by members of congress who were not consulted about these unconstitutional profits and benefits from Foreign Governments, even though the constitution specifically says that the consent of congress is required. And a third lawsuit brought by the attorney general of the state of maryland and the attorney general of the district of columbia. So well see how these suits proceed. But once again, the emoluments clause ought also to be enforced by congress. When it comes to money, and money and emoluments, members of congress of both parties want to duck. And thats not acceptable. And as you say, as we think about the year ahead, the courts having to rule on that claerng in the constitution that says if you want a gift from a Foreign Government congress has to approve it, and there are obviously good reasons for that when you think about what it means to owe north korea or owe russia. So richard painter, youve been on the forefront of this. A lot of people know you from seeing your tv appearances. I know you from reading the briefs that your ethics group have cited. Well be following your cases in the new year. And a happy new year to you, richard. Happy new year. Coming up, the movements and political moments that showed what america was at its core in 2017. I have a new panel on that. And some of the moments from the beat, the debates, the interviews, the dad jokes, all of, that on our special edition of the beat on msnbc. 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. Welcome back to this special edition of the beat. We turn our focus now to some of those big moments in 2017, moments that changed the entire national conversation. Im joined by liz plnk from vox, shelby holiday from the wall street journal, and comedian chuck nice. Hes nice, man. We start with the womens marches. This was of course right after trumps inauguration. According to Washington Post estimates, this was the largest singleday demonstration in american history. Think about that. Half a Million People in d. C. Alo alone. The constitution does not begin with i the president , it begins with we the people. Let this weight not drag you down, but help to get your heels sunk in. My body, my choice those who are abusing their power, that is what i am here today to march against. I am a nasty woman we go right to the panel. Liz, what did those protesters and leaders teach us this year . Well, they taught us that theyre here to stay and that women are leading the resistance against this current administration. Ive been to a lot of marches and protests. I covered this one for vox. And i can tell you this one was unlike anything ive ever seen or experienced in my life. We started 2017 with women creating the largest protest in u. S. History, in modern u. S. History. We ended the year with the metoo movement, black women in alabama turning that state, and also we have all this data from emilys list, from women who are not just interested in rung but actually, you know, taking the steps to change government. And have more women represented. Thats whats so amazing a year later looking back at this. It transcended politics. It attracted this transactional solidarity. We saw marches all around the world. And it really was a catalyst for change. In just one year. Everything you mentioned look where we are. It gives me chills to watch some of those sound bites too. It was a moment that had you known where you would be in a year, it just seemed unthinkable. It was an incredible moment. And everybody said, if they went to that march, they had never felt anything like it. And chuck, you think about this. There are people who came to this and said oh, wow, look at what women are saying or look, weve discovered these problems in the workplace. And yet in reporting on this what we hear from so many women is other people are having a Christopher Columbus moment, like you discovered this . People live here. People live with this every day. Funny but not funny. Yeah, funny but not funny. People live with this every single day, and there has been a pressure on people, explicitly on men, through this movement that started with the march and continues through me too, to say we all need to be involved in this. Yeah, everything you said is absolutely correct. And i feel that im a little crestfallen that the only person not the only person. The primary individual that should have been affected by this im sure it had no effect on him at all. Im sure that person looked at all of those women and went, only i can move this many women like this. So to me, thats the saddest part of this, is that those in power right now did not look at this and say wow, this is a seminal moment in our countrys history, we should do something. Yet you speak to where its going, which is the old famous saying, power concedes nothing without a demand. And we heard it from the women on that day, were going to make power respond, were going to make it not only listen but react, which goes to the other big thing in 2017. This was of course the year that the phrase both sides became a shorthand for moral equivalence. Many issues, by the way, do have two sides. But thats not how american leaders typically discuss White Supremacy rallies. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides, on many sides. But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. I think theres blame on both sides. You look at both sides, i think theres blame on both sides, and i have no doubt about it, and you dont have any doubt about it, either. Chuck im sorry, it is sad, but it is also hilarious that the leader of the free world has to be taught. So let me clear it up for you. Nazis are not fine people, ever. Okay. Im glad we cleared that up. And shelby, one of the other most disfavored terms from the year that i hope we can leave in 2017 was the year, the day, the moment that donald trump became president , which was referred to when he would give a serviceable or normal speech. Normal. But lets flip that and say that was the day that he america had to reckon with the kind of president we have. And for anyone who thought the birtherism crusade was just a gimmick, or what was said on the campaign trail was Just Campaign talk, which is often the last defense of scoundrels, this president said on that day, as chuck just said, there were good people at the White Supremacy rally. And nobody in the republican party, in leadership and in congress wanted to cosign that because that is a reprehensible claim. But i think that alone is important, but the fact that he doubled down on it and continued to double down on that just spoke volumes of who he is as a president , as a person. I think since then, weve seen a lot of interesting things happen at the ballot box in races where africanamericans are showing up in larger numbers than they usually do. More than obama. This comes after right. This also comes after, you know, the uproar about the protests, the National Anthem protests and basketball players over in china and a number of racial issues that continue to be surfaced by this president. We are seeing this at the ballot box. If youre a republican right now looking into next years midterms, youre probably a little worried about this. And youre worried about whether people are getting the real goods, the real facts on it because if they are it can turn off a lot of people, a lot of mod rarts. A lot of people regardless of what party theyre affiliated with. Liz is always quoting drake, who said, whats that, facts . And facts have become a huge point of contention in 2017. A time when we have more Information Available to us, more internet fact check available, but also in the first hours of the Trump Presidency this year, this should not be forgotten, you had sean spicer using his very first briefing to attack the media with a very misleading claim about crowds. Photographs of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed in a way in one particular tweet to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on the national mall. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe that was followed up by a term which captured a new approach to propaganda in trumps america. Dont be so overly dramatic about it. What it youre saying its a falsehood, and theyre giving sean spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts. Alternative facts. The pause is always interesting. Alternative facts. How many times have we seen that . Yeah, alternative facts has become a synonym for this idea of fake news, which hes been spouting ever since he was elected. I think one of the biggest things of the Trump Administration is making fake news a problem of the media, when in fact the media is actually, you know, constantly, as you mentioned, using Fact Checking and we could talk about it all day, when theyre responsible for a lot of truth and disproving the falsehoods. Yeah, but whats scary is its working. There are americans out there asking how do we really know if russia meddled in our election . Or how do we know how big the crowds were . So that strategy has worked for this administration, and those comments from sean spicer also preceded comments from Jeff Sessions who said he couldnt recall any contacts with the russians to the dispute with the wife of the slain soldier and what trump said on a phone call. No one ever apologizes. No one ever says my bad or i got it wrong. Its working and its failing because more than most administrations theyve seen firstyear departures of the national jiertz, health and Human Services secretary, drug czar and all these officials. I want to fit in a break here. Youll be here in a minute. Shelby always does the i have one more thing. Coming up, a look back at some of my favorite moments on the beat. For a dollar, define collusion. Oh, god. Its when you collude. And with our panel tonight, a special edition of fall back friday. Thats up ahead. And now to our yearend edition of fallback friday. You know the music. We debuted this experiment last year, unsure how it would go. Even i was skeptical at first. Now, who needs to fall back on this friday . We have a new segment on the beat. You may like it, you may not. This should be really good, unless its really bad. Yes, were back by popular demand. Maybe not really, but were going to do fallback friday again. Fallback friday is here. A segment that always goes well. Except for when it doesnt. Its fallback friday. A segment some people love. Some people dislike. And some people dont even understand. Were honest about what this is. Chuck, you were on our firstever fallback friday. Heres that moment. Oh, wow. Youre here for our maiden voyage. Yes. Lets skip the music. Well do the music. I feel like im about to solve a crime right now. Should this whole segment fall back or should we do it again . I say move ahead. Thank you for that encouragement. Here we are. And there you have it. For the whole year, who needs to fall back . Im going to go with fast food trends. Okay . Because there have been some this year that are quite disturbing. Starting with burger king. Flaming mac and xhooeptz when i say it i can feel a shooting pain up my arm and tightness in my chest. But its basically a mozzarella stick covered in what they call flavor dust, which to me sounds like code you would use with your dealer when youre trying to make a hey, man, you got that flavor dust . And then in the middle you see the frork. Because mcdonalds felt as though the spork wasnt stupid enough. So they made the frork, which is a fry fork. Thats hard to say. Who eats fries with a utensil . Thats what im saying. Make a stupid name and strip all the fun out of eating french fries. And last but not least, yes, taco bell with the firecracker burrito. Ah, yeah, because taco bell clearly does their Food Development when they have the munchies. Which is fine. Except youre high. I know where im going next time i drink. I want to try each of those things. Sorry to steal your spotlight. My fallback, lavar ball. I know thats going to make some people mad but hes the father of the basketball players, he got in this tiff with donald trump. He has made everyone angry this year from lebron james to charles barkley. Its not just about trump. The lakers had to enforce a lavar ball rule, as you can see, because hes talking to the media and causing too many problems. He also blamed ucla coaches somehow for his son shoplifting in china. Then he took his son out of school altogether, sent him to lithuania and said its a good decision because its his decision. The guy, hes trying to sell really ridiculously expensive shoes with his ridiculously crazy big baller brand. Dude just needs to fall back. And if people want to tweet at you, what is your handle on twitter . shelbyholiday. Im happy to let her know what you think. Hes the joe jackson of basketball. Hes everything thats wrong with sports. And i agree. Liz, who needs to fall back this year . I mean, look, i also have a very controversial pick. Which ill get a lot of heat online for. But male rompers. You go, girl. Romphim is apparently the term that were supposed to be using. Men have everything. Men have power, influence. Theyre equally represented overrepresented in congress. Can we just have rompers . Like can you just you get to keep rompers. Can we keep rompers . Can we see those photos again just to let that sink in at the end of the year . Does anyone else agree . Thats a onesie. I want to hang out with all those guys. Thats a onesie. If youre going to take a romper, dont like appropriate it and call it a romphim. Just call it a romper. Embrace your femininity. My executive producer dan, whos a big part of the show, said weve got to go, weve got to go. And i thought a little more time for the rompers cant hurt. Were going to do what you want to stay in for is next. This is my favorite thing. We have our most memorable moments from this show all year, next. Get awesomely fast wifi that gives you coverage here, here and here. And it even lets you take a timeout. Nooooooo yes amazing speed, coverage and control. All with an xfi gateway. And now for our highlights from this show. We launched the beat halfway into 2017, which is quite a time to start a news show. Our producers put together some of the most newsy, iconic, and memorable moments plus a few dad jokes. The fact that a Foreign Government would interfere in our election should trouble all of us. There is no russian connection. Do you think President Donald Trump may have to ultimately testify . He absolutely may have to testify. These stupid investigations, its like dangling the shiny object saying hey, look at it. We were attacked by the russian government. The problem is that that isnt a crime. Our coverage of this deadly tack in new york city does continue right now. Washington is completing funding for one hurricane while bracing for another. He didnt attack country music. He attacked america. Displaying khodorkovsky in a steel cage. I was knifed in the face while i was sleeping. 56 days for Childrens Health care unless our congress acts. The president blocked you. What do you want to say to him . 32 Million People will lose their health insurance. Do you think that former felons or exconvicts like yourself should have the right to vote . The media isnt covering what he accomplishes. The media jumps on him for every little thing youre on the show right now with the media. Mark, do you still think transparency would be inconvenient when it might actually protect our elections . Were shifting the blame and the shame. I say that to a lot of addicts, that it does quit until it quits working. Thank you for being here. Congratulations. Im super jealous. With russian jokes are we supposed to laugh or cry . Translator with nearly all russian jokes you laugh through the tears. A lot of important stories there. We also this year had some fun. Ari, we are totally psyched. Good evening. Thank you, chris. I appreciate that. Good evening. This is what a honey badger presidency looks like. Look at your outfit. You look like youre trying to sell me a casket. There are a lot more people who dont know your show. Fact. Oh. Thanks, ari. Sounds a lot like your show. Trust me, i wanted to do maddow. Wasnt asked. Honey badger dont care. Any dude that has a combover like that lies to himself all the time. Im just telling you. Katie, i just want to say i thought that was hasht an interesting segment. As i always say at this time, i will see you later, alligator. After a while crocodile. I didnt know we were doing this. I would have brought my mariners hat. For what . I dont know if you ever listen to reggae or peter tosh. He had a famous song legalize it. No, i have not. Its about us. Its about trust is what i remember. Youre not shouting out bill kristol . Ive seen bill kristol on tv but i dont know him like that yet. Hey, bill, we dont know you like that. Im speechless. What can i say . I aint got to talk it because i live it. Anthony scaramucci is a studio gangster. Bob mueller is like a diver with huge lung capacity. It could explode into a full tsunami. To borrow a rap lyric, he said dont hate the player, hate the game. Is mike flynn this jellyfish . You didnt just bring a leather jacket. You brought receipts. Thats what i do. Talking to this guy is like doing hamlet without hamlet. The hamlet of course raises the issue of all of the denmark sanctions in that play. Just a sanctions joke there, brian. Yeah. Nothing. And seth, we dont just report anything on the internet. Also, it would take too long because its big. Theres so much on the internet. Internet joke. [ crickets ] quiet panel. She wasnt interested in searching for explosives. So now shes moving on to other things, rev. Well, she might have found something more interesting to sniff. Katie, all i can say is this is why i watch. Kamala harris is . Almost done with this interview. Do you want to end on a slow handshake . Very slow. Real slow. Very, very slow. Like almost you want it to end. That is true. And if you want 2017 to end, thats happening. Lightning round. 2017 in one word. Eyeroll emoji. Mayhem. Rusher. 2018 as we look ahead in one word. Women. Can i say started from the bottom now were here . Wow. I dont know where but well be here. Turnout. And i dont mean like getting drunk. I mean really, turn out, damn it vote whats wrong with you vote do it vote get turned out okay, fine, you win, you win. Someones got the midterms on his mind. Liz, shelby, and chuck, thanks for being part of this show all year. Thanks for being here tonight. Thanks to our team that puts together the beat every night. And thanks to you at home for giving us a chance. Were glad you watch sometimes at 6 00 p. M. Eastern. Have a very happy new year. 12 months of trump. Lets play hardball. Good evening o. Im Chris Matthews in washington. This year in politics a series of explosive headlines, most of which have been generate order at least fuelled by President Donald Trump. Like many politician, trump was elected on the promise he would shake up washington. Yet none of his predecessor have delivered such a steady stream of controversy and chaos in their first year in office. We begin tonight with the biggest story of 2017 so far, or by far, the investigation into russian meddling, potential collusion, and possible obstruction of justice