Bottom line that was their goal heading into tonight, to live to fight inll of these in november. Brian, well accepted it over to you. Our thanks to steve kornacki. We ask only that you not stray from the big board. We will come back with results as they come in throughout the broadcast. Checking in on other news, day 502 this was of the trump administration. And President Trump wasted no time again today lashing out at his own Attorney General of his recusal from the Russia Investigation. President trump wrote on twitter, the russian witchhunt hoax continues all because Jeff Sessions didnt tell me he was going to recuse himself. I would have quickly picked someone else. So much time and money wasted. So many lives ruined. And sessions knew better than most that there was no
report would be positive, as we learned the next morning. But when aide mentioned sessions, trump abruptly ended the conversation and unmuted the television in his office, dismissing the staffer to resume watching cable, according to a person familiar with the an. We are Tracking Developments on Paul Manafort, his mounting legal problems in the Russia Investigation. Earlier today a judge scheduled a june 15 hearing on whether to revokemanaforts bail after prosecutors alleged he tried to tamper with potential witnesses while on pretrial release. Nbc news reporting it this way. According to mondays fbi aft, two people who were part of a broader effort to lobby on behalf of ukraine told orat manafort, while on contacted them in an effort to influence their testimony and to otherwise
conceal evidence. A spokesperson for manafort released a Statement Today that said, mr. Manafort is innocent and nothing about this latest allegation changes our defense. We will do our talking in court. Also new today, Washington Post reporting that President Trump has become, fixated on pardons. A white house official said trump is obsessed with pardons, describing them as the president s new favorite thing to talk about. He may sign a dozen or more in the next two months, this person added. A lot to talk b. Lets bring in our leadoff panel. Joyce vance who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor, Michael Crowley for politico, and john, author of game change and double down. The circus on show time in addition to being a contributor around these parts. John, take it wherever you wish. Sessions, pardons, manafort. What are we witnessing right now . Just another day at the that lose that tor ranch. You said almost normalized. We h. More than a daily basis. Use a fuselage. There are a couple important things. The tweet about Jeff Sessions, i was on Morning Skwroefplt it has become so common that we didnt really pause to let it sink in that the president W Essentiallyontradicting what his lawyers are said in those documents that we saw in the New York Times this weekend where they said no. Donald trump always knew it was going to go on. He did not fire jim comey in order to end the Russia Investigation. Here he is contradicting it flatly,aying the russian witchhunt hoax, a phrase that no editor would allow in a copy
and present danger. Its active wording. How did it read to you . What did you take away from this . Its a really interesting pleading, brian. On the technical legal side of things, one of the conditions of Paul Manafortas tt heotmit another federal crime. So now the government has brought before the judge probable cause to believe hes tampered with a witness, and thats a good reason to re his bond. In the two or times this happen in my career, everyone on the prosn got incredibly angry and mediately went to the judg asking that the defendant be n into custody pending trial because the worstcase situation is a defendant whos out trying to influence witnesses and avoid the fair trial that the people of the United States are entitled to in these cases. So thats likely the reaction here. Whats incredibly interesting is that manafort would have done this nt the adce
of counsel, who would have cautioned him against doing anything like this. And the question is why did he do it . What did he think he had to benefit from, or what was so dangerous that he wanted to steer these witnesses away from discussing it candidly in his trial . Yeah, questions i guess well have to wait to get an answer for. Hey, john, i want to play you you were present for the next quote during our 4 00 p. M. Broadcast. Weve already seen a highlight reel of you once. This is harry litman, former u. S. Attorney, talking about manaforts next appearance in t. Prosecutors hate this. Judges hate this, and hes going to have to bring his toothbrush to court on friday because the statute says if they find that this happened, theres a presumption that no circumstances exist that will get him safely there for trial. So theres the real prospect that he now goes to jail. That really gets your attention. It does. Bring your toothbrush. Yeah. Hes out on bail to use a phrase
from all the cop shows. But if thats true, on his hearing date, hes got to brin some essentials because hell then go into custody and remain there until trial. Bring a toothbrush and a big bag of beef jerky, i guess, because youre going to be there for a while. Look, hes a 70yearold man who is also facing on the previous charges, more than 20 years in prison. Now hes looking at well into e past where he lets go of this mortal coil. I agree, i said it on the show and ill say it again. I agree with harry. Yes, prosecutors hate this kind of behavior. In this case, i ey hat it and then they love it because hes caught. And once hes caught, ifis a game about leverage and bob mueller is trying to figure out who are the highest value targets. Who are the people who know the most about what donald trump may have done wrong. You think about jared kushner. You think about Paul Manafort. You think about michael cohen, who is now being dealt with mostly in the Southern District of new york, but that can be part of this case also. Those are the guys who have been with trump even though manafort as trump points out over and over again is only part of the Campaign Starting in the spring of 2016, donald trump has known Paul Manafort for 30 years. Paul manafort and regier roger stone. He had an apartment in his building. He was also roger stones partner. Roger stone was Donald Trumps political svengali going back into the 1980s. He knows what manaforts businesses involve. They have run in the same circles. This is a guy who knows things about Donald Trumps connections to russian money, russian Money Laundering potentially, and other bad behavior that long predates the 2016 campaign, but that clearly, if you think about the scope of what mueller is now doing, is all within muellers sights. So when manafort makes a mistake like this for whater reason, it just gives, as i said Befor Mueller that much more leverage over manafort to be able to try to make the kind of deal thats going get himhe kd of information that he wants if such information exists with the president of the United States. Its a titanic tightening of the screw. Ill remind you the president says manafort was only around
for a very short period of time. Yeah. Hey, michael, this use of pardons, the Washington Post reporting on the word fixated. Do you buy into the argument that this may be how trump viewed everything about the presidency, that it would all feel like pardons . Yeah. You know, brian, it makes its so consistent with our understanding of trumps mind set and his approach to the presidency, which first of all i think constantly goes back to the Trump Organization where trump was a ceo. Everyone was loyal to him. His word went. There was basically no challenge to him, certainly no checks and balances. And in the presidency, its the same thing. This is an ultimate fiat power he has. He basically waves a magic wand and absolves people, sort of like the inversion of condemning people to death, which i supposd i dont want to imagine what he might do with that power. But no one can challenge him. His staff can complain, but congress cant tell him he cant do it. The deep state cant stop him from doing it. Its almost a regal power. And i think he loves that, that fiat. I will say, brian, ive been skeptical about this theory that some of these pardons are meant to send signals to potential Russia Investigation witnesses. And then i read this Washington Post story tonight with this remarkable quote from Newt Gingrich essentially saying just that, saying that these pardons should be seen as a message to potential mueller witnesses, saying that help is on the way and trump is willing to wave the magic pardon wand. I was kind of gob smacked that Newt Gingrich would say that. Newt gingrich talks to the president. I dont know if that is what the president thinks, but i recommend people look hat story because did change the way i thought about this initially i thought trump just liked the power for what it was. I do think thats true, but it makes me wonder what else is going on here. Sometimes refreshing to see people getting more direct these days. So, joyce, the power to pard indeed goes back to the kings england. As you and i have discussed on this broadcast, its one of the
fearsome powers we grant our president , and it only bumps up against the law if they are broken if, scorsesestyle, s a ing to send a message. You know, thats true, but its also not true. Theres no doubt that the president s pardon power is exceptionalld. By the same token, something weve talked about is the fact that a president can do something that hes legally entitled to do. But he can do it in a matter that might constitute another crime. And the best example is rod blagojevich, who surfaced in the last week as a news item, right . He had the ability to appoint a new senator to replace barack obama, but what made it a crime was taking a bribe. Similarly, if trump su a pardon with the corrupt intent to remove a witness that mueller needs access to, that could become part of obstruction. It could be part of a conspiracy to obstruct. And it could really be his fatal downfall at the end of all of this. The essential joyce vance along with the equally essential Michael Crowley and john heilemann. Our great thanks for starting off our conversation on this tuesday night. Coming up for us, another white house staffer has lost her job tonight. This time its the aide who made that crude remark about john mccains termina the latest on what finally led to her departure. Spoiler, it wasnt the comment about john mccain. And later the white house doubles down on its decision to disinvite the super bowl champs, saying the Philadelphia Eagles abandoned their fans. You dont have to be an eagles fan to know that would not go over well in philadelphia. The 11th hour just Getting Started even though our music ere foa moment, on a tuday nigh ahh. Summer is coming. And its time to get outside. Pack in even more adventure with audible. With the Largest Selection of audiobooks. Audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. Or discover magic when you hit the open road. With the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. And for just 14. 95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. If you dont like it exchange it any time. No questions asked. You can also roll your credits to the next month if you dont use them. So take audible with you this summer. On the road. On the trail. Or to the beach. Start a 30day trial and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. No matter where you go this summer make it better with audible. Text summer17 to 500500 to start listening today. The Washington Post is reporting tonight that, quote, an official said the departure was not spurred by her mccain comments but, instead, was fueled largely by an internal dispute with white house director of Strategic Communications mercedes schlapp. There are reports that sadler blamed schlapp for leaking her mment to theress while both women were standing before the president. As the New York Times describes tonight, tensions between the two had reached a point where ms. Sadler and ms. Schlapp were ubl b the same room together. Thats a problem. Back with us tonight, two of our longtime contributors. Eli stokols, who we are so happy to say is now a White House Reporter for the los angeles times. And anita kumar, who remains White House Correspondent for mcclatchy newspapers. Welcome, gang. Eli, what does this episode either reveal or reaffirm to you about the operations of the Trump White House . Well, that reporting is right, that this is not about what she said, and its never been about what she said. From the moment that comment was reported, the white house response was the problem is leaking. Its leaking, and we need to clean that up. Now you have this internal personnespe, and its led to kelly sadler being let go from that position. We dont know if shes going to stay in the administration in some capacity. But there has been no further explanation from this white house about any of this. Its just that shes not working here, and it has nothing to do with that callous remark that she made about john mccain. There was never really a thought that she might apologize because, you know, culture starts at the top, and this is a president who has been saying, you know, things about john mccain that struck a lot of people as off for three years, ever since the remark about Liking People who dont get captured. And hes never apologized. There was never really much thought that there would be a public apology on this, and theres no indication that that has anything to do with the Personnel Decision made today. Anita, you already know this. But just for our viewers, there is every possibility she could be employed by the administration writ large tomorrow morning. And the administration is a big place. The Executive Office Of The President is kind of the president s payroll. But traditionally the White House Old Executive Office Building have been populated by people called detailees, who are technically employees of Cabinet Agencies but are detailed to the white house to work there. So, again, federal bureaucracy is a vast place. All it said was shes leaving the executive office. But, anita, the question to you is since we are still talking about what she said, this again lacks any real finality that, say, an apology would bring. Eli, back to present day. I want to play for you an exchange that took place in the Briefing Room. Josh dossey of the Washington Post, former colleague of yours with Sarah Huckabee sanders today. Well talk about it on the other side. Do you think your statement accurate or inaccurate . Again, i know you want to get me into a back and forth with you on this conversation. Its not back and forth. You said something. We just want to know if it was accurate or not. I know your goal is to engage me in a conversation about matters dealing with the outside counsel, and im not going to do that today. You said something from the podium. Was it accurate or not . Thats all we want to know. Again, i work day in, day out, and i believe frankly with the majority of you here in the , i think you all know im an honest person who works extremely hard to provide you with Accurate Information at all times. Im going to continue to do that, but im not going to engage on matters that deal with the outside counsel. Dossey versus sanders. I have to say jim acosta on cnn tonight said this. Quote, it seems like were coming to the end of her days at this white house. That surprised me to hear from jim. Do you concur with his opinion, and what about general credibility these days from the podium . I dont have any reporting to suggest that the president himself is upset with the job that Sarah Sanders is doing at
imminediumat my impression from being around the president , talking to people in the west wing is that hes fairly happy or happier with the staff overall compared to maybe how he felt a few months ago with certain Cabinet Members and west wing staff. I will say on this issue, this is the second day that josh doss sarah sandand others in the fioohave as well i think people who watch those briefings can ep back and objectively take away that she cannot answer a simple question about whether a statement that she made months ago that has since been contradicted by the president s outside attorneys is accurate, whether or not this taxpayer funded spokesperson who speaks for the president at the white house is telling the truth. Thats an Essential Question about her credibility. And yet because were living through this era in which the presidis engaged in a war on the press and a war many say on truth, the truth has become so tribalized that a lot of people see her response, and they watch for that. They like her hitting back at josh dossey, and april ryan. And this is all increasingly subjective, the takeaways fr that briefing. But i do think at the end of the day when you go into that Briefing Room and you see the briefings getting shorter and shorter, you can take away from that that this is a white house and a press shop that is not delighted with the fact set that they face every day. And she does her best to dissemble and to deflect, but i think that takes a toll eventually as well. And they know that even though the public posture is to turn everything around and attack the press. Upon to trot out a new version of the truth. Right. Well, actually, this has been happening since day one of the trump administration, from back when sean spicer, her predecessor, was talking about the record crowds at the inauguration. But, you know, recently with Sarah Sanders, this just came up again a couple weeks ago with the paymen presint s . Ow about the Pment To Stormy she had said repeatedly that he didnt know. And then suddenly he says he did know. He tells reporters he did know. And so she was asked the same question. Lets be clear here. She can answer if she wants to answer. She can answer if the president wants her to answer. But theyre choosing this as their tactic. Their tactic is sort of an illogical one. She cant really answer you know, shes choosing not to say whether somethings truthful or not. So theyve decided this is the best strategy going forward, and i totally agree with eli. Theyve decided that the strategy is to turn it back on the media. The media is asking these questions. I believe one of her comments there earlier today was that she she is more credible or truthful than the media is. I mean so shes really that was some Strong Language today, stronger than usual. Shes definitely decided thats her strategy. Our thanks to our two very creduests, eli stokols and anita kumar, two of the faces we look for at that White House Briefing during live coverage of it. Thank you both very much. Coming up, we go back to steve kornacki, back to the big board after you saw were getting our first real results from california. That and more when we come right back. A Barnburner Out in california. Again, we have been monitoring a number of house races looking at who will get through and are democrats going to be locked out of any . There are three coming into today where they were worried about not having a candidate on the ballot. They think they can filip. There might be a fourth added to that. Right now the picture coming in a little bit into focus here. Democrats breathing a little bit easier with what they see. But there is still some tension here. We have been tolling this story all night. Rohrabacher, 48th district, orange county, california, we predict he will win in first place tonight. The question is who is going to run against him . Things get not just confuse bug they are chaotic. This is ourl count. If you look at the website at the board of elections in orange county, they maintain they have a few more votes they are reporting. What they are showing is keirstead is running in second place. To their calculations, by 500 votes over scott baugh, republican, making his way into second place t get two republicans into the general election. And they have harley rouda moving up a little bit, 900 behind keirstead. There are reports srl online. Dave wasserman knows these things very well. He is doing a lot of sleuthing and says there may be a tabulation error that could result in a number of votes going ros way. Obviously that is a huge, huge
wild card in this thing. So the headline for democrats is at this hour theyre not getting locked out of the 48. Theyve got to worry about scott baugh. This is the one that democrats have the most to worry about right now. But at this hour, i think democrats would rather be in the position theyre in than the republicanosio here as it relates to second place here. Lets show you the 39th district. This is an open seat. This is a republicanheld seat. Royce is retiring kim going to advance to the fall. Cisneros won the lottery a few years back. He said im going to spend it running for congress. Liberatore, con receiver active candidate on the right. He is doing considerably better. And huff, democrats very excited to see the republican vote spread out a little bit more. There were mailers in this district, trying to get republicans excited about lib libertore. This is another lockout potential. You have harkey running in shelo good. The lockout question, this is where they are feeling really good in terms of avoiding the lockout. Fourth, fifth place. All democrats. Very much like what they are seeing here. Donald trump see this where isa barely got reelected a couple years ago. And the 10th district, denham, hes g to finish first. Hes going to run in the fall. You have this other on the right there, howze. Hes been threaten bg half the vote we think or so. Hes been threatening to pull in second above jeff harder. About half in. Democrats are probably cautiously optimistic. Thats probably the word you would use. So, again, four Lockout Possibilities as the votes start to come in for democrats. Right now they are not in position to be locked out for any of them. A little Morten Kwrous elsewhere. The votes are coming in slow tonight. There is a lot still to come. But democrats, look, their main goal coming in tonight, can you avoid that lockout. I want to show you quickly there were Headline Races here in
california as well. If we can get this up on the screen. The governors race in california. Can i get that up . Here we go. Their candidate, john cox, right now second. Feinstein in first. Air progressi challenger against her. Quickly, in montana, senate race there for the right to take on jon tester, democrat in a state trump won by 21 points. You have a barn burner here. That is the hraeut latest at this hour. We love our country. We respect our flag, and we always proudly stand for the national anthem. We always will stand for the national anthem. As you watch this next t,mber not one of the super bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles took a knee during any of their games last season. Nonetheless, at what was supposed to be an eagles celebration, President Trump followed through today on his e to holinstead a ceremony where we would hear loudly and proudly played the national anthem. This came after the president s Surprise Decision last night canceling this event, hosting the super bowl champion eagles, claiming they disagreed with the custom of standing for the national anthem. This morning the white house blamed the cancellation on the Football Team, saying, quote, the vast majority of the eagles team decided to abandon their fans. Eagles safety malcolm jenkins
responded to the president , quote, its hard to meet people who dont agree with you and to have tough conversations about uncomfortable racerelated issues and how to make positive change. Instead, the decision was made to lie and paint the picture that these players are antiamerica, antiflag, and antimilitary. Philadelphias mayor, jim kenney, dismissed trumps decision in an interview today. Donald trump is meaningless to this whole process. Hes meaningless to this city and the citys sucss
he tries at every chance he gets to tear cities down, and eventually hell be gone one way or the other, and well move on. At a briefing this afternoon, the White House Press secretary, Sarah Huckabee sanders, repeatedly blamed the eagles for what she called a political stunt. Our own Peter Alexander asked sanders about the president s seeminglnsistent views on free speech these days. So i guess my question is simple. So if the white house supports the bakers right of free speech, why Doesnt The White House support players right to free speech . The president doesnthink that this is an e mply of free speech. He thinks its about respecting the men and women of our military. Its about respecting our national anthem, and its about standing out of pride for that. Jill colvin and Jonathan Lemire of the Associated Press write of trumps decision to disinvite the eagles, quote, it was another sign that trump intends to continue to fan a culture war he has stoked and which he has long believed is a winning issue with his base. Trump has long fixated on the Nfl National Anthem controversy was pleased ent months announcement of the leagues new policy returned it to the news. The president told one confidant monday that he aimed to periodically revive the anthem issue in the months ahead, beev headlines would help republicans
as the midterm elections approached. Lets talk about this now. With us to do that, charlie sykes, author and longtime conservative radio host, who is now Contributing Editor and podcast host for the weekly standard. We should also mention hes from wisconsin. I seem ter thehave a Football Team there. And jason johnson, politics editor at the root wcome back t brt. Id like to begin with you. My sundays took an awful turn with a horrendous Head Coaching Choice by my beloved New York Giants a few years ago. Were in recovery now. But all of us who love sundays in season have been forced to let politics enter even that day. And what do you see is happening to the process now . How far have we gotten from the reason of the protest in the first plac i think the protest you know, brian, the protests have always been clear. Colin kaepernick, everyone involved has said, look, these protests are about Police Brutality and institutional racism. The players have said that consistently, that that is the motivation behind them taking a knee or any kind of protthat ey engagn. And the president of the United States and certain members of the right have simply refused to listen to it. Its not an issue of they just disagree. Theyve simply said we refuse to listen to what youre saying is the motivation behind your protest. D the problem the sort of larger cultural problem that ive seen with this is it turns day im a seahawks fan, a former eagles fan. Its taken a fun day and turned it into a political wedge issue. Now you have people who literally will shame you if you want to watch football or complain because players are doing this, that, or the other. The president has taken something sacred on a sunday and turned it into a problem just so he can achieve a certain amount and its shameful. Where sunday really is close to a version of a religious holiday, yes, as issues go, this
is a shiny object. This is not the summit talks. It is football al they have been Accused Aflacing patriotism and antimilitary. Yeah. Well, first of all, we ought to note this is a lie that in fact, none of the players did take a knee. But this has two advantages for donald trump. It is a distraction and a target to focus the grievance of his base on. This has been his playbook all along. He thinks about how this works in red america. He believes if he pits the flag, the military, if he talks about these things against these pampered players, hes going to win. And even if you have this Collateral Damage and jason is absolutely right, wisconsin is a divided political state but the one thing we all believe in is football and the green bay packers. Donald trump has used his divisive tactics and taken it into our sunday. This imething he thinks he can win on this issue, hes comfortable with the cultural war issues. By the way, memo to the nfl or anybody else who is targeted in a donald trump culture war. You notice that appeasement does not work. Gracious surrender does not get you what you want. He sees that as a sign of weakness and he doubles down. Didnt work for joseph p. Kennedy in the years before world war ii either. Joseph, i want to show you something. The setup for this is brief. Lebron has spoken. I mean, i know no matter who wins this series, no one wants to invite anybody. So it Wont Be Golden State or cleveland going. So it Wont Be Golden State or cland going to the white house. Heres another norm that follows. The white house ceremonies can be fun. Its great for the fan base. They bring the trophy and now we know whoever wins in the nba, sorry. Right. Honestly, maybe j. R. Smith will go and forget they werent supposed to go to the white house this time. The president has demonstrated that there is nothing in American Culture that he will not use to his advantage, regardless of what the consequences might be. This is deeper than just lying about players. This is deeper than just raising sort of racial bug a boos of pampered black athletes. There were Community Service activities these players were supposed to do in washington, d. C. That got cancelled. All of these things resonate when the president decides i dont care what i do to people as long as i make a political point. Also we saw with the eagles this year, it runs against a consistent narrative from the right that protest is somehow bad for the bottom line or for the antithesis of winning. You had politically active players on this team all season
and think still beat the new england patriots, who is sort of a protrumteam if were taken to believe what Bill Belichick says. The eagles represent everything that the president has tried to fight against, politically active black men, white men working together to solve structural issues in this country and still winning. Jason, i know neither charlie nor i hate that you pointed that out about the patriots. Charlie, last word goes to you. To your last point that this is aimed at the base and they will kindf ride alois, th big calculation, for Everything Jason just said, for what were losing, for another norm that has fallen. Yeah. Theres a certain amount of risk, though, for donald trump because, as jason pointed out, a lot of these players do give back to the community. Theyre very, very popular. And so this is not just taking on any sort of random target. This is an institution that is deeply engrained in American Culture and i do think there is an element of risk but in terms of the norms, we use that term over and over and over again. You know, the willingness of this president to expand the bounds of his politics, to corrupt every aspect of american life, to Pit Americans against one another in areas in which they often go to get away from these kinds of divisions, this is going to be a legacy. And unfortunately its going to leave a Mark Oculture Ng after donald trump is gone. Well, gentlemen, heres hoping all three of our quarterbacks remain healthy going into this next season. I wish ours was ten years younger. I just said that publicly. Charlie sykes, jason johnson, gentlemen, thank you both so much. Another break for us and more election returns when we come right back. If your moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis or crohns symptoms are holding you back, and your Current Treatment hasnt worked well enough, it may be time for a change. Ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohns. Entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both Symptom Relief and remission. Infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. Entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. Pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal Brain Infection caused by a virus may be possible. This condition has not been reported with entyvio. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flulike symptoms or sores. Liver problems can occur with entyvio. If your uc or crohns treatment isnt working for you,
ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. Entyvio. Relief and remission within reach