Transcripts For MSNBCW The 11th Hour With Brian Williams 20180812

Players while omarosa takes some swings at him in her new book. All of it part of the 11th hour on a friday night. Good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters in new york. Day 56 of the Trump Administration. Like openie and anthony and mike and the mad dog before them, the president s lead lawyers jay and rudy cohosted a radio show today. It was Sean Hannitys daily radio show. So their appearance suited everyone involved in this way. Hannity was off and needed someone to fill in and it allows the lawyers to road test some of tear theories and their defense of the president of the United States. Welcome to the sean hannity show. Jay sekulow and mayor Rudy Giuliani. How about that, giuliani and sekul sekulow. For purposes of right now my colleague and cocounsel in a case involving a russia inquiry that were engaged in. You may have read something about it. Were also going to be taking your calls. These two attorneys are now a big part of the effort to discredit the investigation and mueller and his team before todays radio appearance, giuliani sent this out and we quote, maybe its time for attorney general sessions to appoint a special counsel to investigate the conspiracy to defeat donald trump by buying and disseminating false dossiers obtaining illegal wires and commencing baseless fbi investigations. Later he looked to andply phi that message with his radio cohost and real life cocounsel jay sekulow. I think if i were the attorney general, i would appoint an independent counsel and ida point the independence counsel for two purposes. Purpose number town appropriately prosecute the people who violated these laws. Comey clearly leaked a document that he wasnt supposed to leak. If you look at the scope and nature of this inquiry, the way it started, the corruption at the outset, it surely looks like an iglet investigation. President of the United States said this a long time back that its a witch hunt. Giuliani also brought up muellers effort to have a sitdown effort with the president and talked about the trump legal teams concern about what might happen if that interview takes place. I think what we have to get clear is the fact that a lot of people interpret it this way. If hes telling truth why wouldnt he just go in and testify. Hey, welcome to the real world. The fact is he is telling the truth. Were walking him into a possible perjury trap not because he isnt telling the truth but because somebody isnt telling the truth namely comey. That last bit was too much for mimi rocha, former assistant u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york who said the following tonight on this network. I think giuliani has been skirting the line and you know in my opinion has now gone over the line of violating the rules of professional conduct as layer. Meanwhile, the special counsel appears to be dialing up the pressure on other witnesses in this investigation, specifically anyone tied to roger stone, anyone in his orbit. Mueller has a number of stones past associates now firmly on his radar tonight. Tonight one of them Andrew Miller is being held in content for refusing to testify before a grand jury hearing evidence into the russia investigation. Another roger stone associate kristin davis, did testify in front of the grand jury just today after she voluntarily spoke to investigators is last week. And randy creditdy cowho has been reported to be the back channel between stone and wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been subpoenaed to praesh before the grand jirl september 7th. That could be seen as an indication this investigation will not be over or paused by the first of the month as trumps lawyers have demanded. Sam nunberg, former Trump Campaign adviser linked to roger stone has already testified before a mueller grand jury. He was on this Network Earlier today and offered this prediction. Ultimately mueller wants to indict roger. I think this indictment hes going to have a very sflashy sexy charge conspiracy to defraud, thing to do with hacking mails. Lets bring in our panel, Frank Figliuzzi director for Counter Intelligence who work ford Robert Mueller, ken vogel, political reporter for the New York Times and annie carney White House Reporter for politico who has been busy today for reasons weigh get to. Frank, lets begin with you. What do you make and more importantly, what will Robert Mueller and his team make of the president s cocounsel on the radio today . Theres only one conclusion that im able to draw from this onslaught now in the last several days of just public appearances by two guys posing as lawyers trying to get their client some airtime. And that is they seem increasingly convinced that were headed toward impeachment proceedings. Why do i say that . Because this has become completely an allout preparation of the battleground for the public mind and heart in anticipation of what they seem to believe are going to be articles for impeachment. Theres no other way to explain how theyre taking over the airwaves and doing all of this, and the issue of supposed journalistic entities allowing partisan political hacks to take over the airwaves as we are several weeks away from midterm elections is something that actually the fcc should be looking into. Theyre preparing for impeachment and theyre trying to win hearts and minds. Ken, they did so i imagine not being a lawyer but a layperson at some professional peril. Listen to what mimi rocah said. I suppose it is could attract some attention. American Bar Association type stuff. Does the base need that much bowstering that these guys have to dog and pony it across xm radio . Brian, its very much a part of the pr strategy that the president himself has led and set the tone for. And it just shows frankly how far Rudy Giuliani has come from when he first started on the legal team and famously was sort of chastised by donald trump for not having his facts straight when the Stormy Daniels payment, the 130,000 hush payment to Stormy Daniels. Now you see him very much channelling the president talking about a witch hunt suggesting that there needs to be an investigation of muellers team and we do see that strategy having some effect, if you look at the polls. Its not just the base his numbers rising of folks skeptical of mueller and might be less inclined to accept the results of his investigation. That i think although it may be partly what frank was saying preparing for impeachment but certainly also is a preparation to try to undermine any adverse findings that Robert Mueller might come with in his report. Annie, have we ever seen anything liking this . The fox news involvement with sean hannity handing off to two lawyers for the president of the United States. I mean, it speaks more to the odd role that hannity is play tooing that hannity is a white house adviser and the interchangeability between its one thing to have these guys on his show as guests and the other to hand over the reins as hosts taking calls from listeners. The lines are blurred between all the roles here with lawyers playing the role of spokespeople, tv hosts playing the roles of advisers. Theyre all on the same team at the bottom line. Thats what we saw here today. Lets not forget sean hannity, Michael Cohen client. Frank, lets talk about the signs that thing are tightening around roger stone and tell us where you expect this to be going. Yeah, roger stone is going to turn out to be a bigger fish than many people realize. Weve been focused on manafort and the trump tower meeting and gates but while were focused on that, muellers been ratcheting up the effort on stone and why is he doing that . Because i believe that stone can put the crime in the collusion concept. By that, i mean the mysterious connections between stone, wikileaks, Julian Assange, and the hacking into the dnc and the release of those emails. Mueller is focused on that like a laser because thats where you put meat on bones of collusion. Thats where you get hacking charges. You get emoluments charges. You get conspiracy charges. And in the middle of that is roger stone a guy who has been around for years playing dirty politics but i think he may have crossed the line. And mueller knows a lot more about stone than any of us do. Why . Because the u. S. Intelligence community has been monitoring wikileaks and Julian Assange and they consider Julian Assange a criminal. Its possible roger stone may have actually tripped into coverage by the u. S. Intelligence community of assange and wikileaks and its possible mueller has all of that documentation even intercepts and is sitting there with it knowing exactly what stone said and did with julian. And ken, as no one needs to remind you the last part the equivalent of walking through the become of a spotlight would be a very bad look for roger stone. So ken, given what you know, talking about what stone has called as a 40year friendship with donald trump and the kind of damage a guy like that could do. Its possible. I also think though that roger stone, frank used an apt phrase tripped into. Roger stone has made a long career out of sort of exaggerating this role and his significance in some of these episodes of dark arts and dirty tricks all the way back from watergate where he was the tiniest bit player in the nixon operation but has managed to make a whole career out of this sort of personification of himself as a dirty trickster. I think this ends up being a little bit of careful what you wish for. Its true that he was sort of a bit player by the end on the Trump Campaign but that he also continued to try to insert himself in ways that were sort of at the margins and that he did interact with an internet persona, this guccifer 2 that now muellers one of his recent indictments has revealed was in fact operated by russian intelligence. So he sort of by almost by accident became the very sort of character that he portrayed himself as and it may ultimately be his undoing. Annie ive been reading and following you all day. I feed to you perform a service for the nice people watching tonight on a friday night in august. Our deal is we send them off into the good night knowing everything there is to know on all the stories out there. Thats where you come in. You get to tell our audience everything they need to know about this new book by omarosa, including but not limited to a scene where the preds is eating paper and the fact that she gave an npr interview apparently that conflicted with a tale in the book about the president s alleged use of the n word. Have at it. Its a lot. Omarosa was fired from the white house last december, and she she gets the prices for being the first tellall memoir out of this white house. And its a weird one because theres questions about omarosas credibility, whether its true, but her allegations are serious. She claims first out of the gate that she calls the president a bigot, misogynist. All the bad words she says he used the n word and has tapes to problem it. In the book she writes she has not heard the tape of him calling the n word but confirmed its existence. In then pr interview she claims she heard him say it herself. I think. She claims he ate a piece of paper when Michael Cohen i think was walking into the office to hide it from his lawyer. He ate it. She claims that is ivanka trump, the first daughter was responsible for ordering up the list of leakers in the white house who had be fired. Apparently ivanka tries to project a persona above the fray and cares about womens empowerment only. Omarosa portrays her as cutthroat as her father in a wig. So the allegations are tremendous. Where this falls on the credibility matrix with Michael Wolffs book suffered from some questions of credibility and whats real and whats not, how do you judge omarosas book is a big question. But she certainly has a nice runway on a nice august weekending to have the news psych to herself. And for all the kids watching dont eat paper if youre seeing this at home. This from the generation who thought it was a good idea to eat paste in school. Cant thank you guys enough. Frank, ken vogel, annie carney, our omarosa correspondent for tonight. Thank you all so much. Have a great weekend. Coming up for us, what we think might have been happening behind the scenes during that lengthy and unusual delay in the manafort trial today. And later, preparing for a tense weekend nkd charlottesville on the oneyear anniversary of that fatal confrontation and then in washington where White Supremacists and counterprotesters will square off some of them within ear shot of the white house. The 11th hour on a friday night just getting under way. Ooh, heaven is a place on earth uhp. I didnt believe it. Again. Ooh, baby, do you know what thats worth . I want to believe it. [ claps hands ] ooh im not hearing the confidence. Okay, hold the name your price tool. 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Ask how to get 300 back when you sign up for xfinity mobile, and purchase a new samsung phone. Visit your local xfinity store today. It was a mysterious and rather dramatic end to week two of the manafort trial with the president s name come up in court again today. But before the day could begin, proceedings skam to a screeching halt with the jury out of the room, the judge and attorneys meant much of the day huddled in private conversation and in recess officially with no explanation as to why. Transcript of what went on has been placed under seal. Tainment the prosecution is once again asking the judge to revisit comments he made in front of this jury. This time, they were unhappy with what the judge said while prosecutors were discussing a loan that they say manafort fraudulently applied for but did not receive. In the motion they argued the courts statement that the government might want to spend time on a loan that was granted misrepresents the law regarding frank fraud conspiracy, improperly conveys the courts opinion of the facts and is likely to confuse and mislead the jury. When witnesses finally did take the stand, jurors were told that manafort may have used his position to dangle possible Trump Administration jobs including some big ones in exchange for massive bank loans. With us to talk about all of it, we welcome back Danny Cevallos and chad day, an investigator reporter for the associated press. He was inside court today for all of the proceedings or lack thereof. I heard Chuck Rosenburg on the Network Earlier tonight. He was theorizing this could be one juror who came in today and said, your honor, i looked at a device, i saw television coverage, someone talked to me. I talked to another juror which will still take a lot of time to churn through, correct . Absolutely. It could have been a juror riding on the subway or commuting or seeing a newspaper and glancing at it or overhearing another juror. Either way, this process takes a long time. They have to take the juror aside in the presence of council remove the other jurors and ask him what did you find out. A lot of time gets burned up as the attorneys huddle and decide not really so much whether or not the juror did or didnt do something but how can we spin this to our sides favor . Do we like this juror . There may not be a consensus on the team whether they like the juror. One member might say thats a good juror, the other might say weve got to get him out of there. Its a lot of back and forth just because a juror might have flipped on the tv at the wrong time. Chad, you were there. We do know what it is you witnessed. What was it like witnessing it . We expected the prosecution to come in and rest their case today. Instead we were greeted by a 20minute huddle between the attorneys and judge ellis. Like you say, there wasnt any kind of explanation for why there was a delay. I recessed till the afternoon. We got a couple things to back up what danny was saying. The judge at one point left the courtroom towards the jury room and later on when the proceedings started he add 0 mon issued the jury tore not discuss account case among themselves and with anyone else and dont comment on the attire of the witnesses. I think all signs are pointing toward this being some kind of jury issue. Like you say, the transcript is under seal and we wont know for some time. Danny, we get into your line of work. The defense goes work. Theyre under no obligation to call n any witnesses. What work do they have to do . Many times, youre right, the defense calls no witnesses all. We lie on attacking the governments case. In a case like this, there are not many defenses in such a paper defensive case. They need to focus on gates, that the orders came from gates. They need to focus on that which the Bank Employees when they testified, they dont have a dog in the fight and not biased or cooperating witnesses. Some of them the defense has to point out this isnt necessarily fraud. He may have put this way, airbnb has another policy that is allows this. At least if it is inaccurate, its not intentionally so. The defense has a lot of work to do. This has been a paper intense you be case with a cooperating witness who got up on the stand and for all his sins pointed out the defendant and said thats my former cohort. He done did it. Chad, i love covering trials if only to test all the theories that people have like among journalists and lawyers, you often hear people say if you watch the jury, a jury that has just cleared the defendant is going to come in and make strong eye contact. Theyre prout of what they did. A jury that found them guilty is going to avert their eyes. Stuff like that that we journalists watch the jury box for. Having said that, whats the dynamic with the jury which i know youve been watching sitting there . Right, so ive been if the trial for last two weeks. The jury seems to be paying attention. There have been some times where the subject matter has gotten quite dry. We have seen the jury kind of maybe not nod off but not pay that much attention. Rick gates testimony definitely got their attention. I think theyve been keying in on the discussion of the lavish lifestyle and really following the tax case. The prosecution put on an Expert Witness who was testifying about how much money, 16 million that he says should have been reported on his taxes. I could tell they were taking notes and keeping up with that testimony. And so you know, its a complex case but these are kind of simple charges. Did you report offshore Bank Accounts on your taxes . Did you pay your taxes . Pay enough taxes that you were supposed to . Did you lie to get loans. So i think that so far, theyve really been keeping up with what the prosecutions been putting in front of them. 16 million on a tax return, sooner or later youre talking about large amountses that might tract attention. Cant thank you enough. This trial which is strepping into week three. Danny cevallos, chad day. Thanks so much. Security tight around the university of virginia and the streets of that town, as well. One year after the violent protests with White Supremacists. Were live in charlottesville. Well have that when we continue. vo love. I got it. I gotcha baby. vo its being there when youre needed most. Hes the one. vo love is knowing. It was meant to be. And love always keeps you safe. vo love is why we built a car you can trust for a long time. The allnew Subaru Impreza sedan and fivedoor. A car you can love no matter what road youre on. The Subaru Impreza. More than a car, its a subaru. Right now, get 0 apr financing on the 2018 Subaru Impreza. 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Oh oh oh ozempic® vo ask your Healthcare Provider if ozempic® is right for you. Sunday will mark exactly one year since that is unite the right rally in charlottesville, virginia, a day of violent clashes between White Nationalist groups and doubter protesters that resulted, of course, in the killing of 32yearold heather higher. Charlottesville has declared a state of emergency in advance ahead of this anniversary. Many streets are closed, no protest permits were granted by the city. And this weekend, washington, d. C. Ing is bracing for a march organized by that same altright group. That march plus several count counterprotests expected on sunday. Some of it in Lafayette Park right across from the white house. But with us from charlottesville, virginia, tonight is our own cal perry. And cal, theres really no other question except to ask you what it feels like tonight, that is were all madging it feels quite haunting. Yeah, very much so. You can see the outer edge of the security cordon behind me. It is not subtle and not designed to be subtle but that people should stay out of charlottesville. The eight to nine blocks in front of me will be shut down to track. Charlottesville is a blue dot in a dae of red, a liberal town in a conservative part of the country in a conservative part of the state of virginia. For that reason you have a statue of robert e. Lee 500 meters in front of me that was supposed to be gone by now because in the heated aftermath of what happened a year ago, it was decided that statue would be removed but not so easy when you start hearing other voices especially around the state of virginia. Theres a long list of prohibited items you cant bring into the area, hairspray bottles, but you can bring guns. People are open carrying tonight in downtown charlottesville making that point it is their Second Amendment right to the carry weapons. A lot of people are questioning police and why its allowed to happen at the state Assembly Line all of that to paint a picture that the charlottesville is a microcosm of america and all the issues is what america is talking about. As we stood outside in this area, a number of people asked us to leave and said the media is not helping. We dont like the media. Theyre not allowing this town to heal. It is a town that hasnt healed. To answer the question you started with, i think the police have done a great job in sending the message they understand they did not handle the situation well a year ago. The mayor and police chief are gone. If you want to protest, youre going to do it in washington, d. C. , hopefully not here in charlottesville foo thank you for that report on that summation from charlottesville, virginia. Cal perry on the scene for us tonight. With us to talk about all of it and war wa weve been and where were had had the, clajs page from the Chicago Tribune and jon meacham, historian, importantly his latest book is called the soul of america, the battle for our better angels. Paging our better angels. Hey, jon, what is the year later Damage Assessment from charlottesville . Well, theres obviously the memory of heather higher who stood as civil rights activists did throughout the long and tragic jim crow area, stood for what we should be, not necessarily what we are all the time. And so i think thats the most perhaps one of the most important things to take a moment and realize that someone gave her life trying to protest against the neonazi and chancemen who gathered there a year ago. I think when the history of this ear is written, the president reaction to charlottesville, the events of august 11th and august 12th will loom pretty large because that was the first moment maybe not the first, but a significant moment where the president seemed to have a very hard time figuringing out whether he stood with people like Heather Heyer who argued we had to be part inside with our better angels or did he stand with david duke and others. And david duke said that weekend in charlottesville a year ago that this is why we elected donald trump was to protect statues like the robert e. Lee statue to protest in the way they protested. When the president of the United States abdicates his moral leadership so decidedly, then that set a tone for it the ensuing year and were still living with that those aftershocks. Clarence, you get to write history in realtime on a daily basis. Is it possible when we look back at 2018, part of the subplot will be we had both racism and activism both as concurrent Growth Stocks . Thats a good way to look at it because it was quite a clash, quite a wakeup call i would say that many of us had a year ago that Race Relations had gotten this bad only a few years after the optimistic that sprung up from Barack Obamas successful campaign. Remember that phrase post Racial Society . I never used it. A lot of people questioned whether that would happen. I didnt realize how much my spirits had been lifted and my optimism had gotten inflated until the tragedy hit a year ago. I have to say as one who remembers the summer of kent state, 1970, four College Students killed in kent state, ohio on cap pass while protesting the war killed by National Guard troops, another situation that didnt need to happen, people werent ready for things to escalate like that, the same kind of thing happened in charlottesville where the police underestimated that would happen when the protest i should say the unite the right far right wing factions clashed with antifa and led to violence there in the streets. They werent prepared for that. Now chasville has gotten hundreds of state trooper who are at the ready. Theyre in a state of emergency already. Here in washington, which is a little more accustomed to this kind of disruption, things are pretty quiet like august in washington usually is. I expect theyre going to be a lot noisyer tomorrow and sunday. One of the tragedies is charlottesville is known for anything but being home to one of the great universities in our country. Both gentlemen clarence and jon agreed to stay with us over this break. When we come back, coinciding with the start of the nfl preseason, the president renews his dispute with protesting pro Football Players and further adds most dont even understand why theyre outraged. Well talk about that on other side. I like chillaxin. The new united explorer card makes things easy. Traveling lighter. Taking a shortcut. woooo taking a breather. Rewarded learn more at theexplorercard. Com when the guy in frontd down the highway slams on his brakes out of nowhere. You do, too, but not in time. Hey, no big deal. Youve got a good record and Liberty Mutual wont hold a grudge by raising your rates over one mistake. You hear that, karen . Liberty mutual doesnt hold grudges. How mature of them. For drivers with accident forgiveness Liberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty wouldnt you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag, to say get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, hes fired . Hes fired you have to stand proudly for the national anthem. Or you shouldnt be playing. You shouldnt be there. Maybe you shouldnt be in the country. You have to stand proudly for the national anthem. Pro football is back, preseason at least under way. Someone must have alerted the president bright and early this morning, he shared these thoughts the nfl players are at it again taking a knee when they should be standing proudly for the national anthem. Numerous players from different teams wanted to show their outrage at something most of them are unable to define. He adds be happy, be cool and this warning stand proudly for your anthem or be suspended without pay. Legal pos is still unclear how to address those players who protest. But as eli stokols of the l. A. Times observes the new nfl season brings trump an opportunity to heighten attention to his feud with the africanamerican players, a wedge issue that animates a number of his white voters heading into the november midterm election. Till still with us, i was excited for last night. My giants didnt skip a beat. They lost just so we wouldnt feel any shock over the end of last season and the beginning of this season because they care about their fans and then this happens. We need certitude at these times. What is going on with the president and the National Football leaguing . Other than the leagues kaleidoscopic inability to deal this challenge from the president . I think the piece you just read from is exactly right. Its at elective feud that the president has undertaken, an elective battle and hes this is absolutely for the base. Its kind of 101. Old southern strategy. And i say that as a southerner. But Everybody Knows what hes talking about when he talks about these people shouldnt be in the country. And it works with the base. I think. That 30, 35 or so of the country that seems to be inclined to follow trump anywhere including into a sphere of our civic life that a lot of us think should be bob and beyond politics. But if it becomes about politics, it becomes about players exercising their first anticipate rights an amendment written by a man who lived not far from charlottesville, james madison. So i think its pure Old Fashioned unattractive and divisive politics and its the kind of thing where the president s playing to fear, not to hope. And hes going to pay a high price for this if not in the short term, certainly in the lock term of history. Clarence, fox news again today proved its always an interesting place. I heard dana perino say that question a rich white guy asking about the freedom of speech of rich black guys. And then were just coming off the following from Laura Ingraham, wellknown to many in the media world is, former Supreme Court clerk, longtime lawyer, she said this and weve attached her attempt as a cleanup the next night. In some parts of the country, it does seem like the america that we know and love doesnt exist anymore. Massive demographic changes have been foisted upon the american people. Theyre changes that none of us ever voted for and most of us dont like. Now, much of this is related to both illegal and in some cases Legal Immigration that, of course, progressives love. The purpose of last nights angle was to point out that the rule of law meaning secure borders, is something that used to bind our country together. And despite what some may be contending, i made explicitly clear that my commentary had nothing to do with race or ethnicity. All right, Clarence Page. What do you think is going on here . Let me say ive known Laura Ingraham for a couple decades since she was fresh off the campus. I advised her some time ago that one ann coulter is enough and she doesnt make a good look for her to come off as a as a far right antiimmigrant xenophobe, if you will. I think its kind of a ratings grab just like i think Donald Trumps little fiasco with the nfl started out as an attention getter even if it meant stepping on his own message. He had some more important issues going on at the time. He becomes obsessed when people defy him on anything. I think this whole nfl protest which began with kaepernick would have faded away on its own had trump not kept pumping it up like he is still pumping it up. Its not helping him or the nfl or helping his numbers really because whats his base . Largely a white male whos love the nfl. I dont think hes going to change their minds in any kind of way thats going to help him at all. But this is the kind of fiasco we have stumbled into. Gentlemen, this is why we have smart guys like you on broadcast at times like this. Our friends Clarence Page and jon meacham, jon, please keep the better angels on speed dial. Will you. You a lonely nation is askinging. Its in our contacts. Thank you both. Really appreciate it. Have a good weekend. Coming up for us, does the u. S. Military need a sixth branch . Can the nation afford it right now . What else is out there that may compete more urgently for our time and attention . Right now tonight and around the world . Ive seen lots of homes helping new customers bundle and save big, but now its time to find my dream abode. Right away, i could tell his priorities were a little unorthodox. Keep going. Stop. A little bit down. Stop. Back up again. Is this adequate sunlight for a Komodo Dragon . Yeah. Sure, i want that discount on Car Insurance just for owning a home, but im not compromising. Youre taking a shower . 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Precision machinery and highquality materials from around the world. Nobody else even comes close. Now starting at 7. 99. Gillette. The best a man can get. I had a great meeting with putin. We discussed everything. I had a great meeting. I had a great meeting. We got along really well. By the way, thats a good thing. Not a bad thing. Just one week ago, President Trump was telling supporters just how good his relationship with putin of russia is. Now facing more sanctions from the u. S. , russian leaders are striking a decidely different tone. According to reuters, the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev offered this warning. If the new sanctions impact russian banks it would be possible to clearly call it a declaration of economic war and it would be necessary to react to this war economically, or if needed by other means. That sounds closer to normal over the years. With us tonight, retired army general barry mccaffrey, decorated combat veteran of veet nap, former drug czar for this country and these days an msnbc military analyst. General, take them on one at a time, please. And that is what are russia and north korea and their leaders trying to game from this country . Well, i think theyve got a clearer understanding of their own objectives which i think we lack in the United States. By the way, im still very much convinced and confident in secretary jim mattis at dod and mike pompeo is an extremely capable person over at state and gina haspel is a professional, knowledgeable person and secretary of the treasury is first rate. Having said that, the president s reaction to many of these situations i hate to say this unkindly, borders on fantasy. So you know, when it comes to north korea, theyre Still Producing fissile material, Still Producing their icbms which are not yet fully tested. There is zero chance theyre going to denuclearize. Theyre trying to escape sanctions trying to get us out of south korea and to some extent the president s public rhetoric is helping them. Thats a problem. When it comes to the russians this statement by medvedev was very unsettling. One thing we shouldnt do is overstate the threat from russia. They got a lot of nukes, a lot of oil. A minor Strategic Force in terms of naval power power, air power. An army that is not a significant threat to western europe. It is to the baltic states, poland, the ukraine. Theyre batting way above their weight average. I remind people that the economy of russia is less than that of italy, less than that of california. This is not a major player. Its run by the roar of that crowd behind the president is what unsettles me. This is not this is something new for our times. This guys a thug. He murders journalists, the opposition. He murders people overseas. He has eliminated most of the democratic beginnings in the russian federation. Hes a bad guy. General, ive been wanting to ask you about this space force idea. Of course, we already have the u. S. Air force Space Command which is a large part of the u. S. Air force with a task and a mission. What do you make of the space force notion and its chance at success . Look the threat is real particularly from the chinese and the russians. But the threshold to threaten our communication satellites is pretty low. I mean, a modest country can build and attack capability. Were spending a lot of money and a lot of science on trying to harden it and protect it. Space operations is baked into every service. The army cant operate without our smart weapons dont work without space communications. So the Space Force Concept is a separate service is one of those intellectually attractive ideas widely debated thats a s a separate service is one of those intellectually attractive ideas widely debated thats as a separate service is one of those intellectually attractive ideas widely debated thats a thoroughly stupid idea. I dont think its going to get funded by congress. It would be a 108 told 158year struggle to disentangle every one of those leapts and stick it under aid new service with new uniforms, civilian secretary, a new chief. I dont think its going to happen but its not a very good idea. Its an organizational fix to a functional challenge that i think mattis is addressing right now minus new legislation. Give us your oneminute summation of this president s behavior and ive heard you put it this way. What if he were a combat cannot commander in the military . I said actually a battalion commander. Over at fort benning all day today with these unbelievable experienced war fighters now that are running the army air force, navy, marines, coasties. The president is you know, personally, ive been involved with three white houses fairly closely. Ive got a lot of years now dealing with business, 15 years. Ive been in civil government. Ive never seen this level of illogical behavior, anger, impulsiveness, rudeness to the international leadership, never mind his domestic opposition. This is not the correct behavior for a Senior Executive at any level, never mind the president of the United States. Strong words from an experienced man, general, always a pleasure to have you on. Barry mccaffrey with us on a friday night. Coming up, we remember a friend of ours. A patriot. And a warrior and a scholar and an enemy of terrorists everywhere. When we come back. This is the ocean. Just listen. vo theres so much we want to show her. We needed a car that would last long enough to see it all. avo subaru outback. 98 are still on the road after 10 years. Come on mom, lets go avo right now, get 0 apr financing on the 2018 subaru outback. burke abstract accident. Seen it. Covered it. Ce music we know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum and i dont add up the years. But what i do count on is boost®. Delicious boost® high protein nuritional drink now has 33 more protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals boost® high protein. Be up for life. My dbut now, i take used tometamucil every day. Sh it traps and removes the waste that weighs me down, so i feel lighter. Try metamucil, and begin to feel what lighter feels like. You wouldnt accept an incomplete job from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Most pills dont finish the job because they dont relieve nasal congestion. Flonase sensimist is different. It relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Its more complete allergy relief. And all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. Flonase sensimist helps block six key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. And six is greater than one. Flonase sensimist. Last thing before we go here tonight, friends and family and colleagues and fellow warriors gathered today to remember a great patriot and Public Servant a man who our viewers came to know for his expertise and judgment as our analyst and his steady hand during some scary times. Michael sheehan died at walter reed this past monday. He will be remembered most perhaps for what he wrote just before the turn of this century back in 1998, a secret memo urging the u. S. Government to cut off financing to a man named osama bin laden. And to stop giving sanctuary to an organization named al qaeda. After sounding the warning within his own government, sheehan became frustrated at the atlantic action. In looking back on his life as a soldier, statesman and scholar, the New York Times this week quoted him as asking his colleagues at the time, what is it going to take to get them to hit al qaeda . Does al qaeda have to attack the pentagon . Of course, that was just one of the targets on 9 11 and sheehan helped secure the other, new york city. He ran the then brandnew nypd Counterterrorism Bureau and he turned it into a World Class Organization in its field rivalling federal agencies. Mike was born and raised in new jersey. I always thought the reason we got along so well was we shared an exit in neighboring towns and both grew up just off exit 117 of the garden state parkway. 114 if you want to go the backway. Mike left the jersey shore for west point, then ranger school, then special forces as a green beret where one Hostage Rescue Mission got the attention of the new york papers. He later earned two masters degrees, he was chief of counterterrorism at the state department. He oversaw special operations at the pentagon. And peacekeeping at the u. N. Which he was proud of. Mike sheehan our friend and former colleague was 63 years old. He fought multiple myeloma has hard as he fought terrorism during his lifetime. We, of course, send along our condolences to his family. That is our broadcast for this friday night and for this week. Thank you so very much for being here with us. Have a good weekend and good night for all of us here at nbc news headquarters in new york. Thats katy tur after two hours of live tv. Its 4 00 in washington, d. C. Were keeping a close eye on Paul Manaforts trial this hour. It was on pause most of the day today as the judge in the case huddled with lawyers from both sides. Its unclear what was discussed in the hours long secretive meetings or what the delay means for manafo. But that mystery serves as a ruling from the judge that should be as a warning light to Donald Trumps lawyers that the russia investigation is moving full steam ahead and the public has seen only the tip o