Brian Williams examines the days top political stories and current politicalcampaign news. Inaugural address, which my old boss had colorful language to describe. George w. Bush called it some crazy bleep. I was thinking about the line about carnage and i was thinking that the real carnage and it was all in motion when he came that day. The real carnage is the people closest to donald trump. The lives that are being destroyed for crimes theyve committed. I mean, you know, its not a night to feel sympathy for Michael Cohen, but the events that are sending him to jail potentially are events put in motion by the things donald trump demanded of the people close to him. It may end up ensnaring his family. But just this idea of wreckage. A source close to Michael Cohen tonight told me that everything donald trump touches is tainted by his toxic brew of lack of ethics and lack of any adherence to the law. I also thought of something that someone who advises this president said to me earlier in the day. Before the 4 00 hour. He said if the president is handing out one pardon today, its going to Paul Manafort. Not Michael Cohen. In describing that and then this evening when i spoke with him, emotional talking about the toll this took on his family. Something he stressed to me over and over again, though, was how well he felt like he was treated by Law Enforcement and by prosecutors. And that was an Important Message he wanted to get across. That was something he said in the initial raid of his home, hotel room, and office. And that is, in a way, another contrast with his former boss. Someone who attacked Law Enforcement over and over again on twitter and in his speeches. So this is just another sticking point. Even at this emotional loaded moment in his life. He was trying to plant a flag and say im not like this guy and im not going to be like him going forward. Let me ask you about his family and correct any of this i have wrong. Two daughters, both under 25, his wife born in the ukraine is kind of a dual role as bookkeeper for his legal concern
and having read that, it always made me wonder were the feds going to dangle that in front of cohen, if she cosigned agreements or checks. If they were going to perhaps say you wouldnt want to see your wife go in the federal slammer. Did she have any culpability, any involvement that you know of . Ill only correct you in the fact that he has a daughter and a son. Okay. Forgive me. Thats it. The rest i think youre spot on. I think thats a very important point. This is very closeknit marriage. They are people who are very involved in their businesses. As the New York Times reported over the weekend, shes someone who cosigned loan documents. From all i know in my year of very close reporting on Michael Cohen, he would do anything to save his family from any trouble, any pain, any hardship. And so if his wife were in fact in any kind of trouble, that would be a reason for him to take action and to stand up and do something. Artfully answered and our thanks. Hey michael, all the smart reporters in the business, everything weve seen come and go, everyone weve seen come and go, the folks who knew the Name Of The Game kept saying cohen is the one. Cohen is the one that could do the most damage here. Cohen is the one to concentrate on. You were among them. Is this kind of what you were talking about . Go back to the spring, the raid happens and the president s lawyers say, okay, its a new front in our legal wars. We know the extent of the Mueller Investigation. At least they thought they did. We understand the questions of collusion around the president. We understand obstruction. We have no idea what went on between the president and Michael Cohen. We dont think were getting truthful answers from the president about it. We do not understand the extent of his criminal exposure, and that is incredibly scary. Up until today, i still do not
think they appreciated just the gravity that this was going to have on the president. And im really not sure what they can do at this point. I dont know how they get themselves out of this situation. And thats just one part of the fight. We still havent seen what mueller is going to do. Thats exactly right. Daniel, please help us lay people out. Describe the agreement agreed to today. What is in it . Whats not . Does this constitute the quick and easy phrase of flipping. Did Michael Cohen flip today . If not, how shy of that is he . Well, the big surprise here is that he did not flip. This is not a Cooperation Agreement. This is a standard Plea Agreement where Michael Cohen went into court, as we all saw and witnessed, and admitted to committing eight crimes. But he did not agree to cooperate with the government in any meaningful way including
testifying down the road. And the government did not agree to write a letter to reduce his sentence, which is the benefit that he would have gotten. This is very surprising to me as a former assistant in that office because all indication is that Michael Cohen is not only willing but desperate to cooperate. So i, frankly, do not understand exactly what is going on because it does seem based on his allocution in court today where he volunteered and by the way, when he pointed at the president , that was unnecessary. That was something he did not need to say in order to fulfill his obligation to allocute to the judge. Its not in the information. It is something that he added himself to essentially make the president an unindicted coconspirator. Even though he is not referenced that way in the information. He clearly wants to cooperate but this is not a Cooperation Agreement. And daniel, ive got to say,
hes got lanny davis appearing on this network and cnn tonight certainly indicating theres more, there are stories to tell, including but not limited to advance knowledge of russian hacking, a Point Omarosa Last made a few days ago. Its almost as if theyre begging to have a meeting with prosecutors. And as a former prosecutor, and im sure chuck will say the same, we would offer that meeting any day of the week. Its surprising given the foreshadowing lanny davis is making, begin what he said in court today, thats enough to meeke the prosecutors interest. It certainly piques our interest. The only other explanation is the prosecutors dont feel like hes told them the truth, maybe theyve met. By dont think theres been enough time they could have been meeting over the past couple of weeks and for the prosecutors to believe hes not truthful. So the final conclusion, the only thing that makes any sense to me is that this is a marker. This is a place holder before labor day, before we get into
election season, so they dont disrupt anything and cant be accused of disrupting anything related to the election. Have him plead guilty to what we all know hes under investigation for, and then theyll sort of begin the cooperation process, which requires many, many meetings between cohen and the prosecutors and investigators. Okay, chuck, it all comes down to you. In the moment as it was happening today, i heard several good legal minds open the door and toss out the phrase unindicted coconspirator. It had me flashing back to 1974 and 5. Is it a term of art in the law . Can it be applied to one donald trump after a day like today . It is a term of art in the law, brian. And i think it can be applied to the president of the United States as of today. Weve thrown it around before but today we had someone stand up in court under oath by the
way, it wasnt just any someone. It was the president s personal lawyer who said i was directed to do this by donald trump. Its a remarkable thing. Daniel is right. Cohen did not need to go there. But he did. One other point i would like to amplify. Like daniel, im a bit confused as to why there was no Cooperation Language in this agreement, but nothing in the agreement precludes him from cooperating down the road. And so it may well be a marker. As daniel said. The cooperation may follow. It certainly seems like mr. Cohen and his team are foreshadowing that. And if hes truthful and hes helpful, im quite certain the government will be interested. Nicolle, here is the big question. The rest was all windup. What did today do to the trajectory of this presidency that you and i talk about for a living . Where are we headed now, do you think . It shattered the narrative that the investigation into this president is a witch hunt. I mean, the witches all had, you know, Keys To The Kingdom and these were all people that were doing Donald Trumps bidding. So the idea that he can smear this investigation, that that taint will follow to the Southern District of new york which had nothing to do with the targets donald trump attacks on a daily basis i think is a bridge too far. I think this might be the day. If we look back and theyre whipping the votes in the senate to see if the Impeachment Vote in the house, if they have enough votes to convict him. Theyll look back on this day as one of the days that began to erode that lock they have on the republican base. The republicans have been pathetic. Theyve been pathetic during the campaign and during the presidency. But you cant sustain too many days where the president s former fixer lawyer stands up in
court and said i committed crimes at the request of the president and look the other way. They did it after that Access Hollywood tape. Theyve done it after bleep hole countries. Theyve done it after every sort of norm gets broken. But these are serious crimes being charged of the people that were closest to this president. Michael schmidt, i dont know that anyone at the New York Times has assigned this side bar. But i suppose its plausible. That today was the day on two fronts when the good guys, meaning men and women, won. In Northern Virginia a jury of Paul Manaforts citizen if not financial peers acquitted themselves well and put in a lot of Earnest Effort in that case. And in new york we got to work we got to watch the career Public Servants of the Southern District of new york, one of them actually called cohen out as a fellow lawyer, as someone who had disregarded his training and tradition. But to a lot of people watching it felt leek a recentering today. Part of this story we dont
know the answer to. And that is why did Rod Rosenstein have the Cohen Investigation moved to the Southern District . Because what it did was it took the issue of a witch hunt sort of away from mueller on that thing. He gave it to these Career Prosecutors here who did the case. So they walk into court today, they get this plea, and they walk out. And its not bob mueller and its not the 17 angry democrats. Its a bench of welleducated assistant United States attorneys that have done this. That protects the integrity of it certainly from a political perspective. The president cannot as easily stand up tomorrow and say look at what bob mueller has done. This is not bob mueller. Thats a great point. Our guests have agreed to stick around while we fit in a quick break. When we come back, how today fits and what it tells us about that point. The larger Mueller Investigation. And later, bad news for another Senior Member of the trump team. It has to do with a house guest of his and another republican member of the house indicted. The news watch never stops, as they say on a new york radio station, and we are here to cover it all. The 11th hour just Getting Started on a tuesday night. Admitted he arranged payments for two women at the direction of the candidate, referring to trump with the purpose of affecting the election. Right now its not totally clear what this news means for muellers overall russia investigation, but Harvard Law Professor lawrence tribe wrote on twitter tonight about something weve just been discussing. Quote, no way cohen would have entered guilty pleas to eight Felony Counts in new york city today without either a sealed Cooperation Agreement or a confidential understanding with mueller, which the Plea Agreement in the Southern District of new york expressly left open. So he still has Key Information on trump to share. Meanwhile, no mention of Michael Cohen or Paul Manafort at the president s rally tonight in west virginia. But he did briefly bring up the whole raur thing. Fake news and the russian witch hunt. Weve got a whole big combination. Where is the collusion . You know, theyre still looking for collusion. Where is the collusion . Find some collusion we want to find the collusion. The panel remains with us. Nicolle wallace, michael schmidt, emily jane fox, Chuck Rosenberg and Daniel Goldman. Chuck, talk about Robert Mueller. Talk about what quarter we may be in of this investigation. I guess the motto there continues to be steady as you go. Steady as you go. Every time you ask me a bob mueller question, brian, i Say Something like steady as you go. Were not in the First Quarter anymore. I know that. I dont think were in the Fourth Quarter either. I guess that only leaves two other quarters. But my sense is that theres a lot more work to be done. By the way, i dont think i agree with professor tribe. Far be it for me to disagree with a Harvard Law School professor. But Plea Agreements in the federal system have to be the entire agreement. There can be no Side Agreements. We make that clear in court and in writing. And so i still believe that mr. Cohen may cooperate at some point, and im sure mueller would want it. Of course, he would, if its truthful and helpful. But i dont believe there are Side Agreements here. Somebody who would know more about that practice in the Southern District of new york than me would be dan goldman. But i suspect that mr. Tribe may just be wrong about that point. And dan, when you hear the president on the no collusion front, weve just emerged from a 24hour period with a lot of discussion about the email setting up the meeting at trump tower because of the intense russian government interest in seeing donald trump elected. Is that ball game for you right there . Its not ball game, but it is a strong indication that there
was an appetite, a willingness, an intent to engage with russia in order to allow the russians to interfere with our election, which is a crime. It gets us part of the way but it doesnt get us all the way. So, you know, collusion, of course, is colloquial. I dont think that in and of itself would be grounds for a conspiracy charge, which is how bob mueller would charge it, but it gets it part of the way. Then when you start to add up the different data points, the july 27th date, when trump asks russia to find Hillary Clintons emails. Then an indictment from bob mueller which says that on that date they went phishing, ph, not f, phishing for emails, it starts to make a little bit more sense. Now you have lanny davis who goes on air tonight on Rachel Maddows show and said that Michael Cohen might have information that donald trump knew about the hacking before it was released. Were starting to get closer and
closer and closer, and remember, bob mueller speaks in indictments. He speaks in very thorough, detailed, complicated and sophisticated indictments. He doesnt speak in the media. So all this talk about no collusion, no collusion, no collusion within literally knocked out of the air with one major indictment. Nicolle, that is such a great point. The one person in all this mess we havent heard a peep from and never will until its time is bob mueller. Do you think he shares this view of labor day being the start of a forced national rest period where he must put all pencils down in the Special Counsels office . I was warned by someone who worked closely alongside bob mueller for close to a decade not to accept any sort of analysis of what bob mueller is going to do. This person said bob mueller wouldnt tell his dying mother if he was going to indict or not indict. If he was going to charge or not
charge. If he was going to follow doj policy on this or that. It is a known unknown what bob mueller is thinking and what hes going to do. That said, i think that you look at the Mueller Investigation and you look at the helsenke moment. That was the moment when the people closest to the president said they said on obstruction hes sloppy, hes messy, and your entire body of reporting. He peppers people with questions after they come back from muler. Don mcgahn spent 30 hours i mean, theyve always been worried about obstruction. They call mueller a prosecutorial assassin. Theyve always felt the president was vulnerable on this Quef Obstruction after he was in office but after helsinki they became very concerned that maybe around questions of conspiracy, if a conspiracy is charged, that he may be vulnerable there too. Today his friends are looking at the cohen news and the nan frt news and people really closest to the president have a sense that he could be in a lot of trouble. And i think talking about the republicans at the beginning, that is what will begin to sort
of i think begin to dismantle This Rock Solid Support of the president that undergirds him through all of this behavior that is mindblowing to people from the outside or people that have worked in republican politics before. The Valerie Plame investigation where george w. Bush was never a subject, there was never a question of whether bush or cheney had obstructed justice, it took a heavy toll on the bush white house. Donald trump is the subject, possibly even the target of these investigations, and hes been held up by this ridiculous fear grip that republicans feel from him. But i think well look back and today may be the day that people start to wonder if he isnt in more trouble than we understand. Mike schmidt, our friend Chuck Rosenberg will tell you that mueller prefers meetings standing up in his office because it keeps your energy up and its more efficient. Mueller unironically asks coworkers and associates every day what they have done for their country at work, sometimes prior to 6 00 a. M. It has always been difficult to imagine a room with mueller and
trump in it. Have the chances of that rumored Mythical Sitdown lets say dimmed a little bit further today . Well, i cant imagine they got any better. But im not sure they were in that good of a place to start. Ive been reporting on this interview for almost eight months now and the president s lawyers have continually said theyre just a few weeks away from making a decision. And i fell for that along the way at different points. Were still here. Now coming into september. Rudy said that they cant do an interview in september or october too close to the election. Comey territory, as he calls it. Referring back to the 2016 election. So the opening for that, i cant imagine is there. By the way, im told rudy is in scotland on vacation. That may Say Something or nothing at all. Emily jane fox, we have been led
to believe that this ballanchinelike dance has been going on between cohen and the Southern District of new york. Heres what i have to share. Well, heres what we may have for you. Heres how we can reduce your sentence. I kind of see you in this chevrolet. That kind of thing going back and forth. Then we kind of learned today that this was a very fast dance of 24 to 48 hours. This thing just came together. This just came together. What can you confirm or deny based on your reporting . So my reporting i reported this in vanity fair this evening is yes there have been overtures to the prosecution from cohens lawyers over the last several weeks saying, hey, were here. We can talk if you want to talk. But a real attempt in earnest with the two of them to sit down didnt come until last week. They came, they called, and said you have a limited amount of time to tell us what you want to tell us. So the end of last week, through the weekend and the beginning of this week was impressionable for cohens side. Cohen went into this week fully expecting to be arrested. He spent the weekend assuming that he would be arrested early this week. So that is where talks were over the weekend. Now, people who are close cohen clammed up over the last couple of days and went silent. That, to me, was an indication that things were getting serious. That discussions were going to a new place. But this is a very quick process, which leads me to believe there may be more to the process. And you further reported it was important to him to avoid the shot of being walked in handcuffs. So thus the surrender to the fbi . Correct. This was something he did not want his children to see. He did not want his kids to see him do a perp walk. And he knew that that footage would be aired over and over and over again on television. Sought fact he was able to surrender on his own terms today was very important to him and something he had been thinking about, talking about, telling friends about since last week,
since prosecutors began talking with his attorney. Ominous note toned on on such a busy day and night. Our thanks. Nicolle wallace, michael schmidt, emily jane fox, Chuck Rosenberg, Daniel Goldman. Cant thank you enough for joining us and starting off our conversation. Coming up for us this evening, manaforts Attorney Says theyre evaluating all options. Then comes their next trial. Well break down what that could mean for donald trump when The 11th Hour continues. To make me feel sluggish but now, i take metamucil every day. It traps and removes the waste that weighs me down, so i feel lighter. Try metamucil, and begin to feel what lighter feels like. Mr. Paul manafort is disappointed of not getting acquitals all the way through or a complete hung jury on all counts. He is evaluating all of his options at this point. Thank you, everyone. That was Paul Manaforts attorney just moments after his client learned he could be facing decades behind bars. Manaforts convictions carry a maximum of 80 years. Thats just so far, remember. Not counting his second trial in d. C. Next month for Money Laundering and illegal foreign lobbying. He could still decide to cooperate with mueller or, as politico puts it tonight his best hope may lie with a pardon or commutation from trump. Many observers consider that a likely outcome given trumps repeated statements in recent days that manafort and others in muellers sights were being treated unfairly. Youll note as of tonight, trump
repeats calling manafort a good man. Well, with us to talk about this josh gerstein. Senior White House Reporter for politico. And because we have extorted him with payments wired to an overseas bank weve got Daniel Goldman to agree after a long day to spend even more time with us. Gentlemen, thank you so much. And josh, youve covered every day of this. Was this the definition of ending with a whimper and not a bang . It did seem to be. I mean, i think everybody was eager to get the trial over with after four days of deliberations and into its fourth week. I got the sense from both sides they were a bit weary of the situation. We did get an indication from notes from the jury one note in particular today that they were struggling. Initially people thought it was one count. They were struggling with. It turned out what the jury was trying to say they wanted to know what the process was if they couldnt come to a verdict. It turned out that on ten of the 18 counts against manafort, they were deadlocked. We dont know by what margin. We dont know if it was 111 or 66. We just dont know that at this point. It did kind of go out with a whimper. But i must say if youre the defendant to hear yourself pronounced guilty on eight Felony Counts in a federal courtroom, its certainly not a good day for you. And i saw Paul Manafort swallow pretty hard when the first guilty verdict on the first tax charge came in. After that he pretty much just froze. Yeah. Bracing moment none of us want to experience firsthand. Hey, daniel, now as an exfed center us up as the way they see this in washington. If youre muellers office, is a win a win . Yes. Very simply yes. And particularly a win in a convictions on all three tranches of charges. And you put it up there. The five tax charges. Subsequently, Michael Cohens eight counts. The first five were tax charges, as well. In Paul Manaforts case he was convicted of five tax charges and theres one failure to report the Foreign Bank Accounts and two bank fraud charges. Thats helpful to the prosecution because theyll argue at sentencing he should be sentenced on all of the conduct in the indictment even on the charges that were deadlocked by the jury. And so and the judge can find that by a preponderance of the evidence. As a prosecutor, you look for a conviction. You obviously want to sweep. Im sure they would have preferred all 18 counts. But to get convictions even when you have some of the counts hung is still absolutely a victory, i would say. It is not a resounding or overwhelming victory, but its a strong victory and right now you saw Kevin Downing and his face,
which was a very different look than hes had for the last week and a half or so. And im sure the prosecutions side they are relieved and happy. Josh, when the judges peers go over the transcripts within even if we never hear a word about it in the future, do you think it will be found by rational people he hurt the prosecution . I think so. I think there were a few different incidents he seemed to undercut their case. He took a shot in court, it seemed like, at the defenses im sorry, the Prosecutions Star Witness in the case, rick gates. There was another time he suggested one of the counts that manafort was not convicted on today that there was a hung jury because it was an attempted bank fraud. It wasnt very significant and maybe the prosecution shouldnt be pursuing it. Again, would be unusual comments for a judge to make outside the presence of a jury. I think inside with the presence of a jury in the courtroom, very unusual. And probably over the line. That said, mistakes that hurt the prosecution, as weve discussed before, brian, theres no recourse for those. There is no appeal and i dont think these are so extraordinary that judge ellis is going to face any kind of actual recrimination for. Thanks to both of these gentlemen who have been up early covering this trial every day for us. Josh gerstein and Daniel Goldman, formerly of the Southern District of new york. Our thanks to you both. Thanks, brian. Coming up, the New York TimesEditorial Board puts it this way for a witch hunt, mr. Muellers investigation has already bagged a remarkable number of witches. The political impact of an especially damaging day for this president , when we continue. From the very beginning. It was always our singular focus, a distinct determination. To do whatever it takes, use every possible resource. To fight cancer. And never lose sight of the patients were fighting for. Our Cancer Treatment specialists share the same vision. Experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. Specialists focused on treating cancer. Using advanced technologies. And more precise treatments than before. Working as hard as we can doing all that we can for everyone who walks through our doors. This is Cancer Treatment centers of america. And these are the specialists were proud to call our own. Treating cancer isnt one thing we do. Its the only thing we do. Expert medicine works here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com Cancer Treatment centers of america. Appointments available now. If your moderate to severeor 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
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come on, we would have been scrambling to ask you to come on after a day like today. Bill, colossally bad day for donald trump. And i think at the end of it a bad day for our country too. I guess, you know, i mean, you dont like to see the president s we have a situation where the president S National Security adviser, Campaign Chairman and personal lawyer have pled guilty or been found guilty of felony crimes. Its pretty astounding. How do you think it has changed the trajectory of what were looking at . What do you think we are looking at . I think its a reminder that Robert Mueller knows a lot. If you just think about the implications of another manafort trial coming up, what manafort, if he were to choose to cooperate, could talk about, and then cohen especially. He may not be cooperating yet, but he formally cooperating yet, but if he chooses to cooperate the amount he would know about not just the particular crimes which he pled guilty and which he seems to be implicating President Trump in but as lanny davis said, the other things that cohen could talk about just daytoday stuff. Youre just opening up the entire and i do think well get to russia. The protrump Talking Points tonight online and on social media was well, wheres russia, its still not collusion with russia. Well, lets see. Lets see how long that lasts. Eugene, you have a colleague at the Washington Post who like you can turn a phrase. His name is dan balz. And i quote. No day during President Trumps 19 months in office could prove as dangerous or debilitating as tuesday. Everything that happened in a pair of Courtrooms Hundreds of miles apart strengthened the hand of Robert Mueller and weakened that of the president of the United States. This was a day when truth overran tweets, when facts overwhelmed bald assertions. President ial tweets, however provocative, eventually disappear into the ether. Tuesdays convictions could send two people who have had Close Relationships with trump to prison for several years while one of them brought the investigation to the doorstep of
the white house. Im assuming you concur with your colleague dan. I do concur. I was here during the 4 00 hour with nicolle today. Present at the creation. Well, we felt like we were on the wrong end of an Artillery Barrage of news. It was a few hours to sort of think about it. Two things really come to mind. Aside from the fact that dan balz is, you know, a master at framing the big picture. Number one, Rudy Giuliani was wrong on sunday. At least as far as the u. S. Justice system is concerned. Truth is truth. And thats what our Justice System is designed to try to find. And they knew russians were coming to trump tower. So thats kind of comforting. Thats a good thing for america, i think, that that still functions. And the other thing is so youve got cohen, youve got manafort,
youve got flynn, youve got gates. These characters around donald trump. You get this portrait, this sort of Pointillistic Portrait Of Seeminess And Seediness and crooked dealings and underhanded shenanigans unbecoming of the leader of a great country. This is not a surprise about donald trump. But it just becomes much more vivid i think and today was a particularly vivid day with cohen saying, the president now president of the United States directed me to commit a felony. To pick up on that point, we went today from unbecoming sleazy very problematic conduct that a lot of us deplored to two guilty pleas with two or three or more Close Associates of the president now cooperating with the Justice Department which incidentally both on the special
counsel side and the Southern District of new york side which had been coordinated which means the whole Justice Department is now pursuing this investigation in a very serious way. I think Rod Rosenstein may turn out to be a very interesting character in the that hes been we know that muellers a black box, but thats been a black box too. Rosensteins decision to gift Cohen Investigation to the Southern District of new york so it could go on its own track. The degree to which there may have been some attempt to coordinate the timing. I was struck in the previous segment, a couple segments ago, that cohen wasnt really approached about a deal until maybe ten days ago and then about a plea, and then as they put pressure on him i wonder how much rosenstein wanted to try to maximize the impact by bringing these two together as much as he could, for the manafort trial coming to an end and turning out to have enough of a guilty verdict. Sow really do have a kind of its a serious investigation. I very much agree. This is the Justice Department being serious about discovering the truth. Quick break. Just to continue our
conversation on the other side. Both these gentlemen will stay with us. Hes now been indicted, he and his wife have an appearance tomorrow morning for misuse of campaign funds. Heres why its important. He was the second member of congress to support donald trump, the first was Chris Collins of upstate new york. He of indictment fame. Whats going on here . Collins who conducted Insider Trading from the white house picnic from the white house lawn. Yes. I dont know whats going on. Whats going on is what we see. I do think in either a republican primary in 2020 against donald trump or maybe a republican open field if trumps no longer president and on the democratic side the market for a serious reformer who says you know, what i understand why some people went for trump, they did want to clean things up, they wanted to disrupt, they wanted to change, but he unfortunately made it worse, but we really need to fundamentally reform the ways of washington in serious ways, not in sort of demagogic ways. There would be a big market for that. I agree. And people are trying to serve that market now. Elizabeth warren is out with a
pu niche along those lines. And democrats are going to pick that up. At your paper, another writer we should talk about, robert costa. He can turn a phrase, as well. Hes got a story tonight that larry kudlow has invited i guess on more than one occasion a White Nationalist to a Birthday Party at his home. Who among us hasnt had a White Nationalist to a dinner party at our house. Just kidding. What are we to make of where are all these White Nationalists coming from . Where do they come from . And why are they on everybodys social calendar now . I dont understand it. And how do you do it more than once . I just dont but in this case, he was a respectable National Review conservative, strident on immigration, whos gradually slid off the deep end over the last ten years. I guess he knew larry kudlow from years ago, lived near each other in connecticut and its a social thing. But it is indicative of something that happened unfortunately to parts of the Conservative Movement which is there were people who were in it and of it and a little bit
maybe on the fringe of it and who really ended up in a pretty unattractive place. The left has its version, as well. And both parties have dealt with it, and its the folks who deal with It Forthrightly and call it for what it is, and i guess we should learn a lesson about who we invite over to the house. Yeah. Especially the White Nationalists. Cross them off when you see them. Honey, lets go over the invite list one more time. One more time. Gentlemen, i cant thank you enough. Its just been one of those days in our country and in this ongoing story in the short history of this broadcast. Eugene and bill, thank you. Thanks. Thank you. With that, that is our broadcast as we say for the aforementioned busy tuesday night. Our thanks to all of you for being with us. And good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york