Should explain why the feds have gone and shredded the Cooperation Agreement they had at one time with Paul Manafort, who now faces big jail time. We now noah corresponding to our friends at the the New York Times the Manafort Team was telling the trump team what mueller investigators were most interested in and asking about. Just days ago, the mueller Team RevealedMichael Flynn had been providing what they called substantial assistance in the russia inquiry. Tonight our own Kristen Welker citing two sources is reporting that trumps lawyers have resumed discussions with team mueller in recent days. This is the first time that its been acknowledged since President Trump submitted written responses to muellers questions on november 20th. This morning, trump renewed his social media offensive against the investigation. He offered us this, quote, without the phony russia witchhunt and all that we have accomplished in the last almost two years, tax and regulation cuts, judges, military, vets, et cetera, my Approval Rating would be at 75 rather than the 50 just reported by rasmussen. Its called president ial harassment. Later this afternoon during an event at the white house, there was no sign of his frustration over muellers inquiry. In fact, the mood seemed downright campaign rallylike. [ applause ] it is actually 6. Actually never hurt, four more years. Thats an interesting well go for six and then well all be in very good shape. Four more years, of course, is an expression. Meanwhile, a new article in the atlantic paints a picture of a white house unprepared to deal with muellers findings. Once his investigation is over, quote, according to a half dozen current and former white house officials, the administration has no plans in place for responding to the special counsels findings, save for expecting a twitter spree. You may recall that earlier this year trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani had promised that trumps legal team planned to put out its own report to counter mueller. Talk to me a little bit about this idea of a counter report you guys mentioned, youre going to put out your own report. Is that done to undermine muellers credibility . Its done to answer. Its not going to come out until he puts out a report. Of course i think even the president s enemies would imagine that his lawyers would put out a counter to an attack. If youre going to write a fair report, fine, write it. If youre going to write an unfair report, write it, well combat it. Were ready to rip had it apart. Were ready to rip them a forward if they want. According to the atlantic, giuliani said its been difficult in the last few months to consider drafting response plans or a counter report. He claimed they were working this summer as he and trump contronted muellers questions. This piece goes on to quote giuliani saying, answering those questions was a nightmare. It took him about three weeks to do what would normally take two days. Thats his lawyer talking. Tomorrow, former fbi director James Comey Testifies behind closed doors before the House Judiciary Committee about the investigation into Hillary Clintons emails as well as his role in the russia election meddling inquiry. Earlier this year, comey described his initial conversations with trump about russias actions. Did he seem curious about russian interference in the election about did he talk to you about efforts to try to stop it in the next round of election s . He did not. In fact, one of the things we were struck by in our the meeting gwen myself and the leaders of the other intelligence agencies with the president elect on january 6th, before he took office, was he had no questions and i dont think anybody else had any questions from his team as to what the future threat from russia might be. Also there are new reports tonight that william barr is the leading candidate to be the next United States attorney general. He has held that job before. He ran the Justice Department in the bush 41 white house from 91 to 93. And in that job, barr was formally Robert Muellers boss. Hes been a stalwart in republican legal circles for years. Recently hes said some interesting things about mueller and trump and russia, all of it part of the discussion as we go through the night. The lead off panel, Daniel Goldman for the Southern District of new york, mimi rocca, former assistant university for the Southern District of new york now a distinguished fellow in criminal justice at the Pace University school of law. And down in d. C. As you can see our friend phil rucker, Pulitzer Prize winning bureau chief for the Washington Post. Phil, im going to begin with you on all things journalism. Former president bush 41 has been buried. The ceremonial part of this president s week is over. And so on twitter, in just the last two hours, weve had something of a late night fuselad, perhaps linked to television segments weve watched airing on the Cable Networks tonight. What do you think is going on in there . Well, brian, i think the president seems to be signalling to the world some level of anxiety about the russia investigation. He must certainly know about the deadlines tomorrow that you referenced in the opening of tonights show where we are going to learn more details about, you know, how Paul Manafort lied to investigators and how Michael Cohen has been cooperating with investigators. Those are both issues sure to agitate the president. And so it seems like what hes doing is a little bit of prebutting here. He began this morning with the witchhunt tweet, but has continued in just the last hour with a series of tweets about the russia probe and other matters. So, daniel, because lawyers love files, lets you two are two counsel here in new york. Make two files. First file is going to be you. What to expect with this cohen memorandum filing tomorrow, and please tell me its not going to be the dreaded black stripes of redaction. I wish i could tell you that, but what we have seen with the flynn memo is Robert Mueller playing by the book, following d. O. J. Policy, which is not to reveal any information about an ongoing confidential investigation. And the reason for that is not just because hes trying to keep things close to the vest, but its to protect potential people who would be mentioned who are ultimately not charged, and have no way of vindicating themselves. So there is sound reason for doing that, and i expect that in the Michael Cohen sentencing memorandum, were going to see the same things because if there is anything related to the russia investigation through muellers office we know hes not going to reveal any of that. And then from the Southern District, and perhaps the new York Attorney generals office, there are no charges based on Michael Cohens cooperation. The one thing i would point out is Michael Flynn got a motion for a reduction in sentence because he is a signed up cooperating witness. Team usa. Michael cohen does not have the same agreement. I think in practical matters, it doesnt really matter that much. In practical terms it doesnt matter that much. The government will be forced and required to give an honest assessment of his cooperation of his truthfulness and what assistance he has provided. But, again, Michael Flynn had a very low sentencing guideline range, 0 to 6, so he didnt need much to get to 0. Michael cohen has asked for 0, but his bottom end of the guideline range which the judge uses as the baseline is about four years. So hes got a lot of wood to chop to get down to 0. Could an atta boy change that and ultimately influence the judge . Yes, absolutely. And i expect he will get less than four years, but it depends a little bit on what is going to be what we expect to be the redact the sentencing memorandum tomorrow. To determine how much hes given them. But i think i would not expect him to walk out without with no jail time. To your former coworker in the Southern District of new york, mimi rocca, mimi, you get to talk about this manafort document thats coming out tomorrow. What we might learn from it, and with toner already running terribly low in all of our newsrooms, are you going to tell me were going to see more of the black stripes of redaction . I dont want to be 0 for 2 here, but i think we are going to see more redactions in that filing as well. Again, its hard to know how much. Look, the posture of this is that the government needs to be able to justify to the judge why they are not upholding this agreement that they had entered into with manafort. So they need to show good faith. Its actually not an incredibly hard standard to show. You know, in other words, its not just the government saying we dont feel like it. Its the government saying, he lied and heres how we know it. Now, if those lies are central to the heart of muellers investigation, the russia investigation, which i believe they are, because, one, thats what makes them important. And, two, we believe thats why manafort was signed up. Then, you know, again, going back to the flynn example, hes not going to reveal that right now because thats an ongoing investigation. Although it could be that there is enough thats already out there that, you know, can use so, the purpose here is to show that manafort lied, not to show evidence against other people. And so it depends a lot what the lies are about. Phil rucker, to this reporting about the trump legal team, does it match up with what you know and have been able to learn . Because every so often we keep hearing, you know, theyve hired a new candidate and theyre really going to buckle down. But it seems to me, every day in that legal shop must feel like the eve of hurricane katrina, especially now that we read theyre not prepared. Yeah, brian, you know, theres a quote in the atlantic story from i think a former white house official who said the strategy is basically, jesus, take the wheel. And thats been the strategy all along through this presidency for almost every issue among the staff. So a lot of Decision Making and the communication strategy having to do with the Mueller Probe is limited to people in the counsels office and the president s personal attorneys. But the reporting is absolutely right and it matches up with what ive been hearing. I spoke to a number of trump allies today who said theyre very concerned that the president does not seem to be taking seriously the threat from mueller in the months to come, coupled with the threat from democrats as they take over the house of representatives and start launching investigations, including potentially into the president s businesses, into his family, potentially trying to get his tax returns. There are a number of issues ahead on the horizon and the president doesnt seem to have all the lawyers, all the sort of war room strategists and operatives in place that his allies would like to see. Daniel goldman, the new talking point thats in vogue and cities serviced by amtrak on the east coast is this. The 20 or so memos, sentencing documents, charges, thats going to be the mueller report. It will be told in chapters, and not a la ken starr, a bound book that is distributed to the media at a d. C. Press conference. What say you to that . Well, i think there is going to be more indictments and that would be part of it, too. Right. And so Robert Mueller has demonstrated that he his indictments are lengthy and detailed, and perhaps include information and evidence thats not necessary to support the charges, but he takes the opportunity to present a narrative. And so if roger stone is indicted or jerome corsi is even indicted, particularly roger stone if theyre really looking at him for collusion, which it seems they are, they are going to paint a broad brush in explaining the evidence. Youll have that. In terms of the report, we can expect it to address obstruction of justice for sure because thats really focused on the president almost singularly. And then the question just remains is, what else is there out there not worthy of charge but goes in the report . Under the special counsel regulations thats kind of up in the air as to how much they should put in there and why because they are supposed to say why they are declining prosecution against individuals. So, it could be more than just simply the president. It could include other people they decided not to charge. The big thing about these memos, just real quick, is they are court documents. They are under seal to us right now, but they will not remain under seal forever. And so the mueller can use these memorandum as a way of making sure that the public will eventually learn about some of the evidence that he has. Mimi rocca, the trump team and mueller team were reporting tonight are talking again. Do you think thats a serious endeavor . Well, first of all, i assume talking again, the source of that is on trumps side because we know muellers side doesnt talk. So im always skeptical when something what on earth right. Why would i be skeptical. But, you know, we do know that he turned in answers. As much as we can know anything that giuliani says, and it would make sense that mueller would come back. You dont just this is why the written for matt is so awkward. You dont just hear an answer and say, okay, thanks, bye. You have followup questions, and im sure they have those. So i think it is possible that they are going back to him with further written questions. Trump knows a lot more now, as we all do, than he did when he answered them the first time. So, i think there is a bit of going through the motions here. Place, the xfinity xfi gateway. And its strengthened by xfi pods, which plug in to extend the wifi even farther, past anything that stands in its way. Well almost anything. Leave no room behind with xfi pods. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Click or visit a retail store today. Modern era of this country, and as a family man. Peter baker of the New York Times report not on trumps mindset said the president has been, quote, snappish with aides most of the week according to administration officials, miffed in part by so many ceremonial events not related to him. He was impatient for the memorials to end, but expressed pride in himself for remaining publicly civil. People close to the president called it a course correction after his peevish reaction to mr. Mccains death. Trump ended his night last night tweeting out his 50 Approval Rating in the most recent poll. And, of course, tomorrow brings more mueller memos as we have been talking about and more uncertainty. Well, with us tonight tim obrien, the executive editor of bloomberg opinion, more importantly he wrote the book on this subject. Hes the author of trump nation, the art of being the donald. I have wanted to have you on for so long. Thank you, brian. So, lets put him on the couch and lets begin with the following tableau. He walks into the National Cathedral. The other president s are seated. He is wearing his overcoat. He takes it off and hands said crumpled overcoat to the young marine officer who was acting as his escort. Then, of course, he sits down and so much ink has been spilled over the last 24 hours on those he did and did not greet. What is going on there . You know, i think and this is putting him on the couch, so were both sort of speculating here. I think clothing for donald trump is armor. Why didnt he just leave the coat, the over coat in the back of the seat. Hes worn the same outfit since the 80s. Its almost like hes been cryogenetically. Thats his approximation of it. Its almost a cartoon, cartoonish version of that, but it alternately gives him security and it allows him to keep people at a distance. And thats really the interesting thing about him because for all of the bluster and all of the bravado and the bragging, hes a deeply insecure person. And so these costumes he wears insulates him from that. And i thought it was extraordinary at this event in the National Cathedral with all of the pomp and circumstances involved in it, he couldnt just strip that off and leave it be. Then he ends up sort of crumpling it and giving it in the hands of the surprise military attache. At when the reading started it is said he did not participate in the service at all. Then there was just his the way he carried himself while seated. Yeah. His hands together, he was rocking at one point. It was impossible to listen to the eulogies and not take some of it as a kind of comparison to the sitting president. It was not intended that way. Im certain. But what people thought he looked petulant. People thought he looked angry at the content of the eulogies. Look at what was said about George Walker bush. What aisle he resided on politically, whether you thought his policies were successful or failures, at his core this was a decent man who lived his life well, who was considerate of the people he did politics with. He was loving to his family members. And had a long and successful marriage with his wife. Almost every one of those points are not a description of who donald trump is. And he had to be sitting there being very aware of that because it wasnt just john meachams eulogy. Right. Right. Alan simpson gave a beautiful recounting mulrooney about the states man yes, talking about trade policies trump has overturned. So hes sitting there and he has to know at some point in the future whenever that occurs, hes going to get a state funeral and its likely these same sort of things arent going to be said about him. And so i wondered, watching him, where does that go, you know . In his mind as an adult man in the world right now. And my estimation of where it goes is probably nowhere. Donald trump is 72 years old. He is not somebody at this point who is going to change. Liz smith, the gossip columnist once said to me, she had a great texas twang. She said, honey, all you have to know about donald trump is hes a 7yearold growing old. One of the things he hasnt evolved is because he was born into great wealth. That insulated him from having some of the hard lessons of life or learning from mistakes many of us do. He then graduated out of that into celebrity hood through the apprentice and his tv presence. That gave him another layer of insulation. And now hes in the white house. He has this magnificent third layer of insulation from reality. And he doesnt have to really suffer the consequence of his mistakes and shortcomings. I was going to say about mueller, i have a buddy who was a corrections officer in new york state for many years. People who dont know the prison system may not know. They are not armed when they are among the inmate population. And he always said, when i ask him, what was the lesson of all those years you spent inside with the inmates . He said, never corner a man. Always leave a man an out. Even the slightest crack, so that they feel theyre not cornered because cornered people get desperate. Does donald trump feel cornered by the Mueller Investigation . I think donald trump certainly feels cornered by it. One of the best barometers is when he starts unleashing tweet after tweet, describing the investigation as a witchhunt, stepping right up to it, i would think of as an Investigative Reporter, as witness tampering. In plain sight. In plain sight. And, in part, its because his unsophisticated and ignorant. He has never been in the kind of legal vice he is in right now. Never in his whole life. Hes had the sec come close to him. Hes had the fbi in Atlantic City with organized crime investigations. But he hasnt had a veteran prosecutor like Robert Mueller with a team of 13 highly talented people who are content not to be in the press and who are content to take out their notebooks and make little checkmarks and file papers and move the legal ball forward. And he doesnt really know how to handle that. Hes ill equipped legally. He has emmet flood in the white house, hes a good attorney, but he has this odd greek chorus of Rudy Giuliani and Alan Dershowitz out there battling. Thats not a legal strategy. Thats performance art. And the problem here is donald trump is a performance artist who is now getting pushed into a corner by bob mueller. And ive thought for quite sometime now the real trigger here will be if his son don junior gets indicted or if Jared Kushner gets indicted. If he gets a whiff of any of those things, hell lash out. I think its highly likely hell try to fire mueller. Well, well see. I tell people go back and look at the opening sequence of the apprentice for all those years. The iconography, the way he carried himself, the music, in some way its a key to understanding who he is. Tim obrien, our thanks. And again, this book is called trump nation the art of being the donald. Thank you very much for coming on our broadcast. Thank you. And coming up, james comey is being summoned back to the hill tomorrow. My family. And they all want isotoner gloves for christmas because they keep getting better. Theres smartouch. For selfies whenever, wherever. Then theres four way stretch for flexibility. They even have smartdri. See . Stays dry. So get isotoner gloves for the whole family. Take care of the hands that take care of you. Get stronger. Get closer. Start listening today to the Worlds Largest selection of audiobooks on audible. And now, get more. For just 14. 95 a month, youll get a credit a month good for any audiobook, plus two Audible Originals exclusive titles you cant find anywhere else. If you dont like a book, you can exchange it any time, no questions asked. Automatically roll your credits over to the next month if you dont use them. With the free audible app, you can listen anytime, and anywhere. Plus for the first time ever, youll get access to exclusive fitness programs a 95 value free with membership. Start a 30day trial today and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime and your books are yours to keep forever. Audible. The most inspiring minds. The most compelling stories. Text listen5 to 500500 to start your free trial today. As you see there, we have some breaking news here for just a moment. Our friends over at cnn who you will recall already this year were caught up in those mailed out pipe bombs had been victims of Something Else tonight, and that was at first a credible threat that they had a bomb in the building. Cnn was in the midst of their Live Programming tonight. They switched back to tape of Anderson Cooper from an earlier hour. Our own jonathan deenst, Investigative Reporter with the sister station in new york wnbc, has been on the story tonight. And has the latest we know about this. Hey, jonathan. Hi, brian. The police are telling us it was an unsubstantiated telephone threat to the Time Warner Center. The caller with a southern accent had claimed there were five bombs placed around the building. The security staff at the Time Warner Center made the decision to evacuate as a precaution and call police in. We are told the security staff did their own preliminary search as fleece were responding and found nothing. But as a precaution, the n. Y. P. D. Bomb squad and officers are now searching that building to make sure everything is safe and in order. And as you know, an evacuation was ordered and cnn was sort of forced to go outside and begin reporting from the street versus in their studios as a result of this unsubstantiated telephone bomb threat. As you know, Media Companies and lots of businesses and places experience these kinds of bogus threats or threats i shouldnt call it bogus yet. Police tell me they are expecting whats called an allclear soon, but that has not come in yet because its a big building and they need to search all of it. But as of now, there is no evidence of any actual devices. The search is ongoing. And, again, this appears to be the result of a telephone threat. And given the age and time we live in, you cant ignore any of these threats. You have to take them seriously and thats whats being done at this hour. All right, jonathan deentz, wnbc new york, a thorough reporting on the state of play. This is as he said columbus circle, a matter of blocks from our headquarters here at 30 rock. Something else jonathan said that is absolutely correct. Members of the n. Y. P. D. A tafrpd to the joint Terrorism Task force have for a long time now had permanent posts outside all the known headquarters buildings of Media Companies. Added complication here, its the holidays. They have a lovely highend mall in that Time Warner Center. A lot of pedestrian traffic, so hopefully the allclear will be sounded. The police tape will be cut. The lights will be turned off. And things will return to normal across town at cnn. Now, back to the broadcast we had planned, and more of our coverage of contemporary politics, lets take you to a moment. This was june of 2017. It sets up our next conversation. Its my judgment that i was fired because of the russia investigation. I was fired in some way to change or the endeavor was to change the way the russia investigation was being conducted. Some of former fbi director james comeys testimony before congress, again, that was june 2017, one month after hed been fired by the president. Tomorrow, that man, comey, returns to capitol hill to testify behind closed doors before the House Judiciary Committee. Now, comey originally wanted to testify in public. He told them publicly, you want me . Lets throw open the doors to coverage. But there was a short legal battle about that. He agreed to speak with the committee in private once the republicans promised that a transcript of his remarks would be released. So no secrets here. The former fbi director will also be allowed to speak publicly to the media after the meeting if he so chooses. The Committee Members want to hear from comey about the fbi investigation of Hillary Clintons email server and Russian Election meddling. The New York Times puts it this way. Quote, House Republicans are trying to leverage the short time they have left in power to question mr. Comey and make a case that the nations top Law Enforcement agencies the fbi and Justice Department have been tainted by partisan bias against the president. Well, with us to talk about it tonight, chuck rosenberg, former u. S. Attorney, former fbi official, and mika oyang, former staffer for the house intelligence and Armed Services committee. Welcome you both back to the broadcast. Mika, because of your experience in the house id like to begin with you with a very simple question and an honest question. What is to be gained here . Yeah, for the republicans what theyre trying to do is ask comey questions behind closed doors. Remember, a number of republicans on the Judiciary Committee have announced they are retiring so they are not politically beholden to anyone. The question is are they going to use this opportunity to get to the truth of comeys testimony, including obstruction of justice, or are they going to be continuing to politically posture . Because its behind closed doors, the chance of posturing is much lower. Chuck, do you view this as a serious pursuit and another way of asking that question is whats left to ask . Whats left to know . No, and nothing. Let me explain that, brian. Jim comey testified exhaustively about the clinton email investigation. You played a clip from that. I cant imagine there is a single question that wasnt asked and answered. With respect to the russia interference portion of his testimony or that investigation, two things to note. One, its ongoing, so there is really not much he can say about it because whether in private or in public, the transcript of this private hearing will be made public. And, two, hes been gone for more than 18 months. So if you want to know whats going on in the election interference investigation, dont ask jim comey. Ask folks who are at the fbi right now. This is political posturing. There is nothing to be gained. And its a waste of everyones time, a bunch of bantam weights getting in the ring with a heavy weight. These days in washington, lawyers have lawyers. So, jim comey has a lawyer who went on this network and said the following. Well talk about it on the other side. Whats really interesting, you have congressman gowdy who spent several years trying to get an investigation, spent tens of millions of dollars on benghazi and came up with nothing. In a fraction of that time mueller has come up with upwards of 30 indictments. I think that is an interesting dynamic to these hearings. So, mieke, do you think thats a fair argument, a fair point, a fairway of looking at this . Yeah, i think that thats right. That chairman gowdy on the benghazi hearings was going after something where there was no therethere. However, with special counsel mueller, he has spent his time looking for things and he has come up with a lot because where there is smoke there was a lot of fire here. And a number of convictions and indictments that hes brought shows you this was a real serious problem. Now, gowdy, after he announced his retirement, started complaining about some of the witchhunt tactics of his colleagues and said he wanted to get back to being a regular prosecutor. He has a chance to show that hes actually interested in rule of law. They use stamps. Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the Amazing Services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again get stronger. Get closer. Start listening today to the Worlds Largest selection of audiobooks on audible. And now, get more. For just 14. 95 a month, youll get a credit a month good for any audiobook, plus two Audible Originals exclusive titles you cant find anywhere else. If you dont like a book, you can exchange it any time, no questions asked. Automatically roll your credits over to the next month if you dont use them. With the free audible app, you can listen anytime, and anywhere. Plus for the first time ever, youll get access to exclusive fitness programs a 95 value free with membership. Start a 30day trial today and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime and your books are yours to keep forever. Audible. The most inspiring minds. The most compelling stories. Text listen27 to 500500 to start your free trial today. About the Colonial Penn program. Here to tell you if youre age 50 to 85 and looking to buy Life Insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. What are the three ps . The three ps of Life Insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. A price you can afford, a price that cant increase, and a price that fits your budget. Im 65 and take medications. Whats my price . You can get coverage for 9. 95 a month. I just turned 80. Whats my price . 9. 95 a month for you, too. If youre age 50 to 85, call now about the number one most popular whole Life Insurance plan available through the Colonial Penn program. It has an affordable rate starting at 9. 95 a month. No medical exam, no health questions. Your acceptance is guaranteed, and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock, so your rate can never go up for any reason. And with this plan, you can pick your payment date, so you can time your premium due date to work with your budget. So call now for free information. And youll also get this free beneficiary planner, and its yours just for calling. So call now. Well, as we said we have a lot of news to cover tonight. The attorney general under president george h. W. Bush who was just laid to rest, may be in line to be the new attorney general. The Washington Post first reported william barr is the leadling attorney general in trump discussions. According to this report, a person familiar with the discussions said barr is a really serious contender and possibly the front runner for the job, but stressed it was impossible to predict trumps pick definitely until it was announced publicly. Supporters are hoping that barr could sail through the senate while others are pouring over his recent quotes about the trump presidency. The Washington Post journalist aaron blake sums them up in his twitter post. Quote, what william barr has said, more clinton probes needed, uranium one more worthy of investigation than collusion. Comey firing was aok. Mueller teams donations are too left leaning. Its okay for president s to request specific investigations. Now, barr was there just days ago on the steps of the u. S. Capitol alongside some big republican names when the body of president bush, his former boss, arrived to lie in state in the rotunda. Barr is a new yorker by birth who worked first for Ronald Reagan before 41 made him attorney general. With us to talk about all of it, tamara keith, White House Correspondent for npr and kathryn lucy, White House Reporter for the Associated Press. All right, tamara, you go first. This is, in your view, the real deal or a lighter than air trial balloon . Well, one trump insider i talked to today said he wasnt convinced that this is going to stick because President Trump likes loyalists. He likes people he knows. And he doesnt know barr. Now, who knows, maybe that person was just someone who wanted someone else to be the attorney general. Thats kind of the way it works around here. The caveat that comes with all of these trial balloons is, until the president tweets it, its not a done deal. All right. With that as our north star, kathryn, it is this is a strange one because barr is one of the pillars of the gop legal establishment in washington. He is a Brooks Brothers enthusiast and a horn rim glasses enthusiast. He looks the part. Hes got the resume for the part. The problem is some quotes recently about things like the man who used to report to him, Robert Mueller, the russia investigation, and thats whats giving people a tough time figuring this one out. Yeah, i think the thing we really have to go back to is we just dont know how serious this is until President Trump makes an announcement. We know he is a contender, but theres been a couple people they have been talking about and we have to see how this is going to play out. Certainly barr is someone with a long legal record who is viewed sort of highly thought of in establishment republican circles. Some of these comments are really going to be poured over by democrats, but also by people inside the white house as they try and figure out how he would handle things like the russia investigation going forward. There is also terrific grainy video of some prominent democrats today praising him in hearings on the hill years ago. Tamara, you do have me thinking that one of the kisses of death one of the tells this president uses is sometimes to say, you know, i didnt know him before this. So you never want to be on the payroll and then have him remind the press core that you are new to him. We could be getting some of those reminders tomorrow about Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen. Of course, he did know them. But, yeah, this is a case you know, if you go back to attorney general jeff sessions, he was one of the first people to endorse President Trump, the first senator to endorse President Trump. But President Trump didnt have, like, a longstanding rapport with him, and ultimately he didnt get along with him. He didnt feel like he could trust him. He felt like he hung him out to dry and he should have picked a real loyalist. Now, are there people out there you know, is he willing to go with bar because lots of people are telling him hes a really good lawyer, or, you know, would he want to go with someone who is more of a loyalist, more someone who he knows from new york or from palm beach, or who he goes way back with. I wanted to mention this story because we did mention it in one of the breaks prior, and that is that multiple sources are telling nbc news the president is expected to announce his intention to appoint former fox and friends cohost heather naeurt. She has been serving as the state Department Spokesperson since leaving fox news to work for the trump administration. Kathryn, you get this one. What do you make of this . What does it say about the fox news relationship with the administration, what does it say about the view the president may have of this u. N. Job here in new york . Well, the Associated Press also has confirmed that it is expected to happen. As with our previous discussion, we should also preface this with saying that it is expected to happen until he tweets its happening. We have to wait on it. But, yes, heather is someone who caught the attention of the president , is thought highly of by a lot of people in the west wing, and is one of a number of people with fox experience who have prominent roles in his administration. She is really viewed as someone she has no real prior to this job, did not have any major Foreign Policy experience, and has really meteoric rise in the state department, despite, you know, a strange relationship with the former secretary of state rex tillerson. She was well thought of by the west wing and was really elevated in his, you know, after he was he was removed from that position. So, she is well liked by the president. Yeah, shes the fox influence is widely felt throughout the west wing. Tamara, i want to remind you by playing a piece of video what the president thought of what the current occupant of the office of u. S. Archipelago to the u. N. Has done for and with the job. Well talk about this on the other side. I think shes helped make it a much better pogts, if you want to know the truth. I think its become maybe a more glamorous position than it was two years ago. Maybe i wonder why, but it is. So, under nikki haley its become a more glamorous posting, tamara. Does that help . Well, under nikki haley, she negotiated to have it be a cabinetlevel position. Now, if heather is the pick as npr has also confirmed that she is expected to get the nod from trump, will she have negotiated to maintain this as a cabinetlevel position, or would she report to the secretary of state as has been more traditional for that role . That remains an open question. But one of the reasons it was so glamorous not just because nikki haley is a former governor of South Carolina is because it was a higher ranking position. It was also just an interesting relationship that she had with President Trump where she would go out and say things in speeches at the u. N. That took a harder line than President Trump was publicly taking on north korea or on russia certainly. And she sort of had the leeway to do that in a way that other cabinet members did not have that leeway. Unclear how the relationship will be different with a different person in that role. Two terrific reporters were always happy to have on this broadcast. Tamara keelgt, kathryn lucy, thank you both so much for stopping by again tonight. To our viewers, a quick note. The story we reported on cross town, our friends at cnn, they happily have been given the allclear, stand down at cnn center in new york. Another break for us, and coming up, it was the way he wanted to travel, the final 70 miles of his journey. Well have that when we continue. The last thing before we go tonight is the scene that unfolded in texas today. A funeral train carrying former president george h. W. Bush to his final resting place, the last 70 miles from houston to College Station was by rail. The locomotive number 4141 has been an exhibit at his president ial museum since Union Pacific gave it as a gift to 41 back in 2005. His casket was placed behind glass in a retrofitted baggage car that allowed everyone along the way to see it as it passed. It resulted in this stunning still photo. And along the way, thousands of americans came out, young and old, police officers, civilians, veterans, families with children in toe, on overpasses and on rail sidings and in towns large and small. People came out, as they did for lincoln in 1865, as they did for eisenhowers trip home to abilene, kansas, almost a century later. There was a final Farewell ChurchService Today where james baker struggled while speaking about his friend of over 60 years. They met as young men, and they were together at the end. We rejoice, mr. President , that you are safely tucked in now. And through the ages, with gods loving arms around you, because our glory, george, was to have had you as our president and as such a friend. So tough to watch. Grim skies and rain seemed to match the sadness of the bush family as they arrived at this final and again very public stop. The late patriarch, the former president , now rests in a clearing behind his president ial library alongside his wife of 73 years. And that is our broadcast for this thursday night. Thank you so very much for being here with us. Good night from nbc news today, new documents are expected in the russia probe. We may soon learn why Paul Manaforts plea deal fell apart and the extent of Michael Cohens cooperation with investigators. Plus, a possible replacement for u. N. Ambassador nikki haley. President trump expected to announce hes nominating Heather Nauert for the position. And thousands lined up as the train carried his body from houston to College Station, texas. Good morning,