Nine months on the job. Nbc broke this story within the last hour. Brand has gotten a lot more attention than people typically do in her post, because of her role, she is next in line, number three to replace Rod Rosenstein to act as Jeff Sessions has recently touted rachel brand who we are reporting will be leaving doj, as well as Rod Rosenstein, they were seated together and the attorney generals praise was let me tell you what, ron and rachel are experienced lawyers, they have had 27 years in the department. Rachels had a number of years in the department previously, so they both represent the kind of quality and leadership that we want in the department. Quality and leadership, well, thats out tonight. Now donald trump himself had fan speculation about rachel brands future and her potentially stepping up because he himself, the president , recently declined to say he had confidence in Rod Rosenstein, muellers boss. You figure that one out. Breaking story, im joined first tonight by ken delaney. Democr ken, you look at this story and it is significant no matter what the reason shes leaving. Neither nbc news or New York Times has received any public statement, but what does your reporting tell us. Pete williams, shes been offered a very lucrative job in the private sector. And we also have reports that shes been unhappy in the Justice Department, which is by all accounts not a very Pleasant Place to work right now. But, look, the real import of this, whatever reason shes leaving is, as you said, she was essentially next man up to supervise the Mueller Investigation in the event that Rod Rosenstein was fired or removed, which bob mueller has expressed a desire to do. And democrats who are concerned about this prospect were somewhat comforted by her being in that role because she has a reputation for integrity, she was on the privacy and Civil Liberties board during the obama administration, she clerked at the supreme court, went to harvard law school. Now, when youre going. We have to where at 7 ee. Some of the reporting reflects that she was unhappy sometimes to point out the obvious, because people who have been at the doj and the fbi have been treated markedly different by this president , pursuant to the russia probe, that most other president s in both parties since he took office. Your analysis of how this squares with what bob muellers doing send what trump is doing . I think ken delaney was spot on and i think you were spot on. Obviously were speculating, we dont have very much information, but i think the most benevolent speculation, is that morale at the justice if you speak to people at the Justice Department and the fbi, they will tell you that morale is at an alltime low because of the insays sachent attacks of t Justice Department. But i think you could be a little bit more aggressive in your speculation and also see what a lot of people see, which is this republican memo last week, this very ham handed attempt to try to put up a smoke screen on the russia investigation, was a very ham handed attempt to presage, to what could be a larger equivalent of obstruction of justice. I think she would rather be at the two officials in the Nixon Administration than be a robert bourque, who otherwise had a distinguished career, but who ultimately was third in line and she she doesnt want to be in that position. You are drawing an important link, and were not reporting much on the detail of her motivations for leaving. But youre drawing a link based on what is other public evidence, that there has been a sustained and targeted attack on these people, combined with a president , who unlike any president ever before, who said he removed an fbi director, because offense his criminal probe into the white house on russia, and youre saying thats an important piece of context for what some are called a slow motion saturday night massacre. I think its very safe speculation that she feels the low morale. I dont think theres much question about that. Almost everybody that has been there, shes been there in three different administrations. Everybody that has succeeded from previous administrations i think feels that. But i think more importantly, i have never known an Association Attorney general, when its possible that a Deputy Attorney general position, the number two position might be opening up. I have never known a number three associate attorney general to leave in that situation, unless well, i have never known that, so its a reasonable its reasonable to speculate that she does not want to be in the position of a hatchet man over a hatchet woman over what could be a massive criminal conspiracy of obstruction. Which a lot of people think is kind of whats in the works, the hand write eggings on the wall, of course its speculation, but its reasonable speculation. Its friday night news, its trickling out late on a friday night, as you say in the context in the week after that very unusual memo, literally the house had never used rule 10 to declassify anything. Many said it was a dud, it didnt prove their point, but that was all the speculation built on evidence that there was something going on that some people seem to want to discredit on a partisan narrative. Other important questions as i mentioned, where does the line of succession stand and how does all this impact the Mueller Probe . Im happy to say we have Pete Williams on the story tonight. Pete, number one, your big picture reporting of what youre hearing, whats happening and number two, whatever the reasons, obviously the number three post at doj is important, walk us through what happens. Im told that theres no other plans for anybody else at justice to step down or no more recusals coming in. Shes not out yet. She probably, were told by friends will be leaving the Justice Department within the next couple of weeks and what were told by friends of hers is that she had a, as one person described it, a job you dont turn down offer. One can ask themselves, might she have turned it down, but were told shes leaving to take this job in the private sector. Associate attorney general is not a job for everybody. For some its a good fit and for some it isnt. And who knows if thats a factor here as well. In terms of succession, theres two ways to look at this, ari, and the only reason we care about this is for the special counsel rules. Now the regulations say that when the attorney general is refused, its the deputy, they dont say beyond that. But the order of succession tells us the answer and its attorney general, Deputy Attorney general associate and then various u. S. Attorneys around the country. Now the next one in the succession line is the u. S. Attorney right across the river here in alexandria, virginia in the eastern derriistrict of virginia, and then it goes to the Eastern District of North Carolina and the Northern District of texas both of which have Senate Confirmed u. S. Attorneys. But i think the way to look at this order of succession things is sort of how does the government work on autopilot . If something really bad happens, this is why for example, the order of succession doesnt do what you would normally think it would, which is to go now to assistant attorney general or the solicitor general or some other high Ranking Senate confirmation at the Justice Department. It starts to fan out around different regions of the country, in case some god awful thing happened and you had to reach around the country to find somebody else to mind the store. So this is sort of the autopilot thing, but the president is always switch to manual mode. He can put anybody he wants in these positions, they just cant be acting, they have to be confirmed positions. Thats what the rules say, that an acting person cant be in the line of succession. So for example if we have an acting u. S. Attorney as we do right now in virginia, you skip over that and go to the next one, so theres two ways to look at this, its sort of a default thing but it doesnt tell us how it actually might happen. And youre citing of course the executive orders that were put out for the line of succession, any president has the authority to change those as well. And they all do. And the president has changed this thing, i think maybe twice or three times. Yep. I thought the most recent one was in february and then it was called to my attention by you and others that actually theres a more current one in march and thats the one ive been talking about. Pete williams, thank you for your reporting tonight, i know you are busy on this story. So i turn to nbc news. Com, jennifer ruben. And luke harding who has been all over many aspects of the russia probe. I want to widen out for viewers who are interested in this story, but get a little nervous when me and pete start going deep down into executive order succession, and by nervous, i mean bored. The point is not whos on that list necessarily, although its our job to keep track of it and we try to. But the point is, after a week of memo gate, while bob mueller continues to grind on. And this white house fired an 23 fbi director, said they dont have confidence in muellers boss, and making a point of attacking fbi and doj officials by name. In context, here you see it, fired, attempted discrediting, sidelined, you see it all over there as attacked, the top dem, you see rod roserosenstein, his number three, the person who might replace him out. How would you view this for viewers at home who say what more do we need . The big picture here is that theres a war going on and its very active and very open between the Trump White House and the Justice Department, over the legitimacy and the if keffi of the Mueller Investigation of whether there was are collusion with russia. Thats what this is all about. For whatever reason, donald trump not only feels threatened, but hes fighting back in ways that no president has done in public, if youre even in private in the past. And i think that rachel brand decided that she didnt want to be in the middle of that cross fire, this is my guess here, this is kind of a selfadministered friday night massacre, shes getting herself out of the way, because she was going to be forced to be take sides in that war. In one way or another, whether she wanted to or not. Youre saying, this is so key, youre saying this is on the inside, she has access to information, to intelligence that most of us dont have, that is literally a crime to leak, and you think what she knows, and what she can see around the corner was, she doesnt want to do this . Yeah, thats my sense of it. Your theory . Yes, thats my sense of it because i know from talking to people who talk to the man in the oval office, that he, if not ready or able or willing to fire bob mueller, has as his Main Objective here, the slowing down, the nicking up, the besmirching of the entire Mueller Investigation and mueller himself. She doesnt want to be in the way of that, she doesnt want to participate in it obviously, but on the other hand, she doesnt want to become somebody in the direct line of fire of donald trump. By the way, in the conservative media, if you look on websites, if you look at twitter, the people who support donald trump vehemently, are always talking about this line of succession, our viewers generally might be bored about this, but in trump world theyre gaming this down to the u. S. Attorneys in North Carolina and texas. They want to know whether the trump people or not, whether theyre bush people or not. And rachel brand, by the way is sort of a muellermccain republican, she worked for mccain, she worked at the same law firm as mueller. Thats the kind of person that the Trump Administration is going to be very worried about. Shes saying i want out of here before i cant get out. First of all, the president can nominate a new number three at the Justice Department. And who he chooses to pick for that, and whether he or she can get through a confirmation, remains to be seen. And i think if he attempts to put in someone who is perceived to be a crony, a political ally, that is going to a big deal. Second thing, first of all, you dont of course go out and accept a cant refuse job unless youve had interviews and have shown some interest, so clearly, she was looking to get out. What i would like to know is, what does she know and who will she have to testify against . What does she know for example about the efforts to find dirt, as we learned on the fbi director . What does she know, for example, about those meetings in which Rod Rosenstein was involved and was told to go draft a memo to explain the firing of the exfbi director. So she knows a lot. And part of what is gnawing at me is does she see that shes going to have frankly a huge conflict of interest . Shes going to have to give testimony, if she has. Already, against people who are her boss or are her associates and that is an uncomfortable place to be. The only way that you can get around that is to get out of the Justice Department. Youre the author of collusion, you have looked at ath of these issues, what does it tell you on the fact pattern that there is a changing of the guard . I think its part of a broader attempt to have a go at mueller. One thing i would say, is Christopher Steel has been remorselessly sledged this week by republicans in skrar you memos, hes been accused of lying to the fbi, about his contacts with the media. And i have been talking to his friends this week who say these accusations are absurd is, they are ridiculous, that hes behaved with integrity, he cant defend himself on your show, but hes really been kind of put through the mill. And here is someone who volunteered, who came forward to the fbi and said, my secretly sources are telling me this there is massive collusion, theres a full blown espionage operation involving russian assets and the Trump Campaign and i think you guys should look at this. And everything i have seen kneel feelings like a prelude to discrediting Christopher Steel and firing bob mueller and making this thing to go away. I would say the dossier is clearly true. And this is troubling the president and troubling people around him. And jennifer, on that point, the only way to view this more beni benignly, that is of course breaking on a friday night, when we often see bad news attempt to get itself buried. The only benign way is to close your eyes to everything thats happening as to what luke just discussed . She could be leaving for perfectly innocent, perfectly good reasons, if you had a choice between a job that pays a Million Dollars as opposed to staying in this mad house, you would go too. So her motivations are completely understandable. But the consequences were talking about are very serious, and well have to see how this plays out, how will they replace her . Do they have to go to the line of succession, what kind of person would be replacing her . And what happens to Rod Rosenstein, this all becomes kind of academic if the president feelings for whatever reason that he cant get rid of Rod Rosenstein . You mean mad meaning totally crazy in a place to work. Thank you for your insights this friday night. Coming up, another huge story that was our lead story before this, john kelly under fire, new reports hes offering his resignation to President Trump. And did democrats fold in this immigration debate . Is Chuck Schumer on the wrong side of this one . Also a hot topic in many liberal circles. Im going to speak directly to dnc chair tom perez about it. And remember when David Letterman did this to donald trump . These are beautiful ties. The ties are made in china. Ties are made in china. You ever see him that quiet . Letterman is back with a big project, im going to speak on the beat with paul shaffer from the letterman show. Youre watching the beat on msnbc. Enough to help you save, we could start a carpool. Look at this traffic. Dont worry. Ok, if thats not enough well start a trainpool. Oh i have a meeting in five minutes. And if thats still not enough. I got it. Well just create a shortcut. Well do anything, seriously anything to help you save. Ally. Do it right. Talking 4th quarter . Yes. Depend silhouette briefs. Feature a comfortable sleek fit. As a dancer, ive learned you cant have any doubts. Because looking good on stage is one thing. But real confidence comes from feeling good out there. Get a coupon at depend. Com if you have moderate to severe or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. And for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Tell your doctor if these occur. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Other side effects include upper respiratory tract infection and headache. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. This new day. Looks nothing like yesterday. Roads nowhere to be found. And its exactly what youre looking for. Dont we need that cable box to watch tv . Nope. Dont we need to run . Nope. It just explodes in a high pitched yeahhh. yeahhh try directv now for 10 a month for 3 months. No satellite needed. Trump chief of staff john kelly facing many questions about how hes handling allegations of Domestic Abuse against what is now a former aid, Trump Administration officials telling trump hes willing to resign. Mike pence in an exclusive interview with lester holt. The white house has acknowledged that they could have handled it better. And lester, when i returned to washington, d. C. , im going to look into the matter and ill share my counsel with the president directly. Mike pence saying he will talk to the president. That might not be good for john kelly. Friends say kellys lack of experience in washington politics may be why he wasnt attuned to how these Domestic Abuse allegations would be perceived. And when it comes to all these allegations, trump has been focused on them being a problem because of bad press. Look at these reports, trump said he, quote, has little tolerance for aides that attract negative Media Attention that spills on to him. Hes quote, very disturbed and especially upset not about the abuse allegations, but the, quote, bad press this is engendering. Apparently this is more about press than the underlying allegations. As they say in the business, sad. Im joined by im not surprised that donald trump would be concerned with the press, its always about him and not be the women. When you heard what he said earlier today in the oval office he talked about the future of rob porters career and now his career is derailed. He said nothing about the victims in this case. And i think a white house who talked about locker room talk and essentially normalized violence against women after the access Hollywood Tape is the same white house that is going to take one mans word over the word of three, maybe four women, because theres one in the Trump Administration, we dont know who she is, and a photograph. So the word of one man over four women, thats this white house. Or that they only took action not over after we found out about the picture, not that the picture exists, but that we found out about it. They care about the public caring about this issue and they dont really care about it internally. But thats no surprise, they normalized this during the election, and its par for the course for this white house. You put it well and you pull the seriousness of it. And im not good enough at my job to know how to pivot from the eloquent and serious point you make to former white house aid amarosa, i dont know how to make the turn. Me either, but the circus that we watched with big brother is only a continuation of the circus thats going on in the white house. You have International Diplomatic credentials, take a look at how we do it in america here now. I was haunted by tweets every single day, like what is he going to tweet next. Does anybody say to him, what are you doing . I tried to be that person and then all of the people around him attacked me. Would you work for him again . God, no. Never. So what do you think of that . I think its pretty bizarre. But to make a serious point with this, after that came out, the White House Deputy press secretary came and said well amarosa was fired three times from the apprentice, and we got rid of her here too. She was fired three times from the apprentice and that didnt stop her from getting a job at the white house in the first place, we can laugh at the flippancy of this, but it goes to the point that amarosa was making, that the press was obsessed to style, with press coverage with celebrity to a certain extent, to its even detriment and i think i think its funny that shes whigs p whispering when shes miked up. I want to keep this a secret until its broadcast to the world. I was actually a panelist of the national bralack caucus this summer. She was there also, and she said we were concerned as to why she would tom to a ccome to conference like this and not be forthcoming or explain what the white house was doing for our community . Did you tell her how worried you were . I these she got the sense that most of the people in the room were skeptical. If its a matter of state a whisper is the only way to bring it home. Thank you for all angles on the story. Up ahead, theres a big question on policy and the partisan divide. And going political from his new talk show, late night paul shaffer is on the beat tonight. Its ok that everyone ignores its fine. Drive. Because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months im accident free. And i dont share it with mom right, mom . Righttt. Safe driving bonus checks. Only from allstate. Switching to allstate is worth it. Whos the new guy . They call him the whisperer. The whisperer . Why do they call him the whisperer . He talks to planes. He talks to planes. Watch this. Hey watson, whats avionics telling you . Maintenance records and performance data suggest replacing capacitor c4. Not bad. Whats with the coffee maker . Sorry. We are not on speaking terms. The other top story tonight, more showdown politics, more pressure to defend Daca Recipients after Nancy Pelosis 10hour record breaking speech. From rand paul to pelosi, theres been a lot of talk about shutdowns. But what have democrats achieved . Senate democrats shut down the government with a daca u arka m ultimatum. Schumer was clear that democrats would push democrats and republicans towards a daca deal. We walked away from an agreement in principle on daca. If he had been willing to accept any one of these deals, we wouldnt be where we are today. This is a trump shutdown, only trump can end it. Were at the table willing to negotiate. But it was Chuck Schumer who ended it, supporting a twoyear debt ceiling. Nancy pelosi voting against the bill which is passed without her and without apparently that promised scheduled vote on daca, which is the thing that democrats were demandsing when they shut the government down. Im joined now by the top democrat in the party, dnc chairman tom perez, thanks for being here. Great to be with you, ari. Why did you and this party proceed without getting a daca vote scheduled . Well, we have something now that we didnt have a couple of weeks ago, ari, and that is next monday in the senate, we will begin a debate on the dream act. And if an upordown vote is allowed on a clean dream act, the majority of the senate will vote to approve it. Then what we have to do is get over to the house and put all the pressure lets stay in the senate, mr. Chairman. Yeah. I got to repeat the question, youre mentioning that theres a process, but why vote to fund the government without getting a scheduled date for a daca vote, which you dont have . We start the debate on monday on daca and we will have a vote at the end of the debate. Ari, our bigger problem that we this is an important point because theres a lot of democrats that disagree with you, your position is that there is a date for a daca vote, its just that no one knows what date it would be . Ari, im just as disappointed as anyone. I have worked on daca, i have worked on immigrations for a quarter century. This is unconscionable what this president is doing. The Democratic Party and president obama brought us daca, that was the right thing to do. The crisis was created by donald trump. And that is the reality. If we had more votes in the United States congress and the United States senate, we could fix this problem now. We dont have enough votes. Let me be clear in case i take your point, in case anyones watching and thinking, no ones challenging your policy history and record on this, right . But we are talking about the facts of what happened politically, let me play congressman gutierrez who feels that by let me read to you, Congress Gutierrez who feels as you know, that Chuck Schumer, he says anyone voting for this budget dial is colluding with this president and this administration to get a budget deal. Am i wrong . Am i disappointed . Obviously congressman gutierrez is disappointed, heck yeah, im disappointed, theyre playing political football with dreamers. Are you disappointed in Chuck Schumer the way gutierrez is . Im disappointed we cant do anything right now about the dreamers, because 90 of the American People believe we should pass a dream act. The president said today, we would do nothing to deport dreamers because theyre protecting our country. And im as disappointed as anyone. And the problem is we need more democrats, we have to elect more democrats to take over the senate and take over the house. I hear you and when i talk to leaders in both parties, they always agree, they want more votes which helps. But i am pushing you on this because people in the country are hearing this debate, theyre hearing nancy pelosi disagree. Let me play for you a democrat who three weeks ago said there would be a scheduled daca vote within two weeks because of the schumer shutdown strategy. This is a very prominent democrat. Take a listen. We have a commitment to make sure that we bring up the dream act on the floor of the senate in the next two weeks or so, what we have to do is keep fighting like heck, because this aint over. This is why when i think of the dreamers and how they have become a pawn in this game and its not a game at all. Why didnt your strategy to get that vote within what is now the last three weeks, why didnt that, what im calling the schumer strategy, why didnt it work. Because we dont have enough votes in the senate, ari. And you know what . As i said, this is unconscionable whats going on. And the reason its going on is the Republican Party is hostage to the Tea Party Wing of the party. This should never happen. And again, im going to dekeep fighti ining like heck because dreamers are every bit as american as my three u. S. Born children. And we have got to keep fighting, was i disappointed with the agreement in the senate . Of course i was disappointed. I want to give you a chance to rebut, if you think its unfair, heres the final vote, dems fold without the commitment they seeking. When you say keep fighting, do you mean the democrats in the senate should have fought harder and continue to shut down until they got a date for a daca vote . You know what . We have to keep fighting to pass a clean dream act, okay . And you know what . I wish i could control the timing in the senate and if i could, we would have already had this done, and the shortest distance theory in the u. S. Senate, it never happens, ari, because the senate is fundamentally broken as the house is. But you know what, folks . I am confident that if we get an upordown vote, and when we get an upordown vote, and were starting the debate monday, im confident that that vote would pass in the senate. And then what we have to do is make sure that the house of representatives doesnt become a graveyard for immigration that it did when bipartisan Immigration Reform passed in 2013 and 2014. Because paul ryan has again been hostage to his tea party right. So we got to keep fighting as democrats. And the wheels of justice on this have spun way too slowly, they are its unconscionable that dreamers are being used as pawns in a broader political game. That is what donald trump is doing, he created this crisis, a federal judge has said that this program was authorized. This is a crisis of Donald Trumps creation. And we have to keep fighting as democrats to make sure that we give those dreamers the citizenship that they have earned. And i want to be clear, we do fact checks on this show sometimes. I will say fact check true, we have reported on the fact that this is an executive program, that this program has injected uncertainty, unilaterally that he need not do, and a lot of past president s in both parties have had a far more logical approach to the immigration process and yet we also have to fact check you and Chuck Schumer said been the last three weeks, you would have a vote by now and you dont. And i heard that you want one and we want to get to the bottom of that. Chairman, im going to go forward, i appreciate you joining us tonight. Good to be with you. I want to turn to andrew whos a reporter for the daily beast, he has a new article, Nancy Pelosis tight grip on the House Democratic caucus comes loose. Andrew, there are people who sometimes dont like anything that feels like potentially bad news from anyone theyre rooting for, bomb tipolitics is a team. Yet were seeing an important died on policy. I want to hear your view on the chairman and where this is going particularly with the rift that were seeing. Its not just a died on policy, i think its a divide on strategy, thats what we saw yesterday, we heard mixed messages coming from Democratic Leaders yet. We heard that minority whip citizen y citiz steny hoyer. What we saw overnight was that 73 democrats ended up voting for this budget. Now, you mention congressman gutierrez in the last segment, hes been one thats been pushing leadership to tell them sort of, this was their last leverage point to do something on daca before the march 5 deadline. What did you think of the chairmans rebuttal, he doesnt seem to want to agree, or want to publicly agree that they have given up leverage that he and other members of the Republican Caucus were setting. The chairman has mentioned they dont want any immigration to go to a graveyard in the house like it did in 2013, and the democrats did not seek a commitment that that would not happen this time. What we saw happen last night, that 73 democrats, which is a very large number, ended up voting for this budget and breaking with nancy pelosi. But the problem from gutierrezs perspective and other hard liners on this issue, is that they didnt whip hard enough in favor of this to force the issue and make paul ryan give them the commitment, similar to what senator mcconnell gave them last month to end that shutdown. Thank you for your reporting this friday night. Up ahead, since donald trump took office, his predecessor has made very few public appearances, one exception, barack obama silting down with the late night icon David Letterman, and i will speak to a man whos been at lettermans side for decades, the one and only paul shaffer back in 90 seconds. In the eastern unites supported by innovative packaging that extends the shelf life of foods and infrastructure upgrades that help us share our produce with the world. All across new york state, were building the new new york. To grow your business with us in new york state, visit esd. Ny. Gov especially when inside another amazing machine. Your an amazing machine. The lexus es. With Standard Technology like lexus Safety System plus. The lexus es, and es hybrid. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Can start in the colon constiand may be signs of an imbalance of good bacteria. Only Phillips Colon Health has this unique combination of probiotics. It provides fourinone symptom defense. Its your daily probiotic. Did you want to do comedy . Did you start with comedy and then became a weatherman . Let me ask you a general question first. By you asking me a question, will this cut into my pay . Yes. Thats George Clooney and David Letterman having some fun, clooney asking the tough questions, letterman is back in his chair for his netflix series, my next guest needs no interdestructiu interdestruction. Lettermans he has a stance on china which is a country thats just ripping our heart out. I mean we just do nothing to protect ourselves. Where are these ties made, these are beautiful ties. The ties are made in, where . China . The ties are made in china. Quiet, wow. My next guest is there that night and every night, paul shaffer is musical director of the show back when it launched in 82. Shaffer is the musical director on this new netflix special. Joining me is paul shaffer who wrapped up a miniresidency in las vegas. Thank you for mentioning it. I really had fun out there. I grew up in a household that was always on letterman watching you. Ari, what pressure am i under right now. How am i going to live up to . Starting with your involvement as a musical director. Im thrilled to be working on daves new show, its a whole different type of position, theres no live band. As we saw from that limb clip, its a very intimate thing that hes doing. Although he has a small audience and he comes out and says hello to them at the beginning, its not like he does a monolog or anything. Theres no razzmatazz music on it. Between him and his producers, they explained to me, we wanted to feel like its his old friend paul doing the music. Talking about swtalking to president obama, because it is different in the way you see some of these guests. She always mocks my dancing, but i have dad moves. And i think the key is what we call staying in the pocket. Staying in the pocket. You got to stay in the pocket because i think everybody in here knows dads who get out of the pocket . And theyre trying stuff that they cant really pull off. And you know they start doing like karate kicks. How did that show, which was you and dave originally get people to be comfortable . Because youve now become famous, youre like an icon, here even with the glasses, people know who you are, but you and dave kept an off beat fun vibe, it didnt feel like sl showbiz, it certainly didnt feel buttoned up. It totally was a show that what you see is whats happening there. All those years, if dave was in a bad mood, you could tell. If he didnt like the guest, you could tell. If he loved the guest, you could tell. You have David Letterman and barack obama together, and you have two people who are retired talking together because they like to. I imagine you dont get a barack obama interview like that unless he wants to do it. Youre not going to get him to be so candid, obama made him laugh and vice versa. But they deal with issues that youre not normally going to see on a latenight talk show. You talked about kimmel and his own view on health care. Our own jimmy fallon said were usually funny here, but we got to stand up to this. There certainly has been in this era more line drawing that some might have expected or thought from the old days. I think dave was always tguy who was real and told it like it was. They looked to him to see when they could come back after 9 11 and no one budged until he did. And then in the writers struck, everyone wanted to know, when is dave going back . He brought that kind of realism and honesty to late night, i believe that all of the wonderful hosts that are on right now would back me up on that, dave is my inspiration. They all feel like that. Do you feel anything that what Dave Letterman said, not being on late night during the trump era is no great loss. To have that guise ply playi straight for you would have been a comics dream, but dave is going to figure out a way to get his licks in. And you think President Trump is a comic dream . Theyre all skyrocketing in the ratings, all they have to do is mention them. People want to hear about their beloved president at the end of the day for sure. Paul shaffer, thanks for coming by the beat. How much fun, ari, you got the beat. With its historical ance records. Test. You could learn youre from ireland. Donegal, ireland. And your ancestor was a fisherman. With blue eyes. Just like you. Begin your journey at ancestry. Com having mplaque psoriasise is not always easy. Its a longdistance run. And you have the determination to keep going. Humira has a proven track record of being prescribed for over 10 years. Humira works inside the body to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to symptoms. In clinical trials, most adults taking humira were clear or almost clear and many saw 75 and even 90 clearance in just four months. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal, infections and cancers, including lymphoma have happened as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms, or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Join over 250,000 people who have chosen humira. Ask about the 1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists. Humira go. [seen it. Covered it. N. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum thereswhatever type ofhe end of eweekender you are,ton. Dont let another weekend pass you by. Get the lowest price when you book at hilton. Com your insurance on time. Tap one little bumper, and up go your rates. What good is having insurance if you get punished for using it . News flash nobodys perfect. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™ Liberty Mutual insurance. It has been quite a week. Now on friday, it is time to fall back. Kristen finnegan joins me from the best week ever. Funny comedian and antonio, correspondent for advice news tonight on hbo. Antonia, who needs to fall back . My nomination for fallback friday today is justin timberlake. I have a couple good reasons for that, fers being his super bowl performance was underwhelming. His album is a little uninteresting. But the most important thing is in this moment of me too, times up, people generally trying to stand up for the things they believe in or care about, he missed the easiest opportunity to say sorry to janet jackson. Im 100 team justice for janet. Yeah, i think you make a great point, antonia. What did you think about the fact that his outfit was more varied than his music . What do you think. You tell me. Im asking you. I thought the dancing was good. I would like it to be 20 less impressive and seem semi human organic. Super bowl is so chore an graphed. When beyonce and bruno did it, it was highly choreographed but it was amazing. Theres a way to inject life into it. Christian, who is your nominee . The writing taf for the president ial daily briefings. You know, everyone is going off on trump that hes not reading these briefings. Nobody is saying maybe these writers arent up to snuff. Maybe less purple propose is, maybe too many multiple syllable words. You are shooting the messenger. Yes, absolutely. Also maybe hes a New York Post kind of guy. Maybe put in a page 6 blind item like which south asian dictator is. Speak his languaging. And tonyia, any other nominees. My nominee would have to be the word memo. I dont want to hear it again. Its not real. Its not real. Most americans feel a little bit gas lit at this point. The nunes memo, the secret dem memo. We got maybe more coming down the line. I think everyone has learned nothing at this point. Words are powerful because the nunes thing was a press release, not a memo. To me a memo means hey, were out of highlighters. Mem mow mo doesnt seem like a grandiose important thing. I think you guys are kind of agreeing. I want to thank you both for falling back on this friday. We will be right back with a beat special announcement. Different ballgame. I was in shock. I am very proud of the development of drugs that can prevent the rejection and prevent the recurrence of the original disease. I never felt i was going to die. We know so much about transplantation. And were living longer. You cannot help but be inspired by the opportunities that a transplant would offer. My donors mom says you were meant to carry his story. To treat her frequent before diheartburn. Xium 24hr lucy could only imagine enjoying a slice of pizza. Now, its as easy as pie. Nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for allday, allnight protection. Can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn . On thousands of hotels, cars and things to do. Like the papaya playa project for 49 off. Everything you need to go. Expedia. Pepsoriasis does that. Everything you need to go. It was tough getting out there on stage. I wanted to be clear. I wanted it to last. So i kept on fighting. I found something that worked. And keeps on working. Now . They see me. See me. See if cosentyx could make a difference for you cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Find clear skin that can last. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Never give up. See me. See me. Clear skin can last. Dont hold back. Ask your dermatologist if cosentyx can help you find clear skin that lasts. Let your inner light loose with one a day womens. A complete multivitamin specially formulated with key Nutrients Plus vitamin d for bone health support. Your one a day is showing. Dont we need that cable box to watch tv . Nope. Dont we need to run . Nope. It just explodes in a high pitched yeahhh. yeahhh try directv now for 10 a month for 3 months. No satellite needed. Tonight a doj official stepping down that could affect the russia probe. John kelly in a controversy, tesla launching into space. We have a new thing for you. Its called beat this week, a special video package of what we think are the highlights. Hit us at the beet with ari to see it and tell house we missed. Ill be back monday 6 00 p. M. Eastern. Hardball with Chris Matthews starts right now. Weird night in the west wing. Lets play hardball. Good evening. Im Chris Matthews in washington. As we meet, the mood in the office of the american presidency is grim and chaotic. The New York Times is reporting the chief of staff is offering to resign. The communications chief is in danger. And the white house secretary is gone all together. President trump publicly addressed the growing west wing scandal for the first time today, defending the former aide who has been accused by two exwives of violent behavior. We certainly wish