Transcripts For MSNBCW The Rachel Maddow Show 20180525

Formal sentencing, which is expected to happen, i think, in august, sometime in late summer. It was reported at the time of Steve Stockmans corruption trial that his lawyers were surprised that they put congressman stockman in handcuffs and took him away into federal custody immediately after his conviction. They took him right from the courtroom. Apparently, his lawyers thought hed be allowed to go home and live free while he appealed his convictions or at least prepared for his sentencing. But no. Congressman stockman was convicted on a whole lot of felonies. He was convicted on 23 felony charges. They brought 24 felony charges against him. Jury came back and convicted him of 23 of the 24. And if you do the math on that, that means at his sentencing he was facing a theoretical maximum sentence of over 450 years in prison. And so, maybe because of the sheer amount of time hes now facing, maybe because of other things about congressman stockman, which well get to in a moment, the judge in this case decided that the congressman was a real flight risk. And so, the judge did not allow him to go home after being convicted, and so now he resides behind bars. And it is kind of an amazing thing for a member of congress to get convicted of more than 24 20 federal felony charges. But in Steve Stockmans case, its not like people were even that surprised. When he was convicted, Texas Monthly ran this headline about his conviction. A jury of his peers and karma convict Steve Stockman. Steve stockman was always one of those kind of creepy politicians that other politicians tried to keep at a distance just in case it might rub off. He always acted as if the rules didnt apply to him, sometimes even as if human decency did not apply to him. Stockman won two nonconsecutive terms in congress in somewhat fluke elections. Over three decades he ran in more elections than he won. Finally today, Steve Stockmans string ran out, as a federal jury in houston convicted him of 23 counts of fraud, punishable by up to 20 years in prison on each count. Barring a successful appeal, Steve Stockman is about to spend more time in a federal penitentiary than he did in congress. Everybodys a hero in their own hometown, right . The charges against congressman stockman were related to him basically stealing tons of money from donors and then laundering it. They included a more or less elaborate scheme described by federal prosecutors in which he basically set up a fake charity and then opened up a whole bunch of Bank Accounts in his own name, but doing business as the name of that charity, and then he just took the money that was given to the charity. But its interesting. When congressman stockman got sent to prison last month, it turned out to be not the first time he was getting locked up. In 2014, just four years ago, congressman stockman decided to run in the Republican Senate primary in texas to try to unseat texas conservative republican senior senator john cornyn. Steve stockman said he had to run against cornyn because cornyn was too leftwing. So stockman gave up his house seat to challenge the sitting senator instead. The challenge against senator cornyn ultimately included a libel lawsuit that Steve Stockman brought against a Political Action committee that was supporting senator cornyn. Stockman sued that pac because they said on their website that Steve Stockman had, by that time, already been imprisoned multiple times. Stockman filed a libel lawsuit against them for that. Problem is, he had actually been imprisoned multiple times. Even before his current stint in prison right now. Back in the day, he was in jail a lot, it turns out. And that turns out to be the sort of thing that can be fairly easily checked in public records. And Steve Stockman had already admitted his multiple stints behind bars to multiple reporters on multiple occasions. So, it wasnt a super smart idea to bring a libel suit on that point in particular. But thats Steve Stockman. Steve stockman, texas republican congressman, convicted felon, currently in federal custody awaiting sentencing and allaround piece of work. Also ambassador to the United Arab Emirates maybe . Look at this document. This letter. You see that letterhead there on the lefthand side. Its on the letterhead from congressman Steve Stockmans office. And it is a letter from Steve Stockman in march 2017. This is just before he was arrested. And in this letter, he makes the case that he would be a great u. S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. I would enjoy it, as i have many friends there. Well, who can argue with that . This letter from now imprisoned congressman Steve Stockman makes the case that he should be our nations ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and its amazing on a few different levels. This is amazing is just the concept that Steve Stockman should be the ambassador to anything. He is in prison right now. A week and a half after he sent this letter pitching himself for this ambassadorship, a week and a half later, he was arrested. 24 felony charges, 23 of which he was convicted for. That said, when stockman was arrested a week and a half after he wrote this letter, the Houston Chronicle reports that he was arrested while attempting to board a flight to the United Arab Emirates. So maybe he did have friends there. Maybe he would enjoy the ambassadorship. But he never made it there. They got him at the airport. He was on his way to doha, right . So maybe theres something there that we just dont understand. Hes on his way to dubai. Sorry. Anyway, well, heres something that we definitely do not understand. Look at who this Steve Stockman letter is sent to. See the address there . Dear nickie, is how it is addressed. Nickie is nickie lum davis, who is not a famous person. Theres no reason you would have heard her name in the news. But at the time that congressman Steve Stockman, soon to be arrested, was sending nickie this letter presenting his credentials for the ambassadorship, ms. Davis was working as a consultant to to Elliott Broidy. So Steve Stockman sent the letter to her, attached his resume, heres the letter, i want to be ambassador, please pass it on. The ultimate intended ambassador for the letter and his attached resume was Elliott Broidy. And the letter made it to its destination. Stockman sent this letter saying i want the ambassadorship, sent it to nickie lum davis. Nickie lum davis then forwarded it with its attachments to Elliott Broidy. And we confirmed all of that today, both with ms. Davis and representative of mr. Broidy, so we know that is what happened. Heres the question. Why would Steve Stockman, in all his glory, think that if he did want to be ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, the person he needed to convince of that, the person who needed to receive his letter begging for that job and making his pitch for that job, would be Elliott Broidy . Why did he think Elliott Broidy would be able to get him an ambassadorship . And Steve Stockman, now in federal custody, he stands out alone as sort of different of your typical member of congress, but on this issue, of him discerning this route to this particular job that he wanted, he actually had lots of republican company. Newsweek reported a couple of months ago that another person who wrote to Elliott Broidy to spell out her desired job in the Trump Administration was a woman named marie royce. Marie royce, among many other things, is the wife of the chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee in the republicancontrolled congress. Her husband is congressman ed royce. Ed royces wife wrote a letter to Elliott Broidy telling him that her, quote, number one position of interest in the Trump Administration was that she wanted to be assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs. She wrote that letter and sent it to Elliott Broidy. And wouldnt you know it . Marie royce is actually now the assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs. She wrote to Elliott Broidy to get that job. She got that job. Shes still there today. That said, ed royce, chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee, has announced hes resigning from congress. Why was Elliott Broidy collecting peoples wish lists of their preferred jobs in the administration . Why was he in a position to be doling out jobs . And not just the cranks and hangerson, but to current and former members of congress and their wives. Why was he in a position to get people appointed to things . And it was not just Trump Administration jobs that people believed Elliott Broidy could deliver. As the wall street journal first reported in march, mr. Broidy and his wife were also promising at least one overseas client, who is now a fugitive from justice, that one of the things broidy and his wife could offer for sale was the ending of a major multimillion dollar Fraud Lawsuit that had been brought by the department of justice. If you look at that case in the public docket, that doj case, its interesting. Probably just a coincidence. But one of the Justice Department lawyers on this multimillion dollar fraud case thats been pursued by the Justice Department happens to be one of the highprofile prosecutors whos working for Robert Mueller in the special counsels office. That is probably just a coincidence. But as the wall street journal first reported a couple of months ago, Elliott Broidy and his wife offered a legal contract to a malaysian businessman, who is caught up in a massive multibillion dollar fraud scandal in malaysia. They offered him a contract, which spelled out that they somehow could get the Justice Department to drop that case. Well, we can now show you the contract that they offered. Its dated this time last year, may of 2017. And as you can see in the contract, which were showing here on the screen, its a fixed Fee Agreement for litigation services. The contract in exhibit a describes the gives a description of the matter at the heart of this agreement. The matter, which is in quotes there, is this case number, which is a case, a gigantic multimillion dollar fraud case brought by the Justice Department, brought by the United States of america against multiple entities involved in this big malaysian fraud scandal. As the wall street journal first reported, you can see here in this contract that Elliott Broidy and his wife were offering that they could get that Justice Department case settled. They could make it go away. I could tell you the specifics, too. What they were offering is if they got that case settled within 180 days, they would get paid 75 million. Him and his wife. 75 million. If it took them a little longer, if it took them a full year, 365 days, to get that case to go away, they would only get paid 50 million. But even if they werent successful at all, they would still get paid 8 million as a nonrefundable retainer. To retain their services in making that matter go away. Their services were apparently i mean, what, what is it that you do to get the Justice Department to drop a gigantic Ongoing International fraud case against people who are secretly paying you to make it go away before they become fugitives from justice . I wonder if thats anything like the services you offer to a soon to be imprisoned congressman when you lead them to believe for some reason that you can get them an ambassadorship. It might in fact be the exact same kind of services it takes to install a congressmans wife in a very fancysounding job at the state department where she still resides today. Why would all of these people go to Elliott Broidy for all of these services . What exactly does Elliott Broidy do . The most important answer we can give to that question right now is that we dont know. We really dont know. And us not knowing what he does and why all this money and influence seems to have flowed both ways through him, us not understanding that yet is very important. Our lack of understanding about what that means actually is the most newsworthy thing about Elliott Broidy right now. And its the most important thing we have to understand about the most controversial thing that happened in washington today. I mean, with Elliott Broidy, the public reporting about him is intriguing. In some cases, its fascinating. But we really dont know how it all fits together or if it all fits together. Elliott broidy was reportedly given a 600 million defense contract from the United Arab Emirates. Mr. Broidy is kind of a Film Producer by training. So, his 600 million defense contract is intriguing. Mr. Broidy spent much of last year apparently in business with a man named george nader. George nader, of all things, has multiple child molestation and child pornography convictions in his past in multiple countries. But nader is the one who reportedly brokered a still mysterious meeting after the election between eric prince, whos a purported representative of our newly elected president , and the head of a russian sovereign wealth fund. A meeting set up in the Seychelles Islands by george nader on behalf of the United Arab Emirates, this meeting involving eric prince and this russian guy. What was it about . We have no idea. Just this week, its also reported erik prince met with george nader another time. Eric prince, george nader, and an israeli guy who also reportedly has ties to the United Arab Emirates and who reportedly shut down his company in israel as soon as he was questioned by Robert Mueller earlier this year. Also at that meeting . Donald trump jr. What were they talking about three months before the election at trump tower . Today, senator chris coons of delaware said in part based on that reporting about that meeting donald trump jr. Appears to have line to the u. S. Senate in sworn testimony. Senator coons wants him brought back in a public hearing to address the things that seem not true in what he told the senate under oath. So, this guy, Elliott Broidy, is connected to the United Arab Emirates and hes connected to lots and lots of money and hes connected to george nader, and george nader is now a cooperating witness in the Mueller Investigation. Naders the only person to whom the Mueller Investigation has offered immunity in exchange for his testimony. Whats he testifying about . The most important thing to know about all of those reports, all of those still unfinished stories, all of those connections or at least dots that we wonder if they connect, the most important thing to know about all that stuff is we dont know what any of that stuff means or if any of those things are important to the ongoing criminal and counterintelligence investigation thats being run by the special counsels office. We do know that the special counsels office has interviewed multiple people related to those meetings and those connections and those flows of money. In at least one instance, one of the people who has been talking to them about it has been offered immunity in exchange for what he has been saying. But we have seen nothing in Court Documents yet that explains the legal significance of any of those inquiries. None of that stuff has come to fruition at least in terms of what we can see. Today, there was an absolutely unprecedented meeting in washington, if which the white house appears to have ordered the Justice Department and the fbi and, i guess, maybe also the director of National Intelligence, to hand over information from inside the ongoing special counsel investigation. Initially, the white house demanded that the Justice Department and the fbi and the National Intelligence director, that they should hand over this information from inside the special counsels inquiry just to two of the president s handpicked allies from congress. That ultimately led to some interesting and i think pretty consequential wrangling over who exactly would get that information, who would get to go to this meeting, who would get briefed about this confidential source and when and by whom. And well get to some of that tonight. But regardless of who actually got in the room in the end, its just bizarre. This is a bizarre thing to have happened. I mean, there was the president s chief of staff and the president s lead lawyer in the russia scandal convening what ended up being two meetings today, because the white house and republicans demanded to see information from a confidential source whod been used by the fbi to gather evidence in the early days of their still Ongoing Investigation. Specifically, that source was sent by the fbi to talk to three people in the Trump Campaign who the fbi believed were in contact with russian agents who were in the process of interfering in the election. And its interesting and it is important that we dont know whats going to happen to that part of the investigation. Just like with all that mysterious and intriguing and weird Elliott Broidy stuff. And all of that george nader stuff, with him as a cooperating witness. All of that stuff about money flows and offers from the United Arab Emirates. We dont know where any of that stuff is going. We have seen no charges filed on any of that stuff yet. And we have seen no charges filed yet on some of the very simple stuff that we absolutely know that russia did to mess with our election that was a crime under u. S. Law. Take George Papadopoulos, that Trump Campaign Foreign Policy adviser. Right . A big part of the reason the fbi started its counterintelligence investigation in the first place is because papadopoulos revealed that he had been given advance notice that russia had stolen democratic emails. Russia stealing democratic emails is very simply a crime under u. S. Law. The special counsels office has thus far filed no charges related to russia stealing democrats emails. So we know the crime was committed. We know from the intelligence communitys assessment russia did it. We know there was some connection to the Trump Campaign at least in terms of papadopoulos having some advance notice of that. But we dont know where that crime is going to end up in terms of how the Mueller Investigation brings charges and who they bring charges against or what they decide to do in terms of a report or an indictment or anything else. We know that crime was committed. We dont know what they are doing with that yet. But yet today, in washington, the white house forced the exposure of information about that source, that human source, and the evidence that that source collected, in part, through his contact with George Papadopoulos during the campaign, when the fbi was investigating, hey, howd you have advance notice . That is a live, Ongoing Investigation that has not yet come to its end. We do not know what prosecutors are trying to do with that information, if anything, and how they are going to charge that crime if they do. But that part of the investigation is being pried open anyway, because of the president s demand that he should be able to see that. Last night, Robert Mueller filed a document in federal court in d. C. , arguing against a media lawsuit thats trying to get access to search warrant stuff and some of the other material from the ongoing special counsels investigation. And the filing from mueller last night is specific to that lawsuit and those circumstances, but its also very helpful tock yument for understanding what went wrong in that meeting today in d. C. Quote, special counsels investigation is ongoing. The investigation involves interconnected areas of inquiry. And the government continues to investigate key questions within the scope of the special counsels authority. The special counsels investigation has not concluded simply because its resulted in several indictments and several defendants have pled guilty to criminal informations. A complex investigation is not necessarily over when some defendants have been charged. Mueller cites tangible investigative harms from disclosure at this state of the investigation. And special counsel Robert Mueller just spells it out. Disclosure of these materials could reveal sources, methods, factual and legal theories and lines of investigation. The government does not dispute that the public is interested in understanding the special counsels investigation. But the government objects to Public Access at this stage. Revealing warrant materials could tip off subjects to investigative methods and techniques and enable them to evade detection or destroy evidence. Yeah. And so therefore, you do not let stuff out in the middle of an Ongoing Investigation. Except they did today. With all this stuff still unresolved, with all these lines of inquiry still live. How bad is that . Hold that thought. Well be right back. Riends. And we got to know the friends of our friends. And we found others just like us. And just like that we felt a little less alone. But then something happened. We had to deal with spam, fake news, and data misuse. Thats going to change. From now on, facebook will do more to keep you safe and protect your privacy. Because when this place does what it was built for, then we all get a little closer. vo have to happen . Idnt i didnt see it. vo what if we could go back . What if our car. Could stop itself . In iihs frontend crash prevention testing, nobody beats the subaru impreza. Not toyota. Not honda. Not ford. The subaru impreza. More than a car, its a subaru. When this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. Yeah, my dad says our insurance doesnt have that. What . you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Todays gang of eight briefing was conducted to ensure protection of sources and methods. Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the fbi or any Intelligence Agency placed a spy in the Trump Campaign or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols. Thank you. Was it appropriate to have congressman adam schiff, one of a handful of members of congress who was ultimately allowed into a weird and unprecedented briefing today in which the white house appears to have ordered the Justice Department and the fbi to hand over information about a confidential human source who gathered information for the fbi in the early stages of their counterintelligence investigation into russia interfering with the election. That investigation is ongoing. So it is truly unheard of that Law Enforcement would be forced or at least told that they have to hand over evidence and information from their investigation to anyone. Now, we dont know exactly what was handed over today. Were they given access to documents or the evidence that the source turned up, we dont know what happened in those meetings. Theres no doubt, though, about why the president wanted this information from this ongoing criminal investigation involving his campaign. Theres no need to guess at that. The president s lawyer, rudy giuliani, laid it out today, ove overtly. He told politico. Com, quote, he, the president , wants them to turn over the information that exists about the informant. All the memos they have. That will indicate what the informant found. Then, those should be made available to us on a confidential basis. We should at least be allowed to read them so we know this exculpatory evidence is being preserved. Robert muellers team within the last 24 hours has argued in Court Filings that their investigation is very much active and ongoing and there are a lot of elements of it that the excuse me, that the public has no idea about and that must be shielded from public view. At the same time, theres the president s own lawyer demanding information, not just related to an fbi source who was part of the investigation, but specifically demanding the evidence that that source turned up and how that evidence has contributed to the Ongoing Investigation. And that was all before we learned that another one of the president s russia lawyers, emmett flood, actually would turn up unannounced at both of these briefings today. He was spotted exiting one of the briefings today by an eagleeyed producer from cnn. Watch this. How are you, sir . Is it appropriate for emmett flood to be in that meeting, sir . And thats how we learned that emmett flood was in that meeting, sir. The white house said this is no big deal, president s lawyer on russia matters was only there at the beginning of the meeting to facilitate and to relay the president s desire for as much openness as possible under the law. I think before today, we all thought there were more rules than this against this particular kind of openness under the law. Joining us is someone with extensive experience in these matters at the highest level of the department of justice, david kris. Former assistant to the attorney general for National Security. Mr. Kris, its nice to have you with us tonight. Thank you for making time to be here. Thank you. Let me just ask you to treat me like a firstgrader here. In terms of the basics. For why there are legal rules, why there is certainly tradition, why we understand that generally the way things work that while an investigation is ongoing, the public generally and anybody who might be a subject or a target of the investigation isnt allowed to know what evidence the government has or what shape their investigation is taking. Well, the main reason is the one that you cited in quoting from bob muellers filing, which is to protect the integrity of the investigation, you often have to keep the investigation secret. Thats true in Law Enforcement as much as it is in foreign counterintelligence. If you reveal what youre doing to the subject of the investigation or to your adversary, they can take countermeasures and thwart your investigation. So, of course, people dont want that to happen. Thats why they keep these things under wraps until theyre ready to air them out in court. Mr. Giuliani said today, and it was striking to me that he wants information not just about, say, the identity of this confidential source, he wants Justice Department memos reflecting the work of this source, essentially, as far as i can tell, describing any evidence that this source might have turned up. He said, we should be allowed to read those memos so we know this exculpatory evidence is being preserved. It sounds like hes using legal terms there. Is he talking about an actual legal concept . Hes using legal terms but hes not making any legal sense. What he is demanding here is not normal. And people ought to know that. And it is very, very dangerous. The government does not reveal the names or identities of human sources to congress. It does not brief congress on Ongoing Investigations, both because it does not want to reveal whats happening in those investigations and also to preserve apolitical Law Enforcement, free from the political influence of congress. Still less does the government brief either directly or indirectly, whether he was in the room for some or all of the meeting, the lawyer for the person who is the subject, a subject of the investigation, here the president of the United States. None of this is normal. All of it is dangerous. When you were running the National Security division at the Justice Department, did you ever face demands from either the white house or from members of congress, whether or not they were on the relevant oversight committees, that you should disclose confidential human sources or ongoing evidence in Ongoing Investigations that had not yet come to fruition . So ive served in both republican and democratic administrations. And in my experience, the white house, ever since watergate, has been very, very careful to avoid interfering or even creating the appearance of interference with an ongoing criminal investigation, because, again, we have a tradition of apolitical Law Enforcement. Now, for congress, they will occasionally make demands for information, and there is always a healthy tension between the executive branch and legislative branch, but it is well outside the norms of history for the executive branch to brief the identities of sources, because they need to protect those sources. As fbi director wray said, the day we cant protect our sources identities is the day we dont have anymore sources. If this was an order from the white house to the Justice Department and to the fbi to disclose the identity of this source or even more detailed information about the sources work, could the fbi and the Justice Department have refused such an order . Could they have said no . Well, it would be very difficult, because after all the attorney general, the acting attorney general, the fbi director are all the subordinates of the president and they are supposed to work for him. The president in some other kind of situation might be able to change these longstanding traditions that regulate the way these things are done. The really strange and troubling thing here is that hes doing it in the context of an investigation in which he is a subject. He is laboring under a massive conflict of interest, and thats the norm that is probably most severely being violated here. David kris, former assistant attorney general for National Security, which means he ran the National Security unit at the Justice Department. Currently the founder of culper partners, a consulting firm. Really appreciate having you here, mr. Kris. Thanks for your service in Law Enforcement. Thanks for talking to us tonight. My pleasure. Much more to come tonight. Stay with us. What is an act of mutuality . For a single mother, its preparing her daughters for the curveballs life throws. And its guarding a family weekend letting calls go to voicemail. 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A complete multivitamin with key nutrients, plus b vitamins for heart health. Your one a day is showing. Heres an amazing lead for you. This is how its done. This is from ap reporter robert burns today. And heres how his story starts, just cold, off the top. One airman said he felt paranoia. Another marveled at the vibrant colors. A third admitted, quote, i absolutely just loved altering my mind. Meet Service Members entrusted with guarding Americas Nuclear missiles. That is a lead. And this is not about some crazy secret military Testing Program back in the day, where they, like, used members of the air force as guinea pigs for a controlled drug experiment or Something Like that. This is a whole bunch of active duty Service Members whose job nowadays is to fire live Nuclear Missiles if called upon to do so and theyre all taking acid. Theyre all taking lsd. Robert burns at the ap broke this story today, and it is a little nutty. Air force records obtained by the Associated Press show the airmen bought, distributed, and used lsd and other mindaltering Illegal Drugs as part of a ring that operated undetected for months on a highly secure military base in wyoming. The accused Service Members are from the 90th missile wing, which operating a third of the Nuclear Armed minuteman three Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles that stand on alert 24 7 in underground silos across the northern great plains. You know, there were not a lot of political scandals during the Obama Administration. There was a lot the conservative media and republicans complained about. But the Obama Administration really hate me for saying it or not they were the First Administration in a blue moon where nobody got indicted. Nobody working in the white house ended up with a Legal Defense fund. It just didnt happen. But there were, during the Obama Administration, there were all those problems in the secret service, remember . There were also some Serious Problems in the military, including, specifically in the part of the military thats supposed to protect and handle live Nuclear Weapons. In fact, during the Obama Administration, after the head of the whole Nuclear Missile program got fired by president obama in 2013, the pentagon sent the number two official in the Defense Department out to f. E. Warren, one of these bases where they keep the icbms, basically to show interest, attention to this part of the u. S. Air force. And at f. E. Warren while this visiting pentagon official was there, they actually staged a demonstration for him, for how a Missile Security force squadron would force their way into a Nuclear Missile silo and retake it, if some hostile power ever managed to get inside and try to commandeer one. Very dramatic. The ap reports today that the actual squadron that demonstrated for the Deputy Defense secretary and the reporters back in the day, that commando breakin, retaking the missile silo thing that they demonstrated, that exact squadron that showed off for the Deputy Defense secretary, that squadron, those were the actual guys, these same people, who we now know were all taking acid. 14 airmen disciplined in the lsd and live Nuclear Weapons scandal that broke today in the Associated Press. Six of them are convicted at courtsmartial. And how are you feeling about your Nuclear Security now . F. E. Warren, where everybody was taking acid, thats one of the three Nuclear Missile sites that weve got in the northern great plains. Theres another one in montana. Theres another one in north dakota. Minot air force base in north dakota. Minot has been in the news the past couple of weeks, because first, we got word from the local sheriff near there that the unit responsible for the security of Nuclear Missiles at minot had lost something important off the back of a truck. Air force officials said a Security Forces team from the 91st missile wing at minot were traveling between missile sites on rough roads when the back hatch of their humvee opened and the ammunition container with the grenade rounds in it fell out. Live grenades. Big crate of them. They narrowed it down to a sixmile stretch or so where they might have lost their grenades. Not sure exactly. Looked for them for a while, couldnt find them. Finally a few days later, they told the local sheriff, with a warning that, oh, god, those things are dangerous, dont touch them. Offered a 5,000 reward to plead with the public, please return our box of live grenades. Still havent found them. Days later, same air force base, same unit responsible for the safety and security of Nuclear Weapons there, reported that in addition to losing the big box of live grenades, they also lost a pretty fancy machine gun. No idea where that got to, either. After the live grenades and the machine gun went missing, the commander of that unit got fired. And now their sister unit at another Nuclear Missile base in the northern great plains turns out to be all on acid. We tried calling the air force today. We specifically tried calling Minot Air Base to ask whether they had found the missing grenades of the machine gun yet. We called a lot. If anybody ever picks up the phone, we will let you know if they have any leads on those missing grenades in north dakota yet, but so far, it just rings and rings and rings. 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Dont stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. Tell your doctor if your asthma worsens or if you have a parasitic infection. Fasenra™ is a targeted treatment for eosinophilic asthma. Thats important. Ask an asthma specialist about fasenra™. Within the past few days, a group of about 20 International Journalists, including a couple of americans, flew over from north korea. They came from all over the place, from britain and china and russia, from here. North korea said they were going to blow up their Nuclear Testing facility. Theyve been testing nukes inside a mountain. They said they were going to destroy the facility inside that mountain. They invited this troupe of reporters to watch. It was sort of a controversial thing, because there was questions raised about whether this site might have already been unusable anyway, so maybe the whole thing was just for show. North korea, in any case, decided these reporters could watch this happen, but they wouldnt allow any Nuclear Experts to witness the destruction of this supposed site. Its been kind of a kooky trip for these journalists so far. One of the most dangerous parts of the world, particularly for foreigners. Once they landed, the journalists took a 12hour train ride toward the nuclear facility. Next, they took a fourhour bus ride. Then, they finished the trip on foot. They hiked for two hours to this mountain, this nuclear facility. The journalists were allowed for a little while to walk through the tunnels where they have tested the nukes. They saw the tunnels strapped with explosives. The journalists were then led out of the tunnels and over to some viewing stands, and then, boom. A reporter for britains sky news said, there was a huge explosion. You could feel it. Dust came at you. The heat came at you. It was extremely loud. So that was today in north korea. And then a few hours later, right after north korea announced that they had blown up their Nuclear Testing site with two dozen International Journalists still on the ground in north korea under the watchful and controlling eye of north korean officials, that is when our president sent north korea a letter calling off the u. S. north korea summit that was supposed to happen a couple weeks from now. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, i feel it is inappropriate at this time to have the longplanned meeting. It has always been a little hard to believe that donald trump was going to become the first u. S. President ever to meet a dictator of north korea. The effort to bring that meeting about has been chaotic and disorganized and sometimes nonsensical from the start. But when the president sent that letter this morning with those foreign journalists, including american journalists, still on the ground in north korea, completely under control of the north korean government, that put those journalists in danger, in wanton danger. The president said American Forces today were ready if necessary. Ready if necessary in case the north korean dictator decided to do something foolish after he decided to tank these nuclear talks. I bet that was a long train ride back to the airport for those reporters in that moment. They work togetherf doing important stuff. The hitch . Like you, your cells get hungry. Feed them. With centrum micronutrients. Restoring your awesome, daily. Centrum. Feed your cells. Looking for a hotel that fits. Whoooo. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. Reporters have been on the ground in north korea since tuesday, invited there to witness what north korea says was the destruction of their Nuclear Testing site today. When the president took this day, this moment, to announce that he was calling off the upcoming Nuclear Summit with north korea, one reporter on the ground for that reporting trip said, quote, being inside this country just hours after theyve blown up their nuclear site and learning of this, it was a very awkward and uncomfortable moment. I bet, and probably a dangerous one, too. Joining us now is host of Andrea Mitchell reports here on msnbc, adrian mitchell. Andrea, thank you for being here. Thank you so much. Has this thing been dead for awhile, but they just showed us the body today . Was it clear before today it wasnt going to happen . Well, the first big warning was last week when state Department Officials and white house officials went to singapore for a planning meeting with their north Korean Counterparts and the north koreans stood them up. That should have been a warning. Also, pompeo was told when he met with kim jongun and brought back, as you recall, the three americans, he was told that there would be no experts from the u. S. Or other international organizations, no nuclear inspectors who could go to that site today and watch the blowing up, to verify what was going on. That should have been a warning they were not going to denuclearization and agree to the kind of intrusive verification that was in the iran deal, that they criticized so roundly. That these two dozen reporters who were put out on a limb and put in potential danger today, they, like a lot of us who have covered Nuclear Arms Control for decades, they are not experts. They are not able to verify what was being blown up. And andrea, whether or not the administration knew that this was coming in advance, whether or not we should have all known that this wasnt going to happen, it does seem like two groups that were caught offguard were those western reporters who were on the ground inside north korea when the president made this announcement, but also our most important allies in this issue. I mean, did south korea and japan really have no idea that this was going to be the day that trump pulled the plug . They had no warning at all. Wow. I was covering the Chinese Foreign minister, the japanese, the others visiting yesterday. Moon had just returned, president moon of south korea, had just been in the oval office on tuesday. Yes, they had discussed the hiccups and the concerns. And the concerns that the president hinted at publicly, that china had toughened kim jonguns stance, just in that visit on may 8th, his second, kims second visit to china. But the fact is, they had no warning. They did not know it was coming, and it was humiliating and politically dangerous, really, for president moon to learn that his meeting with kim jongun, he went to the dmz, they did that dance across the dmz line, he put everything into this, it was his campaign platform, when he ran for election, you know, pacification, reunification, and he is now really vulnerable for having put so much into this. The big loser is president moon. The winner is china. In terms of this country, and whether or not this was some sort of plan, i mean, did i cant believe i have to ask this, but was the white house planning on doing it this way in order to make moon go out on a limb, was this an effort to screw things up or did they screw things up by accident . Well, you can call it accident, you can call it incompetence, infighting between the newest National Security adviser, bolton blindsiding pompeo, according to the latest reporting from my white house colleagues at nbc, they posted that on our National Security website, on nbc. Com, but the fact is that they were not coordinating. That bolton had taken the hard line and, yes, he had taken the stance about the socalled libyan model on april 29th and that was repeated by mike pence, not helpfully, just the other night. But the fact is, china, i think, was the key player here. They felt left out. They should have been included. They should have been brought along and not put on the sidelines, and they have the most at risk here, according to most of the experts ive talked to. They have the most at risk because they are next door to north korea. They have the most important ally to north korea. They do not want a democratic capitalist society next door and they are threatened by not being involved and they should have been. And they ended up being the mover here. Theyre the ones determined what happened. Andrea mitchell, thank you so much, my friend. Great to have you here. Well be right back. Stay with us. To change was the culture of the company. And i think that had to shift to responsible growth. Second thing i wanted to change was the leadership of the company. And the third was for us to start listening. Listening to our riders. Listening to our driver partners. I think listening is ultimately going to make us a better company. Somehow we always leave packing to the last minute. Guys, i have a couple of things to wash. We got this. Even on quick cycle, tide pods cleans great. 10x the cleaning power, even in the quick cycle. Its got to be tide. 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These are not all the possible side effect of opdivo. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, or if youve had an organ transplant, or lung, breathing, or liver problems. A chance to live longer. Because who wouldnt want. That . Ask your doctor about opdivo. Thank you to all involved in opdivo clinical trials. One thing to watch for tomorrow, those were shots of some of the thousands of irish voters living abroad who have been flying home to ireland today so they can vote tomorrow. The irish constitution effectively bans abortion now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. I was in boston who spoke to one irish voter who was on his way to ireland to cast one of those votes. Incredible. Obviously a huge political moment but just a huge cultural moment for the irish all over the world. Rachel, you know how we are never we just dont we can never well, we can never admit to having a favorite guest. We cant because imagine how the rest of our guests would feel. I