president s former national security adviser john bolton. he did not show up to testify today, but sources told the washington post that he might be willing to talk if a federal judge clears the way first. norah? o donnell: all right, nancy, thank you. there is breaking news in the 2020 campaign. former new york city mayor michael bloomberg is opening the door to a presidential campaign. the billionaire media mogul is expected to get on the ballot in alabama s presidential primary, a state with one of the earliest deadlines. a spokesperson says bloomberg is worried the current crop of democratic candidates may not be able to defeat president trump. more legal woes for the president tonight. new york s supreme court ordered the president to pay $2 million in damages for improperly using charity money for political purposes. his foundation must also give away nearly $2 million more left in its accounts. tonight the foundation says it will pay the money to eight charities. now, this c
i eat it every month, and people don t believe me. i ve got to tell you, i got a lot of push back after our discussion at the top of the show. i bet you did. something to laugh about in these dark days. thank you. we are, of course, here on the beat five days out from the midterms. we have a lot throughout the hour tonight in the russia probe, new e-mails from the new york times that they got hold of that show for the first time, private messages between roger stone and steve bannon about wikileaks during the 2016 campaign. that s later. and donald trump s last-minute ugly messaging on immigration, we have a fact check and some of the backlash from fellow republicans. and later, pulitzer prize winning historian doris kearns goodwin and tony schwarz are on the beat tonight. i begin with a story about a power player who rarely gets involved in electoral politics with an exception today, signaling, at least in her view, the stakes right now. the billionaire media mogul oprah w
wolff has had a long and polarizing career. in the 1990s, he started an internet company. since then, he s written for vanity fair, new york magazine and the guardian. most recently, he worked as a columnist and media critic for the hollywood reporter and usa today. there is a michael wolff here to see you. read michael wolff and thank your lucky stars he s not writing about you, usa today. this is off the record! reporter: wolff once wrote a scathing book about billionaire media mogul rupert murdoch, calling him the whore master of the tabloid business. niceties are not his specialty. he will go where other reporters generally won t and that earned him quite a reputation. reporter: it s that buzzy, catty way of writing and reporting that readers gobble up. he would make really cutting