Shellackin. This is the lead, election day in america. Right now, an election showdown with big consequences for the commander in chief. Im not on the ballot this fall. Make no mistake, these balances are on the ballot. Republicans are taking control of the u. S. Senate and the president s agenda is on the line. Were all battling against the establishment of the democratic party. Its a day of bitter matchups. Shes called president obama a dictator. Obamacare. This is his washington record. Im nobodys yes man, nobodys rubber stamp. We dont need to import a senator who will export american jobs. And the night will be a nail biter. The only thing that counts are those votes. This is cnns coverage of election day in washington. The issues that Americans Care about the most. The midterms really matter. Its time to stand and fight like your countrys future depends on it. The people are choosing, the world is watching and anything is possible until the last vote. Welcome to the lead. Im jake
Himself. I then have which frankly i think is very unfair to the president. How do you take a job and then recuse yourself . If he would have recused himself before the job, i would have said thanks, jeff, but i cant you know, im not going to take you. President also accuses fbi james comey as using that dossier as leverage over him and issues a warning to the special Counsel Robert Mueller about delving too far into his familys finances. This comes as were learning tonight dates are set next week for hiss son, don junior, his soninlaw Jared Kushner and former Campaign Manager Paul Manafort to testify under oath in the russia investigation. Plus this. Senator john mccain, patriot, president ial candidate, war hero facing another battle tonight. Diagnosed with brain cancer. Our dr. Sanjay gupta has information on that tonight amid an outpouring of support for the senator. Lets get to that interview with President Trump. Joining me on the phone is maggie. Maggie, you conducted that inter
Fascinating, wideranging interview that you have. He talked about Jeff Sessions, whom he seems to have soured on. Lets play that for our viewers and then you can comment on it. Listen to this. Sure. Sessions should have never recused himself. And if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and i would have picked somebody else. He gave you no heads up at all . Zero. So Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself. I then have a which which, frankly, i think is very unfair to the president. How do you take a job and then recuse yourself . If he would have recused himself before the job, i would have said, thanks, jeff, but i cant you know, im not going to take you. So, maggie, we want to know what jumped out at you. Isnt the timeline of that a little confusing . How did Jeff Sessions know he was going to recuse himself before he took the job . He couldnt know. My take on it, and among the more charitable explanations, is what the p
I would say yes. By the way, i would say i dont i cant answer that question because i dont think its going to happen. It might be happening. Joining us now, mike the schmidt, one of the times reporters on todays breaking news, jeremy bash, msnbc analyst and former chief of staff at the cia and the pentagon. At the table with us rick sting l, former under secretary of state for Public Diplomacy now an msnbc analyst. Jan palmieri former communications for the president obama white house. And john heilman is here, nbc news and msnbc National Affairs analyst. Mike schmidt, let me start with you and your brandnew story. Let me read you a piece that caught our attention here. The subpoena is the latest indication that the investigation which mr. Trumps lawyers once regularly assured him would be completed by now will drag on for at least several more months. Tell us more. Well, as we all remember at the end of last year, ty cobb, the attorney dealing with the white house, thanksgiving, chris
And two doj insiders telling me today that the president s account about his status in the Mueller Probe would represent a departure from the normal flow of information about the special counsel investigation. One Senior Justice Department official tells me that any information about the president s legal status would have been delivered to the president s legal team from the special counsels office directly, not from the Deputy Attorney general. This official adds that the president s scenario most closely resembles the dramatized scene from the showtime series billions than anything that would have been conveyed by rosenstein. A former senior justice official puts a finer point on the president s comments adding, quote, of course donald trump is a subject in the mueller investigation. Mueller knows it and Donald Trumps lawyers know it too. There no way Robert Mueller would have pursued responses to questions, the source adds, for as many months as he did if the president were not a s