counsel. if he s still bringing charges, that s off, at least for now. i think it gives them more leverage as they try to negotiate a plea agreement with gates. i think, also, this is just the fact that more time elapsed, and the indictment is being enriched. they are getting more information from a variety of different sources. i m not surprised to see this happen again later. let s talk about president trump and hr mcmaster, a confounding relationship. this would be, if they replaced him, would be the third the next guy or gal would be the third national security adviser for president trump in just about a year and change. you ve been involved in this. you were on the national security counsel. is this an optics problem or substance problem if he goes? a substance problem for sure. hr mcmaster is a patriot. he s a general. he s done a great job. i don t think the relationship ever really clicked between the president and hr mcmaster. i ve heard over time he wants to
well it s just going to we re going to have to see what is going to fly with republicans on capitol hill. they re not doing any bills with democrats, they re not taking into view the minority voices on these decisions so it s going to be a question of what priorities conservatives have. they re in the driver s seat. they won t let the president and the leadership do infrastructure because they ve spent too much money. but there s an optics problem, right? with cutting into snap and medicare or medicaids. not to the freedom caucus. while we are cutting corporate taxes and the taxes on the wealth nest americans. but policing what poor people eat has long been a tradition fl that end of the republican party. what do you make of the infrastructure proposal throughout? people say it s dead on arrival for republicans. ironically, this has traditionally been something
mike baker, mister baker, good to see you this morning as i want to read a partial fbi statement on the memo saying, quote, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo s accuracy. in light of these comments by the fbi should this memo be made public? we are in strange territory. normally i would air on the side of caution and on the side of the fbi. a lot of former, current agents have a great deal of respect for them, although men and women on the streets but this is a bigger issue. they have to release this memo and the reason is, this will sound simplistic or touchy-feely but they have an optics problem now. it speaks to the credibility of the bureau. at this stage of the game they
messages of the secret society, when you open up an investigation and you have this broad playing field and it s not a narrow focus this is what happens. it ranges all over the place. what we ve got a problem with is both sides have a hypothesis or premise that they would dearly love to prove. you can t run an investigation that way. whether it s the house intel committee or anyone else, aside from the mueller investigation, they re chasing a premise. and you can t do that. you have to build your investigation on actual facts rather than speculation. otherwise, the whole thing is shaky. the mueller investigation has an optics problem. if you re in favor of transparency, just look at everything. for the sake of optics, we do need to chase down this issue that we re dealing with, with the fbi and this potential for a
where two civilians were also hit. right now looking live at a picture where fellow police officers are going to lead a procession for the slain officer from the hospital. now the countdown to 2018 is on. mar-a-lago is gearing up for its lavish event. the security will be tighter. the crowds will probably be bigger. and the tickets will run $750 a guest. a hike from last year. the report says there s a vip area being built on top of the stage. i want to bring in contributor howard dean, former governor of vermont and republican strategist. to both of you, welcome. thank you for your time. howard, you have the whole mar-a-lago, amid club members there. does that access concern you or do you think it poses an optics problem for the president, or, hey, just a matter of