Our nbc news headquarters here. Day 432 of the Trump Administration, and President Trump remains uncharacteristically silent over alleged affairs with a porn star and playboy magazine. For a president who normally lacks steely message discipline he is exhibiting steely message discipline through the white house. And officially through the Briefing Room podium. He has denied affairs with Stormy Daniels and karen mcdougal. President trump denies Stormy Daniels allegations and pointed reporters to the president s outside counsel. She was also asked about the president not punching back on this issue. Have you sat down with the president to talk about Stormy Daniels . What has he told you that he wants us to know about on this topic . As i just said, and as weve addressed on a number of times, the president has denied these allegations, i dont have anything further to add you also called him a counter puncher many times. Why has he not punched back on this one. I didnt say he punches back
Daniels . What has he told you that he wants us to know about on this topic . As i just said, and as weve addressed on a number of times, the president has denied these allegations, i dont have anything further to add you also called him a counter puncher many times. Why has he not punched back on this one . Look, the president i didnt say he punches back on every single topic. If he did he would probably be addressing a lot of the stories that most of you write every single minute of every single day. He also has a country to run and hes doing a great job with that. Sometimes he chooses to specifically engage and punch back, and sometimes he doesnt. Lets remember for just a moment, this is a president who has gone after countless people. He gave derisive nicknames to primary opponents, he went after pope francis, and routinely trolls his own attorney general. The New York Times reports trumps advisers are relieved with his silence over Stormy Daniels, but inside the white house, mr. T
Of mixed messages from the white house about whether his meeting with kim jongun will actually happen. The 11th hour on a friday night begins now. Good evening once again from the nbc headquarter here in new york. This was day 414 of the trump administration. And theres new reporting tonight about negotiations to set up a possible interview between the president and Robert Mueller, the special counsel in all of this. This comes to us from the wall street journal correspondented Rebecca Ballhouse and Peter Nicholas report that trumps legal team is trying to work out a deal with mueller. Well be injo joined by Peter Nicholas in a moment. They note that a person familiar with the discussions are, quote, seeking to negotiate a deal with special Counsel Robert Mueller that uses an interview with the president as leverage to spur a conclusion to the russia investigation. The president s legal team is considering telling mr. Mueller that mr. Trump would agree to a a sitdown interview based on
Washington post report tonight that Robert Mueller brought up the possibility of issuing a subpoena to the president to testify if the president doesnt agree to an interview. And joyce vance said to you that they would have made a very serious decision about even saying that, and that Robert Mueller would not have said that, she doesnt believe, if Rod Rosenstein hadnt already confirmed with Robert Mueller and said, well, if he doesnt agree to an interview and you need an interview, the next stage will be a subpoena, meaning that rosenstein had in effect preapproved the subpoena so that mueller then mentioned it. That was a really fascinating exchange. And it has two totally fascinating implications, right . One is the Mueller Investigation is proceeding and vaulting over new legal benchmarks, including this subpoena threat to the president with the authority, under the authority of Rod Rosenstein. And this is marching forward as a legal matter. The other thing it suggests is that we th
Mueller would not have said that, she doesnt believe, if Rod Rosenstein hadnt already confirmed with Robert Mueller and said, well, if he doesnt agree to an interview and you need an interview, the next stage will be a subpoena, meaning that rosenstein had in effect preapproved the subpoena so that mueller then mentioned it. That was a really fascinating exchange. And it has two totally fascinating implications, right . One is the Mueller Investigation is proceeding and vaulting over new legal benchmarks, including this subpoena threat to the president with the authority, under the authority of Rod Rosenstein. And this is marching forward as a legal matter. The other thing it suggests is that we think its this amorphous and interesting open legal question as to whether or not the president can be compelled to testify, whether he can be forced to testify before the grand jury under a subpoena. We think of that as an open question. What joyce is suggesting about the process would indicat