all right. and tomorrow our guests will include former secretary of state john kerry, former cia director john brennan. that does it for us this morning. brian williams picks up msnbc s special coverage of the brett kavanaugh confirmation hearings right now. mika and joe et al, thank you all. we ll begin on capitol hill and as john heilemann was saying, the backdrop of the white house and the on going daily reaction is interesting to gauge. there s the hearing room. the first day of questioning for judge kavanaugh as he attempts to seek to be placed to nominate being nominated for the vacancy of justice kennedy. i am joined here in the studio by stephanie ruehl. this is her hour and contributing to the coverage of this and we want to start with phil rucker covering the white house for the washington post
forth so it s really getting under the president s skin, clearly. and the white house is having difficulty figuring out how to manage this storm. stephanie, you can contribute to this reporting. you have been in touch with people who find themselves playing a cameo or more of a role in the woodward book and what are you being told? thus far is anyone saying, yes, absolutely true? i haven t spoken to anyone who says that but because they haven t read the book in the entirety. on one hand, i mean, when you think about the reporting that we did exclusively here, whether it s rex tillerson calling the president a moron, john kelly calling him an idiot, the white house vehemently denied the stories. going to them, it was as if they were offended that we were trying to work on them. and now, those sources inside the white house who we worked with are smiling saying, do you feel justified? they re absolutely true. there are people in the white house who are seeing denials out there or fee
at the superbowl. it was a great feeling to share the stage with aretha. i had met her a couple of times before and she was always pleasant and a real nice lady and a great talent. i wrote this about her. i said, i know that the heavenly choir is welcoming aretha franklin with open arms. she was definitely the queen of soul. i m so happy that i knew her and had the privilege of sharing the stage with her. i can see her now putting on her golden robe and slippers while god takes her in his loving arms, while she s singing precious lord, take my hand. may she rest forever. special love for aretha franklin. aaron neville. the heavenly choir got a great new addition. a solo act in there. yes. aaron, you yourself had a remarkably long and successful musical career. this is a woman who has been performing for 50 years throughout, you know, her career, and times have changed so much.
her artistry served as the soundtrack to so much that is important in this country of our lives. we should all count ourselves as lucky that we live at a time when god deigned to share one of his true gifts with us. rest in peace my queen. he mentions that he knew her as well, she loved him and he certainly loved her. everybody understood that she was a diva, that she was a queen, that she was a regnant, loyal, incredible personality and a down to earth woman. i shared with reverend al sharpton that there were many things that i shared jokes with her. she had a gallows sent of humor sw
want people to know about her? she haven t had the pleasure of meeting her. i want people to know she was always the same, authentic, down to earth person. she loved to cook. she loved to talk about regular things. and she never lost her authenticity. and she s a lesson to all of the artists that no matter how big you get, it doesn t matter yhow tall you stand, it matters that your feet never leave the ground. her second husband said she didn t just cook, she burned. reverend, great to see you. thank you so much. chris farley, thank you as well. tributes continue to powur in fr the queen of soul. the marquee at the apollo