missing is a bow to tie this whole thing into a knot. and i think we are now seeing the structure of a multinational conspiracy to help donald trump win the election. it s quite profound. it s profound when you put it like that. natasha, americans coming home tonight looking at their screen will see a headline that is a bombshell no matter what administration you imagine or what family members you imagine. if you see feds indict foreigner from hostile foreign power who met with guilty campaign chair and family members of the president, if it was obama family members, bush family members, this is a bombshell. people expecting that, you know, to be more about thinking about the speech and the shutdown, a lot of other news, this is a bombshell. how do you view it in the context of what mueller s doing? because it is a separate a separate federal prosecution. it is separate, and at first
shutdown fight of this magnitude? that s exactly right. and vinita, is it legal? look, i think that it s a direct violation of the constitution for the president to try to usurp congress authority. the house in our democratic system has the power of the purse, and trump s effort to usurp that power on a by creating a fake national emergency is a violation of the constitution. it s also, i mean, you know, i think it really is important to understand that this is entirely a manufactured crisis. the president is in a legal and political trouble, is appealing to his base, is creating this this whole crisis and now is trying to use it to legitimatize taking funds to create this thing that nobody can quite identify or understand. there will be enormous amounts of litigation. there will be a lot of oversight and moves on congress. this is ultimately really detrimental to our democracy. mind you, of course, meanwhile,
shutdown is to distract attention from the coming together of the russia probe because the president obviously fears being cornered, having the walls collapse on him, and maybe the main reason he s putting so much emphasis on emergency powers to build a wall is that he wants to hold the walls back. a very interesting point. one that i think is part of the rest of our coverage. professor tribe, i want to have you back later in the hour to discuss some of the legal powers the president may try to seize. glenn and natasha, thank you for joining us on this big story tonight. coming up, what donald trump could gain or lose from this oval office address tonight. the shutdown is hurting mean people, according to reports around the nag. maine s independent senator angus king is my guest next. later, as mentioned, the legal debate over this leak that donald trump s advisers may help to declare a national emergency to have military troops involved in some sort of scheme to build the border
makes more e-commerce deliveries to homes i am a techie dad.n. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it s my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i m in product development at comcast. we re working to make things simple, easy and awesome. our other top stories tonight, and the one the president will be addressing the nation about tonight is significant. think about it like this. we are at the second longest government shutdown in american history. 18 days with no end in sight.
russian prosecutor all for a separate case. we are seeing in this bombshell new pressure on the russian side of the trump tower meeting. you may recall some of this. this is the lawyer who went on tv to disclaim any connections with the russians, she now stands accuseed of those very russian connections. donald trump jr. is told that they want to schedule a meeting with him and the russian government attorney, who is flying over from moscow, the russian government attorney. that means you. translator: no. i m certainly flattered by being mocked and called as a government attorney, but i have never worked for the government in the first place. nbc keir simmons and richard engel have reported on this story and broke some of these very documents you see on your screen. those are now cited in this indictment alleging the government link. like any defendant, she is still innocent until proven guilty in