shine, sarah huckabee sanders, kellyanne conway, these people behind you say it s worth it. peter baker, it s kind of unbelievable that this was supposed to be the galvanizing effort. this was supposed to be the public fight that was going to at least get them through this week. and this undermines that. look, of course he had been told again and again in this fight over the border wall and the government shutdown that he needs to get out there and make his case more. there s no bigger platform for a president practically than the oval office address. this is the first time he s used that particular venue to make an address in prime time to the nation. but clearly as you just read, he s not bought into this strategy. he doesn t think it s going to be useful. he didn t want to give the speech. he was talked into it, and, you know, he even said that to these television anchors. now, the television anchors were off the record. they haven t reported this. but you say that to a large grou
charges or other significant charges being levied at the americans who sat across the table from them. and joyce, let s string that out. if you re trump or members of his legal team, what s your number one legal concern right now tonight? you know, it s hard to say that the president could have only one legal concern at this point because all of the walls are closing in. southern district of new york is responsible for indicting natalia veselnitskaya, and that has to be a concern for him, particularly on behalf of his son. it looks like the trump tower meeting will be a focus for mueller, and to your point, brian, i think that this does help with that indictment because it establishes her longtime connection, not just a government lawyer, not just a russian lawyer, but someone who was in the thick of things when this emlat was drafted in the case which is sort of an origin story for much of russia s efforts to relieve itself from
laypeople may have watched too many cop shows but is the naming of veselnitskaya and the attachment of this case to her now which cements her to the kremlin, does that help the larger federal case if they want to now say, indict some of the americans who chose to take that meeting and sit in on that meeting at trump tower? i think the interim step, brian, would be if we see an indictment of the russian government delegation attendees at that meeting. if we see an indictment of veselnitskaya for attending the trump tower meeting or the others who were there with her that day, remember, this was a government delegation. this wasn t just a lone lawyer with a case to talk about adoptions. she was there on behalf of the russian federation. she was doing the russian government s bidding. today s indictment of her in the unrelated obstruction case proves that point. if we see them go be indicted by the grand jury, and bob mueller brings charges against them, then i think we re basically a h
obama administration had a laser-like focus on criminals. we ve gone awair from that. thank you, john. former acting director, john gets tonight s last word. the 11th hour with brian williams starts now.director, j sandweg, gets the last word. the 11th hour starts now. tonight, the president tries to sell a crisis that the facts tell us does not kbakt, and he uses the backdrop of the oval office to do it while this evening your federal government remains shutdown. meanwhile, attorneys for former trump campaign chairman paul manafort accidentally reveal he shared trump polling data with a russian, leading to a whole lot of questions about why someone who do that. and another russian in the news tonight, the woman in that trump tower meeting was indicted today in a case that shows her connection to the kremlin. all of it as the 11th hour gets under way on a tuesday night. well, good evening once
have a broad-based focus that diminishes their focus on the criminals. obama administration had a laser-like focus on criminals. we ve gone awair from that. thank you, john. former acting director, john gets tonight s last word. the 11th hour with brian williams starts now. tonight, the president tries to sell a crisis the facts tells us do not exist and used the backdrop of the oval office do it. while this evening your federal government remains shutdown. meanwhile, attorneys for former trump campaign chairman paul manafort accidentally reveal he shared trump polling data with a russian leading to a whole lot of questions about why someone would do that. and another russian in the news tonight, the won man in th trump tower meeting was indicted today in a case that shows her connection to the kremlin. all of it as the 11th hour gets under way on a tuesday night. well, good evening once