Just a short time ago. You know, ive been fully briefed on the investigation and i look forward to director mueller delivering the final report but right now, you know, the investigation is, i think, close to being completed and i hope that we can get the report from director mueller as soon as we as possible. Close to being completed. Thats a huge statement to make. Usually no comments ever will come out about an Ongoing Investigation. So thats unusual in and of itself. Keep in mind, mueller has been on the job for 20 months. So far, he has charged six trump associate associates, Paul Manafort, rick gates, michael flynn, Michael Cohen, George Papadopoulos and roger stone. The white house tonight is unable to answer a crucial question about roger stones effort to get dirt on Hillary Clinton from russianlinked wikileaks and how high those went to the Trump Campaign. Mueller writes after the july release of stolen Democratic National committee emails by wi can kileaks, a Senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact stone about any additional releases and what other damaging Information Organization 1 had regarding clinton campaign. Who is the person more senior than a senior Campaign Official who worked on the Trump Campaign . Today the White House Press secreta secretary, Sarah Sanders, was asked that by our jim acosta. Can you assure the American People that during these conversations that roger stone had with wi can kileaks individuals tied to the dumping of that material, that at no time the president had any interactions with roger stone, that nobody close to the president had interactions with roger stone who may have told the president what was going on in those conversations . All of this when it comes to roger stone is a complete surprise to the president . He didnt know about any of this. Is that what youre saying . What i can tell you is that the president did nothing wrong throughout this process and the charges of the indictment against mr. Stone have absolutely nothing to do with the president. Of course that didnt answer the question. And while we do not know muellers exact timeline for completing the russia investigation other than that hes close, according to the acting Matt Whitaker, we do know that the president s former fixer, Michael Cohen, has agreed to testify before the House Intelligence Committee next week. I want to start with evan perez at this hour. Highly unusual for someone like Matt Whitaker to speak out about an Ongoing Investigation whachlt does it mean for mueller . Its very unusual for Matt Whitaker to be the one saying this. You heard from democrats on capitol hill who said we want to hear it from mueller himself. Mueller should be the one who speaks to this investigation. As you saw from that video clip its not clear that whitaker was intending to say this. He did stumble a little bit. But he did say t this could be a sign that the major investigative work is being wrapped up, is almost done, that there might not be any other major figures that mueller himself will be bringing any charges for. But, look, we dont know, erin, how much longer mueller has before he hands over his report. We dont even know whether Matt Whitaker will be the man who will be handling this. As you remember, bill barr is the nominee for attorney general. We expect that he will be confirmed in the next three or four weeks, and he probably will be the one who will handle this report when it is all said and done. So there are a lot of questions that are still left unanswered and we also dont know whether there are any parts of this investigation that mueller himself has decided belong in other parts of the Justice Department, Eastern District of virginia, Southern District of new york, which weve seen them do already. There are a lot of questions still unanswered. Including the central question of what happened in 2016. If theres any additional crimes that need investigating, that go beyond muellers initial scope, perhaps those will be handled by u. S. Attorneys offices, the Justice Department and Matt Whitaker said as much in his comments today. Thank you very much, evan, which obviously is crucial. I want you to remember, Michael Cohen is going to prison for three years because of the Southern District of new york, right . So, a referral can obviously have hugely significant implications. Out front right now, correspondent dana bash, former nixon correspondent dean and april ryan. Dana, let me start with you. Whitaker has been fully briefed. He says mueller is almost done. As evan points out, he appeared to stumble, maybe thinking he shouldnt be saying that, but say it he did. Say it he did. That was revealing, certainly. What was alarming to some democrats on the hill and maybe even some republicans is the other part of his comment, erin. And that is that he said that the Mueller Report is being reviewed, that he is reviewing it. Senator chris coons told our colleague, manu raju that that is raising many alarm bells among him and several others on the Judiciary Committee in particular because it opens up the question of if hes reviewing it, what does that mean . Is he censoring it . Is he tell iing the white house about it . What are the specifics of that review . You can sure those followup questions will be asked. Absolutely. They all want to see it and they want the American Public to see it, right . I know obviously we have bipartisan efforts to that. Well see what happens. April, you were in the room today. Yes. When Sarah Sanders was asked questions about the investigation, right . Specifically referring to stone and what trump did or didnt tell stone to do, right . Right. And she simply would not answer them. And they were repeated. Yeah. I even asked Sarah Huckabee sanders, is the president in contact with mutual friends who are possibly friends are friends with those who are indicted, preferably roger stone . She said im not sure of that. The question was asked because are these people taking information, these mutual friends taking information from roger stone or Michael Cohen or Paul Manafort back to the president . And she said im not aware of that. But they are trying to make sure that they walk a very fine line because at that time, if we know correctly, they may not have known that the investigation was probably over. But also i have a little news, t too, as well. Apparently before roger stone was his house was raided by the fbi, just hours before, he had several influencers from trumps circle of friends at his home for a gathering. And some who were there were wondering if the fbi actually was there, watching as they were there for this gathering. And that kind of led me into that question today about that. And she just said i dont know. I have not heard anything about that. She doesnt believe thats happening. Interesting. As you report on a gathering like that, obviously significant and raises significant questions. Yes. John dean, i want to play more of what whitaker had to say about where the investigation goes. Here he is. Fundamentally, the Mueller Investigation has a very defined scope and, you know, so anything outside that scope would either have to be the scope would have to be enhanced to bring additional matters to be investigated by the Mueller Investigation but obviously if its not given to that investigation by an increase in the scope of the investigation, it would be retained by the department of justice. John, obviously, Big Questions here. In light of the whole situation with roger stone, that a senior Campaign Official was directed to tell roger stone to go get the dirt from the russian linked wikileaks. It begs the question of whether it was the president of the United States and what that means. It seems that whitaker is saying even when mueller is done, the doj would continue to investigate. The question to you, john dean, would Donald Trumps doj do that . Thats a good question. I was focusing as well on what dana said earlier and that part of his remarks that caught my attention, where he said i am comfortable that the decisions that were made are going to be reviewed. Im not quite sure what that meant. He also added right now, you know, the investigation is, i think, close to being completed. You know, i think he was trying to nudge mueller and trying to tell mueller, im still here and im still looking over your shoulder, and i might be making some decisions. So thats the only way i could read that. Dana, what are the fears right now from everyone youre speaking to on capitol hill withb what it means . If hes really saying im close to being complete. It could be a bluff, could be a trying to nudge or could be real. Nonetheless its the first time weve heard it. For some on capitol hill, thats a huge concern. Right. And that but really the word review is the big concern among some of the democrats, the concern that review means interfere, frankly. Right, interfere or change or redact. Exactly. And he has been overseeing the Mueller Investigation, you know, for some time. And at least on the public face of it, it doesnt look like he has interfered because we have the stone indictment. We have other things that have happened since whitaker has been in charge since sessions was fired but we dont know what we dont know. We dont know whats going on behind the scenes with regard to mueller wrapping up, whitaker looking at what he has. Again, the concern among some on capitol hill that hes doing more than sending a signal but telegraphing in a more direct, detailed way to the white house, in a way that might not be appropriate. Now those are fears that we dont know if thats true but certainly the way that whitaker answered the question fanned those fears. John, you also have you know, when youre talking about, first of all, the big question of who directed the senior Campaign Official to direct roger stone, right . That person seems to be very important. We dont know who it is. We assume mueller does and that theres something up his sleeve. We dont know about that. We also now know that Michael Cohen will be testifying to the House Intelligence Committee, right . He had withdrawn, citing fears for his family. Now hes going to go back and do that and do that next week. The timing on that is also very important. I would encourage him to also resume his testimony in front of the House Oversight committee and do it publicly. He says hes worried about his family. Theres Nothing Better he can do than go public with his testimony. I can tell you from personal experience, as somebody who lived under death threats, who people didnt know my testimony at the time and the best thing i could have done is what i did, was testify open ly and while i was under the witness protection program, it certainly nobody had any mystery in their mind anymore about what high to say. You know, its interesting. April, i will say one thing with Sarah Sanders, repeatedly saying the president did nothing wrong or evading the question. One thing she did not say is i refer you to Rudy Giuliani, to the attorneys. An interesting change in tact from what were used to hearing. Number one, Rudy Giuliani has been the fly in the ointment for them at the white house. He doesnt consult with them. And he has now confounded more so the situation. He needs to stop talking. And the white house has been hopeful that he will stop talking. But i want to go back to something you said. I talked to a former Justice Department, highranking Justice Department official who said about this investigation one thing that could really reopen this for mueller, if he comes ba back, if he were to come back to probe more is the fact that manafort and stone would just completely, i guess, cooperate. And thats one thing that could reopen this and change the dynamic as well. Which could be crucial and stone saying he will do no such thing, whether thats a pardon or what is unclear. Up next, President Trump refusing to rule out another shutdown. Is he getting his wall one way or another . Plus the white house reportedly nervous about another republican running for president against trump. The governor of maryland. Is he really a threat . Plus nbc just releasing a statement after veteran journalist tom brokaw made controversial comments, including this. Hispanics should work harder to assimilation. Hoo did you know, the exact same hotel room can have many different prices . It all depends on where you look. Wait, you paid how much . Oh, dear well, this is awkward. Thats why tripadvisor checks over 200 booking sites Cash Register ringing to find you a great price, and the hotel you want, so you dont end up overpaying for your room. No offense. Find the right hotel room for the right price. Hoo read reviews, check hotel prices, book things to do. Tripadvisor. Weve done it hah great work old chap. Well be rich and famous. Well ill be rich, youll be famous. At least amongst your digging friends. Heres a thought, ever consider investing . E trade has easy to use tools that help you get started. You like playing with tools dont you . course you do. Dont get mad. Start investing with e trade. Not long ago, ronda started here. And then, more jobs began to appear. These techs in a lab. This builder in a hardhat. The welders and electricians who do all of that. The diner staffed up cause they all needed lunch. Teachers. Doctors. Jobs grew a bunch. What started with one job spread all around. Because each job in energy creates many more in this town. Energy lives here. Reach her health goals im in but first. Shelfie the greattasting nutrition of ensure. With up to 30 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals ensure. For strength and energy. Ensure. Our new, hot, fresh breakfast will get you the readiest. buzzer sound holiday inn express. Be the readiest. Show your gut some love. Only activia has billions of our live and active probiotics. A delicious way to enjoy probiotics every day. With 20 years of devotion to gut health. Activia. Like no other. President trump refusing to rule out another shutdown. The president telling the wall street journal today that he thinks the odds are against a deal happening. So for another shutdown or well, of course, theres always executive option. We could see another shutdown in less than three weeks. Then, of course, there is this. Is the president really prepared to shut down the government again in three weeks . Yeah, i think he actually is. Keep in mind, he is willing to do whatever it takes to secure the border. Republican rob portman and others who say that a shutdown should be taken off the table . Im not going to get into the hypotheticals of taking that off the table. Okay. So the shutdown is on the table. The president thinks the odds of no deal are high, higher than the odds of a deal. And it came on the day that we found out that it cost the United States 3 billion for the shutdown. Thats according to the cbo. And only 20 of americans actually support shutting down the government again. That is a bipartisan and overwhelmingly resounding statement. People dont want it. Kaitlan collins is at the white house tonight. That is the question, the president dangling out there, are we headed for another shutdown . Reporter thats the question here. What it will come down to, erin, is largely two things, whether or not those congressional negotiators can find a deal, one that could pass both chambers of congress and get the president s signature. As you noted in that wall street journal interview he expressed doubt they could come to a deal. The president isnt the only one conce skeptical here. Both sides have drawn these red lines, not only the president saying he doubts he would take anything less than 5. 7 billion but the house speaker, nancy pelosi, being on camera, calling the wall an immorality. Who is on this committee thats trying to find a deal . Its none of the hardliners. Mostly you see the appropriators here, used to finding a compromise and saying they would like to do so for this. If they dont reach a deal and dont reach one that nancy pelosi or the president likes, then the president has said his top choice essentially here is to invoke a National Emergency therefore bypassing congress to fund his border wall. Thats the question here. One thing we did learn today, erin, is that the president will get the chance to make the argument for his border wall during that televised prime time address during the state of the union, which week after it was initially scheduled to happen. Kaitlan, than