Of angry posts made over the weekend, those remain. According to the New York Times no one in the white house knows what set the president s off. George conway, close to one of the president s closest advisors, Kellyanne Conway, kellyanne disagreeing with her husband. His approval rate rising. 42 approve and 51 disapprove and the lowest share to do so since he took office. Joining us, good to have all of you with us this morning. Its sort of like a smorgasbord where do we begin on all the little nuggets this morning. David, i find it interesting theres been so much attention once again on the conways, based on George Conways tweets. We learned a little bit about their marriage in the Washington Post. And interesting we even have Kellyanne Conway saying something. Does this go anywhere . How much does it read into it. Conway clearly doesnt like the president. You think . How did you get the impression . Only if you read the tweets over time you come to that conclusion. I actually dont think its appropriate what hes doing. If you have a spouse in Public Service in that way you ought to keep it to yourself. I think people will try to read into it. I think its been suggested does he know more than other people know . Perhaps. I think hes an opponent of the president using his forum, making it uncomfortable for his wife. They submitted to a Washington Post profile. Theyre kind of hiding in plain sight. I dont know how far it goes other than the obvious mellow drama of a senior advisors spouse being so public about all of this. Funny you mentioned that Washington Post profile they submitted themselves to. The author will be here. I set that up. Well done. Certainly, its awkward and cringe worthy to watch a public dispute like this between a husband and wife. You bring up the other point, does George Conway know more than the rest of us . Does George Conway have an insight in the view of this white house and president perhaps different than the American Public and is that why he feels compelled to maybe over share the way he is. Thats something we dont know at this point. Whether George Conway knows more than the rest of us does, if that is the case, its pretty enlightening you think about in the context of the New York Times report, it says his closest advisors, senior white house officials actually dont know what set him off this weekend. We dont as well. He could have been steaming from the rebuke from the senate with the vote on the Emergency Declaration and also a rebuke on policies in the middle east as well. Weve seen them more willing to push back against the administration and its policies. The president did or said or tweeted a number of remarkable things over the weekend. Its still very stunning to me that the president is still going after a deceased United States senator. We know he does not like john mccain and know he held grudges against john mccain for a litany of reasons during the senators life. This is not something its pretty stunning. Also, the fact that you have people even with remarks like that, kind of unwilling to push back. I keep listening to what Lindsey Graham said in response, senator grahams closest in the senate but cant push back against President Trump. Hes commenting more against his legacy. That shows the power the president has over the Republican Party right now. You brought up the New York Times before that suggested the president s advisors dont know why he staged this tweet storm. We will have one of the reporters and authors on it. I want to shift gears to the cnn executive report overnight and the fact white house lawyers expect to get their hands on it after bill barr but before the rest of us. To me, in my own eye, although i havent gone to school as much as you have, they want the right to do that . They have the right to do that. Kenneth starr was an independent counsel. He reported to a three judge panel, not janet reno. Janet reno had absolutely no control over kenneth starr. Robert mueller is a special counsel within the department of justice. He answers to bill barr, who answers to the president. He is part of the executive branch. This is the white houses right to do this. They may get some political criticism. This is an example of what it means to be a subordinate to the president , that this report can be censored by the white house and there is nothing mueller can do about it except resign in protest if you want. I guess the question i have, to what extent can Congress Force the issue with mueller compelling him to testify, getting aspects of the report. There is a Public Interest piece of this. The response to the Mueller Report and narrative style of that report, once that independent counsel law was revised, it was in response to the perceived excesses of that report. Thats right. The law has been that congress has much less of a right to open up the executive branchs files than a court does. The 1974 case about the white house tapes, that case was won and disclosure allowed because it was a court subpoenaing it. When congress tried to subpoena the white house tapes they lost. That is a precedent worth remembering. One other point, the area, talking about what areas might be covered in executive privilege, its not the campaign, the presidency. But if youre talking about obstruction, the entire area of obstruction the white house could claim executive privilege any conversation it had with a political advisor. We talk about executive privilege as if it is clear whats covered and whats not. Its not an area the courts have analyzed that much. A lot of discretion traditionally has been afforded to the president when it comes to executive privilege. Youre right. All the stuff, pretransition, theres no way that can be covered by executive privilege. But the conversations during the presidency, everything related presumably to the James Comey Firing could be offlimits. You cant ignore the political element to it either. In a Perfect World we have white House Counsel and the attorney general sitting down having a conversation, this is how we will walk through this. There is the politics cant standly hanging over them institution in this case. No question. Especially high crimes and misdemeanor while President Trump was president , at the Judiciary Committee in the house made that very clear, that is what they will be focused on for potential articles of ich impeachment. It depends what mueller concludes. He wont charge the president. Whatever that information is or conclusion making that determination, they will argue strenuously, we have more than the right, the obligation to get that information before so we can vette it and process and make a determination. Im not sure that from a purely political perspective it serves the white houses political interests to have a prolonged fight over this report. I can see a scenario for months and months the white house wants to keep things secret and democrats shouting why do you want to keep it a secret . The possibility theyre trying to hide something. From a transparent pushback could see pushback between democrats and republicans in congress. And thats where they have oversight in terms of their investigations. We have seen a number of those in the senate saying they want to see as much of the Mueller Report as possible. Especially if it exonerates the president , why not put it out there and have nothing to hide. I think thats getting that information out there, it might not be something that the white house has a lot of allies on defending what their tactics are. I disagree with you about the idea this would be some problem for them keeping this secret. The polls never change with this president. We talk about hes up to 42 , down to 39 . This is all probably just noise in the polls. No ones mind seems to be changed since over two years. The idea that the president trying to keep this secret would make any difference, i dont think it would. Because in a process fight to those people who think its unfair would be a noble fight. I do think its potentially a political winner if republicans, mainly the white house see evidence here thin, falls short of what people expected to drive that politically. We know the public wants to know. Should mueller issue a public report on findings, 80 , yes. And a finding you hide if you have something to hide. There is that. Deep thoughts by john berman. The New York Times is reporting people inside the white house still dont know what set off the president to his pi his binged tweet storm over the weekend. Maggie is a correspondent. Thank you for being with us. We were talking behind your bag a few minutes ago. Let me do a dramatic reading from your piece this morning. There was no golf, there were no meetings, no activities other than a rare visit to church so president did what me could do. He tweeted. Is it really that simple . I think it is. We talked about this many many times, where people try to figure out why hes acting in a certain way, sometimes a distraction and sometimes just him venting. We often never really know. There are such a number of people saying he essentially was bored and was not home alone but home without activities. He did not go golfing, as you noted. He didnt have much activity outside the white house. He did make a rare visit to church on st. Patricks day i thought was notable. He clearly had a lot of things on his mind and likes to vent and blow off steam and usually they go away. The volume was striking about this one. I do think it was probably attributable to the fact there was not a ton going on to distract him. It is interesting i learned in this story you cowrote there are advisors in the white house close to the president that show him poll numbers and data that situations like this are hurting him. He has been told a number of times over the last many years in the campaign and as president that the tweets are something even his supporters dont necessarily like. They think its unpresident ial. Hes heading into a period where he needs to be more president ial ostensibly. Im not sure he will accept that. It has been said to him over time. I dont think its a surprise to see him do counter what aides warn him is a problem. You warned over the weekend as this was going on maybe we should get ready for more norm busting heading into a Campaign Season 48 tweets may seem paltry to what we could see two months or six months from now. I think thats right. What was striking about the tweets was not about the volume striking, the tone of them and substance, the attacks on john mccain shifted over to attacks on his daughter, meghan mccain, i thought she had the most interesting answer of anyone, something to the effect of, im glad i dont have a Family Member who engages in this behavior over the weekend. I think that is a comment you will see some of people relating to she made. I think he is heating what would typically been seen as taboo targets, going after not just a war hero but deceased war hero. Spreading more conspiracy minded tweets. The way he wins is by shocking people and i think thats what he will continue to do going forward. While we have you on your phone, i want to get your take, the idea the white house believes it will get its hands on a version of the report before it goes to white house and congress. You talked to so many different people, whats the feeling on this report . Does the white house feel it has control over this situation . Its a great story and true there are people in the white House Counsels office and people on the president s personal legal team dont formally have a role in that, hoping for the same outcome and they will be able to review it and strike certain things for privilege and delay further movement. I dont think they feel they have control of this, like many people wondering when it will wrap up are waiting to see when it ends. They have as little sense as any of us. Thats where they can assert some control or hope to and what theyre looking for. Maggie, always a pleasure to read to you from your own reporting. Thanks. Kellyanne conway and her husbands public battle over the president s mental state making things rather awkward for a trump top advisor to President Trump. We will speak to the Washington Post reporter who spent a fair amount of time with the couple next. Or other child. Or their new friend. Or your giant nephews and their giant dad. Or a horse. Or a horses brother, for that matter. The room for eight, 9,000 lb towing ford expedition. danny s voice of course you donte because you didnt . Your job isnt doing hard work. Its making them do hard work. And getting paid for it. vo snap and sort your expenses to save over 4,600 at tax time. Quickbooks. Backing you. No, i dont share those concerns. I was getting i have four kids and i was getting them out of the house this morning before i got here so i didnt talk to the president on substance. I may not be up to speed on all of them. Counsel to the president Kellyanne Conway on her way to work defending President Trumps mental fitness, those questions coming after George Conway, a frequent trump critic on twitter questioning the trumps mental health. And to someone who wrote an article on the conways marriage, one seen only this morning. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me. You wrote they love each other, exasperated by each other, talk about each other behind each others backs. They share a roof and live in different bunkers. It may be particularly enigmatic of today. Do you think theyre in the same place today . I think theyre basically in the same place but maybe slightly worse. George conway has been tweeting more and getting more followers and every time he get tos its pa big deal. Whether theyre in the same place its hard to say but the same problems are there. You talk about hes tweeting more. Back when you spoke with him he called it an outlet for him and a small part of his life and hes holding back a little. Do you think hes holding back . Yeah. He tweets a lot and each only takes a couple seconds firing out. He could be instead of me, on morning shows, doing evening shows and podcast on the radio, he really doesnt do that. He pretty keeps all his criticism to twitter and the occasional oped. I think thats what he means by his outlet if he didnt have a way to express how he feels he would go crazy. Twitter is his mode hes chosen so far. He has grown his followers from 94,000 to nearly 400,000. Was it your sense this is all genuine what we heard from George Conway on twitter . Yeah. Its my sense he believes this, whether its a deal he and kellyanne have worked out hes able to do this. I dont think thats true. I get the sense she is annoyed by his twitter habits and he kind of cant help himself. They figured out a way to make it work for now. I dont know what the conversations are sense i spent time with him. I do think he believes this stuff and seems very ax sass exexacerbated by the president. Do you think there was a bar where kellyanne says enough is enough . Cut it out. I think she says that and he cant help himself. I think they at some point agreed they dont talk about this stuff, they have other things they have to worry about. They each have jobs and children to raise and lives to live. I think they realize they cant talk about this all the time or it will be literally the only thing they can talk about. We heard from brad from the 2020 campaign and said at the end, George Conway is only doing this because he is jealous of her success. He noted in the past, people know who George Conway is because of me, not the other way around. Do you think he is jealous of her . I dont think her success. He is very proud of her. Even talking about the president he still would say how proud he is. I dont think the president deserves her. She is so talented and great. His anger is with the president and not kellyanne. I think he truly is proud of her and her ability. Im not sure that he is as angry with her as he is with the president. Could George Conways tweets in some way help Kellyanne Conway in terms of proving her loyalty to the president . I think theres something to be said about that. When my story came out there was a lot of discussion about how she had almost seemed to take the side of the president over the side of her own husband. If youre the president of the United States and you read that article, not sure he read it, at least saw the coverage of it, look, kellyanne is so loyal to me shes willing to go to the washington pages of the washington report and stand up with me instead of her own husband. Spouses disagree on things all the time and politics all the time perhaps not as public, you look back at mary matlin and James Carville, is it different, you think, because things are turbo charged in this era or different because these are the conways . I think its different in a number of ways. Mary matlin and James Carville are opposite parties. Their roles made perfect sense. George conway was a supporter of the president a long time. He almost worked in the administration and cried on the night of the election and proud about the election. This disagreement is different, a conservative disagreeing with the president , not just somebody standing o