Saw a number of deadly attacks targeting large crowds, authorities arent taking any chances. Well show you how authorities in times square are beefing up security like never before. And this is sort of a trump 101, you know, master lesson in how to antagonize and ag vit your political opponents. Looking for a reaction. He trolls the Science Community with a tweet mocking Global Warming, but was there more to it . We have bill nye, the science guy, here to respond. First the wideranging and oftentimes rambling interview with the president conducted by a journalist for the New York Times. And it just so happens that journalist is here with us. Michael schmidt, washington koern correspondent for the paper. Also ken vogel also with the New York Times and republican strategist rick tyler is here. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I want to read one of the most eyepopping quotes. Trump talking about robert mueller. He says i hope that hes going to be fair. He says, i think that hes going to be fair and based on that, inaudible, theres been no collusion, but i think hes going to be fair. And if hes fair because Everybody Knows the answer already, michael, i want you to treat my fairly, okay. Then you respond, believe me this is he cuts you off. Everybody knows the answer already. There was no collusion. None whatsoever. Trump thinks mueller will be fair because Everybody Knows the answer already. Did you read it that way or no . This was the most somber tone or sober tone that the president has had towards mueller. His party has really launched a series of attacks on the special counsel undercutting his credibility, saying he shouldnt exist and shouldnt be running this investigation. This was the president ratcheting that back which was interesting. He was more subdued than he usually is. Still he went on and on about how there was no collusion, saying it 16 times in the interview. But he sort of took the didnt take the gloves off on mueller which we found to be significant. Can you tell us more about this experience . A lot of people are curious, how did this interview come about . How did he seem, and what was it like . I think the president thinks hes his best spokesman. If he has any opportunity to speak with the media and make his arguments to explain why he does what he does or why he believes them or thinks he can do or to tout his own accomplishments. Thats why he tweets. So i was at his club for lunch with one of the members and the president was next to us and went and talked to the president. He started talking. I would really like to talk about this stuff on the record. Some of the stuff he was saying. And i think thats something, a chance for an interview where he had been sort of quiet. Hadnt really done much press in the past few days. It was something he jumped at. Lets get back to mueller. The topic most people wanted to hear from the president. Another part where he talks about collusion. I watched Allen Dershowitz the other day. He says, number one, there is no collusion. Number two, collusion is not a crime, but even if it was, there was no collusion. He said that very strongly. He said there was no collusion and he studied this very closely. Ive seen him a number of times. There is no collusion. And even if there was, its not a crime but theres no collusion. Do you sense a theme here . President trump insisting there was no collusion. We counted 16 times in a halfhour interview. If that will look into what hes constantly thinking about these days or an explicit strategy or are we reading too far into this . No, i think its a little bit of both. Its what hes thinking about and more than thinking about, really obsessing over to the point where he is consuming voraciously all this news media content about it, pushing back on it. As mike suggested there, pushing back on it a way hes really leading this charge in the Republican Party more broadly to discredit robert muell eder, discredit the fbi, including seizing on these Text Messages between fbi agents, including going after the dossier of this former british spy, a symbol that became a small part of the fbi investigation, including mueller himself and members of his team and their affiliations and donations to democrats. So it is notable hes stepping back from that charge. That effort to undermine the mueller investigation. Hes already sort of succeeded in planting those seeds of doubt among the Republican Party more broadly so he can sit down with mike and say, well, you know, mueller will treat my fairly because he alreadies hy ies hah surrogates out there. Yes, it absolutely is. His lawyers, the people advising him on this have been telling him for months that they think that if they are forthcoming with facts and documents that they believe mueller will reach that conclusion himself and move on. He may end up doing that, but the things weve learned in recent weeks is its not going to be a quick process. Its not going to be done by the end of the year certainly like his lawyers told him. And that there is potential Collateral Damage and ways people around him can be harmed even if there is no smoking gun collusion. Trump talking about how his base has reacted to the russia investigation. He says its really angered the base and made the base stronger. My base is stronger than its ever been. Great congressmen, in particular, some of the congressmen have been unbelievable in pointing out what a witch hunt the whole thing is. So i think its been proven that there is no collusion. Is he making a point that his base is emboldened . Hes got his base convinced the whole russian deal is a hoax. If it is a hoax, he should fire mueller. Congratulations to michael for getting the interview. I enjoyed reading the transcript. I thought i was reading a rap song. This great refrain. There is no collusion. There is no collusion and then hed sing a verse. Quite amazing and entertaining. Rick, let me bring you in here. Another question when discussing the clinton email investigation he said i have i have absolute right to do what i want to do with the Justice Department. You should try reading some of these things. What does it say, your opinion about the president , the fact he believes it and he said it . Well, in some sense, he does have a right to do what he wants with the Justice Department. There will be a political cost to it because the congress is watching this very carefully. If theres any interference. With respect to the president and in fairness to him, i do think that Jeff Sessions should not have become attorney general knowing that he would have been compromised on this russian investigation. If he didnt become that, there would have been no mueller investigation. Also no race down in alabama. And the Justice Department would have appropriately handled looking into the russian interference which they clearly interfered in the election. This has been a colossal screwup really since the very beginning. This part stuck out, too, looking back at the obama administration. When you look at the things they did and holder protected the president , and i have Great Respect for that. Ill be honest. I have Great Respect for that. Talk about how this admiration of loyalty fits the president s character. And is this, again, a dig at Jeff Sessions . Its absolutely a dig at Jeff Sessions, and it is very revealing of one of the animating features of his personality. He likes people who like him and who he believes are loyal to him and once he believes that those people might no longer be loyal to him, thats when the knives come out. They come out in different ways. You saw it in the interview with Paul Manafort. A lot of suspicion within trumps inner circle that Paul Manafort may have been providing information to the fbi, mueller, that we can put that to rest because of the very sort of strong, aggressive nature of muellers indictment of Paul Manafort. But when there was that suspicion of him, he started to talk about, oh, manafort was just a guy who played a very limited role in my came pain. He stressed that theme again to mike in the interview, and we see it now with mike flynn, where, you know, mike flynn or we see it starting to happen with mike flynn where now we do know that mike flynn is working with muellers team and the people around donald trump are starting to plant the seeds of doubt about mike flynn and suggest that he may be he admitted to lying to the fbi. The thing that they charged him with, that mueller charged him with. Therefore, how can we trust anything else from him . We see that with Jeff Sessions as well. Trump has gone back and forth. Jeff sessions was one of his earliest supporters in congress. He did him a Great Service on his campaign by giving him inroads into the gop establishment by helping him build his case as a leader against immigration and cracking down on illegal immigration. But now that Jeff Sessions in Donald Trumps mind has proskcr him or exposed him on the russia investigation, you see this cold and continuing sort of nitpicking at Jeff Sessions as someone who is no longer loyal. Mike, on this point, im curious as to what you were thinking in the moment. Did you see this as a dig . When he started talking about loyalty . And did you just sit back and let him talk . A lot of people wonder, did he try to jump in . What was going through your mind . On sessions, i was surprised he didnt go further than he did. In july when we sat down with him, he said he wouldnt have made sessions attorney general if he knew he was going to recuse himself. He said sessions had made a mistake. And he sort of questioned his loyalty implicitly but didnt go after him as much. A longstanding expectation in the white house and amongst people around sessions that the president will really increase his criticism of sessions as the russia investigation accelerates. In terms of the interview, the president is a very difficult person to interview. He can move very quickly from one subject to another. Hes very difficult to interrupt. And you know, i took a strategy of asking him questions about the most important issues of the day and allowing him to speak because i thought that was the best way that i could learn and we can learn about how he views things. And then the reader can decide what level of credibility theyre going to give it. Was there anything that you asked that was maybe most surprising to you . Anything he said perhaps . No, i guess i was surprised just by the you know, how restrained he was. He did say a lot of things that most president s wouldnt say. You think he was restrained . Well, i mean, look, he said he thought mueller would treat him fairly, which was different. And that was that struck me as Something Different in that hes like, look, ill let the chips fall where they are with mueller. Hes going to be fair to me. I was surprised by that. This was a good conversation. Michael schmidt, youve had a long day. You were up early like i was. Thank you for your time. And ken vogel and rick tyler. Thank all of you. Setting our sights forward now. 2018 figures to be a monumental year for President Trump. Hes heading into it with the legislative win in his pocket. That tax bill victory gives him some momentum. Lets not forget ruby red alabama just elected a democrat to the senate and the midterms in november could turn out to be a disaster for the president. Thats the subject of a brandnew piece in the Washington Post. White house looks to make internal changes amid worries of a tough year ahead. Heres how they lay out the stakes. The president has been informed by aides and friends that if he loses the house in 2018, not only would democrats almost certainly begin impeachment proceedings against him but an entire legislative agenda would be in peril making any 2020 election bid far more challenging. Lets talk to the journalist behind this one. Ashley parker for the Washington Post. Good afternoon to you, ashley. Hey, how are you . Lets talk about this. What kind of chachbnges should expect the white house to be making to the staff . And how are they preparing for next year . So the biggest changes we should expect are chachbnges toe president s political operation. This is something weve been hearing for some time. Its a frustration many inside n outside the white house share. Theres a sense that the current political director, theres a sense for whatever reason, some people believe hes in over his head and sort of isnt equipped to run a white house political shop and other people believe hes actually a smart guy, quite competent but sort of not empowered within the white house to do this. Either way hes been quite ineffectual. And so theres a big push to bring in someone from the outside. Sort of a political guru who might not necessarily replace the current political director but would play more of the role that, say, karl rove or a David Axelrod played in Previous Administrations, sort of understanding the states and landscape and directing the white house and president on how best to prepare for the 2018 midterms. It touches on exactly what youre saying. I want to read a part of your piece that says how nervous trump is about the upcoming year. Several friends who have seen him at maralago describe him as relaxed and smiling cocooned in his manicured villa and seeming without a worry. Hes relaxed . Why do you think that is . So i think a number of reasons. First, its the people around him, of course, who are deeply worried and nervous. And one of the reasons is a side point theyre having such a hard time bringing in a political strategist is because they all say the president is and certainly believes hes his own best strategist. While hes relaxed at maralago, this is his villa. Its his private estate. Its where he feels comfortable. Its familiar. He is surrounded by family and friends and guests who are paying huge membership fees to be there. That means they largely like him. When they see him, they express adoration and tell him what a good job hes doing. Those are things the president likes. This is a safe haven for him among whats been a tumultuous year. You mentioned family and friends. The number of people in trumps ear outside friends and viaer s advisers. Who are they, and what do you think theyre suggesting . Theyre sort of everyone from people who maybe worked on his campaign or even in his white house and were either fired, pushed out or left on their own accord and still keep in touch with the president. People he knows from real estate deals dating back decades. They are sort of everyone and everything and that sort of surmises what they want. Some of them have specific advice for him on policies or political strategy. Some of them, you know, they are a dues paying member and want their friend, a guest to get to meet the president. Some want to show him an article in the media that should influence how he governs. Hes getting a lot of incoming from this big eclectic circle of people who surround him. I want to take one more turn here. President trump tweeted this. Why is the United States post office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making amazon richer and the post Office Dumber and poorer . Should be charging much more. He brings amazon up there. Obviously, the jeff bezos connection with your publication. Hes keenly aware of whats in the news. Any idea that tweet was in retaliation for your story . Sure. So i have to say we never know exactly we rarely know exactly why the president tweets what he does, but we often know its prompted by something he has heard, something hes seen on cable news, something he has read on the paper in the paper. And just based on the timeline, theres certainly a plausible theory of the case that he read our article. He wasnt particularly pleased, and he sent out an angry twitter as he often does. Ashley parker, well have to leave it there. Ill see you again in 2018, im sure. Thank you forrior time. Still ahead a lot of focus on the effect the Trump Presidency has had. Overseas, the ekwecffects were as consequential. How his first year as shaken up global order. Cities across the country are stepping up security in the wake of terror attacks. Well show you the unprecedented measures officials are taking in new york city. And how about them apples . After a barrage of criticism, apple is now issuing a rare apology over its software that deliberately slows down older phones. But will there proposed fix be enough to ward off lawsuits . For your heart. Your joints. Or your digestion. So why wouldnt you take something for the most important part of you. Your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Trumps America First mentality may have propelled him into office but reporting from the New York Times reveals its causing some waves internationally. The president s tendency to act as the worlds disrupter in chief is causing confusion over u. S. Policy and alienating some important allies. Hans nichols joins me. Lets start by playing something trump said at nato this past spring and then well talk about it. I have been very, very direct with secretary staltenberg and members of the alliance in saying that nato members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations. But 23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defense. W