The question is who he can get confirmed into any of these jobs. Or recess appointed. Never a boring moment. My thanks to the squajeremy bas. Ill see you back here monday for deadline white house at 4 00 p. M. Weird night in the west wing. Lets play hardball. Good evening, im Chris Matthews in washington tonight. The american presidency is grim and chaotic. The New York Times is reporting the Chief Of Staff is offering to resign. The communication chief is in danger, and the white house secretary is gone altogether. President trump publicly addressed the growing west wing scandal for the first time today defending the former aide whos been accused of two exwives of
violent behavior. We certainly wish him well. Its obviously a tough time for him. He did a very good job when he was in the white house. And we hope he has a wonderful career, and hopefully he will have a great career ahead of him. But it was very sad when we heard about it, and certainly hes also very sad now. And as you probably know he said hes innocent. And i think you have to remember that. He said very strongly yesterday that hes innocent. So youll have to talk to him about that, but we absolutely wish him well. He did a very good job when he was at the white house. Notice what President Trump didnt mention. Theres not one single mention of the either of it Women Accusing Rob Porter of abuse. And one of the exwives was on this morning. She recounted one episode. Lets watch. We had been fighting and rob
in an interview today Reince Priebus denied that, saying the president has never complained to me about General Kelly. Nbc reporting hes also frustrated over communication director hope hicks role in the controversy. Hicks is reportedly in a relationship with. Sources telling nbc news he has not made a formal offer to resign. Im joined by chief correspondent hally jackson, the Washington Post bureau chief phil rucker. Hes the White House Bureau chief. And jason. Is there a sense with the Chief Offering to resign, the Communications Chief in danger, the secretary gone. What is the feeling and whats the noise and chatter level and the mood over there now . Yeah, a lot of slammed doors and a lot of serious faces,
chris, is what we saw over the afternoon. Let me tell you what Kelly Odonald just heard from the Chief Of Staff, and this is from the horses mouth, john kelly himself saying, no, he did not offer to resign. So that is an the record saying hes not going to resign. And he served at the pleasure of the president , and a second source saying if the president were to say, hey, i dont want you to serve anymore, john kelly has been in the military, he knows how the command structure works. That is something he would obviously listen to. Im told he feels irritated right now. As burn person put it to me, hey, hes answered a lot of questions about this, why does he keep getting questions about
how he handled this, looking to move past this. You talked about the vibe. Its been an interesting few hours here. Because remember, yes, the Press Secretary is on a preplanned day off. We saw a huddling of aides behind closed doors. At whats points you had aides who sit outside these offices turning up the volume on the tv screens outside to perhaps it seemed to mask private conversations that were happening inside those offices. So clearly there was some crisis control, some Damage Control happening. As we have seen john kelly in and out of an area where reporters can go inside the west wing called upper press. And that is where nbc news had the opportunity to talk to him a couple of times. And he clarified the time line of when he found out. He said he was fist aware of investigations that something was up in november. But he said literally all he heard, and im paraphrasing here, that there was something being looked intotouch he said
he didnt fiend out the allegations were true until tuesday night, and then rob porter was gone. That raises some questions. Tuesday night, remember, is when the white house put out a statement saying from john kelly that rob porter was a man of integrity. The bottom line seems to be, chris, people at this white house knew what going on. And we have one source saying don megan knew about a year ago. Definitely one of those friday nights where lets talk about if he were a president and normal white house staff. I know thats a hell of a leap, but lets try that. A president kwekts his kpeexpecf staff to deal with this and know what their reporting and come through with. They go back doortodoor, every place they ever lived. Its thorough investigation by the fbi. According to all the reporting im seeing the fbi was doing its job. As long as a year ago they happen getting indications there was violence in these exmarriages, former marriages. And wasnt that information enough to be brought to the attention of the Chief Of Staff . I assume youre directing that question to me, chris. What i can tell you is that there are indications this came to light in the fall, that there was word this was happening, that these allegations had been out there it took nine months to get the information to the Chief Of Staff. That is what john kelly told us tonight himself. In november he was told and briefed he said about the investigation, but did not get briefed on specifics. Now, is it possible that the counsel don megan, his office knew about that earlier, yes. And our reports indicate last year he was being told about
this. Theres an open question whether that trickled up to the top levels. Ive been reading these reports of the time line, and im getting back to last january. Lets go to phil rucker on this, White House Bureau chief for the post. Is there a problem here for the white house being incapable intellectually or emotionally of accepting fact from the fbi . Thats their job to do background checks. John kelly doesnt go knocking on doors to see how a guy treated previous spouses. The fbi does. You have to rely on the fbi. Are they accepting the truth of the fbi at this white house, sir . Well, the problem, chris, is theres no clear accountability here. We have shifting statements, evolving time lines. This morning john kelly was at a private meeting at the white house where he told the aides he wanted them to go tell their colleague, to tell the lower level staffers at the white house he had taken decisive
action within 40 minutes of learning of these allegations of rob porter. That does not match the Public Record or the statements we have seen coming out of this white house where there was a conservative strategic attempt to try to protect rob porter, the staff secretary up until that came out. Is General Kelly trying to cover up . I dont know. I think he would serve himself if he would come out and answer these questions deliberately and be trance parent about what he and others knew about when they knew it, when they notified the president , what were the conversations with porter. We have conflicting accounts from the white house on that point. Again, jason, you put the shoe on the other foot and you go suppose barack obama had something i constantly go back and check this. Suppose hed been involved in any of this stuff . Imagine some somebody in his top staff had been accused of this with records and Police Records and top orders and the person in charge of controlling all the paperwork and everything, and then it looked like his people covered up for it. It would be inexcusable. People wld ould be screaming fo his impeachment. This is smart man. This is the guy who has cleaned up a lault ot of things in the house, for us us to believe he didnt know for nine months and then suddenly decide he believed with the pictures it is a cover up. You know the culture there, is it so much a he culture that they cant deal with a her question . Because i thought katy turr was excellent this afternoon. So i think theres a couple of pieces to that, chris. I think number one when you look
at the president s statement today, and you know i stick to the realm of the facts on hand. The president did not bring up the women who have accused rob porter of Domestic Violence. Even with pronouns. I would contrast to what the president said with lester holt today with that sit down with north korea. Because the president said Domestic Violence should not be tolerated in this country. He didnt know about the allegations against rob porter until he about the allegations, lets watch. I was appalled when i learned of the allegations against rob porter. The time he resigned is when i first became aware of the allegations of Domestic Abuse. And theres no tolerance in this white house and no place in america for Domestic Abuse. That being said i think the white house hass acknowledged they could have handled it better. Lester, when i return to washington, d. C. Im going to look into the matter and ill share my accounts with the president directly. Halle said how come the president is always about a foot outside the loop . He keeps this wonderful little respectful difference from the bad stuff going on, but always comes in a couple of days later and says ill look into this. His office is really two doors down from the president s oval office. How does he do this . And he obviously spends a lot of time over the executive office, too. Mike pence is the number two guy in the administration. Hes the person the president cant fire when you look at all of this. And i think its illume negative to look at the Vice President s response to what has happen. You mention ashley saying
directly to him, why do you always seem to be out of the loop with these issues . And do think when he says im going to go back to give his account on all of this, he is somebody that talks and has allies on the hill, the Donor Community as well. And the mr. President , this illustrates his comments about porter today. Youve seen critics seize on this in particular. The president has repeatedly now shown a pattern to side with his allies. With roy moore, the president saying roy moore denied it, siding with him. Roger ales as well. Bill oreilly is another one. Let me thank you for that. And by the way, i know you went up to the Eagles Parade yesterday. And im so happy you represented
us. 700,000 people there. Thank you so much giving up your day. I want to go to phil rucker of the post. What about this question, how come youre always about a foot about the loop . She does it better than anybody else, but shes out there in south korea trying to keep the Vice President accountable. Thank you. What a great colleague you are. Meanwhile the white house staff drama played out n reality game show. Omrosa, she once said this about her former boss, trump. Every critic, every detractor will have to bow down to President Trump. Its everyone whos ever doubted donald, who ever disagreed,
whoever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe. In a world anyway, that was her then. Here she is now. Should we be worried . Dont say that because we are worried, but i need you to say no its going to be okay. Its not going to be okay. Its not. Would you vote for him again . God, no. Never. In a million years, never. From biblical epic down to soap opera. She had now turning a 180 on this guy. Just a year ago he was the greatest guy on the planet. Omrosa, nice person and shes just trying to sell books. If youre really concerned about what donald trump might do as president you can go find Robert Mueller. Im sure hed like to have a conversation. Its something. Anyway, we had it in that segment as sort of a comic relief. Anyway, it is a grim night at the white house. Thanks. We heard from halle jackson, and what a night its been at the white house. Coming up donald trump tries launching yet another smoke bomb on the russia probe even as democrats cause another smoke bomb to fizzle. It comes as wood ward and bernstein write were on the precipice of another saturday night massacre. Plus, is the Republican Party now hitting a values deficit . The gop has long sold itself as the party of fiscal discipline, Family Values and law and order. But recent issues call into
question their commitment on all three counts. And steve bannon says his base is starting to question the president s commitment to building the famous wall along the reelo grand. And once trump promised mexico would pay for it. Its friday night and this is hardball where the action is. We may be one of the worlds most familiar companies, but we make more than our name suggests. Were an organic tea company. A premium juice company. A Coconut Water company. Weve got drinks for long days. For birthdays. For turning over new leaves. And we make them for every moment in every corner of the country. We are the cocacola company, and were proud to offer so much more. I had a very Minor Fender Bender tonight in an unreasonably narrow Fast Food Drive thru lane. But what a powerful life lesson. And dont worry i have everything handled. I already spoke to our allstate agent, and i know that we have Accident Forgiveness. Which is so smart on your guys part. Like fact that theyll just. Forgive you. Four weeks without the car. Okay, yup. Good night. With Accident Forgiveness your rates wont go up just because of an accident. Switching to allstate is worth it. According to a new report President Trump has abandoned a practice followed by past u. S. President. A report says the president rarely reads the brief. Instead the president relies on an oral briefing. One source says reading the dense document does not fit in with trumps style of learning. Experts on former cia director leon pinetta warned by not reading the formal briefing the
president could miss the context. In the past trump has downplayed the importance of an intelligence briefing. He he goes. I dont have to be told the same thing in the same way for the next eight years. Could be eight years. I dont need that. I like the look on his face when the president says im a smart person. Well be right back. Mpany. With new car replacement™, well replace the full value of your car plus depreciation. Liberty mutual insurance. When it comes to travel, i sweat the details. Late checkout. Downalternative pillows. And of course, price. Tripadvisor helps you book a. Hotel without breaking a sweat. Because we now instantly. Search over 200 booking sites. To find you the lowest price. On the hotel you want. Dont sweat your booking. Tripadvisor. The latest reviews. The lowest prices. Wild thing applebees handcrafted burgers. Any burger just 7. 99. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. His are republican colleague richard burr. It began last night when fox news reported that he had communicated with an Russian Oligarch lobbyist to make contact with Christopher Steele. The Report Faced Immediate Push back from republican senator mar marco rubio who tweeted senator warner fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago and this had zero impact on our work. Despite that President Trump seized on that writing this last night. Wow, senator mark warner got caught having expensive contact with a lobbyist for a Russian Oligarch. Warner did not want a paper trail on a private meeting in london he requested with Steele Of Fraudulent Dossier fame. All tied into Kroocrooked Hilla the president has until tomorrow night to agree or reject it. Meanwhile the number three official at the Justice Department is stepping down. Rachel brand had been a key figure in the russia probe because she was next in line of secession after Deputy Attorney rosenstein. Let me start with david on this because you are an efish nodo of this stuff of wacky ideological behavior on it right. The president every single day seems to get up to find a smoke bomb. To confuse his supporters and actually muddle everything up. And they fizzle in a couple of hours. But he keeps throwing those smoke bombs. I would even call them a stink bomb, but they do work to a certain agree. For the last ethree weeks weve been not talk about the Russia Investigation but the nunes memo. And they just move from thing to thing. Its one plate of spaghetti to the next. Weve seen the head of the cia meeting with russian intelligence chiefs. Theres a lot going on there that were not talking about as much because were following all the craziness. Ive tried to keep my eye on the scope. Because theres still a question what did the russians do . What did the trump crowd do in helping him, and whats happening right now in 2018 . Lets remember whats really curious about the substance of mark warner. The president criticized him of being in communication with potentially Christopher Steele. And meanwhile two staffers of nunes actually went to london to search for Christopher Steele. My colleague and i were the first to break the news one of those staffe