Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live 20180818

Manafort trial and nancy cook and from politico. And in this article, five or six pages, it is a deep and intense read. What do you take away from this . Obviously the headline being the white House Counsel is cooperating with mueller . Hey there, richard. First thing to know is don mcgahn has a different motivation than do the president s outside attorneys. So don mcgahn used himself as representing the office of the president. Hes protecting not trump the man, but the office of the presidency. So this has to do with the view of the president s prior legal team, the first legal team and in theyre view was their client the president told them they did nothing wrong so in their view, to cooperate with to collaborate with the special counsel meant it might bring about a quicker end to the overall investigation. Which is something that President Trump said he wanted. So don mcgahn taking the view of the overall team that cooperation was something that was good to do, yes, he did were told by the New York Times, were led to believe based on this reporting that he did cooperate fully with that probe. That opens up an entirely different realm of questions just about what now the special counsel knows about the president s intent to this question of obstruction of justice. Nancy cook, unprecedented has been the word to describe this. If it does come to this report does come to pass and these are veteran beltway reporters. We both have Michael Schmidt and maggie haberman. But what a water shed of information, for months that mueller had access to. Well it just means don mcgahn is the white house top attorney. To put it in context, he has been in the room for all of the major decisions that the president has made and he and the president also have had a pretty tense relationship. The president lashed out at him on a a number of occasions and that means that a real white house insider is giving the mueller team a road map of how the president reached these decisions and the president hasnt always gotten along with mcgahn and one of the things i found most interesting in the article is that mcgahn is cooperating in part because he views this as a way to save himself and make sure he doesnt take the fall so this is the white house back biting taken to the enth degree and he needs to cooperate otherwise there was a concern that trump or others in the white house would try to blame mcgahn for obstructing justs jus just justice or other charges. On the reporting it reports this is a large scale, that the books were open if you will, to the white House Counsel for now months and perhaps going back to last fall, number one. And number two, volunteer interviews an number three, totaling some 30 hours of discussio discussions over the last nine months. How big of a deal, chris. That is a huge amount of time for any witness to be talking to prosecutors in this case. But especially a witness this level in the white house. When you are investigating a case like this, you want people with firsthand knowledge of key moments ant the chronology and don mcgahn has been there, the firing of james comey and the pressure on Jeff Sessions. So he could prove to be a key witness for the prosecution as they kind of dig into what the president was thinking, when he was he thinking it and what was his intent behind some of his decisions and it is not just the length of time. But it is the first and insights that he could provide. What probably sticks out to you, harry, as you are a master of history, that this white house has decided to pass on Attorney Client privilege and pass on executive privilege it appears from the reporting as well. At least they did. I mean, the analogy here would be john dean who testified plenty and was able to, because of his relationship as white House Counsel, which represents the office of the president and not the person himself. But a couple of things really stand out to me. First, mcgahn is an insider. Hes a washington lawyer. When he spoke with mueller, he would not have been at all squirrely or deceptive or concealing. He would have played it as an open book because that is how you have to play it. Second, there is a great detail in the New York Times story where mcgahn occasionally refers to the president of the United States as king kong for his volcanic outburst and we know that trump is erratic and volatile and some of the most important testimony will be when he really blows a gasket and is unencumbered and probably said the truth and mcgahn will have been armed with that and now mueller is as well. It is pretty significant. And im going to read to show the intertwinings that are happening at the white house. Er go the lack of trust. And it says here by schmidt and haberman. That mr. Burk, who rupt who represents mr. Mcgahn could not understand where mr. Trump was willing to allow mr. Mcgahn to speak freely to the special counsel and feared mr. Trump was setting up mr. Mcgahn to take the blame for any possible illegal acts of obstruction. So jeff, another little tidbit des not not the best friends relationship and getting along and fighting sometimes but working side by side but they are gaining the potential that the president is setting up his very own white House Counsel to take the fall. It certainly is a window into some of the conversations and some of the concerns happening within the white house. Certainly outside of the white house weve seen the very public shakeup of the president s outside legal team. You saw john dowd gave us a comment and he left the legal team sometime ago in part because he didnt think that the president trusted his advice and thought the president was ignoring him. So weve seen again how the president s team of lawyers have changed their relationship, changed their public standing in direct relation to hip just based on his own personality and his own temperament and his own willingness to trust their advice. And since those last nine months, which weve all seen, nancy, weve not seen the open book policy that chris dowd is talking about. At least in his response to todays report john dowd, excuse me. But it appears once the open book policy started, if you will, or around that time, when done mcgahn was being open about being open about his feelings with this case with mueller, things started to accelerate. Could it be that here don mcgahn had offered, if you will, the kindling to where were at today in the mule he is investigation. I dont want to speculate. But as the other guests have said, he was in the room for all of this and so what hes giving mueller is direct firsthand knowledge of key conversations that the president had. Hes been in the oval office when President Trump has blown up at attorney general Jeff Sessions for not recusing himself from the russia investigation. He was ints matt he was invole decision to fire james comey and i believe he argued against it and he could say this is what happened and the time line and people in the oval and how the president reacted. And he is a washington veteran. Hes a lawyer. So he really know what he can and cant say. Hes a careful individual. And i think that he will give mueller really serious information that could hurt the president and i think that the New York Times reporting made it seem like both President Trump and his legal team at least at the time underestimated the potential exposure they were opening up to by letting mcgahn meet with mueller so many times. 15 seconds, it is called that this exposure to mcgahn is insane. From the audio here. 15 seconds to. When you are investigating an obstruction of justice, oftentimes the actual action, the potential target could be taking is not illegal or out right but about the thinking behind the action and also it is it is a pattern of action and don mcgahn has seen that pattern and he probably understands that thinking. And that is going to be very helpful to muellers office. Harry litman, youll stick around and Geoff Bennett and chris and nancy cook, thank you for starting us off on this breaking news report coming out of the New York Times just within the last couple of hours. Former cia director john brennan also speaking out for the First Time Since having his clearance revoked and President Trump has already fired back. The president s attack on current and former top officials of the Intelligence Community. Weve got that next. Always lood forward to whats next. And im still going for my best even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. So if theres a better treatment than warfarin, im up for that. Eliquis. Eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. Plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. Eliquis is fdaapproved and has both. So whats next . Seeing these guys. 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A drugfree blend of botanicals with melatonin. That supports your Natural Sleep cycle. So you can seize the morning. New zzzquil pure zzzs. Then you might have a dcondition called dry mouth. . Biotene is clinically proven to soothe and moisturize a dry mouth. Plus, it freshens breath. Biotene. Immediate and long lasting dry mouth symptom relief. Are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi. . A more powerful way to stay connected. It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. Who is next . That is the big question this saturday amid reports the white house has drafted more security clearance cancellations being demand de demanded by trump. John brennan appeared on Rachel Maddow since his security clearance has been revoked and in this interview he warned of a dangerous road ahead. I think hes out of control. He is has the Steering Wheel of the american vehicle andn his hands and hes veering wildly right now. Hes trying to preserve and protect himself and so what more demonstration do you want . When things get really bad im glad if his revoking my security clearance will wake people up. Trump responding, has anyone looked at the mistakes john brennan made while serving as cia director. Hell go down as the worst in history and since getting out he has become nothing less than a loud mouth. Partisan political hack who cannot be trust with the secrets to our country. And this latest back and forth as john brennan is getting more support from intelligence and mark some more than 70 intel officials condemning the president s actions in the letters you see there. Joining me now to break it down, harry litman and author david priest. Lets move into this. From what youve seen of director john brennan in this interview, what stood out to you . Well first, he was spectacular in that interview and he very persuasive and hes now he has the sort of rhetorical advantage that he said hes not trying to saver his own security clearance but moving forward on behalf of the others who are imperilled and he has the letter from all directors and deputy directors for the last many years. I think trump has chosen a very formidable enemy and he also i thought john brennan very wisely zeroed in on the real problem which is the slumber of the Congressional Republicans who are enabling this wild behavior. If anything can wake them from their reflexive acquiescence to trump and when you have a variation of national it has to the got to be there. I think it is this going to be a history mistake for the President Trump and it is about as abusive act of president ial power and constitutional one as hes done. Lets reflect on that by going to another part of the interview and well go to you, david. The other people on the socalled enemies list now, i think this is just another example of mr. Trump trying to frighten and intimidate others. But i could tell you having worked in the National Security and Intelligence Community for many, many years, these are not the type of people who will r going to be bullied or intimidated by someone with the likes of mr. Trump. He goes on to say that he believes the president is drunk with power and so david, when we look at from the New York Times, they logged all of the attacks against the russia inquiry to date and perhaps reflective what brennan is called being drunk with power. Is that what were seeing. It is the kind of thing myself and several other dozen colleagues followed up the letter from the former directors and former deputy directors by signing, making many of the same points. That this is a weaponization of security clearances which is something that has not happened before and something that shows, if not desperation, then at least a president casting around for something to try to stem this flow. Because that bar chart shows, yes, hes feeling pressure and walls closing in on the investigation and we find out don mcgahn is talking at great length to bob mueller and weve seen the indictments dropping out of nowhere. It seems as if this is all building up to something and it is something that doesnt look good. So changing the narrative to john brennan and whether you like his speech or not, is a strategy but it is not a particularly good one. Because your focusing in on the very people who have provided National Security for republican administrations and democratic administrations for most of the last three decades and when they are virtually universally united on the fact that this is not a useful strategy for National Security, that means something. And again, they have been critical of director brennan but their objecting to be a signatory on the letter saying the process the president is undertaking and and the way we phrased it is whether or not we agree and some of the people many people on the list disagree with the words john said or the way in which he said them as a former director. But we all defend his ability to say those things. It is called First Amendment guaranteed free speech. There is also this. And that is and you brought this up a second ago, harry, and that is the president is elevating director brennon and this is this is commentary on what hes done so far from eli lake and this is on cnn by the way. John brennan is such an imperfect messenger trump has an instinct for that and he approaches politics like professional wrestling and loog for the foil because he only cares about the base and what he could do to troll his opposition and this is the perfect way to do it. He does have an obligation to put up or shut up. So basically what hes saying here, eli lake from bloomberg, to you, harry, is show some proof. Proof of the unconstitutionality. It is the same ruth marcus made the point this morning. It is the exact same argument as they have with the pardon power and with the discharge. Someone has told trump that it doesnt matter why he does things and that is exactly wrong. So this would be this is a rank violation or response to First Amendment rights, it is no different, no different constitutionally speaking from if he decides to yank security clearances based on someones religious affiliation or their race and we know from the Supreme Court of the United States that doesnt fly. Somehow hes taken the view that he can do he alone in the country and Rudy Guiliani has put it this way, can do what he wants for whatever reason and that is 100 wrong and i think that a court will shortly rebuke him on that. There are issues of bringing it to court. But i think his case is weak. David, 15 seconds. The real issue here isnt about the security clearance and the conversation is about whether john brennan needed the security clearance and whether all of the rest of the people do. That is so not the point. I hope we get to a place where we could have that conversation because there is a legitimate arg to be had there are too many security clearances out there that arent bebeing used for things. That is not the issue. Whether it was used by the president to stifle criticism of himself and that is what were focused on. Great clarity. Thank you. Great to have you both here on a saturday. Justice Department Official bruce ohr could be next to have his security clearance revoked. Were going to explain the president s problem with this video. Ive been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. I bet im the first blade maker youve ever met. Theres a lot of innovation that goes into making our thinnest longest lasting blades on the market. 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President trump is escalating his attacks on justice Department Official bruce ohr, a name many folks may be unfamiliar with. I think bruce ohr is a disgrace. I suspect ill be taking it away very quickly. I think bruce ohr is a disgrace with his wife nelly. For him to be in the Justice Department and doing what he did, that is a disgrace. So the president likely to strip his security clearance very soon. Bruce ohr a government prosecutor and previously served as associate Deputy Attorney general until late 2017. In the past week he and his wife nelly have recaptured the president s attention with references to the couple in his tweets and ohr has become a target of his allies who pointed out he worked at the department of justice the same time his wife was a contractor for fusion gps and that is the Research Firm that helped compile information about trump for that steel dossier. Joining me to discuss, allen smith and reporter curtis lee, Los Angeles Times National Correspondent nata back os and templeton fellow. Curtis, so for those who arent familiar with bruce, who is bruce ohr and why is he a big deal here. Bruce ohr is hes this lowlevel justice Department Official. I mean he hes not this highranking official. Hes known widely in conservative media circles and hes just this focus of President Trump every now and again. But this goes back to the thing where we consistently see the president of the United States attacking justice Department Officials. He consistently assails Rod Rosenstein and Jeff Sessions for his recusing himself from the russian probe. But this is just hes really this lowlevel official there in the Justice Department but the president keeps going back to him over and over every couple of months to focus his attention on bruce ohr. And this fits in with the idea that the president is putting out that the systems are against him and in fact most of his claims, the Washington Post found out that they did a pinocchio test on the statements about ohr and for the most part they said in their reporting, unsub st unsubstantiating. I think that speaks to the fact that President Trump is feeling nervous about where this russia investigation is going. I think bruce ohr represents a threat to him. His wife nelly worked at fusion gps as a contractor and a researcher, working on the steel dossier and i think President Trump is trying to tie things together that dont necessarily fit. He is trying to connect dots that are not related. Bruce ohr is a career federal employee, worked in the dod i the doj under democrats and republicans. This isnt about his work on the russia investigation. And on the russia investigation, allen, we were talking about this earlier, how with the article in the New York Times today that the unique reporting does fit into the bruce ohr fem attic. So the Washington Post reported yesterday that the game plan for this sort of list that the president has come up with of people to possibly revoke security clearance from, the reason they want to do this in a drip, drip is to combat negative news cycles and this mcgahn story will drive a news cycle for days when everyone goes back to business on money when the president returns from new jersey and goes back to d. C. They could decide to revoke the clearance in the next couple of days to counteract what will be the backlash of questions an coverage from this mcgahn story that just dropped in the New York Times. A battle of narratives, something weve seen in the last couple of years intensified. So curtis, when we look at what is put out there, there is another report from the New York Times that counted the number of times the president has come out against this again the russia tie and the russia investigation and it showed that it is not only heightened coming from the president , but heightened inaccuracy. It is something that is consistent with the administration. I mean the president always there is a number of fact checks of the president making false claims and i mean it is consistent with this administration in a lot of ways. And every couple of days the president is out there going in and calling this investigation a witch hunt and a disgrace and it is just it is one of these ways where the administration tries to undermine the probe. And we look at some of the lists so far and let me bring up the one that allen was alluding to here for you here, nada. And when we look at those who had revoked security clearance and john brennan who spoke with rachel last night and james comey and Andrew Mccabe and lost his security clearance. But some very big names here. Again they are under review. What would be the loss in terms of our capability as an in terms of intelligence for National Security if these individuals were to lose their security clearance . Well youre talking about former dire former former directors and their brought in to work as advisers. And think of the crisis situation, if a 9 11 were to happen again you want to bring in that kind of Institutional Knowledge to be able to hit the ground running and help the people currently working in those jobs jobs and that is why it is important to retain it and when you look at the distinction between the people in that list and bruce ohr, bruce ohr is working in the federal government. These are former employees. And the threat of removing a clearance from somebody who is currently working in the federal government means he could lose his whole job because of this. It is predicated on a clearance. And to me that is even more dangerous. Because then it is saying, you cannot be tied in any way to a political opponent of President Trumps and maintain your job and your security clearance. And to me that is the biggest distinction and when i signed the letter as well supporting opposing john brennan clearance. You were one of the signatories there. And so allen, when we look at this, those who do not have security clearance now and moving forward, the question might be then what will be the the outcome . Are we going to see all of them lose their security clearance and will and will there be a check and balance to this . The process is not easy to get security clearance. It seems like the process to remove is easy. Typically there is a appeals process to go through if your clearance is revoked and i know that bruce ohr is the only member of the list currently working for the department of justice. But typically you go through a process and it is very uncommon. I believe the reporting stated that none of his predecessors would go about this process because he is working. Is that obstruction then. Mueller could look into that because all of the members of the list, they all have some loose connection to the russia investigation. Allen smith, and curtis lee and ngata bacos, we appreciate your time on a saturday. President trump waved the white flag on a military parade after cnbc reported the cost of the parade was estimated at 92 million. That is 80 million more than the white house estimated. This is one big ticket item on a taxpayerfunded Trump Administration wish list. There is the space force, the pentagon could not say how much that will guess but guess it in the billions. Vice president pence asked for 8 billion across five years for the space force. And also there is trumps planned wall on the border with mexico. The president has threatened to shut down the government to secure funding for the construction of this wall. A leaked report said it will cost 21. 6 billion. Some Senate Democrats say it will cost even more, closer to 70 billion. Not 7, but 70. To put this into perspective, the governor of the devastated island of puerto rico is asking for 139 to repair the u. S. Territory. Hurricane maria killed more than 1400 people and the Governors Office tells reuters the money would be used to improve areas and including housing and water and communication systems. Just some of the numbers. For the first time steve bannon sitting down with msnbc and plans to help the president beat democrats in november. This is a story about mail and packages. And its also a story about people. People who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams theyre handing us more than mail theyre handing us their business and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you when you said the trump tower meeting with the russian was treasonous and you meant paul manafort. What made it treasonous. For a professional like paul manafort, i dont think you have just people from other countries, russians or whatever, come in and try to get Opposition Research. There is enough Opposition Research out there. Clinton cash to me did the Opposition Research you had to do. Just had to get down there and drill down if a candidate knows about that in advance are they part of treasonous behavior by your standard. You have to call in question if somebody is out there trying to get information from foreign parties, you have to question it. So if Robert Mueller could prove that about donald trump, that would concern you . I would it would definitely concern me, yes. But the president is adamant that he didnt foe about it and hasnt known about it. Former white house chief strategist steve bannon speaking about the trump tower meeting in an interview with ari melber. And other topics included Robert Muellers russia probe, tax legislation, potential impeachment of the president and trumps response to the riots in charlottesville last summer. Was the president wrong to say there was blame on both sides . No. Hes absolutely correct. When you talk about the confederate mindness and whether they should stay or not, the president is saying there ares good people on both sides, okay. When you talk about the people that come there for violence, hes condemned those people. He condemned the confederates and the neonazis and the kkk and they are just as violent as the new york confederate and the kkk guys and they have to be condemned. Lets bring in kurt bard ella from the Huffington Post and adrian el rod from hillary for america and lonnie chen director of domestic policy at stanford and from the Mitt Romney Campaign in 2012. Great to have you here. Kurt, we have to start with you because you know who this guy is and the institution that he served and you served. Why is he doing this right now . It is exactly about one year since he left the white house. Well, steve, ive come to find, is a parasital figure to attach to give himself prominence and visibility and i thought that after the breakup of trump and bannon that if there was a way back it would have to be in the scenario where trump was at his weakest so that steve could prey upon that and show him that, hey, im still here, im still going to take your phone call, im going to do things to bolster you up and protect your agenda and still on your team and in order for bannon to succeed he needs trump to fail and you look at the things going on, whether it is omarosa or security clearance or the Robert Mueller probe the republicans losing congress in november. The Trump Administration is under siege and that is exactly the type of environment that bannon thrives in to try to resurface and regain prominence with donald trump. Lets be practical for a second and ask the question, what does steve bannon bring to the party that trump and his team dont already have . Well, i dont know that there is a lot of value add there, richard. Think i think kurt knows him well and i think the expression of steve bannon being in this at this point because he sees opportunity probably is absolutely right. He made some points in the interview, for example, noting that roy moore would have won if Mitch Mcconnell hadnt intervened. Im glad he intervened because it would have been a disaster for the Republican Party as an institution to the extent it still exists if that outcome if Steve Bannons preferred outcom would have been the case so i dont know if there is more he brings to the table but this is an opportunity to come back into the discussion and hes taking it. Adrian, what does steve bannon bring to the table. I dont think he brings much to the table. This is a desperate man trying desperately to hang on to whatever shred of relevancy he has left in the Trump Administration but also in politics. Hes putting this war room together to try to save the house from republicans by focusing on impeachment when democrats have candidates across the country who are running on protecting health care, racing wages and ridding washington of corruption, that trump and the gop have infiltrated throughout politics. So i think hes trying as kurt pointed out really desperately to try to hang on to some sort of relevancy. He realized that not having a connection or not having that relationship with trump has damaged his career and so i think hes trying to crawl back in. So one of the reports that came out this week and everybody on this panel likes to look at these numbers, i know that. Nate silver, 538 coming out and theyre forecasting the 2018 midterms and the house race there. And he said that his estimates are that democrats have a three and four chance of retaking the house in november. He also during the 2016 election had seven out of ten that Hillary Clinton would win by the way as well. But things do change. Kurt, the question might be here, does steve bannon help move that a little bit farther right . Does he help in the messaging in the districts across the country and which districts. I think at the end of the day, the big question here is how impactful can steve bannon be with this other effort to influence the midterms. Does he have funding to run multiple campaigns and in multiple states and a financial backer. Because what made him potent with the breitbart and trump situation, at the time he had the Mercer Family and the billion dollars backing him and so whatever Political Initiative there was the money to make it happen and now all were hearing from steve are words. And he takes advantage of the media crush and any time he talks or going on television and talk to a report and that phone call is return and that interview is booked and is there there there . If this is all just for show, and the hopes of a attracting investment, this could go away very quickly and be not very impactful at all. That is good to think about. Who is he trying to attract at this moment . This is the first time hes ever done a sitdown with msnbc and we also are looking at midterms where the swing votes are in play, certainly. Yeah, but steve bannon and his strategy are not going to appeal to swing voters. You saw this in the interview when he mentioned for example that he believes this election will be a referendum on donald trump. If that is the case, then republican candidates are going to be in trouble in places like southern california, up state north caroli upstate new york but if the sole purpose is to remind this of the attachment or relationship to President Trump, that works great in west virginia, indiana and north dakota, but not so well in the other marginal districts warehouse members are running. So it is not clear to me that the bannon effort is at the end of the day going to to help republicans if the goal is to attract swing voters. And to you on the democratic side adrian, what is your thought that democrats should run against him, steve bannon. Well i think democrats to an extent are running despite default against trump and bannon and the other bad players in the universe. But democrats are running on a record of, again, forecast using on restoring and raising wages, restoring washington and saving health care, not trying to overhaul the aca but trying to Lower Health Care costs. So that is ultimately the message that has played well in the special elections, you look at doug jones and all of the other special elections, that is what the democrat candidate has run on and succeeded in their victory. So that is what democrats are running on. And if steve bannon wants to try to find thund some funders to invest in his antiimpeachment, fine, but i dont think it will have an impact. Thank you for being on this noteworthy but because there are three other asians so proud to be with you. Thank you all three. Have a very good day. It has already been a historic year for women in politics and well speak to one candidate who is hoping to become the next governor of michigan. G. And heres where we shrink the biggest names in entertainment so we can fit them into our unlimited wireless plan. Whos first . No. This isnt permanent, right . Ask him. [terry squeals. ] get unlimited data, live tv, and your choice of an extra on us. More for your thing. Thats our thing. Visit att. Com is not a marathon. Its a series of smart choices. And when you replace one meal or snack a day with glucerna made with carbsteady to help minimize blood sugar spikes you can really feel it. Glucerna. Everyday progress. Democrats fighting to manage their partys identity have at least one defining characteristic so far women. This year, more women are running for Political Office than at any other time in u. S. History. Nearly 75 are democrats. In total, 591 women are running or said they would run for house, senate, or governors seats. 233 women have already secured their partys primary nomination. 269 either lost or dropped out. 89 are still waiting for there are state to for their state to hold primary elections. Gretchen whitmer is democratic nominee in the michigan race and former democratic leader in the senate. She joins us now. State senator, thank you for being with us, senator whitmer. Answer this one question being the former leader there in michigan, one of the questions that has been asked nationally, and were talking about your party, is who is the right person to lead, and youve certainly seen the debate between nancy pelosi, leader ploepsy, and those who are for her and those who are against her. Whats your thought . The temptation to lean in on National Politics is something im not interested in. I got to tell you. As the candidate for governor, i know michiganders need a leader who is focused on fixing our roads, making sure weve got clean Drinking Water, and fighting back on the devos agenda and schools which weve been suffering under long before rest of the country got wind of what shes up to and what she wants to accomplish. So i think the leadership question is really about what do the people across our country, what kind of leaders are we ready to demand in 2018. Right. In is as much about right this is as much about right now as it is 2020. Im a proud graduate of the school not far away in ann arbor and understand the debates and advertisements. Advertisements on the left were aiming at the president , donald trump. Advertisements on the right were aiming at nancy pelosi. You cannot but avoid the fact that it is being nationalized especially in an important state like michigan. No question. And as we go toward november, im going to be running against a republican who is donald trump reincarnated here in michigan. He want to undo Medicaid Expansion which i worked to provide health care to 680,000 in my state. I trumplican opponent is trying to undo that and still take Health Care Away from people, rip it away. There are National Implications no question. Leadership in washington, d. C. , will have animi an impact on this debate. Im going to fix the roads, make sure we get our kids prepared, and cleaning up the Drinking Water which still is not fixed. You know about flint, michigan. Its not far from ann arbor where you spent time. We have a lot of work to, do and im staying focused on the dinner table issues. Were following the flint story here, as well, as you know, senator. Right now, those who are watching say its a tossup race between you and your opponent. What do you think is going to be the key issue moving into the election . Is it going to be the economy . Is it going to be the investigation happening in the beltway on the question of obstruction of justice . I think its the dinner table issues, i really do. You know, if you cant turn on your tap water and bathe your children and give them a glass of water at the dinner table if youre worried about health care for your family, going bankrupt or getting the medicine that you need, these are the issues that motivated michiganders to turn out or not turn out at the election. Well stay focused on those issues. Womens health care, medicaid expansio expansion, clean water, those are things im going to fix as governor. One of the things you heard in the introduction to the segment was the way that wave we appear to be seeing when it comes to women running for office, which is much needed in the beltway and across the country, the seats that you could take in the state of michigan. On the flip side, a report came out from the Washington Post that showed donations are lower, though, for women. Talk about those two dynamics. Well you know, when i was the leader of the Senate Democrats, i was one of only four women in our senate. I observed that there were more men named jonathan women in the Michigan Senate at that time. Thats when you get policies that dont show regard for pay equity and the ability to get health care, contraception, in michigan. The hurdles that were placed before us. I think thats why in this environment so many women are turning out to vote, stepping up to run, and weve seen it. The michigan, the primary results, people said it wasnt just a blue wave. It was also a pink wave. More women running, more women winning. And when women lead, we tackle issues that impact and improve lives for men and women. Sons and daughters, dads and moms. And thats why its so important that our voices are at the table, if not at the very head of the tables. Okay. Senator gretchen whitmer, candidate to become the governor of michigan. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Breaking news, the New York Times reporting the white House Counsel, don mcghan, has been cooperating with Robert Muellers investigation into whether President Trump obstructed justice. Could this help or hurt the president . Our Panel Discussions next. Man 1 this is my body of proof. Woman 1 proof of less joint pain. Woman 2 . And clearer skin. Woman 3 this is my body of proof. 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And now investigators are focusing on trumps comments and actions during the firing of former fbi director james comey and his repeated attacks against attorney general Jeff Sessions for his recusal from the russia investigation. But trumps former lead counsel in the russia probe, john dowd, in reaction to this report saying this the times report is, quote, complete fiction while claiming