But it is a Remarkable Book and it is that authentic and that is why there is swearing in here. I got a letter from a viewer who read the book who said it was very disrespectful and they didnt like it. I think its a real experience of what you went through. You give a lot of details about the very specific things that go on in campaigns. In this particular case in the trump campaign. Thats why i think its worth reading. While the rest of us are watching it unfold on the news, you are telling us the story of whats going on behind the scenes and now its convenient you can travel with it. You have it in paperback. Im going to enjoy this as much as i did the first time around. You have yourself a great afternoon. Good afternoon to all of you. Im ali velshi. President trump is playing defense in a number of areas today. Theyll do it quickly and violently. Thats what the president said. President trump gave that private warning about upcoming midterms to evangelical leaders on monday night, telling them that their opponents were, quote, violent people and would overturn everything they have worked for. These are dangerous words. According to recorded excerpts reviewed by nbc news, trump warned them, quote, you are one election away from losing everything that youve got. He mentioned several policies that evangelicals care deeply about, but he did repeat a debunked claim that he had gotten rid of a law for bidding churches and charitable organizations from endorsing political candidates. Thats just nonsense. Theres news, by the way, about the president , about white House Counsel don mcgahn, not given a heads up about the president tweeting with his upcoming departure. Well get to mcgahn in a moment but first i want to talk about that closeddoor meeting with trump and evangelical leaders. Joining me now is nbc news intelligence and National Security reporter ken dilanian who first got news of this. Ken, i saw this article that you wrote when this news first came out and i thought there must be a mistake. The president cannot actually be warning a constituency that if they lose the midterm elections, there will be violence by their opponents, because this is america in 2018. That cant be true. You know whats interesting, ali, i almost read right over that passage as i was reviewing that transcript because we are so used to this kind of rhetoric from donald trump that we almost discount it. Ive seen interviews with some of the people in the room who suggested that either this never happened or this wasnt material. But the words, youre absolutely right, the words are important and they fit a pattern with donald trump. You know, if youre for free trade deals, youre not just wrong but these are the worst trade deals in the history of america. If youre for immigration, youre not just mistaken but you must be pro ms13. Its this extremism of rhetoric that trump has engaged in, unlike perhaps any other president in american history. And it kind of just this was part of a pitch to evangelicals where he was saying look at all the great things ive done for you. Including you can now say merry christmas, whereas before you couldnt say that apparently before he was president. Weve got to win in these elections because theyre going to take everything away. He examine say it in a hostile or aggressive manner, but he absolutely said there will be violence. So ken, the other matter where he told the evangelicals that he had changed something called the johnson law which prevents 50 w1 c 3 s from gettg involved in politics, that isnt true. Hes done this before, its been debunked by politifact. The Johnson Amendment is on the poox books as a law. Experts i talked to said an executive order didnt do very much. In fact he has not repealed the Johnson Amendment and he keeps saying that he has. Hes touting this before an evangelical audience that really doesnt like the Johnson Amendment because it forbids them from formally endorsing candidates in elections. Its just not true that hes repealed it. Thank you for your reporting on that. Ken dilanian, nbc news investigative correspondent. To talk more about trumps warning to evangelical leaders and possible violence in the wake of the gops possible loss in november, im joined by malcolm nance who has more than 36 years of experience in u. S. Intelligence and in the military. Malcolm, i cant overstate how troubling i find this. History is littered with lots of examples, starting before world war ii, actually going back hundreds of years, but world war ii or rwanda or the balkans where leaders said this. They said if those people take power, there will be violence. They will do something to you. They will take your privileges away. That is the root of the weaponization of culture. Youre absolutely right. This is the dictators playbook. This is what happens when an elected leader decides that they are going to use the levers of power and the power of fear to split their nation and to actually pit one group against the other. I worked the Rwanda Mission when the broadcast channel was exorting people to seek out their neighbor. We have an intelligence term for this. Its called eliminationist rhetoric. Donald trump uses this. Now, you dont see it, but on an opposing cable channel around the country, there are tv commercials that are saying that the left are these violent, brutal attackers and that hundreds of attacks are going on weekly. Im shocked when i travel and see these tv commercials. This particular mindset is being spread. The president knows it. Nothing violent is going to happen after this election. The most violence well have is violence against lattes the next morning for journalists that have to stay up all night. But when you say its not going there, i know where youre coming from, malcolm, because youre not an alarmist and youre not trying to be. But i do worry that when it is the president of the United States saying these things. And let me just quote from trump talking about this. The level of hatred, the level of anger is unbelievable, he said. Part of it is because of some of the things ive done for you and for me and for my family, but ive done them. This november 6 election is very much a referendum on not only me, its a referendum on your religion. Its a referendum on free speech and the First Amendment. A referendum on your religion . Lets talk about bosnia, lets talk about germany in 1931. That was actually about religion. That was about someone elses religion and what theyre gaining at your expense. Im not making the argument thats the direction in which we are going. But when the leader of a country tells people that im fighting for you and your religion and theyre not, i think thats incredibly dangerous. Its extremely dangerous. You referenced bosnia. Another mission that i performed where they went back 600 years to justify the mass murder of croatians and bosniac muslims. This is dangerous for any leader. R religion is not on the ballot november 6, theyre not going to lose anything. Were people of faith. Democracy is on the ballot because someone who would talk like this does not believe in the First Amendment or the other parts of the constitution other than the second, and of course they want to change they want to change the tenth to allow states to use religion as a wedge against other people. We need to defend democracy and not listen to this type of eliminationist rhetoric. One thing we have to look at this week which a lot of people are telling me is great, there is some beauty in the passing of john mccain not because he is not with us but because it has made us concentrate on what we think leadership and conciliation and Good Governance is actually all about. This is a man you were on the Stephanie Miller show earlier talking about how mccain was trying to help a fellow prisoner of war while in captivity. John mccain is a beautiful study in leadership. As a navy man i take the lessons that hes given us very, very seriously. He may be the last great republican leader. Republicanism may have died with him. He would cross the aisle when necessary and he lived up to the precepts of the navy, which is honor, courage, commitment. In the hanoi hilton, his cellmate was horribly, horribly tortured. John mccain, even though he was broken from multiple injuries himself, he would put his arms under the pits of his partner and pull his muscles so he wouldnt atrophy there. He was a selfless man and served this nation with greatness. What we are missing from this president is, well, decency, hes never going to get anywhere near greatness because he doesnt live up to any values and certainly not the values of the United States navy. I do hope this causes people, your comments about greatness cause people to think about some of the dictators weve had in this world. I think its really instructive to read about rwanda and yugoslavia and its instructive to read about germany in 1931, societies that were actually working in which this hatred was sown and threats of violence were spread around and the damage that does. Malcolm, thank you for sharing this discussion with me. Malcolm nance brings more than 36 years of experience in u. S. Intelligence and the military. The controversy surrounding the president s rhetoric comes just before his surprise announcement that white House Counsel don mcgahn will leave the administration this fall. In a tweet at 10 30 the president said white House Counsel don mcgahn will be leaving his position this fall, shortly after the confirmation hopefully of judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United StatesSupreme Court. I have worked with don for a long time and truly appreciate his service. The decision comes just as special counsel Robert Muellers investigation ramps up. Nbc News White House correspondent Hallie Jackson joins me now. Hallie, the president just spoke in the roosevelt room. Any comments about this . Reporter yeah, and forgive me if i can go back to the topic you were just talking about on this question of the comment the president made at that evangelical dipper monday evening. He talked about a lot of stuff, hes apparently in a chatty mood. The president was inside the white house referencing some of this on camera. About that comment on violence, he didnt directly address it head on but he did say he hopes there will not be violence after the midterms, referencing what he calls unnecessary violence. He talked about the trade war that is happening, the negotiations with mexico and canada and he also talked about don mcgahn, the person he Just Announced would be leaving come the fall. This was what you might call an open secret here at the white house and on campus that mcgahn after the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, as expected if in fact it happens, mcgahn will be departing his position as white House Counsel. The president essentially confirmed that online today. He tweeted about it. I will tell you that according to what a white house official told me, that came as a surprise to mcgahn. Im told mcgahn and the president have had several conversations about this tentative plan for mcgahn to head out. He called his staff together at the office, had a conversation with them about his future and what the expectation was moving forward. Who will replace mcgahn as white House Counsel . Let me just say the president called him a good guy. Said mcgahn will have a lot of luck in the private sector. Subtext there, maybe hell make some money, more than he might make working for the government. Who might replace don mcdpgahnc . Right now theres a lot of speculation about emmet flood, the attorney brought in to work with the Mueller Investigation and manage the flow there along with mcgahn who has been leading that process. Sarah sanders, when we asked her about it this morning didnt confirm that. She said hes well respected, well liked inside the white house, but there is no Succession Plan just yet. I cant talk about some of the names now, ive heard other names as well. This is something the president knows is happening. The relationship that he had with mcgahn has cooled in recent months. Mcgahn, the president confirmed, spent 30plus hours talking about the special counsel, robert mueller. Mcgahn was on the front lines on some of these major moments, including the firing of james comey. Mcgahn talked the president out of firing robert mueller, firing jeff sessions. So lots of threads and pieces in play. A white house official says the timeline for mcgahn is separate and apart from mueller, it has more to do with kavanaugh. Don mcgahn more than anyone has been pushing the kavanaugh confirmation, leading that process. In a broader sense, getting the number reshaping the federal judiciary in the area of donald trump and Mitch Mcconnell. That has been something that mcgahn, a former Federalist Society member has basically wanted to do much of his adult life and has been working on and working towards here at the white house, ali. And has had some success in doing. Yeah, right. If one wants to look at the successes of the Trump Administration, a Supreme Court nominee, a second Supreme Court nominee, one justice on the Supreme Court and a whole lot of judges that have been vetted by the Federalist Society. Reporter yeah, the federal judiciary looks a lot different than it used to and that will continue on because of efforts by specifically don mcgahn and Mitch Mcconnell over the last year and a half or so. It will continue through 2020 at least. Ive got a little bit of what the president had said about don mcgahn. Lets listen to that together. Don mcgahn is a really good guy. Been with me for a long time. Privately before this he represented me. Hes been here now it will be almost two years. A lot of affection for don. Hell be moving on probably the private sector, maybe the private sector, and hell do very well. But hes hes done an excellent job. Are you concerned about what he said to the mueller team . No, not at all. Not at all. All right. Go ahead. Reporter ill just add the president went on to say, hey, and im paraphrasing, weve done everything by the book, what would i have to worry about, of course im not worried. Hallie jackson for us. I want to bring in liz holtzman, a lawyer and former u. S. Congresswoman who voted to impeach president nixon. Her new book is called the case for impeaching trump and its out this october. Liz, something keeps coming pbak to me and that is the president seemed frustrated with don mcgahn having spoken to the Mueller Investigation for a long time, even though you just heard him say thats not an issue. Theres been talk recently that the president mcgahn did not support the idea of issuing a pardon for paul manafort. The president said if hes not going to come around to that, hed like to replace mcgahn with somebody who would support that. Well, if thats true, i dont know that trump needs anybody in the white house to let him do this. This has been the idea of issuing pardons to people has been in his mind for a very long time. Hes let it hang out there with regard to mike flynn and others. This is i just go back to watergate. Somehow thats stuck in my head. Which would make sense because you were there. I was there. The offers of president ial pardons were given to the burglars, the people who broke into the watergate, dnc at the watergate, and it was done to shut them up, to stop them from telling the truth. This is what we have appears to be what we have here. If donald trump goes ahead with the pardon of manafort, that should trigger a serious inquiry if not an impeachment kbinquiry. You cant go around stopping people from telling the truth. He is the president of the United States. He swears an oath to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. When he tries to stop a witness from cooperating with the government, whose side is he on, his side or the american people. Thats an interesting point. When mcgahn was talking about why he did speak to muellers investigation, he said i am the white House Counsel, im not the president s counsel. You heard the president say he worked for me beforehand. To the president its about loyalty to the president. Cgahn, drawn that line, i work for the United States of america and the white house, not the president. Right. Thats a big and important difference. If you work for the white house, youre working for the interest of the american people. Maybe youre mistaken, but thats whats primary in your mind. Whats primary in Donald Trumps mind is how do i get out of this. That was what was primary, by the way, when you go back to the nixon tapes, what does president nixon talk about all the time . How do i get out of this . How do we cover this up . How do we deal with this problem . Hes never talking about never, what is good for the american people, what is good for america. Its always how do we cover up, how do we deal with this problem, how do we get out of it for ourselves. Its kind of remarkable the similarities. Every time you and i taulk, the similarities between now and the 1970s with Richard Nixon only seem to grow. Liz holtzmans book is out in october. Coming up, were live in phoenix with senator john mccain is lying in state at the capitol. Hundreds are lining up to pay their final respects to the war hero and sixterm senator. His wife, cindy, seen here laying her head on his casket. Can be relentless. Tremfya® is for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Im ready. With tremfya®, you can