Constitutional. Most democrats have a huge problem with it. Its an open legal question. There are good arguments on both sides. He is the acting attorney general up to and including the time the Supreme Court says otherwise. Both graham and gowdy have been whispered to be ag nominations as well. That means graham would have Oversight Authority of whittaker and the doj. The president doesnt think theres a problem though. On sunday he told Chris Wallace he has no idea whittaker was critical of mueller or the russia investigation. We know he has been because we have seen it on television. We are scheduled to hear from muellers team a week from now. Next monday, prosecutors will be in court giving an update on Paul Manaforts cooperation and whether they will ask for more time to talk to him before hes officially sentenced. The i venvestigation has lasted yearlonger than president trumps lawyers have promised him. Ty cobb promised 2017. He said id be embarrassed if this is still haunting the white house by thanksgiving and worse if its haunting him by year end. Cobb did not specify how bad it would be if it lasted longer than that. He resigned as white house lawyer in may. Cobb did want the president to engage with the special counsel early on. The president still has not. He claims hes answered some of the special counsels questions himself, at least on paper. Nbc news is reporting those answers and those answers alone will be submitted by thursday. Your team is preparing written answers to questions about not my team. Im preparing written answers. Is that your final position theres going be no sit down interview and nothing written or in person on obstruction . I would say probably. Probably. I can change my mind but probably. No interview . I think we have wasted enough time on this witch hunt. The answer is probably. Were finished. Our big question is, the president answering questions, at least on paper so does that mean that this is near the end for the special counsels investigation. Joining me msnbc capitol hill correspondent, Associated PressWhite House Reporter and former Justice Department spokesperson. Garrett, i want to start on capitol hill. You have this lawsuit from democrats. Makes you wonder whether they want to support whittaker. Run us through what the democrat, the argument the democrats are making and whether they expect to hear a ruling from the federal judge any time soon. These three democrats, all of them on the Judiciary Committee so the folks who have some jurisdiction here filed this lawsuit making the argument that matt whittakers appointment as acting ag is unconstitutional because he was never confirmed to Senate Confirmed role. They say constitutional hes a nobody. It doesnt matter what his title was at doj. It matters hes confirmed or not by the senate. Therefore, he should not be in the role. As im standing here waiting to go on air, just got an email from Chuck Schumer says he supports the efforts of these Democratic Senators to do whatever nay can to stop whittaker. Theres not a lot of enthusiasm for whittaker to be in this job long term even on the republican side. Talked to a number of republican senators last week who said the president could put all this to bed if he just made a permanent nomination for this job sooner rather than later. This is not something that Senate Republicans want to be fighting about and want to be dealing with any longer than they absolutely have to. As for gowdy and graham, both men have said they have no interest in that job. I suppose its a different thing if the president makes a formal offer. I think once an offer is made, then i wanted to know what your answer is, not what your answer is before then. Thats me personally. The president has answered questions. He says hes answered questions. He says that he did it, not his lawyers. Your smirking. He was very clear on that point but he worked with his counsel to answer these questions. Well get a submission by thursday. Does that mean the white house believes the book is closed on their involvement in the special counsels investigation . They would like it to be but theres a sense this isnt quite over yet. At the same time as the questions have been prepared and Rudy Giuliani and the president s team have made very clear theyre not going to answer any questions on obstruction. They feel like the things that happened after the president took office are out of bounds and that is not part of the mueller investigation. They do believe this is a chapter thats over. His frustrations burst into the air again last week with a series of tweets. Theres been a lot at play there including some of the concern about his appointment of whittaker. He feels hes very frustrated that whittaker was not gotten more support among republicans. He feels like with the argument being because he was confirmed, hes pointed out bob mueller wasnt dpoirconfirmed not notin mueller doesnt need to be confirmed. This is something where theres concern there might be others in the orbit who could still come under scrutiny from mueller or receive indictment from mueller. We know roger stone and jerome corsi have been talking about and maybe even his eldest son. If the president is not answering questions about obstruction, what is he so worried about . Or is he worried about both, hes saying im not going to answer questions on obstruction. Lets listen to the president. You are submitting written answers to the special counsel about the issue of collusion but not on obstruction of justice. There was no obstruction. I think they probably agree. All you have to do is look. Is that your final position theres going to be no sit down interview and nothing written or in person on obstruction . I would say probably. Probably. I can change my mind but probably. He never really gives a defin ti defintive answer. Thats the bigger headline. Its not that he will submit some carefully worded answers that have been probably drafted by his lawyers and not by mhim. A sitting president wont answer questions about whether he committed crimes in office. It shows you something about where they think they have exposure. In terms of where it comes next, i think a lot of that has to do with how his boss would let him respond. Its not a coincidence that he stalled on answering these questions for is 11 months and now that hes put an attorney general who is hostile to the probe, now he has that official in place overseeing the special counsel, hes willing to answer the questions. I think well see not only will he not answer the questions about obstruction of justice but if there are any questions that really concern, where they think the answer will be harmful, youll see them not answer the questions as well because they think they have a check in place and put an acting attorney general who likely, in their view, wont approve a subpoena. The special counsel has been, as we keep saying now and been saying since election day, has been pretty quiet. We expected the special counsel to be quiet up to election day. Since then theres been this idea that more news will come out. Well get some next week when theres hearing for Paul Manafort talking about whether to ask for another delay in sentencing so they can continue to talk to Paul Manafort. Is thats the buzz thats happening right now in washington or do people believe something more could be happening soon along with whats happening next week with Paul Manafort . I think its a lot of things including the reporting thats come out this weekend. The Washington Post did report that whittaker would probably not allow a subpoena on the president. This is what triggered some alarm bells on the hill for people about whether or not whittaker would try to curtail this investigation. You saw the president respond himself pretty aggressively on twitter after adam schiff said that he would use oversight powers to investigate any effort by whittaker to curtail the probe. Tweeting a not suitable nickname for adam schiff. I think the combination of Paul Manafort coming out next week, potential roger stone news dropping and whittakers as acting ag. It wasnt a typo. It was an intentional misspelling. The president is worried. The buzz in washington is about matthew whittaker. Theres Paul Manafort news. What is the expectation among those in the know and reporters about whats about to happen in the next few weeks after thanksgiving thanksgiving . We asked the white house if that was a typo or not and think never answered. The speculation around the Mueller Probe has picked up again after this quite period before the midterms has ended. The president has been talking about his frufrstrations about behind the scenes. This concerns perhaps about his eldest son. Hes told people around him he feels like don junior may have inadvertently broken the law. There could be other shoes to drop. His effort to part of the idea with whittaker putting in a known critic and he was well aware of his position is that might help curtail the probe. He is growing concerned he may have to move sooner than he wants to make a more permanent post. There comes in filing for the manafort extension. Theres one part that talks about needing to extend the talk to manafort and it says the parties believe a brief extension of the status updated to november 26th will allow them to provide the court with a report that will be of greater assistance in the courts management of this manner. In plain english, what does that mean . Were always reading tea leaves is usually in the next ten days since they have made that filing and this coming monday when they will be back in court, manafort will have provided some substantial assistance to the investigation. You would think that might mean we would see what that substantial assistance is then. I think wooell have to wait unl monday. Well know when we know. Every one have patience. Thank you very much. The president says the solution to wildfires is more rakes. You know like actual rakes that you use to rake up leaves on a fall day. Scientists say its not rakes but accepting Climate Change thats necessary. We have a stunning report coming up. Trumps attacking the admiral who led one of the most Successful Special ops missions. Why is the president trying to rewrite the past . Up next, the cia thinks the Saudi Crown Prince ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi but for some thats not enough proof. L khashoggi but for some thats not enough proof. I just got my ancestrydna results 74 italian. And i found out that im from the big toe of that sexy italian boot calabria. It even shows the migration path from south italia all the way to exotico new jersey so this Holiday Season its ancestrydna per tutti order your kit now at ancestry. Com i am a techie dad. N. I believe the best technology should feel effortless. Like magic. At comcast, its my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. My name is mike, im in Product Development at comcast. Were working to make things simple, easy and awesome. The cia has ruled that Saudi Crown Prince ordered the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. President trump is not convinced by his own cia. He says he does not hear the recording that documents khashoggis murder. We have the tape. I dont want the hear the tape. Its a suffering tape. Its a terrible tape. S joining me is Josh Letterman and the Vice President for the National Security program at thir third way. The cia concludesed that mbs was behind the killing. Walk us through how we got that reporting and what it shows. This started to could you tell me a few days ago that the cia had this conclusion that crown prince ordered the assassination. Different from what the saudis have been saying for weeks. Every major News Organization that was reporting on this, cia assessment, they are trying to say theres no final conclusion. I dont know what final conclusion means. They are trying to split hairs there in a way. We are confident in this reporting that as far as all the information that the cia has gathered at this point and they have briefed both the house and Senate Intelligence committees on this, all signs point to crown prince mbs ordering this assassinati assassination. Thats what the signs point to. The president is saying its premature. He said similar things about russia and the way that it attacked our nation in our last election, in the 2016 election. That obviously was because people were saying that they were helping donald trump. How does not acknowledging that the Saudi Crown Prince was behind khashoggi help donald trump here. Is that a fair way to ask that question . The president has been pretty open and transparent about the fact he doesnt want to let this khashoggi situation interfere in the close u. S. Saudi relationship. Just in the last day or so hes talking about how they are fantastic allies and he wants to keep it that way. That would be purely untenable if it were a accepted fact that this leader of this country had ordered the killing of a journalist and a Washington Post columnist in a foreign consulate. The only real way to paper over this so the u. S. Can maintain selling all kinds of arms to the saudis, partnering with them, supporting their campaign is if theres some distance between the saudi government as a whole and the actions of what the saudis are saying were rogue actors. Its very important for trump to be able to say this is terrible. It shouldnt have happened but that it didnt come from the top. It doesnt seem like hes got a leg to stand on when it comes to that. The cluded that mbs was behind the killing. Turkey has been saying mbs was behind the killing and the president refuses to listen to the tape that could show him that mbs is behind the killing. Its really disconcerting about the president s relationship with his own intelligence community. We have a lot of agents out there all over the world that risked their lives. Here you have the president of the yiUnited States saying i dot want to hear it when it conflicts with my views. Sgrp what does that mean in a brords broader National Security way . Why does it matter . Sgrp what d broader National Security way . Why does it matter . Sgrp what d broader National Security way . Why does it matter . Sgrp what da broader National Security way . Why does it matter . What does th broader National Security way . Why does it matter . It means the president is making decisions based on not fact but on who he likes. I think we have some real serious questions about whether or not the president is willing to look at the facts and make National Security policy in the best interest of the nation. When you say that, you dont mean whether we have an open arms deal which hasnt amounted to the amount of money the president says it has but whether or not the president of the United States has financial interest that go beyond that. Personal financial interests. We dont know that because we havent seen things like his tax return and they havent been transparent, him or his organization about what sort of money he may be making overseas. Thats an open question. Thank you very much. Up next, why is the president going after another military hero. Come on dad higher higher parents arent perfect, but then they make us Kraft Mac Cheese and everythings good again. The president is trying to rewrite history, casting himself as a great military mind who saw 9 11 before american intelligence did and american defense. Is question is why is the president doing this . Before we answer that question, first lets explain the latest developments. Over the weekend in an interview with fox news, donald trump tried to demean and diminish admiral william mckrcraven, the man who over saw the raid that killed bill laden. Hillary clinton fan. He led the operation. Commanded the operation that took down hussein and killed Osama Bin Laden says your sentiment is the greatest threat to democracy. Hes a Hillary Clinton backer and an obama backer. Hes a navy seal. Wouldnt it been nice if we got bin laden a lot sooner than that. Wouldnt it be nice. We give pakistan 1. 3 billion a year and they dont tell him. Youre not going to give him credit for tooking down bin laden . They took him down. Theres news right there. He lived in pakistan. Were giving them 1. 3 billion which we dont give them anymore. I ended it because they dont do anything for us. To be fair bin laden was found in pakistan right down the road from the military academy but pakistan is not taking that slight lightly. The u. S. Should do a serious assessments of why despite 140,000 nato troops plus 250,000 afghan troops and 1 trillion spent on the war in hafafghanis, the taliban today are stronger than before. Thats pr the prime minist thats from the Prime Minister of pakistan. General, first to you. I want to get to the why donald trump is doing this in a moment with phil but you tell me and walk me through. When the president goes out and says we should have gotten bin laden sooner, what you hear and what other military men hear . The one reality is bill mcraven, career na