Address to a crowd of conservative teens. 11 in a new poll favor the starting of this ridiculous impeachment hearings that are going on. No coclusion. No obstruction. Oh, thats not good enough. Lets go more. 40 million. Interview 500 people. Theyve got nothing and yet it goes on. And they think this is helping them. I personally think its hurting them. Trumps remarks come as lawmakers are less than 24 hours away from gaveling in one of the most highly anticipated hearings on modern day politics. At 8 30 a. M. Eastern time tomorrow, Robert Mueller will go before the House Judiciary Committee and then before the House Intel Committee at noon. For democrats who are seeking to build a public case against a second term for the trump presidency, the stakes couldnt be any higher. As nbc first read puts it, the testimony represents their last best chance at selling the middle of the electorate that muellers report contains damaging information about President Trump and his team. As few as 10 of voters say theyve actually read the report. Democrats want mueller to bring his 448page investigation to life, particularly for swing voters who may not have paid attention to this. They hope mueller will make it clear he absolutely did not exonerate the president as donald trump himself insisted he did. But democrats are facing an uphill challenge on multiple fronts. Front one, mueller himself remember he was subpoenaed to appear before congress and hes made it clear that any testimony would stick to the confines of his report. Democrats, of course, would love to have more than that. Front two, attorney general william barr and his doj. The department of justice sent a letter to mueller demanding he stick to the report and only the report. And front three for democrats, their colleagues across the aisle. According to nbcs ken dilanian, republicans plan to spend their half of the two hearings attacking the premise of the investigation and highlighting what they and their base have come to believe without evidence is fbi misconduct at the heart of the probe. So todays big question is, will democrats be able to weaponize muellers testimony against President Trump . Joining me, nbc news correspondent ken dilanian, Columbia University adjunct professor and former federal prosecutor anne marie mcavoy, New York Times chief White House Correspondent and msnbc political analyst peter baker, and politico Senior Writer and msnbc political contributor jake sherman. Ken, lets start with this new news were just learning that Robert Mueller has asked that a longtime aide be sworn in as a witness during tomorrows hearing with the House Judiciary Committee. What more can you tell us about that . The aides is aaron zebley, Robert Muellers chief of staff. An accomplished counterterrorism investigator in his own right and Robert Muellers chief of staff during the mueller investigation. And they are asking that he be sworn in to sit next to Robert Mueller during the Judiciary Committee part of the hearing. Its not clear thats going to be able to happen because of congressional rules. And to do what . And to say what . Well, i mean, you know, Robert Mueller is 74 years old. He oversaw this sprawling investigation. Its conceivable he doesnt know the answer particularly with the details to every question and a guy like zebley could help him answer those questions and inform the public if only members of congress would let it happen. What do you make of this request . Its unusual but not surprising. There is a ton of information. The report telitself 448 pages. Hes not going to remember everything. He can have someone there that can switch to whatever page he needs to be on or write a little note next to him or answer a question if he doesnt know the answer. He was, in large part, the figure head. He ran the investigation but i think the daytoday operations were run by Andrew Weisman and folks doing the daytoday operations on the ground. In terms of the hearings itself, it seems like democrats are trying to manage expectations here, right . Given all the things that i just said. What are they telling you . They would love for this hearing to be a transformative moment and to really change Public Opinion about donald trump and russia, but they dont expect that to happen because they know the country is pretty much dug in. Their minimum hope is this information could affect the swing voters. People that are going to decide the election. Many of whom not only havent they read the Mueller Report. Half of the American Public had not even heard anything about the Mueller Report. Just to have Robert Mueller out there reading and discussing his findings while millions watch on television could be a victory for the democrats. Ginven the stakes, how is eah side preparing . Let me add one thing to ken said. I think republicans are going to use this moment that democrats are allowing or might allow what theyre calling a secret witness to come to the table to discredit the hearings by saying theyre playing games with the assistance of democrats. This is how republicans are going to play it. Theyre playing games and trying to rig the process to give mueller a doover to reframe the entire argument against the president. Youre already seeing the beginnings of that. But it provides a challenge for both sides because if there are two people there, theyll get far less from mueller who is the public figure. Democrats have hitched their wagon to Robert Mueller. If there are two people up there, theyll be tussling over who is going to answer the question, who is better prepared to answer the question. Democrats want to hear from Robert Mueller. Theyve been saying to us behind the scenes, people dont necessarily read the book but theyll watch the movie, right . Bob mueller is the main character here. And he is who they want to hear from, not his chief of staff. Not one of his top aides, but him himself. Peter baker, as the Editorial Board of your paper pointed out today, nobody should hold their breath this will be a turning point or produce any shocking revelations, but is there any concern from folks at the white house that people who didnt read the book will watch the movie . I think the white house feels really comfortable about this in the sense that the president is hes sowed the field and hes had three months basically since the Mueller Report was first delivered actually four months since it was delivered to the Justice Department. You know, he has every single day, including today, practically, given his framing of that report which boiled down to four words. No obstruction, no collusion, even though thats not exactly what it says. If Robert Mueller sticks to the four corners of this report thats already been out there, you know, the white house feels comfortable that that conversation has already been had. That people have already pretty much dug in to where theyre going to be on this issue. Either for or against or you know, concerned or not. They know where theyre at. They dont think theres a great middle that can be persuaded . Theres not a great middle in america when it comes to donald trump. People feel strongly about him one way or another. Doesnt mean their votes might change or minds might change. What they want to do at the white house and youve seen this in the last few days is make this election next year about who his opponent is going to be. The democratic socialists who represent an antiamerican view of what the United States will be. Ruin the economy trump has built and so on and so forth. The people who are concerned about the russia, you know, contacts that were made, concerned about the obstruction of justice elements laid out in the report, theyre already there. And thats not going to change a lot of minds. Thats the thinking anyway. Life is always different. Thats why we watch. Very late yesterday, a lot of people woke up to this, the doj setting parameters. They said he cant discuss redacted portions of the report. Cant discuss findings or conclusions regarding uncharged individuals. Cant discuss investigative steps or decisions that arent already public. Heres how the former fbi general counsel jim baker reacted to that news in an interview earlier today. Clearly they want to make a record about what mueller can and should testify about and what he cant talk about, at least in their minds. But the problem is bob mueller is now a former Justice Department official and the letter is not really binding on him. He can ignore it. Not binding. Anne marie, could Robert Mueller just say, youre not the boss of me . Potentially, but the letter from the Justice Department really points out, its a warning letter, but its actually written in response to a request from mueller to get clarification as to what he can talk about. You have grand jury investigation. And it points out theyre not waiving privilege in this case. So that may be part of why they have somebody now who may be alongside of him to kind of nudge him and say dont go into that. Thats outside of the report. But as you may recall, when mueller gave his little press conference he said im not going outside the four corners of the report. And thats essentially what the letter from the doj says. It also says theyre fine with essentially if he doesnt want to testify, theyd be okay with that, too, saying its not necessary that he testify. Hes got a little backup there . He does. Yesterday the president suggested hes not really interested but he might watch a little of the hearings. What do you imagine is going to be going on at the white house during those hours tomorrow . Oh, yeah, id be surprised if he doesnt watch a significant portion of it. First of all, hes a tv hes a tv aficionado. He watches big moments in part because i think he just sort of likes to grade and judge how other people handle big moments like this, even if he wasnt personally involved. Hes going to want to react to what is said there. Hes going to will he live tweet, peter . Probably not. We have often thought he might during previous occasions like bill barr or michael cohen. You can see him tweeting something in the morning. President ial harassment or whatever. But during the event he tends to wait until later. Get thoughts and see where he wants to take things. Watch fox news and see how theyre taking things. I wouldnt expect him to tweet during the testimony but maybe in the morning before. Maybe tomorrow evening after a little bit of time to think about it. Peter baker, jake sherman, ken dilanian and anne marie mcavoy. Today the president is stepping up his attacks on four freshmen democratic congresswomen of color and coining a new phrase that im guessing youre sure to hear again. Hes also aiming his latest political firepower during an event for teenagers. Beginning with his new favorite target, michigan congresswoman rashida tlaib. I watched just this morning this tlaib who elected her . Shes screaming like a total lunatic at one of her rallies. This is not a sane person, folks, when you look at that. And this is what were up against. And i call it aoc plus three. Just call her cortez. I dont have time to call her by the whole name. Its too long. She called our country and our people garbage. She said garbage. Thats worse that deplorable. Remember deplorable . Yes you do. Joining me is nbc news chief correspondent hallie jackson. A lot to unpack there. One of his attacks, who elected her . That would be voters in her Congressional District with 84 of the vote. But turning point usa, that group of teenteenagers, conserve teenagers, clearly his attacks were met with a receptive audience. This honestly, watching it here at the white house, felt more like a Campaign Rally from its length the way the president veered off onto a variety of topics, veering from the script in front of him to raucous and ad adoering applause from the crowd. The president spent a fair amount of time on attacking these socalled squad. One point calling them aoc plus three with his attacks on rashida tlaib, comparing her to a crazed lunatic, seeming to draw some attention. This is now, i think, day eight or nine of the president leaning in to these attacks on those four freshmen progressives starting with that tweet last sunday. This is clearly something he thinks is politically advantageous for him and so do the people around him. His allies, his advisers. Other branches of republican arms around the country and here in washington picking up on that and trying to link these four progressive lawmakers, make them essentially the face of the Democratic Party. The president sees this as a winning strategy. My prediction over the next year plus as well consider this a 2020 Campaign Rally, right, or similar to, you will hear this now thematically included in probably every one of the speeches President Trump makes from here on out, chris. He is known to say things around young people that other products would not have. Remember the annual boy Scout Jamboree when he talked about the swamp, the economy, the electoral college, the use of the phrase merry christmas, which he doesnt like when people suggest you shouldnt say merry christmas. And also, as i recall, the hottest people in new york. I mean, most of these folks, obviously, cant vote but they are of his political persuasion and im guessing theres going to be no criticism the way there was during the boy scout thing. That encapsulates it in a nutshell. The jamboree its called back a couple years ago was intended to be or always seen as a nonpolitical, nonpartisan event. Something president s would go to. The president then was going to and it was expected it would remain nonpartisan and nonpolitical. Thats very much not what this is. Turning point, the convention here and the gathering is explicitly and meant to be a gathering of people who are politically engaged. Who are sort of sievically minded if you will on the serve conservative side. You saw that on the president s side when he talked about how he felt like conservatives in high schools and colleges around the country were having their free speech be stifled. This was actively partisan and as you note, the crowd seemed to like it. Hallie jackson, always good to see you. Still ahead in the 2020 race, another case of that was then, this is now. Joe biden all but reversing course on the controversial crime bill he fought for in the 90s. And live on capitol hill where the senate will hold a longawaited vote any minute now on funding for 9 11 First Responders. First, why my next guest says President Trump is the new king of the cave. That a speaker is just a speaker. Or that the journey cant be the destination. Most people havent driven a lincoln. Discover the lincoln approach to craftsmanship at the lincoln summer invitation. Right now, get 0 apr on all 2019 lincoln vehicles plus no payments for up to 90 days. Only at your lincoln dealer. Liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, plus no payments for uhmm. Exactly. So you only pay for what you need. Nice. But, uh. Whats up with your. Partner . Not again. Limu thats your reflection. Only pay for what you need. Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty book two, separate qualifying stays at choicehotels. Com. And earn a 50 gift card. Because when your business is rewarding yourself. Our business is you. Book direct at choicehotels. Com i was told to begin my aspirin regimen, blem. And i just didnt listen. Until i almost lost my life. My doctors again ordered me to take aspirin, and i do. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. Listen to the doctor. Take it seriously. Hey, big spender. Thats the salutation from budget hawks unhappy about the twoyear budget deal President Trump is now heralding. If passed, the bill would raise the debt ceiling all the way until january 2021, or the start of the next president ial term. It would also increase Government Spending caps by 320 billion. Yes, with a b. Well, the deal would stave off the looming fiscal crisis. Its pushing annual deficits toward a trillion dollars a year. So throw in more red ink at the total national kebdebt for the t of trumps term. It was during his campaign he vowed he would eliminate the entire multitrilliondollar debt over eight years. He has also promised not to run a deficit while in office. This is the latest example of the president changing his mind. The debt ceiling, the 2020 census threats, the i. C. E. Raids that barely materialized. As dana milbank writes in the washington post, not since the paleolithic period perhaps, as a man had quite so much daytoday caving experience. Dana milbank and former Florida Republican congressman and msnbc political analyst Carlos Carbello. I guess, dana, if we want to say this is another example of the president changing his mind, you might have stronger words for it. Im not so sure its that its a matter of him changing his mind but that hes forced to because he comes out and wants to do something. Hes basically saying this is his position, and hes forced to climb down whether its the Supreme Court or the democrats or china or mexico. So i think weve seen this as an increasing pattern in the last its been going all along