their mind. >> wikileaks. >> wikileaks. >> wikileaks. >> wikileaks. >> that's wikileaks. >> and here we go again. one day away from a house vote on taxes, senate republicans raise the stakes, adding a partial obamacare repeal to a bill already on life support. >> yeah, we're optimistic that inserting the individual mandate repeal would be helpful. >> no surprise. we begin today with the growing divide between alabama republicans vowing to stand by roy moore and national republicans who want him out of the race. as for moore, he is framing it as a spiritual battle, and he says he is being persecuted for talking about god. well, we've got a great panel to break it all down, starting with nbc's vaughn hilliard, who is live in montgomery, alabama. vaughn, i'd love to say, well, it looks like things are getting closer. roy moore, he's not dropping out, he's digging in. >> reporter: no, all the hollering is taking place in washington, stephanie. we last night were out in jackson with roy moore. it was his first real public campaign event since, and that campaign event was over at a baptist church. it was a revival. there was about 200 people there. and he spent about 36 minutes essentially on the defense, refuting these allegations and setting up -- i want to give you an idea kind of the optics of this. there was about 50 young people, 50 youth in the room. he turned to them and specifically said to the young people, you will face at some point battles, no matter whether it's in school, your jobs or the government. if you take a stand, you're going to come under persecution. for him in this us versus the world campaign, right now he's trying to battle the press. i want to play you one of those sound bites from him taking on the press and trying to convince those republicans in the room that these allegations are false. >> i'm now facing allegations, and that's all the press want to talk about. but i want to talk about the issues. i want to talk about where this country is going. and if we don't come back to god, we're not going anywhere. >> reporter: couple days ago, he threatened "the washington post" over their initial reporting which was now a week ago thursday. but then yesterday the lawyer for roy moore and his wife, kayla moore, sent a letter of notice about taking possible legal action against the alabama media group, which is al.com, which along with "the new yorker" published yesterday a report detailing about how it was common knowledge that he was lurking and there was a fifth accuser. al.com said that he wrote in the fifth accuser's yearbook. and the lawyer is now saying that these are false and that they are suggesting that they should be retracting what they said. of course this isn't an actual lawsuit but it's a letter of notice saying, stephanie, like we've heard during the trump candidacy and now twice against two different media organizations that they're willing to file a lawsuit now against a local outlet here in alabama. >> random dude signing a high school girl's yearbook. that's normal. all right, vaughn, thank you. meanwhile, i want to play for you some sound from a local guy, not the d.c. swamp, a local guy who worked at the gadsden mall back in the '80s. look at this. >> the police officer, security guard said he's banned from the mall. if you see him -- well, he didn't say he was banned. he said if you see him, let me know, i'll take care of it. i questioned why. and the police officer would not tell me. after he left, i asked my manager and he said he had been bothering the girls in the mall. >> roy moore not allowed in a gadsden mall because he was bothering young girls. that man you just saw on tape was a local who worked there. and this is what stood out to me. roy moore yesterday tweeted the good people of alabama, not the washington elite who wall owe in the swamp, will decide this election. ditch mitch. my question to roy moore is the washington swamp? how about the alabama swamp? is it near the old hick tore restaurant? is it near the gadsden mall or near the house in the woods where you took some of those girls. i want to bring in my panel. steve smith, kate kelly and eugene scott making his debut, a political reporter for "the washington post." kate, let's start with you. the rnc has now pulled their funding. you are seeing republicans on the national stage back away. we haven't heard from the president yet. yes, he's been in asia, but he's back on the scene. just last night he was tweeting what was going to be on fox news today, so he's in the mix. >> well, we did hear from sarah sanders early on saying words to the effect of if this is true, he should step aside but kind of cautioning that they weren't necessarily convinced. i would guess he will weigh in sometime in the near future. remember, he's probably feeling a bit burned because as you know he backed luther strange, who was beaten out by roy moore. he's mostly kind of on the same page with steve bannon, who's trying to launch this republican revolution or revolution against the sitting republicans, if you will, so he's in a little bit of an awkward spot. >> steve, do the political calculus for us. yesterday we saw mitch mcconnell asked about this. and mitch mcconnell is not a guy who normally gives out clues, but look what he said. >> if jeff sessions a possibility? >> we don't know. but he fits -- he fits the mold of somebody who might be able to pull off a write-in. >> you say that like somebody who would like to see that happen. >> i'd like to save the seat, and it's a heck of a dilemma when you've got a completely unacceptable candidate bearing a label of your party within a month of the election. >> so, meanwhile, local alabama republicans are saying hell no. we don't want a write-in candidate. but for president trump, wouldn't -- who we haven't heard from, wouldn't this be a dream scenario, get jeff sessions out of the seat he's in and then president trump can appoint a new attorney general? >> i understand all of the political cal can you lak -- ca what we're talking about are incredible allegations made by women as young as 14 years old. that's a little girl. a child. and he ruined her life. her life stopped in a fund mental way. when you saw the woman the other day, the fifth accuser, the middle-aged woman, the pain. she was a little girl in that moment. he took their lives away. this is the defining -- >> the issues they have had subsequently are now being used against them as a credibility issue. >> the defining moment. and right now as we are speaking, and i don't know if within reach of our voices, but there is kids out there who are being abused, who are confused, who are scared, who are frightened. do i tell someone? can i trust someone? how do i make this stop? and to any kid who's watching, this makes it harder to come forward. this disgrace. the question of his fitness for office was settled to my mind long before these accusations were made. he's been removed from the bench for flouting the rule of law, not being in compliance with lawful judicial orders. he is an extremist nut job. if wackos had military rank, he would be a seven-star general in their army. he is unfit at every level before these accusations. and so the republican party, the leadership of it, complicit in the degradations to the office of the president of the united states, to our culture, will pay a very, very heavy price. control of the congress will be decided in the suburbs in this next election. and when you have an election that's settled in the suburbs, you see the results like we saw last tuesday in virginia and out across the country in new jersey which is a terrible harbinger of what's going to come in 2018 for republicans, which i think will face electoral obliteration come november, 2018. >> kate was noting the character assassinations against some of those women accusers. we should point out a tweet that don jr. himself tweeted out about these women being divorced, having filed for bankruptcy. don jr. forgetting the fact that his father does have children by three women and filed for bankruptcy multiple times himself and then went on to be the president of the united states. eugene, what steve is talking about is amoral behavior. so what's stunning to me is that roy moore himself as a candidate is framing this as a religious issue. i want you to take a listen to what he said last night. >> this is not just a battle for democrats and republicans and how they vote on issues, this is a spiritual battle. wherever you go, if you take a stand, you're going to come under persecution. that's your reward. blessed are you when men shall revial you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you. rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven. >> now, you wrote about the relationship between roy moore and conservative christians. what i don't understand as the daughter of two practicing roman catholics, my parents are sickened by this behavior. someone who would go after young girls. so how can roy moore successfully make this argument that it is about religion or spirituality? it's mind blowing to me. >> well, for many evangelicals, evangelicalism in 2017 is more about politics than it is about christianity. they're having to answer some really hard questions in terms of how they respond to this situation. this should be bigger than partisanship. there are women, young girls, 14-year-olds in congregations across this country who are enduring some of the same things that roy moore's accusers have endured. when they look at their pastors and deacons and parents defend roy moore, they're put in a situation where they're forced to does themselves, is this a safe place to share that i've had a similar situation? and so many evangelicals in alabama are going to have to answer, do they want to win congress or do they want to win their communities, their congregations and the people of alabama. >> but people of faith are starting to break from roy moore. >> absolutely. >> earlier this week, roy moore's wife was circulating a document that was endorsements from pastors. pastors who are endorsing roy moore. guess what, that endorsement that she was passing out was from august, before all this came out. we've already heard from several who said, no, i'm backing off. so is this a mistake that roy moore and his wife continue to use we're people of faith. people are going after us like they did jesus christ. are you kidding me? in the world of what would jesus do, it ain't this. >> what a perversion of the teachings of the man who lived on earth 2000 years ago, jesus christ. what a perversion of it. this political christianity, the hypocrisy. if christ were alive today, i suspect that he would look at roy moore and he would look at his evangelical supporters in much the same way that he looked at the money changers in the temple. the way that he looked at the corrupted political pharisees. this is not christianity, it's a perversion of it. we secularly should step back. very simple, right and wrong as adults. we've seen standards at every conceivable level in our culture and our society. we have president of the united states sees nazis and white supremacists marching in charlottesville and he says i want to talk about the good people among them. there's good people on both sides and bad people on both sides. but maybe in this case there's one final line which we won't take one step backwards from. a little girl. a 14-year-old little girl. a little girl. every adult, and i don't care, black and white, asian, hispanic, gay, straight, doesn't matter. every adult is obligated to protect little kids. period. end of discussion. what are we talking about here? he's going to be in the united states senate. i do think it's incumbent on mitch mcconnell and others to say if you send him here, we're sending him right back. we're not receiving the package. but the expulsion motion takes two-thirds vote. everybody should declare so there's no question about it. they should do the whip count now. >> that's why to me this is like a freebie. this man is so over the line, a guy who used to autograph bibles, if i'm ivanka trump, someone who has claimed to be a massive supporter, a champion for women and girls, she's got it in her twitter bio, this one is a freebie. this is an easy, easy guy to say bad apple, rotten egg, run him out of town. >> remember, they have a technical problem, and i'm not defending the behavior. they have a technical problem. it's too late to get him off the ballot. the best thing that they could do is mounting a write-in campaign -- >> no, the governor of the state of alabama could say to luther strange, step down. luther strange steps down, she appoints someone new. hugh hewitt and i just talked about it. then, you know what, let's start over. why wouldn't that be the right thing to do for the good people of alabama who have been wronged for all these years, whether it's the media, the gop or other leadership in alabama who let this go on, who let this man rise to power for 40 years. >> right now her office says she has no interest in doing that. initially she said she's looking to the white house to decide if that's the best decision. the reality is when you look at the white house and how people in the white house have responded to politicians who have been accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault, that may not be the place you want to take your cues from in terms of how you respond to this situation. >> i would guess this is why we haven't heard from the president on this issue. he has the "access hollywood" tapes to contend with. >> roy moore and his lawyer has said we're going to sue these women. president trump said he's going to sue those accusers, although i have yet to see those lawsuits. roy moore just tweeted, quote, mitch mcconnell is attempting to subvert the will of alabama -- people from alabama yet again. this time to help elect a far-left democrat. >> i wonder if roy moore understands when he tweets these things how he makes people in alabama look. i've spoken to voters in alabama all week, since thursday, and many of them say we do not stand for this and they have expressed significant frustration because this plays into the worst stereo types of people in alabama. the will of alabamians is not to support sexual assault. >> in "the new york times" as well we had a piece today about people in the county where he grew up and now lives. you had a pastor -- i'm sorry, a religious man who's in his 60s or 70s saying i just can't believe it. he went to vietnam, he went to west point, he's an upstanding gentleman. not tho those things have anything to do with your sexual behavior. but just in general that his record seems so polished on paper, how could he do this. >> the guy was removed from the bench. last point, steve. >> he is a long-time extremist nut job and now the evidence suggests very strongly he's also a pedophile. and the state of alabama deserves better. what an abdication of leadership from the governor, who has the ability to settle this. no governor should look at the white house for direction of a sovereign state. make a decision, do the right thing. what we're talking about is predatory sexual behavior towards children. enough. enough. make it stop. governor, please, stop it. stop it. terrible. >> all right then, stop it is steve schmidt's last word. we'll have much more on roy moore's reaction to these allegations when his attorney joins me and ali velshi at 11:00 a.m. you're not going to want to miss it. up next, here we go again. senate republicans add a repeal to a portion of obamacare in the tax reform bill. did they just doom the bill's passage? i don't know. this thing looks like it's going to go through and they're trying to make it tougher. later, the slow drip of russian connections in the trump campaign. after donald trump jr. admitted to interacting with wikileaks. stephen colbert, he's not buying the defense that he only spoke to them three times. >> that defense doesn't work. your honor, here's the photos of my victim's body with a whopping three stab wounds. i rest my case. how ironic. a huge surprise in the gop tax reform bill, as the senate finance committee meets to markup their version, republican leaders in that committee are now looking to tie a repeal of a key component of obamacare to help pay for tax cuts. the move comes as the house plans to vote on its version of the bill tomorrow. i want to go live to the hill where msnbc's garrett haake stands by. he is outside the room where that senate committee is about to markup that bill. garrett, obamacare, we know repealing and replace did not work for republicans. why are they trying to stick it in this sucker? >> reporter: well, they're doing it now because they think this particular repeal helps them solve a math problem. they have found -- the cbo has found if they repeal just the individual mandate and leave all the rest of obamacare alone, it saves them something like $338 billion. that helps pay for a huge chunk of this $1.5 trillion tax cut. so they see this -- republicans see this as a pot of money available to them. an opportunity to keep a promise and an opportunity to stay below that budget and then direct some of this money into other parts of this tax cut bill. things that they hope can make it more popular. i've been surprised actually by there were a number of republicans who have sort of pushed over, just not really said they're worried about the politics of losing democrats in this, as this almost certainly will push democrats back into their corners. republicans are leaning into this saying we can get rid of an unpopular tax and if we're accused of doing it through the back door, that's sort of okay. here's senator john kennedy talking about that with me yesterday. >> i really don't consider the mandate, a repeal of the mandate to be health care. i consider it honestly to be repeal of a tax. but if someone wants to make that allegation and say, well, you couldn't repeal obamacare in one fell swoop so you're going to dismember it limb by limb, i'd say, okay. if that's the only way we can dismember it, let's do it limb by limb. >> reporter: stephanie, here's the land mine republicans may have stepped on. by repealing that mandate, you end up with something like 13 million fewer americans with health insurance. this gets democrats fired up about fighting this tax bill in a way that they weren't fired up when it was just a tax bill, by injecting that very personal politics of health care into this. all of a sudden that democratic grassroots is going to get very organized and very vocal in fighting this bill. >> it's going to be more than democrats. remember, republicans didn't vote the health care bill through. joining me now, chief economic correspondent ben white and my panel, steve schmidt and kate kelly. ben, why would republicans add this obamacare mandate repeal into it? >> well, the reason is money and garrett laid it out there. that $300 plus million that they can use and often sweeteners for individual taxpayers. the other reason is they still want to get rid of obamacare and see this as a way to do it. they don't expect any democratic help so will try to slam it through. unclear if this piece can get through, do you lose susan collins, do you lose lisa murkowski. it's in there now. does it stay in there? i don't know. it's a big piece of how they pay for these tax cuts and make the corporate rate permanent past ten years. >> it's so unclear to me why cutting the corporate tax rate is paramount. you hear from ceos saying i don't necessarily need it. the corporate tax rate cut will be permanent. the individual will be only ten years. how does that make sense? >> not even ten, it's eight, i think. >> if i'm paul ryan, is the only thing that matters to me getting something through? because if i don't get something passed by december 31st at 11:59 p.m. i will cease to exist on january 1st because making it permanent for corporates and not for individuals, i can't even understand that logic. >> it makes no sense. it makes as much sense as why roy moore at 32 years old is signing high school girls' yearbooks. i don't have an explanation for you. >> makes no sense but less gross. >> i know this, if you're a member of congress in the state of california, new york, new jersey, connecticut, minnesota, high tax states, any republican member of congress who votes to eliminate the state and local income tax deduction is in fact not voting for a tax cut, they're voting for a massive tax increase in their states. and so what i suspect is by voting for this, certainly in california where you have five or six competitive races, i would expect that the result will be democrats will win those seats running to the right on the question of taxes in the high tax states. >> well, then let's say we buy this argument that corporate tax cuts are going to be happy days for the whole entire country. i want to share what happened yesterday when gary cohn was talking about this at a wall street journal event. >> if the tax reform bill goes through, do you plan to increase investment of -- your company's investment, just a show of hands if the tax reform goes through. >> why aren't the other hands up? >> ha, ha, ha. do you hear them laughing? but it's not funny. when you actually look at this bill, there are real cut cuts for the rich and for corporations and for everyone else, it's a hope, hope and aspire. how is that funny? >> this is their primary dilemma as they try to speed toward a vote in the coming few days or a week. there is not enough evidence here that this benefits the middle class. there's not enough evidence that it doesn't benefit the rich and corporations and the real estate business, which is why i think we're seeing things like an increase in the proposed child tax credit among other things and even lower personal income tax rates. i think, by the way, to your point, there is kind of a short-term calculus being made regarding these state and local deductions. as you guys said, they're not going to get a single democratic vote so they're going to alienate those members by trying to put those deduction eliminations through. not necessarily thinking about the elections next year. but on that note as well, they really need a win this calendar year. >> we do have to point out, increasing this child tax credit is window dressing. you're going to increase that. even at the very least, you're going to see budget cuts so drastic that almost every program that impacts people who need that deduction are going to get whacked. but i have to share this, because my mind was blown yesterday. we all know at this table that carried interest was something that gary cohn, that steve mnuchin, that donald trump said we are getting rid of this. if you talk to people in the financial industry, they kind of smirk and they're like, yeah, man, we've got to get rid of that. it's a complete freebie. i want to share what republican congresswoman diane black, who is a member of the ways and means committee, said about this yesterday. she was confused. >> this is a more complicated situation than even i appreciated when we went into it. >> no. no, i'm sorry, this is not complicated at all. and this is a woman charged with writing this and knowing this. there ain't nothing confusing about carried interest, it's a gift. >> what might be confusing is she got talked to by a bunch of private equity interests and others who love having this tax break and now it's somehow confusing, but it's not. these are gains that private equity managers make on their funds and they should be ordinary taxation, because they are there -- this is their salary. this is how they make this money but they get this capital gains treatment and it's a boondoggle for them. they're a powerful lobby and trying to stop it. i think they're more worried about interest deductibility in this thing and getting rid of the special tax treatment for corporate interest deductibility because they rely on huge amounts of debt to fund their leverage buyout. >> ben, can we point out, can we point out that in the last eight years, private equity firms because they have long-term locked up money, because they don't have to mark to market have become behemoths. steve schwartzman, david rubenstein, tony james have become the richest of the rich. so spare me that you're going to keep carried interest there. for what? >> but from everything i'm hearing there's a powerful lobbying campaign going on by private equity, by real estate, and so far successful. i also wouldn't underestimate -- >> wait, do we know anybody in the real estate business? oh, the president. >> i also wouldn't underestimate your average lawmaker's lack of understanding of how the tax code might work or financial markets operate. it is confusing to a lot of people. as we all know who hail from the business press, to explain it is sometimes difficult for your average citizen. >> guess what, that's why you vote for talented, smart lawmakers to protect you. we're going to leave it there. coming up, a california gunman kills four people and injures ten. how some quick-thinking kids saved the lives of potentially hundreds of other children. later, special counsel robert mueller reportedly plans a new round of interviews with some of the most senior members of the white house as the scope of the russian election interference around the world becomes a little bit more clear. patrick woke up with a sore back. but he's got work to do. so he took aleve this morning. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. tylenol can't do that. aleve. all day strong. all day long. do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet? yes? great! then you're ready for power e*trade. the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. sweet! e*trade. the original place to invest online. welcome back. i'm stephanie ruhle. time now for your morning primer, everything you need to know to get your day started. we begin in tampa. another possible victim of a serial killer. police say someone shot and killed a man yesterday in the same neighborhood where three people were murdered last month. they say yesterday's shooting may be connected to those killings. robert mugabe's nearly 40-year reign of zimbabwe may be over. he's under house arrest after the country's military appears to have taken control. army chiefs say the 93-year-old and his family are safe. president trump tweeted this morning that we will see the fruits of his asia trip and perhaps, this is what he's talking about. china says it will send a special envoy to north korea on friday. keep in mind china often sends envoys after important meetings. australia could be on the brink of legalizing same-sex marriage. a senator introduced a bill to legalize the unions. this comes after a nationwide government poll found more than 60% of australians approve of the measure. and the california elementary school targeted by a gunman yesterday will remain closed for the rest of the week. that gunman fired several shots into the school in the midst of his deadly shooting spree, but no one in that school was killed. nbc's own steve patterson is live in red bluff, california. steve, authorities there are saying this tragedy could have been a whole lot worse. >> reporter: absolutely, stephanie. police at this point are calling this a bizarre and murderous killing spree perpendicular tra -- perpetrated as a man they're trying to look into at this point. he's called kevin neal, according to our affiliate kcra here in sacramento. this is two hours north of sacramento. police say this started before 8:00 a.m. yesterday morning. it started as they have been saying seemingly in a random order. that these targets that were chosen by the gunman were almost picked seemingly at random, including that elementary school that you mentioned. police there say it could have been a lot worse because of the administrators who locked in and created a lockdown procedure as soon as they heard what was going on. they believed that may have saved the lives of dozens of children in that school. i want to play some sound for you about that right now. >> the quick action of those school officials, there is no doubt in my mind based on the video that i saw saved countless lives and children. >> reporter: so four killed, ten others injured, including two school-age children. i spoke to the family of one of those children who was inside one of those classrooms hit in his chest and his leg, now recovering after surgery from that shooting. but as you mentioned, this could have been a lot worse had that lockdown procedure not been in place. police now looking into the shooter's back grounding. looking at an active restraining order they believe was in place. looking at possible charges that they were were in place against one of the people that he ended up killing during that killing spree but also searching for any sort of motive, any semblance of motive in that shooting from yesterday. stephanie. >> school shootings. this is where you send your kids every day to get better and stronger and smarter. never would you think you sending your kids off in the morning and something like that could happen. thanks so much, steve. up next, the latest on the russia investigations. bob mueller reportedly planning another round of interviews with high-profile members of the trump team. an how can attorney general sessions remember details of a meeting he doesn't recall being at? before we go, we've got to see this video. there was a woman who was kicked off a bus in toronto because it was too crowded and she decided to take her frustration on the road. the bus makes several attempts to pass her and that didn't work. after several minutes the woman moves back to the sidewalk and the bus goes on, but that woman, she ain't having it. [ click ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours. i'm ginnwith chantix.smokingy we're bullish on the future. it takes a lot of planning to be a smoker. it's like when am i gonna be able to sneak out of here and go have a cigarette? i just knew i had to quit, and chantix was the method that actually worked for me. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix reduced my urge to smoke. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be life-threatening. stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. tell your healthcare provider if you've had depression or other mental health problems. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. use caution when driving or operating machinery. the most common side effect is nausea. thanks to chantix, i did it. ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. many insurance plans cover chantix for a low or $0 copay. welcome back. i'm stephanie ruhle. this final week before thanksgiving could be a busy one for special counsel robert mueller and his team of investigators. they reportedly set to interview or have already interviewed white house communications director hope hicks, senior advisor jared kushner and white house counsel don mcgahn. white house special counsel ty cobb told npr the interviews should be completed by thanksgiving or shore shortly thereafter. joining me now, ken dilanian and malcolm nance. all right, gentlemen, ken, i want to start with you. it's pretty obvious why bob mueller would be interested in talking to jared kushner, but what could the focus of the interviews with hope hicks and don mcgahn be? >> good morning, stephanie. these two senior white house officials appear to figure prominently in robert mueller's investigation into whether the president obstructed justice by pressuring james comey to go easy on mike flynn essentially and then firing comey when he didn't. mcgahn is crucial there because acting attorney general sally yates went to him, mcgahn, to warn that mike flynn had been lying about his conversations with the russian ambassador and was subject to blackmail. mueller will want to know exactly what mcgahn told the president about that because flynn remained in office for 18 days after that warning until it leaked and then he was fired. hope hicks, the communications director, was part reportedly of crafting that misleading statement on air force one about the june 2016 tower meeting between don jr. and the russian lawyer. >> hold on, was that the one that they said was about the orphans? >> about adoption, you got it. that's right. hicks is also popping up in other russia story lines. just this week the atlantic reported that she was informed about don jr.'s twitter conversations with wikileaks. so these two officials are pretty crucial to mueller's investigation, stephanie. >> malcolm, let's talk about attorney general jeff sessions. yesterday his testimony on the hill, i want to share a bit of it. take a look. >> after reading his account and to the best of my recollection, i believe that i wanted to make clear to him that he was not authorized to represent the campaign with the russian government or any other foreign government for that matter. but i did not recall this event which occurred 18 months before my testimony of a few weeks ago. >> hmm, how do you not remember a meeting, but then you remember specific details about that meeting? i can't figure it out. malcolm? >> well, you know, there's a lot of things that he can't recall. that's almost his middle name now when he gives testimony. >> no, his middle name is beauregard, don't ever forget it. >> that's got to be southern for i can't remember. for the most part when he comes up here, he makes these denials. there's some piece of data that comes out and we patently catch him in this. as you said, how does he not remember that he had the meeting but sudden refreshed remembers all the details of the meeting and then says everything i said is true. i don't know if he knows that he's falling into a perjury trap here. but al franken, the last time he interviewed him made it imminently clear that he wasn't telling the truth and this is going to come back and bite him. >> let's talk about something else that could come back and bite donald trump or don jr. who talked about he only had three communications with wikileaks. but i want to share president trump, his relationships with wikileaks, which he referenced at least 140 times on the campaign trail. i just want to share a sample of it. take a look. >> wikileaks. wikileaks. wikileaks. wikileaks, wikileaks. wikileaks. that came out on wikileaks. wikileaks. wikileaks. boy, i reading those wikileaks. wikileaks. wikileaks. wikileaks. wikileaks, right? wikileaks. wikileaks. wikileaks. wikileaks. wikileaks, wikileaks. that's wikileaks. did you see on wikileaks? wikileaks. wikileaks, wikileaks. wikileaks, wikileaks. >> wiki licky ticky. that is only one-fourth we have here at nbc news. the number is probably greater than that that the president joyfully referenced wikileaks on the campaign trail. based on what we know could these enthusiastic references come back to haunt the president? malcolm? >> yes, they are coming back to haunt the president. you know, i find this whole wikileaks/don jr. exchange very interesting. wikileaks reached out to him in the middle of september. we are already eight weeks into people reporting that wikileaks might be acting as a russian intelligence influence operation. and the trump campaign seemed to see no problem with that. i'm starting to think that since it involved donald trump jr., donald trump jr. may be the center of all the dirty tricks campaigns and not mike flynn, like we thought. you know, a few months before he meets with vessel nits skia. mike flynn may have just been the executor of his will. >> stephanie, if there was any doubt on october 7th, the intelligence community released a public statement naming wikileaks as a conduit to a russian interference campaign in the election. most of those references came after that. so the country and the trump campaign were on notice that wikileaks was cooperating with russian intelligence. >> on october 7th. on october 31st of this year, don jr. sent out that tweet saying he was going to take half of his daughter's halloween candy away and teach her how socialism works, forgetting that you know how you get that halloween candy? free handouts. okie doke, coming up, shocking new details on just how much republican money has been spent at trump locations since the election. we'll talk money, power, politics. and an ice plant. but we brought power to the people- redefining what that meant from one era to the next. over 90 years later, we continue to build as america's 3rd largest investor in infrastructure. we don't just help power the american dream... we're part of it. in today's money power politics a remarkable new report in "the washington post" says that since president trump won the election last year, the trump organization has enjoyed quite a spike in business from republican lawmakers holding fund-raisers and receptions at trump properties. in fact, according to federal election commission filings cited by the paper, between election day 2016 and the end of september of this year, federal political committees reported paying at least $1.27 million to trump businesses. and not one dollar of that money comes from any democrats, surprise, surprise. "the washington post" says, at least 40 republican lawmakers have spent campaign or leadership pac money at trump properties. the biggest spender? trump himself. the trump campaign has spent more than half a million bucks at trump-branded properties since january 1, including $480,000 for renting trump tower here in new york city. nearly $23,000 for stays at the d.c. trump hotel. and more than $2,500 for office supplies from trump ice, a bottled water company that bears his name. next up, the republican national committee which has apparently spent more than $176,000 at trump properties this year, including a fund-raiser headlined by president trump at the d.c. trump hotel back in june. as for congress, it is reported that the campaign of texas freshman jodie arrington, spent more than $16,000 at trump-brand properties. a spokesperson for arrington says the trump d.c. hotel, quote, happened to offer the best combination of size, price point along with a convenient and historic location. the campaign of new jersey, tom mcarthur, spent more than $15,000 at trump properties. mcarthur's staff did not respond to requests for comment. and do not forget, president trump maintains ownership over the trump organization despite handing day-to-day control over to his two adult sons. you remember, don jr. and eric. those who comment via twitter on politics day in and day out and regularly appear on fox news to discuss the president. that's interesting. coming up, roy moore already hitting back against the republican establishment. this morning, will his fight to win hurt the party at large? maybe or maybe not. some people want a civil war. a morning latte, some strategically-placed needles, unicorns and sore muscles. with the help of two very special pint-sized helpers, i finally took some time out of my busy schedule to get in the small business saturday spirit and try some new businesses in my own brooklyn neighborhood. for more, watch "your business" weekend mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. >> sponsored by american express, founding partner of small business saturday, shop small on november 25th. small businesses show their love to you. with some friendly advice, a genuine smile and a warm welcome they make your town... well, your town. that's why american express is proud to be the founding partner of small business saturday. a day where you get to return that love, because shopping small makes a big difference. so, on november 25th get up, get out, and shop small. that wraps us up for this hour. i'll be back at 11:00 a.m. with my friend ali velshi and all day on twitter. coming up now is steve kornacki who is in for hallie jackson. he has no jacket on. >> a couple wardrobe changes here to keep people interested. i'm in for hallie jackson. with less than four weeks to go until the special senate election, public support continues to crumble for embattled republican candidate roy moore despite the calls from his party's leaders to drop out. he remains defiant and is denying sexual assault allegations. the rnc now severing financial ties with his campaign and even steve bannon may be having second thoughts. is president trump going to weigh in on this, his first full day back from that trip to asia? also on capitol hill, spotlight on sexual harassment. women lawmakers reveal chilling claims of predatory behavior within their own ranks. and in the senate, a stunning move by republicans who now plan to eliminate the obamacare individual mandate in their revised tax plan. our reporters are following the latest developments. jeff bennett is at the white house, von hilliard is