Transcripts For MSNBCW The 11th Hour With Brian Williams 201

And if its thursday it must be paris. The trumps are guests of the french in the city of lights. And if you watch the Coverage Today with no sound it was pretty straightforward president stuff except an odd clingy moment between the president and the first lady. With the sound on the day was more striking. President trump who has savaged paris in the past was ee fusive today. The two president s a generation apart in age and a world apart in culture looked like great friends including the dinner tonight. The other sound you would have heard was russia following trump to france and the president defending his son and his sons choice to welcome russian help in the campaign. Mr. President your fbi nominee said if someone in a campaign got an email about russia like the one that your son don jr. Received, that they should alert the fbi rather than accept that meeting. Is he wrong . Also were you misled by your team in not knowing about in meeting . I believe that we will have a great fbi director. I think he is doing really well. As far as my son is concerned. My son is a wonderful young man. He took a meeting with a russian lawyer, not a government lawyer, but a russian lawyer. Most people would have taken that meeting. Its called Opposition Research or Even Research into your opponent. I have ive had many people ive only been in politics two years but ive had many people call up, oh, gee, we have this information on this factor or this person or frankly, hillary. Thats very standard in politics. Zero happened from the meeting. Honestly i think the press made a big deal over something that really a lot of people would do. And the news from back home at the white house just doesnt stop. Including a new politico report tonight, saying Jared Kushner already in his own russia trouble feels the white house should be way more aggressive in defending don jr. s meeting. Quote, a source close to kushner said that while he doesnt have an exact plan for overall russia response. He was angry that there wasnt a more robust effort from the communications team. Kushner wanted them to complaint about chyrons on cable news thats the wording at the bottom of the screen call reporters to update story was statements and unleash surrogates immediately. One Senior Administration official suggested that two aides from the Communications Shop be dedicated just to updating chyrons like these headlines on cable news. Also tonight new reporting from the Washington Post under the headline trumps legal team faces tensions and a client who often takes his own counsel. And the questions keep coming from the hill as to why kushner still has his security clearance having reportedly now amended his security forms three times with an additional 100 more names of people he now remembers meeting with. I think Jared Kushner ought to resign. He owes it to the American People to avoid the distraction to his father, because he apparently concealed a meeting that is harmful to our national security. And either donald trump is lying when he says that he knew nothing of the meeting, or Jared Kushner failed to he will tell him about it. Senator blumenthal of connecticut. Washington bureau chief for the associated press, julie paste is back with us tonight. White house reporter for the wall street journal eli stokeles is back with us and process paris based Foreign Editor for the daily beast, longterm overseas correspondent Christopher Dickey who happens to be in flant, georgia tonight. Well back to all of you. Julie, beginning with you, obviously the traveling white house from the boss down, no intention of backing down. In fact the huge effort to normalize the idea of meeting with a russian and gladly accepting their help in the campaign. Right. I mean its pretty clear what the white house strategy is on this meeting. It is to largely say that there was no problem with the meeting. Youre in the going to see and this is part of a pattern with the white house. Youre not going to see a lot of apologies for things that happened. They tend to double down and explain away, rather than say things were a mistake. Youve heard don jr. Be more oh consilia torey saying if he could do it over he would do it different will youly but for the president and his inner sickle, there is a feel nothing to hide from here now the emails are out they are going to paint this as something that any other campaign would do despite the fact that any other campaign probably would have done things differently. And hey, ealey, do you care to hazard a story tonight about Jared Kushner want ago more robust of the defense of the don jr. Story of the emails. I can tell you about that. Weve been hearing that word from the jared ivanka of the white house. What theyre saying you can file this under the statements that have come out a along time about rerpz needsing to. The Reince Priebus is the problem problem. The communication shop under sean expires is priebuss area and the jared ivanka wing of the white house has wanted a different chief of staff and theyve been frustrated at the Communications Shop. You can see that is a feeling that a lot of times is shared by the president , whether convinced by his daughter and soninlaw about this or whether its just convenient for him to blame the spokes people for not being able to clean up the messes that he creates. You go back early on and donald trump said, well he gives the Communications Shop a c or c plus. That continues. This is just a narrative, a something we hear over and over again from the white house. The problem there is bigger than communications. Even with the southern roots, chris, most of the year you are an american in paris, having said that this meeting was kind of fraught between these two leaders. They both have been critical of each other. Macron was kind of more open in mocking donald trump in the past few weeks and months. Do you think it has gone well so far . Well, i think its gone well so far. But i think you need to understand macron sees trump right now as vulnerable and needing a friend in europe. And so he is presenting himself that puts him in the position of power here visavis the american president. He knows all the right buttons to push with trump now. He invited him to the 100th anniversary of american involvement in world war i. There is a huge parade on bast with american troops beside french troops. President trump will be in a position of honor. He showed him a good time in paris. All of this is saying i, president macron, am basically giving you a break and giving you some prestige and bringing you here, not you the american president are bringing prestige and power to me. And thats exactly the way that macron wants to play it. To our viewers please allow me a note about jowly pace by way of embarrassing her. This is the first weve seen her since promgs from White House Bureau chief to Washington Bureau chief and im about to show you one of the reasons why. The lass solo News Conference this president gave 147 days ago february 16th julie thought it was her job to stand up and ask the baseline predicate question about contacts with russia during the election, during the campaign, and she clearly wasnt going to sit down until she got her answer. Well watch this and talk to julie on the other side. Can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with russia during the course of the election. Well i told you general flynn obviously was dealing. So thats one person. But he was dealing as he should have been. During the election. No, no northbound that i know of. Youre not aware of any contacts during the course of the election. How many times do i have to answer this question. Can you just zwri yes or no on it. Yeah i know you have to get up and ask a question. So important. Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with russia. Havent made a phone call to russia in years. Dont speak to people from russia. Not that i wouldnt. I just have nobody to speak to. I poke to putin twice he called me on the election. I told you this. And he called me on the inauguration. A few days ago. I have nothing to do with russia. To the best of my knowledge no person that i deal with does. So that answer still exists as a baseline answer, julie. And with that in mind do you think the email story this week is the most momentous thus far in the story line . I think it is. And i think thats not just because of the fact that the meeting happened. I think that if you look at this story line over the last several months so many stories revealed that are based in solid reporting have been hinged on aanonymous sources people that the people cant for practical reasons know who the people are. Its been based on situation that is may look suspicious but in the end could be just coincidences. In this case were talking about a meeting we know happened. And we know it happened because we saw in black and white in emails from the president s son posted by the president s son that there was a meeting that at the very least he believed was part of a russian government effort to help his father. And you. Go ahead. And you cant talk your way out of that. That is there in black and white. There is no arguing about the source of the information 37 i think that makes it powerful. Eli, thats what i was going to ask you. This is granted, only one email chain. But a kind of comically incriminating subject line. And along with some of the text that follows. Right. And its what the president today in a tell advised News Conference no words on a page people just listensing real time what he did was glide ride right over the details on the panl when he said anyone would have taken that meeting. Well the meeting was presented as the email show as under the coming from somebody who was you know coming on behalf of a russian government that was trying to help trumps campaign. And donald trump jr. Wrote explicitly there in plaque and white, i love it. This is obviously the most incriminating damaging thing coming up in the entire investigation because it is obvious right there on the page. And in real time and in the tell advised press conferences and statements its easy for the president to glide past it but theres a lot of concern in the west wing among the president peace lawyers. I talked to somebody yesterday who has been pretty blasta about the entire thing echoing the president saying it was a ruse. I was connect texts with him yesterday saying i havent been concerned i think its a big wish hunt. Today i started to get concerned. Chris youre a longterm print magazine cover, the cover of time we know long established critical real estate for this president. But he wont like this one. Its also established that the cover of time gets a pretty good ride. Its seen by more people around the world. And graphically repeated by more people than pick up a copy of it or read it online. Having said that is whats the coverage like of this president in france and overseas . Do they see him say as a majority of americans see him in. Oh id say that his popularity overseas is extremely low, especially in france. In fact macron president macron france was taking something of a Political Risk with his own base by having trump there. There have been some protests and theres been a are the so of low level outrage in a lot of the press. Mainly because of President Trumps position on Climate Change but also just because most europeans certainly europeans in the educated classes think President Trump is unhinged and very loose cannon. They think he dangerous for the world, without manners or class. And i would say a fair number of them think hess insane. On that note, you julie, do you think its time to kind of assign a label to the white house . Can we say with any safety that this is going to be a white house in kind of a permanent defensive crouch, defined by, but one subject so far . Certainly thats been the pattern for the last few months. And i think if you just look look at this in a practical manner, Something Like a special counsel investigation is going to lass a long time. Thats just the nature of the the types of investigations were talking. Months, years, as long as that exists the white house is going to be on a defensive posture and really its up the president and the team to decide what their response is. Do they send the president out on a daily basis to try to push a proactive agenda. To move the conversation a different direction. With. We havent seen that response. A lot of it in their hanson how they respond how they live as a white house facing investigation. Speaking of which we are getting the health care topic later in the broadcast. Terrific starting panel great first segment our thanks to the starting panelists tonight. Well take the first break here. Coming up increasing scrutiny for soninlaw and president ial adviser Jared Kushner when the 11th hour continues. The future isnt silver suits and houses on mars, its right now. Think about it. We can push buttons and make cars appear out of thin air. Find love anywhere. Hes cute. And buy things from, well, everywhere. How . Because our phones have evolved. So isnt it time our networks did too . Introducing americas largest, most reliable 4g lte combined with the most wifi hotspots. Its a new kind of network. Xfinity mobile. The bottom line is the president of the United States can give a clearance to whoever he wants. Thats our system. Even if the fbi came to him and said, sir we think mr. Curb mere is compromised. He didnt disclose the meeting. He is the president and commander in chief he has that authority. That was our friend and colleague ken delaney of nbc news. Talking about the broad powers of the commander in chief for security clearances among other things. House democrats today introduced two amendments in an attempt to strip Jared Kushner of the security clearance. But of course theyre in the minority and blocked by republicans. This after the New York Times reported and nbc news has since confirmed the updates to kushners federal disclosure form. Quote, mr. Kushner supplemented the list of foreign contacts three times, adding more than 100 names people close to him said. Joining our conversation tonight former federal prosecutor and assistant watergate prosecutor Nick Ackerman back with us. Julie pace and eli stokeles have been kind enough to hang out a bit longer. Nick, tell us about this form. Tell us how rare it is to come back, amended it once, amend it twice more and add 100 foreign contacts. I mean that in itself as far as im concerned proves that he lied. The way this form is presented to you, you do it online now. Its a very extensive form. It takes many hours to complete the form. And it is so detailed. And throughout that form they put the fear of god in you that if you lie and you dont put in everything thats asked for that youre committing a federal felony in violation of title 18 United States code section 1001 for lying to the government, punishable up to five years in z prison. Then after you go through the entire form where they ask everystones with your met any foreigner, anyplace youve gone overseas everything about parents, family, friends after youve given all the references you are then vis visited by a retired fbi agent who goes through the entire form with you line by line to make sure that you didnt miss anything, that you didnt leave anything out, that you were truthful and complete. And at the end of this you have to keep certifying that everything on the form was true, accurate and complete, and nothing was omitted. There is no way someone like Jared Kushner who left off over 100 items could have been telling the truth in filling out that form. So he had the ability to go back and amend it and amend it again but that could also be actionable, that he had to go back and amend it twice. Well to amend it after a long period of time, after months, i mean its one thing if you go through the whole form online and then you realize oh ill go back still working oh on the for me formon put something in or when this retired fbi agent shows up and goes through it with you and you sit there and you have to think about each line that you filled out. There is no way that Jared Kushner was telling the truth if he had to go back in and put 100 different items on the form. So julie, thats probably the best description ive heard of this. Is it because he is on the white house staff arguably the closest man to the president that he is in jeopardy as opposed to don jr. Said to be running the business in new york. Right,s in a key distinction here. Not just with Jared Kushner and don jr. , but with others have come up in the course of the story people like Paul Manafort who never joined the white house and lester the campaign before the general election. Someone like mike flynn who joined the white house but was fired. Jared kushner is the only one who has come up in this context currently sitting in the west wing who has a security clearance. And is in the oval office with the president every day. That puts him in a unique position. It puts more pressure on him puts more scrutiny on him. And it makes him a bigger target. Certainly the fact that he had to to amend the security clearance form more than once is a big shiny object to democrats who really are looking for someone to focus the attention on. He is as close as it comes to the president of the United States and is steps away from the oval office every day. Of course eli everything bangs around the west wing and around washington like a rock in a clothes drier where all the jealousies and back stabbing is. Whats the whats the ancillary effect of all this potential exposure that Coverage Today<\/a> with no sound it was pretty straightforward president stuff except an odd clingy moment between the president and the first lady. With the sound on the day was more striking. President trump who has savaged paris in the past was ee fusive today. The two president s a generation apart in age and a world apart in culture looked like great friends including the dinner tonight. The other sound you would have heard was russia following trump to france and the president defending his son and his sons choice to welcome russian help in the campaign. Mr. President your fbi nominee said if someone in a campaign got an email about russia like the one that your son don jr. Received, that they should alert the fbi rather than accept that meeting. Is he wrong . Also were you misled by your team in not knowing about in meeting . I believe that we will have a great fbi director. I think he is doing really well. As far as my son is concerned. My son is a wonderful young man. He took a meeting with a russian lawyer, not a government lawyer, but a russian lawyer. Most people would have taken that meeting. Its called Opposition Research<\/a> or Even Research<\/a> into your opponent. I have ive had many people ive only been in politics two years but ive had many people call up, oh, gee, we have this information on this factor or this person or frankly, hillary. Thats very standard in politics. Zero happened from the meeting. Honestly i think the press made a big deal over something that really a lot of people would do. And the news from back home at the white house just doesnt stop. Including a new politico report tonight, saying Jared Kushner<\/a> already in his own russia trouble feels the white house should be way more aggressive in defending don jr. s meeting. Quote, a source close to kushner said that while he doesnt have an exact plan for overall russia response. He was angry that there wasnt a more robust effort from the communications team. Kushner wanted them to complaint about chyrons on cable news thats the wording at the bottom of the screen call reporters to update story was statements and unleash surrogates immediately. One Senior Administration<\/a> official suggested that two aides from the Communications Shop<\/a> be dedicated just to updating chyrons like these headlines on cable news. Also tonight new reporting from the Washington Post<\/a> under the headline trumps legal team faces tensions and a client who often takes his own counsel. And the questions keep coming from the hill as to why kushner still has his security clearance having reportedly now amended his security forms three times with an additional 100 more names of people he now remembers meeting with. I think Jared Kushner<\/a> ought to resign. He owes it to the American People<\/a> to avoid the distraction to his father, because he apparently concealed a meeting that is harmful to our national security. And either donald trump is lying when he says that he knew nothing of the meeting, or Jared Kushner<\/a> failed to he will tell him about it. Senator blumenthal of connecticut. Washington bureau chief for the associated press, julie paste is back with us tonight. White house reporter for the wall street journal eli stokeles is back with us and process paris based Foreign Editor<\/a> for the daily beast, longterm overseas correspondent Christopher Dickey<\/a> who happens to be in flant, georgia tonight. Well back to all of you. Julie, beginning with you, obviously the traveling white house from the boss down, no intention of backing down. In fact the huge effort to normalize the idea of meeting with a russian and gladly accepting their help in the campaign. Right. I mean its pretty clear what the white house strategy is on this meeting. It is to largely say that there was no problem with the meeting. Youre in the going to see and this is part of a pattern with the white house. Youre not going to see a lot of apologies for things that happened. They tend to double down and explain away, rather than say things were a mistake. Youve heard don jr. Be more oh consilia torey saying if he could do it over he would do it different will youly but for the president and his inner sickle, there is a feel nothing to hide from here now the emails are out they are going to paint this as something that any other campaign would do despite the fact that any other campaign probably would have done things differently. And hey, ealey, do you care to hazard a story tonight about Jared Kushner<\/a> want ago more robust of the defense of the don jr. Story of the emails. I can tell you about that. Weve been hearing that word from the jared ivanka of the white house. What theyre saying you can file this under the statements that have come out a along time about rerpz needsing to. The Reince Priebus<\/a> is the problem problem. The communication shop under sean expires is priebuss area and the jared ivanka wing of the white house has wanted a different chief of staff and theyve been frustrated at the Communications Shop<\/a>. You can see that is a feeling that a lot of times is shared by the president , whether convinced by his daughter and soninlaw about this or whether its just convenient for him to blame the spokes people for not being able to clean up the messes that he creates. You go back early on and donald trump said, well he gives the Communications Shop<\/a> a c or c plus. That continues. This is just a narrative, a something we hear over and over again from the white house. The problem there is bigger than communications. Even with the southern roots, chris, most of the year you are an american in paris, having said that this meeting was kind of fraught between these two leaders. They both have been critical of each other. Macron was kind of more open in mocking donald trump in the past few weeks and months. Do you think it has gone well so far . Well, i think its gone well so far. But i think you need to understand macron sees trump right now as vulnerable and needing a friend in europe. And so he is presenting himself that puts him in the position of power here visavis the american president. He knows all the right buttons to push with trump now. He invited him to the 100th anniversary of american involvement in world war i. There is a huge parade on bast with american troops beside french troops. President trump will be in a position of honor. He showed him a good time in paris. All of this is saying i, president macron, am basically giving you a break and giving you some prestige and bringing you here, not you the american president are bringing prestige and power to me. And thats exactly the way that macron wants to play it. To our viewers please allow me a note about jowly pace by way of embarrassing her. This is the first weve seen her since promgs from White House Bureau<\/a> chief to Washington Bureau<\/a> chief and im about to show you one of the reasons why. The lass solo News Conference<\/a> this president gave 147 days ago february 16th julie thought it was her job to stand up and ask the baseline predicate question about contacts with russia during the election, during the campaign, and she clearly wasnt going to sit down until she got her answer. Well watch this and talk to julie on the other side. Can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with russia during the course of the election. Well i told you general flynn obviously was dealing. So thats one person. But he was dealing as he should have been. During the election. No, no northbound that i know of. Youre not aware of any contacts during the course of the election. How many times do i have to answer this question. Can you just zwri yes or no on it. Yeah i know you have to get up and ask a question. So important. Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with russia. Havent made a phone call to russia in years. Dont speak to people from russia. Not that i wouldnt. I just have nobody to speak to. I poke to putin twice he called me on the election. I told you this. And he called me on the inauguration. A few days ago. I have nothing to do with russia. To the best of my knowledge no person that i deal with does. So that answer still exists as a baseline answer, julie. And with that in mind do you think the email story this week is the most momentous thus far in the story line . I think it is. And i think thats not just because of the fact that the meeting happened. I think that if you look at this story line over the last several months so many stories revealed that are based in solid reporting have been hinged on aanonymous sources people that the people cant for practical reasons know who the people are. Its been based on situation that is may look suspicious but in the end could be just coincidences. In this case were talking about a meeting we know happened. And we know it happened because we saw in black and white in emails from the president s son posted by the president s son that there was a meeting that at the very least he believed was part of a russian government effort to help his father. And you. Go ahead. And you cant talk your way out of that. That is there in black and white. There is no arguing about the source of the information 37 i think that makes it powerful. Eli, thats what i was going to ask you. This is granted, only one email chain. But a kind of comically incriminating subject line. And along with some of the text that follows. Right. And its what the president today in a tell advised News Conference<\/a> no words on a page people just listensing real time what he did was glide ride right over the details on the panl when he said anyone would have taken that meeting. Well the meeting was presented as the email show as under the coming from somebody who was you know coming on behalf of a russian government that was trying to help trumps campaign. And donald trump jr. Wrote explicitly there in plaque and white, i love it. This is obviously the most incriminating damaging thing coming up in the entire investigation because it is obvious right there on the page. And in real time and in the tell advised press conferences and statements its easy for the president to glide past it but theres a lot of concern in the west wing among the president peace lawyers. I talked to somebody yesterday who has been pretty blasta about the entire thing echoing the president saying it was a ruse. I was connect texts with him yesterday saying i havent been concerned i think its a big wish hunt. Today i started to get concerned. Chris youre a longterm print magazine cover, the cover of time we know long established critical real estate for this president. But he wont like this one. Its also established that the cover of time gets a pretty good ride. Its seen by more people around the world. And graphically repeated by more people than pick up a copy of it or read it online. Having said that is whats the coverage like of this president in france and overseas . Do they see him say as a majority of americans see him in. Oh id say that his popularity overseas is extremely low, especially in france. In fact macron president macron france was taking something of a Political Risk<\/a> with his own base by having trump there. There have been some protests and theres been a are the so of low level outrage in a lot of the press. Mainly because of President Trump<\/a>s position on Climate Change<\/a> but also just because most europeans certainly europeans in the educated classes think President Trump<\/a> is unhinged and very loose cannon. They think he dangerous for the world, without manners or class. And i would say a fair number of them think hess insane. On that note, you julie, do you think its time to kind of assign a label to the white house . Can we say with any safety that this is going to be a white house in kind of a permanent defensive crouch, defined by, but one subject so far . Certainly thats been the pattern for the last few months. And i think if you just look look at this in a practical manner, Something Like<\/a> a special counsel investigation is going to lass a long time. Thats just the nature of the the types of investigations were talking. Months, years, as long as that exists the white house is going to be on a defensive posture and really its up the president and the team to decide what their response is. Do they send the president out on a daily basis to try to push a proactive agenda. To move the conversation a different direction. With. We havent seen that response. A lot of it in their hanson how they respond how they live as a white house facing investigation. Speaking of which we are getting the health care topic later in the broadcast. Terrific starting panel great first segment our thanks to the starting panelists tonight. Well take the first break here. Coming up increasing scrutiny for soninlaw and president ial adviser Jared Kushner<\/a> when the 11th hour continues. The future isnt silver suits and houses on mars, its right now. Think about it. We can push buttons and make cars appear out of thin air. Find love anywhere. Hes cute. And buy things from, well, everywhere. How . Because our phones have evolved. So isnt it time our networks did too . Introducing americas largest, most reliable 4g lte combined with the most wifi hotspots. Its a new kind of network. Xfinity mobile. The bottom line is the president of the United States<\/a> can give a clearance to whoever he wants. Thats our system. Even if the fbi came to him and said, sir we think mr. Curb mere is compromised. He didnt disclose the meeting. He is the president and commander in chief he has that authority. That was our friend and colleague ken delaney of nbc news. Talking about the broad powers of the commander in chief for security clearances among other things. House democrats today introduced two amendments in an attempt to strip Jared Kushner<\/a> of the security clearance. But of course theyre in the minority and blocked by republicans. This after the New York Times<\/a> reported and nbc news has since confirmed the updates to kushners federal disclosure form. Quote, mr. Kushner supplemented the list of foreign contacts three times, adding more than 100 names people close to him said. Joining our conversation tonight former federal prosecutor and assistant watergate prosecutor Nick Ackerman<\/a> back with us. Julie pace and eli stokeles have been kind enough to hang out a bit longer. Nick, tell us about this form. Tell us how rare it is to come back, amended it once, amend it twice more and add 100 foreign contacts. I mean that in itself as far as im concerned proves that he lied. The way this form is presented to you, you do it online now. Its a very extensive form. It takes many hours to complete the form. And it is so detailed. And throughout that form they put the fear of god in you that if you lie and you dont put in everything thats asked for that youre committing a federal felony in violation of title 18 United States<\/a> code section 1001 for lying to the government, punishable up to five years in z prison. Then after you go through the entire form where they ask everystones with your met any foreigner, anyplace youve gone overseas everything about parents, family, friends after youve given all the references you are then vis visited by a retired fbi agent who goes through the entire form with you line by line to make sure that you didnt miss anything, that you didnt leave anything out, that you were truthful and complete. And at the end of this you have to keep certifying that everything on the form was true, accurate and complete, and nothing was omitted. There is no way someone like Jared Kushner<\/a> who left off over 100 items could have been telling the truth in filling out that form. So he had the ability to go back and amend it and amend it again but that could also be actionable, that he had to go back and amend it twice. Well to amend it after a long period of time, after months, i mean its one thing if you go through the whole form online and then you realize oh ill go back still working oh on the for me formon put something in or when this retired fbi agent shows up and goes through it with you and you sit there and you have to think about each line that you filled out. There is no way that Jared Kushner<\/a> was telling the truth if he had to go back in and put 100 different items on the form. So julie, thats probably the best description ive heard of this. Is it because he is on the white house staff arguably the closest man to the president that he is in jeopardy as opposed to don jr. Said to be running the business in new york. Right,s in a key distinction here. Not just with Jared Kushner<\/a> and don jr. , but with others have come up in the course of the story people like Paul Manafort<\/a> who never joined the white house and lester the campaign before the general election. Someone like mike flynn who joined the white house but was fired. Jared kushner is the only one who has come up in this context currently sitting in the west wing who has a security clearance. And is in the oval office with the president every day. That puts him in a unique position. It puts more pressure on him puts more scrutiny on him. And it makes him a bigger target. Certainly the fact that he had to to amend the security clearance form more than once is a big shiny object to democrats who really are looking for someone to focus the attention on. He is as close as it comes to the president of the United States<\/a> and is steps away from the oval office every day. Of course eli everything bangs around the west wing and around washington like a rock in a clothes drier where all the jealousies and back stabbing is. Whats the whats the ancillary effect of all this potential exposure that Jared Kushner<\/a> has braatz on himself and the presidency . Well, i mean this is a white house riffen by factions from the beginning. In the initial months they were all hiring their own chiefs of staff and their own Communications Directors<\/a> within the white house. The last month weve seen them hire their own lawyers. This fight is just sort of escalating in terms of the stakes within the white house and all around town. And it is you know dicey increasingly dicey for Jared Kushner<\/a> because of the potential legal risk. You have to step back from this, though, and even all this that has come out and looks terrible and for a prosecutor might be more than enough to press a case, more than enough fos you know you committed a felony, in terms of the crime and punishment, the crime may be obvious but its a question in washington who is going to carry out the punishment. Republicans in congress dont want to. And within the white house people are kind of getting at one another. But this is a president who has often not told the truth, who has encouraged his surrogates not to tell the truth. Some people his biographers has lied pathologically for years for his career. If you think he is going to come down on the soninlaw and accept the conclusion that other people think is plain as day that he may have been dishonest. I dont know weve seen any evidence that this president is actually going to you know acknowledge they of this evidence thats the tuck public and take any action against Jared Kushner<\/a> or ib zbleels a counselor a quick dual question for you. Sure. What would your guidance be if poof i appointed you as white House Counsel<\/a> today and remind us what is mueller up to right about now. First of all mueller is up to not what we know none of this is public and youre not finding out until. He is hiring up highly qualified lawyers. Exactly. And theyre going to be doing all kinds of investigation. Theyre going to be looking for documents. Theyre going to be tracing computers. Theyre going to be looking at lots of hard drives. Theyll be looking at the unlgbted space. Thats a alt moot unlgbted space. Taking internet protocol addresses and trying to trace those from one computer to another trying to see where they go overseas where where all of this is going tp some of this can be pretty boring pu o but its extremely important. And in the computer age you can really track a lot of evidence. I mean you just dont realize, ordinary citizens today every move you make from the moment. Absolutely. Wake up to the time you go to sleep, whether through a car toll, you get on your computer, you put in a couple of key strokes. I bet were on camera right now. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean they can find anything now. Naes the investigative work theyd be doing. In 15 seconds or less because i got to run to a break. What wouldio Bumper Sticker<\/a> slogan be if you were whouts counsel. Tell us no. Get it ut all out on get it out there dont talk to anybody and talk to counsel before you do. Fair to say a chilling segment of conversation tonight but our great thanks to Nick Ackerman<\/a>, the newly minted Washington Bureau<\/a> chief for the associated press, our friend julie pace and eli stokeles thanks as always. Ner break coming up the members of the trump family getting invitations to talk to congress. Cinnamon fans, your date with destiny has arrived. Lets do this new cinnamon frosted flakes are finally here. Sweet cinnamon and the frosted crunch you love. Well . Tastes like victory t. Tastes like victory. Theyre great intrzero alcohol\u2122. Ine\u00ae it delivers a whole mouth clean with a less intense taste. So it has the bad breath germkilling power of this. With the lighter feel. Of this. Try listerine\u00ae zero alcohol\u2122. And welcome back to our thursday night broadcast. Earlier in evening i spoke to maryland exactic senator ben cardin on the top democrat on Senate Foreign<\/a> releases. I started the interview by asking him what members of the senate want to hear from donald trump jr. And Jared Kushner<\/a>. I must tell you were extremely troubled by the fact that they took this meeting with an agent from the russian government to get information to use in a campaign. At least thats what they thought the meeting was about. The first reaction should have been to notify the fiv. We want to know why they took the meeting and why they did not report it to law enforcement. Let me ask it as a more basic question. Have you been able to figure out do you have an opinion what is it generally about russia . Why does our president want putting to come to the white house after his his break into our election process . Was our president compromised before he walked into that meeting with putin. Its difficult to understand why he would want to give mr. Putin a photo oh och petition oval office. Mr. Uten directed attacks against this country and the free election system. They are currently engaged in occupation in ukraine, crimea and the eastern ukraine. They are occupying in georgia. They are supporting a war criminal in syria. This is not a country that you want to reward. This is a country you want to have conversations about changing their behavior first before you have that type of a of a meeting. So i must tell you its extremely concerning as to why President Trump<\/a> continues to want to do nice things with russia. Turning to a domestic matter of major importance, whats the chance a Health Care Plan<\/a> is successfully going to make it out of the u. S. Senate. Well i hope it does not. But obviously i think the republican leader Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> intends to bring it up next week. Thats what he says. I would not rule out the fact that he could get 50 republican senators to join him. I dont think he has that number now. I know he knows how to work the legislative process. The bill they released today is worse than the bill two weeks ago. Allowing for substandard insurance to be issued. The compromised the risk pools for those who buy insurance through the Affordable Care<\/a> act. It is millions of people lose coverage under both medicaid and private insurance. This is a terrible bill. But i do not rule out the possibility that Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> could get the votes to pass it. Youre one of 00 u. S. Senators though process. I was thinking knowing we were going to talk tonights but youre among a small handful of senators who gets to live in your home state. You see constituents last thing at night first thing in the morning. Take a working class family from Prince Georges County<\/a>, maryland what do they want on health care what are they worried about and ask from you. I did meet with families and people during the work period. I do see them every night. Ive been in Prince Georges County<\/a> and talked to those families. Ive been to working class neighborhoods during the fourth of july parade. Ill tell what you they want is they want to build on the success we have in the Affordable Care<\/a> act. They know it can be improved. They dont want to see millions of people lose coverage and bifurcates. They dont want to see substandard insurance come back and preexisting conditions and caps. What they want is us to do is work on bringing count down the cost of health care and Health Care Premiums<\/a> thap. Thats where democrats and republicans should be working together to work on problems under the current law not to make it weaker but strong sfwleer the ben thank you for being with us tonight. Thank you. They say flattery gets you everywhere. But in Donald Trumps<\/a> case it turns out a trip abroad is often all it takes to say nice things. Were back with that story after this. Welcome back to the 11th hour. President trump overnighting in paris again tonight. As tomorrow is bastille day. And huge celebrations are planned there. Today, he stood shoulder to shoulder with the newly elected french president macron in paris. A city trump criticized regularly while on american soil. But today like on other overseas trips he has been on the president s language changed before our very eyes. France a disaster. So many bad things are happening. So many bad things are happening. You look at paris. Paris is not par zblies this is one fortunate great cities one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And you have a great leader now. You have a great president. The United States<\/a> will will withdraw from the paris climate accord. Something could happen with respect to the paris accord. Well see what happens. If it happens that will be wonderful. And if it doesnt, that will be okay too. When mexico sends its people theyre not sending their best. They are bringing drugs, crimes. Theyre rapists. Its great to be with my friend the president of mexico. We give state din erps to the heads of china. I say why are you doing state dinners for them . Theyre ripping us left and right take them to the mcdonalds and go back to the northbounding table. Seriously its true. On behalf of the United States<\/a> i would like to just say that its an honor to have gotten to know you. We are developing and have developed a wonderful relationship. So you get the trend emerging there. Lets talk about this with our guest. Lonnie chen is back with us policy director for romney ryan 2012 effort who worked in the administration of bush 43. Dona edwards, former democratic congresswoman from maryland is here in new york and coronell belcher is back with us. Having worked on both of president obamas campaign and with a number of house and senates democrats he lived to tell about it all. I say this without isnt that correct and clinic le lonnie its been spoken of by way of the psychological profile of our president that other leaders see. And mold their presentation around. Do you think the president is more susceptible to flattery than most . I think the president enjoys hearing people talk about him favorably. That might be the definition of flattery. One of the things you see is the president enjoys being abroad because thats when he can project the strength of his office. Theres been a lot of reporting that talks about how being france is very interesting. Many french people dont like trump. They disagree with the policies he espouses yet they respect the office of the president of the United States<\/a>. No where is that office clearer than when he is abroad. Won wonders why he is oh so favorably disposed to other countries he came back to from the g20 and now off to france he obviously enjoyed this. Congresswoman do you think macron has it about right . With resee a way to emerging to host donald trump when he comes to your country. Donald trump also enjoying flattering himself. I think that what happens is its a way for him to avoid some of the really difficult questions that are pursuing him here in this country. And he tries to avoid those overseas. So coronell, because our nakedly political guy here on this panel, let me say this, tough talk. Has gone over well with the trump base is the trump base ignoring or unaffected when the talk gets squishy and a lot more praise comes when he is on foreign soil. Yeah its its a tight rope hes got to walk. Because you know one of the things thats interesting is he talks tough about these countries and the leaders when he is not facetoface with them, right. When he is back when he is not facetoface he is talking tough. And hitting a lot of nationalistic notes that play well with the base. But maybe were seeing a little bit of growing up here. Because when youre on a national stanl you have to get along with some of the leaders. When you talk about making the country safe and secure that doesnt come from just our navies and armies. It comes interest us working closely with ai lies being able to share information with allies and allies being able to trust us when they dont trust us that makes us less secure. Lonnie we should point out the first lady had a actually a terrific outing today with some school kids. She is said to speak six languaging process. She spoke german in germany. Ill get it right. Im still mastering english. She spoke french and in frans today to the school kids. And really looked like a very nice event. Lonnie, do you give yourself the luxury of wondering what miefbl, be did what the visits would look like with a romney or rubio or bush or casic. Not a moment goes by i dont think about that. Both of those gentlemen would have been sfreemly wofld ambassadors. The first lady is a wonderful ambassador for this country as well. She does great in projecting many of the higher angels of our country if you will when she goes abroad. Thats great. But president romney would have been a terrific assets for our country. Let me pause the discussion. Well fit in break. When we come back i not only want to get to health care. One of the members of the panel has a personal story to tell. Were back with that right after this. From my perspective, it does for the make sense to do a major rewrite of a vital Entitlement Program<\/a> without having any hearings or consideration of the implications. So thats something that is a major reason that i find myself unable to support the bill. Republican senator Susan Collins<\/a> of maine emerges as a mover on this area. One of two republicans if i recally against the new version of the Senate Health<\/a> care bill. Senator rand paul of kentucky also opposes the law in the current form. Thats important, remember 52 seat majorities republicans in the senate now down to 50. If they debt one more defectsen in the no uncles there is no chance to pass without some absolute magic by Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>. Lonnie dona and coronell are with us. Congresswoman edwards, you revealed in the Washington Post<\/a> you are living with ms to my colleagues in congress doesnt make my smurns unaffordable. You write in part i was proud to be one of the presiding officers when the Affordable Care<\/a> act passed. I do not think the law was pvgt. I believe it was a good start. I never thought i could have to go back i could have to go back at a time when i would not have health care coverage. And yet with the Health Care Bills<\/a> you are now advancing here i am. Normally stores are told by constituents to politicians. In this case youre it. Well and ive heard from a lot of my former constituents, actually from hundreds of people across the country who are in a similar circumstance as i am. I was diagnosed with ms a year ago. It affects about 400,000 people americans around the country. And i was healthy. I was riding my bike, 20, 50 miles a week, running doing all those things, active. It took me by surprise. I think its proof that anyone can be diagnosed with a chronic illness and now i have about 73,000 is what my meditation costs. I get mri scans regularly. Theyre about 7,000 per set. This last year ive had thee sets of them. And i really worry that eventually im not going to be able to afford my health care. When i look at the bills in front of us, i know that to be true. If i get put like millions of americans into a high risk pool with a bunch of sick people, the costs are going to skyrocket, and it could mean that i might lose my home or retirement savings. And im scared just like a whole bunch of other americans are. Lonny, you get to talk for the entire republican party. Republicans in the senate and this republican effort to repeal and replace. Ill remind you the congresswoman is the first to remind all of us, she is in a fortunate class in american society, as all of us in this conversation are. So what do you tell the congresswoman, what do you tell to the good folks watching who have debts and fears and genuine anxiety over whats about to happen . I certainly appreciate the piece that the congresswoman wrote. I certainly appreciate that there are concerns and fears across the country. But heres the reality. The Affordable Care<\/a> sacramento not a sustainable piece of legislation from the perspective of health care cost. If you look at whats happening in america, the challenge that many middle income families face, is that health care is becoming increasingly unaffordable. And the Affordable Care<\/a> act does not do enough to solve that problem. Youve got in 2018, brian, coming up, 44 of counties in the United States<\/a> are going to have zero insurers or only one insurer on their Health Insurance<\/a> exchange. You have Health Insurance<\/a> premiums that have gone up 100 since 2013. So we have a problem with affordability, and that is what republicans are trying to get at with this bill. Respectfully, nothing in your answer is going to get the congresswoman treatment and pricing and cost that she needs. The fact that the Affordable Care<\/a> act is either dead or dying or wounded doesnt get people treatment or congresswoman, match the promise thats been made. Well, thats true. And the reality is that what has been described is not happening. In fact, the Kaiser Family<\/a> Foundation Came<\/a> out with a study just this last week that showed in fact the markets are stabilizing. There are about 25,000 people out of millions who dont have one insurer or the other. But those are things we can work on. We can work on making prescription drugs affordable. The medication i take costs about 73,000 here in the United States<\/a>, and its about 7,000 in europe. Same manufacturer, same medication. And cornell, as they say, the whole world is watching. At least the entire country, everyone engaged on this subject. Well, i wish the whole world were watching and i wish more voters were engaged. But look, this is a terrible bill. When you look ahead, you know, dont take my word for it, take what senator collins said, this is going to have an adverse impact on the most vulnerable, on rural health care. But this is politics. This is about politics. This is about the irrational continuum of politics that happened since we elected the first africanamerican. They tried to delegitimize him for eight years and block everything he tried to do. Now theyre trying to wipe everything they may look like a legacy of him off the face of the planet. This is about politics. Lonny, how does the president or Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> own a less than quality product . Well, first of all, what i return to is this point, i think there is actually a significant amount of funding in the bill thats targeted at people that do have preexisting Health Conditions<\/a> to help them get affordable coverage. What i would say is this is going to be a delicate process over the next week. As you noted in the open, its going to be a very tight vote here. So Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> will have to thread the needle to bring conservatives and moderates together. But ultimately he gets there by the time we get to next week. Well have to pause here and invite you back and keep talking as they do in washington. Lonny, donna, cornell, thank you all for coming on and participating with us. Another break. When we come back, a little, believe it or not, president ial bipartisanship broke out tonight in dallas, texas. The best thing that can happen to you when youre in politics is to be consistently underestimated. I was pretty good at that. [ laughter ] last thing before we go tonight, former president s george w. Bush and william j. Clinton spoke at a president ial Leadership Forum<\/a> in dallas, texas tonight, and in what seems to be a partisan Political Landscape<\/a> these days, there is one friendship worth remembering. As bush 43 called it tonight, one of the most unique and important relationships in u. S. History. That of his father, bush 41, and president clinton. He was humble in victory, which is very important in dealing with other people. And i think dad was willing to rise above the political contest. Nord, it starts with the individuals character. And both men in my judgment, displayed strong character. And therefore, the friendship was able to be formed. Now, why do i have a friendship with him . Well, because hes called a brother with a different mother. Former president george w. Bush tonight at the library that bears his name. During the hourlong event, President Trump<\/a> was never notably mentioned by name, though the subject of some subtle references. Ill tell you a man who was mentioned tonight, another former president , jimmy carter. He gave us all a scare today. Perhaps because he was building houses in the hot son in canada in july at age 92. He collapsed and was hospitalized with dehydration. Said to be much better tonight. So we wish all of our former president s well. That is our thursday edition of our program tonight. Good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. This morning is bastille day in france, and President Trump<\/a> is a guest of honor. The new senate Gop Health Care<\/a> bill is introduced. Two senators are voicing their opposition. Republicans, they cannot afford to lose another vote. Admitting to murder after four young men go missing in pennsylvania. The lawyer for the person of interest in custody says his client has confessed. Good morning. Its friday, july 14th. Well, its bastille day in paris, and we are looking live as the","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia800809.us.archive.org\/35\/items\/MSNBCW_20170714_080000_The_11th_Hour_With_Brian_Williams\/MSNBCW_20170714_080000_The_11th_Hour_With_Brian_Williams.thumbs\/MSNBCW_20170714_080000_The_11th_Hour_With_Brian_Williams_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240617T12:35:10+00:00"}