All of this playing out as the 11th hour gets under way. Our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 230 of the Trump Administration ends with the president of the United States hanging the leadership of his party out to dry in move that reportedly left them stunned. Trump hosted the congressional leadership from both parties in the oval office today to talk about relief for victims of Hurricane Harvey and the debt ceiling. And when each side made its case, the president picked the democrats plan to combine funding the government for three months and getting storm victims the relief money they need. The president talked about his decision on Board Air Force one enroute to north dakota. We will hear him here and not see him. He spoke before microphones and not cameras. We had a very good meeting with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. We agreed to a threemonth extension on debt ceiling. Mr. President , what do you say to those who say there are mixed signals coming from the white house on daca . No mixing at all. Congress, i really believe, wants to take care of this situation. I really believe it. We discussed that also today. And chuck and nancy would like to see something happen and so do i. Though he did mention chuck and nancy, he did not mention their republican counterparts mitch or paul during the airborne q and a session. That Oval Office Meeting resulted in a photo of schumer and trump that was borterline romantic. The meeting featured a trump family cameo and ended quite quickly. Politico reported it this way and it was right then that nbc news is reporting the president s daughter and adviser ivanka trump walked into the oval office to say hello to everyone toward the end of the meeting and it careened off topic. Republican leaders were visibly annoyed, were told, by her presence. Trumps decision caught republicans off guard to say the least. Just hours before the meeting, paul ryan said this about the plan democrats were pushing that trump later picked. I think its a ridiculous and disgraceful that they want to play politics at the debt ceiling at this moment when we have fellow citizens in need to respond to the hurricane so we do not strand them. What the leaders described is unworkable. Again, from politico a different headline dubbed today, trumps day as a democratic president. And thats in part because the president did not stop when he sided with schumer and pelosi. Nancy and chuck had a speech in north dakota, he invited a democratic u. S. Senator on stage with him. Hidecamp is up for reelection in 2018, in a state trump won by more than 30 points, making her a very vulnerable seat in the senate that democrats would love to hold onto. And the president may have just given her the sound bite she needs for her campaign spots. Senator hidecamp, senator, come on up. These are great people. They work hard. Theyre for you 100 . And we just want their support, because we need support. So thank you, senator. Everyone is saying, what is she doing up here . But ill tell you what, good woman, and i think well have your support. And thank you very much, senator. Thank you for coming up. Well, look at the time. Time to bring in tonights panel. With us tonight, host of deadline white house, on this very network weekdays at 4 00 p. M. Eastern. The former White House Communications director Nicolle Wallace. And two political analysts with us from washington. Chief White House Correspondent peter baker, and for the washington post, also the host of Washington Week on pbs, robert costa. Welcome to you all. And so here at airtime last night, we were talking about the president wanting to have it both ways on daca, backing off a little bit. Today he kind of spent as part of the democratic caucus. Its so pathetic to watch the republicans repeat this sort of abuse cycle with donald trump, that they keep its like watching a friend in a terrible relationship, borderline abusive, where they keep saying no, hes going leave his wife. Im just going to go back there and it will work out. It never works out. He spent the summer taunting mitch and paul r. On twitter. He at bedminster went before the cameras, with a 50minute sort of press conference, and he took shots at Mitch Mcconnell. The real question isnt what is donald trump doing . Donald trump is doing what hes always doing. He sees a political opportunity and hes taking it. I think hes also taking the opportunity to twist the knife in the republicans back as revenge for not yielding to his will. The real question is, why are the rational actors in this relationship repeating their own idiocy. Robert, you spent the day on capitol hill, i understand. I was at the house and senate talking to lawmakers, republicans, and they watched from afar and they saw this president become not so much a republican leader today, but an independent president , a defiant president. And theyre all puzzled but theyre trying to navigate this. The president is clearly angry with some elements of the Republican Leadership about how things have failed on health care and other initiatives. And now hes turning to the surprise of many republicans to democrats for a hand in figuring out the vstrategy for this packd fall schedule. Its shaking up, every plan that was laid by republicans on capitol hill. Peter, you alluded to this in a piece you wrote. Trumps base saw this guy as a reality tv star on the apprentice talking about deals for over a decade. He has told us he makes the best deals. He has promised to drain the swamp. Whats the chance, what he did today was brilliant or at least he will paint it as brilliant in the days to come . Well, what we dont really know, is this the beginning of a sustained new strategy, which he moves away from the approach hes taken which he worked entirely with republican ma zwr jorties and kept democrats at bay, or is this one of those moments, a president who cant be predicted and hes sticking one to Mitch Mcconnell and will go back to the other side tomorrow. You cant tell. But this is the first time in his sevenmonth presidency that he has reached across the aisle to resolve an important dispute. The problem is not that he worked with democrats is that he didnt work with republicans. Most of the time when president bush, when president obama, when they made deals with the other party, they had the buyin of their own party first. They were unified in their decision to make a compromise. This came out of the blue from the point of view of Mitch Mcconnell and paul ryan, and steve mnuchin, his own treasury secretary. As you put it this afternoon, this is a president who plays whack a mole rather than chess. I dont think there was any strategy here. He was probably getting bored, and he saw a deal that could be had. This is a transactional person. And we always examine him as a politician. But he is who hes always been. Everyone talks about how someone doesnt change as a 71yearold. Hes not going to suddenly become a statesman. Hes not going to become someone who adheres to principles. We also know while he expects and demands and punishes those that are not loyal to him, he does not view that as a twoway street. He feels no loyalty to those from whom he demands loyalty. The fact that he was willing to throw republicans under the bus should surprise no one. I thought todays deal was unsurprising in that it was simply the culmination of his monthslong tantrum really against the republican caucus, and it started right out of the gate. Hes been railing against republicans. I think if you were to do an accounting of his tweets, there is far more anger directed at republicans in the 7 1 2, 8 months than democrats. Provably so. Robert, this brings us back to if youre paul ryan, what do you do now . You came out more forcefully than weve seen paul ryan of late, to have that reversed publicly. You wrote tonight about a meeting he had with some disaffected worried members of a critical caucus within the republican caucus. There was a moment today at the capitol where members of the Freedom Caucus, the hardline conservative group, in the house, confronted the house are speaker at the capitol and said theyre deeply disappointed with some of the developments in the republican agenda. They even questioned some of the leadership decisions ryan has made. Ryan remains popular as speaker, has wide support and theres not a coup attempt at the moment. But it is important to know that the Freedom Caucus is having these kind of frank conversations with the speaker and because its revealing of how speaker ryan is facing not only challenges from the other side of pennsylvania avenue but within his own conference. You have to remember, brian, that this senator hidecamp moment in north dakota was an important scene in how it pushed back at leader mcconnell. Mcconnell is so careful trying to build a map in 2018 thats favorable. The president pulled the rug out. Back to the Freedom Caucus, they are formidable, but small. Arent they the main reason john boehner is enjoying more time with his family . One of the people that confronted boehner is mark meadows. He was the person who met tonight with a couple of others with speaker ryan. Hes back on the scene and talking with steve bannon. Meadows is close with bannon, even though bannon is outside of the white house. Its bannon and meadows right now talking through the future of the house leadership. Well have to see if they have sway or not. But theyre having those discussions. Peter, when you listen to institutionalists, people who have been around washington and used to the normal ways, they keep asking rhetorically does this guy, trump, not understand how rare and fortunate and occurrence it is to have white house, house, senate . I think they i dont know that he understands that. What he understands is for seven months he hasnt gotten what he thought he was going to get. Not only did they not pass the Health Care Plan that they had come up with, not only have they not protected him from these russia investigations, they havent moved forward on the easier stuff like infrastructure, tax reform. Its something where you could find, you know, some common ground. And i think hes just grown fed up with this. He told us that he could do all this on his own and he cant. So if the republicans arent going to play ball, fine. Hell play with chuck and nancy. You played the tape. He didnt mention mitch or paul. He said chuck and nancy. He completely pretended as if the republicans werent even in the meeting. Sounded like a local news cast, back to you, chuck and nancy. Multiple sources told them the president wanted to strike a quick and easy deal. They report so what is if youre the leader of the senate, how do you play it tomorrow and the day after and the week after that . Well, listen, i think you should just let him go down this road, because if he wants to topple if he wants to weaken the republican majorities in the house and senate, he should wait and see how he enjoys their lack of protection from the russia probe and how he enjoys impeachment proceedings. If he really wants to head down this road, he should speed down it and see how he likes it. You and i covered the transition from boehner to ryan. And it was all about this exact dynamic that you have laid out tonight, about these sort of the cantankerous, idealogical purists in the caucus being cats that boehner couldnt herd anymore and said you take it. Paul ryan is sadly walking into a real repeat of what ultimately drove boehner from the job. And if republicans want to spend the next decade in the wilderness with steve bannon as their political spingalley, go for it. Our great thanks to our initial panel tonight. Nicolle wallace, peter baker, robert costa, thank you very much. Coming up, the president s son is heading to capitol hill just hours from now to finally answer some questions about that trump tower meeting that came with the promise of dirt on hillary clinton. That and more when the 11th hour continues. When only the best will do. Tempurpedic delivers. Tempur material provides up to twice as much pressure relieving power, so you wake up feeling like a champion. Through september 17th, save up to 500 on select adjustable sets. Tempurpedic sleep is power. When i walked through for a cigarette, thats when i knew i had to quit. For real this time. Thats why im using nicorette. Only nicorette gum has patented dualcoated technology for great taste, plus intense craving relief. Every great why needs a great how. The critical part of his testimony will be following the financial dealing, the approaches and promises that were made about the meeting, and other meetings that may have occurred, and what he hoped to gain apparently dirt on hillary clinton. He said i love it when he was promised it, and how it tied to the trump campaign, and what he knows about obstruction of justice by possibly the white house and others. Thats an important bit right there. Senator richard blumenthal, democrat from connecticut, eager to hear from donald trump, jr. Has to say. Hes going appear tomorrow for a private meeting with the judiciary committee. The eldest trump son will be grilled on his trump tower meeting with that russian lawyer, the firing of fbi director james comey, possible collusion between the trump team and the russians in an attempt to sway the election to his dad. Despite calls from democrats for testimony appearance, this interview will take place behind closed doors with mostly aides and staff and a few senators in attendance. The judiciary is one of three committees investigating russia, in addition to special counsel r0b robert mueller. With us to talk about it, Ashley Parker, msnbc political analyst. Jeremy bash, former chief of staff at the cia. And Nicolle Wallace remains with us. So jeremy, answer what of in we believe to be true, what happens tomorrow . Is he sworn, first of all . Are there perjury implications, sworn or not . And are there fifth amendment implications if he decides to go that route, which i guess is unlikely. There are perjury implications. You cannot lie to congress, whether youre doing this through formal testimony or in a staff interview, which is the setting that will happen tomorrow. He probably will not be asked to raise his right hand and swear an oath, though hell be reminded by the chief counsel that he has obligations to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And he probably does not have to invoke his fifth amendment privilege tomorrow. So its less a formal setting, but still a high stakes meeting for him, because after all, its the committee and the Congress Real shot at up packing all of the lies built up around this meeting. Ashley parker, his answers in an interview on fox news are one thing. Theyre kind of contemporaneous, keeping it light. This really starts to be for keeps tomorrow. The russia matter has been called the original sin of this administration. Is there any way you have to gauge the anxiety level while this bubbles along, beneath the surface tomorrow it will boil up a bit. One thing going into this even a little earlier than tomorrows testimony, but just as the russia issue started to boil up, one issue that trump advisers, especially lawyers to the president and to his son were trying to desperately convey is what you said. This idea in their business in new York Real Estate that north of fudging and fibbing and, you know, bragging or misleading or even outright lying, you know, could almost be beneficial. There are a few groups of people you cannot lie to. Those include the feds and congressional testimony. So i do think thats something they were working to instill in the president s son. This was, again, a little while ago. But i think theres anxiety any time someone is testifying from the president s family to congress. And not just the testimony itself, but the way it often causes the president to behave. These are the issues that just nag at him and will cause at him to lash out or tweet or Say Something he shouldnt, that then becomes this selffulfilling prophecy that leads to more questions. And Nicolle Wallace, something tells me that Ashley Parker and her colleagues will publish around this time tomorrow night an account of what we believe happened behind closed doors in private tomorrow. Youre a former white house comms director. How do you comm this . The trump kids have had a terrible week communications wise. Ivanka trump was eviscerated in the new york times, and sort of analysts and reporters and even people close to the president are calling don junior less than flattering terms, calling into question his judgment and competence. Sounds familiar what theyre saying about his dad. I have to say on the substance of what he will do tomorrow, theres a more interesting bucket of questions that will be around his role in the cover story for that meeting. We now know that the deliberations aBoard Air Force one enroute back from europe where the president conjured up a communications document, a message, if you will, a cover story it turns out to have been for what that meeting at trump tower really was, is of great interest to all of the investigations that you kicked off, especially bob mueller. So if you look at questions about possible obstruction of justice, the coverup and questions about the original sin, the russia ties, i think for me the more concerning communications endeavor would be around his role or those calls aBoard Air Force one to craft that cover story for the meeting itself. Jeremy he ultimately jumped the emails and blew the cover story himself. So unpacking how that came to be would be of great interest. Jeremy, something that Nicolle Wallace just touch on. Robert mueller is not a cover story enthusiast, i dont imagine. No, hes not. Hes going to have his own shot at don junior after looking at his documents. To me, the main set of questions tomorrow is not so much about the meetings, but about that june 3rd email, during which a representative of a putin oligarch and crony wrote to don, junior and said this is part of the russian governments support and help for mr. President trump. And don junior saying what are you talking about, thats illegal, thats a violation of our sovereignty, he said i l