Brian Williams examines the day's top political stories and current political-campaign news.
Brian Williams examines the day's top political stories and current political-campaign news.
he said, "any further information is classified." today the white house actually did impose new sanctions on russia, but not for election meddling. the administration is penalizing the kremlin for using chemical weapons against an ex-spy and his daughter in the uk, a decision that congress had to push the white house to make. meanwhile, republican senator rand paul is in moscow this week, of all places, apparently on his own summer outreach mission to the kremlin. the senator had been one of the few open defenders on capitol hill of president trump's overtures to vladimir putin, the only defender at times. today he wrote this about his visit. quote, "i was honored to deliver a letter from president trump to president vladimir putin's administration. the letter emphasized the importance of further engagement in various areas, including countering terrorism, enhancing legislative dialogue, and resuming cultural exchanges." putin was not in moscow to meet with the senator personally, we're told. the white house was quick to respond that the letter was written at senator paul's
Brian Williams examines the day's top political stories and current political-campaign news.
trap is forbidden. and that is when you have no legitimate purpose for calling someone the a grand jury other than to try to catch them in a lie. that is, you don't believe they've committed any other crime. but you're going to try to catch them in a lie so you can charge them with that lie. i think in this instance it's clear that robert mueller has a lot of legitimate questions that he wants to ask of president trump. and the idea that it's a perjury trap only exists if he chooses to lie. >> now jonathan lemire, the question for you which may call for a judgment, what is greater do you think in the trump camp? the fear of a subpoena or the fear of perjury? >> i think they're worried about both. i mean, they believe they have legal arguments to protect them against a subpoena. they don't believe that the department of justice in the code there that mueller is certainly a buy the book prosecutor, and we believe that they believe that they would not for that. perhaps it's perjury. everyone as i've said before and i reported before, people around the president just feel that he's -- it's walking into a land
course, we did see jim comey open up a federal investigation that absolutely mattered to an election just about ten days before voters went to the ballot box. >> more on that in a moment. barb, i watched giuliani with sean on fox tonight. it was interesting. at a certain point, giuliani stopped talking about this. he kind of referred to -- deferred to jay sekulow. a, is it possible one of the feds said your side should really stop talking about these negotiations? and b, what are the feds likely to make of all this public sharing of letters and demands and no questions on obstruction and the like? >> well, ordinarily, the department of justice doesn't want to silence people who want to talk. they have first amendment rights to do that. so i'm sure they don't like it. they probably aren't happy with it. it may not even be accurate. but they're probably not going to do anything about it if giuliani and sekulow want to continue to talk about it. i don't think it advances their
position in negotiating by talking about it in the public sphere. but i don't think that the justice department is going to order them to stop in any way. but you're right that the effect of it all is we get this very one-sided narrative. we don't even know whether it's true. they made representations about their letter. we haven't seen the letter and certainly we're not hearing from robert mueller. so we don't know what it says. but i do get the sense that they're slow-walking this. they're trying to get themselves as close to september as possible. say we're negotiating, we're still keeping the door open because they know that as that election approaches, it's less likely that robert mueller would serve that subpoena and launch what's likely to be some very explosive litigation. >> also, barb, what is rudy talking about when he says this investigation will violate doj rules if it goes past september 1? >> well, he is conflating some things here. i don't know whether it's intentional or not, but there are sometimes something referred to as a 60-day rule before an election, there is usually a cooling off period.
the language of the rule really is very broad. it just says prosecutors shouldn't do anything to influence the outcome of an election. and what you do or don't do really depends on the facts of the case. but many people have interpreted that to be sort of a 60-day rule that says when you get 60 days out of an election, you probably should cool off and not file anything publicly. so with the elections in november, that would be about labor day. so i think there have been many suggesting that robert mueller would be unlikely to serve a subpoena then. but to suggest the investigation needs to be over by then is a very different thing. even if he does go into a cooling off period, which he may or may not do without trump on the ballot, nothing says he has to be done by that point. >> bob, on that point no one expects mueller to do anything incautious, a. and b, one of the hardened cynics in our business proffered this theory tonight, and that is that by saying september 1, by getting that out into the bloodstream, rudy, who is a member of this team that says
nothing really by accident, usually it's back-referenced, may be getting into the public consciousness what he sees as a win if and when mueller suspends on or about september 1st for election season they can say it's been properly, this investigation's been paused and that's a victory for us. >> that's right, brian. talking to mayor giuliani, you see him preparing right now for the subpoena fight. that subpoena threat goes all the way back to march when mueller made it in a private exchange with then trump attorney john dowd. the republican party is on edge, especially after tuesday's primaries in ohio and elsewhere about the midterm elections. they don't want to have the mueller report hanging over their heads. so in my conversations with republican lawmakers on capitol hill, they're telling the white house, they're telling trump allies, they're telling giuliani and the president, anything you can to get russia off of our plate, we'd appreciate it. and they know they have to take a tough line and sanctions. the party is more hawkish than
the president on russia, but they want this mueller report to be not hanging out there as a variable. and so that's why in part this is a political strategy for giuliani as much as a legal strategy. >> jonathan lemire, i want to read you the quote, two very young promising writers at the associated press have worked together on this piece. oh, look, it's you and your co-author. "trump has seethed to confidantes that he views the manafort charges as a warning shot from mueller. he has told those close to him that as he watches the courtroom proceedings he fears that donald trump jr. could at some point be the one on trial." left out all the careful sourcing that you were careful to put in this. you're just back from bedminster, new jersey. how is the president enjoying his vacation? >> we haven't seen too much of him on the vacation. >> exactly the way they planned it. >> that's right. he did have a dinner with business leaders last night. we saw the first few minutes of it. but largely he has been laying low. the white house hasn't been reading out who he's been speaking with and golfing with.
we know over the last ten days or so, we have seen reflected in his tweets, as well as these private conversations, how upset he has been watching the manafort trial day after day. it's the cable coverage, it's in his face. it's mostly you, inescapable every day that he sees it there. and that he -- as he's told people around him, he feels that that's sort of mueller's opening act. even though this trial is not about russia, but he feels mueller's hand is involved, obviously manafort was a prominent part of his campaign and it's a sense of what could still be to come. even though the president tells people around him he doesn't believe his son did anything wrong. but he suggests that equality, a, he inadvertently broke the law perhaps or, b, he's simply the victim a witch hunt. stop me if you've heard that before from the president. and in this case, he feels that that could be next. and that is something that even though publicly he is suggesting i'm not worried about don jr., privately he is. don jr. himself also very much taking this brash approach, moving forward. he has become a very popular surrogate among republicans for
the midterm elections crisscrossing the country. so he is not letting this slow him down. >> big thanks to our big three on a wednesday night in august. jonathan lemire, robert costa, barbara mcquade. thank you. coming up, a prom nept member of congress who went big for trump early arrested and charged by a trump appointee at the justice department for something he might have been photographed doing at the white house on the lawn. and later, the president says he's five for five. others in his own party, however, are scoring the situation a bit differently with the midterms 90 days away. "the 11th hour" just getting started on wednesday night. are you ready to take your wifi to the next level?
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information, the feds say he immediately called his son. the indictment says collins' son cameron sold a large block of stock and tipped off others, including his fiancee's father, who is also facing charges of insider trading. the feds allege they avoided in all more than $700,000 in losses by dumping the stock when they did. u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, a trump appointee, by the way, said someone who helps write the laws of this land act as if they didn't apply to him. >> congressman collins cheated our markets and our justice system. these charges are a reminder that this is a nation of laws. and that everybody stands equal before the bar of justice. >> all three men, including the congressman, pleaded not guilty in manhattan federal court. earlier tonight in buffalo, collins said he is looking forward to clear his name. >> the charges that have been levied against me are meritless, and i will mount a vigorous
defense in court to clear my name. i look forward to being fully vindicated and exonerated, ending any and all questions relating to my affiliation with innate. >> the congressman says he is not only staying in his seat, his name will be on the ballot as he is running for re-election in november. meanwhile, house speaker paul ryan has stripped collins of his committee post on energy and commerce pending an investigation into the accusations. with us tonight to talk about it, daniel goldman, former assistant u.s. attorney for, wait for it, the southern district of new york, who prosecuted an insider trading case just last year. and shane goldmacher is back with us. chief metro political correspondent for the "new york times." welcome to you both. shane, i don't want this to become an episode of "billions," but we have upstate political players and power bosses and we have the aforementioned southern district of new york.
talk about this seat. how safe was it for collins? what was his position in the new york delegation? and what would it take for those political bosses to say, you know what? this seat is too valuable. we need you to step aside. >> well, his position in the new york delegation shifted dramatically the day he endorsed donald trump. he was the first member of congress to do so. because after that he became a senior member when trump became president because suddenly he had entree to the white house. the president was calling him on the phone. he became an important member of the delegation. he wasn't before. he was a back bench member. and he represents the trumpiest seat in new york. donald trump won almost 60% there, more than any other seat in the state. this is seen as a safe republican seat, except candidates running under indictment are almost never actually safe. >> counselor, correct me if i'm wrong, other when there is an earnings call and a stock takes
a tumble, or skyrockets up, when there is an event that causes a stock to tumble or soar, doesn't the s.e.c., don't the feds kind of rewind the tapes two, three days and look for any large blocks of stock, any significant movement of stock? and you've got guys like this member of congress. don't they understand people are watching and listening? >> well, it is interesting. finra, which is the sort of nonprofit arm funded by congress, has algorithms that goes back and looks at all of these things. and that's where a lot of these investigations begin. but you know, it was a small -- small stock generally speaking. it was 50 cents when this occurred, or when this information was relayed to him. it was very difficult to trade in the united states. it was only over the counter. it was not on a larger exchange because it's an australian stock. so i think it was -- it seems,
if you can put yourself in his mindset, it was almost instinctive, like i got this information, i got to tell my son. i can't sell my shares, which is laid out in the indictment as to why he can't, including the fact that his shares were in australia and there was a moratorium on trading them. so i'm going to just tell my son. and then his son took it and told everybody else. but this guy was on the board of this company. he has a fiduciary duty to maintain the confidentiality of what is clearly inside information. and for someone in elected office to completely abdicate that responsibility and pass along information that he unquestionably knew he should not be doing is a blatant violation of the law. >> by the way, 50 cents a share. we're talking about a lot of stock, if they were stemming losses potentially close to 3/4 of a million dollars? >> yeah. the stock went down 92% after this was made public. >> a true penny stock after this.
shane, the problem with the seat and the area in new york state where it's located is how cruel the economy was to that real estate, that part of new york state. the optics of a member of congress cozy with the trump white house on the lawn, on the south lawn, on his phone. it looks very swampy. and if the right democrat comes along in that district and says this is the rich getting richer. must be nice to be at a picnic at the white house, must be nice to avoid three quarters of a million dollars in stock losses as alleged. you could see red turn to blue, could you not? >> you could. one challenge is the democrats don't have the candidate they wanted in this race. it's a local elected official progressive activist. but the governor was actually trying to get his running mate, kathy hochul to leave the lieutenant governorship and run for this seat. he publicly basically lobbied for her to do so. she lost to chris collins a few years back. she said no. so they ended up with this progressive activist. he has almost no money, about $81,000 in the bank.
chris collins has $1.3 million in campaign cash and millions in personal funds he can tap into. but he is already running up legal bills. he may not want to front the legal bills himself. he may want to use the campaign money to pay off things. he spent $250,000 already at a law firm that's defending him. but look, if you're facing jail time and you have millions of dollars i think you spend as much as you can to not go behind bars. frankly that's one of the hopes the democrats have over the long run. but look, this seat went from off the board to on the board. right? this may not be the most competitive seat in new york. it may not be the most competitive seat certainly in the country. but it's something that certainly the republicans are going to have to look at you. you saw that video, right? this is on the white house lawn, on camera, on the phone. that is a devastating political ad. >> daniel, roughly how many years is he looking at if convicted? >> guessing in the four to five-year range. >> okay. gentlemen, thank you. we couldn't help but note goldman and goldmacher would make great letterhead if they were going to form a
firm of some point. daniel goldman, shane goldmacher, thank you both very much. coming up, prosecutors in the trial of paul manafort may be days away from resting their case. and tonight what's now an open question. is the judge in this case making the case more difficult for the feds? when we come back. beginning ... it was always our singular focus, a distinct determination. to do whatever it takes, use every possible resource. to fight cancer. and never lose sight of the patients we're fighting for. our cancer treatment specialists share the same vision. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. specialists focused on treating cancer. using advanced technologies. and more precise treatments than before. working as hard as we can- doing all that we can- for everyone who walks through our doors. this is cancer treatment centers of america. and these are the specialists we're proud to call our own.
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paul manafort, and the star witness against manafort took the stand for a third straight day. rick gates pleaded guilty to helping manafort commit tax and bank fraud. manafort's defense made another attempt to discredit gates by pointing out he embezzled from his boss, and they called his character into question, getting gates to admit on the stand that he made many, many mistakes over the years. but the real meat of today's testimony came in the form of financial documents and flow charts. an fbi forensic accountant testified that manafort's lavish purchases coincided with massive wire transfers from foreign banks. an irs agent told the jury manafort hid $16 million from the government, and that his 2014 tax return was, quote, false. back with us is barbara mcquade, who not only is a former u.s. attorney, she was in court for today's proceedings. we can't thank her enough for staying late to talk about it with us. barbara, what does the jury make of this thing so far?
we've gone from ostrich jackets to mention of four extramarital affairs for a man they know is the star witness. >> one of the things today i thought was a great recovery day for the government. after sort of this roller coaster ride of rick gates on the stand, they had sort of a stomach-soothing day with these two experts. the forensic accountant and the irs revenue agent, who did a very nice job, rather tedious presentation, but went through charts that they had compiled that showed very meticulously that it was paul manafort who controlled these accounts overseas, that wire transfers went from those accounts to buy his luxury goods, the suits, the rugs, the car, the homes, and all of those things, and that this income did not show up on his income tax return. so i thought that was very methodical. it was exactly what they needed after hearing from rick gates. you know, they often refer to that as the cooperator sandwich. you want to put the cooperator whose testimony is likely to be risky in the middle of the case.
you want to start strong and end strong and put that cooperator in the middle. and that seems to be exactly what the government is doing. >> and i want to ask you about this federal judge again. we talked about him last night. but the question is what did this judge do today that got your attention and why? >> well, one of the things he did today again is interjecting his own views about the case when it's supposed to be the jury who is the fact finder. at one point this forensic accountant testified that two of paul manafort's purported signatures appeared to her to be different. and the judge remarked, "you think those signatures are different? well, i guess the jury will decide." what is the jury supposed to make of that? he's almost testifying. so these interjections i think are incredibly inappropriate. now, it may be that if and when the defense puts on a case, he does the same thing to them. but i do think that there are messages that the jury gets in these cases. the thing that bothers me the most is in his obsession, really, to move the case along quickly he often refuses to allow the jury to see exhibits in real time.
he says they can look at those later. but i think in a case as complex as this it's really important to see those exhibits as they're coming in. you know, a trial is supposed to be a show-and-tell. they're getting the tell part, but not necessarily the show. and the idea of going back later and finding which one of these bank records matches up to the testimony of the witness is really difficult. so he allowed more of that today, of seeing these charts that were made by these experts, but i do worry about keeping those documents out of the view of the jury as we move things quickly to the detriment of the government who has the burden of proof. if the jury is not convinced, they means they can't find the defendant guilty. >> as paul newman's character said in the great courtroom movie "the verdict," "your honor, if you're going to try my case, try not to lose it." barbara mcquade, whose days start very early in that courtroom and who was so kind to stay late and bring us up to date on this trial. can't thank you enough. appreciate it. >> my pleasure, brian. thanks. coming up for us, one party's big voter turnout. the arrest of a republican
member of congress. and a reality tv star's claim of secret recordings. there she is. of president donald trump, her old boss. the growing problems for the grand old party when we come back.
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situation we're watching in washington after republican congressman chris collins was arrested and charged with insider trading and lying to the government earlier today. the charges against collins come as republicans trying to figure out a game plan, perhaps leading into the mid terms in 90 days. last night's special election in an ohio district that trump won by 11 points still too close to call as our network sees it right now. robert costa of "the washington post," who we had on earlier tonight, puts it this way. talking about all of last night's results, "many republican strategists viewed the results as a dark omen three months ahead of election day, saying they illustrate the limits of trump's ability to boost candidates, particularly in suburban areas where the president's popularity has suffered. even in republican primaries, securing trump's endorsement was not a guarantee of electoral success." we are so happy tonight to be joined by both eugene robinson, pulitzer prize winning columnist for "the washington post," and
a b. stoddard, veteran washington journalist, a column exist associate editor at real clear politics. eugene, what's happening in the republican party? what's happening in the electorate? and is it such a moving target that if i ask you on monday your answer could perhaps be different? >> oh, totally, totally. >> i'll wait and ask you. >> so, but here we are on wednesday, and we just had some elections yesterday. so you can say the republican party is looking at some substantial losses in the midterm election. they're looking down that barrel. >> as in no more speaker ryan? >> certainly could be. and i think you'd say that's likely now. likely only lasts for a couple of days in this era, apparently. but right now you'd have to say that's likely.
you know, democrats have to close the deal, right? they have an edge on in enthusiasm. you saw that again last night. clearly, they have made a whole lot of what should be safe republican districts competitive. but they've got to close the deal. and one they can fail to do that is being complacent about last night's results. donald trump went to that district in ohio, and it looks like he might have brought the republican balderson across the finish line, right? 1500 votes right now. it's too close to call. so we can't -- we don't know. but he's ahead by 1500 votes. and that could have made the difference of those 1500 votes. you can't doubt that he boosted gop enthusiasm to some degree in that district. and democrats should prepare for that. i mean, they have to amp it up too. >> a.b., our friend eugene is
not hyperbolic. he is a level-headed man who i've known for long time. and yet i'm looking at the headline on his column. trump's rally rhetoric is going to get somebody killed. and sadly, there is a good chance eugene may be right. and you combine that, that speaks to the tone and tenor of our times with all this politics we're seeing. the question to you is, what are republicans really talking about in cloakrooms and restaurants and homes? >> right. what's interesting is that troy balderson, if he won, it would have been because of trump as eugene said. and if he lost it would have been because of trump. so as trump comes and rallies and his supporters love all that stuff about the disgusting fake news and everything he does, really all of that aggressive talk really riles them up and they enjoy it. so when you're in the house and you're looking to hold the
house, and you're at the nrcc, the campaign committee, you're looking at the map, you think that's fine for donald trump to go to senate -- help senate republicans in states he won by landslide margins. he can't go to swing districts in the house if they risk losing, and they need to defend their majority. he is welcome in safe districts, but they aren't the ones that they need to hold. >> and those are a moving target too. >> so that's really -- right. >> the definition of safe. >> if you look at the political report data that republicans -- that's making them so nervous, it's that if you -- they did a comparison recently from august of 2006 to november. august of 2010 to november. there are more competitive seats this august, and those numbers always grow. and they have no -- it's 53 right now. they have no idea where it's going go november 6th. >> think of the day the president is having today. his campaign chairman on trial. >> deputy campaign director is
the star witness. >> the star witness. his first supporter in congress is arrested and indicted and arrested today. and there are the election results from last night which he puts a brave face on. i'm sure people have explained to him this really isn't that good, mr. president. so i think you can anticipate in the next few days he might be on a jag. i think a tweet storm is coming. >> don't forget there is somewhere there is an ostrich saying was it really worth it to kill my brother so this guy could have a jacket. a.b., you're such a nice person, you don't deserve this. but i'm going to read you this daily beast quote anyway. "multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation tell the daily beast that omarosa manigault newman, the infamous "apprentice" star o'who followed trump to the white house, secretly recorded conversations with the president, conversations she has since leveraged while shopping her forthcoming tell-all book bluntly titled "unhinged."
a.b., nice person, level headed person, what does this say about our time? >> what this says about president trump is he asked for this. i do not watch "the apprentice." but i'm told by people who did that the omarosa character was the viper and you didn't mess with her, you mess with the bull you get the horns. she was not boil to anybody. she was happy to stir up trouble and she will turn on you. he let her into the west wing. she had a nebulous job. no one knew what she did. she recorded him. if this is true, the danger of trump and omarosa is they are not in the reputation preservation business. they're unembarrassable. >> are you sure you never watched? you're really good on this subject. >> i don't do reality tv. >> but think about -- think about it, though. he brought a reality television contestant into the white house as a senior adviser. in the west wing. >> think about this. he worked in this building and received a paycheck from this company for 14 years. eugene robinson and a.b. stoddard, our thanks. terrific conversation. i think she has been sneaking reality television.
coming up, as we have reported, the trump presidency has been very good for the book publishing business. there is a new one, already up to number two in new releases in just 24 hours on amazon, and it's unambiguous. its equally unambiguous author standing by to join us.
toward their own doom keeps growing. republican primaries have become contests for the darwin awards, a political version of hold my beer, watch this bubbaism." rick wilson is a proud floridian, a veteran strategist and admaker. donald trump has called him weak, totally conflicted and dumb as a rock. which our guest tonight wears as an enormous badge of honor. thank you for coming on. you have a dedicated following on social media. i'm happy to say i'm among them. >> thank you, sir. >> the book is a heck of a journey. how did the trump era happen? it takes two to tango in politics. there were some really good republican candidates. >> absolutely. >> how did this happen? when people ask you that question, what's your answer? >> this was a failure of leadership at the highest levels of the party, and that includes reince priebus and the money part of the party, all those 17 candidates who were considered
some of the best and brightest in the field and all of them misread the situation and all the professional class guys like me misread the situation, too. a lot of us thought this guy is a joke, he's a clown, he's going to self-destruct. but we didn't reckon with the fact people were voting for a candidate who they thought was the character he played on reality television. >> 14 years in this building. >> 14 years in this building in a huge hit show for this network and for trump. and the misreads and the missteps, it's a gigantic leadership failure. and they've compounded it by the fact that now he's in the oval office and now he's president and his behavior and his leadership and governance is such a train wreck they're trying normalize it and say this is the new way we do things. they've had to walk away from every principle republicans have ever had or ever stated they believed in and we've got a president who governs by rage tweets from the toilet at 6:00 in the morning. so the journey getting here as a guy who was a party loyalist and a guy who fought in the trenches for 30 years in the conservative
movement in the republican party, it wasn't an easy transition. but i sleep well every night. i'm comfortable with it. >> as opposed to some of those you've chosen in the book, you go through the individuals attracted to work for trump. and you give them outside of a benihana you don't see a fillet job like this individually. do us the honor. one of the passages that really got to me, we've excised a dirty word from the first sentence. this is your own writing. first two paragraphs on steve bannon. will you give us a dramatic reading? >> i will happily give you a dramatic reading. "the brightest, hottest, weirdest blank star in the trump constellation from the moment of the donald's unexpected electoral victory was steve bannon. if you're looking for the white hot center of esoteric trumpism, bannon is the intellectual architect, once you get past the homeless drifter with a hitchhiker's head in his backpack affect. bannon, a man who looks like a spokesmodel for a new line of gout medication-s known for his
oddball sar torial choices, the multiple shirts, the tactical operator pants, and the barber jacket are all hallmarks of his bus shelter chic style. persistently rumpled, persistently grizzled, and persistenly looking like he's been dragged over 30 miles of bad road, bannon was no one's idea of the white house's dull but professional suit and tie culture. his rheumy-eyed stare and odd constellation of facial moles, warts, scrofula, weeping sores, and grizzled beard patches make him look vaguely piratical." >> and that's the book's dedication -- no. i'm just kidding. that is just the portion on steve bannon. we'll take a break. rick wilson has agreed to stay with us over the break. because when we come back i'm going to ask him how this all ends.
opportunity to own fiscal discipline because we're spending money like drunken sailors on shore leave. and the debt is rising. the deficit is rising. we've made a huge bet with this tax bill which is helping 150 guys down on wall street. so all those things, unless you want to reset on them and do the hard work of it, the republican party is going to become the trump party and maybe a conservative party emerges from that and hives off from it but it's a very dark path ahead. we -- the statism and nationalist populism that defines trumpism is going to become under the republican brand something i think is unsellable to people who are younger than 55. >> what is your 30-second answer to how does it end? how does the trump era end? >> that whole scene in mad max where the guy is playing the guitar on the truck and the flamethrower. pretty much like that. no. i think trump will collapse of his own weight in the end. he's not happy. he's a man under enormous pressure. this is not a comfortable space for him.
he's stuck in this. he thought it was going to be a prank and joke and make a ton of money off of it. you can tell he is physically and mentally uncomfortable with the position he's in as president. and i don't think it lasts. >> rick wilson's new book, "everything trump touches dies," is presently ranked number 2 among new releases on amazon. and this is important. where it has leapfrogged the russia hoax by gregg jarrett and where it now trails only this, "stay sexy and don't get murdered," which i think is good advice for all of us. with our thanks to rick wilson for joining us. that is our broadcast on a wednesday night. thank you so very much for being with us. good night for all of us here at nbc news headquarters in new york.

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