Last night while insisting it was a debate. The question that awaits them 24 hours later, will they attack the incumbent president with some of that same energy as the 11th hour gets under way on this thursday night. Well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 1,127 of the Trump Administration, leaving 257 days to go until the 2020 president ial election. And we begin tonight with sad word that Funeral Services are pending this evening after the death of outrage earlier today, outrage officially died of exhaustion though buoyed at the very end by the one bright spot, the realization that its close relative apathy survives and is thriving. We are obviously take something Poetic License here to underscore the gravity of the story that broke late in the day. First from the New York Times, later confirmed by nbc news, the Washington Post, and others, the headline is the russians are in the midst of tampering with our next president ial election. More than that, the times reports the effort is to tip the result to donald trump. The campaign, they say, will include tinkering with this years democratic primaries, getting americans themselves to spread mistruths and divisions, and casting doubt upon close elections and recounts. The worst part of this reporting may be the reaction of the president upon learning that congress had been told about all this. And here we quote from the New York Times. Intelligence officials warned house lawmakers last week that russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump reelected, a disclosure to congress that angered mr. Trump, who complained that democrats would use it against him. The day after the february 13th briefing to lawmakers, mr. Trump berated Joseph Maguire, the outgoing acting director of National Intelligence, for allowing it to take place. More on the outgoing part in a moment. The report continues, trump cited the presence in the briefing of representative adam schiff, the california democrat who led the impeachment proceedings against him, as a particular irritant. The Washington Post first reported the oval Office Confrontation between trump and maguire. In the wake of all that, trump yesterday indeed fired the acting dni maguire, removing any hope of getting the job on a permanent basis, and installed Richard Grenell as the new acting dni. Grenell is the current u. S. Ambassador to germany. Its a job he plans on keeping while serving as acting dni. Hes been a vocal supporter of the president , happens to have no intelligence experience. Earlier on this network, former obama cia director john brennan expressed his concerns about the new man. Its going to be somebody who is this loyalist to trump, who is going to oversee the 17 Intelligence Committee agencies. Is he going to filter information . Is he going to shape it . It is something i think a lot of professionals in the Intelligence Community now are looking at with a very, very worried expression. Tonight a trump official is telling nbc news grenell will not serve as acting director of National Intelligence for long and that the president , who backed this up with a tweet moments ago, will nominate a new director soon, possibly within days. This all comes a day after the white house ousted a top pentagon official, john rood, who pushed back on efforts to withhold aid to ukraine, and they have reassign san diego Senior National security aide victoria coats, the target of a whisper campaign, accusing her of being the anonymous author behind that scathing New York Times oped of old. The white house has denied that rumor. Earlier this week, though, trump claimed to know the identity of anonymous. I know who it is. Who is it . I cant tell you that. I know all about anonymous. On another front, trumps longtime friend and adviser roger stone was sentenced in federal court today just blocks from the white house. Judge Amy Berman Jackson gave stone three years and four months. He was convicted last year of lying to congress and threatening a witness in connection with his efforts for trumps 2016 effort. Stone is the sixth trump associate to be convicted in a case stemming from Robert Muellers investigation. Todays sentencing follows intervention in the case from none other than the attorney general william barr. He got involved in the case after his boss complained publicly to his 70 million or so followers about the recommended sentence. During the hearing, the judge told stone he, quote, was not prosecuted for standing up for the president. He was prosecuted for covering up for the president. And the president , for his part, had this reaction to the sentence. And im following this very closely, and i want to see it play out to its fullest because roger has a very good chance of exoneration in my opinion. What happened to him is unbelievable. They say he lied, but other people lie too. And now to the only thought that that all conjures. Tonight some trump advisers are telling nbc news if the president indeed decides to pardon roger stone, they want him to wait until after the election so he doesnt risk turning off undecided voters in swing states. All of it a dramatic departure from the way our government has conducted itself on matters of National Security and justice, which the democrats mostly avoided in last nights debate. Lets bring out our front four tonight. And because of tonights news, were going to extend our conversation here a bit. Peter baker, chief White House Correspondent for the New York Times, who spent four years as Moscow Bureau chief for the Washington Post. Philip rucker, pulitzer prizewinning White House Bureau chief for the Washington Post, coauthor along with his post colleague Carol Leonnig of the New York Times bestselling book a very stable genius. Shannon pettypiece, senior White House Reporter at nbc news digital. And frank figliuzzi, former fbi assistant director, notably for counterintelligence. And, frank, its because of your lifes work that id like to begin with you. You read the journalism out tonight. What is being alleged about the russian effort, and it sure reads like this is ball game, frank. Robert mueller, special counsel, told us when he testified on the hill, brian, its happening right now. He said it in his written report after his special counsel inquiry. The last actual dni, director of National Intelligence, that we had, dan coats, put it in an annual report. It said this is the new battlefield, political social propaganda and cyber warfare. And yet the Trump Administration has done absolutely nothing. And now the Trump Administration reportedly is on notice, and the lawmakers that we put in office are on notice. They can no longer use the defense they used previously. You didnt tell the president. He didnt know. Why did you start an investigation without telling him . That defense is gone. Now so my position is theres likely federal law being broken here. How . Well, we indicted a couple of dozen russians for doing the interference in 2016. Theres crimes being committed. Theres social media fraud, cyber fraud, hacking. Something is going on to aid the democratic primaries reportedly, and so if the lawmakers and the president do nothing about it, having been on notice, they are essentially aiding and abetting russia. Its time for them to step up and do something. Peter baker, heres a couple more breathtaking quotes from your newspaper. The russians have made more creative use of facebook and other social media. Rather than impersonating americans as they did in 2016, russian operatives are working to get americans to repeat disinformation to get around social Media Companies rules that prohibit inauthentic speech, the officials said. And the russians are working for servers located in the United States rather than abroad, knowing that american intelligence agencies are prohibited from operating inside the country. The fbi and the department of Homeland Security can, with aid from the intelligence agencies. Peter, do you have any evidence that washington has, as a community, absorbed the clear and present danger to our next president ial election . And forgive the snark, how will we know when they do . Whats striking about it is rather than being seen as a threat to National Security, its seen as yet another partisan issue. This intelligence, this warning, this concern about whats happening from an exterior entity is filtered through the political battles that we have been so engaged in these last three years. Rather than coming together, the two parties are seeing it through the lens of who gets an advantage. President trump complained about this being briefed to the house because he thought that the democrats would weaponize it. Thats the term he used, weaponize it. Of course the republicans on the hill who heard this briefing, some of them questioned the authenticity of it, saying that in fact perhaps it was overwrought or overstretched and in fact this is not whats really going on. Thats a real problem for a country to respond to an external threat when its internal divisions are so stark that it cant even agree on what that threat is. Shannon pettypiece, the word acting is back in the news. Its the now first word in every big job title. Imagine how psyched the germans are tonight, most prosperous economy in europe, to learn that our ambassador to germany is going to be spending his free time as acting dni in charge of overseeing our 17 intelligence agencies. Though likely not for long. At least thats what our reporting is indicating, that the administration is actively looking to try and find someone to be a permanent nominee, and they could have a nominee that they can send over to the senate within days. But of course we have heard this again. For example, Homeland Security has an acting director of Homeland Security, and it was months ago that Administration Officials were telling me that they were just days away from getting a permanent nominee that they could give to the senate. But one thing the white house is trying to do, because rick grenell has gotten a lot of criticism because of his lack of experience in the Intelligence Community, they are trying to send out a message there that this is only something temporary. Were still trying to look for someone, you know, on a permanent basis. And theres a sense that weve gotten, and now the reporting from, you know, my colleagues at nbc and from of course the Washington Post and the New York Times, that this departure of maguire, the previous acting dni, was expedited a bit because of that oval office briefing, which could mean that the white house was caught a bit flat footed trying to find someone to replace him because, of course, as my colleagues are reporting, this briefing that was given to the members of congress is something that pushed maguire out sooner than expected. So i will see were being told within days, but weve heard a lot of things are happening within days. Phil rucker, as part of your huge body of reporting on this president , people have borrowed from the Catholic Church to use the term original sin. What they mean is this angry reaction that were reporting on again tonight. The president lashed out at the hint, the whiff of a story and its dissemination that may speak to any sort of illegitimacy about his election or illegitimacy about a hoped for, in his case, second term. Yeah, brian. The issue of russian interference has haunted donald trump since before he even took office. It was during his transition after the 2016 election when he really retaliated against the Intelligence Community for the assessment, the conclusion of all the u. S. Intelligence agencies that russia had, in fact, interfered illegally in the 2016 election and that they had done so to try to help boost trumps candidacy. Trump felt that that finding, that assessment from the Intelligence Community, somehow delegitimized his election or threatened to do so, was a knock against him, was a sign that maybe he didnt win entirely based on his own charisma and his own strength as a candidate, which he has believed. And so he refused to believe that intelligence conclusion. He was asked repeatedly in the early months of his presidency if he would acknowledge and affirm what his own intel agency said, and he would never really fully do so. And then we of course remember that summit he had with Vladimir Putin in helsinki, finland, where he took the russian president at his word, a very strong denial as trump put it that russia had interfered in the election. And so this issue has dogged trump. Its haunted him. And to this day he is still trying to rewrite that historical narrative about the 2016 election even as we now learn that russia is actively trying to interfere in the 2020 election. Again, as we said, our front four have all gladly agreed to stay with us. Well get in a break here and continue our conversation. When we do, more on this evenings breaking news, including a look back at republican reaction the last time the russians dipped into our president ial election. Plus well talk to the former lead prosecutor on the russia investigation and get his take tonight. And then later, two veteran political reporters on where this 2020 race stands on this day after the bloodbath in las vegas as the 11th hour is just Getting Started on this consequential thursday night. Welcome back. The New York Times reporting that trumps allies on the house intel committee, his fellow republicans, challenged intelligence officials conclusions that russia is already, right now, again interfering in our president ial election, this time with the aim of helping donald trump. The times reports republicans argued with straight faces trump has been rough on russia and strengthened european security. You may remember that intelligence officials also pushed back from republicans back in 2016. In his book the apprentice, Washington Post reporter greg miller writes that before the 2016 election and this was an incredible scene then cia director john brennan briefed Mitch Mcconnell about russias efforts to help donald trump. Miller wrote it this way. As brennan moved through his talking points, the kentucky senator expressed no alarm about what russia might be doing in the u. S. Election and instead accused the cia director of playing politics. Youre trying to screw the republican candidate, mcconnell said. On that note, back with us tonight, peter baker, philip rucker, shannon pettypiece, and frank figliuzzi. And, frank, again a nation turns its lonely eyes to you. We have some really good people among our viewership. They work hard, play by the rules, love their country. When they go to vote, just the once unless their caucusgoers in iowa or nevada, they like to think thats going to count, that there wont be any shenanigans. They like to think that that is their act and theirs alone. Who do they see about this news we are repeating tonight and how overwhelming and depressing it is . Clearly the answers are not going to come from washington on this and from this administration. The intel agencies are going to do everything they can, but they have handcuffs on because of this administration. So it has to come the solutions have to come locally, brian. What i tell people when i speak to them in groups or oneonone is you need to demand answers from your local registrar of voters, your state, county, municipal registrar of voters. Are there going to be paper backups or not . Are we relying entirely on four private companies that make all the machinery for voting in this country with one Company Holding a 60 market share of all voting equipment . We need paper backup. Those private companies that make that equipment, you know what they tell you when you buy their equipment . We have great stuff, but you should really use a paper backup. So demand answers and get the answers you need. Call your elected representatives. Write them. The answers are going to come locally on this. But you know what . Were on notice now. After 9 11 we had a terrible terrorism attack and tragedy. It was a whole of government approach. We instituted an entire agency, dhs. We had a colorcoded system to warn us of the threat risk that was coming. Were at that high threat risk right now, but we dont have that whole of government approach. It has to happen with us and at the local level. Thats useful, frank, and thank you. Peter baker, mr. Figliuzzi says nothing casually, and he just dismissed all of washington, d. C. As a possible solution in this. Lets think about the kind of centrist National Security, as we used to call them, republicans like blunt, like portman, like collins. Are you expecting anything from them . W