Stand by for that because tonight one of those wacky coincidences, tonight, the night before russian roulette comes out. House republicans decided to announce with no warning they are not doing any more interviews in the russia investigation, that in fact, their whole investigation is over as of today, surprise and having declared the investigation over today, they somehow today also completed their 150page report on the results of their investigation. What they have concluded is there was absolutely, positively, no collusion by the Trump Campaign and maybe putin wanted hillary to win. Who can say . Now i say this was all a surprise tonight because literally, even people who are supposed to be intimately involved in this investigation, they had no idea this was happening tonight. The wall street journal said the republicans might be quitting and announcing its done in response to that reporting from the wall street journal, the democrats were like what . They are doing what now . The investigation is over . A staffer telling the wall street journal as of this amp quote we have not been informed there will not be more interviews conducted. We have not been informed the investigation ended but poof, it was over. Republicans just ended it on their own and declared no collusion, no collusion while the democrats on that committee werent even yet under the impression that things were wrapping up. This is called unsubtle. Now with all due respect for the leadership of the insdwrentelli committee, im not sure anybody was waiting with baited breath to see if devin nunes would get to the bottom but unless democrats can retake the house and restart the investigation under different and perhaps more committed leadership, this latest stunt but congressman nunes declaring today surprise, its over, everything is fine, this means as of today there is no congressional investigation into the russia scandal anymore, at least not in the house. Republicans on the judiciary house said no, they wouldnt look into it and Oversight Committee said they would keep investigating Hillary Clinton instead. In the house intelligence was basically it. That was all they were doing and have now shut that down. Now the top democrat on that committee, on the intel jents committee put out a blistering response tonight saying republicans quote placed the interest of protecting the president over protecting the country and history will judge their actions harshly. Congressman adam schiff in this statement tonight, its interesting, he left bread comes. Criticizing republicans saying history will judge you harshly but leaves bread kruls for peop crumbs for people to follow. He says quote, weve learned a great deal about countless meetings, conversations and communications between Trump Campaign officials and russians all of which the Trump Administration initially denied would later misrepresent and be forced to acknowledge. Check this out, on a whole host of investigative threads, our work is fund mentally incomplete. Some issues partial lynn vely investigated, others remain barely touched including credible allegations of russian Money Laundering. If they have leverage over the president of the United States, republicans decided they would rather not know. So there are minor political explosions going off tonight over House Republicans shutting down the russia investigation at a time when democrats who are part of that investigation say among other things, there were credible allegations of russian Money Laundering that may indicate russian leverage but republicans are refusing to look at that. So were going to have congressman adam schiff here with us tonight in a few minutes with more on that. With the house investigation shut down, though, there are obviously still some other games in town in terms of getting to the bottom of the scandal. In the senate, the investigation apparently proceeds a pace as far as we can tell. The investigation in the senate is lead by richard burr and mark warner. They have been silent as church mice but we think their investigation is still plugging along, maybe. There is also the special counsel investigation. The Trump Campaign may be bringing on a blue chip lawyer to augment the strength of the legal representation for dealing with the mueller team. Well have more on that ahead tunnel. There is also interesting new reporting from Bloomberg News tonight about how mueller is proceeding and what he still hasnt done. Bloomberg reporting tonight that neither donald trump junior nor his sister ivanka trump nor longtime trump body guard Keith Shiller have been interviewed. You might imagine all three people would be on deck for him and his team but none have been interviewed yet. So the only investigation in the hols g house got killed. The Mueller Investigation is blacker box but at least they pop into the light and indict a bunch of people. You know, if we, the American People are going to get a clear view what happened to us as a country, what happened to us in the 2016 election and who done it exactly, well, you know how weve gotten most of the information we had thus far. Most of the information we had thus far as american citizens has been from the other investigation, the investigation that runs parallel alongside whats been done by the house and senate and Robert Mueller. Where weve learned the most is from the investigation that never stops from the one that cant be shut down by republicans from the investigation that cant be fired. Its the one that taught us almost everything we know thus far about this scandal. Its, of course, the investigation being done by journalist, investigative journalist. The best book written about what went wrong getting this country into the iraq war in 2002 and 2003, that was a book called hubris written by david corn and michael. Its the book about what happened in the leadup to the war . Thats the last book that they wrote together. Now tonight at midnight its the release of the next one, russian roulette and they will do a big launch tomorrow morning but they are here tonight first and one of the things they got which weve never heard before is the reaction from president obama when he was first briefed on the steele dossier and they also got the somewhat priceless reaction from Vice President joe biden when he first heard after the election about the int intelligence reporting on connections between Trumps Campaign and the russian government. Quote, on thursday january 5th, 2017 the day before the public release, the intelligence chiefs briefed obama and senior staff. White house officials were taken aback. It was the first time the pieces came together from us. It seemed a much grander conspiracy than it was during the election. This was an intelligence failure and a failure of the imaginati n imagination. When joe biden was briefed on connexction connections, biden had a v reaction saying quote, if this is true, its treason. A few days earlier National Security advisor susan rice encouraged James Clapper to tell president obama about the golden showers allegation during the president s daiily intelligence briefing. Thats a claim in the Christopher Steele dossier about alleged russian dirt on candidate donald trump. Obama turned to rice and said quote, why am i hearing this . He was incredulous. They had no idea if this golden showers story was true but ocho bop obama needed to be aware. You dont hear golden showers in a president s daily brief or that the guy thats going to become president may be a candidate. So in that two paragraphs of reporting, we get the president s response to that piece of information. Why am i hearing this . And news that a senior official operating at that level of clearance believed that trump may be a candidate. Also, we learned joe biden learned if these allegations were true, that would be treason. On the subject of the alleged golden showers, i just leave my body, ill be back in a minute. David corn and michaels book knocks down the odds that that particular thing ever happened but i mean, you can read this however you want but they have lots of new detail about that allegation. First, in moscow, they do report out that the night mr. Trump stayed in moscow during the Miss Universe pageant he did stay at the ritz carlton in the same room that obama stayed in when he visited moscow four years later. Thats keeping with the allegations about trump and this alleged videotape of sexual behavior that supposedly took place in the room that was going to be used for leverage over trump for years to come. At the same time. David corn and isikoff get specific about the window of time in which this alleged activity would have to take place and its not a big window of time. They report donald trump was at a party in moscow until 1 30 a. M. Local time on the one night he was in moscow. He was at a party with other people until 1 30 in the morning. He was then due onset for a photo shoot the next morning at 7 45 a. M. And that was his only one night in moscow on that trip. And so if he was leaving party at 1 30, he had to be somewhere in 7 45. He gets a 2 00 a. M. To 7 00 a. M. Window and maybe thats time to get after serious shenanigans that live forever but thats a pretty tight time frame this would have had to happened. Corn and isikoff quote the author of the steel dossier as assertingless con less confidene tape allegations than the rest of his dossier. Quote, steeles fate would clear. Much later, Christopher Steele would say he believed 70 to 90 of the broad assertions in his reporting were true, russia mounted a campaign to cultivate trump and colluded with the Trump Campaign. As for the likelihood of the claim that prostitutes had urn nated in trumps presence, steele would say to colleagues, its 50 50. Quote steele would later wonder if there is a connection between trumps visit to a las vegas nightclub the act. Maybe there was a connection between that visit to that nightclub and the golden showers story in the first memo but he didnt know. That reference to the appearance at the act nightclub is from the first chapter of corn and isi p isikoffs book. They said those involved in the planning were in las vegas and went to a nightclub called the act in las vegas. Quote, shortly after midnight the entourage arrived. The group included trump, enin, gold stone, the reigning Miss Universe and out going miss usa. The clubs management heard trump might be there and decided if they should prepare a special performance, perhaps him being tied up on stage. Corn and isikoff report simulated urn nation barred any more such performances at this venue. Since isikoff and corn made those claims, at least one photo of trump inside that nightclub that night has emerged. So the reason everybody calls the Christopher Steele dossier the alleged thing, its important not so much for its direct content as for the allegation that the russian government had evidence of this thing that it might use as leverage against the president in an on going way. Well, if you are interested in that part of the russia scandal and steele dossier, david corn and Michael Isikoff turned up more than anybody wanted to know. They full reported this part of the scandal more than anybody else has. Both what could have happened in russia and where that allegation might have come from if it didnt come from the president s actual behavior in moscow. All right. While im scarring my mom with this talk, let me also give you one other steve bannon book they turn up. When during the Campaign Announced his Foreign Policy advisors, steve bannon reportedly had a very robust reaction to the announcement specifically including the announcement of George Papadopoulos. George papadopoulos would plead guilty and cooperate with the Mueller Investigation. This is from corn and isikoffs book. They called up a friend saying quote, these people are a bunch of clowns. As for papadopoulos, bannon asked his friend quote how the f did he get on this list . Corn and isikoff have a scoop on what George Papadopoulos told Robert Mueller and investigators how trump reacted to papadopoulos efforts to set up a Putin Meeting for him. Quote, on march 31st, 2016, papadopoulos atenltended the meeting in washington. Then under construction to become the new Trump International hotel. With trump proceeding, the members introduced themselves. Papadopoulos said he had contacts that could set up a meeting. Papadopoulos told investigators he believed trump gave him encouragement. According to sources familiar, trump said the idea was interesting and looked at sessions as if he expected sessions to follow up. Sessions nodded in response. So papadopoulos said trump was encouraging and wanted poll lowup. Here is another strange piece of reporting from the book about trumps reaction to another russi russian overture and we havent seen it until now. This was the interaction from during the campaign. Okay. Lets go. Sorry. Yes, maam. Im from russia. Good friend of obama, putin. He likes obama a lot. My question will be about foreign politics. If youre elected as a president , what will be your foreign politics especially in the relationships with my country and do you want to continue the politics of sanctions that mention of the economy or any other ideas . Obama gets along with nobody. The whole world hates us. Thats the start of his answer. He goes on there fror a long tie for about five minutes. Quote, at freedom fest a conservative event, maria, a tall, striking red head who we learned in the book has ties to the kremlin stood up and questioned trump during a q and a session and said im from russia, do you want to continue the politics or do you have any other ideas . Trump had not yet spoken about this issue as a candidate. During a fiveminute long response trump said i know putin. Putin has no respect for putin. Big problem, big problem. Obamas policies drove russia more closely than china and this is a horrible thing for the United States. I believe i would get along nicely with putin. I dont think you need the sanctions thanks to maria and the russians have trump on the record opposing sanctions despised by moscow. Much later, Trumps Campaign advisors watched the video and wonder about it. Steve bannon raised it with our chairman reince priebus. How was it that russian woman happened to be in las vegas for this vent and trump happened to call on her and trumps response, it was odd that trump had a fully developed answer. Trumps own campaign was weirded out by that interaction. Thats in rurussian roulette that comes out at midnight. There is more. Stay with us. Liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. Yeah, my dad says our insurance doesnt have that. What . you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. The smoother the skin, the more comfortable you are in it. And now theres a new way to smooth. Introducing new venus platinum. A premium metal handle boosts control. To reveal up to 100 smooth skin. Venus you know whats not awesome . Gigspeed internet. When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. Very first time we learned was september 2016. Was that report from yahoo news Michael Isakoff would report mont months later sure enough they said about trying to lift russian sanctions unilaterally. About six weeks after he reported that insdwrenvestigati david corn had a different kind of bombshell. He reported quote a former Senior Intelligence officer that specialized in russian Counter Intelligence said he provided the burro with memos that contend to the russian government for years has tried to assist trump. That scoop way before its time was a week before the 2016 election. Those memos mother jones would be the steele dossier reported david corn that reported their existence. These two reporters keep advancing the story well before anyone else catches up to what they are doing and now Michael Iskoff wrote a book called russian roulette. It comes out tomorrow which is very, very soon. Its very, very good. Thank you. Thank you for supporting us. It helps me. I cover this stuff intensively. I learn new stuff and helps me put it in context in a way i wasnt able to do before reading this. You advanced my own understanding. That was part of the point. This is a story thats been going on for a year and a half if not longer and goes in Different Directions and we get great scoops from reporters but they are a bit here and there and the way this world works, we seem to forget things so quickly they come and go so fast. We thought this is a particularly good moment in time to bring together in a narrative weaving together everything we do know up through the election and beyond. It seems tonight its very appropriate because while the House Intelligence Committee says the republicans will have 150page report, we dont know what will be in it, we have a 300page report thats more extensive and comprehensive than they are putting out. The surprise announcement. It doesnt have to go through a de