[applause] [applause] >> president trump: thank you. over the last year, the world has seen what we always knew, that no people on earth are so fearless or daring or determined as americans. if there is a mountain, we climate. if there is a frontier, we cross it. if there is a challenge, we tame it. if there is an opportunity, we seize it. so let's begin tonight by recognizing that the state of our union is strong, because our people are strong. [cheers and applause] [applause] >> president trump: and together we are building a safe, strong, and proud america. since the election, we have created 2.4 million new jobs. [cheers and applause] >> president trump: including 200,000 new jobs in manufacturing alone, tremendous. [applause] >> president trump: after years and years of wage stagnation, we are finally seeing rising wages. [cheers and applause] >> president trump: unemployment claims have hit a 45 year low. [applause] >> president trump: and something i'm very proud of, african-american unemployment stands at the lowest rate ever re

trump. >> when donald trump jr. is told the russian government is trying to elect your father president, he doesn't say what do you mean? how can that be? he says, "i want to hear this." >> the actual response? >> "if it's what you say, i love it." >> the trump camcamp's explanats were confusing. >> strange and conflicting responses. >> trump jr. told the the "new york times" it was, quote, a short introductory meeting primarily about russian adoption. cnn reported that president trump helped write the statement while he was flying home from the g-20 summit. >> he weighed in and offered suggestion like any father would do. >> but the statement was misleading so there were questions about how large a role the president might have played in crafting it. >> it is something that i think the special counsel is very interested in and he wants to know who was involved in the itingf it. >> if a misleading statement was put out, the core question is the classic question of intent. were trump administration officials starting

. >> how did that donald trump. >> get out. >> become this donald trump? >> i'd like to punch him in the face, i'll tell you. >> there were 36 years between those two moments, years in which a young developer transformed himself into a president. by now dramatic pronouncements about donald trump. >> why is it lie after lie after lie? >> have become commonplace. >> this is the most serious charge ever made against a sitting president. >> the truth is trump's time in office has been chaotic. so it's crucial that we understand exactly how this man became president. >> you may say it was russia or hillary or comey, but there's an even larger question. how did this utterly unusual candidate win the nomination against 16 formedable rivals? how did he even get close to winning the presidency? >> go out tomorrow and vote. >> 63 million americans voted for him, and tens of millions remain fiercely loyal. this is the story of the deeper reasons why trump won. we begin with the most fundamental aspect of his character. donald trump is a performer. >> life is acting t

trump gets. >> no. and that's donald trump. it's trump being trump. it is not surprising to anyone paying attention, particularly someone like me a feminist and cares very much about the equality of women and the fact that they should be able to be valued for their smarts and their ability on the job. with donald trump it's not that way. he owned a beauty pageant and those people object if ied and sexualized in a particular way. walking in on underage beauty contestants and valued women on how they looked and scored them and wore a crown based on how pretty they were. that's the world of donald trump and that's just going to be consistent even though he's the president. he's not going to change. and it's very unfortunate because women are more than half of the country and should be valued because of the contributions we bring to society and the workplace and not based solely on the physical appearance. it's not 1950 anymore. >> may be in trump world. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> really appreciate it. >>> coming up, mitch mcconnell is hoping t

with trump at the white house. trump granted few major interviews to anyone other than sean hannity ever since that devastating interview with nbc news's lester holt. michael wolff's book says hannity gave trump a preview of the questions but hannity denies it. gabe, this is the book everyone is talking about, obviously, everyone is reading it. i'm reading it and taking lots of notes. it is extraordinary the way it describes donald trump's relationship with ails and murdoch. >> clear he, he worshipped rupert murdoch's power. donald trump is a media person and rupert murdoch is the most powerful media mogul of his generation. the interesting point i take away based on my reporting is that donald trump -- rupert murdoch is not the head of fox news. donald trump is the executive producer of the network, and so the way the segments at fox news are largely programmed are that producers are putting things on the air that they hope will appeal either to donald trump or donald trump fans so they are programming for an audi

president trump versus steve bannon. trump says his one-time strategist lost his mind. bannon calling don jr. and jared's meeting with russians treasonous. an explosive new account of what's happening inside the west wing, and the reaction, total meltdown. "the 11th hour" begins right now. good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. i'm nicolle wallace sitting in for brian williams. day 349 of the trump administration. a day in which donald trump and steve bannon face off in a war of harsh words and accusations. bannon one of the architects of trump's populist agenda during last year's campaign, went on to serve as chief white house strategist before being demissed in august of 2017. he is leveling stunning charges in a new book by emichael wolf called "fire and fury." the author's account based on more than 200 interviews and more than a dozen visits to the white house, most of them as bannon's guest. among wolff's most explosive revelation is this quote from bannon about the trump tower meeting promising dirt on hillary clinton. quote, the

donald trump should invite alex baldwin to the white house. >> but so far, trump's not laughing. after baldwin's debut, the president hate tweeted his disdain. just tried watching "snl," unwatchable, totally biased, not funny, and the baldwin impersonation, just can't get any worse. sad. >> i do miss my old life. >> we all, do, sir. [ laughter ] >> as the trump jokes escalated, the president's distaste for late night intensified. >> you attract more skin heads than free rogaine. >> in may "the late show's" stephen colbert found himself in hot water when he blasted trump in an over the top profanity-laden meltdown. >> the only thing your mouth is good for is being vladimir putin's [ bleep ] holster. >> his tirade sparked a firestorm in the press and fueled a #firecolbert campaign on twitter. trump did not respond right away. >> trump was obviously restrained for about the first six months of his presidency. >> but days after the attack, the president surfaced, condemning colbert in a "time" magazine interview saying, quote, you see a no-talent guy like colbert. there's nothing fun

trump for this book. and we'll play the entire interview for you right now. >> the president's lawyer send a cease and desist letter threatening legal action against you in which you say. >> they sent it before they actually read the book. actually what i say is, where do i send the box of chocolates? >> you think he's helping you sell books? >> absolutely. not only helping me sell books but prove the point of the book. i mean, this is extraordinary that a president of the united states would try to stop the publication of a book. this doesn't happen -- has not happened from other presidents, would not even happen from a ceo of a midsized company. >> the president obviously as you know tweeted about you last night. he says i authorized zero access to the white house. actually turned you down many times. said he never spoke to you for the book. it's full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don't exist. as good a place to start as any. did you talk to the president -- >> what was i doing there if -

trump: thank you, ryan. last year ryan was on duty when he saw a pregnant, homeless woman preparing to inject heroin. when brian told her she was going to harm her unborn child, she began to weep. she told him she didn't know where to turn, but badly wanted a safe home for her baby. in that moment, ryan said he felt god speak to him. can.ill do it, because you he heard those words. he took out a picture of his wife and therefore kids. then he went home to tell his wife rebecca. in an instant, she agreed to adopt. they named their new daughter hope. ryan and rebecca, you embody the goodness of our nation. thank you. [applause] pres. trump: thank you, ryan and rebecca. rebuild america's strength and confidence at home, we are also restoring our strength and standing abroad. around the world we race rogue regimes, terrorist groups, and rivals like china and russia that challenge our interest, our economy, and our values. in confronting these horrible dangers, we know that weakness is the surest path to conflict

politically president trump. feels he needs the will to satisfy his base but with a third of the border already covered by a fence the actual usefulness of a structure that's going to cost at least twenty one billion dollars has been questioned where it is sort of a waste of money and a waste of everyone's time is to build a wall or a fence in the middle of the desert where you know all the wall really ultimately does to a determined border crosser is slow them down for a few minutes. but the wool as with the rest of the migration issue has become too important for either side to give way and the fight has already spilled into the president's second year. john homan with that report as we say from. the mexico u.s. border so let's talk more about immigration issues joining us from washington d.c. sarah pierce she is an associate policy analyst at the migration policy institute thank you for joining us sara. how would you describe the past year how it's been for an immigrant in the united states it seems they would

we spend the hour looking at president trump's first hit of the unit was a president trump referring to the extreme weather events that hit the u.s. last year, but never mentioning the words "climate change" during his speech. pres. trump: we have endured floods and fires and storms, but through it all, we have seen the beauty of america's soul and the steel in america's spine. amy: while president trump never mention climate change coming at this to say about coal. pres. trump: we have ended the war on american energy and we have ended the war on beautiful, clean coal. amy: president trump petrelli added thehe word "beautiful" to clean coal because the transcript sent around did not say "beautiful." joining us now, bill mckibben, founder of 350.org. bill mckibben, welcome to democracy now! your response to the state of the union last night. >> well, as you said, he barely mentioned and did not mention what is probably the single biggest problem facing the planet. that is because he doesn't think it is a problem. the president is under the illusion that climate change is a hoax inven

trump not there. but the head of the republican party is there. >>> and the woman paid for her silence about an alleged sexual affair with donald trump making a public appearance tonight. who. looking for a hotel that fits... ...your budget? tripadvisor now searches over... ...200 sites to find you the... ...hotel you want at the lowest price. grazi, gino! find a price that fits. tripadvisor. of being there for my son's winning shot. that was it for me. that's why i'm quitting with nicorette. only nicorette mini has a patented fast dissolving formula. it starts to relieve sudden cravings fast. every great why needs a great how. >>> welcome back to a special edition of outfront. we are continuing to follow the breaking news this hour. the united states government is closed. shut down now for more than 20 hours. tonight an agitated president trump forced to abandon his plans for a trip to mar-a-lago. he was going there to celebrate his first year in office. it was a big black tie gala. people are arrivi

>> look, this is more trumping trump except now the survival of the entire planet is at risk, of course. the nuclear button tweet, it's too on the nose, right? it's like i have a bigger button and mine works and his doesn't. it's like somebody hasn't told him how this is reading to the rest of the world, and for all that we heard months ago, a year ago about how trump was playing this game of 3 d chess, this isn't 3 d chess. this is a child getting angry and knocking the board over and the rest of us have to pay for it. >> john, there is ample evidence from all of the writeups that doesn't care but he doesn't do what he does for history, for the rest of the world. he specifically does it to entertain his fans. this is -- is there any sort of real world example that you can point us to of any president viewing his job this way? >> definitely not. there has never been one. one of the great achievements of u.s. diplomacy over the last half century has been managing nuclear tensions in the world, and that's because presidents have viewed their responsibilities as awesome, as grave, that the

inside the trump white house. officially arrived in bookstores despite and probably because of the president's attempt it is stop the publication. the book is flying off the shelves around america, not just in new york and d.c. but also in wichita, kansas, where a local bookstore owner told the local paper it's crazy. there's a scramble right now to get as many books in retail outlets as possible. and we're just kouptd ogen the publisher to deliver. in tempe and phoenix, arizona, the owner of a small bookstore book chain told a reporter we clearly underordered. if they don't get it they'll look for the juicy parts online. you can find similar headlines in texas, raleigh, north carolina, and cincinnati, ohio. not to mention the bookstore down stairs here in rockefeller center where "fire and fury" is sold out. here's what michael wolff said about making donald trump the tell-all most demand book in america tonight. >> the president's lawyers sent a cease and desist letter threatening legal action to you and the pub

also, i'd say in a battle of donald trump and steve bannon, donald trump wins. steve bannon, the only thing he can accomplish is he lost a seat in alabama. he's really not delivered much of anything. in fact, he essentially pulled the pin out of the grenade and stuck it in his mouth. i can't imagine any of these candidates -- >> listening to bannon today, it feels almost like an acknowledgment of that, he's stressing we're still on the same page, still on the same agenda. looking at your party and what it stands for in the air of donald trump, if there's a split between trump and bannon, what does trump represent that bannon doesn't represent? what has the republican party severated if you separate them? >> in this case i would have to say it's more personality. steve bannon certainly represents the alt right and donald trump embraced elements of the alt right. so i suspect that in this case, you know, the president's message will probably remain the same. the question is, who's going to run breitbart? who's going to carry that message won't be able to do it. >>

these conversations between trump and trump. for more, i'm joined by susan page, washington bureau chief and michael steele former chair of the republican national committee and political analyst and jamal sim mon, a democratic strategist. here we go. let's think about this happening as a dramatic moment, trump versus mueller. is it at the ends of the show, i'm going to compare it to colombo. it's always the bad guy who is completely powdered up and is perfect and totally calm and sure of himself. it's usually robert culp or someone like that. this time mr. suave will be in there, will he begin to sweat. >> he's not like robert culp. he's volunteering all kinds of information, incredibly legally problematic for him. the qualities. >> everybody likes lester holt. maybe he was charmed. >> the qualities that president trump has to be expansive, to be hiler bol lick, to want to win you over, those are exactly the opposite qualities that you want to have when you're testifying under oath to a prosecutor. >> wanting to win you over. >

wolf to write a pro trump book? it's what never made sense to me. >> it is you know again a student of the history of michael wolff journalism would have count cemented some caution on the part of the white house in dealing with him, whether he was going to turn out to be a pro trump chronicleer. on the other hand, i think it's interesting, i'm sure he has these tapes and some of the quotes are accurate. we are hearing from sources they believe they were off the record when they were taped. so then the question is going to be who wins that fight over attribution terms. that's an architect for insiders and the question is, are the quotes accurate or fought, whether sources feel betrayed or not. if the quotes are accurate. he may ends up winning that fight. >> again, the bottom line for this, for what matters most in washington probably in america, the fact that steve bannon is chief strategist and another campaign manager has been kicked out, has been saying the trump team is up to their necks and called it treeson,

donald trump jr. last night on twitter totally disputed that account, said he would never speak about his father that way nor does he even think of his father that way, that he only has admiration. what do you say to that? >> somebody said to me about the children, somebody who knows them well, and the phrase was they are tolerant but they have no illusions. and i think that that's -- that's probably how it goes. he is their father, of course. not only is he their father, he's their boss. i mean their whole lives are attached to him. but these are the people who have to deal with him every day, and these are the people who on top of everything else, he was not a very good father. he was -- he was absent, remote, having god knows who he was involved with at any particular moment in time. so these -- this does not come as a shock to them. >> you've had -- they have come at you hard, pushing back against your book and your credibility. this is what the rnc put out. they even use your book jacket sort of

trump or his associates? >> i don't want to answer that question. >> reporter: two days after comey's testimony, the "new york times" reports that an aide to mr. sessions approached a capitol hill staff member asking whether the staffer asking if the staffer had any derogatory information about the fbi director. the justice department denies this account. according to "fire and fury" author michael wolff, he called him jarvanka. a nickname coined by bannon to describe eye advantaivanka and . the first family shared a contentious relationship described as a death match due in part to the conviction that bannon had played a part in many of the reports of kushner's interactions with the russians. wolff writes they exhibited an increasingly panicked sense that the fbi and doj were moving beyond russian election interference and into family finances. ivanka is terrified, said a satisfied bannon. no on-camera event scheduled for the president so far today. the only time we expect to see him is when he heads out to

between don trump jr. and paul manafort was treasonous and should have been reported to the fbi immediately. do you agree with that? >> well, i think it's pretty amazing that the president's most senior political adviser through the end of the campaign and for the first few months of his administration made these kind of allegation. the one thing i agree with bannon, i don't see him as a source is that any reasonable persons, when russians come over and offer dirt during the middle of the campaign on your opponent, should have reported that to law enforcement. clearly even the australians understood that because "the new york times" recently reported that mr. papadopoulos and another trump campaign affiliate who got offered the same kind of dirt told the australians and when they -- the ambassador saw that the e-mails started to get released. they were smart enough to go to the fbi. so i do agree with mr. bannon on the fact that the participants of that meeting should have revealed that to law enforcement

this as trump faces poor pool numbers. only 39% approve of the job he's doing as president. 69 69% say they don't like trump personally. another poll shows americans would blame trump and the gop for a shutdown by a whopping 20-point margin. so why did donald trump risk a shut down with poll numbers like this in an election year? it all goes back to this. >> we'll have a real wall. and who is going to pay for the wall? >> mexico! >> who? >> mexico! >> you better believe it. 100%. 100%. >> but with mexico refusing to pay and immigration hard-liners in congress and the white house whispering in his ear, trump abruptly rejected a deal he seemed open to earlier in the week. tweeting on thursday if there is no wall, there is no deal. killing a bipartisan deal that would enshrined protection for the d.r.e.a.mers. that left republicans demanding this democrats vote for a continuing resolution to fund the government for a month with the extension of the children's insurance health program thrown in to try to force democrats hand.

trump. trump junior replied, if it's what you say, i love it. especially later in the summer, and set up the meeting. after yet another primary victory four days later, candidate trump made this promise. >> i am going to give a major speech on probably monday of next week, and we're going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the clintons. >> on june 8th, trump junior forwarded the e-mail to jared kushner and paul man fort. on june 9th, they met with the women, and a russian lobbyist and a man who worked for a russian billionaire and was the subject of a federal report on foreign money moving through u.s. banks and a russian translat translator. weeks later, trump denied it. >> what's happening with the russians is phony and disgusting. >> he continues to insist nothing of consequence came from the meeting. hours after the russians left trump tower, trump senior responded to a clinton tweet writing, where are your 33,000 e-mails that a clinton tweet writing where are your 30,000 ec-mails that you delete. >> we had upcomin

because he's trump. not only did the justice department want to lay the ground work for an all out assault on the justice department, on the fbi. they have been doing that for a month. in fact there's an entire news network devoted to doing this every single night. >> talk radio. >> that is devoting to doing this every single day. >> fox. >> not only are they on the air, where trump listens to them every night. they're in his ear on his phone what i they talk to him. >> i don't want to make you uncomfortable. what's wrong with paul ryan, paul ryan used to have some kind of moral authority within the republican ranks, someone if you were to take a stance, could tell devin nunes that e-- why won't paul ryan and mitch mcconnell stand and say that it's obvious from this and other reports, that we don't know what we don't know about the russia investigation. let's lay down the political weaponry and let this thing play out, why is there no leadership in the republican party? >> you saw that in the fluff fest

the trump justice department. randy? and now as the special counsel closes in, we've got two reports this morning about paul manafort and donald trump and shady deals, foreign money and stories of scandal and corruption. good morning, everyone, it's monday, january 29th, welcome to "morning joe." with us we have political writer for the new york times nick confessore, the cofounder of axes you, mike allen, associate editor of commentary editor noah rothman, chair of african-american studies at princeton university eddy glove jr. and shannon petty piece. joe, so we start -- it's only monday and we begin that way. >> right. well, yeah. and of course you didn't show the rest of the tape where we kept explaining to donald trump that putin assassinated political opponents and assassinated journalists just didn't seem to care. didn't matter how far we pushed him. that was revealing. that was in december of 2015. i remember i think it was somebody over at the national review said that may have been the most telling inter

trump takes --nt president trump takes questions from reporters. steele talksichael about the future of the republican party. then a member of the hillary clinton campaign discusses the 2016 is essential election. -- 2016 residential election. >> president trump has finished his meeting. the purpose of the gathering was to outline a legislative agenda for 2018. following the meeting, president trump took questions from the news media. this is 20 minutes. president trump: thank you very much. it's good to have you at camp david, a very special place. we started, as you know, yesterday afternoon. we had a couple of incredible meetings. it is a feeling here you don't have in many places. it was a bonding. we got a lot of work done, a lot of great work for the people. security discussed. infrastructure discussed. military, and all types of military situations and applications discussed, general counsel, general kelly, a lot that is very important. funding for the military, which is important. we also went into budget, daca, and we hope you will be able

who faced death threats after calling president trump a racist. >> donald trump is really the first president to embrace white supremacy since the administration of woodrow wilson . and i think that the implications of that can really be measured in the weight of the bodies of people who have been killed by open white supremacist and open racist over the last year. amy: keeanga yamahtta taylor on race and class in the era of trump, from black lives matter to the white power presidency. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the house of representatives passed a short-term spending bill thursday setting up a high-stakes debate in the senate ahead of a midnight deadline tonight to reach a deal or face a government shutdown. voted 230-197rs in favor of republican led continuing resolution to fund the government through february 16. in the senate, many democrats have said they will vote against a bill that fails to protect recipients, undocumented young immigrants brought to the united states as children. thi

from president trump. "the 11th hour with brian williams starts now". >> tonight, president trump flies home. he's back at the white house touting his successful trip to davos but ignoring questions on robert mueller in light of that bombshell story he had ordered hip to be fired. >>> the next big event in the russia investigation. steve bannon reportedly scheduled to be the next big interview for team mueller. >>> and is it getting more difficult for the trump legal team or the trump west wing team to carry out the task of protecting the president from himself? "the 11th hour" on a friday night begins now. >>> well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters. day 372 of the trump administration. president back at the white house tonight after his trip to davos. he had a busier than usual week ahead. it includes formally unveiling his latest immigration proposal delivering the first state of the union address as president and attending a retreat with house and senate republicans. all of it now

trump sued me. then had to acknowledge 30 times during a deposition that he lied over the years about a wide range of issues. lied about ownership stake in large manhattan real estate. cost of membership to a golf club. size of trump organization. wealth. the debt he owned. whether he borrowed money. on and on and on. all of those things could come up in the deposition and if he lies about them, aren't those crimes. >> any kind of lie -- this is not a deposition for starters. this is ancillary. even if they do it in the white house in a conference room, this is all going be ancillary to a grand jury proceeding. now, if they wind up doing it before the grand jury, the lawyers cannot be present. you're not entitled to have a lawyer with you in the grand jury. it's all on the record under oath. if you lie, perjury is basically defined at lying under oath. that in itself is a federal felony. >> paul, let me play you donald trump's defenders saying what they believe donald trump would be walking into if

if you'll recall, initially trump's lawyers floated the idea of trump answering legal questions. he wants to look donald trump in the eye. and now the president is suggesting that maybe he'd be willing to do that. but i got to tell you, a lot of people i speak to think that is never going to happen. because it's just too risky for donald trump. he has in the past been a terrible witness in depositions with a tenuous relationship with the truth. let me give you an example of the problem he's facing. james comey, the former fbi director, has testified under oath that donald trump asks for his loyalty in a private meeting. trump has said flatly that never happened. if mueller can cooperate that through documents and other witness. and donald trump gives a different story. he's opening himself up to a charge of lying regardless of whether he's ever charged with obstruction of justice. so that's the kind of problem he's facing. that's why some people i talk to believe he may ultimately assert his fifth amendment right. for most politicians, that would be fatal but trump is not not pol

, or trump and russians. no collusion. when i watch you interviewing all the people leaving their committees, the democrats are all running for office and they're trying to say this. they all say there's no collusion and there is no collusion. absolutely no collusion. everybody knows it. >> it has been determined that there is no collusion and by virtually everybody. >> by virtually everybody he meant of course not everybody. trump didn't just repeat the defense. he did something notable. he back tracked from past claims that he would be happy to talk to bob mueller's investigators. now he says we'll see. >> well, again, john, there has been no collusion between the trump campaign and russians or trump and russians. no collusion. when i watch you interviewing all the people leaving their committees, the democrats are all running for office and they're trying to say this. bottom line, they all say there is no collusion and there is no collusion. >> would you object open to -- >> certainly we'll see. when they

he's co-author of the book i just mentioned, "let trump be trump." david has produced 25 documentaries since 2004 and co-produced six feature-length films. and so we're going to -- please welcome all three of our guests to liberty university, steve, corey and david. [applause] we know you've got exams coming out, so we'll try to get you out early today. [cheers and applause] [laughter] >> all right. >> robert, is this the second convo that you done with center for law and government? this is the second convocation. robert heads center for law and government. he's a former congressman from southern virginia. he only stayed in, what, six years? >> four years. >> i wish they'd always get out after -- anyhow, robert, where do you want me to sit? told me to sit here. yes, sir. [inaudible conversations] >> all right. i'll let you guys lead off and just tell us, steve, start with you. tell us what you've, what you've been doing with charisma magazine and what -- tell us about the new book and just anything you'd like to share. >> well, charisma magazine is

hicks sat in trump tower with trump and his sons, wondering allowed about how she might help him. trump who otherwise seemed to treat hicks in a protective and paternal way looked up and said, w why? you've already done enough for him. you're the best piece of -- he'll ever have. she ran from the room. she apparently is basically running donald trump's press separately and apart from the actual press office. >> she was, but she's taken a step up now, and i would now argue that she is the central -- his -- his central adviser in the white house. >> 29-year-old now? >> her experience before this was as a fashion pr person. >> and she is part of the -- she was brought in by ivanka trump. she's part of the jared/ivanka factions as this faction lines up. >> yes. >> there's a part in the book where steve bannon is screaming at her in the halls of the west wing, calling her dumb as stone. this is after having suspected her of having leaked information that he supported the comey firing. >> it was a brutal fight. it was a fight that shook everybody. in a brutal white house. where there ar

it's trump being trump is the answer. this is lindsay graham, said trump was unfit to be president in the campaign. this is lindsey graham of late. >> i think we need a special counsel to investigation the fusion gps episode between the democratic party, mr. steele and russian operatives. a special counsel for uranium one episode, thousands of dollars given to clinton fund and former president bill clinton from groups tied to russia. >> is there any sign that republicans will hold trump accountable for anything, no matter what he does? >> you do hear some republicans, jeff flake, will speak out against him. take him to task. but deal that republicans on capitol hill made from day one of trump's presidency, we're going to look other way on all the outrageous, outlandish and provocative and crazy stuff he does on twitter and real life, send him legislation to sign into law. that's the deal. they wanted to push forward their legislative agenda. take advantage of this very rare moment where the party controls both chambers of

meeting in trump tower, where trump jr. was promised dirt from the russians on hillary clinton. steve bannon says, even if you thought that this was not treasonous or unpatriotic or bad blank, and i happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the fbi immediately. >> cnn's justice correspondent, jessica schneider, joining us live from washington. you know, a lot of people stunned to see these comments this morning from steve bannon, jessica. >> stunned is the right word. steve bannon going after donald trump jr. hard, calling o out that june 2016 meeting with the

we saw him in trump tower. >> came to trump tower. was an ally. lent his credibility as a figure with a good deal of respect on the world stage to trump's candidacy when he endorsed him during the general election. he's had a very public breakup with donald trump. >> the president has not yet -- has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. >> during a time these last few months when profiles in courage have been rare, even though i know you said on the air this year that he had the truth serum of not running for re-election, i think we would still list bob corker, as i always call him a workhorse and not a show horse in the senate, as one of those profiles, perhaps. >> it's a shame the white house has become an adult day care center. someone obviously missed their shift this morning. this was not the first time corker expressed grave concerns about the president's conduct. >> listen, i think that republican senators who have stood up to trump in some instances

rally the trump base against trump? >> and does it matter? >> there are potential consequences for trump's legislative agenda and the position that he takes on the agenda. >> i think they are all related. i have to show my favorite tweet of the day, a gift from mitch mcconnell's political arm that i tweeted and pictures are worth more than 1,000 words. the senate republican leeder steve bannon said he wants to get rid of and to run these conservative candidates who promised no more mitch mcconnell and the fact that the president excommunicated bannon yesterday. no question. stand by, up next, new pressure from inside the republican party for attorney general jeff sessions to step down. why lawmakers say he lost control of the agency that he has been tasked to lead. duncan just protected his family with a $500,000 life insurance policy. how much do you think it cost him? $100 a month? $75? $50? actually,duncan got his $500,000 for under $28 a month. less than a dollar a day. his secret? selectquote. in just minutes, a se

donald trump. he does not stop anything for anybody but donald trump. >> we're entertaining the possible. your paper and "the new york times" have both reporter the bob mueller probe is likely to exist well throughout 2018. it is now on the record and no one has pushed back with knowledge of the investigation that that's the case. the other, i think, thing to suggest that's not the case is then why try to assassinate the character of the fbi if you think this is all -- there is nothing -- sure, you could be right and i could wake up 6 feet tall 110 pounds looking like gisele tomorrow. it's possible. it is no sign, nothing public facing and nothing that's come out of the probe and nothing that's come out of anyone -- people are still hiring lawyers to defend them. no one is firing lawyers or letting them go. >> i disagree with you about the trashing of the fbi. that's about creating a counter narrative for trump supporters and republicans on the hill to talk about instead of mueller. that's why that

other efforts, people empowered by trump or work with or for trump attacking mueller. but show you lot of the comments made this year, unusually careful asked about this one powerful man. take a look. >> have you thought about or considered leading to dismissal of the especial counsel? anything that bob mueller could do to send new that direction? >> haven't given it any thought. >> are you considering firing robert mueller? >> are you going to fire mueller. >> would you be willing to speak under oath. >> 100%. >> if bob mueller wanted to speak to you. >> tell you exactly what i told you. >> passing notes to special counsel bob mueller? >> not notes. working with him. they're investigating something that never happened. >> do you think ever consider having mueller removed. >> i hope he's treating everything fairly. if he is, going to be happy. >> recuse himself? >> very good friends with comey, which is bothersome. >> you know it's hard for him. every one of those interviews, for him that's holding back. >> he's not holding back. he's got other people doing this for hi

trump 2020 for me. jesse: when you nominate a female or minority, it insulates them from a lot of criticism. and the candidate whoever runs against that person has to be careful because if you say anything that could be construed as sexist or racist, they will get pounded. that has to be an advantage for miss winfrey. >> i just saw an election last year. she cannot attack oprah, so she gives us an historical perspective of democrats. we are not talking about that. we are talking about 2020. let me be as clear as we can. that tv show she had. that plays well in kansas and oklahoma. middle america loves oprah. donald trump didn't have any political experience and donald trump surrounded himself allegedly with good people. jesse: in terms of donald trump's political experience he had been writing and speaking about policy and politics for three decades in new york. i don't know if oprah has been doing that. she has been doing a lot on cook and books and feeling good. i do agree that she has an appeal to pe

trump claimed that a dispute years ago over fees at trump national golf club in sterling, virginia, had prompted mueller, the fbi director at the time, to resign his membership. mueller left the club in 2011 and trump believes he still holds a grudge against him over the matter. [ laughter ] so, you think robert mueller has been lying in wait all these years quietly biding his time so he could finally get his revenge over golf fees. [ laughter ] "what's wrong, robert?" "trump raised fees at his club"" "you should write an angry letter." "no, i think i have a better idea." [ laughter and applause ] "yes. yes, i -- i think this will work. bring me my five-year hourglass." [ laughter ] so now this brings up a simple question, why would donald trump do this? why does he keep going out of his way to interfere with the investigation? well there are two possible answers. one, he's guilty. or two, he asked the fbi director for a pledge of loyalty, asked him to stop his investigation of michael flynn, fired the fbi director, admitted he fired him because of the russia investigation. bragged to t

you know trump. why was he ached so much by the hard liners having made it look like he was willing to deal? >> every side was playing on the different impulses of the president. the moderates, democrats knew the president wanted a big victory. durbin and graham, those senators thought they could bring the president along. but the right wing of the republican party was watching all of this closely. they kept telling him privately, senator perdue, senator cotton, white house chief of staff john kelly, steven miller telling him your base may desert you if you cut this kind of immigration deal. so the president had warring sides inside of the oval office telling him to go in a different direction. so far he has sided with them. >> the dark side won this fight. thank you. great reporting as always. that same "washington post" article in that article, donald trump is quoted dismissing concerns by the congressional black caucus. when is senator durbin told trump the caucus would be more likely to go along

trump, russia, trump, russia. but with the trump-russia collusion story now falling flat, that's kind of like the equivalent to methadone, it's only a maintenance drug that barely separates them from like a padded room in some asylum somewhere. and for over a year you have been subjected to russia, russia, russia, collusion, y collusion, collusion. the only thing missing are facts, facts, facts. the media desperately repeating those words daily hoping that somehow if they say it enough it's going to come true. here's the problem, it's not true. there is to date zero evidence president trump colluded with russia, none. whatsoever. doesn't exist. so the media now need a new conspiracy theory that they can pass off as news to get themselves, well, back on theirr drug, get hooked again. in one sense, it's sad, because these people really need help. they have no, let's say, they don't want to adhere to truth anymore. that's the sad thing. if you think about it for a second, does the media ever --dash when you watch the

the number of lawsuits filed against donald trump, the amount of litigation initiated by trump and roy cohn to shut people up. this was not your normal business operation. we've seen this transferred to the white house. now as phillip has suggested, donald trump thinks he can operate with the same kind of impunity and evade the law once again. what is frustrating him -- and it's clear from michael wolff's book, as well, and from what steve bannon has told us through so many of these passages -- is his outrage that he is subject to the law and to protocols that are inherent in the presidency and common decency in government. and he will not go along with him. and back to this question about sessions' recusal, sessions was head of the national security portfolio for the trump campaign, and as we now know and -- and certainly sessions knew, he had these meetings with russians. so if you did not recuse yourself, you might really have some serious consequences. of course he recused himself. >> and this was a time when it was the wild west in the west wing. you didn't -- there was really no

i imagine if donald trump were the donald trump of ten years ago you would see the donald trump sitting down across from robert mueller maybe not an equal but someone who understands he's in a different setting. is aware that perjury is a potential problem. that just leads you to the question of is donald trump still the donald trump who sat in all those depositions five years ago, ten years ago, 20 years ago, or has he actually deteriorated mentally to point where, again this is the assertion of the wolff book and the things we've been debate, is he less of a mind, less stamina? will he go in and clearly be outmatched by mueller? because if there was ever an even fight it was a long time ago. and it could very well be if the picture is correct in this book, that mueller who would probably have the advantage anyway because he is just smarter and knows more, has better command of the facts, has been subpoenaing witnesses, trump probably does not know as much about his campaign as mueller does. mueller would have the advantage in any case. but if trump deteriorated mueller would have a hu