mueller does. third and finally, what this means for trump could boil down to this ominous passage as well today, quote, russian defendants knowingly and intentionally conspired with each other and with persons known and unknown to the grand jury to defraud the u.s. who are those unknown individuals? for more on all of the fallout including the politics, we turn to a member of the senate judiciary committee, democrat, richard blumenthal, senator, when you digest this entire indictment, many people observe that it relates to facts that are in public view, but it's the first set of challenges for election interference. is this in your view likely the end of where mueller's headed or the beginning? >> it is by no means the end. it's not even the beginning of the end. it is very much a staged investigation for anybody who has any doubt, there are real facts here about real people, committing real crimes and doing real harm to our country. the russians themselves called it informational warfare. and not

and i don't know what mueller has. but we do know these areas are under serious investigation by him and it is why it is believed by those who are watching this so closely that his investigation needs to go on unfetterred. >> we got to take a quick break. learning more about what appears to be a big step in the russia probe. you will only see it here next. places you really want to go. with the united mileageplus explorer card, you'll get a free checked bag. two united club passes. priority boarding. and earn fifty thousand bonus miles after you spend three thousand dollars on purchases in the first three months from account opening plus, zero-dollar intro annual fee for the first year, then ninety-five dollars. learn more at theexplorercard.com directv gives you more for your thing. your top-rated thing. that five stars, two thumbs up, 12-out-of-10, would recommend thing. because if you only want the best thing, you get the #1 thing. directv is rated #1 in customer satisfaction over cable. switch now and get a $200 re

what h what did mueller -- >> bob mueller doesn't need stories, he certainly doesn't need someone making stuff up. it needs to be i know something about somebody bigger and i will tell it. these indictments are stories and they have a strategic role because as i mentioned, mueller holds something for two weeks and then releases when he wants, reading from the indictment of one of the russians here, his or her private email says in september, this recent, after the american media reported on facebook's level of cooperation with mueller, which viewers may remember was a big story, bob mueller is talking to facebook, he's getting information, that's a legal of seriousness. now this russian writes to a family member, thinking it's private, not thinking bob mueller is reading it. quote, we had a slight crisis here at work, the fbi busted our activity, not a joke, so i got preoccupied with covering tracks together with the colleagues. bob mueller doesn't just have the original stuff, he also has the stuff of the people saying they're covering their tracks. and he's saying something in here --

pinedo is now cooperating with mueller's investigation. and the daily beast indicating that mueller has interviewed mark cora low, the spokesman for the trump team. he resigned after the meeting in trump tower with assorted russians. during senate testimony this week, after confirming the united states is under active attack, the director of national intelligence predicted what we're likely to see. in other words, how they are likely to come at us in the future and despite what we're not hearing from our leadership, the following should be taken as a warning to all u.s. citizens. >> we expect russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false flag personas, sympathetic spokesmen and other means to influence to try to build on its wide range of operations and exacerbate social and political fissures in the united states. there should be no doubt that russia perceived that its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 midterm elections as a potential target for russia influence operations. >> that is your director of national intel

and i don't know what mueller has. but we do know these areas are under serious investigation by him and it is why it is believed by those who are watching this so closely that his investigation needs to go on unfetterred. >> we got to take a quick break. learning more about what appears to be a big step in the russia probe. you will only see it here next. for only thirty-five bucks each. woah. plus, netflix for the whole family. on us. prrrrrrr... so, they get their shows... let's go, girl! you're gonna love this bit! and you get yours. watch however you want. on your phone, tablet, or tv. for a limited time, get 4 lines for just thirty-five bucks per line, with no extra charges. it's showtime! all on america's best unlimited network, t-mobile. advil liqui-gels minis. our first concentrated pill that rushes powerful relief. a small size... that's fast, 'cause it's liquid. you'll ask... "what pain?" advil liqui-gels minis. this is food made to sit down for. slow down for. put the phone away, and use a knife and fork fo

various legal scholars have argued why robert mueller won't indict donald trump, one says mueller will not indict trump for obstruction of justice or any other crime. he won't do it for the good and sufficient reason that the department of justice has a long standing legal opinion that sitting presidents may not be indicted. but today politico reports that two attorneys, they describe as working with clients swept up in the russia probe and who have interacted with the special counsel's team say it is possible that mueller could indict the president for obstruction of justice. if i were a betting man i'd bet against the president, said one of the lawyers. the second attorney speculated that mueller could try to bring an indictment against trump if only to demonstrate the gravity of his findings. it's possible that mueller may go that route on the theory that as an open question it should be for the courts to decide the attorney said. even if the indictment is dismissed it puts pressure on congress to treat this with independence and honesty that it will never, ever get. joining us now

it will be interesting to see what he really told mueller and whether he was able to help mueller on any of these major obstruction questions. >> we are much obliged to our superb panel of journalists tonight. thank you all so much. as we approach our first break, coming up, new warnings about this looming release of the controversial memo and new fears that american institutions like the fbi are paying a hefty price. >>> plus, as the mueller investigation looms toe president, the scrutiny of everyone in his orbit. nick was born to move. 3 toddlers won't stop him. and neither will lower back pain. because at a dr. scholl's kiosk he got a recommendation for our custom fit orthotic to relieve his foot, knee, or lower back pain, from being on his feet. dr. scholl's. born to move. when it comes to travel, i sweat the details. late checkout... ...down-alternative pillows... ...and of course, price. tripadvisor helps you book a... ...hotel without breaking a sweat. because we now instantly... ...search over 200 booking sites ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want. don'

,ermine the department and ultimately undermine bob mueller. robert: it is republicans ainst republicans. the speaker: this is not indictment of the f.b.i., the department of justice. it does not impugn the mueer investigation or the deputy attorney general. robert: b senator mccain strongly disagrees. he released a statement that read in part, if we continue to undermine ouown rule of law, we are doing putin's job for him. at the heart of the document, a controversial dossier, paid for by democrats during the general election. and by a republican client in the early primary season. we discu all with molly ball of "time" magazine.ae mi scherer of the washington post. rachel bade of politico and carl hulse of the "new york times. >> celebrating 50 years, this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- is eir leadership instinctive. they understand the challenges of today and research the technologies otomorrow. some call them veterans. we call them part of our team. >> on a cruise with american cruise lines, you can experience historic dest

mueller should be fired? >> no, i do not. >> has there been discussions in the white house about firing him? >> i would not tell you about discussions in the white house, but i will tell you nothing i ever heard like that. >> i never felt of all the things that we went through in the west wing, i never felt that the president was going to fire the special counsel. >> is he putting a lot of weight on the word feeling there? >> i want to turn this on you for a second. we talk a lot about constitutional crises. the fact of the matter, america really has not had many constitutional crises, in watergate, the supreme court did a ruling and nixon complied. george wallace stood in the courthouse, on the schoolhouse steps got a court order and allowed federal troops in. if i were robert mueller, this is my fear, this is a different america with a different president. he goes to subpoena donald trump, he doesn't go. they go to court, they get a court order and he doesn't go. american democracy and these institutions of

to be a valuable thing for the mueller investigation. manafort also had a relationship with a russian oligarch, and don't forget, during the campaign, he was offering that oligarch private briefings. so there's strands there that suggestion manafort may know something. >> ken dilanian. to talk more, msnbc national security contributor matt miller and alan rosenstein, law professor at the university of minnesota and former attorney in the justice department's national security division. alan, i want to start with you. we touched on this a little bit with ken, but what does the role of a lawyer like van der zwaan potentially bring to the table in an investigation like this? what does a lawyer like that know, not know, be able to potentially say? are there any limits on what he could say based on any privilege that may have been part of his conversations? >> well, it depends on what he's being asked about. if he's being asked about questions relating to his representation of certain clients, then there may be some privilege issues that have

that's part of the mueller investigation. garrett has laid out in his wired pieces which are amazing, there is a part -- you explain the part about cambridge analytica. >> quick, we have to go. >> rumor this was coming the week after trump's campaign manager was charged with conspiracy against the united states. so, trump's looking for someone that he has -- knows will be loyal and knows his best interest at heart and brad parscale is someone who is actually allow today tweet on trump's behalf. that is all you need to know about how trusted he is by donald trump. >> thank you, garrett. thank you, nicolas. i appreciate it. >> so much fun to be here. >> we'll be right back. but i'm not standing still... and with godaddy, i've made my ideas real. ♪ ♪ i made my own way, now it's time to make yours. ♪ ♪ everything is working, working, just like it should ♪ >>> testimony today from admiral mike rogers, the head of the nsa in response to a question from democratic senator jack reid, the admiral says, president trump has no

there's been a big development today in mueller's investigation. in a plea deal, another trump campaign initial agreed to cooperate with the mueller team. rick gates served as deputy chairman of the trump presidential campaign. he also worked for

>> rod rosenstein is robert mueller's boss. and any decision that robert mueller makes can be overturned by rosenstein in his capacity as the acting attorney general, given that jeff sessions is recused from everything. so anything that mueller does can be overturned by rosenstein. and if rosenstein were gone and someone more compliant were shifted into his position we could see a different path for the mueller investigation. >> barbara mcquad, how do you get someone more compliant? let's suppose rod rosenstein is forced out, goes the andrew mccabe route, can't take it anymore and quits, who then becomes the deputy attorney general, and, in effect, acting attorney general in this matter. >> i think next is line is the associate attorney general, rachel brand. i don't know her but what i know about her is she's a career professional. so i don't know that president trump would fair better with rachel brand in charge. i suppose he could get going -- >> excuse me. by keep going do you mean keep firing people? >> reporter: yes, satu

and mueller won that fight. he proved to the judge that manafort's lawyer might be part of a criminal act. and as a lawyer, you can keep your client's confidence about a past crime, but you can't help your client cover it up with obstruction or with an ongoing crime. every lawyer touching this case, the message is any crime, any obstruction will be prosecuted no matter who you are, or what your profession is. i am joined back with me, former federal prosecutor daniel goldman and the daily beast betsy woodruff. you have covered this case quite closely, today's indictment like some of the others does come out of the blue, what do you think it says to lawyers and other people involved? >> it says to state the obvious, don't lie to the fbi. what's amazing to me about this particular indictment is that the crime that alex vanderswan committed, it's barely been three months since he lied to the fbi. that came after a slew of indictments were released and that was after we knew lying to the fbi was a crime mueller woul

with former trump aide sam nunberg after his mueller interview. that's our show. "hardball" with chris matthews starts right now. >>> losing hope. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. the heat is rising on donald trump. on friday, first son-in-law, he gets locked out of seeing anything top secret. yesterday, close aide hope hicks admitted she tells white lies for the president. today she announced she's quitting. special counsel robert mueller is drilling down on trump's russia business dealings and what he may have known in advance about the russian hacking into the democrats' e-mail, knowledge that could make him a

but mueller's not done. what you have now is a situation where people who were as close to the trump campaign and these people were, frankly, the trump campaign for a while, have these types of criminal activities going on, shady connections and, you know, he's getting closer and closer to be able to make a case. but, listen, paul manafort, if you have anything you'd like to say, sir, if you happen at any point happened to notice these things about this president and possible shady connections, this would be pagrea great time to c it up. >> he was supposed to investigate this russia collusion and now the democrats are hoping for this slight chance maybe there's going to be another -- this heat seeking missile is going to find its target. this indictments bring nothing to collusion. it's a tough decision for gates to make. he made it for his family. you can't lie to the fbi. you have to pay your taxes, have to disclose these things. that's what you encourage people to do. mueller is going to make an example t

mueller's top prosecutor, andrew weissman, mueller's pit bull. we've been reporting on his generous donations to democratic cam pages including thousands to president obama. wall street journal said that he attended 20916 election night victory party for hillary clinton. you can't forget weissmann praised then acting attorney general sally yates for defying. trump's travel ban after he was fired achlt side from weissmann's political bias, the prosecutor has been accused of employing aggressive, sketchy prosecutorial tactics that led to the impress onment of four innocent merrill lynch executivives. that case was overturned. wiseman's aggressive prosecution's led to the downfall. accounting giant arthur andersen. tens of thousands of people lost their jobs. by the way, the supreme court, they overturned them again 9-0. we also have a brand new damning report, sara carter who will join news a minute, detailing even more misconduct. including a 1997 case about andrew weissmann he was officially reprimanded by the judge for withholding evidence when

it will be interesting to see what he really told mueller and whether he was able to help mueller on any of these major obstruction questions. >> we are much obliged to our superb panel of journalists tonight. thank you all so much. as we approach our first break, coming up, new warnings about this looming release of the controversial memo and new fears that american institutions like the fbi are paying a hefty price. >>> plus, as the mueller investigation looms toe president, the scrutiny of everyone in his orbit. hi, i'm the internet! you know what's difficult? armless bowling. you got this, jimmy! you know what's easy? building your website with godaddy. pick a domain name. choose a design. you can build a website in under an hour. now that's a strike! get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. build a better website in under an hour. i love you. >>> what this is not is an sbimt of our justice system, of the fbi, the department of justice, it does not impugn the mueller investigation or the deputy attorney general. >> the headline of a "new york times" analysis piece

this is about discrediting bob mueller. devon nunez, donald trump, fellas like matt gates, the representative from florida, their goal is to discredit mueller. that's what they're trying to do. they're not going to stop there. this effort will continue weather rod rosenstein keeps his job throughout, we'll have to wait and see. >> jill, in normal times you land at -- state of the union, two or three states, maybe even four. that did not happen. we've got another shutdown looming, less than a week away. what do you expect the business end of this west wing will produce next week? >> i'm sorry, what, the state of the union, i'm sorry, i can't remember that that happened. that was only this week. yeah, the president has spent the days since delivering that speech was arguably, very well received by a lot of people. instead he spent it mostly talking to republicans. we spent yesterday talking to both the rnc, at a donor event last night, talking at the republican retreat yesterday. today he spent a big chunk of his day speaking

but i think the odds would favor mueller winning that case. >> why wouldn't mueller just automatically subpoena the president? >> well, as a normal course in a criminal investigation, you would start by talking to someone's lawyers and saying, hey, come in. let's have a conversation first. >> if the president refused, why wouldn't he just automatically -- >> i suspect he would try to convince the lawyers that if he did not come in, he would issue a subpoena. so before he actually even put the document in their hands, he would say, look, i'm going to put that document in your hands, again trying to be respectful to the person who is the subject of the investigation. but then, yes, i expect that, you know, and it's important to remember that when we hear these conversations, it's as people are acting as though we know all the evidence and information. the only thing we know for sure is we don't know everything that bob mueller knows. i would believe if he's asking to interview the president, there's a reason he wants to interview the president, and he will push forward to get there. but

it's because of this warrant and hee is man standing between trump and mueller. trump already tried to fire mueller once and was prevented from dng so last year. so that's the real reason i think rosenstein is in trump crosshairs. but there are a couple of issues to tease out about what is so objectionable about the evidence presented in the memo. number one is theti ass that the whole investigation sprang from the tainted dossier. as you mentioned, trump opponents, original funders o the d.n.c. who picked up the t funding and l the creation of the actual dossier, an anti-trump fax and f.b.i. takes it and goes straight to the court with it without doing their homework, that's the t allege, tey were carrying water. the charge is not that they overstepped the authority but motivations ical and staging this based on flimsy evidence because they wanted to take down the president. there are a couple of things wrong with that. in the memo itself, it wasn't -- that the stuff that was in the dossier wascked out before it was brought to the court and satisfied the court.

mueller is investigating -- mueller is going to present his findings with huge amounts of back up evidence which will or will not prove or suggest crimes -- >> if he's still in the job. >> right. none of it depends, zero of it depends on anything learned as a result of this fisa -- i think you're absclutolutely right. they want to say it originated or dubious questionable claim somehow corrupts the whole thing. that is not true, i don't believe. certainly in terms of impeachment. it might be true in narrow criminal sense, fruit of the poison tree doctrine i think it's called. i don't think it's true in that case. they can throw out that part of the evidence. >> it's not the case of the warrant and the dossier. >> it was lerntd about the trump tower meeting, learned about air force one. the idea -- don't look at all that stuff. don't look at those conversations. don't look at -- don't look at mark corral owe resigning. >> i asked this question. when we look at the totality of the behavior of house republicans around this what has unfolded, if the objective is to fire rosenstein and ultimate

mueller or trump? you could argue it would -- it would be politically damaging not just for trump, but for republicans in the midterms to have a knockdown, drag out fight looming over their heads. you could also argue the president's team is truly worried he cannot tell the truth, that the only sane strategy is to avoid mueller at all costs. reminder, the president himself has been telling reporters since june that he's open, even eager to meet with mueller. we're going to dig into that strategery in a momentum. but for now, someone we know who will sit down with mueller is steve bannon. his interview is next week. the white house briefing starts in 30 minutes. sarah huckabee sanders will be answering questions on this and the democratic memo, which is now in the hands of the white house. let's first get to our team of reporters. jeff bennett is at the white house. julia ainsley, phil rucker with "the washington post" and an msnbc political analyst, and jake sherman is a senior writer with politico. gu

or stiff arm mueller or try to negotiate mueller down from asking about certain things? how will that play out? i think that may take more time than we think. remember ty cobb said the investigation would be over in four to six weeks, his most recent one. he's been wrong the last two times that he said it would be over. so i'm not sure what that means. the other question is bannon. bannon hasn't gone in yet. he's scheduled to go in in a couple weeks. and what remains to be seen is, what will bannon to have say? he was a big enemy of kushner's. does he have any information on kushner that mueller will be interested in? we don't know. it will be interesting to see after bannon comes in, what he really told mueller and whether he was able to help mueller on any of these major obstruction questions that he's looking at. >> we are much obliged to our superb panel of journalists tonight. thank you all so much. as we approach our first break, coming up here, new warnings today about this looming release of the controversial memo and new fears that american institutions, like th

mueller could lose in court. besides being politically dead wrong i believe the advice of his attorneys stands at odds with the president's own public statements just last month. trump not only said he would be willing to speak with mueller but that he was looking forward to it. >> are you going to talk to mueller? >> i'm looking forward to it actually. >> do you have a date set, mr. president? >> no, just talking about two or three weeks. i would love to do it. again, i have to say subject to my lawyers and all of that, but i would love to do it. >> to reach a higher standard, you would do it under oath. >> yeah, absolutely. >> with an ultimate decision expected within weeks, the question now is whether trump's attorneys will prevail in keeping the president away from mueller and if so whether the president will be served with a grand jury subpoena. joining me is the author of that story michael schmidt, "new york times" reporter and an msnbc national security contributor.ken dilanian from nbc news and kim whale

and force mueller to litigate. i would say they're giving him sound advice. >> if he were a normal subject of an investigation, and this were a regular white collar case, riches advice would be right. never let this guy within an inch of prosecutor who given lying and challenge rating. the difficulty is he's president of the united states. and he has said repeatedly he wants to testify. and it would like terrible for him to take the fifth. rich is exactly right that a lawyer's job is to keep him from testifying. but he's not gist an ordinary subject. he's president. if it looks like he's hiding from robert mueller that is a problem. >> they will flip that the other way. he's the president united states he's busy. he has to watch tv and tweet all the time. you have to show us a specific crime. and why you can't get any evidence. >> hasn't he laid the ground wok for mueller being biassed and the department of justice being biassed and transfer i won't do it. we uncovered bias and it won't be fair? >> 35% of the peopl

i appreciate it when we come back i'm talking to the man who says robert mueller is the best of mueller and president trump the worst. and he says the battle between them is one for america's soul. i have to tell you something incredible. capital one has partnered with hotels.com to give venture cardholders 10 miles on every dollar they spend at thousands of hotels. all you have to do is pay with this... at hotels.com/venture. 10 miles per dollar? that is incredible. brrrrr. i have the chills. because you're so excited? because ice is cold. and because of all those miles. obviously. what's in your wallet? i'm not sure. what's in your wallet? stay with me, mr. parker. when a critical patient is far from the hospital, the hospital must come to the patient. stay with me, mr. parker. the at&t network is helping first responders connect with medical teams in near real time... stay with me, mr. parker. ...saving time when it matters most. stay with me, mrs. parker. that's the power of and. i thought i was managing my moderate to severe crohn's disease. then i realized something was missing...

mueller will take that into consideration. you have a group of people here that have shown they're not going to be honest. they're going to continue through negotiations and meeting to get deal in exchange for your candor. even that, they determined they were going lie to. wolf, the watergate comparisons are not perfect in the case. but one thing that is interesting. the you look at woodward and be bernstein's great work, they were always looking for the low-level people to provide the information that showed insight into the larger crime. lawyers. the secretaries. the accountants. those are the people that will shed light and tell you how the process worked. in this process, mueller's team will do the same thing. >> let's turn to the latest developments in the parkland school shooting. cnn reviewed the transcript of the tip the fbi received back in january from a woman close to the shooter, nikolas cruz, and the detail are chilling. he described his access to weapons. how he cut up a frog and a bird. she warnd the fbi that cr

. >> are you going to talk to mueller? >> i'm looking forward to it, actually. >> you want to? >> do you have a date set? >> here's the story, just so you understand, there's been no collusion whatsoever. there's no obstruction whatsoever. and i'm looking forward -- >> "the new york times'" michael schmidt and maggie haberman reporting today, "trump's lawyers want him to refuse an interview in the russia inquiry." writing "his lawyers are concerned that the president could be charged with lying to investigators." with nbc news confirming today one-time senior adviser steve bannon is likely to meet with mueller's investigators next week. bannon is quoted in "fire and fu fury" by author michael wolff saying this. "you realize where this is going, this is all about money laundering. mueller chose senior prosecutor andrew wiseman first, he's a money laundering guy. their path to bleeping trump goes rite through paul manafort, don jr. and jared kushner. it's as plain as a hair on your face." maybe on your face, mr. bannon. mich

what's at the center of what mueller's vest investigating? >> cnn learned the special counsel, robert mueller, is asking questions about jared kushner's personal business dealings during the presidential transition. we're told by people familiar with the investigation that mueller's lawyers are asking about discussions kushner had with potential chinese and qatari investors. this is the first indication mueller wants to know about contacts the president's son-in-law had with foreigners outside of russia. this evolved at 666 fifth avenue in manhattan, which kushner's company owns. the financing on the building is in debt by over $1 billion. it's not clear what's behind mueller's interests in the financing discussions. we're told the special counsel hasn't asked the kushner companies for information, he hasn't asked for interviews with other executives from the kushner business. a spokesman for the special counsel has declined to comment but we have a statement now from jared kushner's attorney responding to our story, i'll quote, "another anon

cooperate with mueller. put all the information out there because the reality is this isn't about protecting this administration as much as finding the truth about russian interference in the election and how that affects our government. >> coming back to that, that's mueller's job, right? >> so this is an interesting question. i as a criminal prosecutor see all these committees doing these investigations, and if i were mueller, i would not want them to be happening. >> because? >> because you end up with witnesses having multiple statements, and, you know, it just gets complicated. and you basically want those people to give you information in confidence that you may use to take other investigative steps. >> so if you're mueller, you're fine with them not saying anything? >> i don't want to speak for robert mueller. he may say let every process go along. we're separate branches of government. but me as a former prosecutor -- >> with steve bannon, he clearly chose, okay, i'm speaking to mueller. they apparen

directly, and they don't want to attack bob mueller directly. their stance has been we're cooperating with his investigation, et cetera, et cetera, but you can attack his investigation and investigators in law enforcement and contaminate the waters so that should bob mueller at one point or another say, hey, look, i need to talk to the president, they believe they may be on terra firma. this is the president's view that he's fighting back, and that this is his way to do it without attacking the special counsel. >> you're one of our contributors, what impact does this have on the entire mueller-russia probe investigation knowing that the president of the united states potentially actually wants the memo to come out because it could discredit that probe? >> i think from the day-to-day operations in terms of mueller's team and what his people are doing to push forward on this investigation, this is going to be background noise to them. they are not impacted by this, but at some point, mueller is going to complete the investigation. there's going to

i mean this is about discrediting bob mueller. devin nunes, donald trump fellows like matt gate, their goal is to discredit robert mueller. look, they're fought going to stop there. this effort to going to continue. whether rod rosenstein keeps his job throughout, we're going to have to see. >> jill, in normal times you'd be coming off a road show following the state of the union. that did not happen. we've got another shutdown looming less than a week away. what do you expect the business end of this west wing will -- >> i'm sorry, what, the "state of the union" -- i can't remember that happened. that was only this week. that speech was arguably, it was very well received by a lot of people. instead he spent it mostly talking to republicans. and he spent yesterday talking to an rnc, and today he spent a big chunk of his day speaking to immigration officials trying to make the case that democrats are really slow rolling, trying to prevent the protection of these dreamer immigrants, trying to blame it on him. so there really haven'

bob mueller is someone who sees the world in very black-and-white terms. >> reporter: by 2004, mueller was running the fbi when his phone rang. it was james comey, then deputy attorney general. it was the first time mueller and comey would find themselves in a very controversial legal drama. >> i was very upset, i was gr angry. >> reporter: comey was worried the bush administration was determined to keep a warrantless eavesdropping program that mueller, comey, and their boss, attorney general john ashcroft, thought was illegal. but ashcroft was in the hospital, recovering from surgery, leaving comey in charge. >> i was concerned that given how ill i knew the toerattorney general was, that there might be an effort to ask him to overrule me when he was in no condition to do that. called director mueller, with whom i'd within discussing this particular matter and who had been a great help to me over that week and told him what was happening. he said, i'll meet you at the hospital right now. >> reporter: they had to literally race administration officials to ashcroft's bedside. >> director

mueller's investigation. mr. trump's pension for bra video doe is something the lawyers must contend with. the lawyer has bragged to some aides he'd be able to clear himself. in one deposition related to a libel case against tim o'brien, mr. trump admitted more than two dozen times under oath that he lied in the past about a range of subjects. mr. trump ultimately lost the case. >>> there is also news tonight in the latest chapter over the house intelligence committee memos pertaining to this russia case, and the potential for a new showdown with the white house. the intel committee voted unanimously to release the democratic rebuttal now to the republican memo which accused federal investigators of improperly obtaining surveillance warrants for carter page. the republican document was released late last week by the committee chairman and trump ally congressman devin nunes, republican of california. democrats on the committee contend its real purpose is to discredit the mueller inquiry. here's the committee's top

you have some experience with robert mueller. how significant is it that he's going down this path in terms of investigating? >> is it possible snong what bing bob mueller and a lot of great people who work for him and they work for me, they're very authorithorough. lots of questions will be asked that don't amount to anything. this could be that. and as you and i speak on television, there's a lot that we don't know about. for example indictment from last friday that involved charges against 13 russian nationals. nobody knew that was coming. that was a product of a lot of inquiry and discussion. >> thanks for lending your expertise. >>> trump throws a twitter tantrum. all while just 50 miles away a community was still in mourning over a gun massacre. touch is how we communicate with those we love, but when your psoriasis is bad, does it ever get in the way? embrace the chance of 100% clear skin with taltz. taltz is proven to help people with moderate to severe psoriasis achieve completely clear skin. with taltz, up to 90% of pat

as to rosenstein's role, he is mueller's pass. he sets the parameters and approves the expenditures. if you get rid of rosenstein, you can control what mueller does or does not do. we must do all we can next week, knowing what the intent is from the president and the republicans to protect mueller and protect rosenstein so this investigation can reach a conclusion. >> i don't know if you can see this. i'm going to put up on our screen for our viewers a list of all the people who have signed off on the fisa applications or reauthorizations for carter page. james comey, fired. sally yates, fired. da dana boente, asked to accept down. andy mccabe, asked to step down. and rod rosenstein. can you tell me about the names of list that was acted upon. he's fired everybody who is investigating a man on his campaign, who was known to counterintelligence officials, a known russian agent. >> it's hair-raising to hear you tick off the names and think about where those people are. that's why we must protect him. also, nicolle, the d.o.j. and th

the president was attacking mueller, considering getting rid of mueller, pushing for mueller to be removed. and cobb came in and basically said, look, you guys don't have anything to hide. let's be as cooperative as possible. let's provide them with the documents. what we have, let's give it to them in the hopes of hastening this. if there's nothing to hide, the faster we do this, the sooner the cloud will be lifted. that's been his perspective from the beginning. he believes they can get a speedy resolution to this. the issue that cobb has run into is that he's put different ends that he has thought -- he's been sort of groundhog here of the mueller investigation, coming out at different points to say he thinks it's going to be over. last year saying thanksgiving, then the end of the year. more reerntly saying he thinks it would be done by the middle of february. he's been wrong in those instances. at the same time, what he's trying to do is keep the president believing there is an end in sight and he can cooperate his way out of it. if the president is never charged in this and never com

as part of the plea deal he agreed to cooperate with robert mueller. his plea deal does not include all of the facts known to me regarding this offense. that indicates that he has told the special prosecutor much more information than is revealed in his plea deal today. the indictment of the 13 russians today says defendants also used the stolen identities of real u.s. persons. here's what the president had to say today when he was asked about all of this. >> do you feel vindicated in the mueller investigation? >> mr. president will you punish russia? will you punish russia? >> will you put sanctions on russia? nothing on russia, mr. president? >> join us for tea? >> joining our discussion jill wine-banks, ari melber, and ben wittes. >> ari, i know you have been studying this indictment and talking about it a great deal on the network today, including talking about it while studying it. as it stands tonight, now that you've had a little bit of time to breathe and digest it, give us your -- frame the significance of this indictment for us. >> you're rig

, at mueller's investigation, and that he is determined to make it go away whether it is by firing mueller, getting rod rosenstein to recuse himself or issuing pardons that he is a rage-aholic on this subject. is that what you are hearing as well? >> to a deg. his rage is on sessions and then rosenstein the determination to make it go away from the people i have been speaking with has been less explicit. he has not been as vocal on it according to my sources. >> it also gives us reason to belief that he is disingenuous in saying how much he really wants to go -- >> depending on what his lawyers say. >> primarily, he wants an end to this investigation. >> that's true. >> on his terms and his base to support him. >> which has mag jogie points o does not bring a quick end. also tonight how the white house is responding to the market meltdown. the worst point decline ever. # you both need to be watching that on the iphone with verizon. the best streaming network. how long have you been here? i've been here a couple days. (avo) get the best unlimited on the most awarded network. and now, when y

robert mueller seems to be casting a wide net. and student survivors of the florida high school slaughter take their outrage to florida state capitol demanding lawmakers act to stop gun violence. are russian internet trols already using the massacre to divide americans? ls already using the massacre to divide americans? money managers are pretty much the same. all but while some push high commission investment products, fisher investments avoids them. some advisers have hidden and layered fees. fisher investments never does. and while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. experand the nx hybrid... nx, with a class leading 31 mpg combined estimate. take advantage of special president's day offers now through the 28th, on the 2018 nx 300. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. liberty mutual sav

what did he give mueller in exchange for this? is it simply just information to put more pressure on manafort to get manafort to flip? or is there more information? gates was around, as you pointed out, for longer than manafort was. is there anything that he knows about the campaign? remember, the central question we sometimes forget as we look at all these documents today about the ukraine, it's obviously about russian collusion. is there anything he knows about that. so, what does this deal look like? what is it all about? and how does it help mueller advance himself? is it simply just on manafort or is it broader? >> and let me set up for you all the things that rick gates who may or may not be a household name at this point was involved in. he served as the trump campaign deputy campaign chairman. he was a transition official. so, he was there as the trump campaign folks started landing in different agencies. and he stayed in the trump white house's good graces and worked over at the trump super pac. so, what sorts of things -

mueller does or does not do. so we must do all we can next week knowing what the intent is from the president and the republicans to try and protect mueller and protect rosenstein so this investigation could reach a conclusion. >> i don't know if you could see this, but i'll put up on our screen a list of the people who have signed off on the fisa applications or reauthorizations for carter page. james comb ji, sally yates, fired, andy mccabe, asked to step down and rod rosenstein is the last man standing. could you tell me how concerned you are about the enemy list that is being put together and not just added by the president but acted upon. he has fired everybody who was investigating a man who on his campaign was a known -- known to counter intelligence officials, a known russian agent. >> it is hair raising to think about where those people are. and we must protect them. and also the d.o.j. and the fbi have to do something they are not comfortable doing. and that is speaking up. they like to keep their heads

i know we're always bringing you something new in the mueller probe. a source tells nbc news that at least one of those bank employees felt pressure into doing those deals and is now cooperating with mueller. and neither the white house, the banker or manafort's spokesman are talking to us about these new details. all of this and the new angle of investigation when it comes to mueller's team has just filed a new document in the case against manafort and gates, they could be new charges in what's called a superceding indictment. and since it's sealed, we don't know what it's in it, it could be something else. we do know this, mueller is getting closer to mana fort and manafort is -- let me go to randall elison. and the fellow at the alliance for justice. randall, you look at all the news i just ran through, what feels like new and extra heat, what does it tell you about mueller's probe and is it fair to say it's escalating? >> it certainly seems like he's trying to turn up the heat on manafort, these new charges could relate to additional charges agains