hour, including having michael beschloss in just a moment. there are two big stories that broke just as we were getting ready to go opt air to want. one of them broke in "the wall street journal." it concerns paul manafort. now, with paul manafort, it is widely understood, widely reported he is in the crosshairs of the special counsel investigation being led by robert mueller into the russian attack on the presidential election last year and the question whether or not the trump campaign was somehow complicit in that attack. paul manafort's house in virginia is the only personal home we know to have been raided. subject to a no-knock fbi search warrant in this investigation, and paul manafort is the only trump associate or trump campaign figure who has reported to have been told by mueller's prosecutors that he should expect to be indicted. well now tonight, "the wall street journal" reports that the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan, the most famous u.s. attorney's office in the country, southern district of new york, the office previously led by preet bharara, the anti-public cor

. so we're going to be speaking with presidential historian michael beschloss about that spectacle and what it might mean about the trump president spcy. that's coming up a little later this hour. that story about jeff flake and the remarkable comments he made today on the senate floor, that was the story that dominated beltway media coverage today. and i think because of that there were a number of other important stories that broke today that didn't get as much attention as they might otherwise. just because the jeff flake story understandably took so much oxygen out of the room. in case you missed it, though, also today there was a sort of ridiculous scandal that broke involving secretary of state rex tillerson. while the white house and the administration are increasingly trying to present the trump presidency as a national security success story. that seems to be their new line they are pushing on the press. the security situation in afghanistan, where thousands of u.s. troops are still serving, has actually become increasingly dire over the last few months, and in particular

could help explain what's going on now in our current life. so we contacted michael beschloss for his help trying to figure out if there was something unprecedented about president trump's remarks in the rose garden on monday, flippant, casual asides he made glibly monday afternoon in the rose guard when he volunteered what turned out to be false information about previous presidents, particularly president obama and ways previous presidents had interacted with families of soldiers who were killed in action. president made those remarks on monday in rose garden and caused a great uproar. we contacted michael beschloss to see if the comments were unprecedented or something else was like this in u.s. history to remember at time like this, talking about what president trump did that upset so many people. in response to query he sent us this letter. he told us about the long history of presidents sending letters and making sympathy phone calls and visiting with families of fallen soldiers and how profoundly that responsibility has affected presidents over the year. but said this handwritt

nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. michael, what do you want to know or what do you think might come out of these documents that apparently are going to be released online this thursday. >> yeah, two things, chris. number one, what was oswald doing in mexico city just a few weeks before the assassination? we know that he was talking to soviets. he was talking to cubans, that the united states had some surveillance of all this. what was going on. did he make a threat against john kennedy that should have been transmitted to the secret service? and the other thing is did the cia and fbi pick up information not only in mexico city that should have warned the secret service and the people around john kennedy in dallas, might have spared us the trauma of that death. >> it seems to me there would be two motives for what you're describing. the first one big motive would be to avoid stirring up real hot war 2001 us and the soviet union if they were in on this thing. >> right. >> anyway, even knowledgeable about a planned assassination. and number two, the cya. the cia and th

contacted michael beschloss to see if the comments were unprecedented or something else was like this in u.s. history to remember at time like this, talking about what president trump did that upset so many people. in response to query he sent us this letter. he told us about the long history of presidents sending letters and making sympathy phone calls and visiting with families of fallen soldiers and how profoundly that responsibility has affected presidents over the year. but said this handwritten letter from lincoln, what i think is the most eloquent such letter. most eloquent condolence letter that president has sent. this letter is what lincoln wrote when he learned in 1862 about the death of his friend william mccullough fighting in the civil war. wrote this letter to mccullough's daughter in dark year of 1862 when he and country and his own family were dealing with so much trauma and grief. so much of the power is seeing handwritten form. the words that lincoln wrote are not just historical artifact. they're still important as to what we expect of the presidency and understand

. that is an assertion that can be checked. joining us is nbc presidential historian michael beschloss. michael, thank you for being with us tonight. >> of course. >> so looking back at watergate, looking back at iran-contra, looking back at other presidential scandals that resulted in criminal charges, how do you see this news today fitting on that number line? >> this has the potential to go way beyond because those were not really scandals that primarily involved a hostile power. you know, what we saw today was the beginning of an escalating chain that might lead to evidence that people around the president or possibly even the president himself were machinating to collude with a foreign power that is hofting to us. that's something we haven't seen before. but you know, rachel what we saw today i think was sort of watergate before john dean testified and before we knew there were tapes. this is really the first inning. whether this leads to something grave like, you know, impeachment and conviction, we don't know tonight. >> it was an interesting pair of stories today. obviously, the trump c

thing about the trump era. joining us now is michael beschloss. it's great to have you with us, thank you for being here tonight. >> thanks, rachel. of course. >> has this happened before? >> no. in a word, you look, roosevelt ran against hoover and roosevelt said i disagree with the way hoover is dealing with the great depression. roosevelt won and he brought about the new deal, this huge amount of federal programs to try to improve people's lives. ronald reagan in 1980 said i disagree with jimmy carter in all sorts of ways and came into office, it was a revolutionary change and tax and defense spending and other things, but it wasn't this -- it's almost as if donald trump when he was running and even during this first year, the centerpiece of this administration is i loathe barack obama and all he stands for and i'm going to be the opposite. >> i feel like in trying to understand trumpism and where president trump came from not just as an individual but in terms of this moment in american history, i feel like there has been a sort of quasiintellectual argument that maybe the two par

stuff like that. >> joining me now is michael beschloss, nbc news presidential historian. always good to have you. >> thank you. >> he didn't deny it -- >> no, he didn't. >> how unusual is this in history. >> you usually don't hear this kind of language. you know, our first secretary of state was thomas jefferson. he worked for george washington. there is no record that thomas jefferson ever called george washington a moron. or that washington said that jefferson was wasting his time. you know, sometimes historians like me will find out decades later that in private, you know, there might have been friction between a president and a secretary of state, but in realtime for a president like donald trump to haze these people as you were describing, ari like nikki haley and some of these others it's disrespectful and totally out of keeping with american tradition. >> american tradition and it also goes to how others as you mention ld serve in the cabinet. you're a historian. i don't know if you ever list listened to drake. >> a little bit. >> he has a line where he says, you know, his ex

great presidential historian michael beschloss. michael, thank you as always. >> thank you, brian. >> a final break coming up, the president gives himself a grade on the government's relief efforts in puerto rico. that when we come back. hi, i'm the internet! you know what's difficult? adulting... hi, guys. i'm back. time to slay! no,i have a long time girlfriend. you know what's easy? building your website with godaddy. get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. build a better website in under an hour. >>> last thing before we go tonight, it's been a month and a day since puerto rico was demolished by a hurricane. today the president hosted the government of puerto rico, a man who represents the 3.5 million american citizens on the island. it was one of those oval office photo ops and when asked, the president told the governor how great the federal response has been. >> mr. president, between one and ten how would you grade the white house support so far? >> i'd say it was a ten. we provided so much so fast. helicopters that weren't even meant for this purpose all

of china. small c china. >> well, big c china is on the docket later this month. michael beschloss, leave it there. thanks. >>> as they say in humor, there's truth. which is what makes last night's roast of president trump by house speaker paul ryan all the more interesting, given this conversation. >> enough with the applause. all right? you sound like the cabinet when donald trump walks in the room. [ laughter ] i know last year that donald trump offended some people. i know his comments according to critics went too far. some said it was unbecoming of a public figure and that his comments were offensive. well -- thank god he's learned his lesson. [ laughter ] >> every morning i wake up in my office and i scroll twitter to see which tweets i'll have to pretend i did not see later on. and when you read the papers tomorrow everyone will report this differently. breitbart's leading with, "ryan slams the president amongst liberal elet's." "new york times" reporting, "ryan defends the president in a state hillary won." and the president will tweet, "300,000 at smith dinner cheer, mention of

to end on, our friend, the great presidential historian michael beschloss. michael, thank you as always. >> thank you, brian. >> a final break coming up, the president gives himself a grade on the government's relief efforts in puerto rico. that when we come back. when you're close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. with taltz, up to 90% of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. in fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. do not use if you are allergic to taltz. before starting you should be checked for tuberculosis. taltz may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz. including worsening of symptoms. serious allergic reactions ca

michael beschloss how rare it is two people from two parties to speak out against the commander-in-chief. >>> plus he gives them a score of ten out of ten and puts the islands in a different ten out. we'll talk to the puerto rican governor about just how perfect the response has been. "morning joe" is coming right back. ♪ it's not just a car, it's your daily treat. ♪ go ahead, spoil yourself. the es and es hybrid. experience amazing. when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. ...from godaddy! in fact, 68% of people who have built their... ...website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too. build a better website - in under an hour. with gocentral from godaddy. a dairy cow that talks to farmers? what kind of sorcery is that? it's not the magic-wand kind. it's the rfid-collar-and- internet of things-kind we created with chitale dairy. so every cow can let farmers know how she feels and