michael schmidt are you fine with me recording this. trump says yes. a sign of how quickly it came together. what axios is reporting this morning is that during 2017 there have been a lot of guardrails. gary cohn and others who are keeping the president in a more moderate place on immigration, on trade, on north korea. next year as some of those advisers depart and as we head into an election year, looking at the midterm, getting ready for 2020, officials are saying we're going to see much more. the campaign mode, hard line trump we're told within the next month to look for actions on trade, some tariffs perhaps on steel and aluminum. the kind of things advisers have been getting postponed in 2017. >> as a candidate, president trump touted his ability to make deals but his major legislative pushes failed to win any support from democrats. president trump explained it this way in the interview with the new york times. he said we started taxes and we don't hear from the democrats. we hear bull blank from the democrats like joe manchin. he's a nice guy. h

michael schmidt also spoke to the president how long the investigation will last. the democrats and about whether the special counsel would be fair. quote, mr. trump said that he was not bothered by the fact that he does not know when it will be completed because he has nothing to hide. mr. trump repeated the assertion democrats created the russia allegations as a hoax, as a ruse, as an excuse for losing the election and he said that everybody knows his associates did not collude with the russians, even as he insisted the real story are the democrats working with the russians in the campaign. i think he's going to be fair mr. trump said of mr. mueller and the president also tried to put some distance between himself and his former campaign chairman paul manafort who was indited for money laundering and conspiracy for his alleged work for a pro russian government, a charge he denies. he told "the times," quote, paul only worked for me for a few months. he worked for ronald reagan, john mccain, bob dole, worked for many republicans far longer than for me and you eke

thank you, carol lee, susan page, eli stokels, michael schmidt. we'll be covering michael flynn's guilty plea and the russian probe throughout the hour. where does the investigation go from here? will donald trump move to fire mueller or start giving out pardons? >>> plus everything we know about trump's relationship with michael flynn. >>> the "hardball" roundtable is here to talk about whether the bombshell news has anything to do with trump's increasingly erratic behavior this week and the tax cut for the wealthy. >>> let me finish with "trump watch" on this historic day in washington. this is "hardball," where the action is. farm to table on a blockchain, helping keep shoppers safe. this is a financial transaction secure from hacks and threats others can't see. this is a skyscraper whose elevators use iot data and ai to help thousands get to work safely and efficiently. this is not the cloud you know. this is the ibm cloud. the ibm cloud is the cloud for business. yours. ♪ ♪ what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two s

trump had with michael schmidt of "the new york times." i want to remind folks what he said. i have absolute right to do what i want to do with the justice department. this is what president trump said in the course of that conversation, ned. what do you make of the president's absolute right comment about the doj? >> well, craig, i think many people will and have disagreed with the president on this score, but most importantly, i think the constitution would disagree with him on this score. look, whether it's me when i was a junior cia officer taking my oath of office or the president of the united states, the thing we swear allegiance to when we hold up our right hand is to protect and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. we don't swear allegiance to a president. we don't swear allegiance to a party. so, every employee of the department of justice is not loyal -- is not faithful, need not be faithful to president trump but needs to be faithful to the institution. that clearly is something president trump does not understand. he seems to fancy hi

michael schmidt, let me start with you and the story that we were in our meeting watching the president's speech about making that big announcement about the middle east when we saw your piece dropped. talk about the significance of this whistleblower account. >> one of the big unknowns is what motivated him to lie. this may provide some answer that he didn't want to be seen as colluding or talk with the russians at the same time he assuring both a colleague that sanctions would be ripped up as one of the administration's first act of talking about sanctions with sergey kislyak and lying about the conversation of sanctions to the fbi. what's the significance of those three things happening, and what are the chances that flynn was some rogue actor in all of those actions? >> nicolle, this is clear now that flynn was not freelansing. he knew that the new is this where -- the president has been -- a tweet came out on saturday suggesting that the president fired mike flynn while the president was in possession of knowledge that he had lied to the fbi. the questioning, the investigation, the p

>> yes. >> so two questions for you, michael schmidt. one, he seems to be, again, tangled in the web of his own testimony before congress. the guy should really -- his new year's resolution should be to stop testifying under oath in congress but it's impossible to overstate how much peril jeff sessions is in politically with this president. this president would love to have somebody else as his attorney general. and i wonder if there's any sense that picking up on what tom just said, is that paired by -- those are his bucket of political problems. he has a credibility problem, i think, at least among democrats on capitol hill for amending his testimony about contacts with russians more than once or twice. i wonder if there's a third bucket that jeff sessions may have. >> i don't see him facing any legal exposure. there's no indication on any of that. i think the larger question on sessions is what will trump do? if the russia investigation continues to intensify, the belief among folks at the white house and around sessions is that sessi

donald trump has given an interview with michael schmidt of the "new york times." he didn't make new news but it's very interesting. right off the top it says that donald trump said thursday that he believes robert mueller, the special counsel in the russia investigation will treat him fairly contradicting some members of the party who have waged a week's long campaign to discredit mr. mueller and the continuing inquiry during a 30-minute interview with the "new york times" at his golf club, the president did not demand an end to the russia investigation swirling around his administration but insisted 16 times that there has been no collusion discovered by the inquiry. quote, it makes the country look very bad and puts the country in a very bad position, trump said of the investigation. it's worked out, it's better for the country. when asked whether he would order the swrjustice department reopen the investigation, trump appeared to remain focused on the investigation and said i have the absolute right he said to do what i want to do with the justice department, h

this is certainly something that michael schmidt talked with the president about yesterday. saw tweets from the president as well on north korea. how much distance is there between what the president said to michael schmidt and what we've seen on twitter and seen his secretary of state talking about? >> reporter: yeah. it's hard to say exactly, because the president and his secretary of state have been playing what appears to be almost a game of good cop/bad cop with north korea for months now. the secretary of state saying there is still room for diplomacy, is still room for negotiations and the president undercutting him, whether it's on twitter or in interviews saying he doesn't think there's much that can be done with kim jong-un. the linchpin ton all is china. how this white house really wants to deal with china. in that interview with the "new york times" the president says he's been essentially going easy on china and that that may not remain the case. but even there he talks about these reports of oil smuggling between the chinese and the north koreans, in violation

but donald trump has given an impromptu interview with michael schmidt of the of "the new york times." i have that interview right in front of me. i'm going to read you just a little bit of it. he didn't make any new news. he made some rea ergs sz but it's very interesting. right off p top donald trump said thursday he believes robert mueller the special counsel in the russia investigation will treat him fairly, some members waged a weeks long campaign to discredit mr. mueller and continue the inquiry. during 30 minutes at his golf club in wall street palm beach, he didn't demand an end to the investigations, swirling around his administration, but insisted 16 times there has been no collusion discovered by the inquiry. quote, it makes the country very bad and puts the country in a very bad position. trump said of the investigation. so, the answer, it's worked out, the sooner it's worked out, the better it is for the country. a little bit more. asked whether he would order the justice department to reopen the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mails, trump appeared to remain focus

eli stokels, and michael schmidt. in order, ask each of you as the top correspondents. explain implications of this, having as the primary witness for the prosecution. general flynn at his disposal after the plea deal. what you started to talk about a few minutes ago. this is an individual who michael flynn who is, by donald trump's side throughout the campaign. was, was a key player in the transition. and then, spent 24 days inside the white house. there its nobody else who has the all of those things, right now. who, who has, that we know of, who has the flipped, and is, is cooperating with special counsel. >> he knows all about the possible collusion, and obstruction of justice to cover that up. >> correct. >> susan. >> what is alarming to the white house. this person who flipped, who is now a small fish not a big fish you. don't flip the person at the top. means that they have bigger, bigger, targets in mind. >> who its next? >> there are own, three, four people who are bigger target. >> jared. jared. >> gave him, the duty, basically. to kill that retz lusolution ag

michael schmidt was at the links, at the golf course in the grill room. how did it come together? >> not planned, but not entirely accidental. michael schmidt has said he was at the trump international golf course grill room as a guest of one of president trump's friends. we know that president trump will go eat there after he plays golf and, sure enough, the president showed up. he and schmidt started to talk, and schmidt describes it, the president started talking about taxes and schmidt simply asked him if they could have this conversation on the record. as striking as anything the president said is the fact that he was entirely unstaffed for this. it's almost unheard of. the president of the united states, to be essentially walking around by themselves doing as they see fit for any period of time without staff and minders and professionals around to be helpful, even if the case of emergency, much less in the case of an interview with "the new york times." but katy, as you know, this is how this president likes to operate. despite what he says about the press. he likes to talk

"new york times" reporter michael schmidt was there in the bar/restaurant area, started chatting with the president, as he described it. the president, he was sort of introduced to the president. started talking about his tax plan. said, why don't we go ahead and have it on the record? there were no white house aides there, there was no press organization to this at all. it's something that happened in the moment. as so often happens in this president, who has had i think one solo news conference thus far as president. but regularly stops and talks to the reporters waiting for him to get on and off his helicopter. an extension of a normal if unusual media relations behavior by this president. >> listen, i wanted to ask you about something that also caught my attention that was pretty interesting. the phrase that the president repeated throughout the interview, he says quote, do bipartisan. he says it more than once, we can do bipartisan. what did he mean by that? >> well, he's talking about legislative priorities for the next year. it's not terribly different from the language he used

that is michael schmidt. also here with me in new york, nick ackerman, former assistant special watergate prosecutor. and gordon shank is with me as well. 16 times during the course of this interview the president said no collusion. what was the sense that you got from talking to him about how he pir p perceives where this investigation is at this point? >> it was probably the most sober the president has been about mueller. he didn't attack mueller. he basically said that he thought mueller would be fair to him which stands in contrast to what a lot of republicans have said where they have really gone after mueller's credit ability. the president seemed to put some distance between himself and those xhentsds. and to basically say look, i got nothing to hide and he certainly said all those timings that there was no collusion. but he basically says i got nothing to hide and i think mueller will be fair. which was sort of a lighter touch from the president who usually doesn't have that especially on issues that

michael schmidt, washington koern correspondent for the paper. also ken vogel also with "the new york times" and republican strategist rick tyler is here. good afternoon, gentlemen. i want to read one of the most eye-popping quotes. trump talking about robert mueller. he says i hope that he's going to be fair. he says, i think that he's going to be fair and based on that, inaudible, there's been no collusion, but i think he's going to be fair. and if he's fair because everybody knows the answer already, michael, i want you to treat my fairly, okay. then you respond, believe me this is -- he cuts you off. everybody knows the answer already. there was no collusion. none whatsoever. trump thinks mueller will be fair because everybody knows the answer already. did you read it that way or no? >> this was the most somber tone or sober tone that the president has had towards mueller. his party has really launched a series of attacks on the special counsel undercutting his credibility, saying he shouldn't exist and shouldn't be running this investigation

also michael schmidt, and barry wi wise. there were a few things that were notable. journalists lie because they want to lie about the president. i want to put that aside and move toward the accusers that have come out once again today. this white house, their argument is that at the very least this has already been litigated last november. >> reporter: that's right. and it's worth noting that most of the questions today did center around that point. pressing sara sanders on the fact that you have the president's accusers coming forward in a very different climate than the one that we saw during the campaign to say once again they feel as though there was sexual misconduct on the part of the president before, of course, he was ever in office. you heard sara sanders vigorously defend the president, reiterate the fact that he says all the allegations are false at the very end of the briefing she was asked if she can categorically say each and every one of his accusers is lying. she went back to that talking point saying, look, the president says that these accusations

schmidt, who was there as the guest of a club member. >> we're sitting at a table next to the president, so we went up and started talking to him. >> reporter: no staff were present. the president was dining alone. on the russia investigation, mr. trump repeated 16 times that there was "no collusion" between his campaign and russia. asked about the special counsel, the president said, "i think that bob mueller will be fair." but he seem frustrated it's taking so long. "it puts the country in a very bad position," he said, "so the sooner it's worked out the better it is for the country." he ominously suggested he has the power to intervene claiming, "i have absolute right to do what i want to do with the justice department." but eric holder, president obama's attorney general replied in a tweet, "wrong/dangerous. trump doesn't have absolute rights with d.o.j. career d.o.j. people have absolute right to defy illegal orders and they will. i know them." switching to china, the president touted his great chemistry with president xi jinping, but suggested he "may go after china on trade if it

michael schmidt, "the new york times" reporter, said the president was interrupted by a phone call from hope hicks back in washington asking about the interview. it continued a pace. this is part and parcel of how the president operates, particularly when he's away from the white house. he's going to set the media schedule and he's going to decide when and where he wants to speak out. we see it in washington all the time. no formal news conferences, it's very rare for the president to schedule something on his own to come speak, but he's perfectly happy to come to the microphones on his way to and from marine one when he wants to speak his mind. this is an extreme example of that, given that there was no one around who could have pulled the plug on the interview if things kind of went off the rails, but it's not unusual for the president to decide, especially with a reporter who he is personally familiar with, that he just wants to talk. and the white house knows there's not much they can do to stop that, particularly when he's away from the structure of the white house. >> it was prett

speaking with reporter michael schmidt, and without any aides present, president trump criticized attorney general jeff sessions for recusing himself from the russia probe and fired back at critics of the massive tax bill he signed last week. he also defended his decision to endorse roy moore in the alabama special election and during that 30-minute interview, he repeated 16 times that there has been no collusion discovered by robert mueller's investigation, even though the investigation, of course, is ongoing, and mueller has resisted making any public statements on that or other matters. what a conversation, what a year. phil, you've covered trump for so long, we've seen him in these settings before. the president alone in his golf club. this is who he is, walking to the press, no aides present. he projected calm on the russia probe. was that calm that came through in "the times" interview, a reflection of the reality inside the white house when it comes to the investigations? philip: it's a reflection, bob, of where president trump thinks the investigation is based on what his lawyers h

so that's where we are. >> and this is part of michael schmidt's report in the claims that michael flynn acted alone. but "the new york times" reports that e-mails show that flynn was in close touch with other senior members of the trump transition, before and after he spoke with russian ambassador sergey kislyak, including an e-mail sent from k.t. mcfarland where she voiced concerns that obama administration sanctions would make it harder for trump to ease tensions with russia adding, quote, if there is a tit-for-tat escalation, trump will have difficulty improving relations with russia, which has just thrown usa election to him. it is unclear if mcfarland was saying she believed the election was thrown. although it kind of looks like that. according to the times, bossert forwarded the e-mail to six other trump advisers, including michael flynn, reince priebus and steve bannon. ty cobb told nbc news that it would have been malpractice not to discuss relations internally. cobb defended mcfarland's e-mail, telling nbc she was relatively new to the trump team and at this point was simply r

. >> that's right, my colleague michael schmidt got a hold of e-mails from december of 29 of last year. it was the day that flynn called sergei kislyak and talked to him. it turned out about the sanctions that the obama administration had put on russia in retaliations for the russia interference of the u.s. election. the white house has suggested for, you know ever since basically the trump associates suggested that flynn was operating on his own and the president says he's a good man but that he was essentially freelancing at that time what the e-mail shows and what flynn uplo pleaded guilty was that all top officials seem to be aware that he was going to make his call to the russian ambassador briefed on what happened during the call afterwards and they were focused on russia and how to improve relation relation with russia. >> what stood out the most to you in reading or what you have learned about these e-mails? >> we were given one e-mail in exchange and other e-mails were described and the ones that were giv given, what stands out is comment by kt mcfarland who was going to be de

my colleague, michael schmidt, got ahold of some e-mails from december 29th of last year, which was a pretty big day. it was a day -- it was the day that michael flynn called the russian ambassador kislyak. what the e-mails show and what the documents released when michael flynn yesterday pleaded guilty is that actually all of the top transition officials seem to have been aware that he was going to make this call to the russian ambassador, seem to have been -- essentially been briefed on what happened during the call afterward, and that they were all focused on russia and how to improve relations with russia. >> what stood out the most to you in reading or what you have learned about these e-mails? >> you know, what really stands out is a comment by k.t. mcfarland, who was going to become deputy national security adviser under michael flynn, and she actually says in characterizing it appears to be her characterizing how this will look, says that russia had thrown the usa election to donald trump. but there it is in the e-mail, and so i think that was quite striking to see that they w

. >> let's get to michael schmidt, the new york reporter that saturday down in the dining room of president trump's florida club mar-a-lago. we want to get into the substance, of course, of what you talked about. boy, there was so much ground covered. let's talk about the sessions surrounding it. how did you come upon president trump in the grill room at

joining us is michael schmidt who broke the story tonight. >> with me is david ignatius, editor for "the washington post." >> my colleague, carol lee. >> covering this administration has sparked an entire industry. >> it's also created some of our best tv friends. >> ashley parker, white house reporter for "the washington post." >> "morning times" political reporter nick confessore. >> these people are family for us, because we rely not just on their scoops, which come at a space that's dizzying. but they've also become our storytellers of this presidency. >> kasie hunt, thanks. ken dilanian, now to you. >> they manage to cover this white house, to maintain all the access that they have. >> carol, you're the lead by-line on this story, so i'm going to start with you. >> not to take anything away from our investigative unit, which breaks stories all the time. but to cover such a disruptive period in politics, whether it was a democrat or a republican, it takes a village. so what we get to do is showcase all the journalism. >> nbc news has learned that special counsel robert mueller has

let's bring out "new york times" reporter michael schmidt on this story. there has been legislation proposed in congress to protect bob mueller from firing. it hasn't gone anywhere. what is senator warner after her here? is he putting up the red flare or is there legislation passed here? >> i think it would be hard to have legislation. they have been quiet on it. the president is in an interesting position t. white house said mueller would be done by thanksgiving, christmas, early next year. this is an effort by the president's lawyers to keep him at bay and attacking mueller and firing mueller. so the interesting question which warner is sort of heading towards is what will happen when the president realizes mueller is not going to clear his name. we have to remember that mueller was appointed because comey wouldn't say publicly that the president wasn't under investigation. and i think that's what democrats are afraid of. >> hey, john, you've said be every that you believe that donald trump is looking for any excuse to fire mueller and these sad pathetic

. >> not like michael schmidt asked him what enchanted him about the first 1900 days. remember that in the obama days? >> yes, a lot of the coverage much president obama, certainly there was a lot of focus on obama's policy. any coverage that focuses on policy with relation to the drump administration is considered weak or propaganda. >> another outgrowth is some on the left believe the president's statements were too grandiose, leading thome a stark construction. brian fallon earlier tonight, used to be a spokesman for hillary clinton, on cnn. >> they're dangerous, delusional statements that suggest he has a loose grip on reality. >> donald trump it is fair to start asking questions whether the man is fit to hold the job. >> he's questioning the president's mental fitness based on an interview with the "new york times.." >> >> i'm old enough to remember when it was ta gough to question the health of a politician, when hillary clinton was running for it. this is something the left has started to talk about. president trump is nothing if not consistent. he has been this

ckudos to my colleague michael schmidt who went down to florida and managed to get that interview, something most presidents wouldn't grant ever. he has a habit of doing this despite his frequent criticism of us. what we wrote in the article, the thing that most struck us were comments about the russia investigation. as we say at the top of the story he focused on a lot that he thinks bob mueller will be able to be fair to him. it so undercuts many in his own party. he tried on capitol hill to discredit mueller's investigation as a partisan witch-hunt. that was the striking difference. he said even though he thinks he will be tweeted fairly, he has every right to do with the justice department what he will. it left an ominous tone of what does it mean. >> i do want to ask you about that. just on the robert mueller thing because incident was such a different tone that it bears repeating. i hope he is going to be fair. i think he's going to be fair. there's been no collusion, but i think he's going to be fair. everyone knows the answer already. there was no collusion, none whatsoever. as you p

schmidt, who is joining me now, not far from the golf club where you sat yesterday right around lunchtime, not too long from now 24 hours ago at the golf club. so start it off for me, how did this come about? how did you have this interview done with no staff in the middle of the lunchroom? >> we went up to the president and spoke to him while he was eating. >> who is we? >> i was with chris ruddy. >> chris ruddy will be joining us next on the show. >> we were at a table next to the president's. we went up to him and he started talking about the tax bill. the president obviously thinks he's the best spokesman and very proud of his tax bill. and started talking about it and said, this is all interesting, let's do this on the record. and he said, you know, okay, let me just finish eating lunch. he was eating a salad. and when he was done, he pulled me aside and we sat at a table just the two of us for a half hour talking. >> and a wide-ranging interview, touching on the russia investigation, which elicited a lot of headlines. a piece written by "the new york times" talking about how the pre

we begin with michael schmidt, correspondent fran chessa chambers. let me start with you. i see you almost every day in that briefing room, first with schaub spicer and now with sarah huckabee standers. what is that dynamic like. it seems different than previous briefing rooms. what is it like. >> the sharp shift here in the briefing room behind the scenes in this white house is that previously you would all count on the associated press to be called into the briefing room and you could count on there being a policy question and sort of news of the day first and that is something this administration has done away with. and so that is why you'll see them going to other outlets across the room and you never know if you are going to be the first one to get called on. so have to you be very, very prepared in this administration. because what if they come to you and it is your day, you got the top question and every network in america cameras are rolling. >> michael, one of the things that -- when i was in washington, there would be certain kinds of information that would be re

"the new york times" reporter michael schmidt says dossier, going to so many other elements and podesta's firm. let's get to it with joy reid, host of "am joy" and national correspondent and the woman holding down the anchor chair when this came across. i have so many questions and first on the collusion. >> yeah. we wiped -- our plan out the window. donald trump wanting to do and sort of a news editor that tries to scramble our plan and we are the highlight pen twins today. we have this going on. just to go through it quickly, donald trump, i'm on page of 18 of the transcript and remarkable reading donald trump outside of the edited once they put it together "new york times," just reading the transcript and the number of directions his mind goes and i think of a bird in "peanuts" and friend of snoopy, no collusion, no collusion, and coming back to it. i have counted 15 times, sometimes 2 or 3 times in 3 sentences and goes back to the election, whether at the fbi or whether he's, you know, i don't know, dedicating a ship, back to, i won the election because i amy just the master of the el

begin with michael schmidt, and francesca chambers, and francesca, lerm stat me start w you. i see you every day in the briefing room. first sean spicer, now sarah huckabee sanders. what's it like in that room? >> a sharp shift we've seen in the briefing room behind the scenes in this white house is that previously you would always count on the associated press to be called in, in the briefing room first and count on a policy question and news of the day first. something this administration has done away with. so that's why you'll see them going to other outlets across the room and you never know if you'll be the first one to get called on. you have to be very, very prepared in this administration, because what if they come to you, it's your day. got the top question and every network in america, cameras are rolling. >> one of the things, michael, when i was in washington, there would be certain kinds of information that would be released by the white house, even though you're sort of, you know, trained as a journalist to question, there are certain things you wouldn't questi

schmidt. happy monday, everybody. back in june, we tliel actually debated which of president trump's tweets may have been the most destructive to his presidency. our top five included attacks against the intel community, his accusation against president obama of wiretapping, his suggestions that he has tapes of jim comey, his calls for executive order on a travel ban and that he is being investigated for fire the fbi director. this came after michael

joining me now, michael schmidt, new york times reporter and msnbc contributor. michael, i want to apologize that you did nothing fun for this holiday weekend because you were working. i want to thank you because this is an important piece. you write, white house officials sought to play down the significance of the letter about the transition e-mails, insisting it was an issue for the transition team, not the west wing. they said the president had not changed his approach to cooperating with the special counsel and that he had not discussed dismissing mr. mueller. okey dokey. if that's really the case, why isn't white house telling langhoffer to back off? >> well, that's the sort of interesting thing about this, is that they sort of -- the white house sort of wanted it to have both ways. in some ways, they wanted to undercut mueller's credibility and the fears if mueller were to do something, they would attack him and do something to his image, which has in washington been a very strong one, a very good one, you know, and he's been accepted by both parties. the

talking to michael schmidt of the "new york times" down in the grill room and he said, quote, in my opinion they should come to me on infrastructure. they should come to me and come to me on health care because we can do bipartisan health care and bipartisan infrastructure and do bipartisan daca. help me here as we approach 2018. how optimistic are you about partisanship. the president thinks he has that made when he comes back to washington. >> from a conservative point of view, i'm very optimistic that the president will be able to strike a number of deals and get a lot of things done next year. but he cannot put the cart before the horse. the most important thing is for him to pass a daca deal that protects conservative priorities. that builds the wall that ends chain migration and that puts border security, including the wall, before any sort of legal status. >> is he in the driver seat there? something that is squarely going to be something that congress is going to be figuring out? >> he is very much in the driver's seat. but he has to drive a hard bargain. he has to consolidate his b

donald trump has given an interview with michael schmidt of the "new york times." he didn't make new news but it's very interesting. right off the top

we begin with national security contributor michael schmidt, franchesca chambers. franchesca, let me start with you. what is that dynamic like? it seems different than previous briefing rooms to me watching it but you're in that room, what's it like? >> a sharp shift that we've seen here in the briefing room behind the scenes is that previously you would always count on the associated press to be called in in this briefing room first and you could count on there being a policy question and news of the day first and that's something that this administration has done away with so that's why you'll see them going to other outlets all across the room and you never know if you're going to be the first one to get called on so you have to be very, very prepared in this administration because what if they come to you and it's your day, you got the top question and every network in america cameras are rolling. >> michael, one of the things that when i was in washington, there would be certain kinds of information that would be released by a white house that even though you'

when "the new york times" reporter michael schmidt said to the president at one point in the interview, trish, it felt like he was moving toward the middle the president sort of took issue with that saying i'm not being centered. i'm just being practical. the reality of it is, we're heading into 2018. the margin for republicans in senate has now shrunk to fifth one. once head towards the back end of the year, it will be an election year. trish? trish: thank you so much, blake burman. joining me for more on the russian investigation wisconsin congressman sean duffy good to have you here, representative duffy. >> thanks for having me on. trish: let's start with devin nunez's request to start getting some of these documents he has been asking for over and over again and has not yet received. is this going put pressure on the fbi to do at least what you guys are asking? >> first of all you have to ask the question, why, trish? the request went in four months ago. the fbi as slow-walked and stonewalled devin nunez on the intelligence committee. i think they're not turning this information t

i want to bring in michael schmidt, washington correspondent for "the new york times" and the national city contributor, and richard painter who served under george w. bush. richard, i'll start with you since you are remote here, after the president's tweets on mccabe, you tweeted, using twitter on christmas eve to intimidate a witness, mccabe, in a criminal investigation is not a very christian way to celebrate the holiday. but it does make mr. mueller's job easier and that's a nice thing to do. merry christmas. explain how the tweets could factor into the special counsel investigation. >> well, we already have a look into the firing of james comey after pressure was put on james comey to not go after mr. flynn and not pursue the investigation. the tweet he sent out saying he knew that general flynn lied, but the fbi was firined -- it i an unbelievable story that just goes on and on. now he is intimidating a witness who is a federal employee in the executive branch, he's the president, he's in charge of the executive branch, he's the boss. he's saying this stuff about mr. mccabe that

it turns out michael schmidt had something up his sleeve, in the "new york times," it just hit, an interview with the president. the president says he believes special counsel robert mueller can be fair. that is different than what some republicans are saying. i want to quote from the piece right here. the president did not demand an end to the russia investigation swirling around his administration. but insisted 16 times there's been no collusion discovered by the inquiry. it makes the country look very bad, the president said, and it puts the country in a very bad position. michael scherrer, thank you so much for being with us. i just crammed the article during the break. you helped write up the article here the headline here is he believes that the special counsel can be fair. explain. >> yeah, look, that was the most striking part of what was more than a 30-minute interview that mike schmidt, my colleague, got down at the president's golf club down in west palm beach. but it really stood out, right. because we have been watching over the last several weeks as the republican party has tri

schmidt. in washington, white house reporter for "the wall street journal" and msnbc analyst eli stokells and former obama deputy campaign adviser stephanie cutter is here. i think you and stephanie are the two attorneys at the table. can you first just address what donald trump jr. is sort of holding out as his rationale for not sharing with the committee the substance of his conversation with his father? and then tell me if you think that will hold up with bob mueller. >> he's claiming attorney/client privilege. context is also important. we can't overlook that this is a family business for donald trump. and donald trump jr. and the entire trump oerlrganization. and there is no personnel they'll ultimately protect if it means getting to the trump family themselves. we also know that this family knows that bob mueller is encroaching on them. so what we've seen is something very interesting. you have a 29-year-old white house communications director. it is not an entry level job, as you know.

schmidt. let me just -- there's a lot of going back in time today because flynn has now been gone longer than he was ever in the white house. but mike flynn was someone i was reminded this morning who chris christie lost his job as transition director over his opposition to mike flynn. and i was reminded that chris christie and his transition team have put together binders for leadership and some of the senior posts, the senate confirmation posts under them. and he didn't put mike flynn's name on any of those lists. i've pressed him on this show and in private about whether he knew anything about him, whether he knew about his crooked business dealings or not registering as a foreign agent. he says no. but i wonder if it's possible, and i wonder if your paper and your incredible unit is investigating who knew what about flynn in that period from election day to when he was installed as the national security adviser in the white house. because i've heard a list of names today of people that are

the story in the "new york times" has michael schmidt and michael shear on the byline. the headline, president says "inquiry makes u.s. look bad. " it is an impromptu 30-minute interview at the president's golf club in west palm beach. he did not demand an end to the investigation but said 16 times that there's been no collusion covered by the inquiry quote. -- host: the story by shear and schmidt of the "new york times" goes on to note that the interview happened in the grill room of the trump international golf club as the president ate lunch with his playing partners including his son, eric, and jim harmen. no aide was present with the interview. and the president sat alone with a reporter. we're going to be going through this story throughout this first hour of the "washington journal" today and as we're doing that, we also want to hear from you on this question as we said we ask about every year around this time. want to know your political winners and losers. again, phone lines, republicans, 202-748-8001, democrats, 202-748-8000 and independents, 202-748-8002. dea

the president told michael scombhid schmidt of the "new york times" there was no collusion. is that what the president should be worried about? >> i agree we need to look into the obstruction. that's bob mueller's duty to do. will he be protected or not? the president is saying he believes he has the absolute pow tore fire mueller. and he does the reason he does, congress is so weak. they have not passed a law that makes mueller independent. they need to do that. he can go to rod rosenstein and say fire mueller. if he doesn't, he can fire rod rosenstein and wait until he finds something that will fire mueller. i'm hoping this is theier congress stand up to trump and goes ahead and passes a law to make mueller's investigation independent and protected. >> he told the "time's" quote i have the absolute right to do what i want to do with the justice department. is that true? >> yes, that is true. that's the carry part. and the reason why he has the absolute right is congress has not passed anything and we need to know the answers to these really important questions about whethe

ambassador to russia, michael mcfall. our panel is here. steve schmidt, zerlina maxwell. john heilemann, nbc news and msnbc national affairs annual of the and evan mcmullin, chief policy director for the house of representatives who previously ran for president as an independent candidate. steve schmidt, i wonder your thoughts about congressman schiff's responses. he's obviously a careful speaker, and there are things everyone on the intelligence committees of both parties can't say, but what i heard loud and clear is that he certainly believes, as many democrats and republicans believe, that the white house has called in a request to the house to shut down their investigation so that donald trump has something to wave around and lay the groundwork for firing bob mueller. >> i think adam schiff as the ranking member has proven himself over the course of this year to be smart, sober, serious, but when it comes to the integrity of this investigation from the majority side, from the republican side, it's corrupted. it's shattered. and what's clearly going on here is an abdic

yes, he is name is eric schmidt. he was walking around with staff badge on, that's how entwine -- >> all silicon valley was campaigning for hillary. dagen: she didn't win, obviously, and now the silicon valley companies i think -- they are reassessing. >> he was a liability. he's exhibit a, in cross hairs more than anything else. >> schmidt was in those positions where you help transition out of it. >> we will see what happens to other companies. nothing would surprise me. in terms of alphabet, great leadership, cfo from morgan stanley, she's done a great job, diane green. it was time for this to happen. good news. >> they are doing an amazing job. >> it certainly because timing wise but because of the environment, everybody is asking question about every executive that's stepping down. the question is did he do anything wrong or live a crazy lifestyle. dagen: in recent years he was ambassador, quite frankly. that's the word that the journal uses to describe. >> high-level job, right, he traveled for company, he wasn