that's why we have people like robert mueller, the cia. and they're going to be doing their job, and members of congress better understand they've got to back off and let our fbi, our cia find out what's been going on so this never happens again. >> richard painter, good to see you again. a former ethics lawyer for president george bush. >>> coming up president trump has denied or down-played russian hacking at every opportunity. but the problem didn't begin with with president trump. one of our next guests says we should expect more and right now the russians are winning when "the 11th hour" continues. >>> if putin likes donald trump, i consider that an asset not a liability because we have a horrible relationship with russia. if putin likes donald trump, guess what, folks? that's called an asset not a liability. now, i don't know that i'm going to get along with vladimir putin. i hope i do. yesterday i received a call from president putin of russia thanking our country for the intelligence that our cia was able to provide them concerning

>>> tonight the president said he doesn't intend to fire robert mueller but the smear campaign against mueller goes on. and this is the week that the trump and mueller teams sit down for a meeting. plus the warning that the camp received about russia in 2016. and how the president almost pulled his own pick for the supreme court out of contention when trump thought he wasn't being loyal or appreciative enough. "the 11th hour" on a monday night begins now. >> good evening once again for our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 333 of the trump administration. we have brand new reporting on what may be the direction of robert mueller's investigation and what that might mean for the president. "the washington post" reports it this way, tonight, "white house lawyers are expected to meet with special counsel robert mueller's office this week seeking good news, that his sprawling investigation's focus on president trump will soon end and their client will be cleared, but people with the probe say such assurances are unlikely and the meeting could trigger a new more contentious phase b

this is the view of robert mueller, this is so important, among republicans. people who identify republicans and were willing to answer affirmative or negative. 33% negative view. 13% positive view. mr. chairman, what does that tell you? >> well, it tells me, if you just take and extrapolate it out, that's trump's base. that's the core of his base, his numbers are somewhere between 33 and 35%. and certainly on a national level. at a significant point, roughly 75% of that number is republican, that does not surprise me, there's been a consistent and coordinated effort between various media outlets and the white house. that has escalated. this drum beat that we're hearing over and over again about mueller, his team, the process, the procedures and even the law itself. and now, what is so disturbing, i think, is the fact that you have members of congress who should know better, quite honestly, they really should, sort of picking up this drum beat and carrying it forward in a way that i fear for them in that it comes back to bite them on their head when -- or some

do you hear a president trying to discredit a guy by the name of robert mueller. who in his circle, where is this coming from do you think? >> sure. i want to make two points on that. the first is discrediting people and especially institutions, especially democratic institutions is nothing new for this president. we've seen him try do it with the media, we've seen him try do it with the federal judiciary, we've seen him not take all the intelligence his own intelligence community is providing him and take that seriously. so the idea that he would add one more agency or one more person to that list is not surprising in terms of a strategy. that said, in terms of where it's specifically coming from, there's a number of people in his outer orbit, not necessarily in the white house but people like steve bannon, friends and confidantes he talks to who believe what phil just said, which is the probe is not wrapping up any time soon, it's going to be a problem for the president and they for quite some time now have been arguing for a more combative approach. so he's cer

but that is a portion of the story of robert mueller. marine, army ranger and then fast forward to today. special counsel. that's our broadcast for tonight. thank you so much for being here as we come to a close for this week. good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. pardon for michael flynn? >> i don't want to talk about pardons for michael flynn yet. we'll see what happens. >> the president dangles a pardon and takes aim at the fbi. >> it's a shame what's happened at the fbi. >> tonight. president trump and the plot to stop mueller. then. >> he said very nice things about what i've done for the country in terms of the economy. >> malcolm nance on the shared talking points between trump and putin. >>> plus quality control. >> have you ever tried a jury trial? >> i have not. >> civil? >> no. >> criminal? >> no. >> another trump judicial nominee humiliated on the hill. >> can you tell me what the daubert standard is? >> i don't have that readily at my disposal. >> when "all in" starts right now.

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they are taking on and attacking robert mueller's credibility. today, press secretary sarah huckabee sanders took questions about the mueller investigation, but mike flynn, about donald trump jr. specifically she was asked about the president's son invoking attorney-client privilege in not wanting to answer questions about conversations with his dad. >> has the president released him from any such privilege to allow him to speak to the committee? >> that's a question you would have to ask his attorneys. we believe his lawyers had a legitimate reason and basis for not answering those questions. that's something i would direct you to his attorneys to address more fully. matthew? >> can you explain to me how it can be attorney/client privilege when neither donald trump jr. nor president trump are attorneys? >> again, that's something you would have to talk with don junior's attorneys about. >> on monday when the president became aware that michael flynn lied to the fbi, you referred her to john dowd. john dowd is not engaging on that. that's a knowa

these attacks on the fbi, on robert mueller, make absolutely no sense. what robert mueller is doing is investigating infiltration of the united states election. computer hacking. espionage by russia. a country that has been an adversary for the united states since the 1918 communist revolution in russia. and the soviet union. a lot of the cold war mentality hasn't stopped. so -- you know this is a -- a really, a reaction from the far right-wing of the republican party. most republican congressmen are kea keeping their head low trying to duck this thing hoping they can make it through 2018 without getting creamed in the elections. but i think we need people standing up for the fbi, standing up for the rule of law, and that includes christopher ray the director of the fbi he needs to take a stand, for the fbi, he need to take a stand or he needs to stand down. and resign. he has got to choose. because he cannot continue to allow president trump and fox news and a couple of extremists in congress and congressman, rooney, mouth off and attack, the fbi and th

senator warning the president not to fire robert mueller. meanwhile the attack on u.s. if stugzs continues. including an effort to secretly investigate doj and the fbi. plus tax reform accomplished but not so fast on congress leaving town. their remaining work includes avoiding a shut down. >>> and praising the president in the style of the dear leader as the "11th hour" gets underway on a wednesday night. ♪ and good evening once again from our nbc news head quarters. we begin our prbroadcast. house of republicans are running their own covert investigation into alleged corruption at the justice department and the fbi. journalist kyle cheney and john brez nehen write a group of house republicans has gathered seek artly for weeks in the capitol in an effort to build a case that the senior leaders of the justice department and the fbi perhaps criminally mishandled a dossier that alleged ties between donald trump and russia. a subset of the republican members of the house intelligence committee has been quietly working parallel to the committee's high profile inquiry into

senator warning the president not to fire robert mueller. in the meantime the attack on u.s. institutions continues including a new report on an effort by house republicans to secretly investigate doj and the fbi. >>> plus tax reform accomplished but not so fast on congress leaving town. their remaining work includes avoiding a shutdown. >>> and the sheer amount of time devoted today to those around the president to praising the president in the style of the dear leader, as "the 11th hour" gets under way on a wednesday republicans has gathered secretly for weeks in the capitol in an effort to build a case that senior leaders of the just department and the fbi perhaps criminally mishandled the contents of a dossier that perhaps alleged ties between donald trump and russia. a subset of the republican members of the house intelligence committee led by chairman devin nunes of california has been quietly working parallel to the committee's high profile inquiry into russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. they haven't informed democrats about their plans, but they have

you have the midterms coming with the democrats having headwinds, you have robert mueller's investigation still going at full speed. it will not wrap up at the beginning of the year despite how much the president wants him to. the next thing the republican lawmakers are going to take on are things like cuts to medicaid and medicare and entitlement reform and welfare reform. more unpopular policies. heard them today say they're going to bring back repeal and replace efforts. i don't think that these are the things that the voters going to the midterms are going to -- it's going to give confidence that republicans are the best option to them. >> to sum it all up, how a bill becomes law and your government at work tonight, with our thanks to garrett haake on the hill, kimberly atkins, john heilemann with us in new york. >>> when we come back after our first break, robert mueller's office set to meet with white house lawyers this week. what could go wrong, as critics step up their efforts to undermine the entire investigation. the unprecedented attacks may be having an effect. >>> plus, a gia

mueller's coming to town ♪ ♪ robert mueller's coming to town ♪ ♪ robert mueller's coming to town ♪ just days after michael flynn admitted to the fbi, there are new questions whether president trump has tweeted himself into legal trouble. white house lawyers are now offering different arguments of obstruction of justice

but that is a portion of the story of robert mueller. marine, army ranger and then fast forward to today. special counsel. that's our broadcast for tonight. thank you so much for being here as we come to a close for this week. goodnight from nbc head quarters in new york. >>> thanks for joining us this hour. i'm doing something a little different. we're doing something special tonight and i think we have picked exactly it right night to do it. just in today's news the president went to the grounds of the fbi and as he was head hadding to fbi where he spoke at an fbi ceremony, declared the fbi to be a disgrace. he was asked about the prospect he might pardon his national security advisor. he said i don't want to talk about pardoning mike flynn yet. we then got a red flag

but secondly, firing robert mueller would only drag this investigation out. it would only create a political fire storm. he wouldn't only have to fire mueller but fire rob rosenstein. he'd have to go to a saturday night massacre style event. they do understand it would be very politically -- now, trying to discredit his investigation, trying to poke holes in it, i mean that's something i hear not so much within the white house but even within the white house saying it is odd how many democrats on mueller's team or boy there sure are problems at the fbi. it's amazing how politicized the fbi is. that's the type of thing i hear at the white house. and of course with republicans in congress and the president's outer circle, they're trying to take a page right out of the the clinton page book and do to mueller what was done to ken starr. >> michael, let's talk about a man at the fbi our chuck likely knows, and that's andrew mccabe. for viewers hearing his name more and more, tell us why he's important and why he's important enough to spend hours behind the scenes

we get an insider's assessment tonight from an attorney who has worked alongside robert mueller and james comey. plus, steve bannon back on the trail tonight for roy moore. and there's breaking and controversial news on trump and the middle east. and chris matthews, among our and chris matthews, among our guests this evening as "the 11th hour" gets under way on a tuesday night. >> and good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york, day 320 of the trump administration. a day in which the administration wrestled with what seems to be a new turn in the mueller investigation. multiple news organizations by that we mean bloomberg, the financial times, reuters, "wall street journal" report that the special council has suspected deutsche bank for information about donald trump's financial dealings. the bank is trump's biggest lender, traditionally have supplied over $300 million for a number of real estate ventures over the years. over the past two decades, in fact, the bank has played a major role in the president's businesses and has been one of the only big financial

and up next, what do today's developments on russia tell us about robert mueller's investigation? we'll talk to a man who worked with him when "the 11th hour" continues. jimmy's gotten used to his whole room smelling like sweaty odors. yup, he's gone noseblind. he thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this... luckily for all your hard-to-wash fabrics... ...there's febreze fabric refresher. febreze doesn't just mask, it eliminates odors you've... ...gone noseblind to. and try febreze unstopables for fabric. with up to twice the fresh scent power, you'll want to try it... ...again and again and maybe just one more time. indulge in irresistible freshness. febreze unstopables. breathe happy. >>> welcome back. we want to talk about what today's developments on robert mueller's russia investigation mean for the case and what we can learn about the direction generally that it appears it's headed in. for that, we're so happy to have chuck rosenberg here in the studio with us. importantly, he has worked as counsel to robert mueller when he was fbi director and as chief of staff and sen

mueller the special counsel in the russia investigation, will treat him fairly. contradicting some members of his party who have waged a week's long campaign to try to discredit mr. mueller and the continuing inquiry. the report continues, the president did not demand an end to the russia investigations, swirling around his administration. but insisted 16 times that there's been no collusion discovered by the inquiry.

>> robert mueller. we did not disagree. quite the opposite from the first conservation that we had about our number one selection -- >> nobody more important in american politics than bob mueller. >> this is the mueller story that i hope that we focus on. there is a picture of the st. paul's hockey team. did not know what st. pauls was growing up, and i think it is called america's hogwarts, and i mean it only many in the nicest way. there is a picture of the st. paul's hockey team, and there is mueller and kerry on the hockey team together. >> i didn't know that. >> and so mueller grows one enough money and awareness to go to a place like st. paul's which most american kids have e never heard of and then at princeton, and at a time when all of the guys his age are trying to get out of vietnam, he joins the marines infantry and becomes a captain and wounded by the north vietnamese and comes home to uva law school. >> as i reflect upon my career, i could say that i never would have anticipate where i ended up. >> we have tal

. >> special counsel robert mueller is trying to find out when president trump learned mike flynn had lied to the fbi. julie ainsley and carol lee of nbc news report mueller is zeroing in on what happened in the days before flynn was fired. they write in part, quote, special counsel robert mueller is trying to piece together what happened inside the white house over a critical 18-day period that began when senior officials were told that national security advisor michael filibuster was susceptible to blackmail by russia. that warning, you'll recall, came from acting attorney general sally yates who testified before congress under oath that she told the white house counsel don mcgahn on january 26th that mike flynn was vulnerable because he misled the vice-president and others about the nature of his conversation with russian ambassador sergey kislyak. >> would you tell the white house? ur >> so, i told them, again, there were a number of press accounts, of statements that had by made by the vice-president and other high-ranking white house officials about general flynn's conduct that

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

than that, we know a small portion of what robert mueller knows, and yet to her point, jonathan, it feels to lay people like tightening. so, how are trump's allies and associates taking all of this? >> it's actually a great schism right now in trump world. his legal team is still preaching confidence. ty cobb, john dowd, they suggested this was going to wrap up shortly. there was one prediction this would be over by thanksgiving. that obviously has come and gone. >> where are they getting -- >> by most, people outside observers suggest, no, this process has a long way to go. for now, anyway, the president is willing to listen to them. he has been telling people close to him he believes he's going to be exonerated. he believes this will clear up. now, there are many of his allies, both inside the white house and out, who are -- think this is exactly the wrong approach, who he fielded several calls this weekend according to the reporting done in the associated press, from allies who say, mr. president, i don't think that you understand necessarily the gravity of the situation you are

it seems robert mueller's team is bringing in new witnesses. we'll reveal who's reportedly been questioned. >>> and the president loves to brag about the economy. is trump really to thank? "the 11th hour" begins now. >>> good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. i'm ali velshi in for brian williams. day 342 of the trump administration, and there's new reporting tonight about the president's legal strategy when it comes to russia. it appears the president's legal team is gearing up for a fight with former national security advisor mike flynn. the same mike flynn who was at trump's side throughout the campaign who led chants of lock her up in the republic convention and who was fired less than a month in his new white house job. flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and is now cooperating with robert mueller. tonight "the washington post" reports trump's team plans to attack flynn's credibility. writing that according to three people familiar with the president's strategy, quote, president trump's legal team

president trump said thursday he believes robert mueller the special counsel in the russia investigation will treat him fairly, contradicting some members of his party who waged a weeks long campaign to try to discredit mr. mueller and the inquiry. the president did not demand an end to the russia have investigations, but insisted 16 times that there has been no collusion discovered by the inquiry. it makes the country look very bad and it puts the country in a very bad position, mr. trump said of the investigation. the sooner it's worked out the better it is for the country. michael schmitt also poke spoke to the president about how long the investigation will last. the democrats at about whether the special counsel would be fair. 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 that democrats invented it as a hoax and a ruse and an excuse for losing an election. he said that everybody knows his associates did not collude with the russians, even as he insisted the real sto

how seriously should people take this smear campaign against robert mueller? >> well, extremely seriously. if anything it's been building over time to what feels like is approaching a crescendo. and it actually predates these reports about the text messages between a couple of fbi officials. if anything it's been building over time to what feels like is approaching a crescendo. and it actually predates these reports about the text messages between a couple of fbi officials. so although that has provided kind of rocket fuel for this idea that mueller and his team were tainted, some sort of edict seems to have gone out around the time of thanksgiving where the conservative outlets and members of congress kind of fired up the jets to go after mueller. and the big question, brian, is what exactly is the goal here? is it to lay the ground work for president trump to potentially fire mueller, or is this an attempt to create almost to taint the jury pool? to create a political climate in which mueller's report, if he writes one as you know there's no guarantee he wil

. >>> also tonight, the effort to discredit and shut down and smear robert mueller. the top democrat on house intel says he's worried republicans are working to end the investigation. mark warner, the top democrat on senate intel here with us tonight. >>> and what might be about to happen to all of us who rely on and pay for access to the internet because of what happened today. the 11th hour begins now. >>> good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 329 of the trump administration. we begin here with new reaction tonight from senator mark warner, democrat of virginia, vice chair of the intelligence committee to a detailed report in the "washington post" about how the president consistently rejects what u.s. intelligence agencies have concluded that russia indeed waged a covert campaign to interfere in our 2016 election. washington post journal ris phillip ruker who will join us in a moment is co-author of that report along with post journalist greg miller and greg jaffey. and it's based on interviews with 50 current and u.s. officia

about aides being interviewed by robert mueller's team, others being pulled up in front of the congressional committees. it is still an area where i think some folks interested in working in a white house, you know, would be nervous about going into this one, particularly for a president who's still -- though he has a legislative win, got the taxes done, still saddled with a poor approval rating. >> would you be nervous, joyce, as jared kushner in the white house right now? >> i think it's a difficult time for anyone in the white house or really in this administration who has had problems with filling out forms, with information and background clearance forms or in testimony. mueller's team has demonstrated with this first wave they of indictments they're serious about lying to the fbi. kushner has a problem where he had to resubmit his security clearance forms over and over because of failure to disclose foreign metings and foreign contacts. and that's certainly has to be of concern to him. we have heard that he's been out looking to hire a public relations team. that's something that you t

attorney that worked on the staffs of robert mueller and james comey at fbi is also msnbc contributor. julia, this was not necessarily a surprise but still stunning to watch. talk about the impact of what we witnessed today. >> yes, brian. so i think for reporters, we actually got a lot more than what we thought we might get from this. robert mueller and his team did not have to give us a statement of offense and give all of the details that they did. they could have simply said he was playieading guilty to one charge of lying to the fbi and left it at that. these documents are clearly a warning shot to the trump administration because they are naming senior and very senior transition officials who worked with jared kushner. this is a warning shot to them now that now they have flynn who is willing to cooperate and turn on these people he worked with to explain exactly who directed him to make these calls and from our reporting today, we know that kushner was definitely behind the december 22nd call that flynn made to him about the trump administration. >> chuck, what does being a con

comings had delayed releasing this information until today notably at the request of robert mueller. comings had asked that mueller subpoena flynn, the business associate, the white house and others involved in that alleged plan. and there are more developments in that russia investigation. today donald trump, jr. questioned behind closed doors and under oath by the house intelligence committee for about eight hours. this is him will he leaving the trump hotel this morning. this is the second go around for him on the hill. latest round of questioning seemed to focus on what he told his father about how that now famous june 2016 trump tower meeting came to be. a source with knowledge of donald trump, jr.'s testimony of the house intel committee tulz us at nbc news trump junior said it was 29-year-old white house communications director hope hicks who he spoke with on the day that 2016 meeting became public and that she acted as an intermediary to relate comments to the boss, the president. this source says the younger trump did speak by phone the next day with his father as well as at

but what's more important, what does robert mueller want to know from all these figures. because the congressional investigations can only go so far. they help us learn more, but they don't come forward with indictments in the way that mueller could. >> and you agree with my iceberg theory of the mueller investigation, that at any given time, no more than 5 or 10% is visible to folks like us. >> i've staked out the mueller investigation. we do not know what's happening with it. that's yet congressional investigations are helpful. we can follow them and when they talk to people like rona graff or bannon or lewandowski. >> we went through a story at the top of the broadcast, and i got a legal pad full of news here on the friday night before christmas. why would feds based in brooklyn be snooping around jared kushner's finances? >> because there are lots of crimes to investigate here. and there are crimes that relate to what occurred here in new york city with respect to possibly 666 fifth avenue, a building that's owned by the kushners. it's under water right now. there are