house, the white house press conferences. we ask one question, we ask two questions. enough already. >> this is between hoban and latrobe. was there an age difference between them? and we -- i go to st. john's church and latrobe is just revered there. we are in decatur house, which was designed by latrobe as well. he evidently was difficult to deal with. can i ask, was there an age difference? was one more mature? -- george washington liked hoban, diplomat like latrobe, at there was a portrait of latrobe with the washingtons -- i mean at mt. vernon with the washingtons. i just wonder how latrobe was not so well thought after. >> it's an interesting question on the basis that latrobe, i think, his real problem was two-fold. he had a very acerbic temperament. he lost his temp very easily, he was self-opinionated. he was very good. he was actually very competent, but as a personality he was a person who tended to laud it over others. he was coming to the stage when he was falling between the air stock racy, if you like, and the

house press and white house staff, and we always had that awareness. president obama, pretty much ewed to regular press conferences and side-by-side with world leaders after they met. it was a sophisticated diplomatic operation and they learned the lessons of their forebears. the knew how to try to use press and the diplomatic process. i can name many times i was called upon to ask very hard questions of the president when they knew full well what i was going to ask about. i had been writing about it, asking about it, but it was easier for president obama to hear me ask the question and for him to make the same point to the world leader with whom he had just met. it was a little more artful in that relationship, and there will be times when, as a press corps, we thought to get access to the president of china. we won that battle. we worked for weeks and days, and the final hours, trying to make that happen. when it finally happened, it was useful to the obama white house, exactly what they wanted to happen. we were fully aware of that, so there was sor

through the white house. and so mrs. bush had made sure that any of the resident's staff that were still working in the white house that had been there in the johnson time were there to greet mrs. johnson at the diplomatic reception room door when she stepped in. and in addition, one of the butlers that had worked for the johnsons, mr. german, was now a part-time elevator operator, operated the president's elevator in the white house, just a few days a week, mrs. bush made sure that he was there and that he was the one that greeted mrs. johnson when the door was opened of the car for her to get out. and the way that mrs. johnson reached up in recognition to embrace mr. german and how he embraced her, is really would just make you weep. but would also, the two last things that i'll just say about mrs. johnson's visit, her last visit to the white house, is, mrs. bush wheeled her into the vermeil room on the ground floor, which had just been repainted under one of the restoration projects that mrs. bush did, tha

search white house experience. right now it takes you on a virtual tour of the estate rooms of the house as well as the nonpublic historic rooms. eventually we want to teach the stories of what the white house was like a different times. also teach other aspects of the white house history. we would love watching by c- span and those here to download the app and explore the white house with us. we are grateful for all of you. you are on the tip of the spear in american history and presidential history and white house history. it's been inspirational to us this week to have you here and look forward to working with you moving forward. we don't want this to be a -- every four year or two year experience but want to do it all the time. we want to teach the next generation. thank you all very much. [ applause ] will be leading it in the fau future. thank you all very much. have a great afternoon. [ applause ]

an official white house china as well as art in the white house, a nation's pride. written by william cloth. all published by the white house historical association. with the objects featured today you will see nearly all were gifts to the white house. some examples or gestures of goodwill, tokens of friendship while others were presented to enhance the historic furnishings so that only the finest objects would be found in the home of the president of united states. what a better place to begin then with the desk made by the timbers. the resolute is part of an expedition formed in 1852. to search for the explorer search on franklin. sir john franklin had set out in 1845 in search of the northwest passage. by july of that year he had disappeared. in the meantime other expeditions were formed. this one consisted of five vessels. including the resolute. it was constructed, especially for arctic service. the bal was used to help cut through the ice. it was the -- under the command of captain henry kollek. it was trapped in the ice in 1854. they had spent two winters in

tamara keith, white house correspondent for npr, and richard painter was chief white house ethics adviser for george w. bush. thank you for joining me. let's start with you. why now? what's specific about the potential departure of mcgahn that's got so many people worried, or is it just one more thing that's making them worried? >> ali, it's just one more thing that's making them worry. this fear has been building for a while now as it looks increasingly likely that democrats have a real possibility of taking over the majority of the house at a minimum in november's midterm elections. and people around the president, his allies, including some of his advisers inside the white house, are very concerned that could lead to a barrage of subpoenas, of investigations, of inquiries into ethical misconduct in the administration, into increase perhaps into the president's businesses, and most dangerously, into possible impeachment proceedings, depending, of course, on what sort of report special counsel robert mueller issues regarding obstruction of justice. and so there is concern that trump is n

the first time the white house floated this idea also in the white house briefing room a few weeks ago they were actually pretty explicit what you have to do to get on this list. >> not only is the president looking to take away brennan's security clearance, he's also looking into the clearances of comey, clapper, hayden, rice and mccabe, making baseless accusations of improper contact with russia or being influenced by russia against the president is extremely inappropriate and the fact that people with security clearances are making these baseless charges and illegitimacy to accusations without evidence. >> there is no accusation from the white house anybody is mishandling classified information or misusing their security clearance in some other way you're not allowed to do with a security clearance. the white house is now making clear, you criticize the president specifically with regard to russia intervening to help him in his election, they will use the power of the president to hurt you. they will strip your security clearance to try to discredit you as a critic of the president

namely, the white house, its historic furnishings and first families and official white house china, as well as art in the white house, a nation's pride, essays by the art historian william klauss, all published by the white house historian association, i should add. furnish issuing e inings so tha finest objects would be found in the home of the president of the united states. what better place to begin than with the desk made by the timbers of the hms resolute? it was part of an exhibition formed in 1852 to search for the explorer sir john franklin. he had set in and out 1845 in search of the northwest passage. by july of that year, he was -- he had disappeared. in the meantime, other expeditions were formed but this one consisted of five vessels, including the resolute that was constructed especially for arctic service. the bow was sheathed in iron to help cut through the ice and it was under the command of captain henry kellogg. in april of 1854, it was trapped in the ice. they had already spent two winters in the arctic, their supplies were running low and the expedition command

should the white house be concerned? >> michael cohen has been out there almost begging to help himself through this issue he has gotten himself into. i think jack is right. we don't know what he knows. whether it's useful at all. quite frankly, a lot of that is going to be, for the prosecutors and for him, making a judgement, even if he has something that may be worthwhile. depending upon what he is looking at from a sentence perspective, even if he is convicted or pleads guilty, all of that is going to factor into his decision making as to he goes forward and then the prosecutors -- maybe he doesn't have anything to say that's worthwhile. >> to be very clear on this, if he were to cooperate, the reporting that -- as i understand it is that he would have to cooperate not just on a select area of focus. he would be cooperating with feds across the board. whether it came to cooperation in the russia probe, right? >> once they have you and you are a cooperator, they have you. he is going to have to make that judge emergenc

you know, to get into the white house, you know everybody wants to work at the white house until they get the job. then they don't know what to do with it. i really mean it. that's the truth. you have to understand this job is very scary because of the people you are serving. you are no longer serving just anybody like in a hotel or whatever, you're serving people that have achieved great things in life, that have had great jobs, so you better be on the same level with your food. i also served numerous emperors, kings, heads of state all during my tenure. but when i started at the white house, i was already in that line of work for 20 years, learning under the best chefs available in paris, france, germany, and specially the hotel i mentioned because that used to be the number one hotel in the world. it still exists today but i think it's lost to the years because now it's part of a chain. in those days the savoy was owned by family. big difference. big difference. and the customers, the guests that we were feeding at the savoy in those days, just to give you a short list, we had a lo

house and the white house's credibility from the white house. both are under siege today. there's very little trust in the press, and there's very little trust, among some anyway, in the information that's coming from the white house and i remember when i was bureau chief at cnn, if the president said something or the press secretary would say something that was mistaken or a misstatement, there was an effort to quickly correct the record. i remember marlon fitz water would walk around with his big cigar that he wouldn't light and actually walk through the press office and say, what i said or what the president said, let me tweak that and there was a very good relationship there and he got a lot of credit for that. but we're not at that place now. and now there is a very particular and personal and some would say grandstanding environment around this. where do you see this question of credibility now in terms of, again, plug this into all the technology that we've got and the cameras and the social media and how we regain a sense of trust in the

he's our link to an unconventional white house. he's the person that helps get these judges through on all levels of the federal court. there's an inclination to have him stay. it's been something that's lingering over this white house. >> emmett flood who you reported as a possible replacement. the top line of the biois that he was a lawyer during clinton's impeachment. a lot of people wondering what that signals. >> the white house is preparing for the democrats to possibly take over the house. they hope that doesn't happen, but you have to prepare. my sources tell me that flood is a white shoe lawyer will be ready. will be able to mount a defense of the presidency. trying to mount a defense for the president should that scenario happen. he has built a rapport with the president. it's not clear an offer has been made yet. mcgahn brought him in, a lot of people don't want to come into this white house as lawyers. flood was convinced maybe he could be white house counsel. >> the circumstances around the special council are complica

the white house get their news. and there's some ways in which things have not changed. as a matter of fact, it's always the result of the effort of the newspaper men themselves. there's no giving out of prepared news. there are acquaintances with prepared men all over the country, departmental officials and members of congress. enables them to get their first starter tips. the same friends develop a story for them upon inquiry. sometimes it's the question of hard digging as the minor put it to unravel a story. and that is still the case. you can see that in the white house press briefings that sarah huckabee sanders has and her predecessors have had, with the reporters acting as miners digging for information. joining us on stage is mike mcclury a board member of the historical association and one of the planners of this presidential site summit. and press secretaries for the william clinton and also was the spokesperson at the state court and before coming to the white house. ron nesson, who was the spokesperson f

it is no longer navy grey, it is all white for the little white house. i would like to welcome you to the harry s truman little white house. it is florida's official presidential museum and has been used by seven american presidents. it is camp david south. the little white was built as the navy commander's home in 1890. it served a number of various commanders over almost a 100 year span, but it was slightly interrupted by presidents taft, franklin roosevelt, harry truman, dwight eisenhower, john kennedy, to bill clinton. -- jimmy carter and bill clinton. the department of defense says we seem to have a continuum through american history. this building was the largest building on the naval base. this was 9000 square feet. consequently it was built originally as the paymaster and commander's home, but by 1911 , the new base commander realized things were getting snug so he merged into a single it into a single dwelling of all most 9000 square feet. at that time, key west was the command headquarters for the seventh averill district which -- seventh naval

house inside the white house views this investigation. the white house is now, we are told, second guessing their strategy of cooperating fully with bob mueller because they think that has ultimately fueled the investigation instead of leading it to an end sooner rather than later. that's the big deal here is that the white house is admitting this legal strategy of cooperating is more haphazard than it is helpful for the president himself. >> that seems, alexi, to be clear to me, errin, that it seems haphazard. it also seems to me, to be, the president is more concerned, nervous, scared about this because he is reacting and running rudy giuliani out of there every time something develops, which is the typical behavior to me of a bully of barking loud but really scared, reacting every step of the way. >> rev, i think it's important to point out, too, that latest tweet storm really comes at the end a week with more than 400 editorial boards to newspapers calling an end to the trump war on the press. since the campaign he's relentlessly refe

staffers in the white house. as of right now, it seems there is not one black senior staffer in the white house. they had people that wanted to work for this white house. michael steel said that omarosa blocked some of those people from going in. on top of that, ben carson has decided to raise the rent on a lot of poor people looking for federal subsidies. you have jeff sessions looking at ending affirmative action, also looking at extending prison terms. so this is an administration, if you look at it, they were say they're champions of civil rights but people like the naacp say that only in the president's rhetoric and his policies and who he has chosen not to hire, he's not interested in civil rights. >> michael steel, donald trump saying triumphantly that mark burnett called to say there are no tapes. there is something about the claiming that there is no tapes that gives you the feeling that the person that is so excited there are no tapes may be worried that there was some possibility -- >> that there are t

i think that's what shows the difference between this white house and previous white houses is that in the past and maybe the person could have really detested the deceased behind closed doors, but they would publicly at least come out and show some sort of courtesy, show some sort of support for the family. and this white house is just not going to do that. once this president locks his mind in on something, he does not change it, he does not compromise. there is no grudge too small, too slight, to little that he will look past. >> because even the past year when he was clearly dying from brain cancer, the president would still go out there and speak ill of john mccain on the campaign trail. why is the white house flag now at full staff as opposed to half staff? yesterday it was at half staff. >> well, as pointed out earlier, all the other buildings in washington, they're still at half staff. there is a provision in the law that when a member of congress dies, the flag gets lowered for 24 hours to half staff. but in cases like these when you have a revered senator who's been serving f

executive privilege with the white house counsel. and then there is a third area that is very much in doubt that the courts have generally ruled against that is if you are a subject of an investigation, you can have a joint defense privilege with other people, and some have tried to raise that about white house counsel. but the courts have generally ruled against it. but the president and his legal team made a decision to waive executive privilege. and i think maybe they may be regretting that decision, because they don't know exactly what mcgahn said to mueller. and that creates the problem of having a white house counsel who may end up testifying against you while advising you as the president, as the incumbent of the presidency in the white house. >> professor, you telling me that when the president tells us he is not worried at all about what don mcgahn said for 30 hours behind closed doors to the special counsel's investigators that maybe he's not being fully honest there? >> i can't imagine he isn't worried. if he's not worried

there are few of them on the white house. the blanks then later would be carved ed and placed in the wa. >> you said you placed your research on the bills. were were those kept? >> national archives. >> who was responsible for keeping them? >> in those days there were no archive till franklin roosevelt. they were kept in the commissioner's office. it was a commission appointed by washington to manage all this. first commission wasn't so good . >> they were not paid. they knew nothing about building. i guess they manage them through the bill drawings away, if any existed. those papers were still in the commissioner public buildings office in the 1930s. books written way back then. that's where their source was. now they are available in the national archives. beautifully cared for. >> as this stone was being brought from the quarry up river, what was happening to this sight. >> they had to have the foundation they did. it was so huge. a stone mason from scotland came in and be witched the commission and hired him at once to do

called a white house of stone. you have written so many books about the white house. why this project about the stone at the white house? >> the one thing that hasn't been addressed is what is left of the white house. it is sacred historically. what is left and how did it get there. that is why this book was written. >> before we get into the story of the stone we have to back up and talk about the location. how did the white house end up in this spot in washington d.c.? >> it was part of the city plan, that george washington approved. it calls for a palace five times the size of this. and the sellers were dog. they were making bricks out of clay. washington relocated the house to put it on the axis. there were two axes. one running from the capital down the mall and one running here. it runs right through the house. washington placed it right on their. when he reduce the size of the house by a fifth, he wanted to still be in the plan as it was supposed to be one of the two great important buildings in washington.

don mcgahn by white house encouragement went and interviewed. then you have the president in his tweets are saying, wait a minute, questioning even the motivation behind don mcgahn, even tweeting former nixon attorney john dean is a rat. i mean, is that his way of even saying, you know, like firing a warning shot to don mcgahn, that you, too, are a dirty rat if you testified against me or revealed anything that is incriminating? >> i think trump has made very clear to people that anyone who opposes him or speaks out against him is a potential target. we talked about the security clearances in the opening that he just tyook away from people for speaking out against him. he's turned on just about everybody who's left the white house. don mcgahn can't count on any loyalty from the president, which is all the more reason that don mcgahn knows he should tell the truth in detail when he's talking to mueller's team. the president speaking out of two sides of his mouth when he tries to claim they've been so cooperative with the mueller investigation. it

house. >> she has worked in the white house before. ask clinton. did he think she was one of the best. he hired her. >> you know. >> how do you reconcile if she is one of the best to be hired with now she is a dog and crazed and a crying low life. >> what she is obviously is a disgruntled employee, you know. and fame and power have weird and different reactions to the different people, you know. obviously, we're seeing that in a lot of cases. but for me, i can only say what i know. and what i know is that this family gives people second chances, and i'm a perfect example of that. and the president gave omarosa a second chance, a third chance and a fourth chance. and now she has none left. >> lynne patton, i really appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> thank you. it's great to talk to you. it's nice. we're going discuss this more after the break with our team of political commentators. and later we'll dig deeper into the nondisclosure agreement she was asked to sign and that sarah sanders was commonplace. we'll talking about legalities

why is one of the key figures in the trump administration white house, the white house counsel, don mcgahn leaving in the fall? president trump is batting down accusations he is getting rid of mcgahn because he answered 30 hours of questions in the russia investigation. this is what the president tweeted. the rigged russia witch hunt did not come into play, even a little bit, with respect to my decision on don mcgahn. the president announced mcgahn's departure yesterday in a tweet that even mcgahn wasn't expecting. jeremy diamond is at the white house. the president said that he is excited about mcgahn's replacement. we have some idea as to who that may be. are we getting any indications from the white house as to who he is picking to replace mcgahn? >> i spoke with a senior white house official who says the sense inside the white house is no final decision has yet been made as to who will succeed don mcgahn. that's despite the president's tweet where he said, i am very excited about the person who will be taking the place of don mcgahn as white house counsel. i like don but he was not res

different than any other white house we've seen. the culture of backbiting, a culture where individuals, where the individual's first and the team's second in the country came second. that's the cultural problem that existed in the white house with omarosa. the question is, have a root about the problem? you look at the tweets on the personnel issues, the drama in the administration. the answer is probably not yet. >> bret: we are not done with this cycle. she's going to keep pitching it were probably going to hear more stories about her time in the white house. what does this do politically? >> nothing. this is reaching a point of dramatically diminishing returns for her. if this is it, right, if the worse that she has is a very conventional kind of conversation that you would expect to hear from a chief -- this is the point of the chief of staff. to insulate the president from disgruntled employees and people that you have to fire. when the president says oh, my gosh. poor omarosa. wait, i am sorry. the signal is breaking up. it's

what is the significance of the white house? the policy adopted since the time of washington is the exterior of the white house will not be changed. no one has permitted that and even with truman he was not having that. he did alter the inside considerably and winslow in fact wanted to reuse and replace all of the material that was taken out. this would not allow truman to depart from office from the white house. given a harry approach to it is forget about everything and just to buy it in. most of it was dumped and went out to various military dumps around the place. and all of the new material was brought in the 1940s. of course what has happened since then is it required a new association with all of the presidents and everything happening since the truman time. going back to washington, but has not changed, i should not say him i should say the end of the beginning of andrew jackson's presidency when the portugal and the gallery and the portugal run on the north side. the gallery in the south. when it was completed that noth

bush's eight years in the white house. as my democratic colleagues keep pointing out judge kavanaugh has described how his time as staff secretary was a formative experience for him. well, justice kagan said the same thing about her time as solicitor general but in the case of justice kagan the democrats refused to request for records.le on top of the undisputed relevance of solicitor general's material judge kagan, however, backed by judicial record. in other words, unlike the more than 300 opinions that judge kavanaugh altered and the hundreds more opinions he joined in his 12 years of service on the dc circuit justice kagan had zero judicial opinions that she offered, zero judicial opinions that she joined and zero years of judicial service. her solicitor general documents for their for even more relevant democratic leaders are rewriting the kagan standard to further their stalling tactics. the minority leader also tried to draw a parallel or parallels with the request for documents from justice sotomayor's time as a bo

house and the dynamics of the white house. i am sure other people, her adversaries, bring her husband's tweets to the president or makes sure that he sees them and it's not a fair situation to her. >> she immediately tried to withdraw her remarks with disinformation. how low will people go in this white house? >> look, i like kellyanne a lot. you know, i -- >> isn't it just an example of the way they behave and what they value? >> this is very -- you know, this white house, the minute they have all gone in, they have been under a lot of scrutiny. then you have this independent counsel as well. now you're looking at me like this. i don't think that she should have done the interview to begin with or a feature with her husband in light of the tweets. with that said, it's a difficult position that she's in. >> let's talk about what you're doing now. >> yes. >> you're working with steve bannon for the midterm elections. >> i'm glad we're aoff all that >> you're trying to save the house for president trump. i find it interesting be

that's a white house position. so to that income of the administration is obviously looking forward to what could be a very interesting if not spirited panel discussion and a chance for the president to honor isaac and i.c.e. agency e house. i want to share part of a letter that the president has penned. this is asking state and local leaders for their support for the women and men of i.c.e. and for border protection for folks who keep us safe. he writes this, each of you as a chance to end a duty to protect your constituents. i urge you to work with us, and our brave i.c.e. officers. of course just last month the president went to twitter and said, without borders, and without the brave heroes of i.c.e., we would have no enforcement, no borders and no laws. but critics as you can well imagine, harris, are aghast that the president would honor a group that some believe are frankly the problem at the border, and not the border. only this white house would give medals for taking thousands of immigrant children from t

remember, don mcghan as the white house counsel is the point person in the white house for interacting with the justice department and the fbi. and that relationship has been broken from the beginning because of president trump's fear and response to this russia investigation. don mcghan has been the man in the middle absorbing blows from the president and to some extent absorbing pushback from the doj and the fbi. his spot has been an uncomfortable one for a long time. you've got to wonder if brett kavanaugh gets confirmed it is supreme court if that's a natural time after which don mcghan leaves the white house. >> an easy moment. you heard here, benjamin, john dowd blasting this article in terms of calling it fiction basically. in the article itself, john dowd's open policy resulting potentially in this openness, right, of -- of again mcghan with mueller and forgoing what it appears to be attorney/client privilege and forgoing, it appears here, executive privilege. you're a bigger brain than all of us here when it comes to that stuff. what are you seeing, benjamin? >> so it's clearl

. >> joining me now is msnbc white house correspondent. geoff bennett, it looks like brennan got under his skin again. >> reporter: it certainly looks that way. he's hitting back at john brennan. in doing so, the president is now suggesting, without evidence, that there is some misstep, some misdeed in brennan's past that deserves a closer look. here's the tweet in full, which you mentioned earlier. these are fighting words to be sure -- has anyone looked at the mistakes that john brennan ma ed while serves as cia director? he cannot be trusted with the secrets to our country. this, of course follows brennan's sit-down yesterday with rachel maddow, when you heard him say the president is drunk on power. there is a set of about 13 guidelines that really determine whether or not someone's security clearance should be reviewed or revoked. being subject to a foreign influence, criminal behavior. nowhere on the list is saying negative things about the president. that's why you have john brennan and deserts of other officials dating back to the

he's white house counsel. he has already shown in previous instances an unwillingness to go out and publicly lie on behalf of president trump. we saw that in regards to the reaction that trum health care plan -- trump had ordered to him or suggested he should ordering the sacking of robert mueller. team mueller has wanted to talk to don mcgahn as one of the top, top people in the priorities list. it's not all that surprising that once they got him a room that he would be for sake of a lesser term or better term, a straight shooter on this. >> it is surprising. the white house according to this reporting, steve cash with us now. legal experts say the president's lawyers have been careless in not asking mr. mcgahn the presidential lawyer what he had planned to tell mr. mueller's prosecutors. they moved forward. the article goes on later to say here, the very reporting that came out yesterday, steve, set off a scramble on saturday morning with mr. trump's lawyers and advisors. the president sequestered at his pri

to visit the white house. now i was driving in -- a 1965 dodge dart, avenocado green, no the prettiest thing to bring down to d.c. but the nicest thing those days they let me drive on pennsylvania avenue. they asked me to park my avocado under the colonnade. is that beautiful or what? i said i'll start to like this place. if i get a job here i'll park everyday. that didn't last very long. took a tour of the white house and who should be on the tour welcoming me? mrs. rosalyn carter with open arms. she was so nice. called me by my first name, gave me a hug and she said come with me, we need to talk so she pulled me on the side and with her social secretary, the late gretchen boston, very, very nice lady and we talked and that's when mrs. carter asked me if i would like to take the job for a little bit. so you cannot say no to the president or first lady. i said madam, i will give you five years and then we'll see okay, that's good, that's good. so gretchen boston, the social secretary reminded mrs. carter that

house and continuing into the white house. and as i've said if there's any close comparison to mr. trump it's probably the clintons in terms of frustration with the media and constant investigations that began until they never stopped. their complaints, while aggressive were a little more routine. and they ultimately acknowledged, i don't know whether they believed it or not, but they said that they understood the role of a free press as a democratic institution, the importance of it. bush white house did the same. and so did the obama white house although again, the weak investigations were very problematic. all presidents to a certain degree feel that the press is undermining them. it's an adversarial process. mr. trump was in era, you can choose your own news cycle, you can choose your own news feed. you can decide what news you're going to get because trust in major institutions have eroded badly and we have not necessarily helped ours selvelv along the way. but we've never had a president who has characterized the press a

but this is mess the white house got itself into. they did not want their counsel to cooperate with the special counsel. they chose not to do this. in many ways we shouldn't be surprised that the guy who is the white house counsel who has been permitted by the president to go in and share his insights with robert mueller's team has been called in again and again because he was there for these key decisions. he may have just confirmed the same things that steve bannon said, the same thing that reince priebus said, that the president would rant about these things and nothing would ever be done and no one would ever take him seriously. again, this is another champ of a mess the white house has gotten itself into. the president can be upset and rant on twitter but they chose this strategy. this is the strategy they chose. >> in the trump mcgahn relationship here, it's been really acrimonious for a long time. there's that photo, and we know that mcgahn would disappear for days, stay out of the president's sight and out of the oval office

when we look at the white house, what is it about the white house that is so distinctly american? >> the first thing is the journalist whose name was willis , he was right-- quite reputable that his pallbearers were led by longfellow. he was serious. he wrote a short description on the white house that he described as being ultimately a sufficient measure of space for the republic. too much was an assertion. essentially what washington had in mind all the time was that these states could usually fracture and later on it was effectively to say that washington converted-- it was a compact into a constitution that is a definition of a nation which applies to individuals. instead of passing back through the states the constitution affected individuals directly. >> real quickly, you know the roots in dublin. when you look at the white house what do you see that is uniquely american? >> it's an interesting question because focusing on the irish, i think what we see that was modeled on obviously it's the government that an image of in terms of how it's expressed or how it expresses an am

he's the white house lawyer. he's the institution's lawyer, the presidency's lawyer, not the president's lawyer. it's an important distinction. but his conversations with the president, if he's in a meeting about a personnel matter, that has executive privilege. so they could have asserted privilege. they decided not to. that was the president's first legal team. here's chris christie, former prosecutor, saying big mistake. >> put don mcgahn in an impossible situation. once you waive that privilege and turn over those documents, don mcgahn has no choice but to go in and answer everything, every question. it's bad legal advice, bad lawyering, and this is the result of it. >> is it bad legal advice, bad lawyering? if that's true, it's a bad decision by the president. >> do you remember that overheard lunch and blt where one of the president's large legal team suggested that don mcgahn was withholding documents in a safe at the white house? i'm guessing that had something to do with don mcgahn's decision to go the o

the white house. some extraordinary language by the president and a stunning defense from the white house if you can call it that. take us through it. >> reporter: it was extraordinary language when you stop and think about it. the president of the united states calling a former employee a dog and that employee happened to be the highest ranking african-american official here at the white house and waging a war of her against the very white house. at the press briefing today, press secretary sarah sanders said, look, the president insults people of all races equally and fights fire with fire. jim, one thing is clear here tonight. there's plenty of that. >> i can't guarantee anything. but i can tell you that the president addressed this question directly. >> reporter: that's how white house press secretary sanders answering the question today of whether a recording to exist of president trump ever using the n-word while producing "the apprentice" reality show. the president denied it as omarosa newman

this comes as the white house announced don mcgahn would be leaving the white house soon. an announcement on twitter that apparently surprised don mcgahn. >> >> also, the "new york tim f times," former trump lawyer michael cohen planned to buy up all the dirt on donald trump that the "national enquirer" obtained of him. there is a tape of donald trump talking about payoffs before the 2016 election, and it strongly hints at that bigger plan. >> it's all the stuff. all the stuff because you know you never know where that -- >> if he gets hit by a truck. >> correct. i'm all over that. >> the "times" says that plan was never finalized. >> joining us by telephone is josh dawsey on the "washington post" "game of thrones" story. i'd like to do a dramatic reading. it says winter is coming said one trump ally in close communication with the white house. assuming democrats win the house, which we believe is a strong likelihood, the white house will be under siege but it's like tumbleweeds rolling down the halls over there. nobody's prepared for war. explain. >> right, john. the prob

house trying to get on top of this narrative. >> we also know that not everything this white house says is accurate. let's talk about wit the experts here. let's start with you. i want to read a key question of "the new york times" reporting. mcmcgahn and the lawyer could not allow why the president was so willing to law him to speak freely to the special counsel and feared he was setting up mcgahn. that's stunning and undermines the idea it's being done in partnership with president trump. >> well, as a former prosecutor from the southern district and a 28-year white collar criminal defense lawyer, it is beyond stunning. it is unbelievable. it is fundamentally just wrong. i could see the set-up ala dean of the nixon years but the reality is going in and you don't exercise privilege you are stuck with waving the privilege. when's more unbelievable is that the lawyers and mcgahn have not shared, if that story is correct, have not shared with white house counsel private counsel and others what questions were asked, what documents were produced and what were they talking about because mcga

> this, this white house -- this just seems emblematic of the way this white house runs. >> she would have never been hired in another white house. >> that's a good point. >> yeah, if they had african-americans and the senior staff and staffers in substantive positions, they wouldn't have as big a problem as they do. but with her gone they have nobody of color. earlier the staffers couldn't point to a single white house staffer of color. imagine that in the year 2018. so yeah, this is just really kind of underscored some of the challenges that this current trump white house has. >> under great pressure, kellyanne conway named a guy named jaron. >> who's jaron. >> he's on loan from one of the departments. >> come on the show and we'll be happy to talk to you. i'd like to know who you are and congratulations for the job. joe, good to see you as always. joe watkins was a former white house aide. lola, thank you both. >>> turkey in crisis. it may not sound like the most important issue facing americans but turkey's economic woes could be the beginning of a global crisis. see how this is p

anyway let's get back to the news coming out of the white house, today certainly the white house press very focused on the issues of omarosa a lot of questions let's bring in blake burman he just rushed out to the north lawn camera with the latest and go ahead, wipe your brow a little bit, sir. no you're fine and give us a sense we knew we were getting a lot of questions about omarosa. were you surprised where those questions actually went as far as asking if our president is an actual racist? reporter: there were a lot of questions to be asked in that room, look for one this is the first briefing that we've had in probably over 10 days or so, but also two, omarosa is out on the airwaves again this afternoon. she just did an interview on msnbc this morning she was on cbs news. there is a new tape again that was released from omarosa out this morning and the bottom line with this, cheryl, is this is not just a former white house staffer, but somebody who has been along the president's side in one way or another for the better portion of a decade making some rather explosive allegations

the white house repeatedly says it is not racist. only the president knows what is in his heart when he says that. he has called numerous people dogs and there is a long list of former arrivals he called dogs and other things but never as a sitting president as he call a former african-american a dog. that's what he called omarosa this morning. >> i understand that manigault-newman was interviewed by robert mueller, do we know that's true? >> we have her word on that. the special counsel is the only person in this town who have not commented in this case. >> we know talking about white house officials here while she's at the white house, she was not interviewed or asked to sit down with him. she was fired last december. she writes in her book that she was contacted by the fbi of february of 2018. if she sat down with him, that of course is tsomething she woud have a record of and it is hard to imagine she would lie about that specifically when it is so verifiable. of course, the special counsel's office never comments on who they int