Told that National Security adviser Michael Flynn was susceptible to blackmail by russia. That warning was issued by acting Attorney General sally yates, who told White House Counsel Don Mcgahn that flynn was vulnerable because he misled the Vice President and others about the nature of his conversation with Russian Ambassador sergey kislyak. Despite her warning, President Trump chose to keep flynn on the job as top National Security post for 18 more days, according to the report. Muellers goal in part is to determine whether there was a deliberate effort to cover up the information that yates had provided the white house. As nbc reports, multiple sources say that during interviews, muellers investigators have asked witnesses, including White House Counsel Don Mcgahn himself and others who have worked in the west wing to go through each day that flynn remained as National Security adviser and describe in detail what they knew was happening inside the white house as it related to
flynn. Weve known since june that President Trump is under investigation, possibly for attempts to obstruct justice. This is the latest sign that mueller is pursuing every lead in that area. Im joined right now by the author of that report, Julia Ainsley of nbc news. Matt apuzzo is a report were the New York Times and an msnbc political analyst. And Anne Milligram is the former Attorney General of new jersey. Thank you all. Let me go with julia. Just lay it out. The possibilities here are fraught. It seems to me the question at large here in our faces, did the president attempt to cover up the fact that he knew that his guy, his National Security guy Michael Flynn had lied about his conversations with the russians about sanctions . Yes, chris, that is the question, of course, that Robert Mueller is zeroing in on. It may be that mueller already has a lot of information from flynn. We know he is a cooperating witness on what went on during
these 18 days. Most lawyers who weve spoken to say a lawyer in mcgahncgahns position immediately would have gone to flynn after a meeting with sally yates and said so did you lie to the fbi . That information could have been given to him, could have been given to president. Maybe mueller knows that now. What he is doing as he methodically goes through these people who a lot are still in the white house is he come pang flynns testimony to theirs. So this is a large legal exposure for a lot of people who are still in this administration, including for president himself, especially if it turns out that donald trump knew that Michael Flynn lied to the fbi, and that he knew that when he was pressuring jim comey to drop the case. How do we know that he was told what flynn said to the fbi . So we how do we know there was such a conversation between anybody i assume mcgahn, his white house lawyer, who knew the situation, but how do we know anyone told the president that his guy lied . So at this point what were going on is the fact that former federal prosecutors that we have spoken to have said look, it would make a lot of sense after this january 26th meeting between sally yates and don mcgahn that these conversations started. Sally yates described change in his demeanor between the 26th and when she was called back. It was clear he had spoken to lat of people at the white house. So these Conversation Mace have spread. Flynn may have told mcgahn, and that information could have gotten to donald trump. We dont know exactly what flynn told mcgahn. We dont know what went to donald trump. But that sat the heart of this investigation. And were sure that mueller wants to get to the bottom of that question. Well, among his many conversations with ambassador kislyak was flynns phone call on December 29th Last Year in which flynn discussed reversing u. S. Sanctions on russia. About two weeks later on january 15th, Vice President pence publicly denied that sanctions were discussed in that conversation. Take a look. Did mike flynn ever discuss lifting sanctions in any of those conversations . Do you know . I talked to general flynn yesterday. And the conversations that took place at that time were not in any way related to new u. S. Sanctions against russia or the expulsion of diplomats. Well, then during an interview with the fbi on the 24th, flynn lied about the nature of that call, saying sanctions were not discussed. On january 26th, acting Attorney General sally yates then warned White House Council don mcgahn, as i said, that flynn was susceptible to russian blackmail because it was clear he had led the Vice President and others. Here is how she described it. We felt like it was critical that we get this information to the white house because in part because the Vice President was unknowingly making false statements to the public, and because we believed that general flynn was compromised with respect to the russians. Well, for 18 days after she
delivered that warning to mcgahn, the white house lawyer, flynn remained in his job as National Security adviser for 18 days he stayed on the job after they knew he lied. On february 13th, the president fired flynn, but only after it was reported that he had lied to the Vice President. The next day, according to fbi, former fbi director james comey, the president urged comey, him to drop the fbis investigation of flynn. Give us a sense of this intrigue here, what you see happening, what all this has told us so far. Well, all this has told us is bob muellers got a hell of a puzzle to put together. And part of this he wants to know because maybe there is a crime. But part of this is hes trying to figure out exactly what happened. His mandate is understand russian influence, understand what happened in these crazy moments early on in the Trump Administration. And after a campaign where russia was repeatedly reaching out and trying to make contact with people in the trump campaign. So he wants to know what happened, whether its a crime
or whether just to be able to say i figured it out. I know what happened. Anne, explain obstruction here in this context. What would obstruction be . Is this what it looks like, the attempt by the president to keep on a guy he knew had lied, perhaps lied to the fbi as well as the Vice President . The question were asking is whether or not there was obstruction here. The Court Questions are what did the president know, when did he know hem 00 and what actions did he take to prevent that investigation from Going Forward or to prevent relevant information going to the investigators like the fbi and the department of justice. I think that goes back to when flynn was first interviewed the fbi. He was a member of the administration at that time. Mueller want to know what did flynn say when he was interviewed at that time. Did the president have any conversations with him before that interview took place with the fbi. Of course, after sally yates spoke to the white house, the question would be what, if anything did trump know or say to flynn and others. And finally in this conversation with comey. So there are a lot of conversations that could have involved both the president and general flynn. And remember here that the key thing that has switched in the last couple of weeks is about a week and a half ago, we know that Michael Flynn plead guilty and is cooperating with the government. And so while muellers team would have been trying to understand all of these conversations and what happen durding that 18day period from day one, at this point he has someone who was in a lot of those rooms who is giving him information about hey, this is what i said. This is what the president said, this is what the White House Council said. And so theyre trying to put together those pieces of the puzzle. Let me look at this. The president appeared to suggest he knew flynn had lied to the fbi at the time he fired him, saying in a tweet this month, i had to Fire General Flynn because he lied to the Fire Department and the fbi. Well, trump lawyer has since taken responsibility for that tweet, which he said was a mistake. The white house wouldnt say exactly when the president first learned when flynn lied to the fbi. When did the police
department know that mike flynn lied to the fbi . As i said earlier, i refer youd back to john dowds clarification. Im asking future a day. When did he find out . Was it made friday or the day prior to that . Again, im not aware of those specifics. But i would refer you to john dowd for that. Just a statement of fact. What day the president discovered this lie issue. And im telling you as a statement of fact that you should contact john dowd. It doesnt seem that hard. It doesnt seem that hard. Thats snarky. Reached for comment last week, john dowd told abc news im not going to engage on this subject. Back to you, julia. I want to take a chance to try to make this i keep thinking of Denzel Washington in philadelphia. Explain it to my grandmother. I real have to let people catch unon this story. If the Question Sheer whether the Trump Administration in its early days, in its infancy was involved already, back and forth and in cahoots with the russian, fine. The question is did they obstruct justice by trying to protect that information. If the president knew that his
National Security guy had in fact discussed sanctions, relieving sanction under the new administration, if he knew that happened and helped him keep it secret from the investigators, would that be, even if it was only for 18 days, would that be obstruction . So what we can say here in a way that i can explain it to your grandmother is that when the president is pressuring his National Security adviser, whether its to make this phone call in the first place, whether its to then go lie to the fbi about it or possibly lie to the Vice President about it, he is inserting himself in a way that could be part of the collusion investigation. Where we come into the Obstruction Investigation is then if he tried to obstruct the fbis at this point its just the fbis investigation into Michael Flynn. This is before Robert Mueller came on. Obstruction would be if he interceded with the knowledge
that his National Security director had lied or instructed him to lie, that would also be part of obstruction, and told james comey to drop the case that would be the Obstruction Prong of this. Of course, this is still building. Mueller is a looking into whether the president obstructed justice. We dont want the make complete, definite claims here because this investigation is ongoing. But its clear here that Michael Flynn is a soldier. It would be kind of rare for him to go out on his own and make these calls and go rogue and lie to the fbi and not be talking to anyone about it. So there is a reason why mueller is really focused on this. And this could end up giving him a lot of the answers he needs, both about the way the trump transition worked possibly with russia and the way that this administration tried to cover up those contacts. Again, back to anne for the expertise on obstruction. If the president knew that his guy had lied to the Vice President , if he had known or gotten word that he had lied to the fbi, if he had let him sit
there and let him look legitimate all those weeks, for 18 days, two and a half week, if highway he had done all that, is that obstruction . I think thats the exact question that mueller is going to answer. As an expert, is that one of the elements of obstruction . I think just knowing there was an ongoing investigation, i would want to know if i were bob mueller. I would want to know when the president knew what he was told, what he said exactly to james comey. We have comeys testimony. And i think that there is a good case to be made that there was obstruction of justice here. But i do think that the devil is going to be in the details on what was known when and what was said. And so remember, with obstruction, there has to be an investigation going. There are different legal components to it. It could be obstructing congress. It could be obstructing the department of justice. And so, you know, the questions that mueller is going to be asking are not just those questions about comey, but also what, if anything, did the president say to flynn . Did he encourage flynn to say
that they hadnt talked about sanctions . Thats a Potential Question of obstruction. And so there are a lot of pieces here that a i think a lot of the piece of the puzzle are coming together, but i would want more before i walked into a grand jury. My question, matt is when do we know, how do we know the president was told if flynn lied to the fbi . We dont know that. And weve all been covering this now for almost a year. In my reporting, and i havent seen in any other reporting that suggests the president is telling flynn to lie to the fbi or when he was told that flynn lied to the fbi or that his firing was to try to cover up something with the fbi. Youre going to a whole new supposition here. What we know is mueller is asking questions of people about flynns tenure and his dismissal. But making the jump frankly, the president say loued to keep his National Security adviser on even after he has been told by his Attorney General hey, the guy is a security risk. Hey, im the president. Even if he told him the jump
he told him to lie . When did he know, did he keep him on . We dont have those facts. A lot of it is sort of supposition. At some point we might hear from mcgahn. Thank you, Julia Ainsley, and matt apuzzo, thank you as always. And anne milgram, thank you for your expertise. Coming up, its the night before election in alabama. The democrats are hoping doug jones can pull up what was once considered unthinkable, a vic ray in Trump Country over roy moore. Well see than. Obama is not quite in for jones. Richard shelby says the state deserves better, better than roy moore. And he is really being emphatic. Thats ahead. Plus, that New York Times about Donald Trumps battle for selfpreservation. Trump fights hour to hour looking to vanquish rivals and establish legitimacy. About four hours a day of us and 12 diet cokes makes a man like
donald trump be donald trump. And as the me too movement takes down high profile men in politics and public life, three of Donald Trumps accusers are speaking out again today and clearly they Want Congress to investigate trumps behavior as the white house denies their claims. Finally, let me finish tonight with trump watch. You will not like it. I dont like this stupid war he is starting over there, this Third Intifada over in jerusalem, which is a stupid thing he did. And were all going to pay for it. This is hardball, where the action is. The real gift isnt whats inside the box. Its whats inside the person who opens it. Give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions and open up a world of possibilities. Save 30 for the holidays at ancestrydna. Com. Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea heres pepto bismol ah. Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea a suspect is in custody tonight following an attempted Terror Attack on the new york subway system. Surveillance cameras captured this video of akhed oa. Moments later the device he was wearing detonated, injuring himself and three others. He was taken into an area
hospital where he is being treated for burns to his hands and abdomen. Authorities say the suspect lives in brooklyn and came to the u. S. From bangladesh about seven years ago. A senior Law Enforcement official says he told investigators that he carried out the botched attack in the name of isis. Well be right back. Y do you pu . Believe it or not you actually like what you do. Even love it. And today, you can do things you never could before. Youre working in millions of places at once with iot sensors. Analyzing social data on the cloud to create new designs. And using blockchain to help prevent fraud. So get back to it and do the best work of your life. He couldnt vote for the candidate from his own party, roy moore. Well, today the former Secretary Of State condoleezza rice, an alabama native made a similar appeal. She said i encourage you to take a stand for our Core Principles and for what is right. These critical times requires to come together to reject bigotry, sexism and intolerance. I know alabamans need an independent voice in washington, but we must also insist that our representatives are dignified, decent, and respectful of the values we hold dear. Thats condoleezza rice. Anyway, alabama goes to the polls tomorrow. In the final hours, republicans got a boost from the president of the United States. Donald trump not only endorsed roy moore, he also recorded this robocall for him. Here he guess. Hi, this is president donald trump, and i need alabama to go vote for roy moore. It is so important. Were already making America Great again. Im going to make america safer and stronger and better than
ever before, but we need that seat. We need roy voting for us. Well, former president barack obama also recorded a robocall for doug jones, the democratic candidate, though its unclear whether the campaign is using it. Thats interesting. According to cnn, obama says in the call, this ones serious. You cant sit it out. Doug jones is a fighter for equality, for progress. Doug will be our champion for justice. So get out and vote, alabama. Im joined by Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson and annie linskey. I never thought of Richard Shelby in this way. But he has come off his you know he was a survivor all these years. He switched parties to survive down there because democrats couldnt get elected anymore. You know, he did what he had to do to stay in office. And now he seems to have a role. He reminds me of john warner in the olds days against that interesting character they beat in virginia that time. Yeah. It surprised me. Ollie north. Right, of course. But it surprised me that, you
know, at this late and crucial juncture, shelby came out and came out strong. Can i dare to be skeptical and seychelle by is 83, 84. He is not rung again. He can tell the people what he thinks finally. Yeah, i think its going to make a difference. Chris, ive been down to alabama twice in the last three weeks. So i spent quite a loft time down there. And one thing people keep saying over and over again is they dont want to hear from outsiders. They dont they werent too thrilled to hear from steve bannon, to be honest, when i was talking to people who went to his rally. We dont care what steve bannon says. We want the hear from alabamans. I think it does matter. How do they like you down there . This outsider thing. Because this alabama thing. They dont like outside agitators. Yeah, they dont. They did look at me as a yankee. Look, im the boston globe. What are you doing. Dirty yankee. But, you know, the women who accused roy moore are also
alabamans, okay. Theyre locals. When i heard about this focus group down there, they dont believe them. Yeah. I talked to a lot of those. I did. I talked to a lot of people who are saying similar things. Or they saying they believe them, but hey, this isnt that different from what my grandparents did. I talked to one woman who said yeah, my grandma, she was 16 years old when she got married to my grandfather. But her grandfather was 17. No, no. In this case he was older. He was in his 30s. No are they dreaming this up just to win the case down there . That seems very convenient. Anyway, many republicans in washington here continue to express concern about the prospects of roy moore actually winning tomorrow. Lets watch. Roy moore will be the gift that keeps on giving for democrats. It will define the 2018 election, at least 2018. And to think you can elect roy moore without getting the baggage of roy moore is pretty naive. Ive always said that so far as i can tell, the allegations
are significantly stronger than the denial. I didnt have to withdraw my endorsement of moore because i didnt endorse him in the first place. I think roy moore is an abomination to the republican party. And thats within thing republicans and democrats agree on. Gene, what does this mean . Its not going to be a welcome wagon if he gets elected. No. If he gets elected, its going to be really weird. Because now we have a whole bunch of republican senators on the record. It says this guy is scum, right . This guy is an awful guy, and we dont want him. So what if he shows up . If he shows up, presumably they start an Ethics Investigation. But thats what first date like in the Republican Caucus meeting when they sit down . Roy you got anything to say . Im just getting the word from my Executive Produce theyre the robocall from obama is going out, trying to get the vote out. Oh, it. Annie, this is interesting. Besides being a reporter, youre a woman. This someone of the issues since
arguing over women being able to right suffrage. It really has become a gender issue. Yeah. The crime has been women. Absolutely. I went down to alabama specifically to find women who were supporting roy moore. And it was hard. I was in a county that was 76 , voted 76 for trump. So 3 4 of voters in that county voted for trump. When i was looking for women who would say on the record that they were voting for roy moore, i mean, they laughed at me. They just laughed at me. And almost all of them said no. I mean, i was in a waffle house where people were laughing at me, oh, gosh, golly, im not voting for that guy. We have a Secret Ballot in this country. Do you think that laughing was real . It was real. Or public . And this county so you think the election might be more to jones than we thought . I think its definitely i know the conventional wisdom is that roy moore is going to walk away with this tomorrow by a few points. But, you know, when i was in
this county, i was really having a hard time finding people, Finding Women at least. I believe in the shoe lett air proach. You went out there and dud it. And there were no signs. That was the other thing. There were no roy moore signs, you know . In the final weekend of the election, Democrat Doug Jones made numerous campaign stops, but where was roy moore . According to politico, moore hasnt held a political event since tuesday. Its now monday. Two republicans briefed on moores schedule before the weekend said he intended to spend saturday in philly at the armynavy game. That was this saturday at the west point grad had insist head would still take in this year despite the election. Moores campaign declined repeated requests to discuss his whereabouts and refused to say whether he had in fact this is spooky. It either is he is sure he is going win or he seems better than he looks. So he doesnt want people to meet him. Or he doesnt want questions raised hi, doesnt want to answer the questions. He doesnt want to be in a situation where he can be
pressed to answer the questions that he has such trouble answering. Thats right. He denies, but first he didnt actually deny. And so what was that about . He just doesnt want that. So he figures he has a better chance if he actually stays away from the state. An amazing way to run for office. I think im beginning to think maybe its a slight victory for jones. Well see. Thank you, gene robinson. I know being held to that. Well be covering the Special Election in alabama tomorrow on hardball at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. And back again at midnight. Well have a special hour tomorrow night at midnight. Elove these hours, believe it or not. I love staying up late because we know then the crackle of defeat or victory. No more talk, its decided. I love it. Up next, a staggering new report about trumps life inside the white house. The president is watching up to eight hours of tv a day. He is a couch potato using the cable News Coverage to hone his talking points. He is practicing on us. Isnt it supposed to be other way around and we learn from him . No, no. He learns truth from television. This is hardball, where the action is. This is a power plant. This is tim barckholtz. Thats me this is something he is researching at exxonmobil using fuel cells to capture Carbon Emissions at power plants. This is the potential. Reducing Co2 Emissions by up to 90 . While also producing more power. This could be big. Energy lives here. Was supposed to be a wake reup call for our government . Sh people all across the country lost their savings, their pensions and their jobs. Im tom steyer and it turned out that the system that had benefited people like me who are well off, was, in fact, stacked against everyone else. Its why i left my Investment Firm and resolved to use my savings for the public good. But here we are nine years later and this president and the Republican Congress are making a bad situation even worse. They wont tell you that their so called tax reform plan is really for the wealthy and big corporations, while hurting the middle class. It blows up the deficit and that means fewer investments in education, health care and job creation. Its up to all of us to stand up to this president. Not just for impeachable offenses, but also to demand a country where everyone has a real chance to succeed. Join us. Your voice matters. Whats going on . Oh hey thats it . Yeah. Everybody two seconds dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance. Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. Beginning january 1. This despite the president s opposition. Potential transgender recruits will still have to overcome the Armed Services lengthy and strict set of physical, medical and Mental Health requirements. Back to hardball. Welcome back to hardball. Over the weekend, the New York Times published an indepth piece exploring the day in the life of president donald trump. Speaking to roughly 60 sources, thats 60 sources, the New York Times paints a picture of a president preoccupied by his own selfpreservation, someone who views every day as an episode in a Television Show in which he vanquishes rivals. Much of what fuels his day is his seemingly insatiable appetite for cable news and diet coke. According to the New York Times, the president starts his day with a healthy dose of tv in the white house master bedroom. Quote, people close to him
estimate that mr. Trump spends at least four hours a day, and sometimes as much as twice that in front of the television, sometimes with the volume muted, marinating in the noholds bar ed wars of cable news and eager to fire back. A source close to the president said he has had a difficult adjustment to the presidency because he assumed it would be more akin to the popular image of imperial command. During the first month of his presidency he even barked commands at senators. Early this morning the president reacted to the Article Tweeting another false story, this time in the New York Times, that i watch four to eight hours of television a day. Wrong contributor for reagan, actually, not contributor, Ronald Reagan himself. Ron, he sound like the old john mclaughlin. Wrong what do you make of the Television Binge and the fact that he seems like a reaction. Not rocket man, but reaction man. Why would you watch all ual day thinking of ways to get bad and react to . There is a lot that is disturbing in this story. You know, lets just take the two little Headline Items you mentioned, the Television Binging and the diet coke. This is behavior that would be concerning to a parent if they found it in their high school student. Theyd want to intervene. And you wonder, eight hours of television a day. The presidency is a pretty all consuming job. When does he find time to actually be president . The answer from this article seems to be that hes not really ever being president in the way we think of being president. In other words, engaging with issues all the time, grappling with different things, you know. Arm twisting members of congress, all that sort of thing. He is mostly interested in how he is being spoken about on television. But the metta points about this that came out to me, at least,
about this article are, one, that so many people within the white house, people who work under donald trump are willing to anonymously at least talk about his lack of fitness for the office. And the other thing is that we are talking about that too and have been since the election. All of this stuff. This conversation that were having now is circling around the point of is this president mentally fit to be president of the United States . And i think a lot of us privately are thinking no, he is not. And that includes a lot of republicans. Well, lets talk about the terrifying power he holds even in this Television Obsession of his. I remember an old twilight episode where this young kid turns out to have supernatural powers. He has kinetic powers. He can make things happen. He can make people die. Remember that kid . He wishes people into the cornfield. And everybody has to tell him its a good day, bobby, its a good day. Yes, everything is fine. I think, i imagine the people
fluttering around him at the white house, all pandering to his needs because he is the commander in chief and he can hurt people. He cannot just fire them, he can bring doom on this planet. The article in the New York Times also reports that some of his associates have raised questions as ron just did there his willingness to separate Bad Information from factual information. Even after a year of official briefings and access to the best minds in the federal government, mr. Trump is skeptical of anything that does not come from inside his bubble. Here is something that didnt come inside his bubble. If you move the American Embassy to jerusalem and you make it look to the arab world like theyre never going to get a capital in east jerusalem, that theyre just screwed out of any deal, were no long an honest broker, were israels ally and its as simple as that, youre going get an unending Third Intifada, and lets face it, it has begun. Did anybody inside the bubble like Jared Kushner say mr. President , thats a dumb thing to do with huge consequences . Apparently not. Apparently they didnt. But this is something he could
do. Its something he could sign a document. We know he loves to sign those documents. And its something he could do unilaterally without consulting anybody. So he did it. Because it was a big dramatic gesture. But it has no thought behind it there is no strategy there. He didnt consult with allies about this, which you would do if you were going to undermine the position of the lets say the entire European Community regarding israel. I dont might want to consult with your allies about that. But no, no, he doesnt. Surprise, were moving our embassy to jerusalem, you know. Ron, youre great. Youve got a great satirical mind which is perfect for this situation. [ laughter ] its the only thing that will save us all. Maybe it will. There is some hume were it. Thank you so much, Ronald Reagan from seattle. Up next, the women who accuse President Trump of Sexual Misconduct are speaking out once again, deal detailing their allegations against the president and calling on congress to investigate these events. Youre watching hardball. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Im all about my bed. This mattress is dangerously comfortable. When i get in i literally say, ahh. America loves the Leesa Mattress. We have more five star Customer Reviews then any other mattress of its kind. This bed hugs my body. Today is gonna to be great. Place your order and experience the Leesa Mattress at home risk free. Order now and get 100 off and Free Shipping too. Go to buyleesa. Com today. Usaa to me means peace of mind. We had a power outage for five days total. We lost a lot of food. We actually filed a claim with usaa to replace that spoiled food. And we really appreciated that were the webber family and we are usaa members for life. We are the driven. The dedicated. The overachievers. We know our best investment is in ourselves. We dont take no for an answer. We fight for what we want. Even for the things that were once a given. Going to college. Buying a home. And not being in debt for it for the rest of our lives. But were only as strong as our community. Who inspires and pushes us to go further than we could ever go alone. Sofi. Get there sooner. I am a First Responder tor and iemergencies 24 hours a day, everyday of the year. My children and my family are on my mind when im working all the time. My neighbors are here, my friends and family live here, so its important for me to respond as quickly as possible and get the power back on. Its an amazing feeling turning those lights back on. Be informed about outages in your area. Sign up for Outage Alerts at pge. Com outagealerts. Together, were building a better california. It became apparent that in some areas, the accusations of sexual aggression were being taken seriously. And people were being held accountable, except for our president. And he was not being held accountable. I asked that congress put aside their Party Affiliations and investigate mr. Trumps history of Sexual Misconduct. Welcome back to hardball. Those are two of the women who have accused President Trump of Sexual Misconduct speaking out today, this morning, and calling on the u. S. Congress to investigate those allegations against trump. Well, the accusations have gotten new attention as the me too movement has taken down high profile men in politics and public life. And as trump has thrown his support behind Alabama Republican Senate candidate roy moore. Three of the president s accusers spoke today with nbcs
megyn kelly. All of the sudden he was all over me, kissing and groping and groping and kissing. When his hands starting going up my skirt, im not a small person. I managed to wiggle out. Looking me over like i was just a piece of meat. I was not a human being. I didnt have a brain. I didnt have a personality. I was just simply there for his pleasure. So he kept kissing you . Yeah, he went i dont know how many times back and forth, multiple. And then he kissed me on the lips. And i was shocked. Yeah. Devastated. I didnt it happened so fast. They spoke out one day after these comments from nikki haley, trumps ambassador our ambassador to the u. N. Women who accuse anyone should be heard. They should be heard and they should be dealt with. And i think we heard from them prior to the election. And i think any woman who has felt violate order felt
mistreated in any way, they have every right to speak up. Trump has denied the allegations against him. In his statement, the white house called the charges politically motivated. And press secretary Sarah Sanders defended the president. Lets listen. The president has addressed these accusations directly and denied all of these allegations. And this took place long before he was elected to be president. And the people of this country had a decisive election, supported President Trump. And we feel like these allegations have been answered through that process. Going back to the hardball round table. Ken vogel, political reporter for New York Times and jeff bennett is White House Correspondent for nbc news. Gentlemen and lady, thank you. Why dont we talk here about this thing. What can be done . Im not complete hardnosed political assessor. But besides sort of dressing down the president for what he did and making it clear that
these events did happen, and you just have to accept them, theyre not really being challenged as truth. What does that get done . Does it diminish this president . Does it teach a lesson to other men or what . Where are we going here . Right. On the other end of that question, asking that question to todays briefing about the congressional investigations. But that is something i have also wondered. The women are saying that congress investigated al franken. So congress, the Ethics Committee should also investigate President Trump. They didnt and then he supposedly and then he left. But the reason he came under franken, under an Ethics Investigation is because he is a senator and its their job to police that body. So when it comes to President Trump, youre asking at this point maybe the oversight committee. Youre asking some committee in congress to take it upon themselves to investigate the president. And with republicanrun congress, the likelihood of Something Like that happening is
almost nothing. What would they do with their investigation if they did conduct one . They would bring forth these allegation in a way that you saw them here and a way that you did see them. Its a Certain Branch of government. There is almost nothing they can do short of bringing articles of impeachment. I dont know on what grounds they would do that. And obviously republicans dont have the house anyway. So its kind of a moot point. But there is this change where when the allegations were first aired during the campaign, we were not in this moment that we are right now . Weve had sort of a cultural shift. I think a lot of it has to do with allegations against harvey weinstein. I agree. Explain that, because i think the cosmo has shifted there. I think because the ronan farrow, and the New York Times went after him in a way that looked very credible. There was no real defense there was a lot of witnesses. On the record by name, a lot of really strong reporting. It was pretty much a done deal. And what did that do . What that has done is shifted the burden of proof. It made it more likely culturally for accusers, particularly women accusing men of Sexual Misconduct to be believed and emboldened more women to come forward. If you remember in the week before the election, there was set to be a Big Press Conference where a woman who had made some explosive claims anonymously in a lawsuit against then candidate trump was going to come forward. She backed away at the last minute. She said she was scared. I think there is much more support for these women now. Youre thinking the political context has changed. We dont know what is going to happen tomorrow in alabama. Well all be experts tomorrow night around midnight. Even as ken rightly points out, the culture has changed. The official line from the white house regarding trumps accusers has not changed. Sarah Huckabee Sanders reverted back to the official white house line which is the edeny, to discredit the accusers to a certain degree and then to deflect. She said the jury was the voters. Thats right. The point the white house makes is the American People knew about these allegations when they elected donald trump. And that puts all of this to rest. The popular vote went against
him. So you have to say they did judge him guilty. And the other thing she said is these allegations are from a long time ago. Thats not necessarily the case. Some of the accusations are from fairly recent. Also that there were eyewitnesses that would be able to say that these things that they say didnt happen, didnt happen. And so then she said she would potentially provide us a list of those. So i think well all be very curious to see if they can provide a list of eyewitnesss who say that the incident didnt happen, didnt half. Ill glad you live pay you on tuesday for a hamburger today. Everybody promises some where. The Associated Press reports white house advisers were stunned by ambassador haleys comments, adding to two sources familiar with the president s views, quote, haleys comments infuriated the president. Trump has grown increasingly in recent days that the accusations against him have resurfaced, telling his associates that the charges are false and drawing parallels to the accusations facing republican alabama Senate Candidate roy moore. What is the point of the president saying i reremind me
of roy moore . Why would you say i sound like roy moore . In this race, i think its very clear that the president feels that hes got to get roy moore elected. Hes got to get this guy into the senate. They cannot afford to lose the senate seat. Hell go 15 miles to the border and not appear with him on stage. Hes got to get guy in. Lets talk to ken, and jeff then back to you again. Why are these voters interviewed on the focus groups down in alabama, people just saying, you know, i dont really think thats what happened. Just saying it. Its like voter nullification. I dont believe these stories from these women down there. Its rationalization. They want an excuse to be able to vote for the person they wanted to vote for independent of all of this stuff. So even as we from the outside say this has become a referendum on these allegations of whether we believe these women, the alabama republicans, they want a republican. And theyre willing to hold
their nose. Youre so smart. I dont know about that. But explain away. I do think. Thats what President Trump is doing as well there was a point that i was saying. He is a republican. Then we will test tomorrow night how far it goes. Especially for conservative evangelicals who have as a litmus test abortion. I was talking to a democrat who said if doug jones was antiabortion, he would probably have this sewn up by now. There are a lot of voters who have never voted for a democrat in a federal election. A lot of doug jones supporters are they wont necessarily view this race as a choice between roy moore and doug jones. The other choice is for some of the republicans to stay home and that will give jones a boost. There are republicans and there are democrats. And there are either 51 seats or 52 seats republicans. Its the nature of the beast. Binary. One or the other. The round table is sticking was. Youre watching hardball. We are the tv doctors of america, and we may not know much about medicine, but we know a lot about drama. From scandalous romance, to ridiculous plot twists. gasping son . Dad we also know you can avoid drama by getting an annual checkup. So were partnering with cigna to remind you to go see a real doctor. Go, know, and take control of your health. It could save your life. Doctor poses dad cigna. Together, all the way. Were back with the hardball round table. Francesca, Tell Me Something i dont know. While i was in india hearing ivanka trump speak, she said that the administration was going to be working hard in the new year on paid family leave. And thats something im hearing from alleys of the administration is its just not something there is a major appetite for in the house. Well see if she can get that
national paid family leave pushed through next year. Im sure its a big corporate agenda item. Go ahead, ken. There has been a surge of reporting of sexual harassment, Sexual Misconduct allegations in the congress. My sources tell me it has prompted a deluge of complaints to the house Ethics Committee. About members . Members and highranking staff members. Jeff . To that end, democratic congresswoman gwen moore sent a letter to the Senate Operations team asking them to put a plan in place to protect senate pages in the event that roy moore im sorry. Its ludicrous. You have to have a Restraining Order on a u. S. Senator. Its crazy. If you like the guy that needs to be restrained . Thank you, francesca chambers, ken vogel and jeff bennett. When we return, well finish with trump watch. Youre watching hardball. Shostakovich playing
from our family to yours. May all your wishes come true this holiday season. Just serve classy snacks and bew a gracious host,iday party. No matter who shows up. Do you like nuts . Whats going on . Oh hey thats it . Yeah. Everybody two seconds
dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance. Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. Particular, an argument i completely agreed with. And now look at what he has done. Trump has stirred up all kinds of trouble throughout the islamic world, on the west bank, in lebanon. And who knows how many other places. People are getting killed because this president wanted to pander to those who backed him last november. Meanwhile, he has dishonored one of the few heroic commitments he took in the campaign, to oppose american entry into stupid wars, wars that fail to deliver security for the American People. Why is trump humiliating those arab states who have stood with us over the years, countries like jordan and saudi arabia . Why has he his own soninlaws efforts . Why is he giving iran the greatest break in the world by blowing that alliance apart . But trumps greatest betrayal is to those who believed his promise to end stupid wars. In Declare Jerusalem the capital of israel, mr. Trump has forfeited americas indispensable role as peace broker
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.