Russia investigation, and congress. We are live in north dakota. Before that, we have our team set up and ready to go from across the country and around the world, on what is turning out to be a very bez si mondusy. I want to start with ken dilanian following the Paul Manafort case. There is a final Pretrial Hearing. It was set to start now but it is pushed back. Itll start at 11 00. Paul manafort is expected to appear. His lawyers are asking the judge to delay the trial, on the grounds that there have been so many leaks and unfair publicity. Highly unlikely, right . Yes. It is not expected to happen. Aint happening. This is procedural. The jury is expected to begin being selected on wednesday. One of the open questions though, hallie, interestingly enough, is whether the jury will be told that Paul Manafort was working were donald trump, to the extent they dont know. Lawyers are afraid animosity to trump could hurt manafort in the eyes of the jury. Ken dilanian, thank you. Look at the charges against manafort in virginia. I want to bring in daniel goldman, former u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york, now a legal analyst. Pick up where ken left off there. The idea that, in fact, a judge will say, hey, sure, dont mention manaforts campaign era work. Is that likely or no . I think probably during jury selection, the judge will want to make sure that the jury knows that manafort worked for donald trump, since trump is such a hot button and divisive topic. You want to make sure that the jury that is ultimately picked can be fair and impartial. If people have such incredibly strong feelings, either for or against trump, you want to make sure that that doesnt influence their evaluation of the evidence. From basically today on, daniel, this is going to be a daily reminder for President Trump and for members of his administration, that the special counsels investigation is moving forward in a court of law. Not only is it moving forward, this is, as you know, hallie, the special counsel only speaks either in court or through court filings. Hes been remarkably quiet over the last year plus. Now, it is time for them to speak. What youre going to see is what appears to be, from looking at this exhibit list and the filings, and knowing these prosecutors, these are top prosecutors. They are going to be ready. Theyre going to be polished. Theyre going to be prepared. What youre going to see, i believe, is a very, very impressive trial presentation. Donald trump and others who are watching it are going to start to see get some degree of response to the constant attacks. Not directly, but indirectly, through a strong presentation. Daniel goldman, thank you. I know youll be a critical voice for us over the next few weeks during the manafort trial. Jury selection starts wednesday. Appreciate it. Over at the white house, we have lived a full life on this monday morning already. Administration officials have been out defending that overnight tweet targeting iran. Yet, President Trump telling president rahami to never threaten the u. S. Again. If he does, all caps, quote, he will suffer the kopps consequence consequences, the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered. Call it fire and fury 2. 0, if you will. Geoff is on the north lawn. We heard from National Security adviser, john bolton, who has been, based on reporting, a critical voice in the tough tone on iran. Reporter thats right. Weve been asking white house officials if the president consulted a national securikure council or his adviser before he fired off the tweet. We got from the white house this one sentence statement from john bolton. It reads this way, he says, i spoke to the president over the last several days, and President Trump told me that if iran does anything at all to the negative, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid before. Bolton really echoing the president s fighting words captured in the tweet. That tweet, apparently, is a direct response to irans president , who threatened the u. S. Against interfering in tehrans government. This is all really unfolding as sanctions against iran are set to snack bap back next month, w the u. S. Withdrawing from the Nuclear Agreement. Rahami saying if there is interference, itll be the mother of all wars. President trump, when he was a private citizen, repeatedly tweeted about war with iran as something a president might do for political gain. We caught up with the White House Press secretary, sarah sanders, earlier today, and asked her, hallie, if there is a wag the dog situation going on here. If the president is using the specter of war with iran to push past his summit with Vladimir Putin. Take a look at what she had to say. The president is focused on a lot of things that are taking place across the globe, and iran is one of them. Its been something weve talked about since we first came does he run the risk he sorry, guys. What . Im sorry . Does he run the inciting a war with iran with the tweet . Hes not going to allow them to make threats against america. If anybody is inciting anything, look no further than to iran. Reporter im told the administration believes a new maximum Pressure Campaign against iran will bring that rogue regime to the negotiating table in much the same way the administration believes it worked with north korea. Hallie . Geoff bennett at the white house. Ill see you in a little bit. Richard engel is following the reaction, as this has created a Ripple Effect not just to tehran but allies in europe and elsewhere. Talk through some of the new iranian response this morning, calling this tweet psychological warfare, if you will. Reporter i spoke to an iranian official who called it psychological warfare. Thats the line iranians are using to describe it. They think this is part of a campaign that weve seen, that they are flag iging coming from the Trump Administration to insult them, to goad them into some sort of conflict. The iranians will say, from their side, nothing has really changed. They went into the Nuclear Agreement in good faith. According to all of the international bodies, including u. S. Intelligence agencies, they were abiding by the nuclear deal. The Trump Administration pulled out of the nuclear deal and is now upp eped the rhetoric. Iran has not changed policies. It still wants to keep trade deals open with europe. They see this as psychological warfare, trying to bait them into making some sort of mistake and escalating the situation. When you look at what happened, thats the response. When you look at what happened with this tweet, this all caps, very aggressive tweet in the middle of the night from President Trump, i think theres two ways of looking at it. One, you talk about his temperament. Theres always a lot of focus on the kind of person, the kind of president that President Trump is, especially now as he is finding his stride, as hes really feeling quite confident. He went to helsinki. He had the summit that a lot of people criticized. On the back of it, he said, im going to invite Vladimir Putin to washington, and im not going to tell anybody about it. Right. Reporter hes fieeling his stride. On a temperament point of view, you can say, well, this is the president we always for rworrie about. Someone waking up in the middle of the night angry and threatening a war with another country. On the other side, you can look at policy. Look at it as not just an emotional response, but as this administration, the Trump Administration, which is full of iran hawks, making the case for some sort of conflict with iran down the line. End goal, end game here, richard, do you believe it is regime change . Reporter probably, yes. I think thats what were talking about. If youre talking about a military strike on iran, it is either regime change or defa defanging the regime, to making the regime useless or ineffective. The end result would be the same, to drive iran into a position of weakness with the same government or a declawed, defanged government which, again, the u. S. Doesnt see as a threat and israel doesnt see as a threat. Dont just look at this as a tweet, but the people around trump, are they building a case . Nbcs Richard Engel in the london bureau, thank you. Richard is talking about looking at the people around donald trump. One of the people is secretary mike pompeo, who said this just within the last 24 hours. Listen. The level of corruption among iranian leaders shows iran is run by something more like the mafia than a government. The proud, iranian people are not staying silent about its governments abuses. The United States, under President Trump, will not stay silent either. With me on set, contributor and chief washington reporter for the boston herald, kimber kimberly, as well as sahill, friends of the show. Nikki haley, mike pence, the president wont find dissent among that faction of his Administration Related to this tough tone on iran. Absolutely right. If you look at it, i mean, i know theres concern that this is wagging the dog or some other way to distract the conversation, but donald trump has been pretty consistent about this. This is one of the few things hes not really gone back and forth on, about his disdain from iran from the campaign trail, the promise to pull out of the deal. This is something he sees as his right. We go back to the two hours he spent with Vladimir Putin, alone in a room. We dont know what Vladimir Putin has said about this. Obviously, his influence on this would be great. If you look at the president s past tweets on this, it is clear that he believed a conflict with iran might be something a president would do to bolster himself politically. Now were getting into the wag the dog conversation. When we set aside the policy piece, there are real policy ramifications. Three weeks now from the, as geoff said, snapback sanctions going into effect. Iran thinking, hey,ing somethin richard explained. Is the president trying to distract . He sent one tweet on iran. Five on russia. He is upset and annoyed about that. It seems as though folks who say the president is trying to distract may be giving him a little more credit, considering what he is publicly talking about that. That said, you talked about these tweets he sent. It is just as plausible that he is shooting from the hip. Doesnt mean he is planning to launch a strike. The analog, the fire and fury talk, that led to a summit with kim jongun. Niceties. They ended the provocations at the time. There is reporting theyre continuing the nuclear program, but it didnt end in the bloody conflict his words seemed to indicate. John bolton, on the other hand, he has a hawk on iran for a long time. Hes been openly calling for conflict with iran. In march 2015, he wrote an oped titled, to stop iran, bomb iran. The policy is interesting to watch for. We showed the tweets you were talking about this morning. The president suggested president s in the past have used iran to change the topic when it comes to domestic politics. There is also the piece of it, fire and fury 2. 0. The admiral was talking about this this morning. Listen. He kind of did the whole fire and fury number on kim jongun. He thinks thats what brought him to the bargaining table. Now, kim jongun was the village of negotiators. Hes not going anywhere with the nukes. President trump will try to use the technique on iran. Terrible time to do it because you absolutely have to have allies, partners, and friends if youre going to go into another war in the middle east. Allies, partners, and friends, are not three words often used to describe this president s relationship with our european allies. Right. Especially right now, after nato, after hes been using very Strong Language when it comes to our allies, trying to work with people who are our adversaries. This is very similar to the leadup to north korea that ended up with a summit. Perhaps he thinks he can sit down with rue ha ahami and talk. We know the president has an affinity for strong men who are leaders of authoritarian governments. Perhaps he thinks this is the same playbook that he can use here, that he used with kim jongun. Americas most prominent allies in western europe, in particular, are committed to the iran deal. Theyre not backing off the deal. Theyre going to try to make it work. They believe it is a good deal. The window of opportunity for President Trump to try to jump in and renegotiate this seems to have sailed. Then there is saisrael. There is israel. Looking at this, as Richard Engel said, and cheering on donald trump. Do they have the diplomatic leverage over iran that could force them to change their behavior dramatically . I dont know the answer to that. We are watching this. No breathings ske briefings sch today, though plenty of questions regarding the president s tweets, comments, and National Security advisers comments, too. Stick around, both of you. More to get to this morning. What is a morning in america without president ial tweeting . It is not just the victory lap on the release of the fisa warrant. Were talking about the documents that allowed surveillance of carter page. We are also talking about whether this vindicates the president , as he claims. Spoiler, well, just wait. Just wait until you hear how he is rebranding the infamous dossier. Thats next. 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Its a new kind of network designed to save you money. Click, call or visit a store today. Monday morning deja vu, as President Trump again goes after the russia investigation and again calls it a hoax. A week after trying to say he didnt really think that. The twist today is the president claiming vindication, without evidence, after the fbis unprecedented release of a topsecret fisa warrant that involves surveillance on the guy to the left, former campaign advis adviser, carter page. The president tweeting this, so we know find out it was the unverified and fake, dirty dossier, paid for by crooked Hillary Clinton and the dnc, that was knowingly and falsely submitted to f ed tted to fisa, starting the mueller witch hunt. It doesnt explain why the fbi was interested in page if the first place. The document says the fbi believes page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the russian government. The next line is redacted. Then it reads, blank undermine and influence the 2016 president ial election, in violation of u. S. Criminal law. Not to mention, after a week of trying to walk back his doubts about Russian Election interference, the president is now back at it, referring to it as a hoax. So, lets break it down with nbc news investigations reporter tom winter and National Security analyst and former fbi special agent clint watts. Back with me, the boston heralds kimberly adkins, and bloombergs sahil kupure. Sort out what the documents do tell us, setting aside this was an unprecedented release of information. There is a Little Something in it for everyone. This fisa document, which is perhaps one component of a much, much larger investigation, has really become a political fulcrum for people to either attack or support the investigation thats going on, looking into allegations of russian collusion, looking into these allegations about any possible involvement with the Trump Campaign. On one hand, for folks that say, well, this fisa warrant shouldnt have been approved because it comes from somebody who is putting together a dossier, and the dossier is unverified, and as the president tweeted, he believes that it is fake. It is clear, and it is clear from the document, information that was derived from Christopher Steele was part of the fisa. It was not all of the fisa. It was a floor of the house. The fbi had already established a foundation and was well on its way of building a house, if you want to use that anal ogyanalog. Folks have criticized the fisa application, including some members of the house, saying that this the fbi never disclosed to the foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, the judges that approve the warrants, saying where the information came from. Actually, i want to be able to show you. Weve prepared a bit of the warrant, where it actually specifically says, hallie, in the fisa application, it says that the fbi knows where this information is coming from. It is somebody who has provided them reliable information in the past. Hey, this information is being derived from somebody who is being paid to get the information. And we speculate, the fbis words, we speculate the person paying for this information is trying to discredit candidate one, who is donald trump in this fisa application. For both sides that have criticized, saying the fbi was forthright with the judge. There is information for those who attacked the fisa application, saying some of the information that helped build the fisa application came from the dossier, and the person that prepared that, that is in there, too. Both sides have something to talk about here. It is not a total both sidesism, right . You have this question now surrounding the man in the floppy hat himself, carter page. He was on the sunday shows talking with, i think, cnns jake tapper. I want to play you what he had to say. Listen. This is so ridiculous. Its just beyond words. You know, its youre talking about misleading the courts. Its just so misleading. Ive never been an agent of a foreign power, by any stretch of the imagination. Carter page is denying any wrongdoing, which hes done before. Distancing himself, as well, from the Trump Campaign, despite at one point calling himself an informal adviser. Saying it was garaexaggeration, was spin. Explain why the release of this application is unprecedenunprec. The fact this is out at all is very significant. Fisa applications are sealed in secret because youre trying to protect the person that oftentimes is being investigated. Remember, a fisa application is pursuing probable cause, which is not an indictment. This is oftentimes confused in the public. You are looking for probable cause to extend an investigation. In this case, they didnt know exactly, but they had worries about it because page had been targeted by Russian Intelligence Services before. Whenever he showed up again in the orbit of other Russian Intelligence Service personnel, they wanted to go ahead and investigate that. Clint, what does this do inside the Intelligence Community . There was concern beginning of last week when the president did not, at first, make clear he did, then he had the walkback, as you know. If you are a government servant, working to inform the administration, trying to prepare them for what is best in the country, this is really troubling. I mean, this is a second step between the actual helsinki summit, where he essentially took putins side against the Intelligence Community, and now putting out more documents that are meant to be sealed, which are meant to protect sources, and to protect investigators trying to do what is best for the country. It is demoralizing. You also start to pull back and wander, hey, im a government intelligence officer, how much do i disclose now in terms of n applications . I dont know how i might be targeted later in the conduct of my job. Final thoughts, tom . Anybody who looks at this and says somehow this ends an investigation or i know folks have argued, well, if the carter page fisa was not properly put together, then the whole investigation has soured, i think it is a total lack of understanding of the investigative process. It is very clear, based on the people that were already under investigation at the time that this fisa application went up, that he is a small part of this. It doesnt hold water. Tom winter, clint watts, thank you both. Paul manaforts team is in court 30 minutes from now, gearing up for the start of his trial in a couple days. Ill speak with professor dershwitz about the recordings he made with donald trump, and whether it means peril for the president. 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And today, at the touch of a button, all the farmers are able to get their money, Pay School Fees and improve their standard of living. With citi, we see a Bright Future for our farmers and their families. We are back now with a look at your mornings headlines. Happening right now in branson, missouri, the u. S. Coast guard has just started a move to try to salvage that duck boat that capsized thursday night that killed 17 of the 31 people on board. Take a look at this video. We just saw divers going into the water at the scene. Federal investigators are trying to take a look at a video recorder carecord er taken from the sunken boat, hoping itll explain moments leading up to the disaster. This morning in toronto, police are trying to figure out why somebody opened fire on a busy street, killing two people and hurting 12 others. The gunman was shot and killed by police, although officials still have not said who he is. Just that he is 29 years old. Former Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort is about to arrive at the federal courthouse across the river from us in al saexandriaalexandria, minute. We know his lawyers are going to be asking a judge to delay the start set for wednesday of his criminal trial in virginia. Manafort was swept up in the Robert Mueller russia investigation, charged with bank and tax fraud. Im joined by harvard law professor dershwitz, authored of the case against impeaching trump. Thank you for being back on the show. We appreciate it. Thank you. Lets talk through this manafort trial. Is there any compelling argument that the defense team could make to delay the start of it, or is this just one of the lastditch, hail marys that any defense lawyer would throw, that has no shot . None of us noy knows what th allegations are concerning a delay, but lets keep our eye on the ball. This case is not about Paul Manafort. Judge ellis himself said the government really has no interest in these tax evasion cases or other cases. This is an attempt to squeeze him, to make him sing, or in the words of judge ellis, perhaps to make his compose, in order to get information against higher ups. That hasnt worked yet. Maybe President Trump himself. Hasnt happened yet. Manafort has been in prison. He is behind bars and staying quiet. Thats possible, that thats the way hell remain. If he is convicted of these crimes, and hes threatened with many, many, many years in prison, you never know what he might do. You dont know whether he has any information. Maybe the reason he is not singing is because he refuses to compose and wont make up any stories. He doesnt really have anything negative. We dont know enough. All we know is this is the tactic that judge ellis said is being used in this case. This is really a case about President Trump, more than it is about mr. Manafort. If it were a case about President Trump, you have the defense team now saying, hey, we dont want anybody to mention manaforts work for the campaign, when he was campaign chair. Right. No connection of that should come up during jury selection, et cetera. Is that a fair request . Of course it is. Absolutely. Is it reasonable . Is it likely to be i think the judge will find it take it seriously. Look, this is more about his next trial in the district of columbia. Virginia is a divided state. Obviously, many republicans, many democrats, protrump people, antitrump people. The next case in the district of columbia, which voted 99 something in favor of Hillary Clinton and against trump. Surely, in the district of columbia, he doesnt want any jurors to know he has anything to do with donald trump. Unless they can demonstrate that the relevance of the Trump Association outweighs the prejudicial impact, that motion should be granted. Let me ask about Something Else in the president s universe that is happening. The issue with this former personal attorney, michael cohen. The New York Times has been reporting over the weekend, cohen secretly recorded a conversation with the thencandidate, talking about payments to essentially buy the silence of karen mcgugcdougal. She claimed she had an affair with donald trump, something the president denied. He said, inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyeriers office, almost unheard of. Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client. Is this Attorney Client privilege here . We know the tape was deemed to be Attorney Client privilege, but giuliani waived the privilege, perhaps to protect other tapes that are not yet disclosed. We dont know. Whoever has these tapes or has access to them should not disclose any information that is Attorney Client privilege. It is now subject to adjudication in front of the judge, who appointed a former judge to decide what is privileged and what is not. Even if there are tapes, cohen is not free to disclose their content, if they are Attorney Client privilege, unless the client waives the information. This is the beginning of a process, not the end of a process. Alan dershowitz, we appreciate it. Let me bring back in kim r Kimberly Atkins and sahi sahil kapure. Michael cohen was not a normal lawyer. Have i taped a conversation with clients . No. Michael cohen is a fixer. He was meant to clean up Donald Trumps messes. The idea that you cant hustle a hustler. Of course, he was using the same tactics to protect himself that he was using to protect the president. These tapes are, obviously, whatever tapes that exist are given to authorities. If protected by privilege, the authorities will act in that way. I think the professor is right, the most likely reason for that tape they waived privilege is for some reason, they dont think it is that bad, but they want to protect the others that might be coming forward. Sahil, you said you had a hot take. It is lukewarm. I have so many questions. Why was he recording this . It was an unusual thing for a lawyer to do. Did he want insurance, if trump threw him under the bus . Was Attorney Client privilege waived or pierced . If it was pierced, it could be under a crime fraud case. There are more questions than answers here. Im looking forward to hearing about them. After the break, new details about the alleged russian agent arrested last week by the fbi. Meetings with treasury and fed officials. Plus, her connection to a russian billionaire and why hes one of the reasons she is still behind bars. Your society was led by a woman, who governed thousands. Commanded armies. Yielded to no one. 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Learn more about why you should choose an aarp Medicare Supplement plan. Call today for a free guide. This morning, more questions are coming out about this woman, maria butina, Russian National charged with conspiracy , actin as a Foreign Agent in u. S. The charges her lawyer are calling fabricated. We noknow she has ties to a forr russian official, hit by government sanctions. We dont know about the role of the u. S. Institutions that butina is accused of infiltrating. Were getting answers to who was paying for what she was doing. The Washington Post is reporting she received Financial Support from another powerful russian. Joining me is the reporter on that story, rosalynn held erman investigations reporter for the Washington Post. Rosalynn, talk about this russian guy who is bankrolling butina, and why he is so critical, or could be this critical piece to all this. Sure. We first learned about the existence of this guy in court papers from prosecutors last week. They were arguing that ms. Butina has powerful friends who could help spirit her out of the country if she wanted. They referred to this guy who they said was her funder, said he had deep ties to putins government. Were reporting he is konstantin nikolaev. He made 1 billion in ports and railways in russia. He was supporting ms. Beutina, e think, probably, when she first came to the United States in 2014. He also has some deep ties to the u. S. Let me play you what bob driscoll, who is butinas lawyer, said about this over the weekend. Listen. Sure. If you ask me if maria was from another country, would this be happening . Id say, absolutely not. I think the russia overlay on this cant be ignored. Shes a separate person from all the rest of this russia stuff. She, i firmly believe, is not guilty of what shes been charged with, and is simply a Russian National who has been in the u. S. We know that this is separate from the special counsel investigation, but based on your reporting, how does that ring to you, the idea that she is a separate person from all the russia stuff . Well, what experts who have looked at this indictment have said to us is, assuming that she is guilty of the allegations, and obviously her lawyer is denying them, that it is really a sign of the sort of breadth and sophistication and scope of the russian influence operation in the United States. Youve got the hackers hacking democrats, but you also have the russians running agents up against important american political organizations as a way to gain influence throughout the american political scene. Thats sort of the russia hands the experts will tell you. Picking up on the theme from sahil, unanswered questions, there are a lot of them when it comes to this. The scope of the investigation here. The exposure, potentially, of the nra, whats happening there. Weve heard of these new meetings reported by reuters between her and members of the fed and the treasury. I mean, this thing is a web that continues to be unspooled. Right. It is a web of connections. Im struck by the depth of the russian meddling operation, everything from online bots and tropic trolls, attempted meeting with Trump Administrations, hacking emails, now theyre using conservative groups. They got butina in a Campaign Event with trump, got a question about russian sanctions, and they got what they wanted. He seemed to agree with the fact of her premise, saying they were damaging. He said he doesnt think the sanctions would be needed. It is remarkable and seems it is not going anywhere. Rosalynn, thank you for coming on the show. I preeappreciate it. Coming up, were heading outside the beltway. Were leaving it and taking you to, buckle up, what you might call trump country. Talking north dakota. All but two countries went to donald trump in 2016. How is the president S Performance in helsinki sitting with these voters . Heres why were asking the question, to see whether it could help or hurt the democratic senator, highcamp, to get another term come november. How do you win at business . Stay at la quinta. Where were changing with stylish makeovers. Then at your next meeting, set your seat height to its maximum level. Bravo, tall meeting man. Start winning today. Book now at lq. Com youre taking a look live at the courthouse in alexandria, virginia, where sometime in the next 12 minutes or so, we expect to see Paul Manaforts defense team walk in to begin the last Pretrial Hearing before jury selection starts on wednesday. So, well keep our eye on developments there. We are also heading outside the beltway. We want to see how voters see this whole russia issue, less than four months before the midterms. Our new nbc news wall street journal poll numbers show 65 of voters do believe the russian government did sbeinterfere on 2016 election, up 12 points from a year ago. When it comes to the special counsel, 46 of voters believe mueller should keep investigating. 38 think it should come to an end. Thats not changed from last month. Democratic senator Heidi Heitkamp is trying to fend off a challenge by kevin cramer. We want to find out how the russia issue is playing there. Reporter do you see any kind of validity in the investigation . Not 100 . There might be something there, but it would take way too long to dig it up. You dont stand up and just call him a liar that he didnt do something to his face. Thats not politics done correctly. I support more visits and a good working relationship with russia is good for the United States. So the woman of the hour joins us now in north dakota with more. And you are at a some sort of tractor convention . Where are you . Were here at the state fair in north dakota. North dakota big manufacturing state agriculture is a big industry here. Were standing among some of that equipment. And voters here wanted to talk about tariffs when we spoke to them over the weekend. Thats the xfactor in the race. They had a lot to say about russia, making the points you were just playing now that they want to see this probe wrapping up. Some saying democrats are grasping at straws. Some say it might take too much time to dig it up. The candidates voiced their concerns about russia. Heres what they said to me over the weekend. Reporter do you believe President Trump believes that it was russia . I dont know what he believes. I dont know that he believes. But you believe it was russia . I mean, you know, i believe it was russia as sure as i believe the sun comes up in the east. Do you have any concerns about russian meddling in this upcoming election . Im concerned about russias meddling in everything. I worry about our ability to stop Cyber Attacks from all our adversaries, chief among them, russia. Reporter and hallie, thats notable that youre going to hear from kevin kramer saying hes concerned about russia. Hes someone who is a loyal advocate for donald trump. The point he continued to make over the weekend was hes someone who will stand with north dakota. Thats a pitch. Im a democrat but willing to vote with the president when hes right. When im out with the president s supporters at rallies or during the campaign. One thing i heard again and again and more recently is the Supreme Court issue. Its less about that its more about look at who we picked. This is after gorsuch, and now big praise for kavanaugh. Is that coming up visavis heitkamp . She is critical. When i spoke to her on saturday, she was open saying she had to meet with him. She was going to vote on the person. When i talked to kevin kramer and several Republican Voters agreed saying she basically has to make this point and has to make this pitch and do this vote to show people in north dakota shes not just going to be a roadblock for President Trump. One of the voters i said shes crossed over for gorsuch before, hasnt she made that point . He said yeah, thats not good enough. They want to see it time and time again, at least on the republican side. Thank you. I appreciate it. Safe travels back home. Reaction to what you saw . I think were going to see consistently that trumps base is fairly inelastic. The people who supported him are doing it for issues that havent changed. The u. S. Supreme court, the economy. Theyre not happy always with the way he behaves but i think largely theyre going to stick behind him as the democrats who really have to craft a message to combat that. Lets move that our sources are saying this morning, were asking our folks to talk with us about what are your sources telling you today . Whats the juiciest nugget youre reporting on . Despite everything going on with the investigation and the revelations its not a big part of either partys closing arguments. Voters are not moving on this issue until something major happens. For democrats the big issue they want to focus on is health care. Republicans are leaning into an immigration message. These are the issues the midterms will turn on. On the democratic side theres a lot of talk about the establishment democrats against this new leftleaning side of the democratic party, what that has all the energy. Ive been talking to democratic strategists saying wheres the Common Ground . Im learning there is none. Those on the left think they have already won and that the established centrist democrats are a thing of the past. Youre hearing the last gasps as the party moves to the left. Do you think they actually do believe this is where its going . I think they believe this is going. Youre seeing people from the center move to the left in a way that youre not seeing the people in the centrist convince the left they need to go right. To go the other direction . To go the other direction. Thank you to both of you. Well wrap up in a minute as always with todays big picture. Stick around. The winter of 77. I first met james in 5th grade. We got married after college. And had twin boys. But then one night, a truck didnt stop. But thanks to our forester, neither did our story. And thats why well always drive a subaru. We are back with todays big picture. And were heading to california. A photo of a plane passing over a pretty intense sunset near yosemite. Its part of the crew battling the Ferguson Fire thats exploded. Its more than 3,000 acres. Campgrounds, roads closed. A lot of mountain communities are under serious threat. Thousands of firefighters scrambling to slow it down. The terrain and weather is making it tough. Two firefighters have been hurt bringing the total to four. Thankfully they are all expected to make a full recovery. The photographer here noah berger for the associated press. Yosemite one of the best places on the planet. More to come online on insta, facebook, twitter. Ill report with lester holt from the white house north lawn inspect thats where im headed now. Ali and stephanie, take it over. Ill see you this afternoon. Well see you there and this afternoon. Good morning, everyone. Its monday, july 23rd. Lets get smarter. An escalating war of words between President Trump and iran. The president tweeting out a headline grabbing threat in all caps. Never ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of what few throughout history have ever suffered before. Were no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence and death. Be cautious. The fiery tweet appearing to come in response to iran saying war with iran is the mother of all wars. The president is responding to iran and hes not going to allow them to continue to make threats against america. If anybody is inciting anything look no further than iran. All ill say is i would not mess with President Trump. He means what he says and he takes decisive action. The level of corruption and wealth among iranian leaders shows iran resembles the mafia more than a government. The fbi for the first time releasing documents supporting a warrant. Its beyond
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