Day 901 of the Trump Administration and the prosecution of a high profile lurid sex crimes case has the president in a tough spot over an old friend. This is the case of Jeffrey Epstein, arrested saturday night when his private plane arrived in the u. S. From paris. His home was raided concurrently. Epstein has been charged with sex trafficking involving young women and underage girls. Over a decade ago epstein was under federal investigation in florida for alleged Crimes InvolvingSexual Exploitation of minors. Then u. S. Attorney alex acosta approved a deal allowing epstein to plead guilty to a lesser state charge of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. The problem is acosta is now this nations labor secretary. And so these latest charges against epstein have renewed outrage over the First Agreement there, and sparked calls for acostas resignation as labor secretary. Today we heard from acosta for the First Time Since epsteins arrest over the weekend. And we read, quote, the crimes committed by epstein are horrific and i am pleased that new york prosecutors are moving forward with a case based on new evidence. With the evidence available more than a decade ago federal prosecutors insisted that epstein go to jail. Register as a sex offender and put the world on notice that he was a sexual predator. Now that new evidence and additional testimony is available, the new york prosecution offers an important opportunity to more fully bring him to justice. Well, today President Trump expressed a sympathetic view of acosta. I met secretary acosta his first time when i made the deal to bring him into the administration. I can tell you that for two and a half years hes been just an excellent secretary of labor. Hes done a fantastic job. If you go back and look at everybody elses decisions whether its a u. S. Attorney or an assistant u. S. Attorney or a judge, you go back 12 or 15 years ago or 20 years ago and look at their past decisions, i would think youd probably find that they would wish they maybe did it a different way. Well have to look at it carefully. Youre talking about a long time ago and again, it was a decision made, i think not by him but by a lot of people. So were going to look at it very carefully. I feel very badly actually for secretary acosta. Well, tonight the New York Times reports, quote, white house officials said mr. Trump regarded mr. Acosta as a loyal and until now no drama member of his cabinet. Mr. Acosta has not spoken with the president about the epstein case recently. According to the washington post, quote, officials at the white house are nervous that democrats will encourage women allegedly abused by epstein to testify publicly before congress drawing attention to acostas work on the plea deal. They add there was no substantial vetting done on acosta until after trump decided to nominate him. Democrats and congress and as you might imagine 15 of the democratic president ial candidates are pressing for acosta to step down or be fired. Republicans have yet to join in. There is growing pressure from other trump allies to move against acosta. This is telling. Nbc reporting tonight that officials inside the administration including acting chief of staff mulvaney have had concerns about acostas performance in his day job, his cabinet job, particularly his perceived lack of urgency on an acting deregulation. Is this a foreshadowing. Politico reporting mulvaney told trump on monday that the continuing drip of damaging information surrounding the 2008 decision would hurt the administration. Indeed tonight mulvaney gave nbc news this response. We quote. I push all of the cabinet secretaries on the deregulatory agenda as it is a top priority of the president. That in no way should be interpreted as displeasure with any cabinet member including secretary acosta. Trumps relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is coming under intense scrutiny. For years in plain edge accomplish the two men socialized together both in new york and florida. In 02 trump said hed known epstein for about 15 years and he was a terrific guy. The ap reports, quote, epsteins personal address book copies of which have been included in legal findings list multiple private numbers for contacting trump, his wife, melania, daughter ivanka, as well as trumps butler, executive assistant and security staff. Back in 2015 the now shuttered website gawker published what it reported was epsteins little black book showing an entry with donald trump with all kinds of numbers. Today trump made an effort to distance himself from epstein. There was no more talk from trump about his friend being a terrific guy. Well, i knew him like everybody in palm beach knew him. People in palm beach knew him. He was a fixture in palm beach. I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I dont think ive spoken to him for 15 years. I wasnt a fan. Here for our leadoff discussion, peter baker, jeremy bash, and back with us here in new york jessica roth. Welcome to you all. Peter, i note that tonight the head of news max and a long time trump friend and whisperer went on cnn in about the last hour and after making clear he and the president had not discussed this, he straight up said its not going to be long concerning acostas time remaining as labor secretary. Where do you see acostas future . Where do you see the president s exposure in this case . Yeah. Thats a great question. Look, you know, well see how this plays out. But this has the whiff of danger for secretary acosta for obvious reasons. President trump doesnt particularly like it when his top advisers come under this kind of scrutiny. Its a distraction from his point of view. Hes going to be asked questions about it. His own relationship with epstein is going to be brought into scrutiny. My colleagues andy carny has a story tonight about a party in 1992 when President Trump then donald trump and epstein had a party down in florida with 28 women and just the two of them. Young women who were provided to them for the purpose of this party. That kind of story is the kind of thing hes not going to want to see continuing to rise, and thats going to probably continue if secretary acosta remains in his post. Let me indeed back you up with a dramatic reading of the writing tonight of annie carny, maggie haberman. It was supposed to be an exclusive party at maralago. Donald trumps members only club in palm beach, florida nvm other than the two dozen or two women flown in to provide the entertainment, the only guests with mr. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. Through a mutual appreciation of wealth, women, and years of occupying adjacent real estate in palm beach and on page six, the lives of the two men routinely intersected for decades. If those days if you didnt know trump or epstein, you were a nobody, said a long time Harvard University professor who later served on mr. Epsteins defense team when he was charged with unlawful sex with minors in 06. Peter, this is, indeed, more proof the president lived the life he lived as a civilian to the fullest before we even thought of donald trump in the realm of the presidency. Yeah. We tend to forget that. We tend to forget what kind of a swinging lifestyle in effect he had. He went on howard stern and bragged about his exploits with women, and he obviously is on his third wife, and he was not the traditional model of a president or a future president working out. Thats never stopped him in political life. Hes managed to do what other politicians have not been able to do and sort of move beyond that kind of sensational lifestyle. It would have been enough to stop any other political career. So in that sense, its something that he has managed to handle. But this is a special case. This is a case involving young women below the age of consent. This is not a situation where you can talk about consenting adults. This is this is somebody he at least for one period of life was close to. He seemed to have a falling out with Jeffrey Epstein. Hasnt been close to him for years. What he said today seems to be true. Bill clinton, obviously is going to face scrutiny as a result of this. This is a particularly dangerous area for this particular president. We just had an allegation a couple weeks ago by an author who says that he sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a clothing store. The more this kind of focus is out there, the more its distracting him from the things he wants to do as he heads into an election year. Counselor, rescue us and take us back into the legal realm. What do you make of the deal that acosta as u. S. Attorney agreed to in florida that led in many ways to this case were talking about tonight . It was an extremely unusual deal. Both the content of it, if you will, and the process that led to it, being put into effect. The content is unusual because its extremely lenient. Notwithstanding the fact that his office had apparently prepared a draft of 50 pains of serious felony charges, that indictment wasnt filed and instead what the deal provided was that epstein would plead guilty to Florida State charges that resulted in him serving, i think it was 13 months in prison. The process was unusual. As understand it in some of the florida litigation, acosta was meeting privately with the defense attorney for epstein off site. Right . Not in his office. Both aspects of that are very unusual. And so it raises a lot of questions that i think acostas going to have to answer in some context whether its if hes called before congress to give testimony or theres an Ongoing Department of Justice Office of professional investigation into this, and that happens to be the piece that attorney general is still saying hes recused from. Jeremy bash, here we are again. We as a nation were promised the best people. The president tonight as rick wilson keeps pointing out, has Three Friends in jail. I know i dont. I dont imagine you do. Thats rather unique. And its another distraction. Its another personnel problem to say the least. Weve had three white house chiefs of staff. Two secretaries of defense. Two secretaries of state. Three Homeland Security secretaries. Two attorneys general. Weve had two cabinet secretaries at hhs at interior resign under a cloud of scandal and now this scandal could sweep in two more cabinet secretaries. Secretary of labor and the attorney general. So when the president promises that he surrounds himself with the best people, you got to ask your question. Ask the question was acosta vetted . Were these decisions undertaken in the Southern District of florida reviewed by the Incoming Administration and if they were, why did they conclude that acosta was fit to serve as one of the Law Enforcement professionals in our nation as labor secretary who is responsible for combatting Human Trafficking . Something doesnt add up. Jeremy, what do you make of the clumsiness of the president s effort to distance himself from epstein, the folks were who were around during this period the 90s in new york, openly referred to these two guys as running mates. Any time the president says i hardly knew him, i barely can remember his name, or something to that effect, its usually a tell that hes exceptionally close to that person. We saw that in the manafort case. We saw that in the cohen case. And also when he says something snide or derogatory like in the case of the Sexual Assault that peter referenced earlier, where he said shes not my type, that usually is evidence of some guilty consciousness by the president. And jessica, by dent of the connection to the president here, remind us, remind the folks watching tonight why we should take this case against epstein so incredibly seriously. Well, we should take the case against epstein seriously even if there werent any connection to the president. The allegations are so serious as a u. S. Attorney said, it shocks the conscience whats alleged here. And i think the case here is important to the victims in this case, and its also important in the broader context of prosecution of child sex exploitation cases more broadly. I thought the commitment to pursuing the cases regardless of the wealth and power and political connection was made clear in the press conference. And so hopefully this will encourage more victims to come forward in this particular case, given the hot line that was established and in future cases. And indeed apparently more people have come forward as a result of that public plea. Our thanks on this tuesday night to our big three for starting us off to peter baker, jeremy bash, and jessica roth. Thank you all three of you. And coming up, new reporting this evening on the justice departments 16hour interview with the former british spy at the center of the Mueller Investigation after all. And later a day after the first democrat gets out of the race, another one gets in today. So much for thinning the herd. But there is another race of interest to update you upon this evening as the 11th hour is just Getting Started on a tuesday night as president lincoln looks on. Most of us dont know how much data we use, but we all know were paying too much for it. Enter xfinity mobile. Americas best lte with the most wifi hotspots, combined for the first time. When youre near an xfinity hotspot, youre connected to wifi, saving on data. When youre not, you pay for data by the gig. Use a little, pay a little. Use a lot, just switch to unlimited. Get 400 back when you buy the new lg g8. Call, visit or click today. What an interesting story today. New reporting revealing that u. S. Justice Department Lawyers flew to the uk while President Trump was last visiting the uk and while they were there, they spent 16 hours interviewing this man, christopher steele, the former veteran british spy who was famously the author of the dossier that bears his name and will forever, the original document that alleged the links between Trump Associates and russians before the 2016 election. A source said steeles information was deemed sufficiently credible enough to extend the investigation of the Inspector General back here at home with the justice department. Meanwhile former trump business associate felix saider was questioned by House Intelligence Committee today about the moscow trump tower project. He spoke to reporters following the closed door testimony. What was revealed about the deal trump tower moscow deal . I revealed everything, all the knowledge i had about the deal i revealed to the committee as well as to every other committee ive testified in front of fully and completely. I answered every question asked of me. Well, lets wait a minute. In fact, the House Intelligence Committee didnt exactly agree with mr. Saters selfassess. A spokesperson released a statement that said while we do not typically comment on closed interviews, we must correct the record. Mr. Sater has not fully cooperated with the committee and he will remain under subpoena until he does so. Today we also learned the House Judiciary Committee will vote to authorize a dozen subpoenas as part of their obstruction of justice investigation. The list includes big names like flynn and kushner and rosenstein and sessions and a reminder were just eight days away from muellers scheduled testimony on the hill. To talk about all of it, back with us tonight is chuck rosenberg, former u. S. Attorney. Former senior fbi official. Also happens to be presently the host of the msnbc podcast called the oath. What do you make of the steele story . First the office of Inspector General at the department of justice and the Inspector General have good reputations. Fair. Nonpartisan, professionals. Thats good news. You can trust their report. Second, mr. Steele didnt have to cooperate with this. Hes a foreign national. He doesnt work for the department of justice. He never did. And so he sat down with them voluntarily. Thats a good sign. He wanted to tell the story and he wanted to make sure that the Inspector General had all the facts at his disposition before he wrote his report. Thats helpful to the Inspector General and will be helpful to us. Well, you may recall how media on the left held up the Mueller Report as being the big document they were waiting for. Ive noted media on the right have held up this Inspector Generals report as what they have been waiting for. Do you think something that never happens these days will happen if he is the man of good repute that you report he is, both sides will respect his findings . I sure hope so. Both sides should respect the report Mueller Report and that harrow wits writes. He is a good man and runs a good office. Its an incredibly important one. The department of justice is made up of human beings. Human beings are fallible. Its the job of the Inspector General to figure out what went wrong and make recommendations to fix it. I dont see it as a left or right issue. Its a Good Government issue. And we should look at the report in that way. Now, chuck, into dicier territory. What do you make of what the attorney general has said in the last 24 to 48 hours about muellers testimony . He at first said he had no problem with mueller testifying and now kind of using a double negative if mueller didnt want to testify, he would support that as well. He used the expression public spectacle. First, do you think its still a slam dunk that we will hear public testimony on Live Television on this network and others in front of two congressional committees from mueller . Second, adjust peoples expectations for said event. Sure. Mueller said hes not going to go beyond his report. I work for the man. I would take him at his word. If he says hes not going beyond the report, hes not going to go beyond the report. I think it raises another question, how do you question bob mueller. Right . What do you ask him to elicit the most helpful information . Thats tricky for the democrats. Isnt that true . You would say yes. Well, for all those waiting, Billionaire Tom Steyer is in the 2020 race. Hes a late entry even though the first one of those isnt until february. He made a fortune in finance if you recognize the face, its because he spent a fortune plastering the airways with his own commercials calling for impeachment. Rather than donating to other democrats he figures hes the best to beat trump. The math is simple. To win the senate, they have to make winning the senate a priority. Absent that, they can try to defeat the current majority leader and indeed, Mitch Mcconnell now has a challenger in the red state of kentucky. Hes being taken on by a marine, amy mcgrath. She announced today she intends to deny him a 7th term. Everything thats wrong in washington had to start someplace. How did it come to this . That even within our own families we cant talk to each other about the leaders of our country anymore without anger and blame . Well, it started with this man who was elected a lifetime ago, and who has bit by bit, year by year, turned washington into something we all despise. Back with us tonight to talk about all of it, robert costa, National Political reporter for the washington post, and anita kumar, associate editor at politico. Good evening to you both. Robert, what should we know about this challenge to Mitch Mcconnell . This challenge is the latest effort by National Democrats to really try to take the senate back in 2020. Theyve recruited ms. Mcgrath. They know republicans have some vulnerabilities but it cant just be a referendum on President Trump. My conversations with Top Democrats today say they also want to make it in 2020 a referendum on the majority leader. In a similar way to how the republicans targeted the House Speaker nancy pelosi in 2010 when they tried to recapture the house. Anita, how do the democrats avoid what well call the beto abram hopes and dreams what are red states and do you see the democrats as pushing more energy into this notion of picking up senate seats since its been argued half of the democratic field would make perhaps dandy candidates if they return to their home states . Theyre still pushing but youre right. This is a very uphill battle. Remember, this is a top tier candidate. A top tier recruit for the democrats. But remember, she lost last year in a house seat by several points on something that where other democrats in other states won. Clearly thats not the case. Whats happening there is divided government is standing in the way of President Trumps agenda and Mitch Mcconnell has been working hard to get that passed through. Robert costa, tell me about the democrats right now. A lot of people believe what theyre seeing, especially in the house is just stasis. I noticed this on social media today from baa carrie sellers. He wrote the fact we are not having daily wall to wall live hearings on impeachment is mind boggling. Now, we ran an item about subpoenas going out. But at the same time another battle taking up a lot of oxygen in our occupation is the speaker of the house battling freshman members of her own party who wont have skin in the game in terms of National Politics as she says it. Brian, when i spoke to confidants of tom steyer, the democratic donor over the weekend and asked why hes jumping into the president ial race, its because of the sentiment you outlined. He along with Many Democrats both in the congress and outside are frustrated by the pace of proceedings on capitol hill. They want to see a move to impeachment against President Trump. They also want to see the Leadership Back away in the house especially from dealing with President Trump. Even when it comes to trying to address the migrant detention centers, theres a small group within the house that wants to do almost nothing when it comes to the Trump Administration. Most democrats voted with Speaker Pelosi when it came to that house version of a border bill trying to work with her to get money to the children and families but some democrats like representative ocasiocortez say you have to take a hard line. Thats the tension. Not to oppose President Trump but how far to go in opposing him. Anita, no polite way to ask this. Does tom steyer have a snowballs chance in you know where . Its hard to see how. Not only is he coming out late. He missed the first debate. Its hard to see how he makes the second debate at this point, but really hes coming in as someone who has this populous message, but he doesnt have that background. Hes a billionaire. He is someone who cant really talk about income equality from his personal background. He doesnt have the generational he doesnt hes not younger as some of the people are looking for. Theres also no hes not a diverse candidate in a party now that seems to be looking for diversity both gender and racial. He has a lot of strikes against him. You saw some of the other Democratic Candidates kind of talking about how they are not looking favorably on a billionaire coming in whos going to spend a lot of his own money. Again, we have talked often about the democrats unique ability to eat their own young. And the question for some democrats now talking to National Strategists and leaders is whether some of the young you mention in the president ial race like beto oroarke, the former texas congressman, will they switch now to senate races in key states across the country . Would John Hickenlooper run against cory gardener. Most say its up of the most vulnerable republicans. Erik swell wall getting out of the race. This summer democrats say could be a reckoning for their party. Who is really going to run for senate and who is going to take the lead in the president ial race . Two great reporters who tonight leave us with Great Questions to ponder. Robert costa and anita kumar, thank you for coming on. Coming up donald trump continues to put the special in our special relationship with the uk. Sometimes things you have to say to your friends that youd rather not say like i said to President Trump because i thought his comments were theresa may for unacceptable and i dont think he should have made them. In the face of attacks on their Prime Minister and upon their ambassador to the u. S. By the president of the United States. Heres our president just today. The wacky ambassador that the uk foisted upon the United States is not someone we are thrilled with. A very stupid guy. Trump also again criticized the outgoing Prime Ministers handling of brexit writing, quote, i told theresa may how to do that deal but she went her own foolish way. Was unable to get it done. A disaster. I dont know the ambassador, but have been told he is a pompous fool. Bojo, Boris Johnson who like jeremy hunt wants to be britains next Prime Minister today would not rule out firing the uk ambassador to washington, stopped short of direct criticism of the american president for trashing his fellow brits. Dragged into a british political debate in a way he sometimes is, i dont think thats necessarily the right thing for him to do as jeremy has said. The president s anger toward the uk ambassador erupted after those confidential cables leaked on sunday portraying the Trump Administration as, quote, inept, clumsy and completely absorbed by infighting and chaos. Yesterday trump said the u. S. Will no longer deal with the ambassador. Today a state Department Spokesperson said the u. S. Will continue to deal with all accredited individuals who are here until further instructions arrive from the white house. As daily beast columnist wrote recently, quote, u. S. uk relationship status is complicated. And that man, in fact, is with us for more. Christopher dickie and the world based editor for the daily beast. Hes gotten up at 5 30 in the morning as the sun rises. And christopher, lets establish the uk is a mess. Lets establish weve never had an american president attack brits quite this way. How is this all being covered in europe . Well, i think people here in europe generally think that President Trump is a loose cannon. I dont think theyre terribly surprised. The french are kind of amused to see the british and american leaders going at each other this way, especially the commentaries by sir kim derek, the ambassador. Basically what the ambassador was saying in the cables is what everybody in europe believes, especially the people in the know who have had to deal with trump. The feeling is that trump is being trump, and hes nuts. And let me ask you about what may be the origins to use the word of the moment, of these leaked cables. The argument being made here is after awhile we will view brexit, perhaps, as early experimentation by the russians. We will view the trump campaign, perhaps, as early experimentation by the russians. Why isnt this why doesnt this bear their hallmark because theyre all about ill will between allies. It could be the russians. It could be the iranians. It could be the chinese. All of them have various reasons to try to make divisions among the allies. The daily mail which originally published the excerpts from the cables tried to imply that sir kim derek, the ambassador might have some way been behind the leaks. Clearly the problem here is the leak more than the substance because what we were saying. The substance is what Everybody Knows and a lot of people think about President Trump. Two men joined by boisterous hair, donald trump and Boris Johnson. Does the special relationship survive men like these . Well youre welcome know, Boris Johnson in addition to being wildly eccentric is an incredible hypocrite. In 2015 when trump was first running for president , and was talking about a muslim ban and also talking about what a terrible place london is, Boris Johnson, mayor of london said he was stupefyingly ignorant and completely incompetent and should never be president of the United States. Now boris is trumps buddy. This is the kind of hypocrisy we expect from trump and Boris Johnson. Christopher, cant thank you enough for getting up so early to talk to us about all these questions in your area of coverage over there. Thank you very much. Good to see you as always. Coming up for us, remembering a man who played a big part in creating the era we are living in today. When we come back. I was texas born and texas bred and when i die ill be texas dead. For the purposes of this conversation by that i mean back in the early to mid 90s, most people over the age of about six at least tried to do a ross perot immiation. He spoke with a. He was the model of a selfmade american man of his era. A billionaire who made a fortune in the Data Processing business. Eagle scout, annapolis grad. Navy veteran who never suffered a single moment of selfdoubt. He had more down home ek presentations than will rogers while channelling harry truman and harkening back to a simple ler time and a mightier country. And in 1992 when his first run for office, ross perot came out of nowhere and got 19 of the vote, and when clinton beat bush 41 that year republicans were convinced that perot had perot h that election to bill clinton by being in the race. Ross perot died today at the age of 89, and we have asked peter baker of the New York Times to rejoin us tonight because apparently as a child reporter he covered perot the president ial candidate back in the 90s. And peter, lets start there. Your memories of that campaign, and lets remember, 41 came into that campaign i think kind of expecting a coronation. He had, after all, just won the gulf war. Yeah. Its a great way to remember this. People forget that today. And i didnt actually cover this campaign but ive been reconstructing it lately as part of a book i ran on james baker the former secretary of state who ran president bushs campaign that year in 1992. And youre right, they remember perot very, very bitterly. They think perot took the numbers away from them. But the numbers dont really show it. If you look at the polling results he took a lot of votes away from bill clinton, a lot of votes away from george bush. He wasnt even in the race for several months at a time when george bush was still losing. But he shaped that race in a way. He helped channel this antiestablishment resentment that we saw manifest itself in a more fulsome way in 2016 back then in 1992. He represented this disenchantment with the twoparty system, the idea of sort of a populist billionaire was invented by ross perot, not by donald trump. And if there was a swamp to be drained, he was the one who said he wanted to do it in 1992. Now, thats where i was going to go. Can you draw a line between perot in that race to the era were living in considering one of his most famous quotes was the giant sucking sound as he put it of jobs going south to mexico and his intense criticism of nafta just for starters . Yeah, absolutely. You definitely can. Theres a direct line as you put it from 1992 to 2016. Now, these are two very different guys in a lot of ways. Texas and new york. Perot came out of nowhere. He built a life and a business for himself in a way that was very, you know, distinctive. He didnt practice the politics of division in quite the same way that President Trump does. He wasnt a foe of immigration in quite the same way. That President Trump is. But to the extent he represented something different, the idea that we were unhappy with the way the system worked, he in fact does sort of represent the beginning of a wave that crested about 20some years later. And he did it from outside of the system. He tried to do it as an independent. He got 19 of the vote, as you pointed out, but we learned the limits of being independent in a twoparty country. Donald trump learned from that. He ran for president first in 2000 on a reform party ticket. That was the party that ross perot left behind before he dropped out. But then he learned the lesson from that. Lessons you cant actually beat the system from outside. So he beat it from inside. What donald trump did was rather than trying to create a third party is he kind of took over one of the existing parties, in this case the republicans, and he used that to kind of, you know, overturn the existing order in washington. So yeah, there is a lot of similarities. You point out the protectionism issue, the idea of jobs being sucked to mexico as being one of the most prominent ones. The idea of reform. The idea that washington was broken and needed somebody to come in and be a bull in a china shop. He was a lot of things. He was a patriot first and foremost. He made a ton of money. He also gave away a ton of money, philanthropist, very charitable man. Peter baker, thank you very much for hanging around to talk about the passing today of h. Ross perot of texarkana, texas. We appreciate it. When we continue after one final break, our president says hes come up with a plan for managing our Natural World thats taking off like wildfire. [music playing] across the country, we walk. Carrying flowers that signify why we want to end alzheimers disease. But what if, one day, there was a white flower for alzheimers first survivor . What if there were millions of them . Join us for the Alzheimers Association walk to end alzheimers. Register today at alz. Org walk. Last thing before we go tonight is something we wanted to show you that our president said yesterday. He gave a speech at the white house on the environment. At one point he diverted from his text, as he is fond of doing, to mention last years fire season in california. As he did, he delivered a brief aside on the importance of keeping our forests clean, specifically making sure our rest floors are as clean as a whistle. I went to the fires in california, and i said its also management, its a lot of things happening, but its management. You cant have dirty floors. You cant have 20 years of leaves and fallen trees. After the first 17 months they say the tree is like a piece of tinder, you have to be very careful. So you cant have that. Thats why you have so many fires. And i will say this. I spoke with the governor of california, spoke with many people and the process of cleaning is now really taking precedent. A lot of people are looking at Forest Management. Its a word that people didnt understand last year, and now theyre getting it. And you dont have to have any forest fires. Its interesting. I spoke to certain countries and they said sir, were a forest nation. I never thought of a country wellknown countries. Were a forest nation. I never heard of the term forest nation. They live in forests. And they dont have problems. One was telling me that his trees are much more susceptible to fire than what they have in california but they dont have fires because they manage, they clean, they do what you have to do. Theres not so much to burn. And were going to start doing that. And its called remember, management. Its called Forest Management. So its a very important term. When i went to california, they sort of scoffed at me for the first two weeks. And maybe three weeks. And not so much four weeks. And after about five weeks they said you know, hes right. Hes right. So i think youre going to see a lot of good things. A its a lot of area, a lot of land. But a lot of tremendous things are happening. Theres a lot there. Our president on a system of Forest Management that he has apparently developed. Lessons learned from our neighbors, the wellknown forest nations that are apparently free of such fires. That is our broadcast for this evening. Thank you so much for being here with us. Good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. This morning, there are growing calls for labor secretary alex acosta to resign. Hes defending his role in securing a plea deal for wealthy sex offender Jeffrey Epstein more than a decade ago while Top Democrats demand that he step down. Plus, new reporting from nbc news. Details how Migrant Children held in a border station in yuma, arizona, not only told about the conditions but also Sexual Assault. And a federal