Administration. That leaves 265 days to go until the 2020 president ial election. It has been exactly one week since the u. S. Senate voted not guilty. After warnings of a Retribution Campaign by the president the president seems to be in the middle of a campaign of retribution. It started with the removal of Lieutenant Colonel vindman and vindmans twin brother and the ambassador to the eu gordon sondland. Then when the feds at the Justice Department announced their intention to pursue a federal prison sentence of seven to nine years for trumping friend of 30 years roger stone, in keeping with federal sentencing guidelines, trump put this out to his 72 million and change twitter followers. A horrible and very unfair situation and a miscarriage of justice. The Justice Department then overruled the recommended sentence, which then led all four of the federal prosecutors on the case to withdraw themselves in protest. The president said with a straight face he didnt get involved and then added this today for good measure. Congratulations to attorney general bill barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not even have been brought. Evidence now clearly shows that the mueller scam was improperly brought and tainted. Even bob mueller lied to congress. A fact check here. Theres no evidence bob mueller lied to congress, nor has anyone ever accused him of lying to congress. Another fact, roger stone is a convicted felon, convicted at trial of lying to congress, witness tampering and obstruction of justice. This afternoon trump had much more to say about his friend roger stone and denied that his actions could be considered political interference. They treated roger stone very badly. Are you considering a pardon i dont want to say that yet. I want to thank the Justice Department for seeing this horrible thing and i didnt speak to them, by the way. Just so you understand. Nine years in jail. Its a disgrace. In the meantime, comey walks around making book deals. Are you concerned im not concerned about anything. They ought to go back to school and learn because ill tell you with the way they treated people nobody should be treated. Meanwhile, the attorney general barr has accepted an invitation from the House Judiciary Committee under mr. Nadler to testify on march 31st. Mac your calendars. In this news cycpsyccycle that equivalent of a decade from now. Federal judge Amy Berman Jackson whos presiding over the case has also drawn trumps attention prompting him to ask is this the judge that put Paul Manafort in solitary confinement something not even mobster al capone had to endure . For the record, she did not. More on that later. A new court filing today reveals judge jackson has denied stones request for a new trial. Shes scheduled to sentence him a week from tomorrow, february 20. And there is more to the controversy. Jessie liu, the Justice Department official handling the stone prosecution as well as other highprofile mueller inquiry cases, has now apparently been knocked down as well. Today the white house confirmed it has withdrawn her nomination for an undersecretary post over at the Treasury Department. Shed been awaiting her Senate Confirmation hearing but had already stepped down from her post, heading up the u. S. Attorneys office there in washington. Outraged democrats are now demanding the doj internal watchdog step in. I am calling on the office of Inspector General, michael horowitz, to conduct an immediate intensive investigation because this kind of political interference is exactly the abuse of power, the dictatorial interference, that we all ought to resist on both sides of the aisle. Some republicans are expressing concern about trumps actions regarding roger stone yet are stopping short of doing anything else. Just bad. Other republicans were more careful to avoid any criticism of this president. Ive got real concerns about overzealous prosecution, more than anything else. I want mr. Stone to be treated fairly. The president is entitled to his opinion, and there would have been nothing wrong with the president picking up the phone, as i understand it, and talking to justice. As all of this was unfolding the president was asked in the oval office what the experience of his senate trial and the charges he once faced had taught him. What lesson did you learn from impeachment . That the democrats are crooked. Theyre vicious. That they shouldnt have brought impeachment. Here for our leadoff discussion on a wednesday night, ashley parker, pulitzer prizewinning White House Reporter for the washington post. Katie benner, Justice Department reporter for the New York Times. Paul butler, a former federal corruption prosecutor at the department of justice, currently a professor at georgetown law. Katie benner, here is your headline this evening at the New York Times. After stone case, prosecutors say they fear pressure from trump. Katie, can you please sum up for us your reporting thus far on the concussion from this inside doj . Sure. It feels like the Justice Department had a slight reprieve in the wake of the mueller report, in the wake of the special counsels office, that they wouldnt be attacked daily by the president. And now instead we have a situation where the president is coopting the attorney general. Hes saying on twitter essentially that a. G. Barr has done his bidding. So even if you believe that the Justice Department made this decision to change the sentence for stone without the president s interference, it is very difficult to believe it because of the way that bill barr is being treated by the president in public. Also for people inside of the department, for prosecutors, they had avoided a lot of the politicization of the department. They werent arguing cases for the white house in court. They werent working in the civil rights division. They were just bringing regular cases forward. And now theres a fear that if they work on something that could catch the president s eye that it will be a problem for them in the future. And then lastly, there is a growing sense that maybe the attorney general, who many people in the department have long respected, might not have their backs. And were seeing this in two ways. After the president said this about bob mueller, said that he was guilty of a chargeable offense, nobody from the department came out to defend him against that claim or to push back on the president. And then weve seen jessie liu, the former u. S. Attorney in washington, d. C. , essentially have another job taken away from her very mysteriously. We have reporting that when she was told her nomination would be pulled she was unable to get a straight answer as to why. And theres a sense, an unease that because she might not have acted in a way that trump liked while she was the u. S. Attorney in d. C. That this is a punishment. Paul butler, for simplicity, for us lay folks, lets agree to the following terms. There is main justice in washington, d. C. And there are u. S. Attorneys all over the country. We talk about the Southern District of new york. Its really the Justice Departments manhattan office. Lets call those Justice Department field offices. Theres also one in d. C. The u. S. Attorney for the district of columbia. But it nonetheless is a field office. There has always and often been tension between field offices and the home office, main justice. Had you ever imagined anything like this, paul . This is unprecedented. Its not unusual for there to be conflicts between u. S. Attorneys offices and main justice about important issues like how much time a defendant ge gets. But those are resolved behind closed doors. Brian, it sounds corny, but when career Prosecutors Join the department its because they want to do Justice Without fear or favor. They dont sign up to bring political prosecutions to help the president s friends and to punish his enemies. And so when these four prosecutors resigned they sent a very loud message. Theyre not allowed to hold press conferences or go on tv. The clear message from their stepping down is that the Justice Department is on life support. Ashley parker, you and i are both old enough to remember one week ago today, the not guilty vote. Think of it. We have seen two vindmans and a sondland go right away. And now this. And weve barely had a chance to reflect on the fact that the president was impeached. Thats exactly right, brian. And i think its always worth pausing to remember that. The reporting is accurate. And you can see it in the president s behavior. He feels vindicated. Hes told associates that he is emboldened, he is unleashed, he is furious, but he is also impeached. And yes, he was acquitted. And yes, very few republicans were willing or able to challenge him in any meaningful way including even calling for more witnesses. But to see the president behaving like this obscures the fact again that he became one of just three president s in history to be impeached. And if you step back and you take the 30,000foot view, his behavior doesnt necessarily match the moment. You might expect him to be a bit more chastened. But thats just not the case with him. Katie benner, this might put you on some shaky ground, but give it a try. How has bill barr changed . He was at the dead center of the establishment republican legal circles in washington, d. C. I dont think anyone would debate that. And here is the attorney general we have to consider today. I recently had someone who has known him for decades describe him as something akin to a nihili nihilist, that they dont recognize this attorney general barr. Well, i think there is a debate about whether or not bill barr has fundamentally changed or whether or not the world that he knew as attorney general under the Bush Administration has changed so much around him hes not able to keep up. I dont know that im going to say that ill weigh in. I will just say that in our story we note that when he was working on an oral history of the department and interviewed for it in early 2000s he talked about the independence that the Justice Department traditionally had from the white house. He said that under bush it was almost maybe too independent, people were too deferential to the Justice Department. But what he doesnt say is that he thinks that that is wrong. And now were in a position today where were seeing that completely obliterated. So you do have to wonder how hes going to ultimately respond, especially as ashley notes the president field feels vindicated and he feels empowered to use the Justice Department as a cudgel. So if hes pushing the Justice Department in the future to bring cases where no case exists, that is going to be a huge, huge challenge for the attorney general. Artfully done as always. Hey, paul, lets pick up on your last point in your last answer. Our friend and colleague Nicolle Wallace always says Pay Attention to the 911 calls coming from inside the house. You mentioned these four federal prosecutors are not people who can just call around to reporters or lord knows call a press conference. But there seems to be shouting going on from inside the institution, a. And b, do you want to hazard a guess as to recourse, what good people who are bothered by this can do about it . You know, there are some remedies. The Inspector General of the department of justice can launch an investigation. Congress can also subpoena barr and others and find out what their real deal is. Of course, the last time that congress subpoenaed the attorney general he didnt bother to show up and was held in contempt of court. So the concern here is that its easy to have outrage fatigue. Its only been a week and every day theres something new. Its clearly payback time for trump. But brian, this is how the rule of law is eroded. This is how democracy dies. On those words, ashley parker, i want to play for you a collection of some of the times and some of the ways the president has been seen in the view of the left, in the view of the establishment, working the refs. And its been odd for those of us to get used to the wording coming from our president but arguing in some cases against the home team. Well discuss on the other side. I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys. Its frankly a real disgrace. How about with manafort . They raid his home at like 5 00 in the morning i think on a weekend and his wife is in bed and they go in with guns . This isnt al capone. I think its very tough what they did to roger stone. Compared to what they do to other people on their he got hi general flynn and as did a lot of other people. He does enjoy al capone references. Ashley, are there any traditionalists left on the inside . And absent that, can everyone left on the inside fairly be called an enabler . Well, first i just want to address, you said the president often will go against the home team. I think the issue is he has a different view of who the home team is. His team, home team, is people who are loyal to him, people who are fixers for him, people who serve his needs and his whims. So that explains why youll often see him going against his own intelligence community, his own Justice Department. As for people on the inside, its been striking to me. Early on in the administration we would have had days not quite like this but like this, quite similar. And you would talk to people in the white house and privately they would say, you know, gosh, this is really a disaster or i dont understand why he did this, were going to have to scramble to clean it up. But in calling around today to ask about this purge, while whe us even privately theres not a sense of catastrophe inside. Its a pretty almost gleeful in some cases sense that this is the president s right, hes doing what he wants to do, he is emboldened and unleashed and they are happy to support him in this effort. Could not have asked for three better guests to start off our discussion tonight. Ashley parker, katie benner, paul butler, our thanks for coming on and helping us out. Coming up for us here tonight, well talk to the former lead prosecutor on the mueller team about bill barrs latest move and why more and more he appears to be the president s personal attorney general. And later the democratic frontrunner sure is making moderates in the party nervous. Oh, theres a whole lot of political news to talk about tonight. Were just Getting Started on this wednesday evening with abe lincoln in the background. Olinn. howling wind my body is truly powerful. I have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. Because i can still make my own insulin. And trulicity activates my body to release it like its supposed to. Trulicity is for people with type 2 diabetes. Its not insulin. I take it once a week. It starts acting in my body from the first dose. Trulicity isnt for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Dont take trulicity if youre allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, or severe stomach pain. Serious side effects may include pancreatitis. 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One that saves you money by letting you design your own data giving you more choice and control compared to other top wireless carriers. Now you can choose unlimited, shared data, or mix lines of each and switch any line, anytime. No one else lets you do that. Design your own data with Xfinity Mobile. Its wireless reimagined. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Attorney general barr named former federal prosecutor timothy shea as the interim u. S. Attorney for washington, d. C. Two weeks ago. The New York Times described shea as a longtimeru former senior counselor to him. Shea now gets to oversee the largest u. S. Attorneys office in the country. Again, while technically a field office of d. O. J. , it happens to have jurisdiction over washington, d. C. And as a former doj spokesman, matt miller, pointed out for us today, that office happens to be handling several cases of keen interest to this president. Its not just the stone case. Theres also the mike flynn case where that office recently changed its recommendation from jail time to saying that probation would be appropriate. Theyre handling a leak investigation into jim comey that pears to be baappears to b very thin predicate. Theyre handling the andy mccabe case where it appears theyd gone to the grand jury and the grand jury declined to indict. On every other case you would see the department decline to move forward and clear andy mccabe. They havent done nap theyre handling the case of erik prince who has been referred to the Intelligence Committee for lying to congress. Erik prince is a close ally the president. Back with us today were happy to be able to talk to Andrew Weissmann former lead prosecutor during the russia investigation working under special counsel omueller. He is these days a distinguished fellow under the nyu school of law in new york. And counselor, first of all you worked for the mueller effort. The stone effort was a subset of that. Let me start by asking you what cant you talk about because of your previous work . So i can talk about whats happened in the last few weeks, which is i think of interest to everyone. I cannot talk about what happened during the special counsels office on the stone case or any other case that we were handling. Lets start there. The departure of these four, their withdrawal from the case. How does it hit you . What does it mean inside doj . To the four people i think i would add to that the replacement of jessie liu as well. I want to get into that. You mentioned that. And that is also extremely rare. So just to take that first, there is nothing wrong with the president replacing a u. S. Attorney. In fact, its their right. Absolutely. The issue is how its done and why its done. So with jessie liu, she was nominated to a position in the Treasury Department and then unceremoniously with no notice was told thank you so much for your service, heres your desk at doj, im replacing you with a flunky for the department of justice who works for the attorney general. That does not happen. No one i know has ever heard that as ever having that happen. If thats not illegal the question i would have is why . Why would you just unceremonious ly do that . Then you look at whats happened. You have the flynn case, where you have the department exactlit same thing that happened in the stone case, which is reversing their position. They first file a position and then ten days later they say oh, no, we didnt mean, it its goinbe lower. Which is itself very unusual. And then the same sort of thing happens in this case where you have the department filing presumably with a lot of notice and oversight a submission that actually does what i think the public would want. The submission followed the facts and the law. And then one day later you say no, we didnt mean it. And it just so happens the people youre dealing with are part of the trump administration. And you have the department saying there need to be lower sentences. It raises so many red flags about the rule of law. There is i know a different philosop philosophy, rather than resigning people of integrity are more valuable staying on the inside. But we cant speak for the working conditions and the Mental Health of other people. So my heart goes out to the people of the department of justice. There are so many career people. I worked in the department for 21 years. It is heartbreaking to people in the department of justice and in the government generally to see whats going on. You saw some of this just in the impeachment hearing with people in the state department talking about what they were seeing and youre seeing it now in the department of justice. I think theres no way to criticize people who decide, you know, its better for me to be here because if everybody left who was who thought they were going to be apolitical and do the right thing the department would be devoid of those people. I mean, you really dont want that in terms of whats in the public interest. I think it took an incredible amount of gumption and grit and backbone for the four prosecutors admittedly, i know three of them very well and theyre incredible people, and i think they didnt ask tore put in this position. And the facts and circumstances found them. And i think they rose to the occasion. We always try to point out, all of them could make a fortune in private practice. They made a positive choice to work for the federal government. And just as a term of art help me out. The president keeps talking about solitary confinement, comparing it to al capone. I was led to believe that in cases like manafort your counsel can request a segregated confinement, protective custody to keep you away from the other population. Are they synonymous . Everything about that story with the president saying he was in solitary is false. And this is something that both judge ellis in virginia and judge jackson in d. C. Have dealt with. Just to be clear what the facts are, one, judges do not place people in solitary or not. Where people get placed and how theyre housed is done by the warden of the prison. Mr. Manafort was housed in a socalled michael vick suite. He did not wear prison clothes. He was caught on tape saying im being treated like a vip. He had internet access. He had a private room, private library with a laptop and a huge extension cord so he could bring it anywhere he wanted. So thats his solitary. So this is a really madeup story. Not exactly john mccains accommodations for six years in north vietnam. Exactly. Thank you for joining us and clearing up some of this with a view from the inside. Andrew weissmann our guest tonight. Coming up, to president ial politics we turn. And now for the democrats it sure gets interesting. Interesti. Im bad. Youre stronger than you know. So strong. You power through chronic migraine, 15 or more headache or migraine days a month. One tough mother. Youre bad enough for botox®. Botox® has been preventing headaches and migraines before they even start for almost 10 years, and is the 1 prescribed branded chronic migraine treatment. Botox® is for adults with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more. Effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a lifethreatening condition. 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Sanders is already on media tonight saying he won the popular vote in both places. Yet mayor pete has won more delegates. Two candidates representing two very different wings of the Democratic Party. And if anything, klobuchars strong showing last night and bidens fall way out of the money have further confused this race heading specifically into these next two states. Tthe New York Times is reporting tonight within the democratic establishment the results have deepened a mood of anxiety and frustration. Back with us tonight, two exhausted journalists. John heilemann, National Affairs analyst, cohost of the circus on showtime, editor in chief of the recount. And maura gay, a former new York City Bureau chief at the wall street journal, these days a member of the New York Times editorial board. Mara, to you first. Bernie, pete, klobuchar, what just happened . You know, i think that much like the New York Times editorial board, voters are split on who they should choose. Artfully done. No, i think its true. Listen, theres so much anxiety among democrats right now because they just dont know who the right person is to go up against donald trump and they are desperate to beat donald trump. And theres a lot of gamemanship being played. Will people vote for a woman . Will people vote for a socialist . Nobody really knows the answer. I do think that its notable that if you were to add up the votes for, say, Pete Buttigieg and amy klobuchar, the moderates actually are looking quite strong in that sense, but their votes are divided. And then you have kind of the sanders train that is just barreling full speed ahead. And then you have other folks looking at that who are looking at Michael Bloomberg as kind of a third way. And so the one thing i would say is that it really is early and i would just say lets wait until nevada, untiluntil these largert a sense for what the democratic voters actually want. It is still extremely early. These states are not theyre not representative of the party at large. So i dont think its time to panic yet if youre a democrat. I would only urge people to go to the web and read about the process in nevada for their caucus. Good luck with that. Thats going to be fun. John, im going to play for you James Carville, who is having a moment for sure, selfdescribed old warrior at age 75. This is James Carville on monday, and then we have a counter to this. Theyre looking for somebody that can come in and not just excite them but talk about things that really matter to them in everyday life. Theyre not interested in socialism and a revolution and all that foolishness you hear. Theres a certain part of the Democratic Party that wants us to be a cult. Im not interested in being in a cult. Look, james, in all due respect, is a political hack who said very terrible things when he was working for clinton against barack obama. I think he said some of the same things. Look, we are taking on the establishment. This is no secret to anybody. This segment brought to you by meow mix. Whats going on here . Is it symptomatic . . Bri. Brianw all due respect, youre a dogfaced pony soldier. Thank you. Youre welcome. Whats going on with those two . Mara just pointed out that the moderate center left part of the party is larger than the progressive part of the party. Its manifestly true. Senator sanders is in some sense afraid. Hes obviously in some worlds, hes maybe the frontrunner. I think theyre cofrontrunners. I continue to understand the way you that get nominated in the Democratic Party is to accumulate delegates and ultimatelit person who gets to 1991 is the nominee. So weve awarded 1. 6 thus far. Its small, but at this moment today Pete Buttigieg has more delegates than Bernie Sanders. Bernie sanders has won more votes. So lets call them cofrontrunners. But its true the moderate wing is bigger, numerically bigger. James is the voice of that wing of the party at this moment. Its funny to think of that because of course there was a time we thought of james as being a liberal populist. Now he is the one whos looking at a lot of the field, the chaos in the field, as you said back after the caucuses, that the combination of what it looked like in iowa and the kind of calamity of that plus this the things of socialism and what he thinks of as purity tests, theres a lot of people in the Democratic Party that are nervous right now about the whole state of things, about the fact the party might be able to blow away a winnable election with existential consequences and stakes. And then theres a lot of them who just look at Bernie Sanders and say the way were going to blow this is by nominating a socialist. I take no sides in this battle. But thats what james the visceral thing james is touching on, is that panic, that in the moderate part of the party and certainly in the establishment and elite part of the party what they are seeing when they think if this moderate wing continues to split its votes Going Forward who does that favor . It favors Bernie Sanders. It did last night in New Hampshire. Had the moderates coalesced around klobuchar or buttigieg, bernie would have lost that race. That pattern could continue deep into the winter and the spring, and that would be problematic from the point of view of those who think that social vism is a death knell for the party. Weve asked both our guests to stay with us and they will. We are confident. Over this break. And coming up the president who hasnt been seen on the trail that much. We sure have heard from him a lot lately. Whatd we decide on the flyers again . Uh, fifteen minutes could save you 15 or more on car insurance. I think were gonna swap over to over seventyfive years of savings and service. What, were just gonna swap over . Yep. Pump the breaks on this, swap it over to that. Pump the breaks, and, uh, swap over . Thats right. Instead of all this that ive already . Yeah. What are we gonna do with these . Keep it at your desk, and save it for next time. Geico. Over 75 years of savings and service. Wherever we want to go, we just have to start. Autosave your way there with chase. Chase. Make more of whats yours. Mr. Mayor, why did you say what you said in that 2015 speech . I dont think those words reflect what how i led the most diverse city in the nation. And i apologized for the practice and the pain that it caused. But why did you say it . It was five years ago. And you know, its just not the way that i think and its not the way it doesnt reflect what i do every day. Michael bloomberg has picked up three new endorsements from members of the congressional black caucus. Thats despite that recording that weve been talking about from 2015 thats getting a lot of attention these days where bloomberg promotes the stop and frisk policy. And along with that there is this quick reminder of what our current president said about stop and frisk back in 2016. I would do stop and frisk. I think you have to. We did it in new york. It worked incredibly well. And you have to be proactive. And you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically. Back with us, still with us, John Heilemann, mara gay. Mara gay, on top of this there is new scrutiny on predatory lending where bloomberg is concerned. Because you have spoken at this desk with such awareness and passion about Mike Bloomberg, who he is, his past, what his future may be. When you throw all of this in the hopper, what do you get as of right now tonight . I think that Michael Bloomberg has an opportunity to go beyond apologizing and show that he understands the deep pain and trauma that this practice caused his city and the deep concern that many not just black americans but other americans of goodwill understandably have about his role in this policy. Lets be clear. From 2002 until 2013 when he left office, a dozen years, more than 5 million new yorkers were stopped and what we call tossed on the street. People going to school, going to work, young almost exclusively i should say over 80 men of color i was going to say most of them didnt look like me. Yeah, mostly black and hispanic teenagers. There are only 8. 5 Million People in new york city. There were people being stopped again and again. Almost 90 of those stopped were completely innocent, there were never any charges filed. This caused great trauma. There were children who grew up being essentially tossed as we called, it thrown up against the wall by Police Officers on their way to school and their daily lives. So i think the mayor has apologized. There has to be room in america and in american politics for people to change their minds, for people to evolve, for people to show that they can turn around and do the right thing. But the mayor needs to take this moment to truly humble himself. He apologized once. He needs to show that he really understands the trauma this caused and what that means about the role of institutional racism in the United States and his role in it. And he has an opportunity to really turn that around here. I think that black voters when you if you look at the polls can give him the opportunity. Its not enough to say lets move on. He should confront it directly and every chance he gets he should explain that hes somebody who understands what he did and who can really make this right. Take 60 seconds, john, same question. I think that everything mara said makes is right. And i think its not just the right thing for him to do but its a political necessity. Among africanamerican voters in this country there is no more pragmatic and more hardheaded cleareyed and sophisticated voting constituency in addition to being the most important to winning the democratic nomination. They are focused in a laserlike way on beating donald trump, who they regard as an existential threat to their way of life. Theyre willing to forgive a lot of sins if they think you are the person who can beat donald trump, including stop and frisk, including these tapes. If they think youre the person who can beat donald trump and if you can meet the bar that mastera just set out which is to say really address it. What you saw there with Mike Bloomberg is the thing that all of us looking at these polls, looking at the money, looking at the potential that he could be the one who everyone looks up and says just on those bases alone i want the guy who can spend double the amount donald trump spends, thats the guy who might be able to beat him, that performance right there was not the performance of a toplevel president ial candidate. And that is what is the other scenario, the scenario that after all these ads and all that money hes going to be the wizard of oz, the guy who stands up and everybodys going to say thats the guy . And thats the down side surprise scenario for bloomberg where people look at him on the debate stage next week and say, really . He has to learn a new trick, which is humility. Really interesting answers from our two friends. Our thanks to John Heilemann and mara gay. Coming up, our next guest says the guide to understanding the import of this week right now might be what happened in the autumn of 73. I dont add up the years. And i dont count the wrinkles. But what i do count on is boost high protein. And now, introducing new boost women. With key nutrients to help support thyroid, bone, hair and skin health. All with great taste. New, boost women. Designed just for you. New, boost women. This is a razor that works differently. The gillette skinguard, designed with a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. It guards against razor burn on the neck and irritation on the face. Get the shave youve been waiting for. The gillette skinguard. [ fastpaced drumming ] thats a Stunning Development and nothing even remotely like it has happened in all of our history. All of this adds up to a totally unprecedented situation, a grave and profound crisis in which the president has set himself against his own attorney general and the department of justice. Nothing like this has ever happened before. And what it means is that the worst dreams of everyone who is worried about the president s secret tapes have now become true, become reality. John chancellor came up with the original wording of nothing like this has ever happened before. Were still on his coattails using that same worked just about every night. Therefore echoes of that dramatic event in political history known as the saturday night massacre in whats going on right now. October 73 nixon ordered the firing of Watergate Special prosecutor archibald cox. That led to the resignations of a. G. Elliott richardson and deputy a. G. Bill ruck lzhouse, both of whom refused to carry out the order. Abc news correspondent duc hiker was there when richardson explained his decision. When richardson walked out to meet the press at the Justice Departments main hall he received an emotional prolonged ovation from hundreds of the Public Employees who attended in a display of personal loyalty to him. At stake in the final analysis is the very integrity of the government processes. I came to the department of justice to help restore. My own single most important commitment to this objective was my commitment to the independence of the special prosecution. I could not be faithful to this commitment and also acquiesce in the curtailment of his authority. Of course theyre all gone now but their stories thankfully live on. And with us tonight is mr. John a. Farrell. Hes a veteran journalist, author, contributor these days to politico magazine, happens to be the biographer of Clarence Darrow and tip oneill. But most importantly right now is his book Richard Nixon this a life. Which was a finalist for the pulitzer prize. And full disclosure, weve known each other for about 25 years. 25 years. I counted it up. Its just about 25 years. Its great to see you. Thank you for having me on. Was it as dangerous in real time for republicans to stand up in dick nixon as it is proving for people to stand up to this guy . The huge difference then was that republican senators had cojones. There is a memo floating around from right after the saturday night massacre written by john tower the head. Republican policy committee. From texas. Its a of bullets going to the white house saying the president has to make full disclosure. He has to hand over everything thats not National Security regarding watergate to the watergate committee. Were coming up there and were going to explain the facts of life to him. Unless he does this hes going to be impeached. So at that time you had a vastly, vastly Different Senate with Office Holders who prized the job. They saw honor in it. And the current crop in the senate is much more partisan an to be our age to know about or really well read. You must have been a toddler. Yeah. I listened a lot. Enemies lists and retribution. How much of this is a direct echo, do you think . Well, one of the more interesting things is that two of Donald Trumps advisers over the years, roger stone and roy cohn, were also close intimates of Richard Nixon. And if you go back in time and you trace the politics of division and the politics of res enltment you find it coming in the years right after world war ii. And nixon was the john the baptist. He was the voice in the welderness who said this is the way for republicans to break up the new Deal Coalition and claim power. He was very skillful at it. And he decided that there were votes to be got by turning americans against americans. Its a really awful thing if you examine it with a little bit of distance from what weve sort of the excuses we made for our politics. But basically this politics of division and resentment is based on polarization, is based on making me your enemy. And it wasnt until nixons are yooind that he finally had this saul on the road to damascus moment. And he made that wonderful speech as he left the white house saying others may hate you but they only win if you hate them and then you destroy yourself. Those are the words from Richard Nixon we should be remembering now. I was just saying having read all your books your book on tip oneill is here in my office in new york. What are tips lessons that he could give to either pelosi or trump . I think she pretty much followed the democrats game plan. If you you remember last this time last year she was the one saying no, were not going to do impeachment. She had to be she made the impression that she was being dragged kicking and screaming by her caucus. Into the whole thing by her caucus and that it wasnt until the famous phone call came out that she finally like threw up her hands and said okay, now we have to do this. And that was basically tip oneills strategy and philosophy. Its not written in the constitution that it has to be bipartisan but the reality of the numbers in the senate are such that any successful impeachment has to have a bipartisan component. In this case the democrats, and you have to admire them, i think they saw it much more as a matter of conscience because there wasnt a clear win in it for them. It was a roll of the dice. They knew they were going to lose in the senate all along. We in the media probably hyped their chances on getting a couple of votes in the senate all along just to make it more interesting for our viewers and readers. But you know, with the exception of mitt romney there wasnt anybody like ruck eleshouse or richardson. We traveled by plane and train and bused many miles together. Great to see you. John a. Farrell our special guest to round things off tonight. Coming up among the departures from the democratic race last night, one of them left a very unique mark on this race. Ark one sensei beautiful. But support the leg when i started cobra kai, the lack of control over my business made me a little intense. But now i practice a different philosophy. Quickbooks helps me get paid, manage cash flow, and run payroll. And now im back on top. With koala kai. Hey more mercy. vo save over 40 hours a month with intuit quickbooks. The easy way to a happier business. They can save you these. In fact, if you had a dollar for every time they said it, youd have a lot of dollars. Which makes it hard to believe, especially coming from a talking lizard. Pip, pip, cheerio look, all i, dennis quaid, know is that esurance is built to save you dollars without skimping on service. And when they save, you save. The only way to know how much is to get a quote. 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Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, belly pain, and decreased appetite, which lead to dehydration and may worsen kidney problems. I have it within me to lower my a1c. Ask your doctor about trulicity. Dont you forget about me dont, dont, dont dont you last thing before we go tonight, honest answer. How many of us would have the guts to get up there and do that as he did sober . For that matter, how many of us would have the guts to run for president , sober or not . Andrew yang went on to sing when doves cry at that fundraising event with a backup ban of all autistic musicians, the dream achievers. Yang and his wife evelyn are parents of an autistic son of their own. Evelyn yang left mer own maher n the campaign with the admirers she won on the trail and with her brave and personal story about Sexual Assault at the hands of her own doctor. And despite the intensely loyal yang gang the numbers werent there for the math enthusiast for the first two states, and so last night yang got out of the race. Hes not the only candidate to have left the race in the last 24 hours or for that matter in the last four months. Last night New Hampshire also killed off the campaigns of michael bennet, deval patrick. Now they join, are you ready, booker, bullock, castro, de blasio, delaney, gillibrand, harris, hickenlooper, inslee, orourke, swalwell and williamson. But as the Bloomberg Campaign of all places took time to note today, yang left behind more than his share of memorable moments. My first move was not to run for president of the United States. Because i am not insane. [ crowd chanting andrew yang ] chant my name chant my name this will be very fun. Yes. This is going to be so mindbending. Its both an honor and disappointment to be a lone candidate of color on the stage tonight. I miskamala. I miss cory. Though i think cory will be back. [ cheers and applause ] im so excited i want to give every american 1,000 a month. While we did not win this election, we are just Getting Started so yang is out of this race. But last night said hed run again, instantly fueling speculation that that run would be for mayor of the city of new york. On that though the that is our broadcast for this postNew Hampshire wednesday night. Abraham lincolns 211th birthday. Thank you for being here with us. Good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Just a couple of days after the 2016 u. S. President ial election a journalist, a russianamerican journalist named masha gessen, published what was basically an alternate concession speech for hillary clinton. Masha gessen said on Election Night that same week, in november 2016, when it became clear in the wee hours of the morning on Election Night, that donald trump was going to win the presidency gessen argued that clinton instead of giving the speech that she gave she could, she perhaps should have just said