Page 23 - Leadoff Panel News Today

Leadoff panel on a busy wednesday night. phillfilphillip rucker, jill co white house reporter for the associated press. former u.s. attorney joyce vance and john heilemann, our msnbc analyst. what can you report about what may or may not happen on friday? >> you had sam giving interview after interview after interview where he was really just charging, threatening not to participate in any of the mueller subpoena requests, saying he wasnt going to show up on friday, threatening to arrest him if ...

Very embarrassed when it comes out. >> the white house, however, is dismissing nunbergs claims about any potential case against this president. >> i think he doesnt know that for sure because hes incorrect. as weve said many times before, there was no collusion with the trump campaign. anything further on what his actions are, he hasnt worked at the white house so i certainly cant speak to him or the lack of knowledge that he clearly has. >> and as the man says on tv but wait, theres more, as we...

Work took so long to come out. and by that i mean another journalist said on twitter tonight, this is proof these guys can keep a secret. your friend, colleague and co-author maggie haberman said tonight, this proves they were really good at lying to us for a long time. why did this particular story, do you think, take so long to get out? >> im not sure. there is a lot of things that went on inside of this white house that we still dont know about, but every day we go out and we try and figure o...

Allegations of collusion between the trump camp and russia were pouring in from independent sources during the campaign. yet lawmakers in the tlaul of the president continue to wage a cynical campaign to portray us as the unwitnessing victims of kremlin investigation. lets bring in our leadoff panel chief correspondent for "the new york times" peter baker. white house correspondent for the washington post phil ruck ker, "wall street journal" eli stokels and jeremy bash also doing double duty hes...

If he ultimately wanted to? >> he seems to have adopted an argument of supporters where as the head of the executive branch he can do whatever he would like in the executive branch and the department of justice in the executive branch and the fbi and if he wanted to end an investigation or begin an investigation he could do that as the president. that is a central argument towards sort of who he is in terms of mueller because mueller was looking at the question of cob instruction and whether the...

So amid that whole atmosphere, thats why you see this new clamor, an increased clamor on the right to fight against the fbi and the justice department and diminish their credibility. >> as we said, more news than we should have on a friday evening, but thanks to our leadoff panel, matthew nussbaum, nick akerrman, robert costa. very much appreciate it. we learned a lot. coming up after our first break, president trump signs the tax bill, heads to florida for 11 days at mar-a-lago. notably, his ...

Department. because so many people within the west wing, they tell me privately that if he doesnt get the letter, that exoneration letter that hes been hoping for, the president could erupt. he has a lot of echoes now on capitol hill, among republicans on the right-wing of the republican party, on some conservative news outlets, who are saying, if you go after the fbi or shake up the justice department, well stick with you and well fight that fight in 2018. because theyre already being told, and...

>> certainly a possibility that the president decides to make changes at the justice department. because so many people within the west wing, they tell me privately that if he doesnt get the letter, that exoneration letter that hes been hoping for, the president could erupt. he has a lot of echoes now on capitol hill, among republicans on the right wing of the republican party, on some conservative news outlets, who are saying, if you go after the fbi or shake up the justice department, well sti...

But thanks to our leadoff panel, matthew, nick, and robert. very much appreciate it. we learned a lot. coming up after our first break, president trump signs the tax bill, heads to florida for 11 days at mar-a-lago. notably, his tenth visit as president. but in that city he left behind, back in washington, the city that does, in fact, eat its own young, there are warning signs. robert just talked about them. well get to more of those when we continue.

The west wing, they tell me privately that if he doesnt get the letter, that exoneration letter that hes been hoping for, the president could erupt. he has a lot of echoes now on capitol hill, among republicans on the right-wing of the republican party, on some conservative news outlets, who are saying, if you go after the fbi or shake up the justice department, well stick with you and well fight that fight in 2018. because theyre already being told, and the president was briefed on this, this w...