We run everything straight by the book. Not sure what book hes talking about but not much book on governance that seems to be going on in this white house or anything this anonymous official describes. The president is said to be volcanic about it and said nothing this afternoon going to a trip to montana where he will be speaking tonight and Sarah Sanders spoke about this gutless loser and the times for being deceitful of this act and tweeted the times phone number. Sarah sanders called on him or her to come forward and resign. No takers so far. These are all the Senior Administration officials up to and including the Vice President who have denied writing the piece. Secretary mattis, and pompeo and dan coats and more than two dozen top officials in all, one exception Chief Of Staff john
tweet asking whether or not the journalists of the New York Times are going to investigate themselves and reveal who this anonymous source is. I can tell you talking to sources close to this white house, there is a hunt, there is a search going on inside this administration, not only conducted by white house officials but allies of this white house want to know who anonymous is. How much weight is the white house taking these. You say theyre printing them out and basically showing them to him. Reporter my understanding is that, yes, he is, remember, this is a president who likes to have Cabinet Meetings where he goes around the room and Cabinet Officials and secretaries praise him for the work hes doing. This is very much in line and character with that. I will tell you, anderson, talking to sources close to this white house, i talked to one source earlier today raising questions about the strength of some of these statements coming from some of these Cabinet Officials. I think there is, in sort of the
president , and unindicted coconspirator. Never before has the president been an unindicted coconspirator under these circumstances in fact nominating a justice to the Supreme Court, who may sit on his case, and give him a pass if he is an indicted coconspirator or otherwise subject to judicial process like a subpoena to testify before the grand jury. Whatever the effect on the base,it may simply further divide the country if this official fails to come forward and give more facts, not just the rhetoric, a lot of it that we see in this oped. Mark meadows, republican congressman, obviously a key ally of the president are looking into whether this is something they could investigate. Should it be investigated with congressional resources . There is a need for congress to investigate much more aggressively so much of the law breaking and wrongdoing, the
the Vice President or others in the administration. Cory booker asked judge kavanaugh at the hearings youre a big part of if he would recuse himself from issues involving the president. Is that something you think he should actually do. My sense is you do think that and if you do, why should he . Isnt every judicial nominee is nominated by the president and theyre not asked to recuse themselves from something about the person that nominated them. I asked Brett Kavanaugh very directly yesterday afternoon whether he would recuse himself. I believe very strongly that he must do so. He must commit in this Confirmation Hearing that he would take himself out of any consideration of any issue involving the president s personal criminal or civil liability. Remember, that i and 199 of my colleagues in a lawsuit ive led have sued the president of the United States for his violation
of the emoluments cause, the chief anticorruption of the constitution and that will reach the Supreme Court and the president is an unindicted coconspirator. The likelihood is as we stand here now, that the president could well be an indicted coconspirator. Not just an unindicted coconspirator, or that he could be subpoenaed to testify and resist it or to testify in a criminal proceeding against one of his friends or cronies or officials in his government. Youre saying kavanaugh is too much under the president s thumb just because he was nominated by the president . Not only because he was nominated by this president , an unindicted coconspirator, because he has utterly failed to give us any assurance he would defend the independence of the judiciary. He failed to defend Justice Ruth Bader ginsberg against attacks
by this president and failed to go so far as neil gorsuch did in saying the president s attacks on the judiciary are demoralizing and disheartening. He failed to establish that judicial independence. He has the right rhetoric, would be defended in practice, in real terms with real backbone, and that is the reason or one of them that i am committed to vote against him. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. Joining us, gloria borger, john dean and Carl Bernstein as well. I dont know if surreal is the word were in this situation where you have all these senior officials coming forward and making statements to the president and then being read closely by the white house. Its a little kind of dare leaderish. The stunning notion to me, its not just Senior Administration officials, it is the Vice President of the United States,
saying, i didnt say that the president is a National Security risk. It is people who are running the Intelligence Community who felt the need, the director of the fbi, who felt the need go out there and say, i didnt say that the president was a National Security risk. I mean, there is something so surreal, is the word about this, that this notion as these statements come in, somehow theyre being delivered, handdelivered to the president who is reading them, thats good, okay, fine, i know pence didnt do it. Lets go to the next one. The question is i would ask is, why believe any of them. I think jim acosta pointed that out. What good does it do . What does it matter in many ways . Does this focus on who it is and the search for it, does it take away the message this person was trying to get across . Absolutely. This could easily be a Public Relations ploy. This white house fully understands if you spend a lot of times trying to kill the messenger, you can kill the message. We have to keep our focus on whats in the contents of that piece as as well as in that search. If the white house is focusing on the search to distract from what the actual person was saying . I do. I think theyre smart enough to do that and very good on these kind of issues and know how to distract and throw dust in our eyes . Dont you think trump also want to know that . Of course he wants to know. We dont need to become obsessed with the search. Agree. We need to focus what the country is concerned about. Do you agree the white house is trying to essentially change the conversation . Very much so. As soon as david said it, it clicked, right on. This whole white house operation has mastered the art of
deflecting attention. They do it consistently and do it very well. Is it possible it actually plays into the president s hands and the notion hes surrounded by people who are trying to thwart his will, his agenda . It does, or it can, because indeed, one of his themes and those of people around him, think there is a deep state conspiracy against President Trump an that theme is being repeated because of this letter in the New York Times, this piece in the New York Times. Whats really going on here is that Bob Woodwards book, and the contents of what is in the anonymous piece in the New York Times, those closest to the president of the United States are saying, we must save the country from the president of the United States. Incidentally, people, republicans in congress, this is no surprise to them. They have heard this from people around the president of the United States. Mitch mcconnell knows this kind of attitude about the danger posed by the president has been expressed to Mitch Mcconnell by people around the president. The same with paul ryan. What we need here are, finally, i think, some hearings on congressional hearings, in which an Executive Session or open session, those around the president of the United States are questioned about the fitness of donald trump to be the president of the United States. Thats whats at stake here. What we are talking about is a portrait by numerous people. In Bob Woodwards book, ive read the whole book, you see it so convincingly, in scene after scene after scene. Carl, why would anybody tell the truth in front of a pardon me . Why would anybody tell the truth if that is in fact what their opinion is, given all
these people have made statements saying, it wasnt me, it wasnt me. Nobody is standing up and saying, oh, yes, i agree with what this anonymous person said. Why would it be any different . I dont know what would happen. Its important. If you have bipartisan hearings, if the democrats were to win the house and you have republicans and democrats calling these people in, and there might be mixed opinions. There might be some gray areas, but it is very important for the leadership in the congress of the United States and the people of the United States to know whether or not donald trump is fit to be president , whether he is stable enough to be president , honest enough to be president , and has the capabilities of being president. That is what we are learning this week. The people closest to him have the gravest doubts. Theres no expressed appetite of republicans in congress to have you noticed that . Even talk about this, let
alone hold hearings. Exactly. Republicans, as we all know, are whispering about this to each other. There are no profiles in courage up there because donald trump has an 80 or 90 Approval Rating with his party. The only thing i can see changing this is an election. Suddenly, if donald trump become as little less scary to republicans, if he loses the house, there will be all kinds of hearings, trust me. If the senate comes close or they lose the senate, then, its really goes to get bad for donald trump. Right now, these republicans and you heard bob corker say it today, a senator from tennessee who is leaving. Why is anybody surprised about this . We heard this stuff about donald trump. Nobody is going to do anything about it because theyre looking out for themselves. I know thats shocking. We will take a quick break and continue this discussion when we come back. Breaking news, senator blumenthal alluded to it a moment ago the Kavanaugh Hearings and whether the nominee will recuse himself as to the president. Senator cory booker will talk about what went on. To the junior prom with. Flonase sensimist relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. And all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. Flonase sensimist. Plaque psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. And for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. And the otezla Prescribing Information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Tell your doctor if these occur. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Other side effects include
upper respiratory tract infection and headache. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. Agent beekman was one step ahead of them. Dits stole the lockbox from the wells fargo stagecoach, because he hid his customers gold in a different box. And the bandits, well, they got rocks. We protected your money then and were dedicated to helping protect it today. Like alerting you to certain Card Activity we find suspicious. If its not your purchase, well help you resolve it. Its a new day at wells fargo. But its a lot like our first day. Dont forget that the past can speak to the future. Im going to be your Substitute Teacher. Dont assume the Substitute Teacher has nothing to offer. Same goes for a neighborhood. Dont forget that friendships last longer than any broadway run. Mr. President. laughing dont settle for your first draft. Or your 10th draft. You get to create the room where it happens. Just dont think you have to do it alone. The powerful backing of american express. Dont live life without it. We talked a bit before the break about letting the risk of the search overshadow what the person wrote. Heres some of what this person wrote. The root of the problem is the president s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not mored to any
discernible meetings with Him Veer Off Topic and off the rails and he engages in decisions that have to be walked back. There were early whispers of the cabinet invoking the 25th Amendment which would start a complex process for removing the president. No one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis so we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until one way or another, its over. You have senator rand paul talk about polygraphing people in the administration and polygraphs not admissible in court and not that necessarily reliable. Is there a danger how much this consumes the administration and it starts to eat itself. Exactly. The polygraph would be an awful idea. I remember when President Reagan was very upset with all the leaks and said he had leaks up to his keister and started carrying on and started talking
about polygraphs and dave schultz said the day you do that i walk out the door. You cant do that to people. And he killed it. I believe they work. It was my word against the acting fbi director. I went and took a polygraph, i passed it. We wanted pat gray to take one, two days later he left office. Would you support polygraphing everybody . Yeah. I think asking people to take a polygraph, its it suggests a level of distrust above what were seeing now. How many people will you polygraph . There are a lot of people in the realm of Senior Administration officials, and the amount of time not enough machines to do it on a mass scale. What about the irony of polygraphing people in the trump administration, where the president of the United States himself happens to be happens to be somebody who
has problems telling the truth. Exactly. It would be the most ironic thing that would ever occur, this president of all people would would ask his own people to take polygraphs. I do think theres a very good chance whoever wrote the anonymous piece has already put out a statement of denial. Carl, i ive been rereading this polish journalist who wrote this famous book and i know this is a Weird Tangent but im reminded of it again. Happy to talk about him. The way they were devour theirselves and feeding off one another makes me feel reading what this person said the intrigue in this white house is stunning. That is what Bob Woodwards book is about. And, again, what was written in the New York Times, it is about a president who is unhinged, and what we are
watching in the president s response to trying to find this one person is an unhinged president looking for someone when in fact he ought to be doing the business of being the president of the United States. To glorias point, what comes through in Bob Woodwards book and what comes through in witness after witness after witness is Donald Trumps lying. The lying being what undoes him, and the reason those closest to him have concluded he cannot be fit to be the president because of the lying. His own lawyer, the last line in Bob Woodwards book is, trump had one overriding problem that the lawyer, dowd, knew, but could not bring himself to say to the president , you are an fg liar. That is what suffuses everything
we are learning about the honorable supposedly people who serve him. They cant take the lying. No country can survive a president who lies like this. Thats what this is about. So what do you do then . Give the lying president a polygraph, if everybody else that goes to the question of the fitness this is all about the fitness of the president of the United States to be president. If the democrats take the house, perhaps there is a way to have truly bipartisan hearings with republicans as ful