Colleague and theres reason to believe it wasnt an isolated incident. Now we know it may not have been. In a piece published by variety, it is reported that lauer was accused of Sexual Harassment by multiple women. Savannah guthrie had the emotional and difficult task of breaking the news to the world. Always can say is we are heartbroken. I am heartbroken for matt. Hes my dear friend and partner and he is loved by many people here. I am heartbroken for the brave colleagues who came forward to tell her story and any other women who have their own stories to tell. We are grappling with a dilemma that so many people have faced these past few weeks. How do you reconcile your love for someone with the revelation that they have behaved badly. I dont know the answer to that. As painful as it is, this moment in our culture and this change had to happen. Kimberly that was Savannah Guthrie, former colleague of mine from court tv, having an emotional, challenging time. She had a close relationship, friendship with matt lauer. They said she found out this morning and had to go on a and tell everyone. Greg i remember the good old days when it was just fnc and everybody was making fun of us. Fnc is the first kid on the block who got chicken pox and all the other kids laughed. And then it spread and they are all going holy crap. Seems to be with lauer, quite pervasive. Its a pattern of acquiescence. When youre at a company and you make a lot of money, the people around that person wont listen to you because he feels he can do what he wants. In a weird way, a lot of these people seem like children. They have to be told how to act. They have been told yes so many times. The idea of somebody saying no makes no sense to them so they bring you into an office and press a button behind their desk so the door locks. I would like to see that conversation with office services. I can understand getting a clap on light but saying i would like a button behind my desk so i can lock the door so i can have sex with a stranger. Dana i think theyre going to say no to that. Kimberly dana, here we are. Back in the old studio today. We will be in here until friday. Dana we look good in here. Kimberly i think so. Dana im talking to her. Kimberly a lot of the people that have grown up watching the today show with matt lauer. Dana is these revelations have come out, the Harvey Weinstein one was kind of one of the biggest. And then every day, you can have another story like this. Just last week, you had cbss charlie rose and i think about how all these other networks covered fox news when we went through our own difficulties. Thats been about a year now. Within the last year. One thing thats different with nbc from the others so far is that nbc got ahead of the news coverage. I wondered about that with cbs and others. You know these reporters are working on stories. With cbs, the Washington Post story ran and then the news came out that they were going to suspend unfired charlie rose. In this case, i suppose what happened is because the young woman, i dont know young, the woman came forward to the nbc executive at the same time they knew these stories were being worked on by various publications. The New York Times and others. They went ahead into their own investigation and took Decisive Action beforehand so they got to announce the news. Nbc announced the news. Greg they did a preemptive strike because they knew the story was going to break. Kimberly one of the suggestions, they said they had discovered, somebody can forward on monday with the reporting. Its stating they had been aware of complaints and that newspapers had been working on these items which they usually will contact the Media Relations department if they have Something Like this going on to let them know, especially if they want to speak to people that work there. Jesse only nbc news how far back the allegations go. Whether they were really decisive, we dont really know that because they couldve known about these things for a very long time and because of the avalanche of reporters out to break something, that could have forced their hand also. This woman coming forward. When Savannah Guthrie said what she said today, i think myself and many people here can understand what she is saying. On the one hand if you work with someone for many, many years and you admire that person and you know that person closely, you feel very sad for that person to crash and burn. But at the same time, you feel horribly saddened for the alleged victims of any sort of Sexual Harassment or impropriety. Its a very complicated and complex situation for everybody when they are involved and they are working with people that deal with this. This guy made so much money for nbc news. Cant really be understated. The today show was the cornerstone of the network. They made i think hundreds of millions of dollars each year in profit, profit for this network. And matt lauer was paid very handsomely. He just signed a 20 million a year contract. Its like the new England Patriots losing tom brady. Their franchise quarterback. The key to the offense, so to speak. Greg that is familiar, right . Jesse we have been through it. Other companies have been through it, now its happening to them. Its almost like its too big to fail. The financial crisis, the companies are doing a lot of bad things, making a lot of money for shareholders and then they crashed the system and then they get bailed out. Perpetuating the bad behavior. Now people are saying not too big to fail. They are allowed to let that people go, people accused of doing bad things and theyre willing to take the hit and start fresh, and i think thats kind of going to be the new outlook when you handle these things. Start fresh. Kimberly juan, to the allegations that the New York Times was about to release the story that nbc knew other stories were about to drop. What do you think about how this was handled and how they handled the communications with savanna today. Juan i dont have much to say about it. I was surprised reading not only about the button behind the desk that greg mentioned but that they called matt lauer last night before he went to bed to let them know but they didnt tell anybody on the staff until this morning when the today show staff was coming in. My take on it is we are in a moment in american culture, i think no question when you wake up, it was shocking. I thought really . They fired matt lauer . As jesse said, he was kind of the central pillar of nbc for a long time. I agree, i think a lot of companies have to have a different way of thinking. You cant just say revenue and profit is the beall and endall. Its going to be social consequences and repercussions as a result of backing this. I think back to what happened with anita hill and the kind of outpouring. Now you have the hashtag metoo movement. I thinking about the idea that President Trump continues to be involved. He was tweeting this morning and saying andy lack, the president , he said go look at andy lack. I dont know what that referred to but apparently something as they are. To me what this boils down to is you get a situation in our country at this moment where in the Political Support thats going on, you have republican saying the liberals, the democrats, they dont apply the same standard to their people that they impose on a President Trump or a roy moore in alabama who, by the way, is apparently back in the lead in the polls in the Alabama Senate race. Then you see nbc, always posited of as the left, take immediate action. Theres more pressure on conyers to resign. Dana not really. Juan i think there is. Im talking overall. Inside the cbc, there is pressure. I think there is no question conyers is under pressure. Greg i dont think this is a political story. Its of cultural significance. There is no due process right now. We are talking about a sea change. People keep talking about it. Could be a panic. When the entry for allegations becomes lower and there is no investigation, there is no questioning by Law Enforcement, no time frame to allow the accused to defend themselves. The workplace and the surrounding universe of Public Opinion is operating now like a college campus. On college campuses, administrators could adjudicate an assault case. Thats whats happening now. We are adjudicating Law Enforcement. If someone accuses you of assault, which is what we are hearing with matt lauer, the law should be involved. Kimberly criminal conduct. Greg but it happened in sochi so its hard to do that because its in another country. The common bond in these cases, media, politics and on campuses, no due process. We have to worry not just about women but about men because these are your brothers and your sons, they are your siblings, your fathers or grandfathers. You have to somehow create a process for these people to answer. The way this reads, the man is a creep. A lot of people might not be creeps. Juan why do you think he did not get due process . Greg maybe he didnt have enough juan i dont know that. I think they probably did ask matt lauer. They said they conducted an intense investigation over a 36 or period. I cant imagine they didnt go to lauer. The lawyer for the woman is pleased and said clearly nbc i think there is something there. The key here in this discussion about the cultural moment, the reckoning, sea change, however you want to refer to it as that previously the advertisers would not of said a thing. They wouldve said well, this is a popular show. Thats for someone else to decide. In this cultural moment, the advertisers, much like the voters in alabama, are going to have their say. Greg but i want to know everything then. I want to know everything about whats going on, the specific elements. Its like drug overdoses. You benefit from knowing precisely how people died, the ingredients you have in every case is important. Thats the difference between a panic and a sea change. Juan there is confidentiality. Jesse speaking of panic, we are mentioning this in the green room. The pendulum swings the other way now and unfairly or fairly, women can be unfairly punished because men are now so scared of, rightly or wrongly, being alone with a woman in the office, going on a golf trip, a corporate golf trip, an excursion. Anything where you are alone with someone who you work with, there is a climate of fear and you dont want women unfairly punished and not included in meetings or in sessions where you are kicking around ideas because of the fear of some sort of unfair retaliation. I dont think its going to happen that way. To say that now, can we go out for drinks . Whats going to happen . I fear thats going to happen. I dont think it will but you never know. Juan isnt that the pence rule . Jesse he was mocked. Greg dont be alone. Kimberly he is saying he doesnt want the effect where women are deprived of opportunities. Though they might have been included on. And then the abundance of caution and fear and paranoia because there isnt perhaps due process and an allegation could be enough to blow you out or an allegation could be investigated and you find the evidence that supports it. Right now, its a state of flux. Everything is piled in together and its tough to sort it out. Dana to bring it back to this in particular, you had matt lauer and charlie rose, for example, and mark halperin. They were commenting on things about things that happen to the network, we were the first one. Chicken pox. Then they are covering these stories. You think about what happened last week when al franken gave his nonapology apology. What would you have thought two weeks ago . He said this never wouldve occurred to me. I have to wonder, when they were doing the commentary or interviews about what was happening at fox news, internally if they had any idea that their behavior was going to come back to haunt them. It might be one thing thats weird culturally in this moment. Do men in positions of power have to rethink what theyve been doing, if they thought it was okay before. Greg i remember sitting in a bar at cleveland. You were sitting over there. Matt lauer was sitting right there and all he kept doing was asking me about roger ailes. Constantly asking me. This is not the right place to talk about it. It was the day before, roger ailes wasnt gone yet. Juan what about his interview with oreilly . Greg he said the top man doesnt go or Something Like that. Juan something about asking questions or exercising power over your subordinates. Kimberly coming up, President Trump at a tax cut rally in missouri hammering home the need for the senate to pass the package. Highlights next. Stay with us. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Dana President Trump wrapping up a speech in missouri to rally support for his tax cut plan thats awaiting a crucial vote in the senate. If passed, it would be the nations first tax overhaul in three decades. Here were some of the highlights. If we do this, then america will win again like never, ever before. Of vote to cut taxes is a vote to put America First again. This is going to cost me a fortune, this thing. Believe me. Believe me. This is not good for me. I have some very wealthy friends not so happy with me. Its great for companies because companies are going to bring back jobs. And we are lowering the rates substantially. Thats good for everybody in the room, whether you have a company or whether you want a job. Its not easy dealing with the democrats. They want to have people pour into our country, illegals. They dont care where the the l they come from. They dont want to take care of the military. Little rocket man, rocket fuel for the american economy. We must start totally winning and winning and winning again. Remember what i used to say . We are going to win so much. Were going to keep winning and winning. Dana he went after Claire Mccaskill who opposes the tax package. Shes a Top Republican target in the midterm. I thought were going to have more sound. Okay, so the tax bill, greg. Its got some momentum. How do you feel . Greg i dont know. Im confused. Thats my fault. Im not going to blame it on anybody but me. Its not simple enough for me in the individual parts. Incorporate, i get it but as an individual, its like they took a brandnew rubiks cube it is already complicated and then they washed it mushed it. Its like untangling your earbuds to your iphone. I will say i enjoy watching him do this stuff. You can see in his head him contemplating jumping off the cliff of a joke. He looks up. He is gauging the benefits versus risks of each joke and you see it coming. Unlike a lot of people, he jumps which is kind of refreshing. Dana juan, what to think about the democrats. Heidi heitkamp from north dakota and senator manchin of West Virginia have said they are not necessarily a no. Is it possible President Trump is having some impact doing these speeches in their states . Juan i think thats why he was in missouri. To go after Claire Mccaskill. Mccaskill does not look to be winnable or persuadable at this point. With Heidi Heitkamp and manchin its a different situation. Chuck schumer has been watching those two because he worries that in fact a populist trump movement, trump won in both big, it could lead them to lose their seats. Republicans overall, polls show its not a popular package. Dana a lot of republicans do want tax reform. Is it perfect . No, not necessarily. Juan its what greg said. Its not tax reform. This is tax cuts. Dana but if you are eliminating kimberly tax cuts are dana if you are changing out deductions people are no longer going to have to come is reform. Juan reform as you make it simpler. Jesse they are reducing the rates. Kimberly tax cuts are within tax reform. Comprehensive change thats going to produce a different outcome, consistent with his Campaign Message that he wanted to make sure middleclass people across the country were going to be able to get a little bit of a boost and help for their families by making things more affordable. Juan i think thats why its not popular. If you do away with things like state and local tax deductions, if you limit property tax deductions, this is why people dont like it. Dana they have messaging problems on the republican side with some Republican Voters saying wait. When i look at this, i dont know how im going to come out. I think people agree on the Corporate Tax rate but they have a problem. Today in the Washington Post column, if you have a unified republican government, how is it some peoples taxes are going to go up . Jesse leave it to the republicans to mess up tax reform. Not surprised. It was smart to go to missouri. Claire mccaskill is vulnerable. I dont know if shes going to vote for this. I think she should. He was pretty funny about it when he went after her. She is weak on crime, borders, national security. Great on everything else. Its cute, and it will play big in the local media markets but this is a America First speech. He did the drain the swamp deal, hit the big slogans. Played a little class warfare. Im not getting helped out by the tax cut, which i dont like. I dont think its fair. I think everybody should get an acrosstheboard cut but hes playing it up because he needs votes from democrats. I dont think hes going to get them and i think he is a little ashamed about being so wealthy and reducing his own taxes so i have to say that. Again, i agree with juan. Kimberly i dont think he is ashamed about being wealthy. Jesse he knows hes vulnerable on tax cuts for the rich. Kimberly good messaging, like dana said. We talked about how many times we think the messaging, best person to sell it is the president. Nobody can do it like he does. Let him get out there and get in front of the people because its memorable. It sticks with peop