Obamas. We miss you guys. [ applause ] all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. The white house can try to put words in his mouth all they want. But the president of the United States himself has made it very clear how he views the Domestic Abuse allegations against former top aide rob porter. The president tweeted over the weekend, peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old. Some are new there is no recovery for someone falsely accused. Life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as due process . That came a day after the president publicly expressed sympathy for porter, declining to even go so far as to even mention the two women who say porter terrorize and assaulted them. Hopefully he will have a great career ahead of him. But it was very sad when we heard about it. And certainly he is also very sad. Now, he also, as you probably know, he says he is innocent. And i think you have to remember that. He said very strongly yesterday that he is innocent. The president s eagerness to take porter at his word could have something to do with the fact that he said his own word against almost 20 different women accusing the president of Sexual Harassment and groping and other harassment. The white house has sent out numerous surrogates to proclaim just seau seriously the president takes Domestic Abuse. But they could not explain why the president himself, never one shy to opine on issues of the day, was unable to send that message himself. The president has been clear multiple times through myself and others within the administration that we condemn Domestic Violence in all forms. He has not said it. Why has he not said it . Im the spokesperson for the white house and the president and im saying it to you now. Why didnt he say it . Im not sure how i can be any more clear. I think the president has espoused his views on. This he literally dictated that statement to me. And so im not really sure how thats not the president speaking on that. Now, many people have pointed out how hypocritical it is for this president to take a stand for due process. He, after all, the guy who called for the central park five to be executed. Doubling down on that, after, after they were exonerated by dna evidence. He of course is the man who led lock her up chants against hillary clinton. But here is the thing. Its the wrong way to understand. Because the president actually has been remarkably consistent about his view on these matters. Punishment is for other people. Members of his team probably construed get the benefit of the doubt, always. And that, that appears to have been the same logic followed by chief of staff john kelly who last week mused about lazy dreamers who failed to sign up for daca, while almost at the same time showering praise and character testimonials on an alleged serial abuser. And now unable to explain how the white house responded to claims about porter or how he was allowed to remain in his job for so long without full security clearance, the white house is sinking under the weight of its own obvious lies. And that is not a word we use lightly here on the show. According to john kelly, he acted immediately upon learning the extent of the allegations. Can you clarify to us exactly theres been a lot of reporting about the timeline and when you found out about things. You kind of just clarify that . Tuesday night. You found out tuesday night . That the accusations had been proved. 40 minutes later he was gone. We know that is not true because it is a matter of public record. Last wednesday, a day after kelly says porter was, quote, gone, the white house was still defending him. And kelly himself standing by his statement and calling porter a man of true integrity and honor. Its as flagrant a lie as sean spicers whopper about the inauguration crowd. Which may be why today the white house changed its story yet again. We learned of the situation involving rob porter last tuesday evening. And within 24 hours his resignation has been accepted and announced. We announced a transition was going to happen, and within hours it did. And in terms of timeline, i dont have anything else to add. I can tell you that a conversation took place within 40 minutes. And beyond that, i really dont have anything else to add that. Account is still full of holes. According to the new york times, for example, by thursday morn, well beyond 24 hours, porter was still in his Office Clearing out his things and had to be nudged to leave. Tonight the white house will not explain why over a year after claims against porter first surfaced, not mere allegations, but claims by two women who furnished their evidence to the fbi, why he was still on the job handling the most sensitive classified information produced by the u. S. Government. They insist they were following the normal background check process. But according to Sean Patrick Maloney who held the same job in the Clinton White house, this was anything but. On that desk there are a stack of red folders marked top secret. Every day our nations highest secrets are seen by the staff secretary there is a burn bag under the desk because when youre done, you incinerate those materials. The idea that someone without a security clearance was allowed to be there in the first place despite these allegations and was allowed to stay there with no plan for getting him clearance is not the normal process. Steve schmidt is a republican strategist. Jill winebanks, former watergate prosecutor and an msnbc legal analyst. And steve, let me start with you. Let me just start with the second part of this, which is the lie, the lie that they were telling about what happened. What do you make of the fact that they are attempting essentially to just tell us we didnt see what we saw . Of course. Its just a continuation of the dishonesty weve seen from day one of this administration, chris. Its extraordinary. But, look, it tells us a couple of things about the west wing. First, it shows the abject incompetence of this white house. Second, it shows the complete recklessness involved. That the nations highest secrets are being entrusted to people who seemingly cannot pass fbi security clearances. They cannot obtain the top secret clearances required to work in the west wing of the white house and handle classified information. Of course the aforementioned dishonesty. But lastly, also i would say the cruelty. The cruelty of the administration towards these abused women, these credibly abused women. And so when we look at the totality of it all, you see a white house that is just melting down. And, again, this is an office where lifeanddeath decisions are made. And god help us, if we have a real crisis in this country with this cast of characters around the most seat of power in this country and one of the most powerful offices in the world. Jill, it strikes me that the lies theyre telling about this timeline are in some ways of tacitly acknowledgment of the fact they screwed up. Its sort of evidence of consciousness of guilt. Thats someone who was once general counsel for the army. What do you think about don mcgahn and john kellys actions here, about what they knew and when they knew it . I think they are fireable offenses. As general counsel of the army, i had the security clearance that i cant even tell you the name of because its a code word protected clearance. And no one should see those documents who doesnt have it. They knew from the very beginning that he could not get cleared, and they knew why. So the question from watergate is what did the president know and when did he know it . I want to know what mcgahn knew and when he knew it. I want to know what kelly knew and when he knew it. And i want to know what the president knew. And i want to know why he was allowed he, porter, was allowed to have documents. Why Jared Kushner, who still doesnt as far as i know still have a security clearance, why are they looking at our top secret documents. Steve, there is a little bit of rhetorical gamesmanship happening from the white house where they say well, theyre on a temporary security clearance, and the permanent hadnt come back yet. But thats probably not true. What probably is happening is a recommendation is being made that they cannot get, they cannot achieve that level security clearance. So they keep them on a temporary so the president doesnt have to go out on a limb and issue a personal waiver for them, right . A couple of things, chris. When i served in the Bush White House i hell held a top secret sei clearance. For officials as highranking as Jared Kushner and others, the security clearing process, the vetting process literally would have begun the day after the election to get those clearances into place. Some 13 months after the inauguration, some 15 months after the election that they dont have permanent security clearances would suggest to me that theyre unable to clear the fbi full field Background Investigation in the White House Security office will not grant a permanent top secret sci code word level clearance that is necessary to operate in these positions. Anybody who cannot pass that background check has no business handling, seeing, being privilege to the nations most closely guarded secrets. It threatens our intelligence cooperation with Friendly Company ace broad. It threatens the security of the American People. It is an abomination. There is also the fact, one of the most remarkable things ive seen in the first year of this white house is you have the president publicly defending this individual twice. Once in person and one on twitter. And then his aides have to scurry out and give anonymous quotes assuring everyone that, and i quote here, behind closed doors the president told multiple people the president believes the accusations against porter and finds them sick. Anonymous aides attaching their trying to assure the country or tell the country actually in private, the president doesnt like Domestic Violence, contrary to what you may have gleaned from this public message. Absolutely. And thats the same question that Sarah Sanders was asked as to why he, donald trump, hasnt come out and spoken against Domestic Violence. He needs to be the voice of this, not speaking through her. And i want to just comment on her on the due process issue. Because i believe in due process. I just apparently have a different definition than the president does. Because when someone is accused and investigated by the fbi, thats due process. And as the boss, you should be firing that person. You should not enable them and you should not give them secret documents. And lets be very clear here what happened with the fbi. The fbi was furnished evidence. This was not just people saying things. A photograph, a restraining order for the police in which he had broken a window. So this was substantiated allegations to some extent. This was not just out of nowhere. Steve schmidt and jill winebanks, thank you both. Im joined now by someone whose personal experience of white house chief of staff john kellys dishonesty, federica wilson. Congresswoman, in case folks do not recall, a constituent of yours, her husband was killed in action. You are very close to him and her. You had talked about their response and the response in the white house, the president s call and what he said to her during that call. And john kelly came out to defend the president. And he had this to say about you at the time. Take a listen. And a congresswoman stood up. And in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there in all of that and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building. Even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned. I should say that later the video of the event he was talking about came out, he was not characterizing it in any way accurate what was said. What is your reaction to watching kelly maneuver this situation . This is classic kelly. He lied on me. And now he is lying every day on the nose. And the sad part about it is this is a four star general, retired. Who i suppose was an honorable man. And he wakes up every morning watch i watching tv as he loses each one of those stars. Each one he has lost for lying. And he has gotten himself into a situation where the entire body of people surrounding him are willing to lie for the president of the United States. This is crazy. Why would he put his wonderful career on the line for donald trump, who will throw anyone under the bus and is just biding his time before he throws him under the bostus. Its awful. Its awful. Do y do you think he can continue to do his job given what you just said . Hi, is going to get beat up every day. People are not going the forget that he tried to take up or defend a wife beater, someone who didnt have a security clearance to work in the white house. And i believe the president knew too. I believe they all knew months ago that this gentleman beat up his wife, two of them, and its my understanding that a girlfriend came forward. I dont think people will forget that and just move on. Theyre going to continue to speak about it. Because thats wrong. And its painful. And he has not even expressed one ounce of sympathy to those poor victims who had the courage to come forward and tell of their experiences. And when you have a security clearance, the fbi questions you, and they know. And they say this gentleman didnt pass his security clearance. So why is he still there . Why are they protecting him . Because they dont respect women. Congresswoman frederica wilson, thank you for your time tonight. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up, did devin nunes obstruct justice when he created the memo . And while the president refuses to release the democratic response, can congress overrule him . Well talk about that in two minutes. That youll ever need staying ahead isnt about waiting for a chance. Its about the one bold choice you make, that moves you forward. the one and only Cadillac Escalade. Come in now for this exceptional offer on the Cadillac Escalade. Get this lowmileage lease on this 2018 Cadillac Escalade from around 879 per month. Visit your local cadillac dealer. Coaching means making tough choices. From jim youre in month. But when you have high Blood Pressure and need Cold Medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. Coricidin hbp is the 1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your Blood Pressure. Coricidin hbp. Were going to sit down with the fbi and go through any concerns they have. And any legitimate concerns and resources we will redact. Did you do that before you submitted the memo, congressman . Yes, we did. But whats really going on here, major, the president doesnt want the public to see the underlying facts. Congressman adam schiff, top ranking democrat on the House Intelligence Committee says he is ready to meet again with the fbi to redact any possible secrets in his memo defending the fbi from accusations of bias in obtaining a surveillance warrant on a former Trump Campaign adviser. If that means the president will actually release it. On friday the president decided not to release the democratic memo, citing concerns from the fbi and doj, even though he did release the memo it rebuts, the one written by republicans in his own party, despite the concerns of his own top intelligence officials. Members of both parties have called for both memos to be released. They voted that way now. The president refused. The president sent a very political and long response because methods and more would have to be heavily redacted where they would blame the white house for lack of transparence circumstances send them throw do and send back in proper form. The president was careful to not make promises about ever releasing the memo. This morning his legislative Affairs Director did. Quote you clean it up, you work with the fbi and send it back to us. There is another option. The full house could vote to override the republican allowing the house to release the memo themselves. With mekong man Joaquin Castro with me from texas. What is your response to what the president had to say this weekend . I think the president has basically been playing a game, a political game. The republicans wanted to get their side of the story or their memo out and have a week or two weeks and many news cycles to basically let it sit there and let their narrative be the only narrative out there. And remember, as democrats, first of all, we didnt want to release a republican or a democratic memo, most of all because the American People cant see the underlying source material that these memos are written about. But once the republicans put out a memo that was false and inaccurate in so many ways, then of course we wanted to put out our own which rebuts a lot of those inaccuracies. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the president has not released it yet. How important is it the memo comes out . Its not like the new memo has altered the trajectory of Public Opinion or changed a lot of minds or impacted the russia investigation. Does it matter if your memo comes out . Well, i would still like to see it come out to correct the record officially. If for no other reason than post sterret. But to correct the record. And i hope the white house will ultimately cooperate with us and do that. Classification is something that is undertaken by the executive branch and its executive designation. And it guards how members of that branch can use that information. Congress is not under that system there are house rules that would allow the full house to override the president where he to block the memos. That something youre considering . Its not something weve talked about, at least i havent been in on those discussions. But we also are waiting for the president to go ahead and release it. If we get to the point where it looks like the president is not going to release it, or simply leaves it in limbo for a long ti