I dont think anyone has your energy level. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york, im chris hayes. Donald trump sure sounds worried that there are indictments coming very, very soon. The president escalating his attacks today on Robert Mueller, though with a twist. For the very first time trump claimed to know the inner workings of the Mueller Investigation. Now, to be fair, the president could just be lying. But this tweet comes just days after trump installed as his acting attorney general Matt Whitaker, the man who john kelly privately described as the west wings eyes and ears inside the Justice Department. Robert mueller is now reporting to Matt Whitaker, the guy who the white house says is basically its informant. And now here we are for the first time the president claiming to know the inner workings of muellers investigation. All this comes amid reports that new indictments are imminent. As trumps legal team nears completion of written answers to questions posed by mueller concerning russian interference in the election. It also comes as trump has basically admitted that he chose whitaker to undermine mueller. Remember, whitaker does not have the credentials one would expect for the job hes been given. He reportedly first came to trumps attention because trump liked watching whitaker express skepticism about the Mueller Investigation on tv. His other appearances include this promotional video for a florida that paid him as an adviser, a company that the fbi says was a straight up scam. Before we get to what exactly strup said about whitaker, lets turn back the clock to trumps may interview with lester holt, where he suggested the real reason he fired james comey was because the fbi director wouldnt halt the russia investigation. Regardless of recommendation i was going to fire comey, knowing there was no good time to do it, and, in fact, when i decided to just do it i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story. He was not supposed to say that, generally not describe your efforts on national television. He did. Now hes at it again. Asked by conservative outlet media who he was going to use to replace whitaker, he veered into a de facto admission he hired him to stop mueller. First, he insisted, Matthew Whitaker is a very respected man, hes very importantly hes respected within doj, debatable. Whitaker is somebody whos very respected. I knew him only as he pertained, you know, as he was with jeff sessions, and, you know, look, as far as im concerned, this is an investigation that should have never been brought. It should have never been had. Its something that should have never been brought. Its an illegal investigation. Okay, nobody asked about the Mueller Investigation. He doesnt even refer to it the first time. Its floating in his head and he goes there. This might lead reasonable person to believe that hes become essential to protect the president and his newly installed lackey. The Top Republican in the senate insisted, theres nothing to worry about. We know how the president feels about the Mueller Investigation but hes never said he wants to shut it down. Ive never heard anybody down there say they want to shut it down. I dont think its in danger and no legislation is necessary. Okay, then, well, if he doesnt think it is. Democrats have been pushing for the legislation, along with a handful of republicans, but most republicans refuse to lift a finger, today, perhaps the most ardent staller, senator lindsey graham, the sean hannity of the senate, if you will, even if he supports legislation, he will leave it to mcconnell to decide whether he gets a vote. Graham met with whitaker earlier today. I dont think hes going to do anything. I have a lot of confidence that mr. Mueller will be allowed to do his job and that the Legal Process that was in place before mr. Whitaker arrived will be followed. Hes going to i have great confidence he will make reasonable decisions when his time comes and the investigation is not in jeopardy. Joining me now is richard brum blumenthal. Two of your colleagues say, hey, dont worry about it. What do you think . Well, i am worried about it and so worried about it that we are thinking about ways that we can attach the special prosecutor protection legislation to other bills that may be moving through the United States senate, must pass bills relating to appropriations or the continuing resolution. Equally important, were thinking about legislation to assure there is disclosure of all the findings and evidence in that investigation, in the event that Robert Mueller is, in fact, fired. So the public knows and so that the investigators are held accountable. What is your interpretation of the president unprompted bringing up the Mueller Investigation when asked about whitaker . Its another one of those lester holt moments where he just says what is on his mind. Clearly. And you really understated it. Matt whitaker is manifestly unqualified for this job. Except that he serves the president s purpose of cutting by a thousand cuts, and dealing death to this investigation, its the kind of slow motion saturday night massacre. My question about that is, what would obviously firing mueller, i think, would precipitate some kind of massive crisis, right . But it seems to me that should if you believe theres something untoward happening here with whitaker, that theyre probably going to do something more subtle, how would your legislation protect that . The special counsel protection legislation would prevent the firing. But the legislation that were contemplating would require complete disclosure of all the evidence and findings, so it would diminish the incentive for strangling this investigation. I see. It would also assure more funding so that the continuation of the present appropriation the moneys been appropriated would be assured. So you dont have much leverage in the minority right now in the senate, far less than one used to in the United States senate. Jeff flake and coons tried to bring it up, defeated by Mitch Mcconnell. Flake has said he wont vote for a lame duck session. Are there other republicans who can go the flake route to get you the leverage you would need . I think there are other republicans and they need to step forward. The story of this congress has been quite unfortunately the abdication of responsibility by republicans. I hope jeff flake sticks to that commitment. But we need the legislation you need more than that, dont you . We need more than just him, and we need more than just jeff flake because hes going to be leaving and we need the muscle to make sure that the senate votes on this. Do you have any doubt in your mind that if the president fired mueller and shut down the investigation that the overwhelming majority of republican colleagues would be fine with it to try to protect the president . There will be a fire storm if he fires the special counsel, there will be a constitutional conflict raised. Dont you think Mitch Mcconnell is going to huddle the Team Together and say, look, guys, this is what we signed up for, we protect this guy no matter what and were the majority and screw them . I think they have to take a lesson from this last election, the American People want that investigation completed. What do you think about whitakers status as the acting attorney general . I mean, theres concerns about him. You had harsh words for his qualifications. This is someone who was elbow deep in this very scammy company, the fdc ordered it to pay become 27 million, i think, the fbi has a criminal investigation. Weve got, you know, evidence now that he was active and essentially trying to silence people who pointed out the scamminess of this company. What do you think of whitaker in this role independent of what hes doing to the Mueller Investigation . He is there illegally. You think hes illegal there . I think that the president s failed to comply with the advice and consent requirement in the constitution. And we are researching and actively considering, im talking to a number of my colleagues about legal action that we could take. I think that there will be more challenges to the actions that he may take while hes in office. But here is the bottom line on this appointment. If there is an effort to fire bob mueller, there will be a fire storm. Maybe not among my republican colleagues, but among the American People right. There will be another clear saturday night massacre. Thats the strategy here of the republicans to do it in slow motion so as to avoid that overt fire storm. Senator richard blumenthal, thank you for your time tonight. Joined by the incoming chir of the house judiciary committee, congressman jerry nadler. Hes asked about mr. Whitaker, he responds about the Mueller Investigation and how its illegitimate. Do you read anything into that . Well, we read a confirmation of the obvious, that whitaker was placed there to be a hatchet man to subvert or sabotage the Mueller Investigation. He had only one qualification which was relevant, namely that unlike attorney general sessions, he would not recuse himself. He would not point he would ignore his obvious conflicts of interest. So the president is simply confirming that his purpose there is to sabotage the investigation. Theres been news that you and your colleagues in the Democratic Party are going to launch an investigation into whitaker, particularly the role he played with this company that is being investigated by the fbi. Theres a quote from someone who was on the wrong end of the scam who is, he says, sort of intimidated by whitaker out of blowing the whistle. He was yelling. Whitaker pushed back about early fraud complaints in the Washington Post. What do you want to find out about his role in that company . Well, we want to find out what kind whether he was involved in criminal or fraudulent activity because he is supposedly the chief Law Enforcement officer of the United States and we would simply be doing the Due Diligence that the senate should do if it were given the opportunity to do what its constitutionally mandated to do, namely advise and consent on the nomination. We believe this nomination is illegal, that the office of Legal Counsels opinion is nonsense, that the office of Legal Counsel simply shilling for the president and someones got to look into his qualifications and his conflicts of interest since the senate is not being given the opportunity to do that. I take it youre not impressed with the office of Legal Counsel decision in the words of kelly ann conway, 29 pages, and the president was impressed, that doesnt convince you . Length never convinces on anything. His appointment is clearly unconstitutional because it evades the necessity of a principal officer of the government being confirmed by the senate. It cites a general succession law. As any law student knows general laws are trumped by specifics. Specific laws. Theres a specific law that says the succession for an acting attorney general goes through the Deputy Attorney general, the solicitor general, and through other people confirmed by the senate. So, no, this is obviously the president reaching for someone who he thinks is a hatchet man, who can evade judgment by the senate and who will do his job of sabotaging the investigation of which the president has shown very clearly in his latest tweets and comments he is terrified of. The conventional wisdom watching the president s behavior from the outside, consulting with the attorneys on questions, activity happening with mueller, visavis court filings. Is your read on the situation the same we tend to have, which is that he looks like a man whos very scared about what mueller is going to do . He certainly is giving the impression of someone very scared of what muellers going to do and hes trying to figure out how to avoid that. Remember, his only beef with the attorney general sessions that he kept complaining about was that he didnt recuse himself from the investigation and therefore couldnt stop it. And wheres my roy cohn who could in effect protect me personally . Thats not the job of the attorney general. And hes obviously very scared of this. And he has been convinced until now, at least, that he could evade accountability, that he was above the law. And that no one would hold him to the law. But now youve got a democratic congress, or at least house coming in in january thats going to proper oversight, which is our constitutional duty, which is going to hold him accountable and the special prosecutor may very well hold him accountable too. And hes acting very cornered. Do you have any leverage in this lame duck senator blumenthal was talking about ways of thinking of attaching something that you must pass legislation, obviously the law thered have to be a matching law in the house to get it to the president s desk, do you have any leverage in the minority in this lame duck for Something Like that . Working together with my colleagues in the senate we have leverage. They have more leverage because you need 60 votes, basically, to pass any bill. And we dont need that in the house. But unless you can assume that all the republicans are going to support the budget law, which they may not, not because of this, but for other reasons, for questions of whats in the continuing resolution, whats in the budget, we will have some leverage and certainly the prospect of our becoming the majority in january gives us some leverage too. All right, congressman jerry nadler, thanks for being with me. Thank you. For more on Matt Whitaker and trumps attacks on mueller today, im with betsy woodruff, josh, ill start with you, very weird time right now, heres the politico story. Trump preparing mueller anxiety invades trump world. Half a dozen people in contact with the white house and other Trump Officials say deep anxiety is setting in that mueller is about to pounce after his selfimposed quiet period, that any number of allies and family members may soon be staring down the barr el of indictment. Ive never seen anything quite like this, all this speculation about sealed indictments waiting to be sprung at some key moment. None of us really know. No, plus you have people close, roger stone and corsi going around saying im going to be indicted. Theyre unreliable narrators, hard to know what theyre saying. It really seems like something is going on. The question i have with the white house is do they know more than we all do . Thats the big question. Theyre just kind of spooked like, you know, because they see the same things that reporters think is going to happen . Thats right. Never underestimate how much the president just watches cable news. Yeah. Betsy, whats your sense as a reporter in washington, d. C. , with sources around capitol hill and the white house, about what the what general feeling is among republicans in the capital right now about what might be coming down . Theres clearly a high anxiety level. That said, theres been anxiety about the Mueller Investigation since it started more than a year and a half ago. This is something thats always deeply concerned republicans, and in particular, one of the biggest sources of concern, and this has been an enduring one, is that mueller would look at matters beyond just the question of how the russian government interfered in the 2016 president ial elections. The worry was always that mueller would potentially look at financial dealings, look at business ties, look at, for instance, the possibility that Jared Kushner could have been involved in business dealings that would be of interest to someone in muellers position. That was always the worry. And it goes back to what republicans know from history, looking at the ken starr investigation. Thats right. That started by looking at real estate deals and ended up with learning about the president s activity with Monica Lewinsky that precipitated his impeachment. This has always worried republicans, but right now postmidterms, everyone has indictment jitters. I get texts, is there an indictment today, what are you hearing . I was saying, oh, yeah, i talked about with bob mueller earlier. Of course. Nobody knows. That has not calmed anyones nerves. People ask me on the streets. To betsys point, theres two investigations. An sdny investigation, Michael Cohen theres evidence, forget everything having to do with the russians, we know the southern district, according to the wall street journal, as evidence that the president directed Michael Cohen to make payments. And that he knew, trump knew. Has nothing to do with russia and thats already on the table. Yeah. That seems pretty open and shut. I do think theres a question of like, you know, campaign how far does that go . Sure. Someone who has some unique insight into trumps mind told me something today which really kind of made me think. And that is that when we think about these indictments and we think about potential indictments, and we think about the president s anxiety, a lot of us, and i mean kind of most people in the media, to include myself, are thinking about what are the things that we think are true, are basically know true, and we think now might be confirmed by bob mueller, or confirmed, you know, in a charge. Right. But the thing is, donald trump knows all sorts of things that he so true. He did that we have no idea about. So the potential in his own mind as hes combing through, great point. His anxiety, it probably goes much further than anything frankly we can imagine. Excellent point. Betsy,