Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20180813 : vi

As we heard on the recording you just played, he doesnt even know whats happening in his white house. John kelly is running this white house and donald trump has no clue whats going on. Telling chuck todd on meet the press shes heard the reported apprentice tapes where donald trump allegedly uses the n word. Once i heard it for myself it was confirmed what i feared the most that donald trump is a con. And has been masquerading as someone who is actually open to engaging with diverse communities. But when he talks that way, the way he did on this tape, it confirmed that he is truly a racist. And a very good monday to you. Im Kristen Welker in for Andrea Mitchell. President trump firing back at former white house insider Omarosa Manigault newman in a tweet storm targeting her media blitz writing, wacky omarosa who got fired three times on the apprentice now got fired for the last time. She never made it, never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes. I said okay. People in the white house hated her. She was vicious but not smart. I would rarely see her but heard really bad things. Nasty to people and would constantly miss meetings and work. When general kelly came on board, he told me she was a loser and nothing but problems. I told him to try to work it out if possible because she only said great things about me until she got fired. Omarosa responding here on msnbc just the past hour. I think its sad that with all the things going on in the country that he would take time out to insult me and to insult my intelligence. This is his pattern with africanamericans. And he doesnt know how to control himself. He has no impulse control. President trump is responding to the latest bombshell audio of what omarosa says is a conversation with the president the day after she was fired. Nbc news has not been able to listen to the full recording to know what was said before or after. Here is that recording and omarosas exclusive conversation with Savannah Guthrie this morning on today. Omarosa, whats going on . I just saw on the news that youre thinking about leaving. What happened . General kelly came to me and said that you guys wanted me to leave. No, i nobody even told me about it. Nobody you know, they run a big operation but i didnt know it. I didnt know that. Goddamn it. I dont love you leaving at all. When i spoke to him and he said he had no idea, that should be alarming to any american. You ask me, do you think he knows . The answer is you said not sure. Heres the other part. Who is running this country when donald trump says that they run a big operation. Who is the they. Is general kelly puppeting donald trump . Is he truly running this country instead of the president . Joining me to discuss all of this, nbc News White House correspondent Geoff Bennett, robert costa, National Political reporter at the Washington Post and an msnbc contributor, Jonathan Capehart, a Washington Post opinion writer. Thanks to all of you for being here. And, geoff, i want to start with you and play a little more sound of what we heard from omarosa in this last hour. Take a look. You didnt leave on your own accord . No, i was planning on leaving at the oneyear mark. Thats very well documented by so many people. And, you know in some ways general kelly did me a favor. Geoff, shes basically describing a toxic environment at the white house. She says, hey, she was planning to leave anyway. How are the folks there inside the white house responding today . Kristen, one of the other things she alleges in the book is she was shown the door when Top White House officials, including the chief of staff learned she was close to getting her hands on this purported tape of donald trump using the n word. Its hard to know precisely what the truth in all of this is. Weve seen white house officials aggressively move to discredit her and counter all of the claims she makes in this book. But setting that aside, its worth pointing out that until this point, the relationship between President Trump and omarosa had been mutually beneficial, if not entirely transactional. She was able to rely on him to increase her public standing, to increase her public profile and he was able to lean on her for political cover when it came to some, you know, real thorny racial issues. And so one of the substantive questions surrounding all of this is that omarosas apparent credibility issues were Public Knowledge when she was hired back in january 2017. So it raises the question, lots of people are asking about why she was hired by this white house in the first place. And then that tweet you read from the president , he seems to answer the question. He says, well, she had nice things to say about me, kristen. Robert, i think geoff raises an important point here which is to some extent, people look at omarosa and say shes the female version of trump. The two are essentially plagued from the same playbook. How is this being absorbed inside trump world . It depends on which corner of trump world youre asking the question because inside of the official white house, people who are close with general kelly, they dont like this situation. Theyre trying to contain it. At times not with much success as she keeps releasing more tapes and doing more interviews with her book release. But for people who have known the president for years, they say this is standard operating procedure. The president has long surrounded himself with allies and friends and confidantes from his time on television and business. Usually theyve been outside of this white house. Those who have come inside have had some difficulties. Dan scovino remains one of the only people there, the social media director. Others who work with the president for the last decade havent always fit entirely well within the confines of government. Jonathan, were watching this spectacle play out effectively. But there are some very serious questions to consider. One of them has to do with the issue of race. How this administration handles race. I want to play you a little of what omarosa had to say about hearing those apprentice tapes and get your reaction on the other side. How long is that tape . Its about three minutes. Audio or video . He was talking about some africanamericans in the production during the course of the apprentice. The people who have this tape intend to release this tape. Its basically a he said she said until we hear the tapes but with major implications. Huge implications. Weve heard this tape may or may not exist. A lot of people say it does. Omarosa says shes heard it. But lets just jump off something geoff said when he answered the initial question. There are no honorable people here. Omarosa, twhen was announced her book was coming out and she had recordings, obviously, everyone said oh, my, sure. Sure she does. No, she doesnt. What does she do . Boom. Theres the audio of general kelly there played on meet the press. And shockwaves around the country. But certainly within the white house. The fact shed tape him. And then today, she ratchets it up even more by producing another tape, this time a conversation with the president of the united states. You started out by saying the apprenti apprentice. Donald trump, great at the apprentice. Omarosa was a threetime contestant. She brought that mindset and ethos into the white house. Im just going to start this is a reality show and im going to call it the surreal white house of the united states. He keeps bringing her back episode after episode. Kellyanne conway was pressed on some of these broader issues surrounding diversity and she was asked to name a senior official of color, africanamerican, inside the west wing. Thats a very specific question. Take a look at how she responded. Who is the most prominent, highlevel adviser to the president on the west wing staff right now . Africanamerican . Yes. I would say that well, first of all, youre totally not covering the fact that our secretary of housing and urban development and world renowned im asking you about the white house staff. Im asking about the people thats important that hes well, the president works with secretary carson every day. Hes trying to break the back of this who there is in the white house staff right now . We have jerron who has done a fabulous job and very involved with hes been very involved with Jared Kushner and President Trump on prison reform. Hes been there from the beginning. He worked with omarosa and others does he have an office in the west wing . In the executive office of the president , yes. But not in the west wing . So just to point out an important aside here. Jerron is jerron smith. Hes someone who has been working with Jared Kushner on prison reform. White house officials tell me that henry childs has been in charge of outreach to africanamerican to the africanamerican community. Had dozens of meetings with leaders there, but how problematic is that exchange for this white house . And, frankly, the broader issue, the fact that they cant rattle off a number of names. I was looking over at the clock. That clip was 30something seconds long. If you are a senior official in the white house and you are asked a question that specific, you should be able to have an answer. The fact that she cant name an africanamerican senior africanamerican official in the west wing, which is already a very small crew of people, that means you have a problem. Its a shameful problem because, for someone who is supposed to be the president of the united states, to not have broader representation of the country among the people who are supposed to be advising you is wrong. And geoff, let me go back to you quickly because Katrina Pearson who is someone who worked on the Trump Campaign is working back against this notion that omarosas floating out there. Let me read you her statement. I have never heard President Trump ever use the derogatory language that omarosa claims. Also, i never confirmed the existence of an alleged tape from the apprentice to her as she claimed. Thats a complete fabrication by omarosa. So you do have pushback against this narrative. Thats right. And nearly all of the people, the wellknown names who have been implicated in a lot of the things omarosa has said, theyre all pushing back. Sean spicer told Kelly Odonnell he didnt have a nondisclosure in place when he got his deal as omarosa alleges. You have omarosa calling the president a racist, con man. Hes calling her a low life. And so you have this he said she said between two people with compromised credibility. Setting all of that aside, the Public Record is fairly complete with the president s own statements, his own policies, his own judicial appointees to the lower bench where americans can make up their own minds about where he stands on this larger issue of race. And its a great point. All of the different contradictions playing out. And lets listen to what geoff just referenced. The fact that omarosa told chuck todd over the weekend that she refused a lucrative offer to essentially stay silent. An nda. They were not often a real job. They told me i could work from home. If i even wanted to work. They didnt care if i showed up. There are several former employees from the white house who actually signed this agreement who are all being paid 15,000 for their silence. The only reason unhinged you believe all these people on the campaign that left the west wing in the campaign are being bought off . Absolutely. The campaign, the rnc and America First which is why sean spicer was describing donald trump as a unicorn jumping over rainbows because he signed this same agreement. Sean spicer saying he did not sign that agreement. But are you expecting that well hear about more ndas in the future . Certainly. In fact, President Trump when he was a candidate told me he wished if he was elected president , this was during the campaign, that he could get everybody in the entire administration to sign a nondisclosure agreement. I told him then thats not how it usually works. The government is full disclosure for the american people. But you have a president who comes out of the culture of entertainment and of the new York Business world and he is always demanded employees in the past to sign nondisclosure agreements. Got some of them to sign such documents during the transition period before he became a formal member of the u. S. Government. And so this is something that is going to continue to pop up because this is the way the president operates. All right, fantastic conversation. Robert costa, Geoff Bennett and Jonathan Capehart with me on set. Thanks to all of you. We have some breaking news to get to. Peter strzok, the fbi agent a member of the Mueller Investigation and became a target of President Trump has been fired from his job. Just moments ago, President Trump weighing in tweeting, agent peter strzok was just fired from the fbi. The list of bad players in the fbi and doj gets longer and longer based on the fact that strzok was in charge of the witch hunt. Will it be dropped . Its a total hoax. No obstruction. Just fired agent strzok formerly of the fbi was in charge of the crooked Hillary Clinton sham investigation. It was a total fraud on the American Public and should be properly redone. Nbc news justice correspondent Pete Williams joins us with all of the details. Pete, whats the latest . A lot of people thought peter strzok had already been fired. Technically, he wasnt really in active service. He wasnt fired from the fbi. He was removed from the robert Mueller Investigation last year when the Text Messages became public. And this really was Peter Strzoks downfall after his 22year career in the fbi as a counterintelligence agent. But it was disclosed that he had been texting with lisa page from the fbis general counsels office with some antitrump comments. And that was further clarified when the Justice Departments Inspector General in a report earlier this year disclosed some additional Text Messages. That made strzok the focal point for House Republicans critical of the Mueller Investigation. The fbi director chris wray said the culture of the fbi needed to be changed. There would be a new training for people on how to avoid this sort of thing and the proper disciplinary action would be taken. Now the fbi isnt commenting on this. Law enforcement officials have confirmed that he was fired. And the first word came from his lawyer golman who says the firing did not follow the fbis procedures. That the career fbi official who is responsible for employee discipline said strzok should get a 60day suspension and demotion from supervisory duties. But instead, he was fired. Golman in a statement says that all of the work, the congressional work, the Justice Department Inspector General investigation failed to produce what he calls a shred of evidence that special agent strzoks personal views ever affected his work and the lawyer says the decision to terminate was taken in response to political pressure and to punish special agent strzok for political speak protected by the first amendment. Now the Justice Department Inspector General said that they simply couldnt say for certain whether some of the decisions that agent strzok made during the investigation were affected by his views or not. They didnt say they were. They just said they couldnt say for certain they were not. In any event, hes been fired and certainly the statement from his lawyer, at least raises the possibility that they could pursue some legal action against the fbi or the Justice Department for the firing. Interesting. Pete, i know youve been tracking this from the very beginning and will continue to do so if there is any further action taken. Pete williams, thank you for that breaking report. Appreciate it. Coming up bad situation. How is Omarosa Manigault newman able to record her conversation with the chief of staff john kelly in one of the most sensitive rooms in the white house . This is Andrea Mitchell reports only to msnbc. This wifi is fast. I know i know i know i know when did brian move back in . Brians back . He doesnt get my room. Hes only going to be here for like a week. Like a month, tops. Oh boy. Wifi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. In many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40s. Former assistant to the president , Omarosa Manigault newman making bombshell claims in her book, including how she was fired from her job. Yesterday on meet the press, Manigault Newman releasing an audio recording of the conversation with chief of staff john kelly from the situation room. Take another listen. There are pretty significant legal issues that we hope dont develop into something that thatll make it ugly for you. But i think its important to understand that if we make this a friendly departure, we can all be, you know, you can look at your time here in the white house as a year of service to the nation. And you can go on without any type of difficulty in the future relative to your reputation. Can i ask you a couple questio