First reacting by his aides alerted by peter alex andander. Theres an anonymous oped that says im part of the administration. We have somebody in the failing New York Times talking about hes part of the resistance. Its really a disgrace. I will say this, nobody has done what this administration has done in terms of getting things passed and getting things through. When you tell me about some anonymous source within the administration, probably who is failing and probably here for all the wrong reasons. Today top cabinet officials denying they are the anonymous writer. Vice president pence, director of national intelligence, dan coates, jim mattis, omb director, treasury secretary steve mnuchin, ben carson. Mike pom ppeo responding during visit to india today. Sdp if that piece is true, if its described as Senior Administration official, they should not have chosen to take a disgruntled, deceptive, bad actors word for anything and put it in their newspaper. Its sad more than anything else that our nation comes to where, if it is what its purported to be, its sad that you have someone who would make that choice. He said it was not me. Joining me is Kristen Welker and kasie hunt. Kristen, the last 24 hours extraordinary and the word volcanic says everything. Reporter it says everything. The fact that President Trump erupted with volcanic anger according to multiple sources trying to determine who would have written this oped. The broader point is this is a president who doesnt know who he can trust. Theres finger pointing within this administration. I spoke with a source with the thinking inside the white house overnight who said this. Were in this together and were focused on the policy and the political travel that the president has. Its serious work that were doing. A sense that they are closing ranks to some extent. Again, trying to figure out who this person is that would write this and it echoes something in Bob Woodwards book. Theres top officials who, from their perspective, feel as though they need to protect the country from the president. You saw that in some of the excerpts from woodwards book fear in which rob porter, gary cohen would swipe papers from the president s desk to keep him from signing onto certain policies they deem dangerous. Theres a broader concern this will undercut his ability to carry out his legislative agenda. This is a crisis within the administration and for the country and what does it mean for the midterms. Thats the other real concern within republican circles. Could this not make it even more difficult for republicans to hold onto the house. President trump will be on the campaign trail a little bit later on today when he heads to montana. To that very point, paul ryan speaking out. One ocf the issues is what will be the impact on the republican leaders, who many people, including republicans, say have really been pretty much spineless against what the president has done or the dysfunction of this white house. The descriptions in the book. I want to ask you on the other side. A person who works in the administration serves at pleasure of the president. Its a person who obviously is living in dishonesty. It doesnt help the president. If youre not interested in helping the president , you shouldnt work for the president. Thats a widely held view, correct . Reporter it is. The reality is even though this feels like an order of magnitude larger than many of the other crisis that we have asked the members of congress about as it regards this volatile president , this is a big deal. The posture is basically the same, which is to say he elaborated later on in the press conference, he says this isnt my responsibility. My responsibility is to pass laws. My responsibility is to try and help the american people. He pointed to the tax cuts, to low unemployment et cetera. Thats not playing well in many corners of his party and critics of the president. Paul ryan is somebody who is leaving washington. You can sense that in his News Conference as well. He had sort of a relaxed air about him. Kind of smiling and joking about other questions. Not this one in particular. Hes not going to be here in a couple of months. I think that action says more than anything else while yes in public, they say these defenses in private. The conversations that go on in these hallways among republicans sound a lot like the oped in the New York Times. Thats what senator corker said. We knew all of this. Those who have been critical of the president within his own party are few in number but they are leaving. Paul ryan has not bp theen that critical. I want to read a bit from this oped. One of the quotations from this any time you can grab a speaker just try to trip someone up or chase them down. I was going to read one of the relevant quotes is the root of the problem is the president s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows hes not works with discernible decisi principles that guide his decision making. At best hes invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst hes attacked them outright. Pretty corrosive criticism. Ruth marcus, youre the deputy editorial page writer at the washington post. I kn explain the firewall. The church state firewall that does exist between the news pages and edtorial pages. We talk about it in terms of separation of church and state. I assume the New York Times handles things the same way. Opo opeds that come to up are handled separate from the news decision making. The decision about whether to accept an oped, whether to grant anonimity. We would probably let our colleagues know very close to the point that we had something newsworthy coming. They would see it when the public saw it. To agree to do something is a high bar. They say its a senior official. I want to play a bit from the blog of the Editorial Page Editor explaining as best they would what this means. You describe the writer only as a Senior Administration official. Can you help people understand a little bit more or even just a little bit what that phrase means. Thats one of the questions i feel like i cant answer. I feel like we followed a definition thats used by our news room in the past. At this point, how many people at the times know who their writer is . I cant tell you. Im not going to tell you an exact number. Let me just say its a very small number. Now that the president is calling for times to disclose that, are there any circumstances that you can concede under which the times will share the identity of this person . I cannot. Not very much clarity, if at all from the New York Times. Understanding the need to preserve anonymity of the writer. The white house is not sitting still for this. We see Sarah Sanders tweeting out a phone number. Tweeting out to call the New York Times editorial page. They posted the wrong number. The president s immediate tweet treason in capital letters indicates the ferocity of his response even though its the wrong definition of treason. Reporter it is. Under a Legal Definition this wouldnt be characterized as treason according to Pete Williams. I think this is what youll see from this president and some of his closest allies who were on the air waves overnight. Some saying this is an administrative coup. They are using the strongest terms possible to try to explain whats happening. They see this threat as one thats fundamental to the president s very power and his ability to govern this country. Its important to press that other allies of the president have said hold on, lets not go that far. Lets not use that type of inflammatory language. Clearly, the president has chosen to do so. We sdroents a briefing on the schedule. Were hoping well be able to shout questions to President Trump. He was in the mood for talking yesterday. Will he have more to say today . I think its important to stress even though the president and Sarah Sanders are trying to call out this person, the times digging in. I think thats the strategy. The bear knuckle strategy well see moving forward. Rear knucklel see moving forward. Ear knuckle well see moving forward. Ar knul see moving forward. R knuckle st see moving forward. Knuckle str see moving forward. Knuckle str see moving forward. Knuckle stre moving forward. A knuckle strate see moving forward. R knuckle st see moving forward. E knuckle st see moving forward. John brennan was on morning show and asked about this kind of criticism and how it reflects the dysfunction of National Security. If you were briefing an american president on this american president , what would be the top line of your psychological profile . That as we anticipated, this individual is going to be facing increasing pressure from within and that the walls are collapsing around. His mercurial and reckless nature might lead him to do something rash. Its very clear to all of you that the president has really upset the National Security team and the Foreign Policy team in a lot of ways. Not just the Justice Department and others but ruth marcus, we see hes praising kim jongun at the same time the Justice Department is indicting north korea for its hacking attacks against sony and other global hacking attacks. The putin issue. Weve seen a lot of this dysfunction. What does it say to you . The reaction to this oped is ill lou because its so reenforces everything that weve already heard about this president from day one or day before one. Everything that wev heard about this president from day one or day before one. From the massive leaks inside the white house, from the earlier books, from the much more credible and trustworthy reporting from bob woodward and now this oped. They are not telling different stories. They are telling the same story about an amoral, erratic president and the notion from inside the white house that they are all in this together, thats not the way this white house is behaving. They are behaving like people who are needing to look out for themselves. I wanted to pin one thing down. The rosen bebergs were not acc d ed of treason. You have to be going against a doll declared enemy of the United States. Of treason. You have to be going against a declared enemy of the United States. I think when the president says treason, hes thinking of it as being against himself. He sees himself as the embodiment of the state and the count country. He is not. Disloyalty, though hes not good at practicing loyalty, disloyalty is thing that sets him off. I understand in his own mind he sees this as treasonous. I see it as illustrative of the chaos hes brought to the United States government. I know youll be track all reaction coming up. Thanks. Coming up, fireworks. Fireworks after sparring all night over the release of documents being held back by republicans. The senators are grilling Brett Kavanaugh. Theyre in a break right now. Well have the latest. A break r. Well have the latest. Ronmentaly packaging for restaurants. And weve grown substantially. So i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. I earn unlimited 2 cash back on everything i buy. And last year, i earned 36,000 in cash back. Thats right, 36,000. Which i used to offer Health Insurance to my employees. 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And this is moving day with Reliable Service appointments in a twohour window so youre up and running in no time. Show me decorating shows. This is staying connected with xfinity to make moving. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and twohour appointment windows. Click, call or visit a store today. Supreme Court NomineeBrett Kavanaugh was back in the hot seat for a Third Straight day. This morning more fireworks over the Trump White House blocking democrats from seeing many of cavanau kavanaughs legal papers. Overnight cory booker threatened to release a document. Another threatened him with expulsion. I violate because i sincerely believe the public deserves to know this nominees record. In this case his record on issues of race and the law. I could not understand and i violated this rule knowingly why these issues should be withheld from the public. I appreciate the comments of my colleagues. This is about the closest ill have in my i am a spartacus moment. Any who shall disclose including the proceedings shall be liable if a senator to suffer expulsion from the body and if an officer or employee to dismissal from the service of the senate. By the rule and bring the charges. All of us are ready to face that rule on the bogus designation of committee confidential. Joining me now nbc news justice correspondent Pete Williams and acting solicitor general. Welcome both. Neil and pete, this was pretty extraordinary because booker deliberately violated the confidentiality releasing the document that he says related to the views of the nominee on racial issues, racial profiling, he claimed. In response attorney general from texas read the riot act to him and every other democrat on the Committee Said im with booker and if youre going to expel him, expel all of us. It was quite a moment and a lot of arguing. Its been hard to tell go ahead. Pete go ahead and then neil. Its been hard to tell whether this a confirmation hearing for Brett Kavanaugh or about documents. The democrats are saying by hiding the documents the republican have made them more significant as they really are as fore bbidden grutfruit. It means the senators could see them but cant make them public. It led to more questioning today. We know what was behind the questioning yesterday that seemedseem ed opaque. One of the email s a 2003 email in which brett tkavanaug is asked about talking points for a judge to be confirmed. He said im not sure if they are concerned since the court could overrule its precedent and three justices could do so. He said what i meant is i didnt think the talking points accurately reflected the view of all legal sko lcholarscholars. He gave a very narrow answer to the question. He cleared up something that seemed very mysterious last night when late many the evening Tamala Harris asked Brett Kavanaugh whether he had any mee meetings with the lawyers from Mark Kazowitz was acting as the lawyer for the president. He said i cant answer that question. I dont know who all the lawyers are. Today given another chance to answer the question, he said i dont recall any conferrinversc. Ive given no previews, forecast, winks about my view or how i would rule about any questions from the mueller investigation. Lets play that exchange you just referenced. It was close to 10 00 last night when she finally got her turn to ask questions. Have you discussed mueller or his investigation with another anyone at the law firm founded by mark kasowitzi President Trump personal lawyer. Be sure about your answer, sir. Im not remembering but if you have something you want are you certain youve not had a conversation . Yes or no. I need to know im not sure i know everyone who knows at the law firm. I dont think you need to. I think you need know who you talked to. Im not remembering. Im happy to be refreshed. I think youre thinking of someone and you dont want to tell us. Theres a big insinuation there this pete just cleared or explained his explanation for today. The abortion issue also. For that document to be declared confidential the democrats could argue why would that document be declared confidential. Theres nothing classified about it. Its controversial. It opens up a whole area of whether he did have questions about whether roe is settled law back when he was a white house lawyer. This does get to the heart of the question as to whether this process is as transparent as it was when elena kagan was being confirmed. 100 i agree. I was her deputy during her hearings. All documents from her in the white house were produced. I do think this roe versus wade document is really significant because we already know this is the most consequenial supreme Court Nominee. When it came to things like roe, was it settled precedent, he gave that answer to susan kol li collins. Remember roe is the one case the Supreme Court in 1992 in a decision coauthored by Justice Kennedy for judge kavanaugh is trying to replace, the Supreme Court described it as something that cant be overruled. If judge kavanaugh believes this he believes this about any particular decision. It opens up yesterday every time he got a question about affirmative action, race, samesex marriage, environmental regulations the answer was pres de precedent. This email will feed the opposition to say you dont believe that much in precedent. You dont believe it for