Over. An axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. Last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that i believe will open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations. Follow the money. Federal prosecutors in new york issue a sweeping subpoena for documents from the trump inaugural committee, investigating allegations of millions of dollars none documented donations, possibly from foreign contributors. Ive always thought that was the bigger problem for two reasons. One, because the Southern District of new york has no restrictions on their purview. Bob mueller has a task, its russian interference and potential collusion in the 2016 election. Southern district of new york is whatever the heck you want. And the waiting game. The governor of virginia trying to hang on amid mounting pressure, even as the Lieutenant Governor who would succeed him fiercely denies a Sexual Assault allegation from 2004. Does anybody think its a coincidence that on the eve of my potentially being elevated, thats when this uncorroborated smear comes out . Does anybody believe thats a coincidence . Good day, everyone, im Andrea Mitchell. President trump is preparing for his second state of the Union Address tonight, a speech delayed a week after losing a showdown with nancy pelosi over the government shutdown. The powerful speaker will be presiding just over the president s shoulder in a dramatic demonstration of the new reality the president faces, divided government. Filling the chamber as well, a new class of empowered democrats who have taken over the house majority. At least four prominent Democratic Senators running to replace him in 2020. The president s appearance tonight coming as he is threatening to declare a National Emergency to get the funds for his border wall, a challenge to Congressional Authority over Government Spending that his own Republican Senate leaders have warned him against. And hes also facing new legal challenges, as much as from new york prosecutors probing the possibility of illegal foreign contributions to his inaugural, as well as new revelations about his dismissive handling of intelligence briefings. Joining me now to talk about all of this, kristen welker, andy card, a former chief of staff to president george w. Bush, and here with me in new york, jeh johnson, former Homeland Security secretary under president obama. Welcome, all. Kristen at the white house, youve been briefed, youve been talking about officials. How does the president deliver this speech of getting together and fighting disharmony, given everything he has said, everything hes even been tweeting . Right. And andrea, fresh tweets this morning, taking aim at chuck schumer, the Senate Minority leader. A big back and forth between the two of them throughout the day. So thats the backdrop against which President Trump now, according to white house officials, is going to try to strike a spirit of bipartisanship. And you can see the tweet there, essentially saying, i see schumer is already criticizing my state of the union speech even though he hasnt seen it yet, hes just upset that he didnt win the senate. So really undercutting any tone of unity that he might hope to gain, hours before delivering that speech. But in terms of what hes going to focus on, officials here saying, look, he is going to talk about areas where he thinks there can be bipartisan agreement, areas like infrastructure and trade. And Kellyanne Conway earlier today seeming to indicate that he would talk about ways to combat hiv aids. Of course the big issue looming all of this, what will be front and center, immigration and the border wall. The issue that caused the government to shut down for 35 days, the issue that delayed this speech in the first place. A lot of questions about whether the president will declare a National Emergency tonight. I asked Kellyanne Conway about that earlier. Reporter is there any chance the president will declare a National Emergency tonight . President has said he can do that, he has an absolute right to do it. Reporter will he do it tonight . Hes never wanted to hes never wanted to to do that. He wants congress to finish its work. Seeming to indicate, andrea, hes not leaning in that direction. Of course a lot of republican allies are trying to urge him not to do that. Of course well all be watching the politics and the optics, the fact that House Speaker nancy pelosi will be sitting behind him, a sea of democrats in front of him, andrea. And robert costa, from your reporting, you talked to lindsey graham, i believe, about all of this. I wanted to play for everyone what senator cornyn had to say on monday about that Emergency Declaration the president has been threatening. I think its a dangerous step. One, because of the precedent it sets. Two, the president s going to get sued and it wont succeed in accomplishing his goal. And third, because i think ms. Pelosi may well introduce a resolution of disapproval that will pass the house and come over here and divide republicans. So to me it strikes me as not a good strategy. We know Mitch Mcconnell and now cornyn, the number two in the senate, have warned the president against this. What is lindsey graham, the president s chief defender in the senate, say . Senator graham tells me hes spoken with the president over the phone just a few hours ago and hes trying to urge the president to reconsider making a deal on immigration, lowering that threshold for Border Security and a barrier, a border wall, from 5. 7 billion to somewhere around 2 billion, maybe exchange some protections from the dreamers in there. The Senate Republicans here, talking to them outside the coffee shop, talking to them outside the cloak room, theyre trying to get this white house to back away. Theyre actually encouraged by the president s tweets this morning where he said you could have a socalled human wall. In their eyes, the president could be sending troops to the border rather than doing formal declaration of National Emergency. Jeh johnson, you were the secretary of Homeland Security. The president deploying the troops against the objections in fact of some of his military advisers, although they didnt object publicly at the time, because at the time they were trying to hang on, but then you saw what happened when jim mattis left, of course, over the syria withdrawal. But the border, the president is going to have guests in the galleries representing people who have been harmed, he says, from illegal immigrants. Hes going to try to dramatize the crisis as well as border the argument from border authorities. What are the facts on the ground . The facts on the ground are this, andrea. First of all, illegal migration on our southern border is a fraction of what it used to be 18 years ago, because of investments in that have been made in the bush, obama, clinton years. It is much harder now to cross our border illegally. Because of the investments we made in surveillance, technology, we have built a wall, a fence, pursuant to the secure fence act of 2006, and because of the economy in mexico. The economy in mexico is much improved. So its a traction of whfractio used to be. The demographic has changed. Its now families, women and children coming from Central America who are desperate to escape poverty and violence in that region and want a better life. Ask any Border Security expert what more is needed, theyll tell you a combination of technology, more planes, more lighting, more roads, and perhaps additional fencing or wall in places where it makes sense to have that, to either fortify or possible build on additional land. But simply building a wall for the sake of building a wall doesnt really make sense. It is not a wise investment of taxpayer money. And andy card, youve got a president here who has very poor relationships with people on the hill. Ive spoken to senators in both parties who say they dont even know who the legislative team is, who is negotiating for the president. Then you had the embarrassment for the Vice President as well as for the white house and Republican Leaders of agreeing to something that the Vice President said the president was going to accept before the shutdown and then he refused to go along with it. They say they dont know how to negotiate with him. How do you deal with that . Youre a former white house chief of staff. First of all, you want the government to work. You dont want it to be shut down because it doesnt have money and you dont want it to be shut down because people dont have the courage to work with each other. I want the president to stand up and say, lets work together. I think hes going to do that. I hope that he demonstrates that he will do that. But clearly the president has got to empower his team to be visible on capitol hill and to be listening and engaging in a constructive way, and calm the rhetoric down on both sides so that they can get together. I want our democracy to work. I want the government to be open. And i want the democracy to work. And i want the world to see that. The state of the Union Address used to be a fabulous opportunity to invite young people to see how our government is functioning. And im hoping people will watch the state of the union tonight, but i hope the government will demonstrate that it takes the hint of doing the job and getting things dong. Thats what should happen. One of the problems that hes had is the departure of so many cabinet officials. Take a look, andy, and all of you, at the people who were there last year this time who will not be there. And youve got people not yet confirmed, we just had an interior secretary, an acting interior secretary nominated for the job, a former lobbyist now from the Oil Companies representing interior. But look at all of the people who have since left. Andy card, doesnt this leave a president who is basically surrounded by a very poorly staffed team and a poorly staffed cabinet . First of all, i want the president to succeed in what hes trying to do. I agree with many of his policies. I dont like how he is talking about them and trying to get them done. I think he steps on his success all the time. Lets celebrate successes and try to build for more. But yes, you need to have a team of people who are dedicated to work. The president should have the courage to empower that team. Listen to the team and work constructively inside the administration to invite those people outside the administration to be part of the solution. Look, theres been much more turnover than has been normal. Its not good for the nature of the executive branch and its not good for the relationships that need to be built with the legislative branch to get things done. Congress is different than it was when the president took office. His cabinet is now different than when he first took office. Lets bring those differences to light so that we can address the problems and solve problems. Thats the way it should be done. Jeh johnson, youve watched white houses and youve served in the cabinet, you served in the cabinet and also over at the pentagon. This is very, very different. And arguably hes got his own style, he did not come from either the military or the political world. But the revelations about executive time that were revealed from those leaked documents to axios, have you ever seen a president of the United States who works this way . Well, first, before i take on executive time, i want to go back to something andy said. I hope the president s legislative team is telling him, you ought to accept whatever bipartisan compromise Congress Reaches on Border Security because at all costs we have to avoid another government shutdown. The damage from the last one is going to last months if not years. Every president has their own style, their own work habits, their own hours. Some make more effective, efficient use of their time. This notion of executive time, frankly, its been out there for quite a while. What i find most striking about this weeks revelation is that somebody took it upon themselves to leak those documents, which are really damaging to the president. Somebody very close to him decided to give all that to the press. At the same time, robert costa, you have a real war developing between the president and his Intelligence Community. And were going to explore this in the next block, but i wanted to ask you about what youre hearing from intelligence officials after the president was so dismissive of them in the interview with cbs. You see an unraveling across not only the Intelligence Community but across the republican party, the gop here in the senate breaking with the president on syria and afghanistan with that resolution just a few days ago. And they also are very concerned, republicans here in congress, about the institutional erosion. They see the president s positions, his agenda, even his attacks have had on the Intelligence Community. Thats create a gap between this white house and the political establishment, especially on the conservative side. And kristen welker, do you think well be hearing something definitive today or tomorrow about this upcoming summit with kim jongun . Andrea, i wouldnt be surprised if we learned more about the second summit with kim jongun, either leading up to the speech or directly after the speech. Look, the white house has been very clear, President Trump himself said, we will learn the details of where the speech was going to take place in the early part of this week, in or around the state of the union speech. Will it be something he talks about in the speech . That remains to be seen. But we know hes going to talk about his efforts to get north korea to dedenu nunuk nunuke de. Thank you all for start us off today. Coming up, will President Trump continue to contradict top intelligence officials about Global Threats in tonights state of the Union Address . Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. Hell. Choose glucerna, with slow release carbs to help manage blood sugar, and start making everyday progress. Glucerna. You might or joints. Hing for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. For the first time in two years, Senior Intelligence briefers are now breaking theyre silence, warning that the president is putting americas security in danger. In an article for time. Com, veteran journalist john walcott reports Agency Officials say President Trump displays willful ignorance when presented with his intelligence briefing, reporting that, quote, the officials, who include analysts who prepare trumps briefs and the briefers themselves describe futile attempts to keep his attention by using visual aids, confining briefing points to two or three sentences, and repeating his name and title as frequently as possible. Joining me now to talk about this and other Foreign Policy challenges, a former National Security adviser to president obama, and richard haas, president of the council on foreign relations. Welcome, both. Ben, first to you, this is the first time weve heard from the Intelligence Community itself, really striking back after the dismissive comments the president made on cbs, saying that his intelligence briefers need to go back to school. This was after, of course, they disagreed with many of his conclusions in their global threat warning. This is a dangerous pass. What is your take . Youre been inside the white house and youve been to all of these briefings. Yeah, no, look, andrea, ive never seen anything quite like it. I was in the pdb with president obama every morning. We relied on that intelligence. The fact that you see people speaking out i think indicates the alarm they feel. But also, andrea, the problem here is the differences arent just on degrees of analysis. These are fundamental issues about whether or not the president of the United States is making decisions based on facts. The Intelligence Community finds factually the iran is complying with the nuclear deal. Trump says theyre not. The Intelligence Community finds factually that isis is not defeated. Trump says they are. The Intelligence Community finds factually that north korea is not denuclearizing. Trump says hes eliminating the threat of north Koreas Nuclear weapons. Again, these arent shades of gray here. You have a president of the United States who refuses to acknowledge basic facts if they are inconvenient to the policies that hes trying to sell and the