Say about this controversy after the sort of the statement after statement that changed the story a little bit on donald trump jr. s meeting with this russian lawyer. He basically said my son is a high quality individual, hes been transparent and open. Hes come out and given the whole story. But there are a lot of questions that still remain and in the white house i think theyre very well aware these are not questions that are going to go away and theyre not questions that theyre prepared to take. Theres a lot of legal jeopardy around this meeting. Theres a question of whether the president himself knew about it. Of course we heard donald trump jr. Say in the interview last night that he had not discussed it with his father. But that is going to really hamstring their ability to get ahead of this story. I think there are a lot of questions about what more the president can say without getting a little too close to what is really one of the more damaging revelations of the last few weeks on this story. Trump jr. Saying it wasnt worthy of telling his father because it was a nothing
exists outside that west wing ecosystem, putting so much pressure on them right now . Sure. Well, first to be clear it wasnt actually us calling it a category 5 hurricane. That was a close republican ally of the white house calling it a category 5 hurricane and someone else compared it to House Of Cards on netflix. I think what the white house is feeling is a tremendous sense of frustration basically and even the people some people say this is a real issue. You cant argue with the facts. Maybe as julie just said, some issues of legal jeopardy for the president s son and potentially others who get ensnared. Even people who said this is overheated or overblown. This is not really a legal headache. Its a pr catastrophe and nightmare because its again this russia cloud that the white house cant seem to shake. Coming back over the administration. It something that upsets the president , makes him more prone to the sorts of tweets we have come to know that get him in trouble. And also again, distracts from his foreign trip he went on, theyre expecting good coverage
clinton russia. I would have wanted that in the hands of the fbi and off my computer as fast as possible. I think there was a lot more happening in realtime. I dont accept that the president didnt wasnt part of it. You know, the same day that donald jr. Accepted the invite to attend the meeting trump himself said, you know, in a few days were going to have a big speech that lays out the terrible things that Hillary Clinton has done. I remember that day, we put together a whole team to get ready to defend. Defend her. And that never came. This speech never came because i have to surmise they didnt get anything out of the meeting. Did you have a sense that any of this was going on . Obviously the intel agencies didnt come out until October The 7th to present what they knew. Did you on the Clinton Campaign feel like something was happening there . I suspected that it was we knew that the dnc had been hacked by that point. Right around that same day. Like within days of that. Of this meeting. And suspected it was the russians because it came from the Obama White House and that was normally who was hacking you. But never imagined at that point something at this level that the russians russians, you know, they hack all the time. They hack everybody and try to get information on the political candidates, not that theyd take the information and be part of the Leaking Targets of it. The defense from donald trump jr. Was twofold. Were new at this, i get the email, i have to replay to the email. The second part was yes, we had the meeting but no significant information exchanged hands, therefore, nothing happened. Nothing to be afraid of. They didnt see fit so report it. Jared kushner was in the room as well. Not only that but we had month after month of denial of anything to do with. We dont have anything to do with russia, we dont know where
naivete charge. Donald trump jr. Was quoted as saying a large amount of business came from russia. This was set up as an acquaintance in the Miss Universe contest held in moscow. So the connections between donald trump jr. , his father and russia are actually fairly extensive. From the psychological stand point, if this were the big nothing burger that trump and his team keep insisting it is, he wouldnt be so nervous about it. People arent nervous about nonscandals. Mark halperin, thats another layer to the story, reporting that donald trump himself, the president of the United States on the trip back from the g20 helped write and oversaw the writing of the response which was that this was a meeting between donald trump jr. And this russian intermediate about adoption policy out of russia. Obviously thats crumbled since then. But the point being, the
president of the United States was in the room crafting the response to this which turned out not to be true. Well, the minute we saw that statement the first one and then the second one a lot of us asked that question, it was asked on monday mornings morning joe where did that statement come from . I dont think we leaped to the conclusion that it was written by people in the government and approved by the president of the United States, but thats what the New York Times is reporting. This goes to one of the many layers of the onion that were not seeing right now. Which has to do with how much coordination there is amongst those who are involved here. Its one thing to coordinate when youre dealing with Press Inquiries or within an administration maybe dealing with the capitol hill. But this is more complicated. This involves Government Entities and private entities like don jr. And it involves an independent counsel who is looking at potential criminal charges. Coordination under most cases is fine. Coordination because it yielded a statement that was a series of statements that turned out to be
untrue even though they were echoed by the white house Chief Of StaffSunday Morning is a problem and may become a problem legally for some people. Ashley parker, we are hearing about shakeups in the west wing since after the president was inaugurationed. You have some reporting about ivanka trump and the president s soninlaw, Jared Kushner, pushing for a shakeup again. Yes. A report in in reporting the story we found out that Jared Kushner and ivanka trump have been pushing the president to get rid of Reince Priebus. Hes the one whos really earned their ire. That said, i have to say, youre right. This has been going on for a while. Just because two people are against you doesnt mean youll be gone. These are two powerful people but its entirely possible, sure theyre pushing for him to be out. Reince has other people he doesnt like. This is a white house riven by competing factions and its just sort of business as usual. Theres an element here of crying wolf. We have heard about Reince Priebus being run out for months and hes still sitting where hes sitting. For the president for all his firing on The Apprentice he doesnt like to fire people out all. If you start firing people, whom do you get to replace them . How do you find really top rank people who are going to come into this situation . Not only with the palpable chaos there is inside the white house, but with the potential legal jeopardy of, you know, going out and making representations that later are undermined by the president or by discoveries by investigators or whatever. Thats a real risk. I dont think a lot of people are going to be the president s the basic problem is that the president s political interests and his governance interests move in separate directions. The reason the president tweets is that it stirs the pot. It distracts the conversation. It outrages some segment of the media, especially perhaps you know, around these and other tables. That stirs the breitbart base. That works in his favor but its a disaster for actually passing health care or any other form of major legislation because you have a white house thats sort of collapsing on itself instead of trying to work with congress. As we go to break, i want to give you the opportunity to respond to a criticism raised over the last 24 hours, talking about the Clinton Campaign and the story on January The 11th about ukrainian efforts to sabotage trump. The government officials, the piece reads tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They disseminated documents implementing a top aide in corruption and they helped to research damaging information on trump. The criticism was this was happening on the other side too, not just a trump russia
allegation. There was a clinton ukraine allegation. I think they relate it back to the one clinton staffer i never met. And if this is about directing the hacking of the rnc and of Donald TrumpsChief Of Staff and that this woman these officials met personally with podesta and Chelsea Clinton and others, then youre quite confident in saying that . Im quite confident in saying that. We would understand the danger that would represent. Were just Getting Started here. Kelly odonnell, ashley parker, thank you for reporting. Coming up, donald trump jr. s quote love affair with moscow amid growing fallout, new reporting about his own ties to russia. Ties that began long before his fathers president ial run. Plus, President Trumps nominee to be the next fbi
director in the hot seat today. Senators grilling him on everything from the firing of james comey to the russia investigation and the efforts of special counsel, robert mueller. I would consider an effort to tamper with Director Muellers investigation to be unacceptable and inappropriate and would need to be dealt with very sternly and appropriately indeed. When its time to move to Underwear Toddlers see things a bit differently thanks to Pampers Easy Ups while they see their first underwear you see an easy way to potty train Pampers Easy Ups our first and only Training Underwear with an allaround stretchy waistband and pampers Superior Protection so youll see fewer leaks and theyll see their first underwear Pampers Easy Ups, the easiest way to underwear. Pampers i just want to find a used car start at the new carfax. Com show me used trucks with one owner. Pretty cool. [laughs] ah. Ahem. Show me the carfax. Start your used car search at the allnew carfax. Com. Only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol®
of the don jr. Email and other allegations that this whole thing about Trump Campaign in russia is a witchhunt . Is that a fair description of what were all dealing with in america . Well, senator i cant speak to the basis for those comments. I can tell you my experience im asking you as the future fbi director, do you consider this endeavor a witchhunt . I do not consider Director Mueller to be on a witchhunt. That was earlier today on capitol hill. The Confirmation Hearing for fbi director the nominee chris wray. The man President Trump has chosen to fill this seat left vacant after the firing of james comey. The trump Russian Collusion and donald trump jr. s emails showing he was willing to work with russia to help swing the election in his fathers favor. Heres more with Lindsey Graham who pushed for his thoughts on the actions of don jr. Should donald trump jr. Have taken that meeting . Well, senator, i dont
hearing for first time your description of it so im not really in a position to speak to it. Let me ask you this. If i got a call from someone saying that the russian government wants to help Lindsey Graham get elected, they have dirt on the opponent, should i take that meeting . Inyoud want to consult i think if you get a call from somebody suggesting that a Foreign Government wants to help you, by disparaging your opponent, tell us all to call the fbi. To the members of this committee, any threat or effort to interfere with our elections from any nation state or any nonstate actor is a kind of thing the fbi would want to know. All right. So ill take it that we should call you and thats great
answer. A great answer, pal says senator Garrett Hague is joining us from capitol hill and bill gavin. Garrett, pretty positive reviews across the line from democrats and republicans for the performance of chris wray today. Yeah. Willie, first of all thats why so many people on the hill appreciate graham. You have to never wonder what hes thinking about the issues. As for chris wray i think he pretty well nailed it today. The republicans were going to support him coming in this morning. I talked to probably the majority of the democrats on the committee afterwards and even those who werent ready to say theyd vote for him came away very impressed. I think the reason for that is he answered sort of the fundamental question here which was was he going to be the director of the fbi or Donald Trumps director of the fbi and based on some of the answers to the questions you have already played, you know, saying he doesnt think the Mueller Investigation is a witchhunt,
saying hed resign if he was asked to do something he thought was illegal or unethical, talking to the committee if he were asked to interfere or change an investigation in any way. He checked a number of the boxes and put himself on the record not just saying i will be independent but answering these questions in a way that suggests he really means it. The caveat to all of this, Dianne Feinstein the ranking democrat who says she does plan to vote for him. She said we wont know how strong his convictions are until theyre tested. I want sounds like it sounds like theyll be tested. I dont think the democrats will try to hold this vote up or try to oppose him. Bill gavin, as someone who served as the Assistant Director to the fbi, boy, what a moment to walk into this job. Yes, youre the nominee of President Trump, but there are investigations going on everywhere you look and you know that the president fired the last fbi director. Willie, i was most impressed with chris wrays responses and the way he answered the questions today. It showed his personality. It showed his temperament. It showed his legal acumen in a lot of these questions. And it also showed he fully understands the internal workings of both the fbi and the attorney generals office. Thats a big plus in Something Like this and i think somebody sprinkled ground glass on Lindsey Grahams wheaties this morning, but thement be line the way he the bottom line is he didnt lose his composure. And he showed a lot of depth of thought and honesty in the questions. I think that anybody who looks at chris wray as an individual who, you know, might be a little low key, dont confuse low key with being naive. I have been around long enough and in the fbi long enough to find that some low key individuals are silent killers. I just think that this after watching hip today i didnt know him from the past i go back to work for Christopher Wray in a heart beat. Given what we know about President Trumps relationship with the previous fbi director and that he demanded an oath of loyalty from his fbi director what do you think should be the mindset of chris wray coming into all hes coming into right now . I think hes a very, very steep Learning Curve in terms of whats going on. He kind of demonstrated that today with his answers. It is a steep Learning Curve for him, but i also think that if the president of the United States demands a loyalty oath for him, the next thing he hears from chris wray is a letter of resignation. Hes a guy who will stand up for his beliefs. He expressed that today. I think he did it very well. Let me ask you about chris wray, a guy that donald trump nominated obviously. Republicanss and democrats, Dianne Feinstein among them saying he did well today. Im going to vote yes for him. What does the job look like in a way that was different maybe for a previous fbi director . I think the key difference is that wray is now entrusted with maintaining the integrity of government. Its not just simply about the fbi performing the tasks you expect the bureau to perform. Its about knowledge that the key people in touch stone institutions in this country not political hacks coming out of Something Like an american version of a chavista government. It sends a signal of government that confidence is at an all time low and theyre attacking the deep state as if its some kind of conspiracy against their elected officials. Hes s