Conduct. Investigate al franken and the allegations made by his accuser, is it also fair to investigate the accusations against him . This was covered extensively during the campaign. We addressed it then. The American People spoke very loud and clear when they elected this president. How is this different . Senator franken has admitted wrongdoing and the president hasnt. Heres a president s tweet about franken. The al frankenstipe pictuein pi really bad. Speaks a thousand words. Where do his hand goes in pictures two, three, four, five and six while she sleeps . Silence from trump and the nine women who have recounted sexual encounters with roy moore. Since trump has used his bully pulpit, well look at how it stacks up to Donald Trumps description of his own conduct. It happened so fast and he just mashed his lips against my face and stuck his tongue in my mouth so fast. Automatically attracted to i just start kissing them. Its like a magnet. Al doing his, you know this on my breast like looking at the camera smirking and smiling like, hey, look at me. When you are a star, they let you do it. Grab them by the [ bleep ]. You can do anything. And here we are. Happy friday. Joining me to break it all down, some of our favorite friends and reporters. An msnbc analyst peter baker. Washington post White House Correspondent anne guerin and eli stokels. I am sure this white house would rather not be relitigating the accusations from, we looked it up today, 13 women who have accused donald trump of Sexual Harassment and or Sexual Misconduct. But their answer doesnt add up to the president s voice on that tape. They say he didnt admit wrongdoing. He just described what is to any man or womans ears a sexual assault. He did. Thats exactly right. He later apologized for it and said thats not reflective of his views of women and then later dismissed it as locker room talk. Not something i actually did. Just something i talked about with another guy. Dont take it too seriously. But as you say, as we know now, obviously, thats exactly what some of these women have accused not only him of doing but other prominent figures in American Society over the last few weeks. And its not a laughing issue. And hes never admitted anything other than that videotape conversation. He has continued to deny any allegation against him by any of those 13 women you mentioned. Sarah sanders again denied them and said they are all not telling the truth and that thats the difference between him and al franken. Al franken admitted it, she says, and the president has denied it. It was a fascinating distinction drawn by Sarah Huckabee sanders. The distinction wasnt that donald trump didnt do those things. The distinction was the denial. It may be ay is mantsic difference but for a white house under investigation by bob mueller, a white house under investigation by the Senate Judiciary committee, by the Senate Intelligence committee and by the house Intelligence Committee and i think at least one other, i am guessing that the white house spokesperson is pretty careful with the words she chooses. Yes, and this is the second day in a row that she was asked a lot of questions about the roy moore case with todays edition of a lot of questions about the senator franken case as well. I think the distinction she was making there is a tricky one and one thats going to be difficult for the white house to hold onto for the all the basically not only in the roy moore case for the almost month until that election, but also however long it takes for the franken situation to play out. And thats basically that al franken had admitted wrongdoing in a particular case. And although as peter said the president , as a candidate, apologized for the words he used in that access hollywood recording, he isnt speaking there apparently about a particular woman at a particular time. Hes talking about activity in the aggregate in crude terms for which he later apologized but she is maintaining, she sarah sanders, is maintaining neerths that nor anything else adds up to an admission of wrongdoing against any of the people in the cases of any of the people who have accused now President Trump of Sexual Misconduct or worse. Eli, there was a part of that tape where he talks about a former media personality. He says he was going to take her furniture shopping. He says i moved on her like a bitch. I dont even know if thats a word i can say on tv, but i just said it. He does describe certain predatory behavior around a specific woman. The difference between franken and trump and what justifies trump trolling franken on twitter last night at 10 20 is that franken admitted and apologized for misconduct. Donald trumps describing his own conduct with women was locker room talk, the American People voted for him anyway and is that it . And is that sustainable . Thats basically it. You just hit on something we should talk about, which is she said he won. That was an explanation in and of itself was that al franken was contrite. Donald trump never has shown any contrition except in that very short taped apology when he said thats not reflective of him. But hes never admitted it, per se, and hes never really he sort of brushed it off afterwards. And shes saying because he won the election, the American People must not really care about it. Hes criticizing the exact same behavior because it can now be pinned on a democrat. Somebody in the opposite political party. For days now hes refused to speak publicly himself about roy moore, somebody who he has endorsed. Theyve ducked a lot of questions on whether the president would encourage people to alabama to vote for roy moore. They cant answer those questions. Hes effectively disparaging, criticizing the behavior when it comes from al franken. Hes on tape basically saying the same thing. And frank enstein. He has this tendency of making of cutesy names. The idea its sort of a joke. Whether its a political opponent or someone in your own party but just to make light of it and to lampoon al franken as frankenstein. I dont think he even spelled it right but thats another thing that reveals a lack of seriousness, a reflection about the topic. Thats a great point. Let me bring in the rest of the panel. Jen palmierri. The rev al sharpton, host of politics nation and president of the National Action network is here. And peter is staying with us. I want to bring you in, jen, on this specific question of for donald trump, Sexual Harassment being for donald trump, for sean hannity, for a few other select spots on fox being a partisan issue where they go wall to wall if its Harvey Weinstein or al franken and where they, you know, sean hannity saw fit to leave it up to alabama to decide whether roy moores assault on nine women who were ages 14 to 28. Every last one of them in incredibly vulnerable positions. He was in his early 30s. That doesnt justify the same scrutiny and for donald trump the same twitter attention and as eli said, cutesy nicknames as a democrat. Its the its like a weaponization, political weaponization of Sexual Harassment. And its just the height of cynicism and its not honestly, thats what i would expect from donald trump. And its what you expect from sean hannity. But its not just them. Its Mitch Mcconnell who was very quick to call for ethics investigation of senator franken, which is an appropriate thing to do, but he was not sincere in doing that. But he also Mitch Mcconnell is interesting because he also was the first big National Republican figure to say these words. I believe the women about roy moores accusers. I believe the women about roy moores accusers, but where is the investigation of President Trump . And he what i found so disturbing about that access Hollywood Tape is they let you do whatever they want. Like that is not thats about power. Thats about dominating women. And he is going to continue hes never going to be held accountable for this. The test is whether the person admits its true. Thats when you have an investigation. Until republicans on the hill Start Holding him accountable for this and for russia transgressions, too. I think you can have morality based on who is the accused or who is the accuser. You have to have one standard. And i think when you see the president select to go after al franken but does not deal with his own behavior, ignores the key race in the country now with roy moore. Ignored all of the executives at fox. Then you dont have the moral authority to really call anything out on franken. One of the things that gives you moral authority is you must be consistent and have one standing. I want to play for you, peter baker, a twisted is the only description i can find. This is roy moores wife saying the president owes her a thank you. Lets watch. I personally think he owes us a thank you. Have you noticed youre not hearing too much about russia . To the president , i would say now is a good time to get some things done in congress. Mrs. Moore, wait until the b block. Peter baker, what say you about roy moore and his wife thinking that the president should thank them . Well, its a fairly its a fairly cynical point view of that roy moores case of Sexual Misconduct allegations have taken attention away from other things that the white house would prefer not to talk about. I dont think it really changes anything important. There are other issues that people in washington can walk and chew gum at the same time. Robert mueller has not stopped his investigation. And all the issues are being covered and will be covered in the media in the days to come. But its let me ask you about the power imbalance because what struck me there is the moores have been emboldened by the standing they know they have. This was a power struggle and steve bannon, roy moore and sean hannity won. They directed the president. You want to talk about the president being someones puppet . His puppet strings have been pulled. He has followed Sean Hannitys lead on the roy moore scandal. We have a lot of conversations about whether putins pulling the strings on a world stage. Donald trump has followed the far right fringe of the conservative media. He hasnt even followed all of fox. Its steve bannon who is stick with roy moore who views this as an access hollywood moment and sean hannity who has said after one night this week trying to say he wanted to see more evidence of roy moores innocence, after hes made that comment, five more accusers came forward. This is a power struggle and bannon and the moores won and the Washington Republicans lost. Isnt that the case . Isnt that the calculation trump has made . President trump was for luther strange. The establishments choice in the republican primary who lost to roy moore and felt grieved about it. He was aggrieved he was nput in the position of being on the wrong side which bannon was representing by endorsing roy moore. Clearly he doesnt want to make what he sees as the same mistake twice in alabama. You know, its a very unusual and awkward situation for a president to be in a situation where he is accused of such things and chooses to come out and attack others for similar behavior. Most politicians would tell you thats not the thing you do. You keep quiet. You dont bring up a situation where your own actions are going to, therefore, naturally be call into question. Okay. I want to read you something from the Washington Post. This is written by one of your colleagues. Moore is far from the republicans biggest worry. The elephant in the room is the president whose alleged actions were more numerous than moores. The long list of donald trump accusers detailed accounts of groping and unconsented kissing. Trump denied all allegations and yet republicans backed him in 2016 and stand by him to this day. Not to put too fine a point on it but if franken and moore arent fit for the senate. I wonder if the me, too, moment might catch this white house off guard. Have they not adequately adjusted any of their statements about these 13 women who have accused the president to sort of exist and sustain them through the me, too, moment thats sweeping this country and every industry . Thats a great question. Certainly we didnt hear it today in the Sarah Huckabee sanders briefing. She just very, you know, dealt with it by saying the president has always denied these allegations and continues to do so. However, what were seeing here is a National Moment that is going to go on. And it remains to be seen whether the president himself and those who speak for him can continue to say, well, that is in the past. The president has always denied it and, oh, by the way, he won the election. Whether that continues to be an argument that satisfies republicans, satisfies, frankly, met trumps many supporters, it is unknown, and i think it will go on that will last longer than the resolution certainly in the roy moore election. Jen, i want to ask you the same question. Senator gillibrand is on the record with our own kasie hunt relitigating the facts of president bill clintons conduct while in office. I was struck by my colleague chris hay whoes who tweeted thi. As gross and cynical and hypocritical as the rights what about bill clintons stuff what are your thoughts about relitigating all of that . I accept its going to happen. Thats part of the political process. It happened a lot in the 2016 campaign. I would say this. I think the Monica Lewinsky was my intern and the relationship the president had with her was very inappropriate and i feel that he was held accountable for that. He was impeached over that. I dont think he should have been impeached but he was. It was a consensual relationship but he was the president of the United States and she was a 24yearold intern. Thats taking advantage of a power dynamic on an historic scale. But i dont believe but the republicans took it, politicized it, they made it about him and i dont think he should resign or have been impeached. I do think i ran into monica for the first time in 20 years in april. I told her that i was really sorry just for what everything that she had been through. She and this is like among the things thats changing now, which is good. She her whole life is defined by this one mistake and her life was just, i hate to say it was ruined because i hope that its not but her whole life is defined by this one mistake that she did. And that shouldnt that they did. Not just her. Both of them. And that the and thats what thats how it came out in the wash with the way that story got covered and dealt with. And, you know, i is it a cheap shot she, you know, thats what i feel like thats the thing thats going to change now so thats a positive development. She gave an unbelievable ted talk about being sort of the first person ever to be bullied by the internet. Its incredible. She doesnt feel like she was a victim until then, which is important to understand. Let me just put you on the spot and ask you how you feel as someone who worked for the clintons seeing someone like kristen gilli brand apply the politics of good to bill clinton. Its just the clintons have done an enormous amount of good in this country and, despite that, they got friends that are not always going to be there for them and its something ive seen happen to them quite a bit, but, you know, theyll survive. I think that, you know, im with chris hayes. We have to deal with a day of reckoning. But at the same time, bill clinton was impeached. And many of use. For perjury. The articles of impeachment. He was not convicted but he was impeached for everything that was wrapped up and a lot of us were saying at that time, well, wait a minute. Are we politicizing this. I think youve got to decide what is the standard. What jenny said is very important. Monica lewinsky was not charging bill clinton with something whereas talking about women here who said that i, against my will, against any consent, was treated in a certain way. So weve got to decide, y bill clinton was wrong. Yes it was inappropriate, but how we litigate this, weve got to decide where we draw the line here. And i think were trying to litigate something here that was 20 or 30 years ago as if its the same thing today of minors thats making a charge when you are dealing with not a charge here but something that was found while investigating for something else. And literally chase Monica Lewinsky down to confirm or testify to what happened. Doesnt excuse it, but lets not blur the lines here on what were talking about. Lets all be go ahead. Sorry, its peter. I wanted to jump in. I think its fair to point out that the allegations against president clinton were not just about Monica Lewinsky who did engage in a consensual relationship with him. There were other allegations that were of nonconsensual behavior. Thats true. Now president clintons lawyers disputed them and tried to poke holes in their stories and maybe some of their stories are correct. Maybe some are not. The issues go beyond a consensual affair. This week i talked to paula jones, kathleen willie, Juanita Broderick was on another network. These women feel theyre being treated more seriously than they have in the past and they are grateful for that. Theres some rethinking about whether or not those cases should be viewed in a different light today. And i agree with that. And thats the difference. I think hes absolutely right. If thats going to be the standard. But again, where is the standard . If were going to go back to former president clinton with that standard, then weve got to bring it current to the standard on donald trump. I know were out of time, but there are these are the 13 women who have accused President Trump. Virginia, heller, summer zirbos, kristen anderson, mcgilvrey. Former miss utah temple tagger, jill hearth, mul