Im Ayman Mohyeldin alongside alex in for yasmin. Amazing we made it through the week with everything that happened. And the nevada caucuses are tomorrow. And South Carolina after that. And super tuesday right after that. Buckle up. It never ends. We begin with new information on why the president is replacing the nations top spy chief, a career loyalist, acting director of National IntelligenceJoseph Maguire who was under consideration to be the permanent dni was pushed aside because the president was angry that lawmakers were briefed on russias plans to help him get reelected. News of the briefing which was held last thursday was first reported by the New York Times. In fact, sources tell both the times and the Washington Post that the president erupted at maguire the next day, concerned the democrats would use the information against him. A former official tells nbc news that the office of the director of National Intelligence is nearing a melt down over maguires removal and the reasons behind it. As ken dilanian and Andrea Mitchell report, trump is punishing intelligence officials for providing accurate intelligence to members of congress who are cleared to receive it. We should note that maguires testimony in september when he told lawmakers that the whistleblower quote did the right thing and followed the law every step of the way, by reporting his concerns or her concerns over the president s phone call with ukraines president. Trump sent shock waves through the Intelligence Community when he announced wednesday that one of his most partisan allies, the u. S. Ambassador to germany, Richard Grenell would replace maguires acting dni despite having no intelligence experience. Last night the president tweeted his intense to nominate someone else for the job quote soon. A former aide to devin nunes, four sources a telling politico this. This move comes after President Trumps nomination of grenell who hasnt served in any u. S. Intelligence agency as we have been saying this to be the new acting director of National Intelligence, a position that oversees all 17 u. S. Spy agencies. Patel, a former Top National Security council official was a key staffer on the House Intelligence Committee and the lead author of a report that helped republicans discredit the russia investigation. Patel will not require Senate Confirmation to serve in the role. Patel did not immediately respond to politicos request for comment on the story, lets get comments, go to washington. The guy who broke the story. Daniel litman, youre the man on this one. Its a big one. Were going to get to that in a moment. I want to talk about the political implications to oust the current dni. Republicans, career officials, how have they reacted to this . They are kind of pulling their hair out because you can imagine that thats not a good reason to remove an acting dni, Joseph Maguire who by all accounts is well respected in the Intelligence Community just because he gave a briefing to congress about important security threats. Shouldnt we be on the lookout for russia interfering, but thats a bridge too far for the president who does not Want Congress really to know about that. Its kind of a sore spot for him that russia has helped him in 2016 and is helping him again in 2020. Kind of. Thats for sure. Quick question on that one, though, i just want to be sure with the reporting, the president got enraged mount vasouvious caliber here because the information was going to the intel community, democrats, his first reaction was not that wow, were getting evidence that russia is violating us again, and you know, working to get me elected. I mean, that wasnt his reaction, right . No, as far as we can tell that was not his reaction. And i think its a safe bet to say that in the Intelligence Agency have told trump, hey, russia is interfering but, you know, its also possible that they dont talk to him about that as much because he doesnt want to hear that. But they are on an obligation to Tell Congress which oversees the Intelligence Community, and trump was mad that adam schiff, one of his top rivals was included in this briefing but hes the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, so you cant exclude him. Let me go back to your reporting about devin nuness aide moving to the department of National Intelligence. How might this background essentially authorizing him to go there and be part of this dni now, have an influence on the situation with the acting director for National Intelligence. Well, yeah, its probably going to send shock waves to democrats because they view cash patel as someone that they dont like, and dont trust, and its basically putting someone to keep an eye on the intelligence agencies, and even if grenell leaves a few months after his acting role ends, there is every potential possibility that patel would stay under a new permanent director. And so i think democrats, they view cash patel as not someone that they think would do a good job in the agencies, and he is, you know, new at intelligence, you know, experience, and so i think thats a name that if you tell anyone in congress, their ears perk up. Hes not someone that is probably well liked in parts of the intelligence agencies because he worked on the report to try and discredit them. Daniel lippman, live in dc, dont go anywhere. Roger stone has been sentenced to 40 months in prison after being convicted on charges of obstruction, lying to congress and witness tampering. Federal judge Amy Berman Jackson said stone wasnt prosecuted for standing up for the president , he was prosecuted for covering up for the president. Judge jackson echoed the closing arguments telling the court the truth still exists. The truth still matters. She also said quote at his core mr. Stone is an insecure person who craves and recklessly pursues attention. Nothing about this case was a joke. It wasnt funny. On top of his prison sentence, stone was given a 20,000 fine, two years of probation, and 250 hours of community service. He wont have to report to prison until the judge acts on a defense motion for a new trial. Stone claims one of the jurors was biassed against President Trump. After the sentence was handed down, the president was weighing in on the matter during an event in las vegas. Lets all take a listen. Im following this very closely, and i want to see it play out to its fullest because roger has a very good chance of exoneration in my opinion. Im not going to do anything in terms of the great powers bestowed upon a president of the united states. I want the process to play out. I think thats the best thing to do. Because id love to see roger exonerated, and id love to see it happen because i personally think he was treated very unfairly. And trumps advisers are telling nbc news that if the president decides to pardon stone they want him to wait until after the election so he doesnt risk turning off undecided voters in the swing states. Joining us onset msnbc legal analyst, danny cevallos. Good to have you with us. We have been talking a lot about the roger stone case, waiting for the sentencing, especially after what happened with the four prosecutors resigning once the doj got involved. Give us your quick read of the sentence, where does it fit in expectations, legally speaking, is it in the right place, is it too severe, not severe enough . First, the president should not have intervened with justice. If he was going to pardon them, he should have pardoned them out right. Main justice should not have swooped in. The line prosecutors did nothing wrong. They technically applied the sentencing guidelines which in this Defense Attorneys president can be unduly harsh. Roger stones case is an example. The original recommendation was 87 to 108 months, that was the guideline range applied. Had roger stone received 87 months, the lowest ends of the guidelines, it would have been the highest sentence ever imposed since 2005 for a 67yearold first time obstruction offender, so you look at that and say, oh, well he got 40 months, thats not so bad, well, when you look at statistics, it is so bad because the average sentence imposed for an obstruction offender first time is under ten months. If you look at the averages, 40 mon months for a first time obstruction offender is rather high. Its considerably higher than the National Average. You may say that, well, roger stone got something way below the original sentencing guidelines. To a defense attorney like me those sentencing guidelines are abstract numbers put together by a Sentencing Commission many years ago. The national arcverages are wha count. I may be in the minority, warning, i am a defense attorney, but roger stones sentence is not a lenient sentence. It is above the National Average and so for those who think he may be lucky, yeah, maybe depending on how you look at it, but if you look at the averages, it was still a harsh sentence. Speaking of the word lucky, the president has suggested, he was saying right there, he thinks everything is unfair. He thinks he qualified for exoneration at some point. His advisers as we have reported say look hes not going to do something or we dont want him to do something in terms of pardoning roger stone until after the election so it doesnt look bad or make a certain appeal and turn off undecided voters and those that are independents. What are your thoughts on that, not only the timing but the prospect of the president pardoning roger stone. Theres a long history among president s of strategic pardons. They are often issued, the controversial ones are issued on the last day in office. Lets not forget, there have been many controversial pardons in the past, including president clinton pardoning his own brother. You had a number of pardons of people like Patricia Hurst who was pardoned technically twice, first her sentence was commuted by president carter and president clinton pardoned her out right. There are not a lot of offenders who receive double pardons. If youre Patricia Hurst, maybe the rules are different. Pardons are highly political by their nature. They undo everything that the Justice Department has done hours and untold thousands of dollars prosecuting somebody using all their resources and then its just undone based on a president s view of the case. Its interesting that in the president s perspective its only his allies that have been treated unfairly and always need to be pardons or exonerated. Why am i not surprised by that. Michael cohen, probably not getting a pardon. Good point. Danny cevallos, always a pleasure. Thank you very much. Another potential sign of trouble for joe biden, a new poll shows the former Vice President slipping in South Carolina. Were going to get a live report on the state of his campaign. President trump rallies in colorado and not only slams the democratic president ial candidates but also this years oscar awards and brad pitt just, you know, because. Those stories and a check on weather when we come right back. 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Almost 2 gigs here in los angeles. Thats outrageous. Its like an eightlane highway compared to a twoland dirt road. President trump rallies in welcome back, everyone. Joe bidens lead in South Carolina has dwindled after dropping 13 points since september. A new poll finds the former Vice President topping the field in South Carolina with 24 . Bernie sanders and tom steyer are statistically tied for second with 19 and 15 respectively. Then you have Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar. Theyre all statistically tied for fourth, all within the margin of error. When it comes to black voters in the state, joe biden is the favorite, biden holds the lead with 31 , despite dropping 15 points since september. Tom steyer and Bernie Sanders are in a statistical tie in second. While Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg are also statistically tied in fourth. They have 5 and then just 1 respectively. Joining us now from las vegas, nbc news correspondent mike memoli. You have been following the Biden Campaign from the getgo. What is his closing message to voters in nevada and how do these numbers either give him a bump or make them a little bit nervous in the Biden Campaign going into South Carolina . There has to be some nervousness in the Biden Campaign seeing those numbers. South carolina is supposed to be his fire wall. Theyre using the campaign in nevada, campaigning with three people in line, first, the person actually on the ballot with him in nevada, Bernie Sanders, he has been focussing on two issues in going against the vermont senator, guns, and especially health care. The unions are such an influence in the electorate in nevada, and part of bidens message is that the medicare for all would hurt unions that have won the hard fought negotiated health care plans. Medicare for all would replace those. He has in mind the person heat indices hes going to share a ballot with, especially in the super tuesday states, Michael Bloomberg, we saw him go after him on the debate stage. Hes trying to claw back some of the support mayor bloomberg has tried to bring in, and the man hes hoping to face on the ballot in november, the trump tower potentially off in the distance, President Trump here in nevada today, and he usually uses these moments to highlight the contrast with him. So you have medicare for all, thats a big deal, of course there in las vegas, not far from where you are right now, that horrible attack. Gun control is a big issue and the tv town hall yesterday in which biden blasted senator Bernie Sanders and his position on gun manufacturers. Is this going to be a new line of attack for biden . Reporter well, biden really has been building up to this for some time. He has been talking throughout the campaign about the fact that hes the only democrat in this race whos taken on the nra and won, but in terms of his paid messaging and what we have seen on the trail, hes targeting sanders specifically on this, raising an issue of liability for gun manufacturers that Bernie Sanders voted to pass when he was in the senate. Lets take a listen to what he said at the cnn town hall last night. Guess what, the only industry in america that is not able to be sued are the gun manufacturers. Now, bernie talks about my record. Its appropriate. Im not being mean. He voted to exempt gun manufacturers from any liability. Zero. They cant be sued. Reporter at a separate event here in las vegas yesterday, biden said that the weakness of some politicians in taking on the nra is about cowardice, its also immoral, strong words focused on Bernie Sanders. Can i ask you on a light note. Its 2 19 in the morning, did you pull an all nighter because youre in vegas or wake up early for us. No comment. Hes not answering. Reporter people are still having a good time. Hard at work here. See he reconciled all that. We were going to say busted but i guess not. Mike memoli, enjoy whatever hours you can in the middle of the night. Several top members of the Trump Administration have worked to slash legal and illegal immigration into the u. S. But now acting white house chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says the u. S. Is desperate for more immigrants. The details of that story next. I dont add up the years. And i dont count the wrinkles. But what i do count on is boost high protein. And now, introducing new boost women. With key nutrients to help support thyroid, bone, hair and skin health. All with great taste. New, boost women. Designed just for you. only tylen