Ever. I told my republican colleagues, leaving him the hell alone. Do you have confidence in mueller . Yes. 100 . Im not aware the president ever intimated he wanted to fire robert mueller. Mueller is still special counsel. Are we having a google issue here . Questions grow on the bias inside the fbi. The socalled deep state. This memo of answers the legitimate questions. You want the president to declassify the memo . Having read the memo, i think it would be appropriate that the public has full release. I have questions on others within the fbi and the doj. Youre painting a conspiracy. You think thats the most plausible no. Chuck, this place sucks. Joining me this hour to talk about all of that and more, White House Reporter for the associated press, katherine lucy, National Politico reporter for axios, Jonathan Swan is still with us. Former rnc chair and political analyst, michael steele, and former Deputy Assistant for the National Defense and National Security adviser, nancy farkus. Considering we just went through the headlines on russia, the memo, john, i want to pick up where we left off. The idea that the president s team is incredibly concerned about potential, the perjury problem, so to speak. Where does that how concerned are they still that they have any do they have a way out of having the president talk about mueller . Well, hes going to have to it seems, anyway, it seems that the way its been set up, that hes going to have some interaction with mueller. Is that a written question and answer . We know that mueller wont want that, hell want a live interview, but it is very clear. You know, you dont need to have great reporting to figure it out. It is all there to see publicly. The president is there to see me, i cant wait, and then you have ty cobb saying, we hope its not a perjury trap. He literally used the phrase. And john dowd says, im the one who decides, hes not doing anything until i decide. And the people around the close orbit are concerned that the president could perjur himself. I want to get to another story, steve wynn has resigned as rnc finance chairman following a wall street journal report in which dozens of women told the paper about a decades long pattern of Sexual Misconduct by wynn. Wynn denied the allegations in a statement writing in part, quote, the idea that i ever assaulted any woman is preposterous. Rnc chair released this statement saying, quote, i accepted steve wynns resignation as republican chair. That stands in contrast to what was said about Harvey Weinstein when she tweeted, quote, if the dnc truly stands up for women like they say they do, then returning weinsteins dirty money should be a nobrainer. Already congresswoman karen handel of georgia said she donated the 2700 contribution she got from wynn to a nonprofit that deals with domestic violence. And the wall street journal now reporting that House Speaker paul ryan will also donate 1,000 contribution linked to steve wynn that he received back in 2016 to charity. Meanwhile, President Trump, surprise, surprise, has yet to weigh in on wynns resignation. The two are longtime business rivals and friends. Wynn served on the president s inaugural committee and is someone mr. Trump has spoken about glowingly in the past. And another great friend of mine, somebody respected by everybody, a great friend of phil, too, mr. And mrs. Steve wynn. Stand up, steve. Stand up. Steve is always calling, hes always got advice, right, steve . Donald, i think you dont do this and that, his advice i like to listen to, ill be honest with you. Michael steele, i want to go to you on this. What should the rnc say in this instance . And what should republicans do now . Well, they did the right thing in terms of, you know, trying to get ahead of this and getting wynn off of their radar screen, simply because theyve got a meeting this week, their winter meeting here in d. C. Area, so they dont want that to be the poppic of conversation, but it will be one of the topics of conversation. The chairwomans muted response is rather amusing, particularly given, it sort of tells you when the shoe is on the other foot how tight that shoe can really fit. You know . So here we are. And its actually been surprising that you havent heard much from anybody out of the 168 members of the rnc, national chair, committee of men and women, but this week will be a chance with the reporters scouting the halls to ask them up close and personal what they think. Jonathan swan. Hanging over all of this, we can deduce something from this, is donald trump. And Ronna Mcdaniel doesnt do anything without Donald Trumps blessing. She always talks, they talked early yesterday. We have not seen donald trump say anything publicly. I would love to know what that conversation sounded like with donald trump. Because her statement could not have been, as you said, weaker. Although we do know that he signed off on the it would have happened, yes. So there was that level. But yeah, youre absolutely right. We dont know what the president thinks in full, and we may learn about it in a midnight tweet at some point this week, given how he operates. Right. One thing, too, is, and i have found as i talked to sources on both sides of the aisle, there is a tendency, evelyn, for each side to take this and say, oh, this is this is a partisan problem. When, really, this is clearly, as those tweets demonstrate, happening on both sides of the aisle and is more of a reckoning. It shouldnt be politicized. And i think there was other Coverage Today during the day when they talked about the state of the Union Address and who is going to be sitting in the audience. And one of the company they or thes commentator said, it shouldnt be a democratic issue, the me too. And likewise, the steve wynn case falls into that category. It shouldnt be the possession of one party or another. I mean, everybody should be on the right side, though its funny how the members of congress, they really, when the shoe is on the other foot, they speak very loudly. They forget. I mean, every time, i mean, you know how the hill operates, what Goes Around Comes Around all the time. Its just a matter of time. And somehow they manage to forget it when not running the show. To this point, the New York Times is reporting that a Senior Adviser to Hillary Clinton was kept on the 2008 Campaign Even after being repeatedly accused of sexual harassing a young subordinate. The times story said Clintons Campaign manager should fire bernstrider, instead his pay was docked. He landed at a proclinton super pac to correct the record. Clinton responded on twitter in this moment writing, and stopping short of an apology. Quote, a story appeared today about something that happened in 2008. I was dismayed when it occurred, but was heartened that the young woman came forward, was heard and had her concerns taken seriously and addressed. I called her today to tell her how proud i am of her and to make sure she knows what all women should, we deserve to be heard. Buzzfeeds ruby cramer has a piece out citing three clinton aides saying they want him fired and this is characteristic of his southern background. I thought they had manners in the south. He frequently kissed people on the head dating back to his days on capitol hill, describing or touching or kissing someone on the head as part of cheering staffers on and doing devotional blessings. I quit doing that after 08 and i picked it up again and correct the record, he said, because all my young researchers seemed to like it. Memo, they dont. Ruth marcus writes in the washington post, quote, Hillary Clinton, metoo, sowhat, how do you write a primal scream . Because my head is about to explode over the story about alleged Sexual Harassment on Hillary Clintons 2008 president ial campaign and her appallingly mild response. Then and now. So two things here, first of all, there were two women in the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2008 who recommended that bernstrider be fired and Hillary Clinton overwrote that personal lip. But i want to focus on the temp rare response here that is missing the shift that is happening. It is an interesting moment here, which is two things going on, that Hillary Clinton has been a person who has been inspiring to a lot of women, a lot of people credit the fact that she lost to donald trump as motivating a lot of women to get preemptive. And they are. They are more preemptive. Youre seeing a historic number of them running for office, and then youre seeing this me too moment, the times up moment. And then this, for one example, shes not necessarily the standard bearer that everyone wants. So how do you reconcile those things . And i think the one thing they wonder about is, it doesnt appear Hillary Clinton will run for anything that we know of. Shes knock bying the same space in public life, but does this mean she cant take on the elderman state role in the elections and how much does she need to do at this point . Thats kind of what well see in the next clearly, evelyn, her relationship with Sexual Harassment in the public sphere is a complicated one. But i do, in having spoken to a lot of young women in the course of covering this story, i do think that there is some frustration on the part of younger women in the workplace. They dont necessarily feel as though, while they may feel grateful to women who initially led the feminist movement and have clearly come before and made a lot of strides and ground, they dont necessarily feel protected by women in power sometimes. Yeah, i can see that. I mean, you know, when i read about that, i thought to myself, well, what job did the young woman get . Because the gentleman in question, if i can call him a gentleman, he thinks hes a southern gentleman, i guess, but anyway, the Campaign Senior staffer, he obviously wasnt sanctioned and he didnt suffer as a consequence. In fact, he was promoted and kept on and promoted. So did she get a lateral move . It doesnt sound like she was promoted. So i think thats problematic because at the end of the day, thats really what matters for women, is whether were taken as equals in the pocketbook and in terms of promotion and opportunity for advancement. What struck im sorry, just real quick, what struck me in that narrative is that she, the woman, was moved to a different position. He wasnt moved out. Yeah. She was the one who brought the concern and the allegations and others corroborated. And she was put into a different position in the campaign, not him. And that says all you need to know about how even the most sophisticated people in the world deal with this issue. Yeah. Being heard is only part of it. Thats right. I just dont understand. I just dont understand it. Shes not disputing any of the facts in that story n that tweet. Shes not saying, no, this is a wrong account. The account is pretty damning. He ended up working in the super pac. Over the objections of two women who said you should be fired. The idea that she cant say sorry and she made a mistake and gravely regrets it, i just dont understand it. Katherine, you mentioned women are so motivated, i want to show our viewers a piece of the new interview from President Trump, which may or may not surprise you. Take a look. Are you a feminist . No, i wouldnt say im a feminist. I mean, i think that would be maybe going too far. Im for women, im for men, im for everyone. So on the flip side of this conversation, to your point that women may be galvanized in 2020 yeah, the president saying hes not a feminist is like he just galvanized more women. What is your reaction to that . Theres pay inequality. I think maybe were at 80 cents to the dollar, but pay inequality, we have horrible problems with childcare, which leads to women having trouble getting advancement, women are still not at the top of the boardrooms. I gave the example before of the eight cochairs of davos, there are some great examples internationally and in the u. S. , like the ibm ceo, but you know, women still have a long way to go. And the fact that the president somehow doesnt seem to grasp this is sad. And you can see in this administration theres a limited number of women in top jobs, a limited number that put up for judgeships and other roles like that. So these things matter. Yeah. Evelyn farcus, thank you for your time. While democrats look to steal a seat in pennsylvania, the new report out just from the hill. The Koch Brothers plan to up spend millions of dollars to elect conservatives, the most ever. And as we go to break, the arts of the deal. President trump asked if a President Trump asked if a van gogh painting landscape with snow could be displayed in the white houses living quarters. That painting hangs in the Guggenheim Museum in new york city. The chief curator nancy specter said no. The van gogh was not available, but miss specter offered an alternative. An 18 karat fully functioning gold toilet. This work of art had been display in a public restroom at the guggenheim and it had been used by thousands of people. I suppose you could dismiss this as tongue and cheek humor, but i dont take it that way. And i dont think most americans will be amused. Im a concrete mason. I own my own company. I had some severe fatigue, some funny rashes. Finally, listening to my wife, went to a doctor. And i became diagnosed with hodgkins lymphoma. That diagnosis was tough. I had to put my trust in somebody. When i first met steve, we recommended chemotherapy, and then we did high dose therapy and then autologous stem cell transplant. Unfortunately, he went on to have progressive disease. I thought that he would be a good candidate for immune therapy. Its an intravenous medicine that can affect the patients immune system and unleash it against the cancer. With chemotherapy, i felt rough, fatigue, nauseous. And with immune therapy weve had such a positive result. Im back to working hard. Ive honestly never felt this great. I believe the future of immunotherapy at ctca is very bright. The evolution of cancer care is here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com Appointments Available now. I think that the tax plan has has been even better than we thought. What did happen that nobody considered is that at t started, but they immediately followed, hundreds of companies are giving thousands and thousands of dollars to their workers. And now you have almost 3 million workers that are receiving thousands of dollars. That was President Trump speaking with cnbc during his trip to davos this week for the World Economic forum. And with trump slated to deliver his first state of the union speech this week, hell likely keep that focus on his economic achievements. Since his tax plan was passed, 40 companies from the s p 500, including comcast, announced they are giving bonuses to employees as a result of the tax reform bill. But while a new reuters poll has the president s economic Approval Rating at 49 , his overall job approval stands at just 37 . So can the president stay on message long enough to keep the focus on our booming economy . Im joined now by mark lauder, former specialist to the president and press secretary to Vice President pence. Thank you for being here, really appreciate it. Walk me through, it does seem, and i think the question is, normally the president s Approval Ratings are tied very closely to how well our economy is doing. And there seems to be questions about whether thats the case for the president here. I think it will catch up. I think what youre seeing is a huge amount of optimism from the american people, youre seeing it in companies, the hiring, the bonuses, the raises, and the longer it goes, i think you will see that economic momentum translate into the president s Approval Ratings as we go further out. What does the president need to accomplish on tuesday night . In some ways, its normally this speech is, it consumes washington and the pomp and circumstance of it. We rarely get to hear from the president. We hear from the president all the time in all kinds of ways. Its one of the rare situations where its entirely possible hell give the speech and by the morning well be talking about something completely different. Well, i think one of the things here, though, is this speech transcends just fake cable news. Where many people here in washington and people who are politically inclined, we watch this all the time. This is one of the few occasions when all the Major Networks will be carrying it. And it will translate into everyone watching it, or many people watching it at home, so many people who are just reading the headlines and catching it in the evening newscast, i think theyll get a better glimpse of what the president s vision is. Hes going to lay out a bold plan. Hes definitely going to talk about the economic accomplishments, be hes got boundless optimism in the american spirit and economy. You will see that. Im interested to see, his inaugural speech was the opposite of optimistic. But go back to the first joint address to congress, not a state of the union a few weeks later, and he really laid out that vision. It was very well received. It was very well received. I think youll see a speech from his heart. I think you will see him build on the economic success that has taken place, some of the National Security success. And i think hell make a call on congress, whether it be on immigration, infrastructure and ways to move together forward in a pi partisan fashion. Jonathan swan . Theres b