University. Republican strategist and political commentator, and historian john meacham. Mika will be back with us tomorrow. Before we start this, mike, it has been remarkable, has it not, that there has been complete silence from donald trump when its come to Stormy Daniels from the beginning. I mean, you could go through all the people that have crossed Donald Trumps path over the last two and a half turbulent years in politics and there have only been two that he has not struck back on. V Vladimir Putin and Stormy Daniels. Hes afraid of both. You know, its odd, joe, when you mention the president s reluctance or his hesitancy to acquire new legal teams because of his own personal flaws, i guess. There was laughter around the table here when you indicated their appearance would preclude them from being hired but its not funny anymore when its considered whats going on with his failure to obviously as you indicated tweet about anybody he fears and he really fears whats happening. Yeah, he really does. And you know, his struggle to stack his legal team continues. As a prominent chicago definance attorney and his colleague declined an invitation to represent the United States. This is the dream of a lifetime for any attorney to be able to represent the president of the United States. Think about it. Your billing hours while sitting in the oval office talking to the most powerful person in the free world and yet every lawyer keeps coming back telling donald trump the same thing, no, sir, no, thank you, we dont want to have anything to do with you and the latest is dan webb, a former u. S. Attorney in the Reagan Administration and a special prosecutor. He said he couldnt join the team. Since webb represents billionaires with ties to paul manafort. He also said President Trump reached out to dan webb and tom buchanan to provide representation. They consider the opportunity to represent the president to be the highest ton nhonor and they regret that they cannot do so. Its like when youre in high school and every girl you ask out says you are the sweetest guy in the world but no im not going to the dance with you. Thats what keeps happening to this president. This as another republican lawyer turned donald trump down. Ted olson said no one is asking to be on that team. Nobody wants to be on that team and david is reporting that he asked olson about being recruited for trumps side and he rolled his eyes and said he was never going to be his lawyer. That wasnt going to happen and its not just a matter of conflicts. In the last few days, has any lawyer come up to you and said im willing to work for trump . He writes olson said no. Andrea mitchell was taken that hes taken aback about the chaos and turnover within the trump administrati administration. I think everybody would agree its turmoil, its chaos, its not good for anything. We always believe there should be an orderly process. And government is not clean or orderly ever, but this seems to be beyond normal. And meanwhile weve heard multiple explanations for why donald trump turned around quickly on two Legal Team Members that he had added early in the weekend and official statements said that Joseph Digenova and conflicts from joining the team. But Unnamed Administration sources claimed it was more personal. According to the New York Times trump met with a pair of lawyers but did not believe he had personal chemistry with them and donald trump believed the couple looked dishevelled. Not really where to go with that. But richard, youve been around washington a very long time. Lawyers figure out a way around not representing clients who have conflicts with the president of the United States. They figure out a way to get there. But it is very clear and weve heard it around washington, you heard ted olson talk about it. Nobody wants to be this guys lawyers. As we said yesterday, dont want to be his lawyer because first of all he doesnt pay his bills and secondly he lies to lawyers all the time. They cant trust him going into court and talk about how significant this is now as we have Robert Mueller lining up all of his evidence, lining up his witnesses, getting all the cooperating witnesses with him. I mean, this is a president that is going into the legal battle of his life and its hes basically unilaterally disarmed himself. Exactly. And there arent too many people that have come out of this administration with the reputation enhanced. Let me put it generously this morning. Indeed a lot of them face open ended legal challenges because of what they did in this administration. Again, youre a lawyer, im not, but i would think this is one of the most difficult if not the most difficult imaginable clients. Whether its the tweets and he decides he wants to represent himself, the unpredictability, i would think it would be near impossible to mount an effective defense in addition to all the stuff you were saying given the reputation, the history and so forth, so im not surprised and i think the real question is not whether it affects lawyers but more broadly, how are you going to recruit the best and brightest coming into this Administration Given in overhang and so many people have left washington diminished. The one thing john meacham a lawyer cant put up with is being lied to when its you and your client in the board room and youre talking and going through the facts, you have to you just sit down with your client and you say youve got to tell me everything and whatever you tell me doesnt leave this room but i cant prepare for your case unless you tell me the truth about everything. So surprise me now. Do not surprise me in the courtroom and yet heres donald trump knowing that any lawyer he gets, he believes hes smarter than that lawyer. Hes going to lie to him and theres no way he can mount any defense for donald trump. Yeah, and interestingly were all kind of in that position, arent we . I mean, were all kind of asking him, please dont surprise us anymore and yet it happens. I totally agree with richard. I think the broader point is really riveting. He cant find someone to defend him and even more important in many ways, the people he finds to serve him and therefore us are people like the new National Security advisor and people who are not how do we put it, on the on the ateam of the sane. And so i think that were in this odd position where his we sometimes think of the presidency and rightly as the loneliest job and the buck stops there. But its a big operation and you have to have people who you can trust and people that we can trust to actually execute the public business and right now, from everything i know youre hearing and that im hearing, people just dont want to go in. Well, we wondered this morning where murdocks wall street journal is going to have anything. Quote, every voter in 2016 understood that donald trump had a bad history with women. But mistakes of character tend to catch up with everyone and thats what is now happening with President Trump and his many women. Mr. Trump cant retain the best Legal Counsel because no one wants a client who ignores all advice. He wants to answer questions from mr. Mueller but probably wont prepare enough to avoid even accidental selfincrimination. The Stormy Daniels case is typical of mr. President trumps prepresident ial behavior and thinks he can get away with anything. Hes never understood that a president cant behave that way and this may be the cause of his downfall. Susan, this is just among the first cracks in the terms of support editorial support from the president for the journal. The journal is exactly right. When you talk about the fault of his character coming back to haunt him, that not only plays to the president but also plays to a lot of republicans in the house and the senate right now who should be saying i will stand up for whats right, i will speak against the president and what hes doing, whether its his policies or even the attacks he makes on women and other people. But the Stormy Daniels thing is just something that hits so hits him so differently, and im not we know he hasnt tweeted about it. He hasnt gone anywhere, but i think its just a matter of time and thats what i think a lot of people are waiting for. Theres a piece in the New York Times today about various republicans running around the country. And they cannot they cant stand up and talk about real issues that affect people because the first question out of the box is the president s behavior. Right. It seems to me that this teflon don is no longer teflon don when it comes to the Stormy Daniels question. Theres the case, theres the clients a client and the climate. I dont think any lawyer want to talk take on the case. And then theres the climate. The climate is not only the me too movement. The me too movement has changed the way in which people understand and accept certain kinds of behavior. Theres the climate in terms of the serious i think response to russian interference in our elections, theres the kind of economic uncertain isty. Theres the chaos thats coming out of the white house, so all of this that i think informs how people are judging and assessing whats going on is also shaping and informing how lawyers will take on this case. And speaking of the republicans and that Jonathan Martin article and Stormy Daniels, lets go to the latest in the Stormy Daniels story. The porn star is now suing Donald Trumps personal lawyer Michael Cohen for defamation claiming that he portrayed her as a liar. The new filing also argues that the 130,000 hush money agreement signed just 11 days before the election should be nullified because it violated Campaign Finance law. Meanwhile, the white house is trying to explain why the president has not responded to the porn star directly. Yesterday in the morning after her interview aired, the president tweeted quote, so much fake news, never before minute voluminous or inaccurate but through it all our country is doing great. The president has discussed his response with several aides and has been told that the Stormy Daniels issue doesnt rise to the level of a president ial response. They also told him it doesnt endanger his presidency or the agenda. Heres the white house yesterday. Can you state that the president is campaign and the Trump Organization did not violate election law regarding that payment . Well, i can speak for only the white house. And i can say categorically obviously the white house didnt engage in any wrong doing. The campaign or mr. Cohen, yeah, the campaign or mr. Cohen can aggress anything with respect to their actions. With respect to that interview i will say the president strongly, clearly and has consistently denied these underlying claims and the only person thats been inconsistent is the one making the claims. Was the president aware of a physical threat made against ms. Daniels when she was with her daughter back in 2011 . Well, the president doesnt believe that any of the claims that ms. Daniels made last night in the interview are accurate. He doesnt believe she was threatened. No, he does not. Whats his basis for that. He just doesnt believe that theres nothing to corroborate her claim. Weve also learned that 22 Million People watched 60 minutes sunday. The porn star interview was actually the news magazines highest rated episode in a decade. Beating Donald Trumps 2016 interview and any interview donald trump has ever had on 60 minutes. Stormy daniels lawyer did some trolling tweeting quote, since this is really what matters lol, the interview crushed by millions, any apprentice show in the last ten years as well as mr. Trumps november 2016 appearance priorities. We will leave that there. Meanwhile, republican lawmakers are finding it increasingly tough to escape Donald Trumps shadow. Quote, i dont see headlines with porn star nancy pelosi said democratic congressman cedric richman. And Ryan Costello discussing his decision not to seek reelection said the president was getting in the way of the gops message. Were talking about porn stars and the president rather than about tax policy or what we need to get done by the end of the year. Its very difficult for me to get that message out because were talking about Stormy Daniels or it was mccabe. Before that it was Rex Tillerson and where he heard the news that he was fired and one thing after another. It is it is deeply prus freig frustrating. Thats Ryan Costello, he was expected to go places in the house. Now hes going home. And we find the article this New York Times article talks about the catch 22 that weve been discussing for the past year and that is republicans have to act a certain way to get past the primary process. Or they believe they do. I believe theyre badly mistaken but they believe they have to bow and scrape to donald trump and apologize to donald trump to get through that primary process, but if you do that in a nevada senatorial primary or a arizona senatorial primary, as the article explains you make yourself radio active in the general election and you lose. Has congressman costello said who he voted for for president in 2016 . Is he surprised by this . Its a claude reigns, it makes him look like a documentary. Of course, this candidate is getting in the way of an agenda. I mean, what planet are they on . The world weave a the world weve all been living in since the escalator is the same one and so to suddenly discover like miranda and the tempest that a brave new world, President Trump is a distraction from the issues facing america, good god. Sorry, im just flabbergasted that suddenly a republican would discover that maybe this unconventional president isnt really great for an underlying movement concern of agenda. Huh. Well, and john, and maybe if theyve been speaking out against the worst his worst instincts, his worst character traits from the very beginning as ive been saying, maybe he would have checked those at the gate when he went into the white house. If he thought he ever was going to have to pay any consequences from the Republican Party, but they have bowed and they have scraped and they have been scared to death and lets just start at the very top with paul ryan who said yes, hes a rac t racist, yes, what he said was the epit my of a racest statement and im going to endorse him. When that is where the party starts, its obvious this is where were going to end up. Where you want to be in this, just to be a total selfparody here. Tis w historically you want to be the senate forfrom maine who in 1950 said that joe mccarthy was violating fundamental american principles. You dont want to be the guys in 54 who just caught up with the idea that maybe things werent so great with red baiting and so one of the tragedies of the last era and ive used this line before but this is one of the few cases of when trump won the nomination of a hijacker boarding a plan and the passenger sided with the hijacker x but the fun is over. Were now sort of commending him in this bizarre moment for not tweeting about about a porn star. So i just think the profiles encourage after after the fire has come down i think is a bit much. And joe, just to go to your point about speaker ryan, its the last week in march and he has not announced that hes seeking reelection yet. As a matter of fact theres some rumors going around that he may step down, but when it comes to people that hes trying to get to run for office how can he possibly influence them when hes not willing to say he himself is willing to run for reelection and thats starting to filter all the way down into the local races. And you know, richard, you either were talking about john meacham and i were talking about how weve said that fits the first time that a hijacker took over a plane talking about trump taking over the Republican Party and everybody on the plane cheered on the hijackers, well, guess what . Were now getting to a point where that plane is either going to crash or republicans are going to figure out a way to land the plane and continuing to let the hijacker take control of the cockpit, i mean, i understand people are going to say we have to do it. No, you dont. You really dont. We ran Newt Gingrich out of town when he stopped representing conservative principles. Im not saying they have to run donald trump out of town but they can tell him no. I mean, the thing that bothers me, richard, is were on sesame street. Todays number is 2. If only 2 republican senators stood up there you go. And two republican senators went to donald trump and said i understand you dont have any i palestinian, i understand that nobody ease ever held you to account. Thats fine. You do what you want to do but were here to tell you like barry gold water told Richard Nixon in 1974, its over. You either begin behaving in a respectable responsible way or you lose our two votes and you no longer have a majority of the United States senate. Now, i can think of two senators that are retiring and i really wonder what bob corker and jeff flake want their legacy to be, but we really dont need their floor speeches. We really dont need their tweets. We need them to step up and protect the republic. But there seems to be absolute think no courage among republicans here. No, youre right and i was going to mention the same two senators. I dont see theres a lot to lose so it would be an easy profiling courage for them to stand up. My hun