Interaction with a foreign leader included a promise that was regarded as so troubling that it prompted an official in the u. S. Intelligence community to file a former whistleblower complaint with the Inspector General. Who also said it was deeply troubling and then the Justice Department squelched it. At that point theyre supposed to automatically get information over to congress and the Oversight Committees, but well talk to the reporter behind that. Right now theres a coverup. Straight ahead. It is thursday, september nine teeth. Along with joe, willie and wee we have economic analyst steve radnor. Elise labott, and columnist and associate editor for the Washington PostDavid Ignatius. And theres just a little bit more of that border wall discussion, the president but wait, theres more. You can fry an egg on it. You can, really, its that hot. It was kind of disturbing, all most, to hear him sell this wall. Lets hear a little bit more President Trump speaking to the Southern California border yesterday and you tell us what you think about your commander and chief. So you have the rebar, you have the outer crust and the inside is concrete and its hardened concrete, very powerful concrete. Again, the concretes poured after its up, they pour it through funnels and a lot of Technological Advancements have been made with concrete. If you think youre going to cut it with a blowtorch that doesnt work because you hit concrete. I said fellows, how about doing the less expensive version . They said this is the version that works. Its an anticlimb device if you look at the steel on top. We actually built prototypes and we have i guess you could say world class mountain climbers. This wall cant be climbed. Its very, very hard. We have climbers. We have 20 mountain climbers, thats all they do, they love to climb mountains. They can have it. Me, i dont want to climb mountains. Plus its designed to absorb eat. So its extremely hot. You can fry an egg on that wall. If theyre going climb it theyre going to have to bring hopes and water, we dont know where theyre going to hook it up because theres no water out here. Fog over the wall is virtually impossible. I guess maybe one of the greatest pole vaulters in history can get over the low one but its going to be very painful when they land, right . Oh my god. But its all so sick. Let us just have a laugh right now. The entire studio is in his stairic hysterics. Im sorry, i dont mean to be a wet blanket but that was ridiculous. I think its just the obvious nature of your comments that true. That you keep repeating everything. Its just incredible. You can fry an egg on it. So, willie. Yes, joe. I did not know until now that there actually was a rolls royce of sheet metal. But this is the rolls royce of sheet metal. Nor did i know that the president of the United States kept 20 mountain climbers who love cliexing mountains, thats all they love to do. They live for it. They live for climbing mountains, that he keeps 20 mountain climbers just on hand just in case. What other thing . It is laborious. This is obvious too but go ahead. Its laborious to bring out. But before donald trump was president of the United States, border crossings were at a half century low. You would have to go back to Joey Scarborough playing t ball with the doreville hawks. Good squad. Good squad. I was about to tell you and i did the doreville hawks. You would have to go back 50 years to find a time when there were less border crossings before donald trump became president of the United States. And now with iran, and now with this ig report, and now with economists and the fed chair worried about a looming recession, with all the things going on across the world, youve got the president of the United States just doing a commercial for sheet metal down on the border. Pole vaulters, mountain climbers, rolls royce of sheet metal, were laughing not because its funny, were laughing because its so absurd. The wall that you saw stacked up behind him may amount to the total amount of wall thats been put up since he promised it would go up. And as joe says, with everything going on the fact that hes taking time, the president of the United States, and going down and still fanning this story that he started four years ago during the campaign, build that wall, build that wall, he has to keep that story going. And when he can keep it going for four years you Start Talking about things like mountain climbers and pole vaulters to make the case for something thats not happening. David ignatius, none of its happened, thats certainly what fox news reported even last month that he hasnt built any walls. So now hes going down and in the words of john lennon, and nobody loves you when youre down and out, an appropriate title for the president right now, its all show biz, thats really all it is. Its all show biz because if you even talk to his first secretary of homeland security, general kelly, he said, you know, physical structures, there are better investments we can make to keep people out of the country. You talk to Lindsey Graham and john cornyn back when republicans actually had the power to fund the wall, they said, no, no, this isnt a smart investigate mechblt mon investment of money or time. There are a lot smarter ways to keep our borders secure and keep people out. And yet there he is, all display, show biz, to secure americas borders. I have looked at some of these new technologies that you put on Virtual Reality goggles and watch activity in the border areas, you watch, you know, where a cow was an hour ago, a day ago standing in for a human being. Its just crazy to be fixated. It is. On these you know, just how the good steel is and the rolls royce of this and that. Its not like there arent other things going on in the world, folks. Thats a great point. Theres a lot going on this morning. Well get to the new information on the secret whistleblower complaint that the Trump Administration is refusing to hand over to congress. Two former u. S. Officials tell the Washington Post that it involves a promise that the president made to a foreign leader that was thought to be so troubling it prompted a u. S. Intelligence official to file a formal whistleblower complaint with the Intel Communitys Inspector General. The post says, it is unclear which foreign leader the president was speaking with or what he promised. But nbc news has since learned from a former u. S. Intelligence official that it involves a phone conversation. The entire ordeal is at the center of the latest battle between the Trump Administration and congress. After the acting director of National IntelligenceJoseph Mcguire overruled the Inspector Generals determination that the complaint was of urgent concern lets stop right there. Elise, the Inspector General of the Intel Community said this was of, quote, urgent concern. That the president s conversation, his promise to a foreign leader was of, quote, urgent concern. The independent Inspector General said that. And that congress should be made aware of this conversation that was of, i will say again, the word, quote, the phrase, urgent concern. And the acting attorney general, the acting head of the Intelligence Community, the dni doesnt think its of such concern that needs to be taken a look at. I mean, this is not the first time that the president has had a terrible relationship with the Intelligence Community. Hes disrespected the Intelligence Community. Hes questioned their judgment. That was one of the reasons that led to the resignation of dni dan coats. And he at every turn has done this. And ive spoken to officials, former officials in the Intelligence Community, current officials, its not the first time that officials have had a real problem with some of the conversations when they read the readouts of this president. And David Ignatius, the president of the United States in early 2017 had the foreign minister of russia who was sitting there smiling like a cheshire cat for a good reason and Russias Embassy to the united stat ambassador to the United States listened to the president where he banned reporters of the United States but allowed russia to come in probably with listening devices and spilled intel to the Russian Foreign minister. This happens a good bit. In this case, this has good to the Inspector General in this whistleblower case and he said its of urgent concern, what the president said to this foreign leader, what the president promised this foreign leader was of such foreign concern that congress and Oversight Committees had to know about it. And yet its being killed. Do you have any idea what the nature of the conversation was, david . Joe, were going so to have a moment one of our washington reporters who wrote a piece which is as much as we know according to this article this involves a promise that allegedly was made by President Trump to some Foreign National that was so worrisome to somebody in the against community became aware of it. It seems in early augustt they made a report to the Inspector General, Michael Atkinson. That troubled atkinson so much that within a month later he reported that allegation, that ig issue that was of urgent concern, to the head of the House Intelligence Committee schiff, adam schiff. So there are a couple things to focus on. What was it that was said that was taken as a promise that was so upsetting . Ill let shane go through the list of possibilities but theyre the ones youd think, putin, kim jongun are the top of the list. What was it that made Michael Atkinson, the Inspector General, so troubled that he felt he absolutely had a reporting obligation . And what happened to intervene to prevent discussion by Joseph Maguire, the acting director of National Intelligence before the Congressional Committee . There are a series of questions and when you come to the end of that it looks to me as if the Trump Administration is deliberately seeking to undo the rules that have bounded u. S. Intelligence activities basically since the watergate and the intelligence scandals in the 70s. Its a big deal. Were going to get to shane in one second. Elise. I think what david said is the key. Why is the acting attorney acting dni stonewalling this . Why doesnt he want to let this let Congress Know about this . That is the real key. What are they hiding . What are they covering up is the question. It is a coverup. It is totally a coverup. I think the obvious issues of intelligence and what went on between trump and this foreign leader are central to this. But so is the relationship between the white house and the congress of which this is yet just another example of the white house essentially refusing to follow normal procedures, law, separation of powers, and the rights of congress to know whats going on here. And the question is, what are the republicans thinking on the hill . Are the republicans curious at all about the Inspector General, an independent Inspector General saying that what the president said was so deeply troubling that they need to be made aware of it . We wont hold our breath are will we, knowing what we know about republicans in congress . Knowing that moscow mitch is not even protecting american democracy from the kremlin, when republicans now, former conservatives like norquist are now coming out. The trumpists are coming out and saying you have to protect our democracy. And but put aside moscow mitch, where is Lindsey Graham . All of them. Where is tom cotton . Where are the people who say theyre most focused on the integrity of the u. S. . In the middle of this whole issue with iran and saudi arabia and the president is asking the International Community to trust the intelligence at the same time hes disregarding u. S. Intelligence, this is really a key time for u. S. Intelligence. All right. Lets bring in shane harris of the Washington Post. He covers intelligence and National Security. As david said, hes one of the authors of this extraordinary piece. First of all, wow, even in the age of trump we can say wow because this is something weve not seen. Lets talk about the possibilities here about who the president of the United States may have been talking to, who he may have made this promise to. A lot of people looking at a july 31st phone call from the president to Vladimir Putin. As we look back on it, the readout from the white house that day was that President Trump was calling to express concern and to offer help with siberian wildfires which even in realtime struck a lot of people as odd. Again, we dont know what the call is, but what are the possibilities here . Well, that certainly has to be probably near the list given the president s interactions with russian officials in the past and the divulging of sensitive and classified information. The president talked to a lot of foreign leaders. And i think one of the important things to key in on here is whoever made this complaint we reported previously is an Intelligence Community official who worked at the National Security council. A lot of people get assigned over there for some time. And then made this complaint. And why i emphasize that is i dont think that youre probably talking about somebody who saw the president doing something that was not significant. These are usually fairly experienced people, theyre well versed in what the rules are. And by the way, people who would know that the president can divulge classified information to whomever he wants. And of course has done that before. So while we dont know precisely what this allegation centers on, i have to think it is something thats significant, as you pointed out, the Inspector General thinks its significant. And i think we have to think about the source, the person who would have seen this would have been aware of this would have well understood by this point President Trumps proclivities with foreign leaders, his handling of classified information and yet still saw something here that he or she felt kneeled needed to go to this independent watchdog. The term is Inspector General, thats not just his personal characterization, thats a legal threshold when something reaches urgent concern has to reach out to the intelligence communities and congress. What falls under that threshold sf wh . What may he have seen or heard saying i have to push this to congress now . The statute talks about flagrant abuse of power, illegal acts. Illegal acts. There are lots of things that arent illegal for the president that are illegal for other people. Classified information sharing. Can we make that point, because shane you made this point in the piece, ive heard other people make this point. Its important for people that are just waking up and listening, this is not about the president doing something wreck le and bragging. He can do that, but he has the ability to blurt out highly classified information. That would not meet this threshold of urgent concern in the is something actually worse, something that the ig suspected might be illegal which prompted the, quote, urgent concern. Well, i dont think we know that the ig thought it might be illegal but think your deduction is right. This is is not something in the category of things weve seen the president do. He tweeted a highly classified satellite image just a few weeks ago. Weve seen those kinds of things. Inspector generals are aware of those kinds of things and youre right, that isnt illegal, the president can do that. So what are he did or is alleged to have done here falls into some different category possibly in this statutory definition of flagrant abuse of power. Enough so that the ig thought that Congress Needed to know about it. They dont know the substance of the allegation, by the way, thats very important. They know it happened but they are still in the dark about tli rest of us about the details. Thank you shane so much. Great reporting. David ignatius, lets go around the troubled middle east in three mi