Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. We have to keep the majority. If we do not keep the majority, all of this goes away. Lets start in berkeley heights, new jersey, where the president begins his 11day working vacation. Thats where we find kelly odonnell. Good to see you. Last night giuliani said there were things that werent yet public About Mueller or potential wrongdoing and then today trump ended that tweet with stay tuned. What do you know about what we are waiting for . Reporter well, this has been an ongoing campaign, kasie, from the president s legal team to bit by bit discredit the investigation so that particularly trump voters and those in the Republican Party would give it less weight as things go forward and at the same time its also been about dragging out the really big ending game question. Will the president participate in any way submitting to an interview with the special counsel. That could have been answered long ago, perhaps, by simply
saying that the lawyers dont think its a wise idea. They will freely say they have grave concerns about it. But instead of doing that, they have taken time to try to narrow the scope, discuss the terms, look at in Person Versus written questions, all these different variations which have dragged this out. And now theyre sort of dangling the idea that there is more to discredit the investigation and the people who have played a part in it. But we dont yet know what the specifics are. As you point out, the president today tweeting this illegally brought, rigged witch hunt run by people who are totally corrupt or conflicted. So all of those loaded terms wrapped in there. 17 angry dems toward the end which is his reference to staffers on the Investigative Team and stay tuned. The president , of course, has said he wants to tell what he knows, he wants to clear his name. His lawyers have said they understand that he wants to do that, believing that hes got the kind of personality and the ability to convey that. When they talk perjury trap, they say that if the president
tells his version of events, and they say those are accurate and they conflict with someone like james comey, for example, that prosecutors could determine that there is a conflict here that must mean that the president is not telling the truth. Therefore, charge him if you will, although you dont typically charge a sitting president , but put out a report that says he has been untruthful and has committed perjury. This really has a political end game, as you understand. It goes to congress in the form of a written report from the special counsel, and thats why the midterms are so important. If democrats are in charge, we might have an idea of which way they would take it. If republicans hang on, they would try more than likely to protect the president based on what we know today. And certainly thats what devin nunes was suggesting not so subtly in that. Exactly. Now to the Insider Trading charges against President Trumps first ally in the congress, new york congressman chris collins. Last night collins went in front of the microphones and vowed to
when President Trump was throwing out the possibility of who to pardon, he mentioned Martha Stewart and it would be for a similar crime. This is of course his first congressional ally in the congress. It is his first congressional ally in the congress, but i think its so important for us to understand that the pardon power is not a power that president s are meant to wield on behalf of their friends and families. The pardon power exists so that the Chief Executive in our government can do justice. For instance, during the Obama Administration when congress amended sentencing policies to treat people who had been convicted of Crack Cocaine Offenses the same as folks who had been convicted as powder cocaine offenses, that Sentencing Change Wasnt Retroactive and so president obama used the pardon power to create fairness for all people who had been accused of those crimes, whether it was Going Forward or looking backwards. What were contemplating here is
usually the government is permitted to have a representative, either an agent or in this case the government asked if their irs expert could remain in the courtroom and the judge said sure, thats fine. He apparently had a memory lapse or something that caused him to think that the government was trying to pull a fast one on him and he admonished them in front of the jury. And heres why thats problematic. Juries bond with judges. They begin to think like judges. So to hear the judge calling the government out could definitely prejudice the jury against the government. The judge did the right thing here. He considered the governments motion, walked back in and told the jury that what the government had done was okay. It was sort of a lukewarm apology. I think we have to say he said i havent reviewed the transcript, but i think i was wrong. But that, i think, is enough. The important takeaway here is that the government at the close of the trial when the judge instructs the jury on the law, the government will be looking for an instruction where the judge tells the jury, you should
ignore any comments that ive made during the trial, anything that ive said about the facts is not binding on you. You are the finder of the facts, i am the judge of the law. Do not consider my opinions in reaching your conclusion. The government, i think, is setting up a very forceful case to make sure that that pretty standard Pedestrian Instruction is included in this judges comments to the jury before they deliberate. Jacob, quickly before we wrap up, the one word ive learned ei never knew before is black robitis. Youve worked on many many complex financial cases. Thats clearly Whats Going On in this case. They have laid out everything pretty clearly and it does seem as though while the case may not be completely airtight, it certainly is significant. No question about it. The case that were seeing against Paul Manafort is a classic tax case. Really any problems with the case really tie out to how the
government has been trying to put the case in and may be overtrying it. Also having been a federal prosecutor with independent counsel and lived through one of these animals is there really is that fear in some respects in that first case to make sure you do Everything Possible to win the case. What you have here is a judge whos trying to make sure this case is being tried as fairly as possible. Unfortunately, thats not to the liking of any of the lawyers. Tricky. Jacob frankel, joyce vance, thank you for your insights today. Coming up next, its an Out Of This World announcement by the white house. It is not enough to merely have an american presence in space. We must have american dominance in space. And so we will. The United States space force, a new space wars fighting branch of the armed services. So whats its mission . Well ask former secretary of
the u. S. Air force. Youre watching msnbc. You might take something for your heart. Or joints. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Its a revolution in sleep. The new sleep number 360 smart bed, from 999. Intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. And snoring . How smart is that . Smarter sleep. To help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the patience of a saint. And now, save up to 500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. Plus, no interest until january 2021. Ends wednesday. With a 500,000 Life Insurance policy. How much do you think it cost him . 100 a month . 75 . 50 . Actually, duncan got his 500,000 for under 28 a month. Less than a dollar a day. His secret . Selectquote. In just minutes, a selectquote agent will comparison shop nearly a dozen highlyrated Life Insurance companies, and give you a choice of your five best rates. Duncans Wife Cassie Got A 750,000 policy for under 22 a month. Give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. Station. But that story is by no means the biggest spacerelated story today. Far from it, in fact. Today the Trump Administration proudly rolled out its plan for the new space force. Or as the president tweeted, space force all the way so what is it and why do we need it . Here is how the Vice President explained it in the official announcement this morning. The Space Environment is fundamentally changed in the last generation. What was once peaceful and uncontested is now crowded and adversarial. The United States space force will strengthen our security, it will ensure our prosperity, and it will also carry american ideals into the Boundless Expanse of space. The Vice President says the space force, which requires approval from congress, would be established as a separate branch of the armed forces by 2020. Joining me now to take a closer
look at this is former secretary of the air force, deborah lee james. She oversaw the air force Space Command during her time at the pentagon. Deborah, thanks for being here, really appreciate it. I want to show you a little bit more of what Vice President mike pence had to say about why we need this. Take a look. Previous administrations all but neglected the growing Security Threats emerging in space. President trump stated clearly and forcefully that space is in his words a warfighting domain just like land and air and sea. As President Trump has said in his words it is not enough to merely have an american presence in space. We must have american dominance in space. And so we will. So youre familiar with our capabilities as they exist currently. What are we doing right, what are we doing wrong, and do we need what the president is proposing . Well, i will tell you, first of all, that there is no space
faring nation that is more powerful and advanced than the United States and the u. S. Air force so we are doing a lot of things right. The Vice President is correct that in recent years our potential adversaries have been testing and investing in ways that could threaten us in space. So the challenge is to always continue to stay ahead as we are today. I do not think the president s proposal for a separate branch of the military to stand up a Brand New Space Force is the way to go. I think it will sap time, attention away from what we need to. It seems like an awfully quick timeline, 2020, to build up an entire new branch of the military. Would that even be feasible . Well, it could be feasible, but the question is will it be workable . Will it be a smooth, welloiled machine . And i think the answer is no. Anyone who thinks such a large transformation and creating a whole new separate branch of the military is going to be quick or
easy needs to think again. It is going to be long, drawn out. I worry that the bureaucratic thrashing that will go on will just take away from the more important issues, which are how do we improve war fighting capability, how do we do new technology investments. There is a history in the United States of civilian cooperation for certain space projects, the International Space station. We have had joint ventures with the russians, chinese. How does that fit into this newer, more adversarial view of Whats Going On in space . As you point out, we have always had scientific civilian endeavors that we have done jointly and we continue to do those with russia. But when it comes to National Security space, which is the domain of the United States air force, the nro, this is separate and apart. And here is where we do not have cooperation, certainly nothing close with the russian military. They are a potential adversary. Do we think and ive been talking to some of my sources about this, who mostly have been
cracking many jokes in my inbox about it more than anything else. But is there any chance congress would support Something Like this . Its a huge, new Expensive Branch of the military. In theory, theres the National Security arguments you lay out, but it seems to me like it will have a tough road. I think it will have a tough road. I think it does have some support in the house of representatives. You may recall that they proposed a space corps which had similar properties. Not the same, but similar. I think the senate will question it very strongly. I always come back to the very simple question, what is the problem youre trying to solve, and will a reorganization do it for you . The main problem is war fighting. Military services do not do the war fighting in this country. Those are done by combatant commands and unified commands. They are the ones who do strategy, concepts of operations. For people who arent intimately familiar, that means a group of separate group together of different segments
of the Military Force . Thats right. Its a joint approach and it is all about how do we do a strategy for actually conducting the military operation. I would note that the president s report today did call for the standup of a new Space Command, which would focus on war fighting. I happen to agree with that, an that would be a relatively easy situation because space is currently controlled by stratcom. So stratcom would do nuclear, Space Command would do space. And that would be like centcom people might have heard a lot about. Deborah lee james, thank you for your insights today, really appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up next, the race is on. How many seats will democrats have to win in novembers midterms to take control of the house . Steve cokoernacki reveals the mc number. One year after charlottesville, the stars of Black Klansmen talk about the
hate in america. The resurgence of reorganized hatred, you know, were seeing it from the birth of a nation, david duke, who made it sort of normal to speak these words and institute hate. Alice is living with metastatic Breast Cancer, which is Breast Cancer that has spread to other parts of her body. Shes also taking Prescription Ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor, which is for postmenopausal women with hormone receptorpositive her2 metastatic Breast Cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. Ibrance plus letrozole was significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus letrozole. Patients Taking Ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. Before Taking Ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. Common side effects include low red blood cell and low platelet counts, infections, tiredness, nausea, sore mouth, abnormalities in liver blood tests, diarrhea, Hair Thinning or loss, vomiting, rash, and loss of appetite. Alice calls it her new normal because a lot has changed, but a lot hasnt. Ask your doctor about ibrance. The 1 prescribed fdaapproved oral Combination Treatment for hr her2 mbc. Despite the fact that the winner in ohios too close to call special election is still unknown, all eyes are now on november. 88 days until the midterms and the magic number is 23. Thats how many seats democrats are looking to flip in order to regain control of the house. Can they do it . For that im joined by Nbc News National Political correspondent steve kornacki. Steve, what evidence are you seeing here . There have been, it seems, many anecdotal examples of the blue wave, but i think were all a little worried of polling and data after being so surprised in 2016. How do you read it . Yeah. Look, historically the president s Approval Rating is sitting in that zone where you say the other party could do really well. Weve seen the special elections where democrats have improved on 2016. Weve seen signs of energy on the democratic side. So we see a lot of the ingredients there. Of course we are in a very
polarized country right now, a very tribalized country in a lot of ways. So that number 23 in some ways is very feasible when you look at history. When you look more at sort of the paralysis, the political paralysis, you say maybe it will be tougher for democrats. So we partnered with nbc digital to take a fun closer look at that quest that democrats have for 23. 23. 23 is the number we have to be thinking about. Because this is the number of seats democrats need to pick up if theyre go