2020. Affirmative action on trial. Historic case pitting the Trump Administration against Harvard University. At its core, whether colleges can use race as a factor in College Admissions. Well look at a farreaching impact it could have on campuses nationwide. Well get to that in a moment. We start with a dealmaker president appearing to pick the side of a top ally in the investigations surrounding the disappearance and suspected murder of jamal khashoggi. Despite multiple reports based on sources inside the u. S. Intelligence, President Trump gave way to saudi arabia contentions that it had nothing to do with the disappearance and likely death of the journalist. The king denied it. It sounded like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows . His denial to me could not have been stronger that he had no knowledge, and it sounded like he and also the crowned prince had no knowledge. Lets start with jeff bennett. Jeff, those are some pretty stark comments by the president today, and they seem to contrast with what he said in the 60 minutes interview last night. It looks that way, craig. I talked to a white house official who was pushing back on this notion that President Trump is seeming to give the saudis the benefit of the doubt. The white house makes the point that President Trump in that south lawn, the conversation he had with reporters, he was simply relaying the saudi kings denial. But look, in emphasizing the denial you heard the president suggest this alternative theory. A band of rogue killers who were to blame instead of agents of the saudi regime. Compare that to what he said last night in the 60 minutes interview. Tell everybody whats at stake here. Theres a lot at stake. Theres a lot at stake. Maybe especially so, because this man was a reporter. There something youll be surprised to hear me say that. Theres something really terrible and disgusting about that if thats the case. Well have to see. Were going to get to the bottom of it. There will be severe punishment. Reporter two things about that. You saw the president say theres a lot at stake. Fact check true on that one. Thats why the secretary of state is heading to the region as we speak. And the reason why President Trump has been reluctant to criticize saudi arabia is because not just because theyre a close u. S. Ally. That we know. Its because saudi arabia plays a central role in the Trump Administrations mideast policy. Saudi arabia is the Worlds Biggest Oil exporter. Theres a fear if theres a stand off between the u. S. And the saudi family, the saudi regime, that could potentially send oil prices skyrocketing, and the president also said that there will be severe punishment if the regime is found to have played a role in khashoggis disappearance and presumed death. The white house says that stands. Theyre not being specific about the severe punishment. We know based on the president s comments what it wont be. He says hes not going to cancel the 110 billion u. S. saudi arms deal. He said it would be foolish because it would harm u. S. Workers more than saudi arabia. Thats his view. Geoff, thank you as always. Aaron blake, gail lemont, and kevin barren are all with us. Thanks to all of you. Gail, let me start with you. Lets start with the comments from the south lawn. What do you make of President Trump there appearing to parrot the saudi lines, maybe rogue elements killed khashoggi . Watch the next couple of days. I think youll see the hunt for an off ramp. Theres a Willie Nelson song, the last thing i needed this morning. There are few people in the region who think this is in anybodys good interest to see the United States and saudi arabia have a standoff. And so turkey, saudi arabia, and the United States, theyre looking for some way to deescalate this situation. I think one way some observers have been saying theyll find that off ramp is to talk about rogue killers, put it in an investigation setting and take this off the front burner while they look into it. That doesnt mean the external pressure will ratchet down. Theyve looking for a way to basically take this off the front page and put it toward a27 and figure out a way to get the investigation going. I want to show everyones president s tweet on khashoggi. I want to highlight one line in particular. Trump writing spoke to the king of saudi arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened to our Saudi Arabian citizen. The president put the last part in quotations about him being a Saudi Arabian citizen. Why emphasize that . Its clear what hes doing. He did it last week when he was talking about this. He mentioned twice that khashoggi is not a u. S. Citizen. He asked somebody next to him whether he was. This is a justification for not taking a hard line. The president has made this abundantly clear that he does not want to do that. He has already down played the idea that there could be sanctions here. He has down played the idea that the arms deal would be cancelled. He clearly does not want to do this. Now, that doesnt necessarily mean he wont have to. We have seen instances when people around him in the administration in the case of Congress Passing sanctions on russia that he was forced to sign over some of his objecti s objections. They can force his hand to some degree. He has made it clear that he does not like this. He views this as an impediment to business dealings with saudi arabia. And this really follows like so many things before it, in which he doesnt really take a very stern view of resumen rights abuses with countries he wants to deal with. Kevin one theory why trump wont condemn saudi arabia is because he cant. Because saudi arabia is essentially the lynch pin to his entire dealmaking persona, if you will, there in the middle east. What do you make of that theory . I think thats strong to say, but i think its worth taking a pause and viewing this from the military perspective. Im a military reporter. Of all the things the saudis have done that dont fall in line with western human rights values, this is one of them. Ill quote a song to say its like a match on a fire. Theres a long history of saudi wrongs. This is a big news event. I think the idea of trying to pin this on the saudi king doesnt it doesnt hold water. The king, lots of folks have known, has not been the leader of the country. Its mbs. In the last year hes imprisoned his own family members and reorganized the entire state to have stronger control over them. The u. S. Government, especially the u. S. Military has relied objected saudis and continues to as a lynch pin of security more than donald trump needs the saudis as a lynch pin of foreign policy. That goes to being an antiarraign yan lynch pin, keeping Iranian Forces from attacking the United States and building up and bringing missiles into yemen. Theres a long list of reasons why u. S. Generals would say hey, we need the saudis. The u. S. Needs the saudis and always has. Thats a controversial position. Lots of folks disagree and think the days have passed. Thats the truth. The president appeared to go fairly easy on Vladimir Putin during that 60 minutes interview. Here he is talking about the russian leader. Do you agree that Vladimir Putin is involved in the assassinations, in poisonings . Probably he is, yeah. Probably. I mean, i dont know. But i rely on them. Its not in our country. Why not they shouldnt do it. This is a terrible thing. Of course they shouldnt do it. Why is it so hard for him to just say yes there . I think it goes back to the discussion about the media and the white house and what people want him to say, what he wants to say. And what is fascinating is that if you look at Ukrainian Armed sales to ukrainian, that has happened under this administration. And what is interesting to me, if you go back to the saudi point is that this all comes at such an unfortunate time. If you look at it from the white house perspective, they were getting what they wanted on iran. Iran has been isolating iran has been the focus both for the saudis and the United States. And the president has worked to keep the attention from the putin discussion. And so to really this whole thing, absolutely comes at possibly the worst time for the white house as it seeks to really put some level of stability into the region of policy. Im going to play another two sound bites from that interview and well talk about them on the other side. Here they are. I know all these things. Im not a baby. I know im not saying i trust everybody in the white house. Im not a baby. Reporter is it true general mattis said to you the reason for nato and the reason for all these alliances is to prevent world war iii . Its not true. Affordable care a frankly, i like general mattis. I think i know more about it than he does. I know more about it from the standpoint of fairness. That i can tell you. Kevin, is general mattis probably done after the midterms . Look, i dont know. And i dont think anybody knows. I think theres speculation about mattis leaving. I know in the first year there was a sense that two years was it. That would be standard for defense secretary. What i dont hear is any evidence that back up any idea that the white house actively wants him out or he is actively seeking to go. I just think theres a lot of speculation out there. If you want to talk about that nay owe comment, im happy to address that as well. Please do. Well, its an interesting point. I think for the president to just he has to take the position because its his persona, that he knows more. And that he knows what the value of nato. I think you saw the difference. For military commanders and former secretaries, i just spoke to secretary chuck hagel who said the same thing. For the president , its been a financial transaction. He said he does believe in nato. He wants more countries to pay for their fair share. Its spun up as some kind of a rift between him and mattis and mattis is out the door. I caution against thinking that. Thats about to happen, and even if it does, that its some indication of ousting or not seeing on the same page on issues versus just being time. More plenty of folks who worked for mattis who thinks hes not going anywhere any time soon. Thank you all. Mob mentality. As the president tries to paint democratic voters as an angry mob, i have a former dnc chair standing by to talk about her partys best defense and the big step that Elizabeth Warren might have taken toward 2020. Plus trump on the stump. His strategy to rile up the base while avoiding swing voters during his Midterm Campaign swing. And affirmative action on trial. How a case involving harvard could turn the college emissions process as we know it up side down. I saw my leg did not look right. I was just finishing a ride. I felt this awful pain in my chest. I had a pe blood clot in my lung. I was scared. I had a dvt blood clot. Having one really puts you in danger of having another. My doctor and i chose xarelto®. Xarelto®. To help keep me protected. Xarelto® is a latestgeneration blood thinner thats. Proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt or pe blood clots from happening again. In clinical studies, almost 98 of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. 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Well almost anything. Leave no room behind with xfi pods. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Click or visit a retail store today. President trump this morning responding to Elizabeth Warrens headline grabbing dna test release on the south lane simply saying who cares. Releasing results saying she does, in fact, have native american ancestry after a direct challenge from the president. For several years perhaps youve heard, hes claimed hes not native ne native american. The boston globe reporting the dna provides strong evidence she had a native neamerican in her family tree that ranges from 1 32 to 1 1024. We have former chair of the Democratic National committee. And ceo of the Democratic National convention committee. Theyre the authors behind the new book, there it is. For colored girls who have considered politics. Well get to your book in a moment. The president went onto say this. I hope shes running for president because i think shed be very easy. I hope that she is running. I do not think shed be difficult at all. Shell destroy the country. Be careful what you wish for. You know what she will do . She will, i think, bring about major change in washington d. C. You know whats in her dna . A willingness to fight for our democracy and working class people. A willingness to fight for women and minorities. Shes a forbiddable candidate. Shes up for reelection. It almost sounded like a Donna Brazile endorsement. I love them all. Let me put the poll out. This is a poll this is a cnn poll. You had to work that in, didnt you . Joe biden top of the pack. Top of the heap. 33 . Bernie sanders 13 . You can see the rest of them. Elizabeth warren polling in fourth according to cnn, this is who democrats prefer. What do we make of the poll . Is Vice President biden the man to beat . I think. So far this is a name recognition indicator more than anything else. Its who people know and who people are familiar with. I dont put much stock in this kind of poll. We all know the only poll that matters is election day. Perhaps you saw the interview last night on 60 minutes. President trump spending time with leslie, defending against the criticism that he mocked professor ford ahead of the Brett Kavanaugh vote. This is part of that response. What neighborhood was it . I dont know. Wheres the house . I dont know. Upstairs, downstairs. I dont know. But i had one beer. Thats the only thing i remember. Had i not made that speech, we would not have won. Im saying she didnt seem to know anything, and youre trying to destroy a life of a man who has been extraordinary. Why did you have to make fun of her . I didnt really make fun. I think it was fairly clear that the president was, in fact, making fun of her. He was mocking her. He was. Beyond that and im sure youve heard this on the trail, the president has taken to calling democrats, referring to democrats in masses as an angry mob. Warning against mob rule. How do you counter that narrative . Well, first of all, we dont accept it. These are passionate american citizens who want to be heard. Many people who have experienced sexual assault, we know its a trauma. We know it takes years sometimes decades for you to be able to tell your story. Rather than encourage people to tell their story to begin the healing process, what the president did was to mock a woman who came forward because she felt it was her civic duty. I think we also have to remember the foundations of this country. This country was founded by passionate people who poured tea into the harbor, who fought against what they perceived to be the oppression of the british in order to found this country. Lets move on to the civil rights movement. Every single change that has happened to this country has happened because passionate people come together and press their case against the government. Democrats a few weeks from now, 22 days in the midterms. How are you looking . Im cautiously optimistic. Its all about turnout. Midterms are notorious for being low turnout events. If we can convince women and millennials and minorities. If we can convince every american to get out and vote, well see a blue wave. If democrats retake the house, should nancy pelosi be speaker . Thats up to the caucus. My money is on nancy. She is fierce and determined. She knows how to get things done. You dont think shes been around too long in leadership . Hell, theres a lot of people been around too long, but we still praise them. Who cares how long shes been around . We have a lot of work to do in this country. Shes proven she is able to get things done. She is responsible for much of the legislation thats happened over the last eight years, and so if she can do the job, let her do the job. Lets talk about this book. And has it dropped . When does it drop . We dropped about a week ago. Were late to the target. Its hot. Its still hot. You refer to the women behind this book as colored girls, and youre famous for hosting dinners. Its caught my attention. You write about hosting then senator obama ahead of his battle with Hillary Clinton for the nomination in 2008. At this dinner, leah who sat next to obama remembers his expectation was that he was walking into a room of adorers and supporters. When the questions started, he didnt seem to like it. Donna asked him what his 2068 strategy was. He bristled. Another participant asked him whats your race strategy . And we all remember him say og, race wont be an issue. America is past that. That leftist all with our mouths slightly ajar. Obamas believe was that American Families problems were universal and to close the gap between minority and white workers may have little to do with race at all. How surprised were you then, and a deck raade later, how do you k race and our attitude about race affects politics . I was certainly surprised. I had to understand h