Interfered in our election. And breaking news overseas, 1 Million People take to the streets of hong kong protesting a controversial bill of an extradition to china. The vote now postponed the city at a standstill. We will be live on the ground in just moments. How about this one, what is the deal . President trump boasts about his agreement with mexico on stopping migrants with experts concerned that the reality on the ground means that very little can actually get done. But the president says theres a plan on a single piece of paper. Thats the agreement that everybody says i dont have. No, because im going to let mexico do the announcement at the right time. This is one page of a very long and very good agreement for both mexico and the United States. Without the tariffs, we would have had nothing. As we speak, the House Intelligence Committee is digging into the issue that special Counsel Robert Mueller himself said was the number one thing he wanted all americans to take away from his 400page report, russias multiple systematic efforts to interfere in our last president ial election. That hearing is getting under way at this moment on capitol hill. But heres the thing, this is washington, so, of course, its not the only thing going on. In about 30 minutes from now, the president s eldest son, be don jr. , will testify before the senate Intelligence Committee in a closed hearing to answer questions about his contacts with russia and that very famous trump tower meeting back in june of 2016. Remember, this is not something don jr. Wanted to do. It was a republican, richard burr from north carolina, who pushed for this interview and finally after getting a whole lot of criticism from his own party got the interview but with a whole lot of limitations. Back in the house the fight between the democrats and the white house is developing on multiple fronts. On tuesday the full house approved a resolution that would allow them to go to court to enforce subpoenas. Are you confused yet . In the oversight committee, chairman Elijah Cummings now threatening a vote that would hold attorney general bill barr and commerce secretary wilbur ross in contempt if they dont hand over census documents by today. Congressman cummings saying the administration is simply forcing his happened. The white house has not turned over what single shred of paper in response to any of our requests. The hurricanes in puerto rico, the white house has produced nothing. Security clearance abuses, the white house has produced nothing. Efforts to transfer Nuclear Technology to saudi arabia, the white house has produced nothing. Hush money payments, the white house has reduced nothing. And this begs the questions, what are they hiding . What are they hiding . Why, thats the question. And lets go to Kelly Odonnell and capitol hill. Kelly, i know you and about 100 other reporters are there just waiting for don jr. Set the scene. Well, were in a crowded area here in the Senate Office building where the Intelligence Committee does its work. In part there are some restrictions here in terms of the bill and ropes and things. Remember, this is the president s son and he has secret service as well as Capital Police that keep things calm here on the capitol grounds. We expect the president s eldest son will be speaking behind closed doors. This is a followup kind of meeting and in my reporting in recent weeks when talking with people affiliated with the committee, one of the things they pointed out is they always told witnesses it is the committees purview to bring them back if they have addition am questions. Were told donald trump jr. Had resisted coming back and that forced the committee chairman, a republican as you point out, richard burr of north carolina, who has said publicly he doesnt i tend to run in 2020, to force a subpoena and that broke sort of the tension by bringing the donald trump jr. Team and his lawyers into the conversation and then they made an agreement, so hes not coming under subpoena today, but made an agreement to return. Some of the issues that we expect based on some contradictions between what we believe was the donald trump jr. Testimony, which was released before the Mueller Report and then the contents of the Mueller Report shining a light on some questions about, for example, how much did donald trump jr. Know about the plans for a trump tower in moscow . Michael cohen, who is now in prison serving time for his offenses, had testified he briefed trump jr. Much more regularly. Trump jr. Said publicly in his testimony to the committee and others he only peripherally been involved. Trying to drill down on some of those areas is key. Why do this after the Mueller Report has concluded and Robert Muellers no longer even the special counsel . The senate Intelligence Committee that works here has a report they expect to have completed by the end of this year. This committee has its own authority, its own power and tried to come up with legislative fixes too. One of the things we hear is the notion anyone affiliated with the campaign by law would be required to report to the fbi any interactions with people from a foreign country. Of course, the trump tower meeting, which involved mugs russian lawyers, was that kind of occasion. Could the conduct of trump jr. Influence future laws . We will find that out ahead. Thank you very much. Joining this conversation is michael allen, who served under joermg w. Bushs special assistance counsel and is currently managing director of global strategies. And greg brower, commissioner of the fbi office of affairs under jim comey. Michael, maybe its a pipe dream. Is it possible to get congress focused on the russia threat when its entire report gets painted through a political lens . Im really worried about that. These Intelligence Committees were meant to be an oasis of bipartisan. A great outcome of todays hearing would be if these former fbi agents could outline and underscore for the country the lengths the russians will go to disrupt our political process but i am almost 100 certain this is going to break down into a partisan wrestling match and thats unfortunate because the russians are coming for us again and we need to be ready and we need to deter them for what theyre going to do in future elections. Its tough to find an oasis in a swamp. To that point we have an upcoming election. We know the president has yet to articulate anything about russian interference. He takes it as a threat to his own election. But beyond him. What efforts do you see being taken from the intelligence agencies, state department and congress . Well, the good news, stephanie, is from my experience at the fbi and within the Intelligence Community, there is a lot of very serious work going on behind the scenes, much of it classified, to compat this threat. And i will say that theres a lot of interest and concern on the part of congress, bipartisan, both chambers, about that threat as well. What seems to be missing is the right tone at the very top with respect to the commander in chief about the threat. But theres not much, frankly we can do about that im afraid. Rest assured though that the Intelligence Community as a whole takes the threat very, very seriously and is out there working 24 7 in ways that we will never know about to combat this threat. Michael, russia has been more aggressive lately, physically aggressive than weve seen in the past. The very recent close call in u. S. Air space and we know at sea just last week. What can you tell us about the russian mindset and the threat Going Forward . I really believe the russian mindset is they just dont like the post cold war situation whereby the United States and others have called them a Regional Power in decline with a poor economy. I think they want to continue to remind us that they are an international player. I think that explains their interventions in syria, their help to corrupt the dictator in venezuela and activity in britain and the United States, these sort of extra judicial killings, this is putins way of saying were a force. I know you in the u. S. Think china is the rising power. Dont forget about us. I think that is in part their m. O. Greg, i have to ask you, donald trump jr. Is going to be speaking behind closed doors. How serious do you think sit is . It could be very serious. Its hard to know why the committee in a bipartisan way feels so strongly about bringing him back. It could be to tie up loose ends, fill in some gaps in his previous testimony. It could also be other witnesses have contradicted his prior testimony and that could present some potential problems, including legal problems for him. And so this has been a bipartisan, very thursdorough, professional investigation by the Intelligence Committee and i think this is an indication how thorough chairman bur wants to be. We wont know for a little while what exactly the import of this new testimony is. Greg, michael, thank you both so much. Lets dig even deeper on this. Im thrilled to bring in a woman who knows these issues like very few others, former msnbc senator claire mccaskill, Ranking Member of the Homeland Security committee for two years. Senator, welcome. Again, maybe its a pipe dream, like i said to them, take the trump piece out of the Mueller Report. What do you believe are the most important questions we need the answers to regarding russian interference and really the threat to the 2020 election . Well, as they really did a good job explaining, russia is punching above their weight right now. Theyre not Strong Enough on paper to be dominating worldwide headlines. So putin is no dummy. Hes exkgb. He knows there are two ways to get at this. One is disrupting world powers and coming relevant that way. The other is by having economic strength and and a strong economy. So hes doing this its not about donald trump. And the problem is for donald trump, it can only be about donald trump. So everything that the American Public is hearing on the republican side of this is, you know, russians didnt affect the election. Russians didnt affect the election. Yes, they did. Were still talking about it, stephanie. And it is were now on to the next election and its still an issue that they are rummaging around in propaganda, oldfashioned propaganda in a newfangled way to influence democracy and break the backbone of democracies all over the world. Do you think we have a handle on what russia is capable of and do you think were actually doing anything . Theyre saying the president doesnt want to touch this because he fears it delegitimizes him. Can you take him out of this and say weve got to protect this country . I think the Intelligence Community is doing that without much support from the executive branch, i might add. He has diminished them, he has insulted them. He has taken kim jongun i mean a murderous dictators side against the cia. This is how bad its gotten. You know what, the vast majority of people who work in the cia are veterans. And our Intelligence Community is incredibly strong and smart. And i know that they are doing the work that america wants them to do and i know theyre sharing that work behind closed doors where there is still some bipartisanship on the Intelligence Community of the United States senate. So im optimistic that committee will come out with some solid recommendations on how we can limit foreign power. By the way, can somebody explain to me how donald trump jr. Didnt know to call the fbi . I mean in what world do you find out that russia wants to help your dad win and you dont call the fbi . They continue to feign ignorance saying were newbies to the political world. How stupid would you have to be to know if russia is trying to influence the election, you have to call the fbi. Theyre comfortable with being called stupid. They are saying i didnt do anything illegal and were still rocking at the white house. That should tell people about this operation, the fact think saw an opportunity rather than a threat. They saw an opportunity. The Trump Campaign saw an opportunity. America, the people who are guarding our shores and worried about national security, they saw a threat. That should worry the American People very much. Russia wants to destabilize in order to get in and theyve been successful at doing so. Is there a chance, any chance, that washington can depoliticize this and go after russia or some other foreign power and protect our democracy and our elections . Well, my republican colleagues have shown a lack of courage on many fronts in the trump era. I will say since the Intelligence Committee meets behind closed doors, they can be braver. They can ask questions they wouldnt ask if they knew trump was going to sigh it ee it on f thats night. So i think its important the courage behind closed doors, we get a work product out of it that makes us feel better about how protected we are Going Forward. I always feel better when youre here, you make us smarter and better. Senator, thank you very much for joining me. Coming up extraordinary images out of hong kong. Police are firing rubber bullets at massive crowds of visitors stemming from a fight over deportation law and fear that the authority is ceding too much authority to china. Were live in hong kong. Janice, you were caught in the middle of tear gas. Why is this blowing up . Explain to us whats going on . Thousands of people had surrounded the legislative building here today because hong kongs government was supposed to be debating this controversial extradition bill. People here see it as another sign of chinas grip, that hong kong is losing its autonomy because this law would allow for the first time for people to be extradited to Mainland China and pulled into the judicial system there. Todays protest followed a protest on sunday where as many as a Million People came out into the streets to show their opposition to it. And todays protest was paceful for the most part until it wasnt. Actually, it turned really quickly, stephanie, it was about 4 00 in the afternoon. We saw the line of riot police start to come up the street banging their shields with the batons. And thats when the tear gas started. Protesters were putting on helmets and goggles and putting up umbrellas in this confrontation with police. But they continue to push them forward to try to dispel the crowds. Warning protesters that they had to leave the area or they might regret it. This has gone on for several hours, this attempt by police to fire the tear gas and push them further back. The problem is that many are digging in. Protesters are setting up barricades. Hong kongs government meanwhile said it delayed the debate today but it will vote on that bill next week and given the chaos on the battlefield that was today, this bill is not likely to pass quietly. Stephanie . Janice, please stay safe where you are. Keep us updated. Coming up the trump tax cuts, you know they were controversial when they were put in place. But now a leading republican just came out and admitted one of their main selling points might not actually be true. First, the iowa split screen. President trump and Vice President joe biden both barnstorming the state yesterday, taking direct at at one another. Could bidens direct attack on the president actually hurt his chances and winning the democratic nomination . Make fitness routine with pure protein. High protein. Low sugar. Tastes great high protein. Low sugar. So good high protein. Low sugar. Mmmm, birthday cake pure protein. The best combination for every fitness routine. And is the Fastest Growing place to buy a car in the nation. Carvana is six years old this year its because we have thousands of people working hard to make our customers experiences the best. Its because we have tens of thousands of cars ready to be delivered to your doorstep. And its why hundreds of thousands of happy customers have ditched the dealership and bought their car online, earning us an average 4. 7 stars in the process. So if you didnt know about us before, you do now. Were carvana, and we want to give you the car buying experience you deserve. Be go[ laughing ] gone. Woo hoo. Welcome to my house mmm, mmm, mmmmm. Ball. Ball. Ball. Awww, whos a good boy . Its me. Me, me, me. Yuck, thats gross. You got to get that under control. [ dogs howling ] seriously . Embrace the mischief. Say get pets tickets into your x1 voice remote to see it in theaters. The fact of the matter is that four years of donald trump will be viewed as an aberration in american history. He was some place in iowa today and he said my name so many times that people couldnt stand it anymore. No, dont keep saying it. Hes a threat in my view, a threat to our core values. Sleepy joe. Sleepy guy. I believe the president is literally an existential threat to america. With biden we would never be treated with respect because people dont respect him. The gloves are clearly off. Were they ever on . President trump and democratic frontrunner joe biden attacking one another at dueling appearances in iowa, all but ignoring the other 2020 democratic contenders. Joining our conversation, nbc News White House correspondent peter alexander, msnbc road warrior Garrett Haake in iowa, and Nbc News National Political reporter, my frie