What he meant came out in the followup questions. The intent of what he was saying, the fact it was not just a one off or joke came out in the followup questions. Im sorry, as a journalist you ask followup questions. I watched you in the press conferences. It is on donald trump that he engages this back and forth. This is how he expresses himself. Because he likes to win every arl argtd, when he would field questions from you he does this on purpose and fights on purpose because he wants the conversation to be about how the press is awful to him. He revels in that because he thinks it is a winning conversation. He thinks it helps him with voters. And peter baker made this point when the fight started, he said no one makes and i know this from Running Press conferences for president bush, no one makes a president call on someone, he calls on jim acosta because he wants what you just described. And also if he answered a question, like actually answered it, instead of going off on a tangent. Or let you finish asking before cutting you off, then it would be a different story. He doesnt necessarily do that. We could do the whole show like this. Thank you. If it is monday, it is a president ial schiff show. Good evening. I am katy tur in new york in for chuck todd. Welcome to mtp daily. How else can you explain the last 36 hours than an unabashed display of president ial ego. I would give myself an a plus. Is that enough . Can i go higher than that . Apparently anyone that dares to question that perfect score is in his view corrupted. He debases the next chairman of the house intelligence committee, referring to adam chivas a misswelled expletive. He reduces a war hero, commander of the bin laden raid, to a partisan operative, which he is not. The president degrades the free press, how authority tarns are using his words to suppress journalists. And conspiracy about Pulitzer Prize winning reporters, painting them as the enemy of the people. Discredits the Intelligence Community, shoving aside the cia purported assessment that the Saudi Crown Prince ordered the killing of jamal khashoggi. He accepts all the credit for Republicans Holding the senate. Saying i won the senate. The president s behavior may come as no surprise to those that follow him. Folks, after two years it seems as if we have gone to the point even the most basic constitutional norms are in question. Can you envision a situation, you talk about six more years. Can you envision a situation well into your second term where you think that youre so good for the country, so essential for progress of the country that you would try to amend the constitution to serve a third term . No. Why not . Just wont happen. I think the 8 year limit is a good thing, not a bad thing. It is not a good day for democracy when the president says he views himself as basically infallible. While he undernines congress, the rule of law and the press and dismisses the message from midterm voters, is asking questions about doing away with term limits, not a good day. Lets discuss. Bring in phil bump, national kronlt for correspondent for the washington post. And susan dell pursue oh. Chris wall as asking that, it would have been absurd for many to believe that should have been asked early on. Youre crazy thinking donald trump wants to do away with term limits. I wrote in the beginning of the book like a joke, what if he is who thinks he is leaving after two terms. Farther we get into the administration, it becomes a legitimate question. When it is asked by someone like Chris Wallace, even more legitimate question. Chris wallace is not asking gotcha questions, not asking questions to feed any special interest. I mean, he is asking pointed questions and doing it on fox news. Yeah. When Chris Wallace is asking that question, people should recognize theres no chance this would become a constitutional amendment. He is asking trump if he wants that to happen. Part of the thing that colors this, trumps response to what happened in florida. It is fascinating to watch both as votes are counted in florida. Seemed like the democrats were going to be able to hold onto a senate seat, even after the race is called for rick scott. Trump and others continue to raise questions about what happened before. Theres an ongoing pattern by the president in 2016 and 2018 of raising questions about legitimacy of elections. Undermining democracy. Absolutely. And then wallace asks this other question that gets at the same point. Do you feel youre subject to these constraints. While he said no there, his response suggests he is i would ask that in a couple of years. If he wins reelection i would ask it after he wins reelection. I dont think thats the only answer you get out of donald trump unless you want to be president for longer than that. It is not a joke any longer. These are trial balloons. I wish i held your sense theres no chance that could ever happen. I think if you look at the checklist of powers that authoritarian did he s authoritarian did he s authoritarian despitev despites have, they see threats to economic goals that far right conservatives have, because most working, middle class people arent in favor of billionaires being able to shape our politics, of the franchise being restricted. This is part of a larger pattern of democracy. Lets look at the past 24 to 36 hours, he is going after a four star general, retired four star general that led the bin laden raid, somebody he praised in 2012 in order to degrade president obama. Now he is using him as a foil because he doesnt like what mcraven said, so he is denying an accomplishment he had. He is frankly when asked about journalists and words he uses about journalists, calling them the enemy of the people, and when pointed out that authoritarians are using this around the world, theyre copying your language, saying enemy of the people, saying fake news, he brushes it off. He is completely oblivious to reality of the midterms. It seems that everything thats going on if it is counter to the message he wants, by the way, brushing off the cia and khashoggi, if it is counter to the narrative he is building or the narrative he wants to hear, he is undermining the authority. And what that does, it is not just donald trump doing it, it is now a significant portion of the American Public that says i believe you. The problem is donald trump has never been in position to be accountable to anybody. This is really the time that he is seeing it. Midterm elections say we are holding you accountable, President Trump, and he doesnt know how to deal with that. We look at the enemy of the people. This is what he did in 2016. He went after john mccain and gold star families. It is not surprising if he thinks he can flip an argument and go after an american hero, of course he will. He seems to be smiling more. Does he seem to be . Hes doing the same things. His answers are the same. He is much more he is in a different posture now because he is being challenging, whether it is fox news or trey gowdy suggesting there may be a question of law. I see what youre saying, but he is acting even worse. I think his behavior is worse than it was then. Maybe not worse but he is the president of the United States. And he does have checks. This is the first time, he cant leave the situation. Hes always been able to walk away from a business deal. He could have walked away from an election. He is so boxed in, so cornered now, he has nowhere to go. And that leaves him in a different position than before. I think very much depends on what is revealed in the Mueller Investigation. By no means it is certain what will be revealed in the Mueller Investigation. Also by no means certain that whatever is revealed will change his political calculus. Theres a line in a movie, taking a lie detector test, saying when will you have the results. Right away. You know when youre lying, dont you . Donald trump knows if he is lying. He knows whats been done. He is probably coming to the fact that he will be caught in it. He wont be able to fight himself out of that. There are legal consequences at this point. I think that for normal people thats a correct assessment. For normal people that have some self reflection theres still law and order in this country. It is true. There is still law and order in this country but theres an ongoing debate whether or not the bounds of normal law and order apply to the president of the United States. To your point, he holds this position. It is not necessarily the case that Robert Mueller in particular will say i am issuing indictment on President Trump, even if he were to do that, the person that has the authority to prove it is Matthew Whitaker, and he is not going to say indict the president. You need republicans to put pressure on him as well. And it is by no means certain that republicans will do that. Yes, democrats control the house. They might have control there. They can impeach with the majority of democrats but doesnt mean he gets run out of office. The senate is not going to do that as of now. Republicans are in charge of that and dont show any signs of breaking. Look what the gop tweeted about attacks on commander welcome mcraven. Worth noting after recent comments retired admiral was on Hillary Clintons short list for Vice President in 2016. Hes been critical of President Trump, even dating back to the 2016 campaign. Hardly a nonpolitical figure. This is the party backing the president while he bashes and trashes the man that led the bin laden raid. Thats not who you look to. You look to other leaders. What has paul ryan said . What has mitt romney said, what has marco rubio said. When you look at the rnc and Republican National committee, that person is handpicked by donald trump and almost has to say what he wants. While he is doing that, it is not as if he is doing that, and thats it and the republicans are backing him up. He is offering this ego boost of his own saying listen, i wrote about Osama Bin Laden in my look. I basically caught him in 2000. It was a one off mention without larger context. He is the only person that knew. It wasnt a west wing episode. It wasnt hard. It is clear that his ego knows no bounds. Whats frustrating is that we keep having to go down this rabbit hole when we know he is trying to distract us from results of midterm elections, trying to put his own spin on them, from the fact that democrats are picking up house seats every other day, trying to distract from the boondoggle that is his appointment of whitaker. We have to keep our focus on things that matter in the big sweep of history now, the ways that our constitutional powers are being eroded or have opportunities to check, to be checked. Thats where we are now. We are at a moment of potential accountability. It is clear what Donald Trumps political strategy is from the outside and still is, which is confuse, confuse, confuse, muddy muddy muddy muddy, make it questionable n h enough of the American Public believe me because they like me, think i am funny, are happy i am fighting back, whatever it is. They like me to where they ignore all of the evidence to the contrary. You have only a second. The key take away is will results of midterms, trump is trying to spin a success, does the rest of the party boouy tha. It was play to the base, that doesnt actually work. We have another election in two years. Lucky us. Stick around. Well have more debate a little later. Coming up, we talk to one of the senators suing over acting attorney general. The senators sg attorney general the greatest wish of all. Is one that brings us together. The lincoln wish list event is here. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with 0 down, 0 due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Only at your lincoln dealer. And a complimentary first months payment. I am a techie dad. N. I believe the best technology should feel effortless. Like magic. At comcast, its my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. My name is mike, im in Product Development at comcast. Were working to make things simple, easy and awesome. Should happen everydred five hundred years, right . Fact is, there have been twentysix in the last decade. Allstate is adapting. With drones to assess home damage sooner. And if a flying object damages your car, you can snap a photo and get your claim processed in hours, not days. Plus, allstate can pay your claim in minutes. Now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . [ horn honks ] only one movie is winning audience awards across the country. And now its hitting a high note on rotten tomatoes. Thank you for your warm hospitality. Viggo and mahershala are so good, you end up wishing the movie would never end. Its amazing you said that. [ laughing ] welcome back. Three Senate Democrats are suing to block President Trumps appointment of Matthew Whitaker as attorney general. They argue President Trump violated the constitution appointments clause because whitaker hasnt been confirmed by the senate and theyre not alone. Maryland attorney general filed a lawsuit last week as well. Whitaker has drawn scrutiny for past statements as a tv pin kdi, criticizing the special counsel investigation. I did not know he took views on the Mueller Investigation as such. And when you found that out . I dont think it had any effect. What do you do when a person is right, there is no collusion. He happened to be right. He said it. If he said there is collusion, i am supposed to take somebody there is . A source tells nbc news he tried to catch the president s attention by raising his profile as a cnn legal commentator. So why would President Trump appoint whitaker outside the Justice Department typical line of succession . Joined by democratic senator sheldon whitehouse, one of three filing the lawsuit. First of all, i want to get to your lawsuit. You say the president violates the constitution in the advice and consent clause of the appointments clause. The president and dodj is actin under the federal vacancies act. There are three ways you can do it under that act. One is designate the deputy to take charge, choosing someone nominated by the president and confirmed by the senate for a different job, and naming someone serving in senior position in Relevant Agency for at least 90 days. Whitaker fits that third part of the federal vacancies act. Well, maybe, but theres a much more specific provision as a matter of law, statutory law that provides a distinct order of succession in the department of justice. And when Rod Rosenstein who was next on the order of succession was reviewed and confirmed by the senate, it was with the prospect in mind that part of the Deputy Attorney generals responsibilities are to take over and fill in spots. Nobody had heard of this fellow whitaker at the time. Moreover, the constitution ultimately controls and says the principal offices of the United States shall be filled with advice and con sent of the senate. The way the president has gone about this, not only is a violation in this case but road map for future to skirt around advice and consent. When you look at why that was put in there, it was to protect the public against a president who might put incompetents in office because they had greater loyalty to the person than to the public theyre there to serve. Thats the stated purpose of that clause. So it is very applicable in this instance. If youre arguing with the appointments clause that it overrules essentially the doj, overrules the federal vacancies reform act, so a federal judge would call into question legality of the federal vacancies reform act at least in that one last category where you talk about a senior position in a Relevant Agency more than 90 days. Yeah, because one of the things thats been a little bit covering the predicament that a president may find himself in in the event of a sudden, unplanned vacancy, somebody has to do the job awhile. It can take awhile to get advice and con sesent, who do you fill in the meantime. There are two traditions, somebody Senate Confirmed should be the person that fills in, and the second in the case of department of justice, theres a law that specifies who it should be. So theyre going way outside the bounds, both of the Succession Plan and the tradition of Senate Confirmed appointments to bring somebody in who is i think unqualified for the position but also does not have even a hint of advice and consent approval by the senate. If they get away with it in this circumstance, they can do it with other cabinet officers. The Mueller Investigation is ongoing, there is urgency to your lawsuit. Do you expect to get a ruling anytime soon . Well, the government has the chance to answer and we of course have ability to ask for a temporary restraining order or injunctive relief at some point. At the moment, we simply filed a complaint asking for declaratory relief. Well see if he recuses himself, whether he tries to interfere in the investigation. Were at least ready to go into court because the complaint has been filed, and we need to haef hear from the executive branch because i think theyre going to defend against this. Some republicans are uncomfortable with whitaker or question the legality of that appointment, trey gowdy is one. So is lindsey graham. Youre laughing. Why havent you gotten any republicans to sign on . Even john hugh wrote a piece saying the appointment was unconstitutional. I think it is widely accepted his appointment is at the very bounds of constitutionality, and that we feel very confident, the