Possibly be obtaining copies of his emails and other electronically stored communications or by having agents follow him or conduct physical searches of his property. Nbc news we should tell you has not verified this report. This news comes as an analysis piece in the Washington Post posed an interesting question and theory. Trump versus manafort . The white house sounds ready to go to war. That got our attention today. Teams for the two men appear to be engaged in a back and forth playing out in the papers. The piece cites last nights post report saying manafort offered to give a kremlin linked russian billionaire private briefings on the 16 campaign. Investigators think his emails showed he want to profit from his role with the Trump Campaign. Bloomberg politics reporter margaret tal spoke to trumps larry ty cobb who said, quote, it would be truly shocking if manafort tried to monetize his relationship with the president. And a manafort spokesman is quoted in tonights journal story saying, its unclear if Paul Manafort was the objective. Perhaps the real objective was donald trump. Tonight we also have a new bit of information from politico. It reports that mueller requested the phone records having to do with a flight on air force one. You may recall this, a flight to the u. S. Coming home from that european summit. It was on that flight that a statement was crafted explaining why done junior had allowed this meeting of russians at trump tower. The statement was more of a cover story as we learned the truth later. Politico also reports mueller is interested in more about the firing of fbi director comey, specifically a statement sean spicer made as the white house was reportedly gearing up to fire comey but before it happened. And here it is. Yesterday the president tweeted that fbi director james comey gave Hillary Clinton a, quote, free pass for many bad deeds. Is the president comfortable having a fbi director that gives out free passes serve during his administration. The president has confidence in the director. But i think he clearly his point was after some of the comments that were made yesterday regarding the reason for the outcome of the election, incompetent he just wanted to make it clear what exactly happened. And that man, sean spicer himself, was in the news today. According to axios, his former colleagues say he filed notebook after notebook away, filled them up with copious notes during meetings in his time with the Trump Campaign and white house. Axios indicated the notebooks could be a bonanza for Robert Mueller. A white house official quoted as saying people are going to wish theyd been nicer to sean. He was in a lot of meetings. Goot point to get into our leadoff panel here tonight. Were happy to have Elizabeth Miller back with us, robert costa is back with us. We also welcome back jill wine banks. Jill, you get to start tonight because youre the lawyer in the bunch. What stands out to you about these reports of the survey va lance if true especially when they are said to have engaged . Well, if the reports are true that a lot of this happened after he left the white house, then maybe hes in trouble for things that have nothing to do with donald trump or it could be because we also are reading that he stayed in constant touch with donald trump that it still relates to donald trump. And certainly the list of documents that have been requested by mueller all relate to actions by donald trump. So at least as to the documents, donald trump is the center of attention, and that would be very interesting. And for claritys sake, Paul Manafort never made it to the white house. He was Campaign Chairman. And jill, learning what we now know in these reports, again, if true, about surveillance, knowing that it also featured a kind of forced entry raid, search warrant of his home in virginia, does that not underscore some of this . It does. And, of course, using picking a lock to get in means that you suspect that the person whose documents youre trying to get to execute the search warrant may be someone you cant trust, someone who would flush the evidence down the toilet is usually the case. Its usually drug dealers that you want to break in and get. So they were cooperating supposedly. He was testifying. They must have had reason to suspect in order to get such a warrant, they would have had to prove to a court that there was reason to suspect that he might destroy the evidence if they knocked on the door. So that does look very bad and certainly is focusing on Paul Manafort. Elizabeth, lets honor a timehonored journal stick tradition and ask the question so what we learned . Let me limit the scope because a woke is a year in in story. What have we learned this week about manafort, about the Mueller Investigation and why this was a bad week for the white house . We have learned based on a lot of times reporting that Robert Mueller is being extremely aggressive in this investigation. As we reported this week, they did the predawn raid of muellers house, as jill is referring to. They broke in. They photographed expensive suits in his closet, as evidence to show he was seen to be making a lot of money. They told him that prosecutors told him that he was going to be indicted. Robert mueller is playing a very tough game here. In addition, we also learned this week that he his team requested a vast number of documents from the white house that you had mentioned earlier in the program in 13 different areas. But many of them are focused on the president s own actions. Mueller wants documents related to the president s firing of comey, the fbi director, firing of michael flynn, his First National security adviser. Mueller wants documents related to the meeting that the president had in the oval office in may with russian officials in which he said that comey was a nutjob. He wants documents related to a trump tower meeting in june 2016 with russian officials and Trump Campaign officials and also, as you reported earlier, he wants documents related to a drafting of a statement on air force one about that meeting that was very misleading. So all of this adds up to an extremely aggressive investigation, squeezing people like Paul Manafort and really, really, really pressuring the white house. Robert, the journalism this week by elizabeths paper and by your paper has cast in its sum total a heck of a chill over the white house, stretching down pennsylvania avenue to the capitol behind you. Take us wherever you wish. What has it done there . Also, this notion of teams for manafort versus the white house. Disturbing word that came out. Based on my conversations this week with my sources inside and outside the west wing, youre right, brian. Its a thick et around this white house, a growing thick et that they really cant control. Theyre not really sure whats out there in terms of what the special counsel is going after. But they see these stories by the New York Times and my colleagues at the Washington Post about manafort and his dealings with wealthy russian figures and theyre wondering what else is manafort saying. They wonder is mueller using manafort as a way to get more information, because manafort, of course, was in the meeting with donald trump jr. To go over possible information with russian figures about secretary clinton. Then that meeting on the oval office in the oval office and on air force one about how to respond to the news of that meeting, its also under the special counsels scrutiny. All these factors are just surrounding the white house as they try to plod fwafrd. And how high does the concern go . Im asking specifically about the president. Its fair to say, based on my reporting, that President Trump is paying very close attention to every russia story. He continues to insist privately, im told, by his confidantes that there was not collusion, but he is very aware of the burden that these stories and this investigation and the special counsel have on his presidency and his ability to govern. Jill, is it your view, watching him and watching these stories unfold, that he is perhaps getting and taking the advice of counsel and he has laid off this topic on twitter . He certainly seems to have been quieter and that seems to be good because even his supporters are not happy with his tweets. As to manafort, i think its also important to keep in mind when we look at how aggressive mueller is being is that he may be trying to flip manafort. So that depends on whether manafort actually has some interesting knowledge of some of these actions. We dont know that because he wasnt there during some of the key times. But he does have from everything that weve learned about him, some very potential legal liabilities in terms of Money Laundering and foreign representation that could get him in legal trouble so that theres a good way to pressure him. They have some leverage if he has knowledge. And that may be what all this is about. Hey, elizabeth, that quote in lots call it roberts paper about people are going to wish they had been nicer to sean is so washington. And it turns out here is a guy who has been taking copious notes. Usually when you work in the white house an adult takes you aside and says probably best not to write stuff down. It turns out hes done the opposite. Whats the level of exposure here . Because sean spicer has want been a man in this conversation until now. Well, obviously they want every single notebook, and it will be a very, very close record of meetings that they are very concerned and curious about. So, you know, listen, other press secretaries i know have taken these kind of notes. You take the notes because you have to remember what happens so you can go out and tell the press about it or tell the press at least some about it. So thats you know, he was taking sort of an official record and, you know, he will be a key figure now, i think. Robert it turns out the quote was neither. It was axios news service. At the same time the Mueller Investigation has taken up a lot of the oxygen this week. People tend to forget that behind you at either end of that building, senate and house, there are these other dual investigations. Anything you can update us on the status of those . The congressional investigation is more about broad questions regarding russia collusion. Were seeing the congressional investigators this week looking into the involvement of social Media Companies like facebook, russian entities buying advertising on those platforms to potentially influence the u. S. Election. And the congressional investigation believes it is now separate but somewhat intertwined with the special counsel. In some ways they will overlap, but theyre really looking at more who they can have come before them privately and publicly on capitol hill about the collusion aspect rather than potential obstruction of justice or the inside the white house details. Jill, do lawyers prefer you not to take copious notes in these jobs in the executive branch . Well, prosecutor lawyers are very happy when it happens. Sure. And in watergate we had hald man, who was the chief of staff, who took copious notes and id like to remind the audience that one of the missing tapes, there was an 18 and a half minute dpap in one tape and the evidence we had of what took place in that was hald mans notes that said at that exact moment in the tape that they were discussing watergate. Of course. So we know what it was about because of those notes. Where rose marry woods took the fall for that one. Elizabeth, a point of personal privilege here. Looking back in our archives, 16 years ago today New York Times, page one, elizabeth bu miller, washington, date line september 20th, president bush demanded tonight that afghanistans leaders immediately deliver oh sam ma bin laden and his network and close down every terrorist attack in the country. That was your lead written on deadline. Think about what kind of a place our country was september 11th had just transpired. We were still trying to figure out who and where the enemies were. What do you remember about that time and what do you make about the years since with this in mind . There are i have so many memories. September 10th, 2001 was my first day on the white house beat for the New York Times and it was the last normal day i had on the beat. The next day i walked into the office and i saw that a plane had hit the World Trade Center and my first thought was, oh, i wont have much to do today because thats obviously a big metro story for the times in new york. Its a big accident of the by the time i dpot up to the bureau to the 7th floor, a second plane had hit so i knew it was terrorism. So i went over to the white house, but of course by the time i got there people were running out of the white house. It was being evacuated. So i have lots and lots of memories of those days. I do remember that theres a line i hadnt read that story for a long time until you sent it to me tonight and theres a line in that i still remember, though. Michael ger season was pushs speech writer. Wonderful speech writer and theres a line where the president says all of this happened to us and it came upon us in a single day and night fell on a different world. And thats exactly what happened. I remember jill abe ram son who was the Washington Bureau chief of the times. We assembled in the Conference Room in the bureau on september 11th and later in the afternoon and she said to all of us assembled there, this is what we will do now. And 16 years later shes right. And thats what we did. And thats what we are doing right now. To her point and to yours, i would argue september 10th, 2001 was the last normal day period. Elizabeth bu mueller, robert costa, joan wine banks, great thanks for starting us off tonight. Thank you so much for being with us, the three of you. Well take our first break here. Coming up, whats the chance jimmy kimmel is going to be the man who kills the new healthcare bill . Plus, the threat of a Nuclear North Korea was heavy on todays agenda at the United Nations here in new york. Much more when the hour continues. Jimmy kimmel is going to be t the United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy north korea. Rocket man is on a Suicide Mission for himself and for his regime. Welcome back. President trump followed up that threat to north korea with an executive order today imposing stricter sanctions against the country, essentially banning anyone who does business with north korea from doing business with the United States. More on that in just a moment. Trump made this announcement during a meeting with leaders of the countrys most threatened by north korea, that would be south korea and japan, two of our strongest allies. The conversation today shifted slightly away from military options where its been for weeks, with trump leaving the door open at least to a diplomatic resolution. Is dialogue still possible with north korea . Is dialogue still possible. Also today, north korean president kim jongun issued a direct response to trumps fiery address at the u. N. This week. Get comfortable for this one. In a statement to the Korean State News Agency he said all this, quote, i am now thinking hard about what response he could have expected when he allowed such eccentric words to trip off his tongue. Whatever trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation. I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged u. S. Dotard with fire. What beyond his expectation means, we cannot be sure, but the north Korean Foreign minister who is here in new york for the general assembly, warned the south Korean Press Corps tonight this, quote, it could be the most powerful debt nation of an h bomb in the pacific. Could be, he said. With us here tonight, andrea mitchell, our chief Foreign Affairs correspondent who has been covering this topic in this region for a long time. And joe certificate sin i dont even i never. This is tough. Its always i know. Its late. Joe certificate certificate, author of three relevant books for our conversation. Nuclear nightmare, securing the world before its too late, bomb scare, the history and future of Nuclear Weapons, and deadly arsenals, nuclear, biological and chemical threats. Hes also a veteran of the House Armed ServicesCommittee Staff and teaches at Georgetown University where they have to get his name right at the completion of the term. For the record, dotard was the most searched for term of the night on websters and it means old or senile or in my case unable to get certificate certificate right. So, andrea, well start with you. A day of bell kosty, a day of real sanctions. Where does this thing stand as of tonight . Yeah. Well, sort of good news and bad news and im not even going to attempt joes last name. Just his book covers are enough to scare the heck out of you. And weve known him for years. Yes. So lets talk first about perhaps the positive side. The president acknowledging that there is still room for dialogue or diplomacy. And this in answer to a reporters question and also successful sanction announcements. I mean, whether they are carried out, whether there is cheating remains to be seen, but someone as smart as john mclack lynn the former deputy caine director was saying to me earlier today that this is real. This will bite because this is Chinas Central Bank agreeing to basically go along with the system that the obama treasury used to get iran to the table. It. So