Lot to get done before the year ends and for that matter before the end of the week. He hopes to sign a tax bill and avoid a government shutdown, but hanging over all of it is Robert Muellers russia investigation and the latest Pressure Point mueller seems to be trying to exploit. Nbc news confirmed over the Holiday Weekend former National Security adviser mike flynns legal team has cut ties with trumps, widely considered by experts as the first sign that flynn may be cooperating with muellers prosecutors. Now abc does not cite its sources and nbc news has not independent by verified the story. They report this, however, the lawyer for president Donald Trumps former National Security adviser michael t. Flynn met monday morning with members of special counsel Robert Muellers team. The laidest indication that both sides are discussing a possible deal. It also marked the deadline for his soninlaw to turn over documents requested by the Senate Judiciary committee. The Committee Said they did not expect to get them today. The Washington Post took an indepth look at kushners work in the white house. The headline from our friend Ashley Parker reads the shrinking profile of jared kushner. It says in the body of the piece, his oncesprawling white house portfolio, which came with walkin privileges to the oval office has been diminished to its original scopend chief of staff john f. Kelly, and he has notably receded from public view. To start off our leadoff panel, robert costa, moderator of Washington Week on pbs; kimberly atkins, chief reporter for the boston herald, an attorney by trade, and jeremy bash, former chief of staff at the cia and the pentagon, as well as former counsel to the house intelligence committee. Welcome to you all. Jeremy, what you have learned about mike flynn ain all of the reporting over the weekend . Remind everybody watching as we come off our postthanksgiving get back to work kind of attitude why he is so potentially valuable to robert mueller. Brian, mike flynn was the Foreign Policy adviser that no candidate would take during the president ial elections of 2016 until trump picked him up because, of course, trump was the candidate that no Foreign Policy expert would advise. So they were sort of two misfit toys that found each other and mike flynn also had had a long history of basically going to russia, he had that famous trip in 2015 in which he attended the russia todays tenyear anniversary gala, sat next to vladimir putin, was paid 40,000 for that appearance and that speech did not clear that with the appropriate executive branch officials. During the campaign, he had two jobs, he was a Foreign Policy adviser to trump and was at the center of al of the russia policy development for the campaign. He was also a lob crist fbyist government of turkey and that is under federal scrutiny by bob mueller. He has a lot of information about the way the Trump Campaign developed its policies on russia, policies that nobody can explain but for potential leverage that russia appears to have over the current president of the United States. Robert costa, the president sure threw off a number of timed distractions over the fast few days but what must be the mood inside the west wing . Inside maralago, his winter retreat in florida where the president spent the weekend, im told by several sources close to him that he was fuming about media coverage, that hes not getting enough credit for the economic turn the country has taken in some respects. Hes continuing to push senators on capitol hill here to vote for the tax plan thats going to likely come up to a vote in the senate in the next few days, but when it comes to russia, hes being advised by ty cobb and other attorneys that this is going to play out in his view. Theres an optimistic view and that continues to be his view. Lets remember, his patience is thin when it comes to this and some of his confidants wonder how long hell share the confidence of his own lawyer. What a dicey period this must be to know that former associates are perhaps flip be on him, kim. The president needs distance from people like retired general flynn, but they were once very tight on the campaign trail. They were tight on the campaign trail, and Michael Flynn was a white house official. This w this is a white house physical now who is seemingly cooperating with the bob Mueller Investigation. Thats a huge change. Thats very different than anything weve seen so far with Campaign Officials likes paul manafort. So this has got to be very uncomfortable for a president who really detests anything having to do with russia or this russian investigation. So to know that somebody who has that insight in the white house that jeremy was talking about it now talking and who faces his own legal peril, just a lot of things that he could be up for potential indictments for if he is willing to offer up information in exchange for cutting some sort of deal, thats got to make people in the white house very uncomfortable. And in one of the many aspects of the story that reminds people of a mob movie, part of his motivation may be to save his own son from peril. Jeremy, this is james comey testifying been the Senate Intelligence committee in june after he was tirefired. He submitted a statement saying in part, trump then said i hope can you see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go. Jeremy, boy, that quote appears in a whole new light, doesnt it . It really does. Lets remember what happened here. In december of 2016, mike flynn, who was advising the trump team talked to the russians saying doesnt worry about the sanctions imposed on you by the Outgoing Obama Administration because were coming into office in a couple of days and well take care of you and everybody waited for putin to respond to the sanctions and he didnt. That was an indication he did get that secret signal from flynn. When flynn was caught on a wire tap undercutting american security, they interviewed flynn, he lied about it. They told the acting attorney general. She warned the National WhiteHouse Council and said your National Security adviser could be black mailed. The president then turned on the fbi director and said i hope can you see your way clear to dropping this thing on mike flynn and when comey didnt comply, the president fired him. Robert costa, in the military flying business, they have what are called countermeasures, when they think theyre going to get hit by an incoming missile, they release what they call chaff, often pieces of heated, shiny metal and designed to drive an incoming missile crazy and confuse it. There are obvious parallels to twitter and the communications strategy, which is part of my president of th questions of this president. He was shot a lot of target chaff over the last few days. Down over the numbers of targets, it was somehow strategic . I cant be inside of the president s head but i think the eruptions on twitter are revealing about the president s isolation when it comes to this issue. He has a small legal team who, as i say, i trying to get him in a confident state of mind, though many around trump are skittish. Republicans on capitol hill maintain that the congressional committees looking into russian interference should continue. Theyre not clamoring for this investigation to discontinue. Its President Trump alone on twitter frustrated about how this is playing out, trying to be his own defenseman. This comes months after there was talk of a more aggressive white house strategy but that never panned out. Late today in the oval office the president was honoring de decorated veterans of world war ii, more than that the venerated code talkers of the Navajo Nation and then this happened. Youre very, very special people. You were here long before any of us were here, although we have a representative in congress who they say was here a long time ago, they call her pocahontas. But you know what . I like you. Because you are special. Kimberly, what did you make of that moment . You know President Trump jabbing at Elizabeth Warren and her jabbing back is as normal as it can be and uttering a racial slur at an event meant to honor war heroes of world wars i and ii, especially with the back drop of andrew jackson, whose legacy includes one of the most brutal crusades of native americans in this country, if the president doesnt staunt und how offensive that is, then he should. There are very few things that im pretty unflappable, there are very few things i take personally in covering washington as a reporter, but today it really stung. I mean, as a person of color who has been on the receiving end of racial slurs, to see the president go to that length and to not draw a line between using that in a partisan attack really was bad, not just optically, it was bad for america. Its a sad day today. Robert, i heard people talking about this president s inability to simply preside over, take part in an elegant event and leave it at that. This president who has to have enemies and more than that has to have nicknames for those enemies, a kind of a special subset in his mind. It was a moving event to watch. And you look at those gentlemens caps, survivor of iwo jima, men who joined the marines as teenagers, trying to help their country serve not just in world war ii but also some who served in the korean mind. What was on the president s mind . A possible 2012 contender, a foe, a foil in senator Elizabeth Warren. Regardless of your politics, this was a moment the president seemed to miss the moment. It was about those heroes. Robert costa, kimberly atkins, jeremy bash, our thanks for starting us off on a monday night. Coming up, the one man who gets to determine how much longer the russia cloud hangs over the trump white house. A revealing new look at special counsel robert mueller. The author of it will be here with us. And next, alabama voters pick their next senators two weeks from tomorrow. Can we expect any high watt and surrogates on the trail in alaba alabama . That and so much more as the 11th hour gets under way on a monday night. This is what its all about, jamie helping small businesses. Damage your vehicle . We got you covered. [ glass shatters ] Property Damage . Thats what general liabilitys for. What . injured employee . Ow. A revealing new look at special 11th hour gets under way on a p whats happening . This is carla. Hows it going . And if anything comes up, our experts are standing by. A revealing new look at special 11th hour gets under way on a boo anif youve got a lifee. You gotta swiffer if they knew just howers rich they were. Ed the average American Home value has increased 40,000 over the last 5 years. But many dont know you can access that money without refinancing or selling your home. With a home equity loan, you can pull cash out of your house for anything you need home improvement, college tuition, even finally getting out of credit card debt. Come to lendingtree. Com to shop and compare home equity loans right now. Because at lendingtree, when banks compete, you win. Weve seen false and negative attacks both by the republicans and now the democrat establishment. These allegations are completely false. Theyre malicious. Specifically i do not know any of these women nor have i ever engaged in Sexual Misconduct with any woman. There was a of course Republican Alabama Senate candidate roy moore appearing on the campaign tonight for the first time in over a week. Hes been keeping a low profile since nine women accused him of Sexual Misconduct. Most in congress have disavowed moore because of the allegations but President Trump has not. Now it does not look like hell make a trip to alabama to offer a formal endorsement saying he doesnt have time in his schedule. The Washington Post offered this explanation while trump has certainly bet something on moore, visiting the state would be going all in and at this juncture, that would be a very risky bet. A sitting senator facing Sexual Harassment allegations returned to work today. Minnesota democrat al franken had this to say to his colleagues and consistentituents afternoon. This has been a shock and has been extremely humbling. I am embarrassed. I feel ashamed. What im going to do is im going to start my job, im going to go back to work, im going to work as hard as i can for the people of minnesota and im going to start that right now. Thank you all. Thank you. And on the house side of the capit capitol, Michigan Democratic john conyers, the senior most member of the house, has stepped down from his leadership position on the judiciary committee. He has acknowledged he settled a Sexual Harassment complaint from a former staff member, but he denies that he did anything wrong. Meanwhile, the House Democratic leader nancy pelosi is taking a lot of heat for the way she defended conyers yesterday on meet the press. So define zero tolerance. Up said theres no a zero tolerance. John conyers, in or out . Lets say we are strengthened by due process. Just because someone is accused and was it one accusation or two john conyers is an icon in our country. Tonight we welcome to the broadcast, jeanne cummings, from the wall street journal and White House Reporter for the associated press. Jonathan, lets try to stay in order if we can. Roy moore. It sounded to a lot of people as an endorsement. He went to campaign for big luther and loaded his remarks with caveats in case there was a loss. Sounds like he does not want to go all in in alabama. The white house came to the conclusion that theres more risk than reward for the president. These accusations against moore evoke those against President Trump. He, like moore, denies anything has happened, denied the claims of these women who have come forward and said he sexually assaulted or even harassed them. Moore still has a chance to win this. Public polling weve seen so far perhaps not super reliable suggests it is a close race. This is still as toup ra toss. This is a risky position to take to go all in for moore. So the president you might recall right before thanksgiving didnt rule out the idea that he might go down to alabama to actually campaign for moore. The white house now says he wont. What we probably will see going forward, which trump started over the weekend, is not a pro roy moore case, not saying this is my guy, but rather just to say we cant have a democrat in that seat. Its more of an antidoug jones case. You need to vote for moore, even if he doesnt use his name because my agenda is at risk. Doesnt vote for the other guy. Need all the votes they can get in the senate. Jado you believe any of the numbers coming out . Do you think this race is evolving still, on the move . I do think its on the move. We should recognize that this is a very tough race for a democrat to try to win. Trump won alabama by like 37 points. Its a red state and a deeply red state. So it is a very tough race. There may not be enough democratic votes for them to win the seat. Now, that said, this is roy moore didnt change the topic today when he finally came out. He tried to reframe it as me against them, the establishment is attacking me. Thats been a card he has played for years. But in his last statewide race, he only won by 52 to 48 . So the democrat was very competitive with him in his last statementwi wi statewide race and none of these allegations had been raised and the stakes werent nearly quite so high. And the democrats could not have nominated a more perfect candidate, especially since were talking about alabama than doug jones, who has a good law and order background and his ads have been exceptionally good, where he has alabamans unique to his race, he has republicans endorsing his adds and talks about honor and bringing it back to washington. Hes a very formidable candidate in a very tough state. Lets jump ahead to moore and nancy pelosi. I notice on fox a tough piece went up about pelosi saying nancy pelosi is that woman. Theyre talking about what she said to chuck todd. Were you surprised she didnt have a better answer standing by in the chamber when she knew that question was coming up . If she did have a better answer, she certainly didnt deliver it. She certainly botched this. This is the democrats seemingly creseemingly cede some ground here. The democrats have been publicly at least sort of championing this movement, the metoo movement, come forward, come forward. But when its a member of their own party, a member of their own team, it felt like a nod to tribalism, well, this is really bad but hes one of us so we dont want to say too quickly. Certainly i think the answer bothered some other democrats. And then combine that with al franken and it does seem like this is a party thats not quite sure how it wants to handle the issues in its own home even as it still wants to point to republicans who have been accused of the same things, including of course the president. Jeanne, finally, the New York Times said tonight that now three people have said the president has decided somehow his remarks on the bus, the access hollywood clip were not authentic. Access hollywood issued a statement tonight saying, no, its real. We remind everybody the president apologized for it. Is this the president deciding on an alternate reality as his tr