The only public event on todays schedule, the signing of a proclamation to honor reverend dr. Martin luther king jr. Heres how it ended. Mr. President , will you give a statement about your comment yesterday . Are you a racist. Were talking to the president , not you, sir. Mr. President , are you a racist . And thats about how the day went. And the new yorker magazine sums out where the president finds himself. The president s comments yesterday throwing things into a tailspin. Trump worked the phones thursday night calling friend and allies outside the white house to gauge reaction from the fallout from the blankhole comments. Another source told nbc news the president sought insight about how the episode might resonate among his base of supporters. That led to these tweets from the president this morning, quote, the language used by me at the daca meeting was tough but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made, a big setback for daca and never said anything negative about haitians, other than it is a poor country, never said anything about taking them out, made up by dems. I have a wonderful relationship with haitians. Probably should record future meetings, unfortunately no trust. Dick durbin was in the room with the president and today he refuted the story. Senator graham made his presentation. The president interrupted him several times with questions and in the course of his comments said things which were hate filled, vile and racist. Youve seen the comments in the press. Ive not read one of them thats inaccurate. To no surprise the president started tweeting this morning dee anywayi denying that he said those word. Thats not true. He said those hatefilled things and he said them repeatedly. And from lindsey graham, he also reportedly confirmed hearing trumps racially charged remarks. He said the comments as reported in the media were basically accurate. If that comment is accurate, its incredibly disappointing, scott told the post and courier. But two others put out their own statement and took a pass. President trump brought everyone to the table this week and listened to both sides but regrettably it seems not everything is committed to negotiating in good faith. In regards to senator durbins accusation, we do not recall the president saying these comments specifically. To get a sense of where both sides stand, listen to the reaction today from speaker paul ryan. I read those comments later last night. First thing that came to my mind was very unfortunate, unhelpful. But you know what i thought of right away . I thought about my own family. My family, like a whole lot of people, came from ireland on what they called the coffin ships then, came here and worked the railroads. Whether youre coming from haiti weve got great friends from africa in janesville who are doctors who are just incredible citizens. And i just think its important that we celebrate that. Here now House Democrats john lewis and Sheila Jackson lee. If there is any dignity among the leadership, if there is any commitment to patriotism, if there is any desire to put country over party, this is the week. It is unreal. It is unbelievable to hear the president of the United States of america saying Something Like this. In this day and age. I think the words and his action tend to speak like one who knows something about being a racist. It must be in his dna, in his makeup. Congressman lewis, of course, is a living icon of the civil rights movement. He is among those who has announced they will not be attending the state of the Union Address later this month. All of this brings us to our leadoff panel on a friday night. Ken thomas, White House Reporter for the Associated Press, Vivian Salama formerly of the Associated Press, now working for nbc news and good evening and welcome to you all. Ken, i was reminded tonight as we sit here and approach next weekend, it will mark one year in office for this president. As you look back, not to give analysis but more reporting, how much of it has been marked by selfinflicted damage . Here we are at the end of another week where that surely is the headline. Its often two steps forward and five steps back with this white house. You know, they went into this week hoping that they could, you know, set aside these concerns about the president s stability and his fitness for office. I was in a 55minute pool spray on tuesday over immigration in which, you know, we really saw the sausage making in the works. And, you know, then you have these comments come out reported the other day and its really set back the process a lot. You have on the 20th will be the oneyear anniversary of the president s inauguration. It could also be the first day of a government shutdown. And right now theyre trying to come up with some way forward on immigration and spending, but these comments make all of that very difficult to accomplish. Vivian, you and our own Hallie Jackson broke a story today about a different interaction that the president had with a briefer who was there on business appearance before the commander in chief. Tell us the outline of that story. This briefer went in to talk to President Trump about hostage issues, very capable television analyst. She discussed these issues. He said where are you from . She said new york. He asked again. She said manhattan. And she said, no, where are your people from . And she said my parent are s ar originally from north korea. And he turned to others in the room and say we have this pretty korean lady, why isnt she negotiating for us with north korea . Its this departure from the typical Political Correctness have you seen with previous president s and government officials. We have to emphasize a lot of this is what President Trump supporters really like about him, he just shoots from the hip, he says it like it is, he doesnt sugar coat any of his comments and thats how he interacts with people. Nobody thinks he meant by harm by this particular exchange but its sort of that that approach that he takes, whether or not he intends to offend people, whether or not hes just sort of thats the way he is. Theres obviously this concern thats budding about how he interacts with people and how he sort of views diversity, racial issues and religious issues as well. And so this was an example that sort of came out of what we saw in the past couple of days with his comments about african countries being, you know, an expletive that we cant say. And so this is obviously a pattern that were seeing developing. This was a new anecdote that emphasized this issue that is a problem. So how are we doing around the world . How is this story being viewed around the world . Well, what i find striking, brian, is that we are sitting here all day long debating for the umpteenth time on your show alone, weve talked about this before, about whether to call the rez aracist and whether the rest of the world will think hes a racist. We cant get inside his mind but he certainly lacks credibility in denying these remarks, given that hes made over 2,000 incorrect statements in his first year in office. Lindsey graham notably has confronted him about these remarks. Ive jotted down things off the top of my head. Whats important are actions, and how are they perceived not only in our country but around the world. I came up with a list of 15 things just off the top of my head, starting from the 1970s, the d. O. J. Suing his family Real Estate Company for discriminating against blacks. He was sued as a casino owner for discriminatory behavior. And an employee who said he didnt want blacks handling his money, only jews, and he started the birther campaign. And paul ryan during the campaign called Donald Trumps behavior textbook racism when he denounced an americanborn latino judge as being able to judge a case fairly, he attacked gold star families who are black and muslim. He attacked the Football Players for kneeling. According to the new york times, he said that nigerians live in huts and all haitians have aids. Long before he was a political figure, he paid for that advertising calling for the Death Penalty for the so called central park five and was continuing to do so until 2016, ten years after dna evidence exonerated these young people. Lets not forget puerto rico where supposedly those victims of hurricanes were somehow lazy and brought it upon himself according to what he said. All of this, brian, the impact is we are seen badly. The United Nations has denounced his remarks. The African Union has denounced his remarks. We had at least one ambassador to panama quit over this remark today. Its really bad for our image, bad for union testify and bad for our democracy. When we find out where indira buys her envelopes. You said you were present for that moment that turned into a 55minute Live Telecast of this bipartisan meeting in the cabinet room. In the moment were you aware it was a Television Show . The president the next day jokingly welcomed everyone to the studio, talked about his own performance before he caught himself. The second part of my question is has that all now been washed away . There was some sources told us there was a potential for a lengthy spray, as we call it, that we would be allowed into the meeting for a long period of time. But ive never been in a meeting that long covering the white house. But i think most important live th importantly that the meeting opened up this idea that maybe the two sides could come together. They talked in the meeting about how there wasnt a lot of trust on this immigration issue and the president joked that maybe he would just have to lock them all in a room and keep them there until they figure out a solution. And now it just seems like the two sides are really split apart and these comments just do not give democrats much of an incentive to want to work with the president. I mean, you already hear some calls within more liberal circles to just hold out for a clean daca bill, basically just providing protections, you know, to those young immigrants and not have Additional Border security. So i think this has had the effect of really pulling the two sides apart. And we have a deadline in a week in which we could have another government shotdowutdown. Vivian, you started as an a. P. Writer before you saw the light and came with us. Are you surprised now looking back that its been as chaotic as its been . Its definitely been chaotic. And this comes from someone who has been in really chaotic situations overseas and covering wars. Former Baghdad Bureau chief, i should add. I came out of baghdad and it was chaotic, especially in the early days. Whats interesting is the constant effort to push the reset button. President trump letting go of sean spicer because the messaging want quite right, scaramucci and theres a constant effort to restart through the first year. Here we are at the start of year two and were still sort of in this chaotic mode. Were on day 12 of the new year and the tweets have been remarkable. Today i was talking to somebody. The fire and fury book came out last week and it feels like it was months ago. Just the volume of information coming out of this administration learned to this freewheeling spirit that has made this administration very unique to cover. What a nice way to put it, freewheeling spirit. Our thanks to our guests. We appreciate you all joining us. Coming up for us after our first break, a trial date set in a highprofile case in this russia investigation. What we know tonight about the president s physical exam today and when we will learn more about it. And what the midterm elections are looking at right now with a big gop announcing retirement this week. That and more as we continue on a friday night. Migration. Trekking a hundred miles inland to their breeding grounds. Except for these two fellows. This time next year, were gonna be sitting on an egg. I think were getting close make a uturn. Uturn . Recalculating. Man, we are never gonna breed. Just give it a second. You will arrive in 92 days. Nah, nuhuh. Nope, nope, nope. You know who im gonna follow . My instincts. As long as gps can still get you lost, you can count on geico saving folks money. Im breeding, man. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Let your inner light loose with one a day womens. A complete multivitamin specially formulated with key Nutrients Plus vitamin d for bone health support. Your one a day is showing. A busy week in the russia investigation culminated today with news that special Counsel Robert Mueller is ready to set a court date for the first two people charged as a result of this investigation. It was a Washington Post headline today. Mueller has requested a may 14th trial date for Paul Manafort and robert gates, the former Trump Campaign chairman and his associate charged with fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Were getting another glimpse at the scope of the Mueller Investigation and the piles of evidence collected thus far. This was amazing. Court documents show the special prosecutor has examined nearly 600,000 documents, 87 Electronic Devices and executed 19 search warrants. On monday nbc news first reported that the mueller team was also in talks with the president s legal team to prepare for an interview. As you may have seen, the president seemed to indicate that may not be necessary. Ill speak to attorneys. Certainly ill see what happens. But when they have no collusion and nobodys found any collusion at any level, it seems unlikely that youd even have an interview. All of this comes as two of the three congressional investigations appear to be headed toward dead ends. The Associated Press reporting tonight that, quote, with the exception of. Senate intelligence committee, which has maintained bipartisan comity, it is becoming increasi increasingly likely Congress Wont be able to agree on whether trump was connected to the meddling russian meddling or on how to prevent a repeat of russias 2016 interference in the future. Joyce vance spent 25 years as a prosecutor. Good evening and welcome to you all. Chris, id like to begin with you. In your background and research, what did you find out about what trump is like in a deposition, in an interview like we may very well be seeing . So ive been talking to a lot of lawyers who have questioned him over the years and trump has given dozens and dozens of depositions for various lawsuits in his Business Career and lawyers describe him as sometimes he can be very charming, he can be very focused and very polite. Other times he can be very arrogant, he can be insensitive and one. Most interesting things i learned is sometimes he doesnt seem to want to prepare very much for the interview. Thats something that could really get you into trouble if you get hit with something youre not ready for in a very highstakes interview. Joyce, i always ask you this question but what must it be like to be mueller or one of the cocounsel in muellers office and see the president repeating as this mantra eight times in 90 seconds, no collusion, to see the president seeming to doubt the need for an interview at all while his lawyers are negotiating the scope of a possible future interview . I suspect that mueller simply doesnt care. I dont think hes influenced by the president s public protestations that theres no collusi collusion. Mueller has the evidence. Hes the one who will make the ultimate decision about whether the president should be charged or people surrounding the president should be charged with something stemming from that collusion and i suspect hes largely unmoved by what comes out of president s mouth. Mika, as a veteran of capitol hill, are you saddened that these investigations have one by one gone south, given in to partisanship . Do you agree that its down to the Burr Committee in the senate and that ultimately its up to robert muler . Mueller . It looks like that for now. Im hopeful the senate can get back on track. They have more interviews schedule. Its disappointed to see these representatives are not interested in what a Foreign Government was trying to do to interfere in our election process. I think they forget this will get graded against what mueller produces. They will have a report card against which they will be graded. Chris, i want to go back to the well of your research. The president is verbose. People forget the president when hes in the confines of a room often wants to be the entertainer, the storyteller, the guy whos making people laugh. He wants when he walks out people to say that was a great guy. That coupled with the lack of preparation can be fatal aspects in a sworn deposition or an interview. Well, you definitely see that he likes to play the host. You often see him tell reporters, you know, have a great time while youre here and things like that. In a situation like this, he can prove to be charming, as some lawyers said. One lawyer told me that people can turn gelatinous in front of him because he has that kind of touch about him. But is that really going to play in a situation like this . This is much different. It unlikely that his legal team knows exactly what Robert Mueller has, what exact information theyve collected and it could be very treacherous to be very questioned in that situation. Chris, give me a preview of what the bannon questioning is going to be like. Thats going to come at a very interesting time. Im sure theyre going to have a lot of questions for him about what he heard during the campaign, what communications he had with jared kushner, donald trump jr. The interesting thing about the testimony right now is its coming at a time when the president has totally frayed. And his thinking about what he wants to talk about now could be different