In the russia investigation. Nbc news is reporting that steve bannon met with special Counsel Robert Mueller over multiple days this week, according to two sources familiar with the proceedings. In all he spent some 20 hours in conversation with the team led by mueller. Then today after an almost month long stand off, bannon returned to capitol hill to continue his interview with the house intelligence committee. He emerged after four hours reportedly answering 25 questions that the white house had negotiated with the house lead counsel on the republican side. After bannons testimony, adam schiff, the california top democrat on the committee, told reporters bannon refused to answer questions that had not been scripted in advance. It went so far to refuse to answer questions about conversations he had after the administration and with people who played no role in the administration. Had never been in the administration. Theres no claim of privilege that could apply to those circumstances. Whats more, the only questions he would answer were questions that had been literally scripted for him by the white house. A set of 25 questions that had been written out for him to which the answer to each must be no. Whenever we sought to probe anything beyond the four corners of the specific wording of the question, he refused to answer. Thats not how executive privilege works. Schiff went on to say the next step would be initiating contempt proceedings against bannon. Were about to ask an expert about that. And the Washington Post reports, quote, House Republican leaders are weighing further steps to force bannon to answer investigators questions in their probe of russian meddling in the 2016 election, including potentially declaring him in contempt of congress after a thursday interview they call frustrating. All this as cnn is reporting former Trump Campaign adviser, rick gates is finalizing a plea deal with special Counsel Robert Muellers office. They cite their reporting to sources familiar with the case. Gates is not among the better known members of this case. Nbc news has not confirmed this report. If this plea deal happens, that would make gates the third person to flip and cooperate in the investigation joining Michael Flynn and george papadopoulos. There are also important developments tonight stemming from our own nbc news reporting that over 130 white house officials did not have permanent security clearances as of november of last year. Today Oversight Committee chairman, trey gowdy, sent the white house a request for information on all officials for whom a security clearance was pending or had been adjudicated since january 21, 2017. The first day of the trump presidency. And our own ken dilanian has reporting on the process at the white house. According to an excerpt of a sup ple supplemental questionnaire obtained z by nbc news, white house officials are actually asked if they are vulnerable to blackmail. It reads in part, quote, with as much detail as possible, please provide any other information, including information about other members of your family, which could suggest a conflict of interest, be a possible source of embarrassment or be used to coerce or blackmail you. Thats a change. Lets bring in our lead off panel on a busy thursday night. Meika, an attorney, matthew nusbuam, White House Reporter and vivian solama political reporter for nbc news. Meika, based on what we know of publically, what do you make of bannons testimony before your old committee, house intel and what does contempt of congress mean . I understand there are several versions of that. Thats right. Its very unusual for someone like bannon to appear before the committee and refuse to answer questions except those that are prescripted. Ive never seen this happen before where they were negotiating down to a specific set of questions for a witness that are negotiated not by the witness and their lawyer, but negotiated by the white house and the committee. So its very unusual here. Obviously the committee is very frustrated with this. Theyre considering taking further action to hold bannon in contempt. What that would mean is they would have a vote at the committee to hold him in contempt. And if its criminal contempt, they hold it to the full house of representatives. Then they get in a bind because they have to turn it back to attorney general Jeff Sessions to see if he would prosecute bannon for criminal contempt. Is there any standard under which the sergeant at arms is to go get the witness, bring them in and compel their testimony . Congress has that power, but they havent used it in a very, very long time. Well put that on the maybe category. Vivian, remind us, especially when we look more broadly at the story were behind that bannon has spent two hours, give or take, in front of the mueller team. Remind us of the stories bannon has to tell. Bannon obviously was a key player in the transition but also in the administration as a very close adviser to the president during his time at the white house. And so, he was in the room for a lot of those conversations. Of course he also was involved in the campaign very heavily. And so, the question is, what did he see, who what meetings does he know about . And a lot of this really came to light in the last couple of weeks, especially with Michael Wolffs book fire and fur furry where bannon is quoted on multiple occasions in the book he called trump tower meetings with donald trump jr. Treasonous and a number of other accusations against members of the campaign and close confidantes to President Trump that are now obviously the subject of great interest for the House Intel Committee and also for special Counsel Robert Mueller. So those are definitely some of the issues that theyre going to want to grill bannon on to see to what extent, you know, he knew about these issues and whether or not they are treasonous as he alleges them to be. So those are the answers theyre trying to get, but from what adam schiff said earlier, it doesnt sound like they got a lot of answers so far. Matthew, as i said earlier, gates is one of the lesser known names in all of this, just by sheer lack of exposure. Remind us, if you can, why hes an important player in all this. Right. He was something of a deputy to Paul Manafort, who we know has not yet pleaded out and is facing indictment from muellers team. But unlike manafort, gates did not leave during the campaign. He stayed on the campaign and was there during the transition. And we know a lot went down during that transition, including those famous calls between flynn and kislyak. So gates certainly had more visibility into the later stages of the campaign than manafort or papadopoulos had. And into the transition, which definitely makes him a compelling figure. And for him to strike a deal, i think that would be bad news for Paul Manafort more than anyone else. You dont want to be the one guy who hasnt struck a deal with the special counsel whos facing indictment. But its certainly not good news for the white house. Theyre coming off a terrible week but to find out another former Campaign Official is ready to cut a deal with the special counsel, thats not a good way for them to finish what has really been one of their worst weeks so far. Counselor, back up to you and the question is what does it mean to you as a lawyer to hear that gates is considering a deal . I think it means that mueller is closing in on witnesses and as matt said, i think thats bad news for manafort. What that suggests for manafort, the only way he can get a deal is by giving up someone bigger than himself in the organization, and question who that might be. But i think its you know, given the kind of interviews that gates has already given mueller knows quite a bit about the manafort operation. Matt, what do you make of this this addition of the language on potential blackmail in the kind of standard hiring form . This is separate and apart from the standard federal form people are asked to fill out. Its definitely sort of a head scratcher. And it just adds to more of these questions that are swirling around the white house with regard to their security clearance process. Rob porter may have been the beginning of the story but hes certainly not the end of it. And the white house doesnt know how to grapple with this. I believe it was nbcs reporting that you have 130 staffers in the white house, as of november yep. Who didnt have permanent security clearances, and those included really high level officials. And the white house is caught flatfooted. They havent been able to explain, one, how mr. Porter stayed on for so long but also why these others are having trouble getting clearances. With Jared Kushner we can make guesses based on the meetings he had during the campaign. But its very troubling for a lot of people watching this white house that theres so many officials without a clearance, and its more troubling that the white house cant seem to explain why thats the case. Vivian, whats it like in the west wing, where, off the top of my head, heres what theyre dealing with this week, security clearances, kelly, stormy, immigration, russia, florida, and lets not forget infrastructure. Thats right. Just the fact that, you know, President Trumps lawyer came out this week and said that he paid 130,000 to an Adult Entertainment star and that is not the top story to cover up an affair was not the top story of the week, it just goes to show you that this white house is obviously so heavily burdened by all of this influx of news, scandals, controversy, and its been a seemingly nonstop flow. So obviously the situation is very tense, a number of us were talking earlier about the west wing has seemed to be on lock down in the last couple of days, especially where a number of officials were trying to minimize their reactions with a the White House Reporters and others just to minimize any kind of discussions that have taken place. We saw it with chief of staff john kelly essentially where stories were contradicting each other because of a number of people who were putting out their version of what happened with rob porter and the scandal that unfolded in the last ten days. And so, at this point theyre just trying to minimize that story from blowing up even more and having any more comments that go out there that may be contradictory to these stories going out. We appreciate you guys starting us off on a thursday night. Thank you all very much. Coming up, the latest reporting on a west wing as we said, swimming in problems and big issues. Later, a Progress Report on the effort to drain the swap, a flurry of bad headlines for this white house, brought on by people hired for this white house. That and more just getting under way. We will always remember february 14th, 2018, at 2 35 p. M. What happened at that moment will forever be in our hearts. We will not forget it. We will always remember it. But let me make this clear. Our kids are amazing. Our eagles with soar and we are parkland proud. Over 400 people have been shot in 200 School Shootings just since newtown, according to the New York Times. So earlier this evening the town of parkland, florida gathered to honor the 17 People Killed in yesterdays mass shooting on valentines day at the Marjory Stoneman douglas high school. Nikolas cruz, the 19yearold accused of carrying out the attack with a semiautomatic rifle, which police say he got legally, appeared before the judge today. He now faces 17 counts of murder. A 19yearold cannot by a handgun or a beer by the laws now, but a 19yearold in florida can buy an ar15. A deputy said he confessed to the shooting and he carried extra ammunition in his backpack. Today President Trump spoke to the nation, first on twitter, writing, quote, so many signs that the Florida Shooter was mentally disturbed even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities again and again. He then addressed the nation from the white house. To every parent, teacher and child who is hurting so badly, we are here for you, whatever you need, whatever we can do to ease your pain. We are all joined together as one american family. And your suffering is our burden also. No child, no teacher should ever be in danger in an american school. I want to speak now directly to americas children, especially those who feel lost, alone, confused, or even scared. I want you to know that you are never alone and you never will be. You have people who care about you, who love you, and who will do anything at all to protect you. If you need help, turn to a teacher, a family member, a local Police Officer or a faith leader. The president did not mention guns in his remarks, but he did say he was committed to making schools safer and to, quote, tackling the difficult issue of mental health. He added hes making plans of visiting parkland, florida. About 40 miles south of maralago. So far no specific date has been announced. Donald trump has been forced to deal with this as we mentioned just as a growing number of controversies consume his administration. Theres still questions about rob porter, the staff secretary who resigned amid allegations of Domestic Abuse. John kelly and don mcgahn still have yet to explain what they knew about the allegations, what they knew and when. And that raises questions about their future in the white house. There are reports about a payment from the president s lawyer to stormy daniels, the adult film actress who claims to have had an affair with the president a decade ago. And it is clear that Robert Muellers investigation isnt going away soon. It appears to be ramping up. Joining us we have phil rucker and tamara keith. Tamara, it was said today that speeches containing these words dont come naturally to this president , certainly the way they came to his predecessor. Politico put it this way, President Donald Trump offered a deliberate but emotionless reading of a carefully written speech that lacked any of the typical flourishes of words hes written himself. After first tweeting what some took as kind of community shaming. For a nation some combination of sad and angry, whats the net take away from their president on a day like this in your view . This president has struggled at times to say the words that are supposed to be the right words at the right moment. Going back to early in his administration, there were some attacks on jewish cemeteries and he struggled to find the right words. And then ultimately Vice President pence went to one of the jewish cemeteries and stood there and delivered the right words in a manner where there was ease. President trump often doesnt have ease in these circumstances, but clearly he felt that he needed to come out and Say Something to the nation that tweets werent enough. And he used language that he has used in the past. Very similar language. The binding of wounds or the things that bind americans together. He often sort of evokes this we are one america, and he did so again today. Phil rucker, all those assurances to School Children and others, what happens . What comes out of this white house on guns . I dont think anything, brian. And thats why i think so Many Americans are disappointed right now. Weve seen on television all day today the mothers of victims, survivors, teenage survivors of the school saying, will the adults in washington please do something. Please have a discussion, at a minimum, but at least have some consideration of changing the laws so this doesnt happen in the future. We not only see no plan for any kind of legal change coming out of the white house, but you dont even hear the word gun being echoed by the president or by his staff. I talked to some of the white house officials this afternoon to say is the president listening to these pleas today . Is he going to be engaging, showing some leadership on the gun issue . And was given a response that was echoing what the president said in his remarks, which has nothing to do with guns. Hes talking about School Safety and convening the governors. Well see if hell step up to the plate and be part of the discussion or not. Candlelight vigils used to be a rare sight in this country. Tamara, another question, what is john kellys immediate or long term future, as far as youve been able to gather . That one is hard to tell and a little bit hazy. Going back to Vice President pence, he said he looks forward to working with kelly for many, many months to come. He didnt say years. He said many, many months. Its often hard to tell with President Trump when he is venting, when, you know, you start hearing from people that hes talking about looking for replacements, whether thats a real thing, whether its an imminent thing, or its not. Either way, kelly is damaged by has been damaged by this this Porter Rob Porter scandal and the fact that it has dragged on for so long that hes involved in it. And thats not a place you want to be as chief of staff. You do not want to be the story. In particular, in this white house, with a president of the United States who does not like other people getting attention in his white house, especially if it is casting a negative light on him. Phil rucker, in the meantime, the folks who work for the american taxpayers and communicate for this white house and administration have been nowhere to be seen. Weve had no briefing in two days, tomorrows schedule is posted. It has the president flying to florida. An event scheduled