Federal judge today wound up more like a good news bad news proposition. A few hours ago a federal judge agreed to a 90day delay in the Stormy Daniels suit against the president and notably his attorney, Michael Cohen. But in doing that, the judge agreed it appeared likely cohen will face charges linked to that separate criminal investigation. This week the president s ties to cohen were back in the spotlight amid speculation about a possible pardon. Mr. President , what about Michael Cohen . Are you considering a pardon for Michael Cohen . Stupid question. Mr. Trump was also asked for details about his relationship to cohen. Mr. President , how much of your legal work was handled by Michael Cohen . Well, as a percentage of my overall legal work, a tiny, tiny little fraction. He represents me like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal. He represented me, and, you know, from what i see, he did absolutely nothing wrong. Crucial comment right there, it turned out. Meanwhile its been reported that the newest member of the president s legal team, one Rudolph Giuliani of new york, is trying to work out an interview between trump and special counsel robert mueller. Today the president welcomed the House Intel Committees finding, authored only by the republicans on that committee. Theyre in the majority, that there was no cooperation with russia by the Trump Campaign. Its a witch hunt. Thats all it is. Ive always said there was no collusion. The constant churn in the president s cabinet was also a theme this past week as we witnessed the precipitous collapse of white house dr. Ronny jacksons bid to run the va. According to reports tonight, jackson has gone back to work in the white house medical office. His nomination came under intense scrutiny amid allegations of drinking on duty, misuse of medications, and at one point this week, the president seemed to suggest jackson should end his quest for the job. I wouldnt if i were him . I really dont think personally he should do it. So after jackson did drop out, the president hinted partisan politics had made it hard for jackson to continue. I called him today. I said in a certain way, in a very big way, youre an American Hero because youve exposed the system for some horrible things. Ive had it happen to me with the russian collusion hoax. Its a hoax. This week the president also played host to two critically important leaders, but in very different ways. He welcomed french president Emmanuel Macron and german chancellor Angela Merkel to the white house. At the top of both leaders agendas, keeping the u. S. From leaving that iran nuclear deal. President trump appeared to be mostly focused on warning iran about resuming its nuclear program. Theyre not going to be restarting anything. They restart it, theyre going to have big problems, bigger than theyve ever had before. Trump continued his efforts to remake u. S. Foreign policy by talking up the remarkable summit between the leaders of north and south korea and putting himself at the center of the effort to end decades of hostility. You feel like its your responsibility for this to eventually get settled between north and south korea . I think i have a responsibility. I think other president s should have done it. I think the responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of the president of the United States, and i think we have i think i have a responsibility to see if i can do it. And if i cant do it, it will be a very tough time for a lot of countries and a lot of people. Its certainly something that i hope i can do for the world. We get a kick every once in a while out of the fact that ill be watching people that fail so badly over the last 25 years explaining to me how to make a deal with north korea. I get a big, big kick out of that. Lets bring in our leadoff panel, shall we, for another friday night. We are so happy to welcome to our broadcast katie rogers, White House Correspondent for the New York Times, Catherine Lucey is back with us, White House Reporter for the associated press, as is jeremy bash, former chief of staff at cia and the pentagon and an Msnbc National Security analyst. Hey, jeremy, i want to do something unusual, and that is first things first. Go back up to our list of particulars about the news today and ask you what we should think about this federal judge ruling in the trump cohen matter. Well, cohen won the battle but he lost the war because he won a 90day reprieve from the civil suit that was filed by Stormy Daniels and her attorney against him basically to nullify that hush agreement where Michael Cohen on behalf of President Trump paid stormy 160,000. So the federal judge there said, we cant go forward with the civil suit. Why . Because Michael Cohen is likely going to be indicted based on evidence collected by that raid on his offices, his hotel, and his home. And, therefore, theres too much factual overlap between the civil case regarding Stormy Daniels and the federal criminal investigation into Michael Cohens conduct. And so, brian, just to kind of wrap this up here, you have a very distressing development if youre in the Michael Cohen legal camp. So, katie, if you were assigned the News Analysis thought piece for tomorrows New York Times, as people left the west wing tonight, people on the staff, what do you think the mood was after this week that was . Well, luckily im not a signed that News Analysis, brian. Thanks for having me by the way. I think one of the things that strikes me about the west wing is how much it takes to rattle them at this point. They describe their work as in the trenches with each other. I do think that one of the obstacles for this crew now will be dealing with a president who is obviously very frustrated with the Ongoing Investigation and also who appears to be visibly trying to distance himself from Michael Cohen. I think as Michael Cohens legal problems mount, theres a growing distance there, and i think, you know, for white house aides, i think managing that managing his tendency to sort of go back and forth on cohen, i think last week he was encouraging him to stay strong on twitter, and yesterday it was stupid question. And then it was i barely know the guy on fox friends. So i think for the west wing aides, just knowing which end is up is often a problem. Catherine, now it can be told yours was the voice in the distance that got President Trump to react to the 130,000 payment. He was standing in the doorway, in front of the press cabin there on air force one, making the choice not to of course enter the press cabin on air force one. How surprised were you to hear that he went there on cohen visavis stormy on fox friends . Well, it was notable, wasnt it, brian . Two weeks ago when asked did you know about this 130,000 payment, he said no. I asked why did cohen make it, then . He said, you know, Michael Cohen is my lawyer. Youll have to ask michael. But then this week on fox friends, he clearly said that cohen did represent him in, quote, this crazy Stormy Daniels deal. So he seems to be struggling with what he should say in this matter, and you saw he says two things with fox friends. He spoke about cohen represented him. At the same time he also said he does a tiny fraction of my legal work, and you saw in court in new york, you know, those words were quickly seized upon as an example of why, you know, certain papers should be usable and not subject to attorneyclient privilege. So one thing that it shows is that every time he speaks about this, i mean it potentially creates new legal vulnerabilities for him. Thats right. As a layperson and not a lawyer especially and as has been described, a guy who doesnt always take the advice of counsel. So, katie, if we take a look back at this week, does the dr. Jackson incident become a kind of i dont mean to diminish him or the incident. Does it become a blip on the time line of the Trump Presidency, or is there a deeper cautionary tale there about things like vetting . I think theres totally a deeper cautionary tale about things like vetting. Mainly that it doesnt seem to happen in this white house to the degree that perhaps President Trumps predecessors might have carried out hiring and vetting individuals i think, you know, starting with somebody like rob porter and now, you know, dr. Jacksons nomination. I think there are serious questions about how the president is appointing new nominees for very highprofile, very highresponsibility jobs and their readiness for it. I mean this came out. It was kind of a land speed record to have somebody say, never mind. I dont want to go through this. So going forward, one would assume that these questions will be put to the white house. You know, how is the president picking his nominees and why . Jeremy, as the member of this panel who is a veteran of the agency and the pentagon, this next one is to you, and its about the korean peninsula. This has been the situation my entire adult life, and while i dont have your schooling, i was taught that our president s in succession have done their level best to, a, keep the lid on and, b, diminish north korea as a global power. Why does the president keep saying that this was left to him, that this was almost uniquely his burden to bear . Well, i think he wants to make a political point about his predecessors, but theres a broader National Security point here, which is that we do have a handshake. We do have a hand clasp. We have two leaders walking across each others borders, and thats good. Wed rather have dialogue. But we dont yet have any specificity as to what the actual end agreement will be. We dont know whether u. S. Troops will remain on the peninsula. We dont know whether or not u. S. Military will be permitted to exercise. We dont know whether or not north korea will be permitted to retain their icbms or their nuclear arsenal. So at this point we dont have really anything more than has already been promised over these last 6 1 2 decades. So the real result is not a meeting or its not an accomplishment. The accomplishment will only be when, in fact, we have concrete results. And yet, jeremy, i cant stop watching these pictures. Just seeing kim speaking in front of the media live and in person next to his counterpart from south korea, seeing how he reacted, how he conversed, how he related to the other side, endlessly fascinating. Absolutely. I mean it hearkens back to images weve seen of the berlin wall falling, of the handshake on the white house lawn between arafat and rabin, and other momentous times and global events. This is one thats going to be remembered, brian, but again the ultimate significance i think has yet to be written. Catherine, what a week it was, disparate week on the Foreign Policy front. Think about macron, the french leader who plays up the president , then goes before a joint meeting of congress and could not have been more critical. And then the leader of germany and then whats going on in north korea, absolutely astounding. Yes. I mean theres a whiplashinducing element, i think, to this political moment all the time. But you certainly see that this week. Theres just so much going on. I do think its interesting to see the contrast with the macron and the merkel visits. Macron obviously came in. There was a big state visit. The red carpet was rolled out. You saw a lot of affection between the two. Merkel obviously was a more brief visit today. That said, both of them came in with key goals and messages, and its still not clear what the results are. Both are looking to see what trump is going to do on the iran nuclear deal, what he is going to do on tariffs, and they dont really have answers yet. Two things to note as we prepare to say goodbye and run to a break. Macron got a state dinner. Merkel went out apparently in georgetown last night. And tomorrow night the Correspondents Dinner in washington, the president is having a rally as a kind of counterevent. Wont that all be interesting . Our great thanks to katie rogers, to Catherine Lucey, and to jeremy bash. Thank you all for being part of our conversation at the end of a long week on a friday night. Coming up for us, two intelligence veterans share their take on this House Intel Committee russian report and what wasnt found. And later the reallife effects of white house chaos on the rest of the country. Trump friends and foes alike. The 11th hour just getting start, as we said, on a friday night. Millions of you are online right now, searching one topic. That will generate over 600 million results. And if youve been diagnosed with cancer, searching for answers like where to treat, can feel even more overwhelming. So start your search with a specialist at Cancer Treatment centers of america. Start with teams of Cancer Treatment experts under one roof. Start where specialists use advanced Genomic Testing to guide precision Cancer Treatment. That may lead to targeted therapies and more treatment options. Start where theres a commitment to analyzing the latest research and conducting clinical trialsto help each patient get the personalized cancer care they deserve. Start at one of the Cancer Treatment centers of america hospitals near you. The evolution of cancer care is here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com experts hey, want thedone. Est internet . And now, Xfinity Mobile is included. You can get up to five lines. You can save 400 bucks or more a year, which you can spend on a funktastic music video. Dance party boom. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Come see how you can save 400 or more a year with Xfinity Mobile. Plus, ask how to keep your current phone. Visit your local xfinity store today. President trump was all too happy to get the news from the House Intelligence Committee today. The republicans in charge wrote and released the final 250page report which found there was no evidence of collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia. Democrats on the committee accused republicans of prematurely closing out the investigation out of a desire to protect the president. The New York Times sums it up this way, quote, the strikingly divergent conclusions closed a chapter for a Congressional Committee that, while charged with oversight of american spy agencies thats the important part has fractured into warring factions that often seemed to see the advancement of political agendas as their primary mission. Heck of a sentence there. The president wrote on twitter tonight for his part, quote, House Intelligence Committee rules that there was no collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia. As i have been saying all along, its all a big, unexplained capital letter h, hoax, by the democrats based on payments and lies. There should never have been a special counsel appointed. Witch hunt. Counsel spelled wrong. And today during a meeting with the german chancellor Angela Merkel, the president said he was honored by the report. It was a great report. No collusion, which i knew anyway. No coordination. No nothing. Its a witch hunt. Thats all it is. There was no collusion with russia if you can believe this one. There was she probably cant believe it. Who can . But the report was very powerful, very strong. There was no collusion between the Trump Campaign and the russian people. As ive said many times before ive always said there was no collusion, but ive also said there has been nobody tougher on russia than me. With that all being said, if we can get along with russia, thats a good thing, not a bad thing. But there has been nobody tougher on russia than me. I was very honored by the report. It was totally conclusive, strong, powerful. We should note the Senate Investigation into russian interference is ongoing, and of course there is special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. Here with us tonight to talk about it, clint watts, former fbi special agent and member of the joint Terrorism Task force. His new book out next month is messing with the enemy, surviving in a social media world of hackers, terrorists, russians, and fake news. And malcolm nance, a veteran of naval intelligence, special ops, with 35 years working in counterterrorism and intelligence. He happens to be the author of the plot to hack america how putins cyber spies and wikileaks tried to steal the 2016 election. And so its for good reason both gentlemen are msnbc analysts and the only two guys we wanted to have on to talk about this. Clint, i want to take a Customer Service angle with you about hou