Tonight. Put it this way, the usual order in our government is not in it place tonight. The diligence that dictates the behavior of the white house in normal times is not in place. Here is a loose tally of where we are. Re the president of the United States, under criminal investigation, his children facing possible legal jeopardy, is threatening to shut down the federal government tomorrow at midnight over funding for his border wall, which he describeda today as being more like steel slats. Li the u. S. Senate is being called back to washington from their christmas break for a vote on border wall funding that as of now will fail. The defense secretary announced his resignation today because he cannot go along with the at president s policy, which includes a surprise pullout of u. S. Forces from syria that trump posted on twitter. And todays news that a pullout of half the u. S. Forces in afghanistan is under consideration. Defense secretary mattis, a fourstar marine general, was openly referred to as the human guardrail in this administration, the last adult in the room. Add to that this chart, the stock market just so far this week and headed for the worst december since the 1930s. Here is the New York Times headline tonight, congress, the military and the markets were all in upheaval on thursday. They go on to explain to their readers, the news is too much to fit in one story. We will try our best to get to all of it here tonight. T we begin with the Resignation Letter of defense secretary mattis. E it reads in part, and we quote, my views on treating allies wit respect and also being cleareyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues. We must do Everything Possible to advance an International Order that is most conducive toe our security, prosperity, and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances. Because you have the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, i believe it is right for me to step down from my position. T the reaction from lawmakers. Well, the Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell released an unusual statement on mattis that reads, in part, quote, i am particularly distressed that he is resigning due to sharp differences with the president. Democratic senator mark warner of virginia wrote on twitter tonight, this is scary. Secretary mattis has been an as island of stability amidst the chaos of the trump id administration. And as we mentioned, a partial Government Shutdown is looming after trump said he is not accepting a bill without his border wall funding attached to it. Most members of congress were hopeful that trump would sign a shortterm funding bill. The Senate Passed on wednesday, but this morning trump reportedly went into what the Washington Post is reporting as a tailspin over the bill with no wall funding after being urged by conservative media and the House Freedom caucus to fight for his wall. Aiin and i would argue, its not a punt. S a punt actually helps improve the field advantage. N this is a fumble, and we need to make sure that the president stays firm, and a lot of people are very nervous this morning about whether the president will cave or not. I think that not funding the wall is going to go down as one of the worst, worst things to have happened to this administration. Forget mueller. The wall, the wall, the wall has to be built. Four times we promised him that we would build the wall and put it on the spending bill. D and now were saying, no, were going to keep one person briefed on the conversation told nbc news that the Freedom Caucus chairman, mark meadows, republican of north carolina, spoke to trump multiple times last night and then again this morning and that meadows resistance to the shortterm bill impacted the president s thinking. Sh in a meeting at the house today with House Republicans including House Speaker paul ryan and meadows, trump said he would not sign any bill without money for the wall. Mo after the meeting, a somberlooking paul ryan addressed the cameras as one of his last official acts as f speaker of the house. The president informed us he will not sign the bill that came up from the senate last evening because of his legitimate concerns for Border Security. Is so, heres what happened. Just hours ago, the House Republicans added 5 billion in border wall funding to the senate bill and sent it back to the senate where it would need 60 votes and thus is considered dead on arrival. The senate is set to reconvene at noon tomorrow. Earlier tonight, democratic leaders, nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer, addressed this looming shutdown and the events of this day. The president is doing everything that he can to shut the government down. You have to ask the question, why does he not believe in governance . Es does he not care about the American People . Doesnt he know that the economy is uncertain . Hasnt he followed the stock market that he likes to brag about sometimes . Et there is something wrong with this picture. President trump is throwing a temper tantrum and creating the trump shutdown of the government. Phil rucker of the Washington Post reports tonight this way, trump has been isolated in bunker mode in recent weeks as political and personal crises mount according to interviews with 27 current and former white house t officials. Let us bring in our leadoff panel on an eventful thursday night. Phil rucker, Pulitzer Prize winning White House Bureau chief for the Washington Post. Andrea mitchell, nbc news chief Foreign Affairs correspondent and the host of the noon hour eastern time on weekdays on this very network. And jeremy bash, former chief of staff at cia and the pentagon, former counsel to house intel. And, jeremy, it is your past as someone who knows general mattis and has worked with him. How bad did it have to get for him to do this . Second part of the question, where do you assess our risk right now . S extremely bad, brian, because secretary mattis has told confidants over the past several weeks that he was not going to quit out of fatigue or frustration. He would stand his ground unless the president asked him to do un something that secretary mattis believed was manifestly not in the interest of American National security. And here comes the president directing, ordering the nt secretary of defense to pull out of syria, possibly to take downf our troop levels in afghanistan, to destroy the Alliance Structure that has kept us strong since world war ii. And, in essence, to see a lot of territory and game to iran and russia in the middle east, that was enough for jim mattis. Hes gone. T hes been pushed out and President Trump has jumped a key guardrail. And, brian, tonight i think he is driving American Foreign policy into uncharted territory. And i think what is of concern tonight is that when adversaries see the United States in such chaos and such dysfunction, both domestically and internationally, that is a recipe for mischief by our adversaries. Andrea, what is your further reporting on what got this bad that it led to his resignation . W i think it was precisely that syrian the precipitous syrian withdrawal over his objections. He tried to talk him out of it at the final meeting when he dib resign and also the plans being asked to draw down troops in afghanistan, because jim mattis thought that he had persuaded the president time and time again since april, again in t september, the syrian plan would not work, the withdrawal would not work. And this was abandoning the syrian kurds, abandoning them to whatever erdogan would want to do to them. Og and this was really hatched and finalized with a call to erdogan on friday. First brought up at the g20 in argentina about three weeks ago and then again on friday. So he was ignoring all of the th advice of mattis. Wa and i have to tell you how extraordinary this is. I consulted with our historical guru, michael beschloss, ours collectively and yours in particular and mine. And this has never happened. A defense secretary never in American History has resigned in protest. Fe there have been two historic references where a Foreign Policy advisor cy vance i covered that in 1979 under jimmy carter and William Jennings brian in 1915 under Woodrow Wilson for being too war like. Someone must have resigned in protest from the National Security team, but no one since then. Think of it. And this letter, without any salutation, no thank you, no its been a privilege. This was extraordinary. It was a tutorial. And its very alarming to our nato allies and other allies around the world. It i was talking to one nato minister very concerned that this might happen just 24 hours ago. D you are so right, that every Resignation Letter in official washington contains that cursory sentence what a privilege and sh honor its been to serve the president , fill in the blank. This letter conspicuously without that. Ve phil rucker again tonight spectacular reporting on your part. Thank you, brian. Ke the president in the midst of a tailspin. Tell our viewers who havent read your work yet, the rucker, costa, dossi trio, how bad it got in the west wing, how bad it is tonight and whos left . Well, its quite bad tonight, brian. We talk about the chaos in the west wing. But this is really a new chaptee that we seem to be entering. You know, its not just trump critics who are alarmed, but n some of trumps own Administration Officials past and present and his political friends and allies. One former senior official talked to tonight said there may be an intervention that is needed and said that it is noteworthy that mattis did not resign only over policy, but also over what this official termed the madness from the president. So there is a real sense of concern. Ic t and what you have inside the oval office with what the president is doing is just so much pressure mounting on him, he sees these legal cases ti mounting, the pressure mounting on him and his family and his children. He sees that mueller is nearing the conclusion. That report could be out in a matter of weeks into the new year. Be hes got democrats taking over the house of representatives. He still is not comfortable yet with how to govern, how to be a president in a divided washington where his party doesnt control both houses of n congress. And you have all of this, and hes trying to exercise his power. Hes trying to silence the critics in his own base, the ann coulters, the rush limbaughs who have been banging the drums all week about the wall. He and he feels very boxed in and without a lot of options and hes lashing out. Y but, phil, as you know and as youve pointed out, if the coulters and limbaughs carry the day, the government gets shut down four days before christmas, the optics are bad. The reality is bad. And so walk us through the psychology of that, what many people see as setting himself ut for failure because 60 votes dont exist for it in the senate. Well, to begin with, President Trump has taken ownership of whatever shutdown is going to come. W he said last week in the oval office with nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer that he would be proud to shut down the government. That is a sound bite i am sure we are going to be hearing again and again and again, if indeed the government shuts down. So set that aside. What trump is trying to do, according to our reporting, is show that hes fighting. He wants to show the base that hes fighting for this wall. His aides recognize that the wall funding is likely never going to materialize simply because it cannot pass the senate today, and it certainly wont be able to pass the house in january when its under democratic control. But trump just wants to fight. The problem, according to the people were talking to, is he does not have a plan for what to do beyond simply fighting and protesting and demanding the wall funding and delivering that ultimatum to congress. At theres no plan for how he ends this. There is no real plan for what to do when the government shuts down. Remember, he is scheduled to leave tomorrow on his own christmas vacation down to maralago in florida. Im planning to be on that trip. Well see if the plane takes off. I suspect it probably wont if there is a shut down. But, again, everything is limbo in limbo right now and there is real chaos in the white house. We note they have taken the Departure Time off the official schedule for tomorrow. Jeremy, im sitting here thinking of what you just said about our vulnerability, and then listening to phil, weve got the markets in the tank. Weve got a potential Government Shutdown. The whole world is watching. It reminds me of crimson tide with the exception that denzel isnt around to help us out of our current situation. But a key scene in the movie is they call a missile drill during a fire in the kitchen because its all about being ready when youre vulnerable. Are you convinced, given your Years Experience at the pentagon for starters, that no one tries any funny business, that the United States will present its usual muscular presence to the world . Well, the problem, brian, and this was illustrated not only on the uss alabama, but in real life, when you have chaos and dysfunction and you have a government that actually cannot work, that gives a signal to our adversaries and im thinking in particular about th russians, in particular about places like the baltics, like l estonia, where they may want to test the resolve of the United States at this hour. They may want to understand whether or not our government is functioning properly, whether or not our chain of command is truly intact. Now, i think we know and, of course, we know domestically that it is. But again, this is this may be a moment of miscalculation by our adversaries. And so, again, if i were in the Intelligence Community or at the pentagon, id be on a higher state of alert tonight because i think our adversaries are not fully comprehending what is going down in our nations capital. Andrea, you talked about similar moments, searching your mind and beschloss and ill take that bet any day for similar resignations. Youve covered a great many presidencies and a great many r consequential days. And im right there behind you. Can you think of any chain of events in the course of one day in a presidency that quite matches this . No, i cant, and its the confluence of the markets who are reacting, of course, this is all a vicious cycle now, not a o virtuous cycle. And its markets reaction. Its obviously the shutdown threat and the lack of any coherent outcome for this. I mean, with the senate and the house now in such deadlock because paul ryan thought they had a deal that mitch mcconnellh does not go to the senate flooro with anything without knowing that there is a deal there, everyone thought there was an agreement until the tweets and the signals from the white house. The president is objecting to this without a plan, as weve just been saying, without a plan for coming out on the other side. So theres no way out that anyone can see without him backing down, and that is not likely to happen. The other thing that was so offensive, and it may be a minor thing, but i think it affected jim mattis. I was talking to john allen, hi a fourstar marine, retired general today, and deeply offended by that video. The tweeted video about the syrian withdrawal evoking invoking, i should say, the heroes, the men and women who have died in the fight against isis and saying, you know, pointing up and saying, theyre looking down at us and basically saying that they are approving d of this speaking for them political gesture and speaking for them, speaking in their name and general allen ng said, he has no right to speak for them with such contempt. And i think that others, you know, others whom we all know in the military really were rs offended by that, the politicization of our fallen soldiers. Well, its a grim night in washington, andrea, as you were talking, and we took the live picture of the capital dome tonight kind of matching the mood. Sheets of rain are falling. Yet those spotlights are cutting through the fog as everyone hopes reason will cut through all of this, starting first thing tomorrow morning. Our thanks to philip rucker, andrea mitchell, jeremy bash on this consequential night for starting our conversation up and coming up, special guest on day 700 of this administration, former secretary of state john kerry will react to this chaotic day and night. And later, more on tonights reporting that the end of the Mueller Investigation could well come as soon as february now. The 11th hour just Getting Started on this thursday night. Shes doing it again no cover up spray here. Cheaper aerosols can cover up odors, burying them in a flowery fog. Switch to febreze air effects febreze eliminates even the toughest odors from the air. Freshen up, dont cover up. Febreze. The defense secretarys abrupt resignation today came a day after the president s decision to withdraw troops from syria. Mattis met with the president , tried to dissuade him, but did not prevail. In his letter, mattis writes, one core belief ive always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our uni