All of it as the 11th hour gets under way on a monday night. Well, good evening, once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 970 of the Trump Administration. And tonight, the president appeared before a rally in new mexico. His first visit as president to that state. He lost to Hillary Clinton back in 2016. As he begins the week facing brandnew challenges at home and abroad. This weekends attack on saudi arabias major oil facility has heightened tensions with iran because of the president saying the u. S. Was locked and loaded and awaiting word from the saudis on how to proceed. This afternoon, trump was asked about the possibility of a military conflict with tehran. No, i dont want war with anybody but were prepared more than anybody. 2 1 2 years ago, i will tell you, it was not the same thing. And with what weve done, weve totally rebuilt our military and so many different ways, but weve rebuilt it and theres nobody that has the f35, have the best fighter jets, the best rockets, the best missiles, the best equipment, but with all of that being said, wed certainly like to avoid it. More on that front ahead in this broadcast. The president is also facing trouble on another front and one he will not like. A new effort to get copies of his tax returns. Nbc news has confirmed the New York Times report from earlier today that prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorneys Office have subpoenaed eight years of his personal and Corporate Tax returns. This goes back to 2011. Theyre seeking tax documents from trumps longtime Accounting Firm, mazars usa. This latest request comes as part of new york states criminal investigation into what role trump or his business may have made in making hush money payments in the weeks before the 2016 election. Just days ago, we learned that former trump Attorney Michael Cohen is cooperating in this case. Youll recall while serving a threeyear federal sentence for, among other crimes, his role in making those payments to the porn star, stormy daniels, which constituted a Campaign Finance violation. A case in which the president was an unindicted coconspirator. The house ways and Means Committee has already subpoenaed trumps tax returns. That was back in may. Hes fighting that request in court presently. Tomorrow, trumps former Campaign ManagerCorey Lewandowski is expected to testify publicly as part of the house Judiciary Committees obstruction investigation. Two other witnesses, and this is notable, former Trump Administration aides Rick Dearborn and rob porter were also scheduled to testify but the white house has told them not to appear. And theres also an explosive story as we mentioned having to do with Supreme CourtJustice Brett kavanaugh who was sworn in almost a year ago now after that contentious confirmation process which included the emotional testimony from dr. Christine blaseyford who accused Justice Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. This weekend, the New York Times published a piece about Deborah Ramirez who had accused Justice Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her during a party at the Yale University campus in the early 80s. The piece is part of a book out tomorrow by two times reporters. They write, at least seven people including ms. Ramirezs mother heard about the yale incident long before mr. Kavanaugh was a federal judge. Two of those people were classmates who learned of it just days after the party occurred, suggesting it was discussed among students at the time. The New York Times reported on another allegation that kavanaugh exposed himself to another female classmate during his time at yale and a witness named max stier, quote, notified senators and the fbi about his account, but the fbi did not investigate and mr. Stier has declined to discuss it publicly. The times added to the reporting last night that the female student involved in this new claim, declined to be interviewed and friends say she does not recall the episode. Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the allegations from ford and ramirez and had declined to comment on the new allegations. Trump has been vigorously defending kavanaugh on social media. Meanwhile, six of the democratic president ial candidates have called for kavanaughs impeachment and trump responded just in the last hour. Look at what theyre doing today to Justice Kavanaugh. Theyre calling for his resignation. Theyre calling for his impeachment. The woman said, i dont remember that. Okay. And they still want him to be impeached. House judiciary chairman jerry nadler says they plan to question fbi director Christopher Wray about the bureaus Kavanaugh Investigation at a hearing that will be next month. Here for our leadoff discussion on a monday night. Tim obrien, executive editor of bloomberg opinion, author of trumpnation the art of being the donald. A. B. Stoddard, columnist and associate editor at real clear politics. Harry litman, former federal prosecutor and former Deputy Assistant attorney general and, counselor, id like to begin with you out on the west coast. All right. You said today that this tax return story, this request, this demand, could be a game changer. Why is that, in your view . Everything about the house ways and Means Committee request is strange and barricaded by the department of justice which is fighting tooth and nail with specious legal claims. This is a straightup request from a private party. The Accounting Firm that says its going to cooperate as part of a criminal investigation. So none of those blockades are there, its likely to get the information, although, its still going to be secret. Second, it reignites everything about the cohen investigation that stopped in its tracks. And remember, they had a long way to go and we know now that the Trump Organization and David Weisselberg is in their sites, the National Enquirer and sam pecker, maybe hope hicks, maybe donald trump jr. Who signed one of the checks. It could go a long way and vance is making every sign that hes prepared to follow the road where it leads. And people who remember the name, cyrus vance, in our national politics, this is his son who is now d. A. In manhattan. Tim obrien, this could all be moot, of course, because the president in a way im going to play right now for us to discuss has already promised us a look at his financials. There will be at some point prior to the election, im going to be giving out a Financial Report of me and it will be extremely complete. Im going to give out im going to give out my Financial Condition and youll be extremely shocked the numbers are many, many times what you think. So not only will it be extremely complete, we will be extremely shocked at the numbers therein. Why would you have any reason to doubt him . I doubt it extremely. I have extreme doubts the president will ever willingly turn over anything thats transparent about his own finances. He has a number of things he wants to hide. His business has never been as robust as he said it is. Hes never been as generous as philanthropist as he said he is. That sets the lowlevel issues. The stuff that hits him in the oval office, where does his income come from, whos financed his businesses . Some of that will surface in the tax returns. I think, unfortunately, the timeframe on both what the d. A. Is looking at and what the house ways and Means Committee is looking at, may not go to the most germane information. The house ways and Means Committee is going back about six years. The d. A. s office wants to go back eight. In the mid 2000s a lot of cash came into the Trump Organization and donald trump went on a shopping spree. He bought trump turnberry. He got involved with the trump soho. And the provenance of the projects, where the money came to get those things done has been a big question mark. Eric trump has told reporters in the past they got the money from russians then he backed away from that. Trump has said we paid for it out of our own business proceeds. At the time he was doing that, he was also applying for loans to buy turnberry. And all of that predates the date range in which theyre looking at these tax returns. So i think i think i think some of the mother lode might get missed in this. Nonetheless, i think theyre going to look at things inside trumps taxes about how clear he is about defining how much income he has. Where it comes from. What hes booking as expenses. I think thats some of the stuff thats going to land on the Michael Cohen portion of this. A. B. , help us make the turn into jurisprudence. A lot of democrats lining up today elbowing each other out of the spotlight to say lets impeach Justice Kavanaugh. Thats a high bar, perhaps, and i know youve talked about this before, the democrats would make it their target to take over control of the u. S. Senate which would make that a little easier. Right, brian. I found it just astounding that they failed to make the case to voters that they have to achieve a majority in the senate to get anything that they want. To confirm judges, to try to shift back the court after the incredible change that it has undergone in the Trump Administration. Almost double the amount of openings that he inherited compared to obama in 2009. Just a complete remaking of the court in just a few years and they never talk about that on the campaign trail and they never talk about the need to get back to the majority in the senate. And the idea that theyre going to Start Talking about impeaching a Supreme Court justice right now in a republican majority senate, something that the chairman of the Judiciary Committee on the house side immediately said no, no, no, you could see it later in reporting throughout the day, other top, you know, leaders in the party, bigname democrats saying, no, no, no, were not interested in this and Grassroots Energy and their insurgents will all talk about it because several of the candidates on the campaign trail will, but its a mistake. You can tell the story of how this court changed and why its important to have a majority control. You could even talk about the specter of maybe he lied under oath. Maybe it was a sham investigation done in just ten days. But the idea of impeaching him is ludicrous. Why do you think that is about democrats and the senate . I mean, if there was any doubt, we learned there was no one in charge of the party the night the democrats came out and criticized obama at their debate, but why do you think right. They are treating the notion of a democratic majority about reducing Mitch Mcconnell to minority leader as something untouchable . I know. Well, its a tough map. Its a tough road back. But i think that, again, the first step is energizing their voters the way the conservatives have done so effectively talking about this as a priority. Trump saying on the campaign trail in 16 you have to vote for me because of the judges, its all about the judges. You never hear this from anyone on the trail, even biden. And it really should be their primary goal. Lets unite around whoever because we have two goals. Taking back the senate so we can get some nominations and some confirmations. At this point even with a democratic president , if Mitch Mcconnells majority leader, youve got nothing. When they say, tim obrien, its all about the judges, theyre not kidding. Its what informs the smile that always seems to be on Mitch Mcconnells face. Well, i think it will be one of the single achievements of trumps first term in which he had very little to do will. This was a Federalist Society. Don mcgahn, Mitch Mcconnell play. Its going to be one of the longest lasting impacts of the trump years. I think it shows the real differences between democrats and republicans. The Federalist Society started planning on this stuff in the mid 1980s. They laid the groundwork for this. They were methodical. They identified vacancies. They identified judges. They cultivated judges. The democrats are never good at this kind of a long ground game. Harry, meanwhile, we watch the continuing Charlie Browning of jerry nadler. The pulling of the football away from this chairman of the house Judiciary Committee that has now decided, i guess, to retell some of the story of in the mueller report. Do they have any recourse when the white house just says these two former aides, theyre not going to appear before your committee . Yeah, only the law, its just that the law takes place over a scale of months and they need it in days or weeks. Lewandowski will testify tomorrow on limited material and he wont hurt trump at all. And as you say, the other two aides, its well, first of all, the whole notion of absolute immunity is completely concocted and made up for mcgahn, as for porter, as for anyone they apply it to, but these guys are not, you know, the deepest circle, anyway. So, no, they do it because they can. They stall for time. It goes to the courts. Potentially, even to the d. C. Circuit and Supreme Court and that is, you know, next summer or so by the time it plays out. Its a really meritless claim, but in the political and news cycles, which is what theyre looking at, buying the time is valuable and sort of win by losing. Never boring around here. Especially on this monday night with our thanks to tim obrien, to a. B. Stoddard, and to harry litman. Three of our returning veterans. Appreciate it very much. Coming up for us, is the president really gunning for an attack on iran or just talking that way . And can saudi arabia really ordered up an attack by u. S. Forces on their behalf . Even if they compensate us for our troubles . And later, our interview today with Edward Snowden on how our phones never sleep. And the stories they can and do tell about all of us. That ought to keep you tuned in. Its a compelling segment. The 11th hour just Getting Started on this monday night of a new week. Hey. You must be stevens phone. Now you can know whos on your network and control who shouldnt be, only with xfinity xfi. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Welcome back. There was a drone attack over the weekend on Saudi Oil Facilities and our president is at least raising the question on social media, of course, that the u. S. Would consider an attack on iran on behalf of the kingdom in saudi arabia. Today he added they would reimburse us for the expense to our forces and he said that he would wait for the saudis to tell him, quote, under what terms we would proceed. One democrat in Congress Said it makes the president sound submissive. Others say it would reduce our armed forces to mercenaries for hire. Iran for their part has denied responsibility for the attacks. Iranianbacked rebels in yemen initially claimed responsibility for the strikes that cut about 5 , right there, of the worlds oil supply. The saudis released a statement today. It reads in part, initial investigations have indicated that the weapons used in the attack were iranian weapons. Investigations are still ongoing to determine the source of the attack. Earlier today, the president was asked about the attacks in the oval office. Have you seen evidence, proof, that iran was behind the attack . Well, its looking that way. Were having some very strong studies done, but its certainly looking that way at this moment, and well let you know. As soon as we find out definitively, well let you know, but it does look that way. President also added he doesnt want war with anybody, but on sunday, he said, there is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded, depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack and under what terms we would proceed. Late today, nbc news reported that according to three sources, u. S. Intel indicates that the drone attacks on the Oil Facilities originated from iran which still begs the question of why it would be a u. S. Fight. Here with us tonight to talk about it, general barry mccaffrey, retired u. S. Army four star. Heavily decorated combat veteran of vietnam. And importantly, a u. S. Ground commander in the gulf war. He has been to this oil field in saudi arabia. Also with us tonight, jeremy bash, former chief of staff at the cia and at the pentagon. General, id like to begin with you. Tell us about this facility and tell us your view of the optics of this president saying we are locked and loaded and seemingly awaiting instructions from the kingdom. Look, it was a very serious blow at saudi arabia. It probably knocked half their total production offline. Some of it maybe for months. I think at the end of the day, its going to turn out to be an iranian te