Be doing as they brace for what could be a grilling by bob mueller himself and another extraordinary moment today that i have something to say about later, the cameras rolling for that supposedly bipartisan policy planning meeting at the white house about immigration. I will tell you what i think it was all really about. All of that ahead in our show, but we begin with this important breaking news, steve bannon out at breitbart. This is without a doubt tonight the biggest fallout yet from Michael Wolffs explosive book about the trump presidency. Steve bannon out at Breitbart News and the New York Times reporting this was not his choice. Bannon forced out by the Mercer Family and this was after bannon not only burned in a bridge with trump, but scorched it by attacking him and his family members in this new book weve all been talking about. He alleged that trump jr. Was acting treasonous and unpatri unpatriotic. And he also allegedly said that ivanka trump was, quote, dumb as a brick. The mighty fall for many year, this one i would report for you is about money. That is how bannon could be forced out at all from a site so associated with him in an era where many people claim maybe nothing matters or maybe anyone can get away with anything. And steve bannon himself had been conjuring a mythology that he was powerful because he didnt play by anyones rules. Not the medias, not the rnc, not even the president. But it didnt work. The news tonight is that you actually see steve bannon is just like everyone else. He has a boss, he needs a paycheck and for all of his tough talk, his great undoing came not from his enemies or the democrats or the media, his undoing came from Steve Bannons own brash mouth. Here are the facts. The mercers had been investing about 10 million in breitbart which gave them about half of the companys control way back from 2501 2011. And it was bannon who went back to breitbart and started running an editorial and made waves with b. This was the key to his future, he said i built a machine at breitbart and now im about to go back knowing what i know and were about to rev that machine up, steve bannon said, and rev it up we will do. Well, his hands arent on the weapon tonight. Steve bannons hands are on a pink slip. And trump had famously recently said bannon lost his mind after being fired. Tonight lets be clear, steve bannon lost his largest altright platform for power. And it was never his to begin with. Steve bannon rose to power by melding what he called grass roots populist outrage with funding from the conservative elite. That may have been a messy alliance, but it always worked up until tonight because of the money. A former banker himself steve bannon did have a kind of special independence from the gop structure because he had independent money. But he also forgot a Cardinal Rule of power. What puts you on top can also bring you down. As sean connor explained, the same sword they night you with, they will good night you with. And as jimmy cliff observed, the harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all. A special panel on this developing political news, christina greer, katty kay, ej dionne, and eric deegans, krit tim a critic and analyst. And i begin to go around the horn with you, ej, this was not part of the plan. This is a result of reporting of a book of information in the public square. Steve bannon ousted from the site that he is so associated with. What does it mean to you . Well, just add to your list of sayings, he who has the gold makes the rules. That is the golden rule of politics. And i think what you saw here is the idea as you suggested that populism could meld with low tax conservativism was always troubling from the very beginning. Jay mayer of the new yorker reported that the mercers had already started to break with bannon when bannon basically said he didnt like this trump tax cut because it tilted too much toward the rich. And so i think it will be very interesting to see does this push regular conservatives even closer to donald trump and donald trump everyone closer to regular conservatives. That is certainly the first effect of this book. One other quick point if i could, the reporting of Michael Wolffs book was done mostly as far as i can tell back when bannon was riding high. He was kind of hoping to take down the Kushner Ivanka alliance and it just blew up on him. And christina, give us the wider context. This is a website that has become much more than just one of many websites. It is a place where steve bannon drove hard line policy message and many people feel attacks on american citizens. Yeah, having been targeted by bright part several times, i know this is a website that traffics in racist really aggressive horrible reporting, the people who write into breitbart are some of the underbelly of american society. This is a website that has a whole section called black crime. This traffics in horrible antisemitic notions, constantly, and oftentimes false truths. They will put up a quote from someone indicating that they are either jewish or a picture of a black woman and then they just let the Comment Section go wild. So for someone like steve bannon who is moving away who has been ousted from this type of organization, says a lot about the mercers, it says a lot about the republican tax cuts, because these are people who are willing to sort of go even deeper into the deer of american politics because it will make them more money. So what were seeing now is just Republican Party in washington, d. C. Full did, on looting the American Government and really ignoring all the principles that actually will sustain us in a social safety net in a collective action sort of way. Eric. What is interesting to me about this is that the conservative media structure that has grown up around breitbart, you would think with donald trump as president would be flour iplow flowering, that would be excerpts even more control over the discussion. And instead oflow flowering, th would be excerpts even more control over the discussion. And instead ofow flowering, thad be excerpts even more control over the discussion. And instead ofw flowering, that be excerpts even more control over the discussion. And instead of flowering, that be excerpts even more control over the discussion. And instead offlowering, that te excerpts even more control over the discussion. And instead of focusing on supporting the president , there is a conflict and competition between people at these various news organizations. And it is hampering their ability to get their message out. Breitbart were hearing is not going to or bannon were hearing is not going to host the show that he had on sirius xm either because that was through Breitbart News. They will be consumed with dealing with the fallout from getting rid of bannon instead of focusing on how theyre covering the news or supporting the president s agenda as they have done in the past. And you just said supporting the president s agenda. Here again is the way steve bannon was positioning it just a few months ago saying that he was going to war for trump when he left the white house. If there is any confusion, let me clear it up, im leaving the white house and going to war on behalf of trump. And katty kay, they can throw in all the words they want, it was obvious at the time that there was tension, thats why he was leaving the white house. Its obvious that the pourer is not simply in being the third or fourth press release regurnlg statings message, but being a pressure cooker, positioning himself, whatever you want to call it to the right or to the ground or to the wild other corner of where the Republican Party would either go or be forced to go. Yeah, and there are still supporters of President Trump and of President Trump running for president again next time around who will say that bannon had his ear to the ground of the base that they need. And they are still in favor of that fire that he whipped up so kind of unexpectedly around the time of the election that got trump the victory in 2016. But you said that his inflated sense of self importance, that bubble was burst today. I wonder whether it was burst on that cold night in december in alabama when roy moore didnt manage to succeed, was that actually the beginning of the end of steve bannon because he didnt manage to pull it off. There is one thing to have say you have the ear of the base and that you can run all of these counter establishment candidates, but if you cant get them elected, what use are you. And that tice in with what ej is saying that actually the bust up had the freeze between the mercers and bannon had already begun a while ago. I agree, but i think we also need to remember any republican who cast their lot with donald trump also needs to remember that he is not loyal to anyone but himself. And the sad thing is his children might soon find that out one day as well. But he was with steve bannon and now you see how he speaks about him, sloppy steve. There are so many people every Single Person who was attached their political career to donald trump, when their time has come, he has thrown them by the wayside and stepped over his body to promote himself. And that is a lesson that really doubles back to the deeper point youre making about if someone is watching at home and going being on, this loud brash guy who left the white house, who cares, the point is as you were arguing earlieron, brash guy who left the white house, who cares, the point is as you were arguing earlier who is in charge and is there is a method within trumpism or the Republican Party to give voice to the people that they aspire to represent, the coalminer, middle class, the working americans around the country. We hear a lot about them. Or at the end of the day is tonight important obviously i think so,s im curious what you think, is tonight important because were seeing the pressures put on by a well reported book about who is really in charge and it turns out there is a handful of billionaires in charge and that is the end of it . Well, i think we already started to see that with the tax bill. There was very little in this tax bill to benefit the voters of the mountains in West Virginia or kentucky or the people in the old mill times in michigan or pennsylvania. And youve already started to see trump take a hit in the polls among white voters without college education. So even among white evangelical christians. So i think there has been a perception out there even before bannons fall and to be honest i dont know if any of us can be sure that all those voters really knew who steve bannon was. The polling was in several red states, his name i. D. Was surging up over 40 . Which again for a staffer it is pretty big, ill grant you that. But just to underscore something katty said, when roy moore lost, it sure looked like donald trump held that against steve bannon. It was basically bannon told me this guy could win so i went all in for him and i got embarrassed a second time in alabama. So i think that really didnt help his cause either. But we are seeing the collapse of this through toe kratic populism. You cant really bring those two together. Sometimes we get breaking news in pieces of paper and sometimes anonymous quotes of gobbledegook. This one says bannon is a true believer in the populist national agenda. Potus is transactional. When he needs something badly, they will have a relationship. Final thought, katty kay. Yes, so that will be the question. Where does the conservative base that bannon thought he represents now throw in its lot. Do they close it into donald trump or keep their attachment to steve bannon. It is interesting that on the same day steven is fired, the president is talking about the prospects of immigration reform. One thing the workers around the country really dont warrant toe happen. And you are already getting more high profile supporters saying hold on, you will lose a lot of support if you go ahead with anything that you floated during that meeting in terms of real immigration reform. Completely right. I agree with that. Its fascinating and it matters for all the reasons that are broader and bigger than steve bannon. Its been a fascinating conversation. Thank you vefr. And coming up, we turn to the other big story, this key testimony out tonight from the russia probe, insights in to the trump dossier. And what are the pros and cons of trump if he does do his testimony under oath . And well meal back tpeel back tsz on t the political layers. And laterer want to address the deepest question raised by the Michael Wolff book, it is mr. Trump and about cons. Lly, we ofw rates on home loans. But if thats not enough, we offer our price match guarantee too. And if thats not enough. We should move. Our home team will help you every step of the way. Still not enough . Its smaller than id like. Well help you finance your dream home. Its perfect. Oh, was this built on an ancient Burial Ground . Okay. Then well have her cleanse your house of evil spirits. 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Respiratory tract infection and headache. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take. And if youre pregnant or planning to be. Ask your dermatologist about otezla today. Otezla. Show more of you. Breaking news tonight, key transcripts about the trump dossier are now out for the first time. The head of the firm behind the dossier has testified and we now know what he is telling congress, that Christopher Steele that british spy who was hired to look into trumps links to russia became, quote, concerned that what he was learning about trump represented a National Security threat. This is brand new. Were also learning from this information from congress that he had the view that trump might have been, quote, blackmailed or had been xroe compromised. A lot more to it, lets get ride to senator sheldon whitehouse. There is a fight over why some republicans didnt want this testimony made public. And then there is what you think is important now that it is transparently out in the light of day. What do people need to know about this . Well, the way that the Judiciary Committee ought to be working, we ought to be working in a bipartisan fashion to do what is right within our wheelhouse which is to protect the department of justice from obstruction and interference. And to draft legislation to protect our 2018 elections which just a few days ago pompeo warned us would be the continued subject of russian meddling. Thats what we should be doing. The chairman has decided that we should basically break into two teams, a republican Judiciary Committee and a democratic Judiciary Committee and go our separate ways. Given that decision, i think senator fine tine maeinstein ma choice that she could to release the Glenn Simpson transcripts today. But certainly not the best of all worlds. Youre referring to senator grassley . Grassley is the chairman, fine stein relea feinstein released. Grassley said the release is totally con founds and undermines the integrity of the committees work. I dont think it does that because the person had written an edit toorial laying out what said in public ahead of this and called for the release of the transcripts. So its not as if somebody came in under one set of expectations that it would be a private confidential interview and had their expectations disrupted or disturbed by unbeknownst to them and without their wishing it having their krans scritranscri suddenly in the public domain. The person whose testimony was at the heart of this krans scri transcript was the person who most wanted it released. And then back to the first question, what are you learning and what should we be learning from this testimony . Well, i think the key piece of it is that this latest where that effort to cause a distraction from the tasks before us really doesnt stand up, that in reality, the steele dossier which i think drives a lot of republicans crazy was actually perfectly legitimate intelligence product by an experienced former senior person in the mi6 russia desk who has had his work regularly taken seriously and valued by Law Enforcement and Intelligence Services in the united states. And that the timing is very different than has been suggested, that the steeles doier wdossier was not prokt product of a Democratic Political effort, it was actually first commissioned by a conservative newspaper. And that the steele dossier wasnt what triggered the fbi investigation. That began when the british and then as director clapper told us european allies and then the australians based on their contact from papadopoulous all came to american agencies and said hey, you guys, you really got to be worried about what russia is up to in your elections. We have some really serious intel we need to share with you. And those were the driving factors behind the fbi beginning to look into this. Which is important and also goes to the testimony which is the view that if you find stuff that is bad enough, you actually have some obligation to report it as well. Senator white houshouse, thank for your time. I want to turn to Nick Ackerman and