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>> how low is the bar? >> i don't know if you ever -- this isn't really your politic. if you ever read naomi kline's shock doctrine. it's shock aftershock aftershock. you can never quite take in the enormity of it all. all the things you just listed. think back 20 years ago last week, this week was the monica lewinsky scandal breaking. think about what an earth shattering revelation that was. we're having monica lewinsky level scandals this, this many in one week. >> the government hadn't shut down a week ago this hour. >> you've done some of the best analysis of the president's twitter feed. you understand better than anyone what his inputs are, what his outputs are. speak about whether this is volume business or life inside his bubble. >> there is this illusion brought up many times when mr. burns goes into the doctor, the doctor tell him he has literally everything. that's okay, everything is in balance. it's a great little scene. to the point you're making, what are you going to blackmail trump on?
that sunning the "new york times" account reveals that donald trump not only wanted to fire special counsel bob mueller, he called in the order. and it was white house would you know don mcgahn's refusal that carried out the order that forced the president to back down. he also had the role of urging attorney general jeff sessions not to recuse himself in the russia probe. we want to be careful not to exaggerate or misrepresent goingmangoin mcgahn's role in the trump orbuio orbit. michael schmidt quoting "the west wing confrontation marks the first time that mr. trump is known to have tried to fired special counsel robert mueller. "the washington post" adding, quote, trump's ire at mueller
to a grand jury, a courtroom or to congress for impeachment, we may fact a situation where the president is literally confronted with the written statements of his own staff, possibly his own white house counsel, contradicting the president's public statement that this is fake news. his own staff now is faced with impeaching the president's credibility. it's quite an interesting dilemma. >> it sounds like a standoff. where do you put the odds that donald trump will be interviewed under oath as he told the world he would be just before he departed for switzerland. >> 48 hours ago i would have said they're quite high that the interview would talk place. but we've seen, again, this painting into a corner where his counsel is telling him this isn't looking good, you're going to be confronted with our own statements, boss, we told mueller that you wanted to fire
it and why might that matter in an obstruction of justice inquiry? >> so if mueller were building a broad obstruction case against the president, something like this may play into it as sort of backup evidence, backing up the claims that the president was trying to get in the way of the russia investigation, impacted, have control over it, supporting things in and of itself. it was probably not obstruction but perhaps part of a larger pattern. mueller knows about these things because over the past several months, many white house officials have gone in to be interviewed by him. and while a lot of attention is obviously given to the russia question, the white house officials are largely being interviewed about their time working for the president in the west wing and what went on. and in the course of that, because the white house has waved all its privileges, said it will cooperate with mueller,
let's hope that the press covers the president of the united states differently than it covers celebrity businessman and reality television star. you know, he came here obviously, he likes to brag about crowd sizes as part of it. everything is the biggest and best it's ever been as far as he's concerned. but he did get emotionally warm reception from the people here, not because the billionaire investors and the bankers suddenly decided that they agree with him on globalization and these issues, but because they like his tax cuts and regulatory reform and they feel optimistic about the economy. so, he got a better reception than people might have expected. >> peter baker, the white house staff there woke up to the news from your colleagues maggie haber man and michael schmidt that donald trump had ordered the firing of bob mueller back in june. i've been on a foreign trip in another time zone when a big story probably written by you in some instances, broke. i wonder where the white house staff was when they saw this account and how the white house staff and the president reacted while they were on a trip. >> yeah, that's a good question. they weren't really dealing with that today. they were trying really hard to focus on the event here. the president was asked about it, a reporter actually -- my boss, the bureau chief for "the new york times," happened to be with him when he came into the column and called out and asked about the story. fake news? that misses with nbc, washington
it almost feels mean, but you went there first, mr. president. this is senator barack obama's visit to berlin back in 2008. the crowd size at his branden berg gate speech, 200,000. here's president trump in a very different setting earlier today. >> as a businessman i was always treated well by the press. the numbers speak and things happen. but i've always had a very good press. and it wasn't until i became a politician that i realized how nasty, how mean, how vicious and how fake the press can be. as the cameras start going off in the back. >> "the new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker joins us from davos. peter, i have a two-part question for you. donald trump often dealt with the media as a fake spokesperson for himself. he had a fake publicist so he would call the press. he's definitely romanticizing
rose to such a level that then white house strategist steven bannon and reince priebus grew incredibly concerned he was going to fire mueller and sought to enlist others to intervene with the president, according to a presidential adviser who requested anonymity. both were worried about the possibility and discussed how to keep him from making such a move. the president woke up to the news in switzerland and responded with what has become a reflection for him. >> why did you want to fire robert mueller? >> fake news, fake news. typical "new york times" fake story. >> but no denials from his attorney ty cobb, or anyone else at the white house, ty cobb saying we decline to comment out of respect for the office of special counsel and its process. joining us today, "new york
rid of an investigator unless you're afraid of the investigation, whether it's someone close to you or your involvement. and i don't think we ought to mist thth thth thth ththe -- mi through the trees here. the tree here is not who he talked to, when, and why mcgahn might have stopped him. the question is why he wanted to do it in the first place. >> right. >> after what he did to comey. and the only logical answer and logic and trump don't usually fit in the same sentence. >> no, they don't. >> the only logical answer is he had real concerns and he knows why. >> your piece -- let me just get to filibuster. your piece goes through every instance that trump -- and everyone should get online and read this. trump has consistently tried to steer the russia investigation in a different direction or into a ditch. you tick through every instance where he did that. you go through the firing of comey. you go through the loyalty, what broke up that relationship. you go through the desire to have mueller fired. some of the early attempts to save him.
dismissal of special counsel? is there anything bob mueller could do that would send you in that direction? >> i haven't given it any thought. i mean, i've been reading about it from you people. you say i'm going to dismiss him. i'm not dismissing anybody. i want them to get on with the task. but i also want the senate and the house to come out with their findings. >> when we call you liars, now you know why. for months, the president, his staff have insisted special counsel robert mueller's job was safe. from behind the scenes it may have been hanging by a thread. it is all part of what the "washington post"'s phillip bump described as a pattern of attempts by the president to steer the russia probe in a different direction, or as he writes, into the ditch. let's bring in our panel. with us at the table today lydia pole green, "huffington post"
look at. the other one is the collusion, russia meddling in the election bucket. in regards to the president, we don't know a lot that's there. the third bucket would be the financial there and we even know less about that. there has not been a lot of news about subpoenas or interviews being done on that area. it's something that's been speculated about but there's never been any real there there that we've known about in the public. obviously there could be stuff going on behind the scenes but there's been very little noise on that front, the least noise and perhaps there's nothing going on there. the president in many ways is sort of transparent in that interview where we ask him that question. he says, look, that is a red line, it would be a reason to actually get rid of mueller and something he'd obviously be concerned about. i don't know why otherwise he would say that. but if has been this lingering question, that if mueller find other things that go beyond his