we are going to be keeping you posted. we don't have time for today's big picture because i have to toss it to ali velshi and stephanie ruhle. my colleagues back in new york. a lot going on with memo watch. a lot going on with everything else happening in washington. >> i suspect we'll get a chance to talk later today, hallie. have a good morning. >> thanks, bud. good morning, everyone out there. i'm stephanie ruhle. >> i'm ali velshi. we're back together in new york. it is thursday, february 1st. let's get started. >> the president is in a showdown with the fbi, and it is all over whether or not the controversial memo should be released. >> republicans claim it shows misconduct by the bureau, but democrats and the head of the fbi are questioning its accuracy. >> national security lawyers in the white house that work for me, work for the president, they're slicing and dicing it, looking at it. it'll be released pretty quick, i think. then the whole world can see it. >> a new wrinkle from the ranking democrat on the committee, adam schiff, sending

a letter to nunes, suggesting the letter had been materially altered from the one the committee voted to release. >> this is a wholesale broadside against two of our respected institutions. >> i think it is very clear at this point that they used a memo, a dossier, paid for by the democrats, to get a warrant to spy on the campaign. >> we got too involved in politics with the fbi. >> if i am given the honor of leading this agency, i will never allow the fbi's work to be driven by anything other than the facts, the law and the impartial pursuit of justice. >> all of this comes as the "new york times" reports the special counsel is focusing on that trump tower meeting between the campaign and a russian representative last year. according to the article, mark corallo, a former spokesman for trump's legal team, quote, is planning to tell mr. mueller about a previously undisclosed

conference call with mr. trump, hope hicks who, of course, is the white house communications director. ms. hicks said during the call that e-mails written by donald trump jr. before the trump tower meeting, that he could receive dirt on mrs. clinton from the russians, would, quote, never get out. >> he'll tell mueller, i was concerned it was a hint of obstruction. they were going to try to destroy or conceal those e-mails. >> the new report that president trump allegedly asked deputy attorney general rod rosenstein about his loyalty during a recent meeting. >> sources tell cnn the president asked deputy attorney general rod rosenstein if he was, quote, on my team. >> you have a president who is under investigation demanding loyalty of the man in charge of the investigation. that's not america. >> whew. we got a lot to cover. >> no kidding. a republican stage play if you

will is set to enter its third act. two administration officials tell nbc news the white house could likely release a highly controversial memo compiled by republican house intelligence committee chairman devin nunes as early as today, after the president seemed to confirm the decision in a hot mic moment before his state of the union address. >> let's release the memo. >> oh, yeah. don't worry. 100%. can you imagine? >> 100%. if you couldn't hear that. republicans claim this memo shows abuses of the fisa process, the way federal law enforcement is able to surveil americans suspected of engaging in intelligence operations for foreign powers. over the last year, we've covered a lot of things that have never happened before. when it comes to the house intelligence committee's release of this memo, this has never happened before. we're not talking about the president being out of the box. we're talking about the house intelligence committee. the power to release the

republican memo, which no one disputes, contains highly classified information, has never, ever been invoked. >> let me talk a little about what's at stake here and who thinks it shouldn't be revoked. let's look at the memo and why it is so controversial. and who is opposing it. one week ago, assistant attorney general steven boyd, political appointee and former staffer to then senator jeff sessions, warned devin nunes that releasing the memo would be extraordinarily reckless without input from the department of justice and the fbi. according to the "washington post," fbi director chris wray and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein met with john kelly on monday, warning him the memo could jeopardize classified information. on wednesday, the fbi released a rare public statement, saying it was given limited opportunity to review this memo and has, quote, grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's

a accuracy, end quote. this is an fbi that is run by a trump appointee. white house chief of staff john kelly, who is reviewing the memo for the president, told fox news the document would be released here pretty quick, i think. then the whole world can see it. california democrat, the ranking, most senior member on the committee, along with other democrats on the house intel committee, have criticized memo as being incomplete and having intelligence that is cherry picked. according to schiff, the memo under review by the white house is, get this, materially different from the one the committee initially reviewed and that it was secretly altered before it was sent to the white house. after the committee reviewed it, before it was sent to the white house. now we find ourselves waiting for the release, which is likely to happen at some point today. i want to have this conversation with msnbc terror analyst and

veteran of the u.s. intelligence community, malcolm nance, and msnbc chief legal correspondent and host of "the beat," ari melber. >> i want to pop in. i want to flag nancy pelosi, calling to paul ryan to remove devin nunes as the intel chair. i mean, it is not a surprise she feels that way. >> right. >> she's made that statement. >> malcolm, i want to get to you on this. because you have been in intelligence for more than 30 years you've worked in the field. tell me what the danger is if the fbi and the justice department have now made clear they have material concerns about this memo being public and, yet, part of the committee, the republicans and the white house, feel that there's some reason the americans should see it regardless of those warnings. >> first, the director of the fbi used the term "grave concern" when he was talking about the release of this memorand memorandum. the use of the word "grave" means they will compromise collection systems, identify

processes that the fbi and other intelligence agencies use, to bring about the information for their applications to the fisa court. when you go to the fisa court, there are generally two things you've done. either you are suspected of having worked with a foreign intelligence agency or a foreign power, or you are a member of a terrorist group like isis or al qaeda. there is no in between. they don't use this for political purposes. when they get a fisa warrant on you, they are pretty sure they have an underlying case that they need more collection assets to determine whether you are a threat to the national security of the united states. that being said, director wray believes that they have cherry picked this memorandum, and in the process, will assist russian intelligence in determining how the fbi was going after them. i'm sure that's exactly what he's terrified of, is that the u.s. will compromise our own national security. >> stunning.

let's actually play part of his speech that director wray gave back in september. we need to remind the audience, christopher wray is not an obama holdover. >> right. >> he was selected by president trump. he is a trump guy. take a listen. >> our mission is simple but profound. to protect the american people and uphold the constitution. that mission hasn't changed, and it won't change, not as long as i have anything to say about it. we're going to abide by the rule of law and our core values. we're going to follow the facts independently, no matter where they lead and no matter who likes it. >> so besides possibly regretting that he took this job, christopher wray is a law enforcement kind of guy. i actually turn to you, ari. if christopher wray is saying, no way, jose, not just democrats, doesn't this clearly look that it is entirely

politically motivated? politically motivated and putting us at risk. >> i think that's the problem. fbi director wray is speaking about what he says is best for national security and the country. i saw john kelly refer to the idea that he wants everything out. that's false. they don't want everything out. they want a very particular, unusual release of one single person's surveillance, carter page, who was previously identified by the fbi years ago, before donald trump ever even thought about running for president, he was identified as male one because of his contacts with russian state spies. people who were convicted by independent judges in the united states of being russian spies. that was all before donald trump ran. that's who carter page is. that's the one thing they apparently want out. why? because they think, reportedly, allegedly, we haven't seen this thing yet, that it will somehow

impugn mueller's boss, rod rosenstein. >> can you detail for us that it is only four pages, right? a fisa warrant is a massive document. four selected pages of just devin nunes and his team's words, when adam schiff has a memo they don't want out. if john kelly says, let's let it all out, that ain't what this is. >> right. i think part of the other thing going on, and this is where the law meets the reality tv theater, is there always something that feels potentially nefarious about a secret. when the nixon tapes were secret and then they came out, they had extra pop. donald trump's biggest confession with relation to the obstruction case is not a secret. he went on tv and told lester holt the memo he got that said, we're firing comey over clinton, was a lie, and really, it was over russia, and deal with it. >> except it was a secret because his own team that week had gone on tv saying that's not what they did. >> exactly. that's what makes it a contradiction that is under

criminal investigation. >> right. >> the idea there's some super secret thing about carter page that will be released has been used as a kind of theatrical narrative device. it doesn't have any significance because, as malcolm was referring to, all of this stuff is secretive for security reasons. >> it goes in front of a court, a judge, and it makes people wonder about carter page. interesting character. used to give a lot of interviews. he's not commenting on this stuff. what do you make of carter page, who seems to be at the center of this? >> well, when carter page gave his first interview to chris hayes early last year, he perplexed me. >> yeah. >> he was out holding the line and, at the same time, he was digging a hole for himself. my first thought was, and this could be part of the problem, i thought, you know, carter page had better end up the hero of this story or he is in serious

legal jeopardy. my thought was, was he a double agent? was he working the entire time for the fbi? there have been some hints to that effect. i don't know. all i know is, the fbi knows. the fbi, right now, is working extra special hard to either, one, not compromise an asset and, two, to ensure that the national security of the united states is not spread all over television. you know, it's been used a lot this week. i think we have finally hit the constitutional crisis. we are talking about people who are, for political purposes, deciding their oaths to the constitution do not apply now. >> wow. >> they're working -- >> if we have, where is paul ryan? i guess that's what i don't understand. if i'm paul ryan, if i'm other republicans, with the exception of devin nunes and a couple other people, none of them touched the russia situation. >> right. >> you're absolutely right. what they're doing is, they are working as if donald trump is

the constitution, which he is not. no man is above the law. to try to tear down a group of people who are literally trying to determine if there are spies and collaborators in either the white house or the trump campaign, is as reckless as it possibly can be. these people may have to understand, you know, the law does not indiscriminate here. if they turn out to have been carrying out material conspiracy to keep this information away from the american public because they want to protect the president, they, too, can be prosecuted. why paul ryan is not the point man to clear this up and make sure congress's reputation is clean is beyond me. >> last point, ari? trey gowdy is going home. >> the last point is, this is not about carter page. this is not about a quote, unquote, memo, which was drafted for partisan purposes. this is about one of the last people overseeing the russia probe that donald trump hasn't

yet tried to remove. comey fired over russia. you see it there. mccabe attacked. out of the post at number two. mueller, we learn last week, was attempted firing. only a resignation threat prevented it. the man below there, not as famous, but he was comey's lawyer. he's been reassigned. sessions had to recuse. trump was mad about that. the last person on the upper right of your screen -- >> rod rosenstein. >> he is mueller's boss. there are reports this is the true target. donald trump telling allies by phone he thinks he can use the memo to oust mueller's boss. keep your eye on the target. >> if there is one thing we know about president trump, he is great at saying, you're fired. >> right. >> problem for president trump, this ain't reality tv. >> ari, thanks. malcolm, thank you for your great analysis on this. we want to make sure all the news surrounding the memo doesn't distract anyone from what's going on at the heart of the story, the russia investigation. we're following new developments, including a report that president trump asked

deputy attorney general rod rosenstein if he was, quote, on my team. >> on my team. first, a new poll released moments ago from monmouth university show most americans, 71%, believe president trump should agree to be interviewed by special counsel robert mueller. that includes 85% of democrats and 74% of independents and 51% of republicans. as long as we're talking russia, don't forget, bipartisan across the board, everybody said, let's renew the russia sanctions. guess what happened? >> didn't get renewed. >> hmm. stay with us. you know what you're watching. "velshi & ruhle." before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. xeljanz xr is a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. it can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections,

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welcome back to "velshi & ruhle." we're following a number of new discovers in the trump russia investigation. first, president trump reportedly asked deputy attorney general rod rosenstein if he was, quote, on my team, during a white house meeting last december. that's according to a new report from cnn. >> next, the "new york times" says one of the president's former lawyers is expected to tell special counsel robert mueller about a phone call where white house communications director hope hicks reportedly assured the president that e-mails don junior sent about a 2016 meeting with russian officials would, quote, never get out. an attorney for hicks denies that was said. we should correct it. it wasn't a lawyer, it was his legal team's spokesperson. >> right. finally, robert mueller and attorneys for michael flynn told a judge they're not ready for flynn to be sentenced due to the ongoing russia investigation.

the former national security adviser pleaded guilty to making false state m ments to federal investigators last year. it is common for sentencing hearings to be delayed until the government believes a person has fully cooperated. >> there's a lot to break down. here to help us out, dken. is this another example of president trump attempting to obtain loyalty from the justice department? because couldn't one argue that this one is a little bit gray? couldn't one say, this is how president trump talks. you're my guy, right? you're on my team. you're my wing man. >> absolutely. viewed on its own by itself, this does not seem that terribly disturbing, but you can't view it by itself. when did this happen? in december. what happened in june, six months earlier, he did the same stuff with his intelligence chiefs. he was chastised in the media. people tried to explain, you can't demand loyalty from the career public servants. they're not on your team. they work for the united states

of america. none of that seems to have sunk in. he doesn't understand how this stuff works. and it's starting to look like a pattern, where all the people investigating him, hi want he w his team. >> apparently, you could be on your way out if you're not on his team. >> kellyanne conway talked about it, those who show loyalty to the president. >> right. rosenstein, apparently, reportedly said, we're all on your team, mr. president. i guess that's just a smart answer. >> rod being diplomatic. some would wish he was a little tougher there. he's walking a fine line. >> let's talk about -- >> we have to talk about hope hicks. >> yeah. >> the reason this is interesting, it might look bad but is it obstruction of justice? hope hicks may have misled the "new york times" team. let's just talk about hope hicks for a moment. hope hicks' professional experience is in fashion pr. i'm not criticizing that. but her background is in the business of, let's spin a story to help our client.

usually, the client, you know, is ivanka trump and her shoes. >> it's not usually national security or, you know, state secrets like this. >> it's a situation taken on its own, it might not be anything. the question is, is this part of a pattern, where they were trying to conceal things from investigators? hope hicks' attorney denies she talked about making these e-mails disappear. it matters what else hope hicks said about this, what is in the e-mail, what's in the records, what are the other people in the conversation, how do they describe it? it sure looks like there was a series of incriminating e-mails they did not want investigators to see. >> can they everyone -- is that an option, hiding the e-mails? i would assume in 2018, ifmuell he has ways to get it. >> it seems mueller did not know about this meeting at the time, may not have known about the e-mails. they're preparing to turn the e-mails over to congress. they couldn't have hid them in the end. no way. >> right. let's talk about this michael flynn stuff. michael flynn not being sentenced. what do you make of it? >> look -- >> not being sentenced yet. >> legal experts are saying it

is a routine. they're still talking. mike flynn is a cooperating witness. we don't know what he is offering robert mueller, but we believe it is hugely significant. >> the sentence could be worse or better, depending on in they get the information they need. >> it means, you know, we hear from the white house, this is wrapping up. if they're pushing back the sentencing, it's not over. >> it's months to go, guys. >> can i just remind you, we're only one month into the year. it feels like six months. the last year feels like six years. one month. >> this is what it feels like to be a dog. president trump is about to leave washington to speak to congressional republicans at their annual retreat at greenbriar. all right. he's expected to say just one day after these lawmakers were shaken. remember this yesterday? >> horrific. >> the train crash hitting a truck. amtrak train chartered by congressional republicans, hitting a garbage truck on the way to a retreat. >> three people inside. first, fema says there is no

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welcome back to "velshi & ruhle." here are the top stories we're watching right now. the white house is likely to release a controversial memo as early as today, drawn up by republican house intel chair. this man, devin nunes. republicans say the four-page document will show an anti-trump bias in the fbi and the department of justice. the top democrat on the house intelligence committee says the memo is misleading and leaves out critical context and it was secretly altered before being sent to the white house. the state department is losing its top career diplomat. he said his retirement is not political and he will leave as soon as his successor is confirmed and ready to take on the role. shannon has spent 35 years in foreign service. a police department in michigan is apologizing to one

of larry nassar's victims who filed a report alleging assault in 2004. more than 265 women have come forward, accusing nassar of sexual abuse. nassar is serving up to 175 years in prison. is separate sentencing hearing in michigan is underway. that is expected to continue into next week. a police department apologizing to a victim. normally, i believe anyone who sincerely says they're sorry should be forgircven. i don't think so on this one. an office will dismiss marijuana convictions dating back to 1975. more than 4,000 people petitioned to have their records changed since recreational marijuana became legal in the state of california. convictions for behavior that's now allowed will be automatically cleared. now to the deadly train accident we were covering yesterday. a chartered train carrying republicanmen slammed into a truck.

one person in the truck was killed. others on the train were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. some, like bill cassidy, attempted to help. >> it could take more than a year before we get definitive answers. this just in, multiple white house officials tell nbc news president trump has read the controversial fisa memo, as delivered to the white house. remember, there's questions about the memo that was delivered to the white house and the one the house intel committee are not exactly the same. >> right. >> it's been altered since they last took a look at it. msnbc's garrett haake joins us in west virginia from the gop retreat with the latest. there you are at the greenbriar, a beautiful west virginia resort. it wasn't a beautiful scene yesterday in charlottesville. that's where everyone has come from. now, they're focused on business. president trump and his memo. >> reporter: yeah. well, stephanie, you hit the highlights here.

we know the president has reviewed this memo. white house reporters are saying that they have heard that from several sources, that he has taken a look at it as delivered to the white house. there is that open question, whether the memo he read is, in some way, substantively different or the same as the one cleared out of the house intelligence committee a few days ago. now, it'll be up to the president to decide if and when he wants to give the go ahead for the memo to be released. as we've been reporting for the last several days, he has said openly and through his surrogates that this is something that he does want to see get out into the public. it seems more likely to be a question of when. the president will be speaking here in the next hour or so for this gop conference lunch. it's not something we would expect to see, certainly not part of his repaired marks. i suppose it could come up, particularly when the reporters and cameras who will cover some of his speech, leave the room. >> garrett, what is the effect of the train crash yesterday on the business the republicans are trying to get done at this retreat?

>> reporter: there was very much a different tone last night. there was an ad hoc press conference that got thrown together with half dozen of the republican members of congress who became first responders yesterday. mostly doctors. some like jeff flake, just people who wanted to get involved and wanted to try to help when this accident happened. they rushed out and worked to try to save lives. as you said, one person died. another in critical condition. some of those doctors said they do think their ability to provide medical treatment so quickly may have saved a life. that did change the tone, at least last night. there was a lot of discussion about how it puts things in perspective. puts politics in perspective. as to the policy changes, we'll know more in a few minutes. the chairman of the house infrastructure committee is briefing the reporters here on the infrastructure meeting that was occurring earlier this morning at the resort. obviously, it is a topic that was sure to come up. railway safety, especially after what happened yesterday. >> garrett, thanks very much. we'll stay in touch as this

retreat continues. garrett haake for us in white sulfur springs, west virginia. as we await the possible release of that memo, we want to take a look at the consequences of the white house releasing such a document which, again, i normally say if you say unprecedented on our show, you owe me $2. now, it's the only word to use, unprecedented. first, five democratic lawmakers in maryland are co-sponsoring a bill called the jared kushner act. aimed at stopping judges from ordering the arrest of stenants who owe less than $5,000 in unpaid rent. it was named after kushner because his company is the state's most aggressive landlord using that tactic to collect debts. >> someone could argue it is going after people and arresting them when they owe $5,000 or less is petty. stay with us. you're watching vel ining "vels ruhle." you know where. msnbc.

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i got the dog thing wrong. >> you did? >> you can't believe it is a month in. i said, this is what it feels like to be a dog. really, dogs lives move faster than ours. that's why they get seven years out of a year. ours is different. >> i feel like i'm a caged animal next to him and i can't get out. >> right. welcome back to "velshi & ruhle." update on our breaking news. nbc has learned president trump

has read the controversial house intel gop memo. >> at least some version of it. the white house signaling the memo could be made public as early as today, despite the fbi saying clearly they have grave concerns about the context and potentially inaccuracies of it. the department of justice says the memo is misleading and contains inaccurate information. democrats on the house intelligence committee accuse chairman devin nunes, a republican, of secretly altering the memo that was voted on in the committee and sending a new version to the white house for review. critics are looking at all the developments as attempts by president trump and the republicans to discredit everyone associated with the agencie agencies. we have to stress, people he appointed. >> he appointed up deeindeed. bill kristol sent out earlier, trump knows nixon-style cover-ups fail. so he's engaged in an oj-style assault on the investigations, which as you recall, succeeded. for more, let's bring in richard

painter, chief white house ethics lawyer under george w. bush, and nicholas cristoph, "new york times" column list. i want to get your reaction to bill kristol's tweet. we have to separate the two. while this is unprecedented, ridiculous, we don't like it, it is unprofessional, what is it actually doing? >> undermining our national security. there's classified information in this memo. the only person who is going to benefit from it being released is vladimir putin. he is going to find out more about our sources and how we knew that various associates of donald trump were collaborating with the russians. that's what this is about. it's going to expose our intelligence operations to the benefit of vladimir putin. president trump's own justice department has said the memo is misleading. his own fbi, including his fbi director, says it should not be

released. this is an abuse of our intelligence apparatus, an attack on our intelligence apparatus, for political purposes. the only winner is vladimir putin. >> but is it? >> americans are disgusted. >> is it? because president trump won't mind if vladimir putin wins, as long as he wins. >> well, that may be his attitude. i don't know why he's behaving this way. why is congressman nunes behaving this way? what is he getting out of it? money from the russians? i don't know. we're fed up. >> interesting point you make. nick, the sacramento beat, nunes' hometown editorial, called him president trump's stooge. he won't tell his members on the committee whether he worked with the president on the memo. he is in a different branch of congress. malcolm nance a while ago says, to what richard says, nunes is acting like an agent of russian

intelligence. why is he not acting independently of the white house? >> to refuse to answer? >> he is clearly a stooge. i do think that liberals need to be careful about objecting -- coming up with a addefinitive judgment that something shouldn't be released when we haven't seen it. certainly, the fbi does make mistakes. in general, it is reasonable to have transparency. i'm also a little suspicious of national security objections. i mean, in our business, we're routinely told by doj that there are national security reasons for not publishing things. having said all that though, i think there's plenty of reason here to note, as you say, that it is uncredibly incredibly unf release one-half of an argument that seems to be cherry picked. there are concerns about manipulating intelligence in a way that is against the tradition of the u.s. intelligence is supposed to be nonpartisan. finally, this sure does feel as if it is one more attempt by the

trump administration, through nunes, to take out the referees. to attack not just individuals but to undermine institutions that are essential to the political process. >> richard, our colleague, ken, did a breakdown of how abnormal this gop memo is. i want to walk through it with you. for us, we're not familiar with any of this. for the fbi and the department of justice to discuss a pending criminal investigation with congress, even if it is behind closed doors, not normal? >> yeah, the whole thing isn't normal. we have a serious situation where a foreign country has infiltrated our election system, hacked computers, conducted espionage in the united states, and americans collaborate with them. we need to get to the bottom of it and let bob mueller finish his job. congress ought to be investigating that. there's a secondary issue of whether the fbi is going for the processes they need to go through to get their fisa warrants. we have this under the bush

administration. we got a lot of criticism for going overboard on that. i agree, it's usually the liberals who consistently want to argue we need to rein in the fbi with respect to the fisa warrants and making sure they are doing it properly when they are conducting operations inside the united states, including spying on people or collaborating with russian agents. i understand that point. but we need to find out who collaborated with the russians, finish the russia investigation and then we can go through the fisa issue. we should not dismantle the fbi for the sake of political gain for people trying to collaborate with vladimir putin. that's what voters are concerned about. the russian interference in our election and the russian operatives in the united states. as a member of congress, i think nunes is the stooge not for trump but for putin, because putin is the only one benefitting from this.

we're destroying our apparatus for politicians. in minnesotapolis, we want to ey the super bowl and hope the president and vice president stay out of town. >> thanks to both of you. new ethics concerns surrounding hud secretary ben carson. >> carson was warned he could be violating ethics rules while organizing a hud event last year, but he went ahead with his plans anyway. guess who may have helped? his own family. sounds like the trump white house. let's look at the markets. we've had an unusual few days on the markets. we are up 0.4% right now. hard to sort of characterize it these days because we've had selloffs and people buy. >> remember, it is corporate earnings that really drive this. this is a huge week for corporate earnings. >> stay with us. you're watching "velshi & ruhle" live on msnbc. for the faint of heart. luckily, office depot® officemax® is here to take care of you. ♪ taking care of business

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rules if he allowed his son to help organize a listening tour last june in baltimore, where his son is a businessman. the specific warning that he was giving the appearance that he was, quote, using his position for his son's private gain. the secretary went ahead anyway with the events that appear to have benefitted his son. three months later, a firm run by ben carson jr.'s wife was awa awarded, ready for this, a an i last august by the "new york" magazine, the hud is involving the family. what did you find in your reporting? >> one of the most surprising things i found in my reporting was this very active role that ben carson's family was taking in running the department. this is something i was not expecting to find.

his wife has been very present inside the department. more surprising was the role of his son, ben carson jr., who runs a small investment company in columbia, maryland. he was showing up a lot inside the hud offices. at one point he was even seen leaving the office of the new cfo of the department. then he was also taking a very active role in planning this trip to baltimore, this two-day visit to baltimore. this was a very odd visit to baltimore in june, partly because the entire first day of the schedule was completely undisclosed to the public. they had all these meetings, closed door meetings in baltimore that no one knew about. i had gotten a copy of the schedule and i sort of tagged along, much to their annoyance, and i saw ben carson jr. and his wife going to all these meetings with business leaders and public officials here in baltimore. it was very odd. the people at the meetings found it very odd. i then also saw him, ben carson jr., basically serving as an

intermediary between two businessmen who wanted to talk to hud about a company that they were starting, they wanted to do business with hud, and i saw ben carson jr. going to introduce these gentlemen to hud officials. so it was all very unusual. >> talk about this no-bid contract his daughter-in-law got. >> so this is -- so yesterday "the washington post" reported in a very intriguing report that the deputy general counsel of hud had raised concerns about ben jr.'s role in planning this hud trip, and among the people that ben carson jr. was hoping to have invited to these closed door meetings in baltimore was the new head of cms, the centers for medicare and medicaid, donald trump's nominee for that very, very powerful job. she was on the list, the invite list. she did not actually go to these meetings but ben jr. wanted her to come. we now have learned in this "washington post" report that

just a couple months later, ben jr.'s wife's consulting company got nearly a half million dollar contract from cms, no-bid contract. that raises some concerns. >> now this gets reported. ben carson jr.'s wife gets half a million dollar contract for consulting, so she's getting that payment, how does this get stopped? how does it get investigated? because we always hear when it comes to the trump family, everyone else has rules but not the president. how about his cabinet? besides everyone being offended, what are the ramifications? >> well, it adds to the list of, as you said, these growing issues with people in the cabinet. this is not just about the trump family. there are certainly echoes, what we are seeing with this very active role taken by the carson family certainly reminds one of what one is seeing in the white house with the trump family and of course, the kushners as well. so this really does just seem to be the way that business is being done with this real blurring between the public and

the private and official business and family business. as far as where it goes from here, it really just, you know, it falls to congress and you know, to do their oversight role. but we'll see how far that goes. >> i'm sorry, hard to stifle a laugh on that one. >> don't laugh. be an optimist. congress, if you're not watching, we will send you this piece. that sounds like stinky business. >> it does. alec, thank you very much for this. alec mcgillis has written about ben carson. let's lope that information goes far and wide. thank you. >> don't laugh at it. don't normalize it. raise it. >> i hear you. all right. >> i want to know how great that consulting business is. a cool half a million dollars. no other consulting company, just happens to be ben carson's daughter-in-law. >> president trump is about to touch down in west virginia on the way to sulfur springs which is where the republican retreat is being held. this comes as nbc news has

confirmed the president has read a version of the controversial house intel gop memo that claims there's an anti-trump bias in the fbi and justice department. >> we have heard the memo is likely to be released as early as today but officials say the decision whether to make it public and when has still not been made. we will bring you all the updates as soon as we get them. stay with us. so that's the idea. what do you think? i don't like it. oh. nuh uh. yeah. ahhhhh. mm-mm. oh.

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i have missed this segment because it is my favorite part of the show. it is time now for our monumental american, where every day hopefully we honor someone who may be deserving of more recognition. today, on the first day of black history month, we want to highlight a civil rights activist and the widow of civil rights leader medgar evers. >> she met medgar on their first day of college. they married in 1951. in 1954 when he became the mississippi field secretary for the naacp, she worked with him, organizing voter drives and demonstrations. >> he was assassinated in 1963 and evers-williams spent decades seeking justice. she was chair of the naacp between 1995 and 1998. today, she is 84 years old. what a woman. we want to thank our viewer, bill watkins, for sending this suggestion on twitter.

we really appreciate the suggestions you send us for monumental americans. some of them, medgar and myrlie evans, we know but sometimes you introduce us to people we don't know. is it velshi & ruhle? >> the handle. >> the hash tag. >> man, we are such a disaster. honestly, this social media thing, i don't get it. we will figure it out. ignore what we just said. >> the handle on twitter is velshiruhle. >> like i always say, good thing this is a taped show. we will edit this all before it gets to air. know what i think it's a good thing to do? >> he's got a live show at 3:00. he will try this all by himself. >> best thing we can do is probably hand this over to our

friend and colleague -- yeah. >> now it is time for our dear friend and colleague, "andrea mitchell reports" who anchors "andrea mitchell reports." >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," memo mayhem. president trump and the fbi at war over the threatened release of that secret memo. with the president's hand-picked fbi director issuing a grave warning. and republicans ignoring what the intelligence community calls a danger to national security. >> i will tell you, i have always believed in the public's right to know, and i stand by that principle, but we'll respect whatever decision the president makes concerning that memo. hope and change. a former spokesman for the president's legal team reportedly ready to tell all to the special counsel about a possible cover-up by the president's closest aide, hope