you all for all the bravery you have demonstrated over the years and may god protect our troops. thank you, thank you, thank you. proud to be here. thank you. >> president biden in washington, d.c. i want to bring back simone sanders townsend. this is a powerful speech today on an important day. >> on a very important day. i don't think it should be lost what the president has said and highlighted about historically black colleges and universities who the majority of which started in the immediate aftermath of the emancipation proclamation. hbcus have played a critical role in black economic mobility. 50% i believe of teachers come from hbcus. 70% of doctors and dentists, 80% of judges and as you heard the

president say, 100% of first female black vice presidents. it's important what he has highlighted. it speaks to a concern that folks have about the support of hbcus, $16 billion is not cheap. >> simone, thank you so very much. it's a pleasure to see you. catch simone saturday and sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. eastern as she co-hosts "the weekend" right here on msnbc. andrea mitchell picks up with more news next. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," president biden trying to fire up lagging support from black voters, speaking at the national museum for african american history on the anniversary of the brown versus board of education decision and facing an uncertain reception when he delivers the commencement speech at moorehouse.

sparks fly between marjorie taylor greene and aoc. >> how dare you attack the physical appearance of another person. oh, girl, baby girl. the trump hush money case moves closer to closing arguments and going to the jury, how much impact will the showdown between donald trump's defense lawyer and michael cohen have on the outcome? ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. president biden trying to fix what could become a critical problem in his re-election campaign, a serious dropoff in support from black voters. a lagging enthusiasm for mr. biden, especially among young black men in battleground states who helped put him in office. the president just wrapped up those remarks at the national

african american history museum in d.c., one of the most popular museums. he declared black history is american history. the president marking the 70th anniversary of the brown versus board of education case. a landmark supreme court desegregation case. the president met yesterday with families of the plaintiffs in that case at white house. this sunday, he is speaking at the commence ment for moorehouse college in atlanta, followed by an naacp dinner. we begin with monica alba. the president making a push to clear a voting block ahead of his re-election block. talk about that and the president's commencement address. >> reporter: this is a flury of events that's meant to target this key demographic of voters that delivered the white house to then candidate joe biden four years ago. they were crucial in the

primaries and in the general election. this is after speaking that erosion of support from black voters. a response to that. the president throughout his administration has been very focused on black voters and trying to make really key infrastructure investments and cancelling student debt, issues that would appeal to that sector of the population. he has fallen short on other major promises. many black voters, they cite concerns about the economy or the lack of voting rights protections that the president had been trying to work on during the beginning of his term, that he was not able to complete. that's why you are seeing all of these different events that will culminate on sunday with the president addressing the morehouse commencement. we have seen indications from students and faculty that they are worried about the president's handling of the war in gaza and they don't support the u.s. position. there may be sort of protests

there. we know the white house sent down their head of public engagement, steve benjamin, to speak with them. in the end, faculty will bestow an honorary doctorate. but many voted against that. >> president biden is set to deliver the big commencement at morehouse college, a famous college. joining us now is the former secretary of homeland security, jeh johnson, who gave the commencement there in 2014 and a graduate from there. you heard the president's speech there. he could have a mixed reception at morehouse on sunday. they sent steve benjamin down to try to talk to students and faculty members who might be protesting. a lot of concern about the gaza war and also things that have not been delivered to the black community. >> andrea, thanks for having me.

i'm a graduate of morehouse college. i graduated 45 years ago this weekend. i gave the commencement address there ten years ago. i have been in situations myself where i've had to deliver a commencement address over protests, objections. i'm going to go out on a limb and say my prediction for sunday is that there may be some noise, there may be some objections, but overall, i think the president will receive a very respectful reception and things will be fine. a morehouse graduation in the black community is really special. family all want to be there. i had 38 family members show up for mine, even though i had ten seats. everyone shows up. parents, grandparents, aunt from philadelphia, cousins from chicago. they all want to see their

graduate walk across the stage and shake the hand of the president of the united states. they will be unhappy if something disrupts that. >> why do you think the president is having a problem with support? it's clear in polling from black people. they helped put him over the top, a critical win in the primaries, of course, with south carolina and jim clyburn. black women, black men, there's a lack of enthusiasm. is it age? is it gaza? is it not delivering on certain things for the black community? >> andrea, i think that to address, it's important for president biden to talk to black voters not as black voters but as voters. black americans, like everyone else, are concerned about the economy. they are concerned about inflation. they are concerned about their children's future. they are concerned about health care.

they deserve to have the president talk to them like everyone else on these same key issues. i think that's the essence of it. in the end, i'm sure the black vote will come home to president biden. he needs to talk to black voters as voters, in my opinion. >> morehouse also, of course, is in atlanta. the largest city in the swing state of georgia. biden flipped that, as we know, less than 12,000 votes. donald trump knew exactly how many votes there were. the war in gaza is dragging down support among all young people. he goes to -- for commencements. this is the only one aside from the military academy. >> yes. >> it's not traditional in a campaign year. he faced protesters along the road. as you point out, people are not feeling the improvement in

inflation and the improvement in the economy and in jobs. >> andrea, if i could, i think that morehouse is the perfect venue to try to talk about -- given it's the alma mater of martin luther king, talk about the difference between peaceful, respectful protest, which is what dr. king believed in, without hate, without resentment, even civil disobedience, but always remain civil, versus violent demonstrations, spewing hate. i think morehouse is the perfect venue for the president to thread that needle and talk about that issue, given where we are in this moment with everything that's happening on college campuses. i would also recommend, if i could, that president biden talk to these young men, these graduates, about his own personal story.

he is a family man. he is a father. he is a grandfather. he suffered loss. he persevered. that's a compelling story for these graduates to hear. >> speaking of compelling stories, let's talk about your own experience and the importance of the hbcus in the community. in your commencement speech in 2014, you talked about coming in and not caring much about your grades. you had a 1.8. you graduated with a 4.0. that campus and being there -- i have heard this from students at other hbcus. i have heard it from friends at howard, which i visited often here in d.c. there's a spirit, there's faith, there's a feeling of belonging, of achieving. what was it that transformed you from that disinterested young man into a super achiever? >> when i got to morehouse, i

had this fantasy that i was going to be a left fielder for the mets. i didn't need to study. i got to morehouse and i remember sitting in my dorm room beginning of my sophomore year. the ambition, the energy, the drive at morehouse is really contagious. the ora of dr. king's presence, members of the faculty when i was there in 1975, who had taught him. i decided, there's nothing left to do but study. if i want to be a lawyer, go to law school, i was surrounded by these other ambitious students. i pulled it together. my grades went up. i entered morehouse a boy and left a man. much of what i am today is due to morehouse college. you might be able to see over my shoulder is the president

emeritus of morehouse, one of doctor king's mentors and gave the eulogy in 1968. >> it's history. it's a lot of that. it's your role as a mentor and an example for a lot of other people in this country, a lot of other young men. thank you. appreciate that. >> thanks, andrea. the capitol clash. chaos in the house hearing as debate over releasing a recording of the president devolves into personal attacks and shouting. that's next when "andrea mitchell reports" is back in 90 seconds. you are watching msnbc. e watchic [ cellphone ringing ] phone call from the boss? sorry. outdoor time is me time. i hear that.

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a house hearing became a verbal food fight last night as members were debating holding merrick garland in contempt for refusing to release audio recordings of president biden's classified documents deposition with special council robert hur. >> do you know what we are here for? >> you talking about -- >> i think your fake eyelashes are messing -- >> hold on. order. >> that's beneath even you. >> order. >> why don't you debate me? >> mr. chairman, the minority -- >> did is self-evidence -- >> you don't have enough intelligence.

>> the chair recognize mr. perry. >> i move to -- >> order. >> was that a congressional hearing or the "jerry springer" show. nbc news is part of a lawsuit by the media to force the biden administration to release the audio instead of exerting executive privilege. joining me now ashley parker, "new york times" opinion columnist david french and jeff mason. how emblematic is the chaos on capitol hill as part of the current political landscape? >> it's probably on the extreme end but it's telling about a deeply polarized and, frankly, fairly uncivil congress and our politics. one thing i'm spending time

thinking about now, because the biden and trump campaigns are spending a lot of time thinking about it, are the double hater, double disliker voters, that dislike both trump and biden. it's worth noting, they dislike them for specific reasons. they also sort of dislike politics. they are disgusted with washington. when you look at something like what you just played, it's easy to understand why they feel this way. >> yeah. jeff, president biden has exerted executive privilege. what's his reasoning there? we have the transcripts. it's very controversial because of robert hur being critic and very subjective as describing him as an elderly old man. >> i think the reasoning is what you said, at least what the white house is saying. they have the transcripts. the broader reasoning, which maybe they are not wanting to say out loud, is they don't want

it to be a campaign video. the information that came out in that deposition is public and is clear in the transcripts and in the report, to have a recording and to have his voice going back and forth about this issue keeps it out in the ether the way they would rather not have it. >> when we talk about the recording, david, you have been writing about the divorce from reality of politics, the party -- the partisanship. with the campaigns overlooking the persuadable voters, to their detriment and pandering -- >> i don't think there's any doubt the impulse right now in american politics is to solidify your base. there's a mobilization rather than a persuasion paradigm that's dominating much of our

politics. it's one of the reasons why a lot of voters feel left behind. the people who don't necessarily feel like they fit completely and totally in one camp or the other. on the republican side, the reach out is abandoned except by -- the reach out is, if you don't vote for trump, america ends, which is an extreme kind of pitch to voters that can be extremely off-putting. if there isn't a counterargument, sometimes the most extreme argument can win. we're in a position right now where both parties tend, by instinct, to appeal to their base to win as opposed to appealing more to that american middle. it's one of the reasons we are in a dysfunctional moment. >> i wanted to ask you about something that "the new york

times" broke. in 2021, the supreme court justice alito who had the lead on dobbs and other controversial opinions had an american flag hanging upside down of his house. this is for stop the steal. alito saying it was briefly placed by his wife in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable language on yard signs. senator durbin wants justice alito to recuse himself from cases related to 2020. it shows how politicized the court is. we have a refusal to recuse from clarence thomas. the immunity decision hanging out there when a lot of lawyers say it should never have taken this long and it should have been decided quickly when jack smith asked for that. >> you know, the thing about this that's troubling on

multiple levels, this is different from the thomas stories, because this is their house, their flagpole. it's not just his wife's house and wife's flagpole. it was up for days. the explanation makes no sense. the explanation is a neighbor said something offensive and now there is reporting that there was a personal confrontation perhaps. a lot of people say offensive things to me. i have been through a lot of personal confrontations, for example, in these last -- in the trump years. at no point has anyone said, we should do in response to this, fly an extremist flag that i don't believe. that doesn't make any sense. why would this happen? why would it stay up for days? why would a supreme court justice allow it to stay up for days even if it's only his wife's actions? there's no excuse for this. at some point when you read some of the defenses, you know if the same facts were occurring, say,

at justice kagan's house, they would be all over it for good reason. it would be inexcusable. the defenses of alito here just don't make much sense. it was a dreadful, dreadful mistake for this to happen. >> it comes at a time, ashley, when among institutions that are not respected, congress, politicians, the news media, the supreme court is having its lowest approval ratings because of perceived politics by the court. >> that's right. understandably so. as david mentioned, there was the thomas stories and issues, which worth noting the coverage of that won a pulitzer in public service from propublica.

>> by the way, he had lists of people approved -- we know that the group that has been weighing in on the nominees, he is now challenging joe biden to do the same before the election, to start listing people that he would nominate. getting into -- bringing the supreme court nomination into the election campaign. >> it's clever on the former president's side. it made such a difference for him. i think in 2016, there are probably people on the right who may have held their nose to vote for president trump, because they knew that he made promises about the supreme court. he delivered on those promises. those people are still with them. the question is, will it have an impact for democrats as well? >> jeff, thank you. ashley parker, david french, good to see you. thank you very much for coming.

the finish line. michael cohen's marathon testimony at the trump hush money trial could be nearing an end with closing arguments on the horizon. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. this is msnbc. illiant? boring. think about it. boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. what straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space? boring does. boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. because it's smart, dependable, and steady. all words you want from your bank. for nearly 160 years, pnc bank has been brilliantly boring so you can be happily fulfilled... which is pretty un-boring if you think about it. my grandfather's run meyer the hatter for over 75 years now. he's got so many life experiences that he can share. finding the exact date on ancestry that our family business was founded, was special to share with my grandfather. you don't get that moment every day.

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donald trump's hush money trial is winding down with the defense indicating it may have only one witness. probably not the former president. they are keeping people in

suspense. we could see closing arguments next week. first, michael cohen has to return for more cross-examination followed by probably rebuttal by the prosecution if they want to clean up some problems that surfaced yesterday. todd blanche accusing cohen of lying more than 50 times during seven hours of questioning. ending with cohen's admission, he didn't recall a critical 2016 conversation he testified about that he claimed he had with donald trump allegedly telling him the story that stormy daniels payoff was being handled. trump's attorney confronted him with texts that seem to indicate he had called trump's bodyguard, keith schiller and had not talked to trump. the defense lawyer said, that was a lie. cohen acknowledged, i don't recall telephone calls on a specific date going back to 2016. joining me is chuck rosenberg,

and andrew rice. chuck, to you. we have been talking. you are against the conventional wisdom regarding how devastating that one moment was. it was more emotional, higher pitched, bigger volume than all the rest of the rather sedate questioning. there was a lot of, that's a lie. but it was done in a quiet way. it was written in the transcript in bold when we got it. you don't think it was that damaging. why not? >> i don't. i may be entirely wrong. but things like this happen in trials all the time. let's say mr. cohen was wrong. if he was intentionally wrong, that's a problem. if he was unintentionally wrong, which seems more likely, then you can do one of two things as

a prosecutor. you can either clean it up on redirect, refocus him on the call in question, or as i used to do in some cases where i didn't think it was that harmful, just ignore it. stand up and say, no questions on redirect. i imagine they will do some redirect here, because he has been on the stand under cross-examination for what seems like nine and a half months. there's probably some things to clean up. this strikes me as something that falls on the spectrum between meaningless and completely meaningless. >> your point is that they know he was donald trump's fixer. they know what his job was. you are presenting him and they will in closing arguments as donald trump's choice, not the prosecution's choice. >> that's right. by the way, i don't mean any of this as criticism of mr.

blanche. cross-examinations are hard. they are easier in a television studio than in a courtroom. i don't think this was a gotcha moment, a perry mason moments. here, i think it was perhaps mr. cohen stumbling over something that he didn't fully recall. you can fix that. >> how strong is the prosecution's case as we look toward closing arguments? >> well, i rarely bet against the prosecution in a criminal case. usually, it's a safe bet to bet with the prosecution. they wouldn't have brought the case if they didn't think they were going to win. of course, they had an advantage going in. this was a very winnable case for the defense. they had -- there were some issues with the case. there was the possibility of potentially getting a hung jury or misdemeanor. i think the defense missed the mark here, mistried the case.

a lot of that is to due to donald trump, attacking, contesting every detail, even facts that they are difficult to dispute. scorched earth attack on witnesses, not just michael cohen but stormy daniels, who could be sympathetic to jurors. you talked about the cross-examination. the highlights of it, like this one point you were making, where there may be something that was -- a point scored there, are lost amid the ballast on days of cross-examination on minor points that weren't important. a very unfocused defense. therefore, i think a very good situation for the prosecution heading into closing arguments. >> andrew, you were in court every day. condolences to you for having to do that every day. is the burden of proof higher because they would be convicting not only a former president but potentially a future president?

>> i think every single one of those jurors knows who is sitting at the defense table. that was established during jury selection where there are a lot of questions about how these jurors felt about donald trump. i don't think it's lost on any of them. i can't imagine what stakes are here. what's happening inside the courtroom may look different to the jury than it does to those of us talking about what's happening in the courtroom on television or in news articles. the jury is seeing a very different set of facts than i think -- than we are. a lot of the stuff that's happening outside the courtroom is not filtering to them. for instance, all of the gag order violations and the possibility of trump being held

in contempt or incarcerated. they don't know about that or they're not supposed to know about it. who knows if they are abiding by the instructions the judge has given them. they are not supposed to take that into account. i think the defense did a fairly good job yesterday at the one key thing they have to do in this case, which is undermine the credibility of michael cohen. it wasn't simply, i don't think, this one telephone call that is the issue. the issue is that there are several conversations that michael cohen said he had with donald trump about these transactions that are uncorroborated by evidence other than these telephone records. if you call one of the telephone records into question, you call all of the records into question, i think.

therefore, also, the conversation that michael cohen said he had with donald trump comes into question. >> the only question there is, chuck, there's a lot of paper. documents can be strong evidence. it's very clear that weisselberg would not have been writing the grossing up of the numbers on the mortgage loan for michael cohen without donald trump knowing about it. he did nothing without donald trump knowing about it. there's common sense that comes into play. >> circumstantially, that's true. the paper trail is pretty clear. what makes michael cohen an important witness is that he is the one who testifies that donald trump directed this, knew about it, understood the purpose, and wanted to accomplish that. whether the jury credits mr. cohen, we shall see. >> chuck, thank you so much.

up next, tragedy for three israeli families today. the news that the bodies of their loved ones, hostages, have been recovered in gaza. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. since my fatigue and light-headedness would come and go, i figured it wasn't a big deal. then i saw my doctor and found out i have afib, and that means there's about a 5 times greater risk of stroke. symptoms like irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, or light- headedness can come and go. but if you have afib, the risk of stroke is always there. if you have one or more symptoms, get checked out. holding off on seeing a doctor won't change whether or not you have afib. but if you do, making that appointment can help you get ahead of stroke risk. contact a doctor and learn more at notimetowait.com what causes a curve down there? is it peyronie's disease? will it get worse? how common is it? who can i talk to?

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we have very sad breaking news out of gaza. israeli officials say the idf has recovered the bodies of three people killed by hamas during the music festival on

october 7. let's get to raf sanchez who is in jerusalem for us. raf, tell us, if you can, where they were found. i believe they were in a tunnel. was it in rafah? was it in the north? what can you tell us? >> reporter: the israeli military is not saying at this point where these hostages were found. they are saying it was in a tunnel. as we have been reporting over the week, the israeli military is operating not just in rafah in the south but also in gaza city in the north. not clear at this point where the bodies were recovered. the israeli military saying they were found in an overnight operation thursday. you can see on your screen, the three people, hostages, they were all killed on october 7th, according to the israeli military, as they attended that music festival a couple of miles from the gaza border. the woman in the middle of the

screen is a name you might remember. she was a german israeli citizen, 23 years old. very, very graphic images of her body surfaced in the early hours of october 7th as it was being driven into gaza. israel has been confident for a while that she was killed on october 7th. they found some of her remains shortly after. it is now only just now that her body has been recovered. >> is there any way to tell how many hostages are still alive? >> reporter: there is some grim math to this. before today's recovery, there were around 132 hostages inside of gaza, according to the israeli government. of those, around 35 were confirmed dead. israel has a variety of methods for confirming whether or not hostages are living. it comes from intelligence.

it comes from forensics. it comes from interviews with released hostages. the real number of dead hostages is likely to be significantly higher than that 35 or so, which is the official statistic at this time. >> also, a little bit of good news. the medical group of doctors, nurses, medical technicians, americans, did get out. they have been trapped inside gaza doing heroic work. but wanting to get out. they were trapped since the border closings a week and a half ago, two weeks ago. they were apparently -- they were able to get out, negotiations between the u.s. and israel, to try to get them safe passage. >> reporter: yeah, that's exactly right. this is a group of 20 american medical volunteers, many working at the european hospital in klan

younis. they were able to leave into israel. by coincidence, i ran into one of the doctors. he and i spoke when he was inside of gaza. we ran into each other on the streets of the old city earlier today here in jerusalem, one of the extraordinarily brave volunteers who have been giving what medical assistance they can to the people of gaza. >> amazing. i think one of the doctors who was interviewed here by ryan nobles was a doctor, i believe, an arab american doctor, who had saved the life of senator duckworth. was he one that got out today? >> reporter: andrea, that doctor volunteered to stay inside of

gaza to continue the treatment at the european hospital where it's so badly needed. he had the option to leave safely today. instead, he and a group of other american medical volunteers have stayed behind in gaza. they continue to treat patients there. >> thank you. incredible heroism there. people know, senator duckworth's life was saved during the war when she was injured grievously in a helicopter crash in iraq as a pilot. thank you very much, raf sanchez. battleground georgia. a new documentary looking at the complex history of voting across the south and how georgia came to lead the charge. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. hell reports." this is msnbc. for vital sun protection. so you can get more out of all your days in the sun. more protection. more sun. more joy. neutrogena. ♪ upbeat music ♪

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changes that empower voter eligibility challenges and require more audits. putting up new obstacles, if you will, to voting. a new documentary series this weekend on msnbc, a new film looks at the complex history of voting in georgia. >> we are in this transition where the old south is being replaced by the new south. there is some friction. i think that's natural with any transition, whether political, economic, or otherwise. we are in that moment. >> we are georgia. we are georgia. >> the co-founder of black voters matter first, your reaction to the new voting rules signed into law by the governor. >> unfortunately, i think what the documentary captures is that

historically, that's what is happening in the south. whenever there has been progress and whenever voters have been participating, particularly black voters, we have seen a backlash. we have seen voters be punished for participating. some of the laws we have seen across this nation, particularly that resulted from the passage of 202 in georgia, are related to the high historic voter turnout of young, first-time and minority voters in georgia. >> after what we saw last time around, how concerned are you about pressure, threats, to discourage the vote? we know what happened to ruby freeman and shaye moss were given a courage award last night. they were appearing. it was a glorious night, given the award from tyler perry. georgia very much a focus

because of the case against donald trump. >> it should be. i'm glad those women have been honored. we have to recognize that while we are honoring them, we have to say that that is completely unacceptable. women are giving their time, doing a service, a civic duty service to this community, to our nation, to strengthen democracy, and they are attacked, threatened. it speaks to how she feels afraid -- they both feel afraid to go outside. there's an enormous amount of hate mail. that's really indicative of what we have seen around voter suppression over the years in the south, throughout the nation. there's always three main strategies. one, creating barriers to make it harder to vote and have access to the ballot. weaponizing the administrative process. create a law that makes it seem something is because it's legal and it makes it right. third is creating a culture of

fear. georgia literally is a micro -- is an example of those things, not just historically but currently. i'm deeply concerned about as we are going into this election cycle how we will see that trend continue in georgia. there are groups on the ground that are organizing themselves as the film shows, and are fighting back. >> thank you. this is so important. an important documentary. the premiere is sunday 9:00 eastern on msnbc. coming up, the rule breaker. my conversation with susan page over her extraordinary new book diving into the life and types of the incredible barbara walters. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. mitl reports" on msnbc. mitchell reports" on msnbc. ness. we need to scale with customer demand... in real time. (jen) so we partner with verizon.

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barbara walters did it all from interviews with celebrities

to world leaders, including anwar is a da, fidel castro. she did the interviews right before camp david and after. she paved the way for women in broadcast journalism breaking barriers for all of us. walters joined the "today" show in the 1960s, first as a researcher finally making on air appearances is what they then called the today girl, eventually becoming the first female co-host, fighting her way to become the first female co-host of any news program on abc news's world news tonight, but still having to fight really terrible experiences with the male host, and in 1999, her sell celebrated interview with monica lewinsky drawing a record 74 million people. >> during those weeks did you ever say to yourself i'm doing

something wrong? this is bad for the president, this is bad for the country? did you ever think about that? >> well, behind the scenes of her decades' long career and her personal struggles through it all is all documented in an extraordinary new biography but susan page, it's called "the rule breaker: the life and times of barbara walters." susan, thank you so much for being here, for the book, and you take a whole new view through all of your research at barbara walters, all of her struggles, everything she was up against, her resilience, that she was manipulative, she was tough, she was competitive. she was such a survivor. >> she was the only one in these jobs. i think about with frank mcgee when she finally got an on-air

role on nbc's "today" show, he set a rule that the nbc news president backed up that she could not speak in interviews until frank magee had asked the first three questions. >> i mean, when you think about it now, we have so many extraordinary women anchoring our newscasts, you know, savannah and kristen, and hoda, and you know all the women on other networks in major roles, and yet, there was a general assumption then that women's voices wouldn't be authoritative enough for viewers to listen to as the anchor, and there was an assumption also that women could not possibly make as much money as men in these jobs, and that was another rule that she broke. >> well, she broke it in a big way. she became the million dollar anchor woman, and it almost hurt her in a way because it permitted people to take, you know, to view her negatively. >> you know, they called her the million dollar baby, and that was a moniker she never entirely lost and of course it was meant to be minimizing, but i can tell

you that when she signed that million dollar contract with abc, it prompted walter cronkite and harry reesner and every other male anchor to demand a raise so they were making as much as barbara walters. >> her childhood was complicated, you know, her father was -- had the latin casino, she spent a lot of time backstage with celebrities, so that was the other part of her personality. she had all of these major breakthroughs during the middle east talks, henry kissinger, the trips to china, but at the same time she always loved celebrities. >> she saw it with her dad being this great imper syria owe. she saw celebrities not only when they were on stage in the spotlight but when they were backstage more vulnerable. she understood they were people with many sides. she brought that to the interviews she did. she became quite famous for making people cry. people would come on the air and say you're not going to make me cry and about 15 minutes later

they'd be sobbing. >> what was the most surprising thing you learned in your research? >> you know, i think the most surprising thing was what was the source of that incredible relentless unending drive she had, and i concluded it was when she was 28 years old and her father attempted suicide, and with that moment, she was just divorced. she wasn't serious about her career. at that moment she realized she was responsible for her father, for her unhappy mother, her disabled sister, and it gave her a sense of purpose and of peril that she never lost. >> i always thought it was mixed with a sense of insecurity about not having enough money, not having enough celebrity or fame. >> the red light of the camera came on and she was barbara walters. she was confident, she was in control. the red light went off, and she was quite uncertain. people would ask her what kind of sandwich do you want for lunch, and she would flummoxed by the question, and she also titled her memoir "audition" because she said she never

stopped feeling that even after she achieved all that she had achieved, the fame and fortune, she still had to audition every day. >> she also broke through in other ways. she was very smart about her money. she created "the view", and she owned that. she produced it, and it became this huge syndicated show so, you know, she was making money off of it not having the network take the profits. >> to this day, and that's something she would counsel other women in broadcasting to do, to keep a stake in it in what you're doing so that it enneuros to your financial benefit too. that was one more legacy from her father. one last thing about "the view," 27 years later we're still watching the view. when it started, abc was not sure it would succeed, and they wouldn't buy a new set for it, so the initial view had to use the leftover set from a daytime soap opera that had been canceled. >> maybe that's kind of a great metaphor for all of this, but i also thought, you know, that she

for all of her fame and fortune, there was something poignant about her. >> yeah. >> you know, i asked -- >> vulnerable i guess. >> 100 people who knew her, was she happy, and two or three said she was happy, and all the others said happyish, proud, you know, reveled in what she achieved, but happy, content, no. >> susan, it's a beautiful book. it's a wonderful book because it's captured all the sides of barbara walters. >> thank you so much. >> and thank you for being here. and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember to follow the show on social media @mitchellreports. you can watch the best of our show anytime on youtube. just go to msnbc.com/andrea. "chris jansing reports" with josé diaz-balart starts now. good day, i'm josé diaz-balart in for chris jansing. political wisdom or wishful

thinking. donald trump using one o