our elections in 2016. >> it took an ex'british spy to give us our first look into what moskow might have been up to. american investigators and journalists and prosecutors will now have to fill in the rest of the picture. good evening. i'm lawrence o'donnell, and this is tonight's "last word." there is breaking news on the special prosecutor's investigation involving the white house staffer who has spent the most time with president trump. white house communications director hope hicks. she's a 29-year-old former model who worked for the trump family in public relations before donald trump ran for president. like most trump campaign staffers, she would not have been hired by any other presidential campaign. here's how donald trump introduced her last december to a rally audience in alabama. >> now, hope hicks is a

tremendously talented person. she started off with us right from day one. she used to be in my real estate company. i said what do you know about politics, she said absolutely nothing, i said congratulations you're into the world of politics. right? she knew nothing, and she was there the first day. and she was fantastic. and i'll just say a couple of words. she's really shy, but that's okay because she is really, really talented. hope, say a couple. >> hi. merry christmas, everyone. and thank you, donald trump. >> hope hicks began work at the white house as a staff member on the communications team whose most prominent member then was white house press secretary sean spicer. hope hicks as a unique position in the history now of the job of

white house communications director. she is the fourth communications director to serve in the first year of the trump white house. no other white house in history has burned through three communications directors in the first year and gone onto their fourth. and so hope hicks is the first, fourth communications director in the first year of a white house. and she would be the white house communications director with the least experience in politics and government in the history of that job were it not for her immediate predecessor in the job, the unforgettable anthony scaramucci who lasted a total of 11 days in that position. but there is a huge asterisk on those 11 days, because anthony scaramucci had not taken a pay from those 11 days.

we will have to leave all of that for the presidential historians to sort out. so hope hicks is the second least experienced white house communications director in history, second only to anthony scaramucci. and is the youngest in white house history. we should shoal you more video of hope hicks speaking if we had any. but she avoids microphones more than jared kushner. she is in her position because she exhibits by all accounts the thing donald trump prizes most, loyalty. donald trump obviously cares nothing about intelligence or wisdom or judgment or experience or knowledge of the workings of government. loyalty is everything to donald trump. and hope hicks' loyalty is being tested now more than it ever has been before. according "the new york times" investigators working with special prosecutor robert mueller have interviewed hope hicks over the last two days.

yesterday and today. "the new york times" is also reporting that earlier this year hope hicks was warned about russian operatives who were trying to make contact with her after she began working in the white house. "the times" reports according to former officials american intelligence and law enforcement agencies became alarmed by kbruktry e-mails that ms. hicks received from russian addresses in the weeks after mr. trump's election. after he took office senior fbi counter intelligence agents met with ms. hicks in the white house situation room at least twice, gave her the names of the russians who had contacted her and said that they were not who they claimed to be. the fbi was concerned that the e-mails to ms. hicks may have been part of a russian intelligence operation, and they urged ms. hicks to be cautious. the fbi's meetings with hope hic hicks in the early days of the

trump administration is what the fbi calls a defensive briefing. according to "the times," it's intended to warn individuals about specific concerns or risks. the news of hope hicks' meetings with the special prosecutor for the last two full days come exactly one week after michael flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about conversations with the russian ambassador last december. michael flynn famously led the lock her up chant at the republican convention last year, and tonight when the lock her up chant actually broke out again at donald trump's rally, he explained to his audience that hillary clinton was not locked up because the system is rigged. >> look, it's being proven we have a rigged system. it doesn't happen so easy, but

this system going to be a lot of changes. this is rigged -- this is rigged system. this is sick system from the inside, and, you know, there's no country like our country. but we have a lot of sickness in some of our institutions, and we're working very hard. we've got a lot of them straightened out, but we really do. we have a rigged system in this country, and we have to change it. terrible. terrible. >> the special prosecutor now has at least two cooperating witnesses in addition to the possible cooperation being obtained over the last two days from hope hicks. michael flynn is cooperating with the special prosecutor in exchange for his guilty plea deal. and former trump campaign foreign policy advisor george papadopoulos who has also pleaded guilty is also cooperating. in an interview with abc news,

george papadopoulos' italian fiance says he was not a low level ignored player in the trump campaign as the trump team is now trying to describe him. >> he was constantly in touch with had high level officials in the campaign, and he never took any initiative as far as no unauthorized. >> was he in touch with steve bannon? >> as far as i know, yes. i know steve bannon, michael flynn. >> he was in touch with michael flynn, general flynn? >> yes as well. >> from the president of what you know, will the president be happy with the story george tells? >> i -- i don't -- i mean, i think it's right to dismiss george as a coffee boy, so i'm sure not to be happy to read

that. there are consistent evidence he was not a coffee boy. >> today the special prosecutor's office filed a status report. the prosecutor said the government issued 15 search and seizure warrants to obtain more than 400,000 documents including finance records, e-mail communications and corporate records from paul manafort and his business partner rick gates. the prosecutor tim also possesses image copies of 36 electronic devices such as laptops and smart phones. joining us now are joyce vance, a former u.s. attorney, and also natasha bertram, political correspondent at business insider, and president of the center for american progress. i want to start with you. the lock her up chant broke out tonight quite spontaneously at the trump rally. the president didn't have to lead it. it just broke out because fans,

that remains their favorite chant as much as build the wall. the president's explanation for why hillary clinton is not now locked up, what he said to his audience is simply because we have a rigged system and what he called sick system by which he meant the fbi and federal prosecutors, the justice department, the obama justice department who investigated hillary clinton's e-mail server. >> look, i think we know exactly what donald trump is trying to do. and he's been doing this for weeks and months. essentially he's basically trying to tell his supporters that whatever the fbi comes up with, whatever mueller comes up with is tainted. i think this is sign that he knows that they are going to find terrible things. you know, we already have evidence of direct collusion. the question is what is illegal.

and so the fact that -- i mean one part of me thinks he's basically like daring the gods. when people go into "lock her up" chants, when he faces a special prosecutor, he's indicted multiple people from his administration and his campaign and could indict far, far more, i do think there's some karma there. but i think more importantly what he's really trying to do is to create a world in which if he is indicted himself republicans will feel like they cannot proceed. and i think that's very dangerous. that's where america is going to meet the moment whether we have a true democracy or not. >> joyce vance, there's so many legal points to this tonight including that revealed in the information filing about the manafort case and the evidence they have. i want to begin from your experience as a federal prosecutor, imagine for us what hope hicks last two days have

been. she has spent two full days presumably talking directly to the prosecutors and/or fbi agents. who do you imagine it is from the mueller time who have been interviewing her for two full days? >> so we know from some of the earlier stories we've heard from witnesses that mueller actually runs teams in and out of these interviews. my guess is that these teams are probably aligned some of the different subject of the investigation. so you may have one team going in to look at a particular subject matter. they're showing hope hicks a series of documents, perhaps e-mails or other records asking her who created them, why, what the process was. it is a very detailed, very intensive and i suspect for her exhausting sort of an examination. they're building a meticilous case to look at what these records reveal, what her role

was and perhaps most importantly, what she knows about the role others played in particular instances they are very interested in like the meeting in trump towers in june of 2016. >> and joyce, one more point. she comes from a wealthy family, connected family that can certainly afford a very good lawyering. we have to presume she's very well represented. she's seen michael flynn -- before thooese two days of questioning started, she's seen michael flynn pleading guilty to lying to the fbi. i would imagine this is someone who's been advised to not take the slightest chance with anything that could be called lying to the fbi. >> i think you've got to be right about that, lawrence. we haven't seen any indication that she has any criminal exposure of her own. that doesn't mean she doesn't have it, but it hasn't surfaced. and so the worst risk that she faces is lying to investigators

about facts that they can easily prove. you have to assume that her lawyer has told her no matter who else you expose to criminal liability unless you yourself want to end up in jail, you need to be very careful to tell the truth. >> natasha, i want to go to that experience hope hicks had with the fbi, presumably her first experience with the fbi. early in the administration when they came to her and sat her down in the situation room because they needed a secure room to have that discussion, where they tell her these people who are trying to contact you by e-mail are not who they say they are, they point out that these are russian government contacts that are trying to make contact with her. how would the fbi have obtained that information? >> well, they might have been monitoring the particular people that sent her these e-mails. and it's a really big deal for the fbi to do this. they would have had to, you know, unmask essentially hope hicks as the american recipient

of these e-mails and then actually go to her and tell her, look, these people who are e-mailing you are not actually who they say they are. this is not something the fbi does every day. quite rare actually. the first is they were potentially trying to place her in a position where she was compromised so she would ultimately down the road have to keep her mouth shut about some kind of russian connection that maybe she had been aware of on the campaign. the second was that they were trying to reach out to her so they could specifically get to donald trump. because as we know hope hicks was a liaison for donald trump ever since she really came onto the campaign. donald trump doesn't really use e-mails, so it was really hope hicks' job to field all the e-mails and get him the information he needed to know. >> can i make one point about hope hicks, lawrence? she's also been part of the

communications that has responded to lot of these issues. let's just remember when the initial story broke about the e-mails from russians about that meeting at trump tower, e-mails from russians saying that the russian government wants to help, there were multiple answers by the white house. hope hicks as we understand it was part of that response. so when you're in communications in a white house that's being investigated, they have the ability to ask you about the original cases, but they actually also can ask you about the cover-up or the presumed answers. as you'll recall the white house put out multiple answers for that. then they finally let out there were e-mails of russians trying to help. so i think the challenge for the white house is that they have a person here who actually knows about original facts and, you know, what may well look like the cover-up of original facts.

>> and yois, when you hear that, when you hear about hope hicks' role, of someone who doesn't use e-mail himself, therefore he has to have an intermediary on all e-mail communications, that's the kind of person that becomes invaluable in an investigation. because that's someone who is not exposed to the criminal liabilities of what the president might have said in an e-mail but can tell you how that e-mail happened and how it was composed. >> she absolutely looks like a key witness. someone who can tell the whole story, who can explain it, who can talk about the president's reaction, who he was discussing these issues with. she really could be the crown jewel in this investigation. >> and natasha, that filing, that evidentiary filing in the manafort case today at minimum is alerting people outside of the manafort case, other potential defends, subjects of the investigation, here's what's coming your way, here's how much

we're going to get on you. >> absolutely. there were dozens of search warrants that were issued in that filing. and also another aspect of what he released today was quite interesting. it actually undermined manafort's argument that he really had not had any role in this op-ed. that he'd been writing at late as november 30th with this russian. he released all the red track changes manafort actually made in these documents, showing he played a direct role and therefore violated a court order. so manafort right now is probably not feeling great. he's going to remain on house arrest and gps monitoring for the foreseeable future is the likely scenario. and of course associates who have surrounded him also have be pretty worried right now. >> natasha, thank you for joining us. coming up, president trump gave his full, clear loud endorsement to the accused child

molester roy moore at a rally tonight -- campaign-style rally. and that is one of the reasons that the president's approval rating has hit an all-time low. each day justin chooses to walk. at work... and after work. he does it all with dr. scholl's. only dr. scholl's has massaging gel insoles that provide all-day comfort. to keep him feeling more energized. dr. scholl's. born to move. so how old do you want uhh, i was thinking around 70. alright, and before that? you mean after that? no, i'm talking before that.

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tonight a self-confessed sexual assaulter campaigned for an accused child molester. >> get out and vote for roy moore. do it.

do it. >> stand up republican anti-trump non-profit created by edward mcmullen who ran against trump as an independent last year has committed $500,000 to an ad-buy in alabama to defeat roy moore. >> what if she was your little girl, your daughter, your sister. what if she was 15 years old or 16 or even 14, would your let a 32-year-old man touch her, have her touch him? that's what roy moore did. he called it dating. we call it unacceptable. that's why we can't support roy moore. >> and here is how the president made the case for the accused child molester tonight in a rally just across the border from alabama in pensacola, florida. >> we cannot afford, this

country, the future of the this country cannot afford to lose a seat in the very, very close united states senate. we can't afford it, folks, we can't. we can't afford to have a liberal democrat who is completely controlled by nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. we can't do it. his name is jones, and he's their total puppet. and everybody knows it. he will never, ever vote for us. we need somebody in that senate seat who will vote for our make america great again agenda. >> join us now where a former foreign policy advisor for the mccain, rubio presidential

campaigns. joyce, i want to call on your alabama political experience. what do you think will boo the effect of the president campaigning for roy moore tonight? >> the president is tremendously popular in alabama. he's in pensacola, which the mobile and south alabama market. moore needs to drive voters and support in that region. one things that this visit will be effective. >> and max, your reaction to what you saw tonight. >> well, lawrence, i have to admit to being mistaken. because i thought that had republican party had gone as low as it could possibly go last career when it supported for the presidency this pro-russian conspiracy theorist. president trump is now endorsing this accused child molester wholeheartedly for the senate in alabama. by the way, not only is roy moore an accused child molester

but let's remember he is also racist, bigoted, swreenphobe, and by the way he's also anti-american. because he was quoted in an interview saying he agreed with vladimir putin that america's the focus of evil in the world. and if that's not enough when he was asked when america was last great, he cited the time of slavery. so, yes, he is nostalgic for slavery. this is like a caricature of a far right extremist, and this is who donald trump is endorsing for the senate in alabama and dragging the republican party along with him. i mean this is the complete -- this is the distinct of the this one great republican party into complete darkness, into complete moral oblivion. >> and of course the democratic candidate is doug jones. he was the former prosecutor who obtained convictions in the bombing of the baptist church in

birmingham, alabama in which four black girls were killed. sis what doug jones said this week to distinguish himself from roy moore. >> i damn sure believe that i have done my part to ensure that men who hurt little girls should go to jail and not the united states senate. >> joyce vance, how does that play in alabama? >> it plays extremely well. you know, jones is a middle of the road democrat. he's pro-gun. he's got a strong background in law enforcement as a u.s. attorney. so when he makes these kinds of statements, i think he becomes very palatable to middle of the road conservatives or frankly to people who rejected moore long ago not because of these new allegations of child abuse but because he ignored the rule of law, twice removed as state supreme court justice. jones really solidifies his support with people who care about the rule of law with this type of a reference.

>> and max, you made reference to roy moore's thoughts of how much better things were during the days of slavery. in an answer to a question of what donald trump means about make america great again, roy moore associated that thinking with donald trump. explaining that donald trump means back in the days of slavery. let's listen to exactly how he did that. >> what does trump mean? what does he mean, make it great again? >> i think it was great at a time when families were united, even though we had slavery, they cared for one another. people were strong in the families. our families were strong, our country had a direction. and we corrected many of the problems. >> so max, anyone who is thinking that donald trump when he said make america great again meant take us back to, oh, say the segregation of the 1950s,

it's much worse than that. and according to roy moore he inprts it as take us back to the days of slavery. >> he's like this modern day omar gantry who is a massive hypocrite, predator, bigot. i mean every vile characteristic that any human being could have, roy moore seems to combine them in one form. and for anybody who thought the republican party couldn't go any lower than trump, roy moore his reputation is -- there is absolutely no bottom to their distinct into the moral darkness. and that's why i think -- i say this having been a lifelong republican. i think the republican party cannot cease to exist in its present form. we new a new central right party. it's not just donald trump or roy moore. it's all the people who hold their noses and go along with

it. i'm sorry. there is no party that can command one to support a child molester. it's unethical, immoral. it's so fragrantly wrong. it's so offensive, so obscene. there are no words to describe this. >> thank you both for joining us tonight. really appreciate it. coming up next, sam seeder joins us on the collapsing poll numbers of president trump. your smile ah, but i may as well try and catch the wind♪ our mission is to make off-shore wind one of the principle new sources of energy. not every bank is willing to get involved in a "first of its kind" project. citi saw the promise of clean energy.

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the resistance to president trump is getting stronger. a new poll from the pew research center shows president trump's disproval number is at a new high, an all-time high of 63%. and at 32%, his approval rating is the lowest of any president at the end of his first year since before ronald reagan. donald trump's approval has fallen or stayed the same among every single demographic in the polls since he took office including republicans, whites, those over age 50 and white evangelicals whose approval of the president has actually fallen by 17 points. tonight the president went to pensacola, florida, to find that minority of americans who approve of what he says he's doing. and of course he mocked the vast majority of americans who would

never consider going to a trump rally. >> but they call themselves the resistance. you ever see these signs, resist, resist? but you know what they're really resisting? they're resisting the will of the american people. that's what they're resisting. >> joining us now sam seder, host of the majority report radio show and an msnbc contributor and back with us neera danden. these numbers are extraordinary. and when donald trump gets himself into one of those rally audiences, he gets to pretend that that's the majority. >> he let them know he won in a landslide in the last election, which is pretty impressive because i think he's the only one who knows that. the poll numbers are dropping

broadly speaking, but it isn't dropping quite as fast. they're basically creating a situation between a rock and a hard place with donald trump. because the congressional caucuses and his representative, they can't abandoned him. he's a lead balloon for them at this point. >> it's fascinating to see how big that drop is with evangelicals. what he has not done which i think has been obvious to all of us is since the election he has not converted any person who hasn't voted for donald trump, no one's been converted to donald trump which is the business you're in when you come in second in the vote, which is what he did in that campaign. and all he's done is lose support. >> what i thought is interesting, you're absolutely right he lost support. other polls have shown he's losing white non-college women.

his health care plan is unpopular. i think it's interesting how he is increasingly talking about the resistance. and tonight he talked about how the resistance is, fighting the will of the american people. the truth is donald trump in everything he does fights the will of the american people. every -- almost every policy put forward has been majority opposition, health care, the tax bill, his future plan, his foreign policy is engendering opposition. i hope he runs against the resistance. the resistance is made up of americans from all walks of life who want their country back, who oppose donald trump's agenda, who supports a democracy that involves everyone. jow see your president endorsing an alleged child molester and says that is not the america i want to be part of. >> the president tonight told his adoring crowd that he has

done more to cut regulations than any president since abraham lincoln. this is the first time i've heard abraham lincoln referred to in the regulation speech. let's listen to this bit. >> in ten months i've done more on knocking out regulations than any other president in our history. you know who was right up there? honest abe lincoln. can you believe it? he was a regulation gutter, can you believe it? abe lincoln was a regulation cutter. who would have known that? i said you mean i beat abraham lincoln? i said that's pretty good. i don't know if regulation sounds so glamorous, but i can tell you it's very important. >> so here's a regulation that abraham-lengthen did not get rid of. this is the regulation that requires airlines to show you exactly what the baggage fee is going to be when you're buying a ticket. abraham lincoln did not get rid of that regulation.

donald trump did, but he forgot to mention it. to the people in his audience tonight who really actually care about what the baggage fees are. >> that's right. there's a whole host of airline regulations that abraham lincoln -- look, there's a whole host of regulations donald trump has attacked. but i think we're going to start to see the implications of those. people are going to be paying more for their baggage fees. people are going to start seeing their air is little bit more polluted. we're going to see a series of these. and none of these regulations benefit the american public. we're also seeing fees in privatization of federal parks. he may be in the lead there. but i don't think these are things that people necessarily want to hear. i think there's a lot of people in that audience who hear some buzz words and become sort of a function of identity politics that get checked off. but when the rubber meet the road, when the baggage is checked in, i think people are going to start realizing there's

a problem here. >> and when people end up paying the baggage fees and discover what they are, they will never know it was donald trump who decided to mask those fees as long as they could be masked in the ticket buying process. >> i mean this is what the beauty of fake news is for donald trump. theputy of fake news for him, which he is -- he's the perpetrator of fake news. you know, he has a tax plan that hurts the people, the working class people who just voted for him and lowers taxes and raises taxes on working class people, cuts taxes for billionaires. he calls it a middle class tax cut. he calls it that over and over again. now, a majority of americans see through that lie and recognize that's a fake. but the sad thing is facts -- and the folks in his audience are going to see a tax increase listen to him. i think at some point they will actually more and more of them, women perhaps faster than men, are going to see that what's really happened here is a giant

baiting switch. he says he's a guy for the working class, but he has an agenda of the robert barrens. and that's what we're facing. >> thank you very much. really great to have you. coming up, why donald trump was invited to the opening of a civil rights museum, and why that ruined it for everyone else. ♪ ...isn't it time to let the real you shine through?

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and heroic civil rights leader john lewis and others vowed to boycott the opening of the mississippi civil rights museum tomorrow because president trump was invited the white house now says the president will participate in a private event before the public ceremony. on tuesday the white house announced the president accepted an invitation from mississippi's republican governor, phil bryant, to attend the state's civil rights museum's opening ceremony. thursday john lewis and ben thomas said they would not be attending say president trump's attendance and his policy are an insult. we encourage all mississippiens and americans to visit this historic civil rights museum after the president departs.

he was arrested for using a whites only rest room at a bus station. according to atlantic article he expressed doubts of whether i could live with myself if he appeared on the same program. there is an endless stream of examples of how donald trump throughout his life has offended john lewis and benny pompson over the years, but here's just one example of the president equating white sumemicists to the people who protest against white supremacists and racists and nazis. >> we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. on many sides. i think there's blame on both

sides. you look at both sides, i think there's blame on both sides. i have no doubt about it. and you don't have any doubt about it either. >> today the mississippi department of archives and history and the white house agreed to have a private event tomorrow morning where the president will speak. he will also tour the museum. the public opening ceremony will be held afterwards. mike, a former mississippi congressman who served on the state's committee to establish the museum told nbc news, i think was a diplomatic effort that will help solve this issue. civil rights activist and historian mark thompson will join us next. fibromyalgia is thought to be caused by overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i'm glad my doctor prescribed lyrica. for some, lyrica delivers effective relief for moderate to even severe fibromyalgia pain.

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if an american civil rights museum were to include an exhibit on the ongoing curse of racism in america it would include the racist lie that donald trump used to launch his political career. >> three weeks ago i thought he was born in this country. right now i have some real doubts. i have people who have actually been studying and they can't believe what they're finding. >> you have people down searching in hawaii? >> absolutely. and they can't believe what they're finding. >> a long time civil rights activist and amateur civil rights historian, mark. mark, it's stunning to me this

guy would have been invited in the first place. >> it is absolutely absurd. it's insulting to everyone. the naacp spoke out, john lewis, bennie thompson. i had the museum of african-american history and culture and we talked about it. you know, when people build these institutions to tell the true stories and history of america, there's no point in having someone there who continues to want to take us back to the bad parts of our history and endorse someone like roy moore who says america was great when there was slavery. so this is despicable. and obviously the message was received he should not be there. >> and i've always noticed that the politicians who are -- who are actively going after the racist vote always try to make it acceptable by doing things wherever they can to let that voter say, oh, see, donald

trump's not a racist. he's not a racist and this is what they would use as their evidence of that donald trump is not a racist. look, he went to the museum. >> right. and it's dishonest, it's false. that's fake news, honestly. and obviously he's flailing. any distraction from what's going on with the investigation is what he's seeking. but since you call him an amateur historian, if i could try to draw a historical analogy. so go to mississippi where they are going to have an exhibit, obviously, about emmett till, an incident that brought about the modern day civil rights movement, what donald trump did with central park five was very similar. a white woman accused emma tett till and he was lynched. the central park five committed a rape and he called for their execution. if donald trump had been aflound

1955 in mississippi, he would have advocated for the lynching of emmett till. but what's interesting when several women say roy moore has molested them or when over a dozen women say that donald trump has been inappropriate with them, it's not believable. but if the black man is the one who's accused, then he believes and calls for their lynching. so that in and of itself, going to mississippi, at a civil rights event is blasphemous for donald trump to be there. >> and we have david duke tweeting through donald trump after his comments about charlottesville where he equatesed the opposition to white supreme ichts. thank you for your honesty to condemn the leftist and black lives matter. this is someone who has the support of david duke, has the

support of ku klux klan. and the republican governor of mississippi would say this is the man we want at an opening of a civil rights museum shows you just how much respect the governor of mississippi has for this museum. >> it shows, again, this is truly appalling. and i agree with john lewis, i agree with bennie thompson and anyone else who feels he shouldn't be there. i commend those who have built this museum and are trying to tell this story. but by all means, donald trump does not belong there. he is carrying out in a modern die fo day form. he's not making america great again, he's making america hate again. >> and tonight he's saying making america great means take us become to the time slavery. >> yeah. this is a frightening time. i really wonder what the reset button is going to be, because they've pushed people so far away from us having a unified

country, people being more tolerant, people being more imbration of diversity. if we don't bring in back we're going to be in serious trouble. and frankly i think that adds to the list articles against him. he is dividing the nation. i heard you play earlier he's invoking abraham lincoln. he was struggling to unify the nation. if donald trump he's the opposite. he's trying to keep the nation as divided as possible. and he's got to go. >> mark thompson, thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. >> really appreciate it. tonight's last word is next. i love you, basement guest bathroom.

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as we go into this weekend of christmas shopping and holiday giving, please remember the kind fun for kids in need of desks. you can purchase a desk, donate a desk in the name of anyone on your gift lists at last word desks .msnbc.com. you can help with scholarships for girls to attend high school in mu law we. all possible at last word desks .nbc.com. thank you for considering that. a programming note, this sunday we will show a new documentary about the life and career of joe biden. >> do you think you could go to your grave never having run for president? >> oh, man, you're tough. >> you going to run for president. >> are you going to run. >> is there no scenario in which

you could see yourself getting into this race? >> i'm not going to run for president. >> the answer is there's a lot at stake and i might. >> you look like you're running for president, are you? >> it's a question joe biden has been asked for decades. >> all the time, particularly now. everyone the second they say hi, valerie, is joe going to run? >> with donald trump's electoral victory over hillary clinton in 2016, speculation about a biden 2020 run has only intensified. >> i do regret not being president? yes. i thought there was a need to bring the country together. >> he'd be a formidable opponent. he's got a good standing with the american people, i think. people like joe biden. >> i can't think of anyone with more experience both in the senate, in the white house, and as a citizen than joe biden. >> i would never count joe biden out. this man is the energizer bunny.

he just does not quit. >> you can watch it sunday night at 9:00 p.m. that's tonight's last word. coming up, how much influence does zrufrp have over alabama voters who don't want to vote for roy moore? the 11th hour with brian williams takes that on next. tonight hope hicks one of the president's closest and longest serving advisers questioned in the mueller investigation. also why the fbi reportedly went to the white house to warn her about russia. plus donald trump campaigns in alabama without going to alabama, stopping just across the border telling voters why they should send roy moore to the u.s. senate. and about that campaign, new scrutiny over some old comments by moore about when america was last great and why his answer invoked slavery. all of it ahead as "the 11th hour" gets under way on a friday night. go