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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  February 19, 2024 9:00am-10:00am PST

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me. >> come on. jose diaz-balart, bringing it home as always. always having hope. that does it for me. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," alexei navalny's wife today on his youtube channel pledging to carry on his crusade against vladimir putin. as donald trump issues his first reaction four days after navalny's death on truth social. improbably comparing himself to the martyr navalny and not blaming putin. >> no previous united states president, regardless of their party, has bowed down to a russian dictator perfect. and now we are seeing an example, something i just believe that the american people would never support.
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more on my exclusive conversation with vice president kamala harris coming up. plus, countdown to south carolina. nikki haley sharpening her attacks against trump for his pro-putin stance. >> it's amazing to me how weak in the knees he is when it comes to putin. happy presidents' day, jefferson. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. as the 46th president of the united states faces crises on all sides, how to publish putin for the death of his most celebrated critic alexei navalny. navalny's wife on youtube vowing to take up the torch for a free post-putin russia. yulia navalny declaring without question that putin killed my husband and is now hiding his body to cover up the murder, her
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words. the putin regime detaining hundreds of mourners for simply laying flowers at makeshift memorial service across the country. prison officials say navalny suddenly collapsed and died friday in that remote gulag where he had been held in isolation, tortured and starved for two long years. dying mysteriously after appearing healthy at a court appearance just a day earlier. president biden saying that vladimir putin is ultimately to blame, and shaming house republicans today for not standing up to him. >> they're making a big mistake not responding. look, the way they're walking away from the threat of russia, the way they're walking away from nato, the way they're walking away from completing our obligations is shocking. >> in an exclusive interview during the munich security conference this weekend just after she had heard a personal plea for military aid from president zelenskyy, vice president kamala harris told me navalny's death is a moment of
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reckoning, to stand up to putin starting with passing that aid to ukraine stalled in the house. >> we need to do our part, and we have been very clear that the united states congress must act. i will say, andrea, that one point that gives me some level of optimism is we are clear in the knowledge that there is bipartisan support. both in the senate which we have seen a demonstration of, and in the house. so let's put this to a vote in the house, and i am certain that it will pass. and so we are working to that end, and we're not giving up, and again, i think all members of congress and all elected leaders would understand that this is a moment where america has the ability to actually demonstrate through action where
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we stand on issues like this, which is do we stand with our friends in the face of extreme brutality or not. and i say we stand with our friends. that's part of who we are and what has allowed us to have the strength that we have globally. america has been a leader on so many issues that are about global security and global prosperity. this is one of those moments of reckoning. where do we stand? and i have to believe the united states congress is going to do the right thing. >> do you think that vladimir putin has been emboldened by what donald trump said about nato and about putin? >> i mean, the idea that the former president of the united states would say that he, quote, encourages, encourages a brutal dictator to invade our allies and that the united states of america would simply stand by
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and watch -- no previous united states president, regardless of their party, has bowed down to a russian dictator before. and now we are seeing an example, something i just believe that the american people would never support which is a united states president current or former bowing down with those kinds of words. and apparently an intention of conduct to a russian dictator. >> do you think that ukraine can survive a year, this year, on the battlefield without american aid? >> ukraine needs our support, and we must give it. >> i'm also hearing here a lot of concern about gaza, about the palestinian deaths, support for israel, but concern that the u.s. should not give more weapons to israel because they
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don't think that the prime minister is representing the best interests of his country. >> so we have been clear, october 7th was a brutal attack, a slaughter of 1,200 innocent people including young people attending a concert, women were viciously treated, raped -- rape being used as a tool of war. so we have been clear that we defend israel's right to defend itself, however, how it does so matters. and that includes what we have seen which is far too many palestinians innocent, palestinian civilians being killed. what we have seen in terms of the need to -- for israel to make concrete steps to protect innocent palestinians. and on the issue of gaza, i think that there is -- there are steps that we need to take now
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and steps we need to be committed to taking in the future to ensure on the day after this conflict, which we all want to end as soon as possible, that we can work toward a two-state solution. >> if israel ignores the president's urging and yours and goes in on the ground in rafah before these people there have gotten the aid and have been placed in some shelter, should we condition the weapons or halt the weapons ? >> we've not made any decision to do that at this point. i will tell you that i am very concerned that there are as many as 1.5 million people in rafah who for the most part are people who have been displaced because they've fled their homes thinking they would be in a place of safety, and i'm very concerned about where they would
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go and what they would do if there were any attack. >> how important is it to get a hostage deal? >> it's critically important to get a hostage deal, and we are working around the clock on that. we have been adamant that we need to get the hostages out as soon as possible and working with qatar, working with others to figure out how we can help make that possible. we've got to get those hostages out. >> thank you so much, madam vice president. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> joining me is nbc news chief international analyst and former supreme allied commander of nato admiral james devides. international affairs analyst michael mcfall, and "politico's" white house bureau chief and "way too early" host jonathan lameer. jonathan, let's talk about israel and it's going to survive
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without the additional supplemental funds. they have arms supplies, they've got stock loads. but ukraine in the judgment of most of the people i talked to in europe this week will not if they don't get the specific weapons the u.s. has, the patriots, air defenses, the long-range missiles. i was in munich traveling with the bipartisan delegation, there is broad support for ukraine, bipartisan majorities on both if it could get to the house floor. they seem to feel in talking to hakeem jeffries and others, but they're in the minority, that there are ways to work around the speaker, give him some political cover perhaps from his maga opponents. can you figure this one out? >> it's going to be a challenge. you're certainly right that israel and ukraine are in very different places right now. in fact, in terms of israel, there's a lot of tension now between the west wing and how prime minister netanyahu is conducting that war and all eyes on what happens in rafah in the coming days. setting that aside for now for
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matter of ukraine. i have heard, as you, there was optimism out of munich, but we made it to keep in mind that's a self-selective group there. people who attended that conference for the most part are people inclined to help ukraine. i think it is also true that the majority of both parties do want to help, and though not a given, there is a sense that if the vote -- if the bill was taken to the floor for a vote it would pass. the issue is will speaker johnson do so. to this point he's saying no, absolutely not. that he feels he's leaning on the idea that more needs to be done for border security. when it was republicans who killed the border security bill in the first place. that was tied with the ukraine aid. there's a discharge petition which is sort of a difficult and complex way to get around the speaker. i think leader jeffries has been considering that. it does feel like all options are on the table. as we know, kyiv is running out of time and ammunition. russia won a battle over the weekend, the first victory in nearly a year. there's a sense that putin truly has momentum. now after alexei navalny's death as the vice president spoke
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about, echoing what we heard from president biden in recent days, as well, saying this is what putin does, he reigns by terror, kills people of other nations and his own citizens. the only way to stop him is to help ukraine in urging these lawmakers to pass that supplemental. >> admiral, we're approaching the two-year mark of this full-scale russian invasion. last year at munich there were celebrations. it looked as though russia was on its back heels. russia has suffered grievously, hundreds of tanks, armored vehicles. right now it feels like -- an inflection point because this is the first big retreat this weekend, and they say they are running out of ammo, their troops have good morale, better morale than the russians, but they're in these trenches. and -- zelenskyy told the congressional delegation that these troops are in their
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trenches, on their cellphones, in the mud, without ammo, rationing their ammo, tracking the stalemate on the hill, on the house, in getting them the aid that they need. >> yeah, it's a shocking moment for the united states of america to not do the right thing. and frankly, in the big scheme of our budget, this is a very small amount of money, but it means everything not only to the ukrainians but to the cause of freedom in europe for $60 billion, you could keep that ukrainian war machine running another year or two. and by the way, our pane allies have -- european allies have stood and delivered almost that amount, $55 billion already coming from the european union. so this is the moment for the united states. and militarily it is a dangerous moment. i think the ukrainians will
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hold, but if we can't provide them the means to do so, not only the artillery but the long-range attackems to strike behind the russian lines, that may be the most important thing that we could do to blunt their advance. and then finally, andrea, don't forget about the civilians in ukraine. the reason putin hasn't pounded that country into dust the way he did in syria is because of air defense weapons from the west. that's another shortfall that is coming due very rapidly. so it's artillery, it's long-range missiles to reach crimea, it's air defense weapons to protect the civilians. now is the moment any sensible observer would be calling on the u.s. congress to do whatever is needed to get this aid to ukraine. >> and ambassador, i haven't
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seen you, so -- condolences to you, the loss of alexei navalny, it was a personal loss. you're good friends with the family. and it was quite an electrifying moment when his wife just, you know, within hours of this terrible announcement, shocking announcement, came out on the stage and galvanized the conference in munich. now today she was on his youtube channel and saying that -- indicating she's ready to take the torch and continue his work. talk to me about the significance of that. >> well, it's obviously the thing she has to do. i saw her the day before her husband was killed in munich. i was there with you, andrea, when she spoke to the group. it was electrifying. you saw how strong she is. she's the obvious candidate to lead this charge. but if she were on this show
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with us right now, you know what she would be talking about? she would be talking about what you all just were talking about, this aid bill to ukraine. putin is a killer. putin killed her husband, and every day he is killing people on ukrainian battlefield. if we want to stop that, if we want to fight evil, that's the word she would use, you have to do something. it's hard for her, she doesn't know what to do. but members of congress have something right in front of them that they can do. it's right there. they can help stop the killing of putin's war machine. i, too, met with members of congress in munich, and again they are self-selected like jonathan said. but this is a moment -- this is a historic moment. if they don't pass this, historians will write about them like the american firsters in 1940 who said, oh, aid to great britain won't matter, this is not our war. they'd like very bad in rhett cosmetic in that position --
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retrospect in that position, and they have to take the initiative now. i have one concrete solution i'm going to reveal right now. they need cover, speaker johnson needs cover. can't just roll over. there's something called the repo act that is passed out of with overwhelming majorities from both the senate and the houses. it basically takes the frozen russian assets that we have, and it gives it to the ukrainians. sponsored by senator reisch, republican, and congressman mccall, republican, in the house. marry that to this bill, and then speaker johnson can say to the people sitting behind jonathan, where he is right now, i know them, they're not all thrilled about this, there's a debate within the biden administration as to whether this is a good idea. i think it's the right idea. put them together, and then speaker johnson and his colleagues can say we forced the biden administration to give over these billions of dollars of russian assets. it's a win-win, and it's right before them. they could do it right now.
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>> and in fact i was going ask you about that because i was talking to senator sheldon whitehouse, and he was suggesting that very thing, so were republicans. lindsey graham would go a step farther, and i think so would white house -- i talked to him about this -- designated russia as a constituent sponsor of terror -- a state sponsor of terror. do what we do to iran, north korea, and cuba, without real justification there, you know increase terms of the real standard for that. buff putin is -- is obviously a killer. there's no question about that. and there's bipartisan support for it. certainly in the senate, i believe in the house, as well. and there's talk about it. i would tell you from what i can tell that the secretary of state would support it. there is also support, brussels is against it because they hold a lot of the than debt. japan is apparently against it, so are the swiss. do it individually. it should be a subject for the g7. what's wrong with that,
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ambassador? >> so i want to separate out the russia as a state sponsor of terrorism from taking the assets. i've written about both, talked to our administration about both. i think getting the money is easier than the state sponsor of terrorism even though i personally support both of those. i run a sanctions group, and we wrote a paper in october of 2022 about how to transfer these assets, right, a year and a half ago. and i'm having met with many people in brussels, in europe, you're exactly right on your analysis, that they are less enthusiastic, but that's exactly why members of congress should do it. because if they compelled the administration to do this in a joint package, that would make it easier for those who support the idea in europe to go along. i literally yesterday met with people that said if america moved first, if america showed leadership, it would make it easier for them to do it. so this to me is just a win-win.
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it has such a -- obvious logic to it. and just symbolically i want to say one last thing. i met with wounded warriors in munich, as well, from ukraine. some of whom had lost their sons and other friends. symbolically for them to pass this will mean so much to those soldiers sitting in the trenches. they need that signal. just the symbolic signal that we are not abandoning them is vitally important for them to keep fighting their war. so we've got to -- they've got to get this done. history will not be kind to them if they block this. every day they block this this is a gift to vladimir putin. why as an american do you want to be giving mr. putin a gift at this moment in histori? >> and admiral, let me ask you briefly about the fact that prime minister netanyahu gave a very hard-line speech again on saturday in a news conference. and he's determined to go into rafah. he said that those who would say
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don't go into rafah want us to lose the war, i'm paraphrasing. basically those are joe biden and the united states administration, which has been so supportive while europe and the u.n. and everyone else has not and stuck with netanyahu. so where do you stand now as israel is saying that they would go into rafah by march 10th, start of ramadan, if they don't get the hostages out? whereas everyone else is saying you got to get the hostage deal and then you can get a pause in the fighting and do it before ramadan so that the war doesn't spread? >> yeah. first of all, to say that counseling israel not to launch a massive attack into rafah is like telling them to lose the war is nonsense, it's disingenuous, and it's militarily totally wrong. what we ought to be continuing to tell the israelis is you are losing the narrative, you're
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losing the global war in terms of how you are viewed because of the massive disproportionality between the numbers of civilians killed at this point, half of whom are children. this is a moment when israel has to pull back on the military lever and lean forward with the diplomatic lever. and i really applaud tony blinken and jake sullivan for the work they've consistently done to try to move this forward. both on the hostage point you made, the humanitarian piece here, and the bigger geopolitical action which would be to get the kingdom of saudi arabia aligned with the israelis and working together with the arab world. those long-term solutions then move you in a very nascent way toward a two-state solution. that's a big, complicated
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picture, but i can assure you if israel simply rolls into rafah, it will be a diplomatic, political disaster for them, and it will compound the military challenges ahead, not solve them. >> admiral, ambassador, jonathan, up way too early and then some today. thank you. thank you all. and it was a big night for journalism and our colleagues at the "associated press" and pbs frontline as their film "20 days in mariupol" documenting their courageous coverage of the suffering ukrainians during the siege of mariupol won the british version of the oscar, the bafta, for best documentary. first bombardment began two years ago as they started filming. i spoke with them last spring about their brave work. >> we've just run toward the direction where people run away from. >> what inspires you to do that?
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>> first of all, i am journalist, that's just my work, that's what i do. and secondly, i'm ukrainian, so that also kind of gives me a sense of duty that i have to do whatever i can to document the history of my country. >> and they've been nominated for the oscar, as well as best documentary. they hope their win will keep the international spotlight on ukraine's fight. and trump's trials as former president trump rails against the multimillion-dollar decision in new york, focus turning to how the supreme court will decide his unprecedented claim to be immune from prosecution. could come as soon as tomorrow. that's next. ♪♪ moving piles of earth, just by moving a lever. ♪♪ towing up to 4,000 lbs with a machine that weighs less than half that. cutting grass, clearing the way, and perfecting every inch of your land. ♪♪ we could keep trying to put it into words.
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♪♪ but nothing compares to experiencing it for yourself. ♪♪ you just have to get in the seat. learn more at johndeere.com/getintheseat welcome back. former president donald trump vowing to appeal the $355 million judgment plus interest
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against him in his civil fraud trial in new york on friday. the judge also banned mr. trump from operating a business in new york state, in new york state for three years, his adult sons for two years. when you add up the interest and the $83 million in the e. jean carroll trial, mr. trump owes more than a half billion dollars in legal penalties. joining us is former u.s. attorney paul chadin. thank you so much for being with us on presidents' day. how likely is it that donald trump can get this overturned on appeal? and what does he have to put up to post a bond to file an appeal on the civil case? i guess he's got 30 days to do that under new york state rules. >> he it, andrea. he has 30 days to make his appeal. it seems likely. his lawyers are already talking about an appeal. they're defining what it is they think the appeal issue should be. the issue that seems forefront in their minds is that there was
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no real fraud here, and that seems to be they reference to the fact that the banks testified that they didn't lose any money. so no loss, no fraud say the trump lawyers, and that's what their likely appeal is going to be. but that argument, andrea, seems a difficult one for me to make. if i tell people, if i misrepresent to people that i'm a surgeon, if i conduct surgery and the victims of my misrepresentation happen to survive that act, that surgery, it's still a fraud and a material one at that. simply saying that the banks didn't lose money when former president trump made misrepresentations of his assets by a factor of ten isn't going to diminish the fact or alleviate the fact that this was, in fact, a fraud. so in the meantime, as trump moves forward, both for the e. jean carroll case and for this case relating to the judge's decision, he's going to have to post a bond. so some kind of money's going to
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have to go forward. the likelihood of success in new york's court of appeals seems unlikely if that's going to be the argument that former president trump's lawyers are going to make. >> and even though the banks and the insurance companies, you know, may have said that they didn't lose money, donald trump made money bay paying a lower interest rate than he otherwise would have because he was getting loans for his next deals because he was always heavily leveraged. i want to ask about the immunity claims, though, which have been disparaged by you and other legal experts. was shot down, you know, firmly by the u.s. court of apeels right under the -- appeals right under the supreme court. special counsel jack smith is urging the court not to grant a request for a stay in the d.c. interference trial while they consider his immunity appeal. want the high court to take up the immunity deal and do it whole and quickly like next month. reading from the special counsel's file, he says, quote, a president's alleged criminal scheme to overturn an election
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and thwart the peaceful transfer of power to his successor should be the last place to recognize a novel form of absolute immunity from federal criminal law. the public interest in a prompt trial is at its zenith whereas here a former president is charged with conspiring to subvert the electoral process so that he could remain in office. so paul, what are the chances -- the court didn't act last week, they could have, if they thought -- they wanted to reject it, they could have shot it down quickly, and left pretrial motions proceed and the jury selection even. what do you expect? and do you read anything into the fact that they are scheduling, you know, decisions or cases that they're going to take at 9:30 tomorrow morning? >> what is most important in this appeal is that no one can seem to talk about neither jack smith nor the trump lawyers and i expect the supreme court won't
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mention it either. and that is that the real need for speed here has to do with the election. everyone seems to know and understand but cannot put in writing that if president trump wins this election, he will either put a new attorney general in which will stop this prosecution or pardon himself. so when mr. smith says this has to go forward quickly and when trump's lawyers say no it can go as slowly as it ought to go, everyone seems to understand without fully saying or articulating why it is things need to move quickly or slowly according to former president trump's lawyers. if you look at the make-up of this u.s. supreme court, as i know you know it very well, it seems to me highly unlikely that this supreme court with this political make-up is going to move quickly. therefore, every day we wait, it means less likely, much less likely that we're going to see a trial before this election. >> paul, church. we know a little bit more maybe
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tomorrow at 9:30 in the morning. and deep leap divided, israel's prime minister netanyahu hardening his opposition to a cease-fire and proposed hostage deal. that's next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. ask about nurtec odt. ♪everything i do that's for my health is an accomplishment.♪ ♪concerns of getting screened faded away♪
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european leaders are galvanized against vladimir putin after the death of russia's opposition leader alexei navalny. they're also taking a hard line on the increasing death toll in gaza while pressing israel to agree to a cease-fire. germany, the host of this weekend's munich security conference, has been leading these efforts. germany's foreign minister calling for a humanitarian cease-fire in gaza even says israel says it will go into rafah despite u.s. warnings unless hamas frees all hostages by march 10th, start of ramadan. in munich i spoke with the
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german foreign minister who has been shuttling around the middle east trying to halt the fighting and end the suffering in gaza. is there concern in germany looking at the death toll in gaza, concern that the united states needs a new policy, needs to be tougher against israel? >> not only with regard to ukraine support but also with the middle east, especially germany and the united states. these administrations are standing as close as together like probably never before. so tony blinken and i, we've been traveling five times in the middle east since the 7th of october, always combined. when he had been in israel, i was in the west bank or in jordan or at the gulf. when he had been at the gulf i was in israel. we made very clear in the middle east that we not only care, but that obviously israel has a security right to defend itself
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against terrorism like any country in the world, but also this is the strength of democracy that this is in line with international humanitarian law and as the state secretary made very clear when he was there a couple of days ago that it's the responsibility of the israeli government to protect the civilians. i made it also very clear, maybe very short and brief, to understand after the 7th of october, i was in many neighboring countries telling -- imagine this was your daughter being raped by terrorists at the nova festival, can you imagine to stay silent? wouldn't you ask others to stand up against this terrorism? and i asked the same question to those in israel who reject humanitarian aid. imagine it was your children not having parents anymore because they were killed in an attack, not having water and food. is it not our obligation to
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provide this humanitarian assistance? and if it comes down to this question imagining it's us, then also in israel, also in the middle east we can see that the only way out is a humanitarian cease-fire now to release all the hostages in the hands of hamas and to bring in humanitarian support now in big amount and to make the other fallen attack on rafah would be a humanitarian catastrophe. >> which is an important message to the prime minister who does not enjoy the support, great support in his country. there's a lot of concern for the hostages in his country. >> yes. i was meeting with many of the hostages, every time i came there, many came to germany. there's still quite a number of hostages with german citizenship, a baby, 1-year-old, a 4-year-old, so yes, for us it's most important to free the hostages. but to free the -- i made that
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very clear also to the prime minister in israel because this is the wish from the families. this is the wish from a big part of society in israel is that there is a deal right now for humanitarian cease-fire, for humanitarian talk to free all the hostages and bring in this humanitarian aid. we cannot watch and see that every day people are not having water, not having medical treatment, children treated in hospitals without anesthesia. this is something where we all have a responsibility. joining us is ben rhodes former deputy national security adviser to president obama. you can see her passion and how dedicated she is. she's been shuttling, legislation tag-teaming with tony blinken. the two of them pushing for a hostage deal and saying that that is the top priority, that and a cease-fire, not so-called -- goal of netanyahu of winning
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the war in hamas. his own generals say it's not possible to accomplish that and save the lives of the hostages. >> no, i mean, that's just logic, andrea. you're not going to save hostages with this kind of military operation. the only thing that has gotten out a significant number of hostages in the past has been a humanitarian pause. and i also think what's clear is that you're not going to militarily defeat hamas either with just some operation in rafah, that the costs in terms of the enormous loss of life, loss of children, destruction of gaza, the costs of this military operation, never mind the cost to israel's standing in the world, are not made up for by whatever gains are made by kind of tactically setting back hamas' infrastructure, destroying some tunnels. and that this next step of moving into rafah could truly be catastrophic from a humanitarian standpoint, but also from a political standpoint of what's
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next in gaza here. and so this is really the moment that you see this effort to try to press prime minister netanyahu to change course. however, you know, he has a habit and a history of ignoring advice, and that's why we are at this impasse. >> it's very clear that with the u.n., most of the u.n., united now against israel -- they've also been biased against israel, but now repeated attempts to pass a resolution, the u.s. is standing alone on the security council making sure that resolution radios of condemnation do not pass. you've got the european union, you've got the -- the u.n., the rest of the world, a lot of the american public upset. there's one person, joe biden, who is pressuring for netanyahu not to go into rafah, and he's annoying him in personal phone calls just last week, ignoring him.
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so i asked the vice president, is it time for the vice president to withhold military aid or condition the aid? and she said, we have not made that decision. does joe biden have to take a different position in order to move netanyahu, or what do you think? >> yes, i think so, andrea. look, you can give all the advice in private to prime minister netanyahu, you can turn up the dial of your criticism in public, but the reality is here's what he sees -- he sees that the united states government will continue to veto anything at the security council. he sees that the united states is literally accelerating the delivery of military assistance to israel despite its criticism of this military operation. he sees the united states working to pass billions and billions of dollars in more assistance to israel, and he see that's the united states unlike most european governments is not publicly calling for a cease-fire, they're kind of privately working for this deal. something has to change here. we can't count on like the -- the goodwill or -- or some kind
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of enlightenment to suddenly reach prime minister netanyahu here. there has to be some leverage exerted because it's not just that -- that there's a difference of view here, there's a profound one where he's going out and saying they'll never be a palestinian state so long as i'm prime minister. we will never allow for an alternative, you know, in post-war gaza if we get there to israel de facto control. he's just in a completely different place substantively than the united states on all these issues, not just a tactical issue of rafah. so i think at some point you have to shift toward a more adversarial position on a matter of substance and not just on the kind of diplomatic mood music that we've seen thus far. i hope that they can get this done without that, but i fever that it's -- fear that it's going to take a stronger step here to exert some leverage because, frankly, prime minister netanyahu's own political interests is tied to the
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perpetuation of this military operation and this effort to show that he can stand up to the united states without losing anything. and that dynamic has to change. >> ben rhodes, thank you very much, ben. and south carolina scramble with six days to go. nikki haley trying to catch up to donald trump in her home state's primary. my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq is different and may help. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can rapidly relieve joint pain, stiffness, and swelling in ra and psa. relieve fatigue for some... and stop joint damage. and in psa, can leave skin clear or almost clear. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin; heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred.
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the death of imprisoned russian opposition leader alexei navalny was condemned within hours by president biden who said he had no doubt that vladimir putin was behind it. this morning, nikki haley used navalny's death to go after donald trump. >> it's makers how weak in the knees he is when it comes to putin because you look at the fact he has yet to say anything about navalny's death which putin murdered him. it's what he does to his political opponents. >> perhaps not surprisingly there's been no condemnation from trump who used navalny's death to rail against the biden administration and the prosecutors his court cases. he took a break in campaigning to hawk a trump line of high-end hype-tops. his never-surrender sneakers for nearly $400 a pair over the weekend. and after -- he was fined hundreds of millions of dollars in that civil case. joining us now is former republican governor congressman and presidential candidate john
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kasich. and "usa today" washington bureau chief susan page. welcome both. john, i bet you didn't know that a former president could -- candidate for president could go on the trail and hawk gold colored high-end high-tops. >> listen, i have my jordans, and i'm sticking to them, andrea. there's none of those shoes for me, believe me. in regard to the statement after navalny's death, i tell you, i think susan -- i can't speak for her -- but i think she feels the same. when donald trump said that john mccain was not a hero because he got caught, i thought, okay, this is beginning of his -- the end politically. wasn't so. his supporters are -- it's a grievance culture to a degree. things didn't work out for me, i'm upset, they're not bad people, they just feel ripped
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off, sort of the culture of a victim which i don't like, kind of emphasized, frankly, by donald trump, but it just seems as though no matter what he does, supporters are not moving from him. however, these are the kinds of things if joe biden gets his act together, independent voters will not vote for trump, and republicans increasingly will not stick with him. but it's going to be up to biden to make sure that he's articulating the things that he's done and the things he's concerned about in a way that has real meaning and emphasis. >> by the way, when he said that, it was, as you know, in ohio, i was right there covering the debate, the republican debate in the primary. and my comment afterward was, old, that's the end of donald trump. because you cannot criticize john mccain, a war hero, in the republican party. ronald reagan's republican party, and get away with it. so i was completely wrong.
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susan, we've all been wrong about politics as we've tried to cover donald trump and figure out what the voters are going to do. i got to tell you, this weekend in -- in munich, it was john mccain country, cindy mccain, ambassador cindy mccain, was there, and there was an annual award in munich in john mccain's name. and everyone, all the leaders were there, bipartisan congressional delegations and foreign leader. it was one of the big events on friday night. and in south carolina, of course, nikki haley is running a very distant second now in her home state where she twice won the governorship. mark sanford said tell take a meteor strike for aisle in win in south carolina. do you agree? >> we have a new "usa today" suffolk university poll of south carolina coming out in the morning that shows trump with a 28-point lead over nikki haley. and you talk about the things that trump has said that are controversial, that don't have
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an impact. you know, he mocked michael haley -- nikki haley's husband who is deployed, a national guardsman who's deployed abroad. we checked whether that resonated with military families in south carolina. trump's support among military families in south carolina does not seem to be dented at all. in fact, it is stronger than his support among nonmilitary families, families who do not have someone in the military. so this new poll certainly shows that trump continues to be very strong even in the state that twice elected nikki haley governor. andrea? >> you know, susan, it's striking, "the new york times" reports trump is backing a 16-week abortion ban to try to gain anti-abortion voters -- >> -- >> we just have to see what he does here. i want to tell both of you that
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evangelical voters are beginning to question their support of donald trump. there's a definite split. i can tell you in the state of michigan he's been hurt and trails biden because of the fact that the evangelical community is saying we don't think this is our guy. i don't know if he can shore that up again. i don't know if it's been said on the air before. the information i have from a well-respected pollster is some of the evangelical vetters are saying enough is enough. without them he's got a real problem. >> governor john kasich, susan page, thanks as always. fatal encounter. a live report from a devastated minnesota, a community where two police officers and a paramedic were killed after responding to a domestic violence call. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. "andrea mitcllhe reports. this is msnbc. u're watching "anl reports." this is msnbc. "andrea mitcllhe reports. this is msnbc.
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the chief of police in the small town of burnsville, moat, says her community is heartbroken today after three first responders were shot and killed early sunday morning. police officers paul elmstrand and matthew ruge both 27 years old and 40-year-old paramedic adam finseth were responding to a call of, quote, a family in danger. joining is nbc news correspondent maggie vespa. this is still incredibly tragic. it's still under investigation. what do we know? >> reporter: what we know right now is centered around the timeline. we're still waiting for a lot of information as to why exactly this happened, who exactly the gunman was. we can walk through the details. police and officials in a press conference yesterday saying this started around 2:00 a.m. sunday morning. they got a call of a family in danger and know there was a gunman barricaded inside that
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home who they say was heavily armed. you can see the video of the law enforcement response in that neighborhood. they knew this was an extremely dangerous situation. they also knew he was barricaded with his family. they now tell us there were seven kids inside that home, the oldest is 15 years old, the youngest is just two years old. knowing that, they tried to negotiate with this man, they tell us, for several hours. at some point, and police haven't saying exactly when or why, they say the gunman started firing on authorities, on officers and first responders shooting four and killing three. you named three at the top of the segment. a fourth police officer was injured but he should survive. right now we're waiting on the name of the gunman and kind of why exactly or what we know about why exactly this all unfolded. one note, andrea. authorities say there's not a history of calls for service at this house or even specific to this person. a lot of mystery, a lot of questions hanging over this
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still. >> thank you so much for being on top of it. so sad for the people and the families. thank you, maggie. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports" on presidents' day. remember to follow the show on social media @mitchell re. chris jansing starts after a short break. ris jansing starts a short break. de softer? i like my side firmer. sleep number does that. now, save 50% on the sleep number limited edition smart bed. plus, free home delivery when you add any base. ends president's day. - i got the cabin for three days. it's gonna be sweet! what? i'm 12 hours short. - have a fun weekend. - ♪ unnecessary action hero! unnecessary. ♪ - was that necessary? - no. neither is a blown weekend. with paycom, employees do their own payroll so you can fix problems before they become problems. - hmm! get paycom and make the unnecessary, unnecessary.
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