it wasn't on his schedule, but this was a scheduled annual checkup, part of the president's annual checkup process. so he is just right now - you can see this now live. he is heading back to the white house. nothing that wasn't originally scheduled. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," warning signs. president biden wins the michigan primary, but more than 100,000 democratic voters chose uncommitted to protest against his support for israel in gaza. former president trump on a glide path to the republican nomination with a win in michigan. despite a third of the republicans still voting for

nikki haley. alabama protesters demonstrating, showing their anger over the ivf ruling as state lawmakers try to find a quick fix to an issue that's outraging voters in both parties. hunter biden speaks. defending himself to house republicans behind closed doors as they defend focusing on impeachment instead of the looming government shutdown. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. both parties' leading candidates enjoyed victory in michigan. as they march today super tuesday, donald trump extending his sweep of the early voting states beating nikki haley by more than 40 points. further expanding his margins from new hampshire and south carolina. haley is getting a third of the vote, even without a clear path to the nomination.

she's keeping up a packed schedule in the super tuesday states, leading to utah later today. president biden starting his day with a trip to walter reed for the first part of his annual physical. we saw him leave after that appointment. his doctors are expected to release a written summary later today. the president won michigan's democratic primary last night. but that state's large arab and muslim american populations enraged over white house handling of the israel-hamas war, sending a clear message. more than 100,000 voters choosing uncommitted over joe biden. joining a grass-roots effort demanding that the president support an unconditional cease-fire in gaza. >> your unlimited support for war is not sustainable because it's killing people who may as well be us. it's killing our families. we are asking you, president biden, to stop killing our families before you come and ask for our support. >> the president did not

directly mention the protest votes in a statement last night. a senior campaign advior said mr. biden shares the goal to end the violence. we start with nbc's shaquille brewster in grand rapids, steve kornacki at the billboard, ashley parker and jim messina. shaq, kent county was a decider, a county we have been watching. it was once red. it did go for joe biden last time. what are the warning signs there last night for donald trump? >> reporter: warning signs that has been a point you have been hearing from nikki haley, including when she visited grand rapids. she's making the point that in these areas of the state and in the country where you have higher concentrations of suburban voters, you have higher concentrations of college-educated voters, you have 40% of republican voters

voting against donald trump. that's a sentiment we heard here in kent county, here in grand rapids as we are outside of polling locations. we heard from republican voters telling us that they have problems with donald trump, that they would struggle to vote for donald trump in a general election. the problem for nikki haley -- we have seen this in other states as well -- is that that is not reflective of a majority of the republican party, of the primary base. you still see while she's getting a higher share in these areas, she's not getting a majority in these areas, let alone the early primary and caucus states. that's a general election argument she's been making in this primary process that we continue to see donald trump dominating when you look at the entirety of the republican base. >> thanks, shaq. the protesters are not likely to vote republican in november.

they could stay home. president biden could lose michigan. that means he will lose the white hours. >> the electoral college reality in november is that donald trump, to get to 270, is going to need to win back one of those three midwest states that he had taken in 2016 and then lost to joe biden in 2020. wisconsin, michigan or pennsylvania. from trump's standpoint, michigan certainly by some of the recent polling, might be the ripest of the three targets. it might have something to do with this issue that you are discussing. let's go back and -- you can see, uncommitted 13% here. joe biden, 81% in the primary. look how michigan went in the 2020 general election. trump had won this in 2016 narrowly. it was just over 10,000 votes that trump won michigan by. that made him in 2016 the first republican to win michigan since all the way back in 1988.

in 2020, it swung back pretty hard towards biden. look at the margin. this is a 154,000 vote margin for joe biden in 2020. that was a solid movement in biden's direction. yes, we certainly expect this to be, polling indicates it will be one of the critical battleground states this november. i think if you are biden and his campaign, you are worried that, is there slippage here outside of the protest vote we are seeing in the primary? is there slippage already that brings that 154k down? maybe erases it all together? on top of it, this protest vote to the extent any of it doesn't vote in november, stays home in november as opposed to voting for biden, that would represent further slippage. if trump is going to win the white house, looking at the electoral college only, the map for him is going to have -- he has to win back georgia, which he lost by 11,000 votes in 2020. he has to win back arizona, which he lost by 9,700 votes.

he has to take one of the three, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania. >> jim, for the white house, do you see a strategy shift? there are a number of things they can do on the war. clearly, the change in rhetoric from initially the secretary of state, then the president, the rhetorical change has not impacted anyone in terms of public perceptions. there are a number of things they can do. conditionality on weapons, stop vetoing cease-fire resolutions at the u.n. he could go to michigan and meet with the angry people, not just send aides.andrea, you saw the campaign say, we take this seriously. what steve says, we can't be giving away any votes here. i don't want to overplay this. in 2012, obama lost 11% of the primary vote to uncommitted. last night, it was 13%. that said, the campaign is laser

focused on what they have to do. biden will be in michigan talking about these things. he agrees with some of these protesters, saying, we all want to get to a place where this war is over. that's what he is trying to do. there's a long time between now and election day, 250 days. i think there's a lot of time to have the discussions that he has to have with these voters. >> he has to start at some point. i know how much they are doing, because i'm covering every nuance and every shift along the way, as i traveled with the secretary of state. but that's not having an impact on the voters. it's not just the arab american, muslim american communities in michigan and other states. it's young people. it's a combination. we saw what happened around ann arbor and those areas. ashley, the biden campaign is planning to ramp up its messaging on abortion rights, women's reproductive rights, especially after alabama and the ivf ruling.

nbc's chuck todd is calling it one of the three issues likely to move the small slice of swing voters along with inflation and overseas conflicts. will abortion be the decider it was in the midterms? >> it certainly is a bright spot for president biden and democrats. after the dobbs decision, basically you have seen in special elections, in midterms, voters turn out in droves, including not just democrats and progressives, but a lot of republicans to support reproductive rights and reproductive freedoms and the alabama decision -- you saw republicans from president trump -- former president trump to down ballot scramble to distance themselves from that and say they support ivf. this is an issue that, regardless of messaging and regardless of some of the positions on ivf, that republicans own. it's something that is very effective for president biden, talking about reproductive

rights. you are seeing him cast it in terms of freedoms. saying republicans will take away freedoms. even when president biden was talking about age, which is a weakness for him, he cast it in terms of, age doesn't matter, it is if your ideas are forward looking or your ideas are old. one set of old ideas he said are republican views on reproductive rights. i don't know if it's the decider, but it's important. >> a quick follow-up. he is going to the border the same day that donald trump had planned to go to the border. the white house plans things in advance. we know that. donald trump is out there messaging that the president is following his lead because his was announced first. isn't the border a big issue, despite the fact that the senate moved on that and democrats were blocked by house republicans? mike johnson yesterday was messaging, blaming them for the

lack of anything on immigration, even though it's he and the house republicans that blocked the senate bill from getting anywhere. >> you are right. republicans blocked the immigration bill. like how republicans own abortion and reproductive rights, no nat ermatter -- no mt they say. immigration for democrats, they seem to own the broken immigration system, which to be fair has been broken since at least the days of george w. bush who tried to get it under control. biden is hardly the first president, including former president trump who struggled with it. in part, biden looks like he is following on republicans blocking it in congress. he is following on former president trump. this is a challenge for him. >> fair point. you could argue it's been an issue and a problem for both parties failing to resolve it

since george herbert walker bush, the father. thanks to all. beating the clock. the pressure is on house speaker johnson as he tries to find a way to avoid a government shutdown and keep his job. that's next when "andrea mitchell reports" is back in 60 seconds. stay with us. you are watching msnbc. you know, when i take the bike out like this, all my stresses just melt away. i hear that. this bad boy can fix anything. yep, tough day at work, nice cruise will sort you right out. when i'm riding, i'm not even thinking about my painful cavity. well, you shouldn't ignore that. and every time i get stressed about having to pay my bills, i just hop on the bike, man. oh, come on, man, you got to pay your bills. you don't have to worry about anything when you're protected by america's number-one motorcycle insurer. well, you definitely do. those things aren't related, so... ah, yee! oh, that is a vibrating pain.

on capitol hill this hour, hunter biden is testifying behind closed doors to the house oversight committee as republicans push ahead with their impeachment inquiry, despite failing to provide evidence of wrongdoing by the president. before the hearing, ryan nobles pressed the chair to back up his claims. >> what evidence do you have that joe biden used his political office in any way to

benefit either hunter or james biden? >> we have evidence joe biden met with the chinese officials. >> what actions did he take? >> we have had people testify. >> there's no evidence joe biden -- >> he got $200,000 from -- >> what did he do -- >> listen. >> he wasn't vice president. >> you could defend joe biden all day long. >> i'm not defending him. >> ryan nobles joins us now, straight from the battle front. great job. the fbi informant whose information republicans had been using was charged with lying and getting his intel from the russians. that informant pleaded not guilty. what are republicans trying to get at? what is hunter biden saying in there? >> reporter: i mean, andrea, it's the same story we have had from the beginning of the impeachment inquiry. they based this investigation behind this theory that hunter

biden and james biden, the president's son and brother respectively, were using their access to joe biden to drum up business around the world and by extension joe biden was using the power of his office to help enrich those businesses. that's what i was specifically pressing the chairman of the oversight committee on. what evidence has the committee demonstrated or uncovered that shows official acts that joe biden took on behalf of his son or his brother to help them in their business practices. they have yet to demonstrate anything specific. part of what they're going to press hunter biden on and they are pressing him on behind closed doors are those business interactions and any effort that they -- that he personally made to involve his father in those business practices. according to the opening statement that we obtained access to, this is what hunter told the committee.

democrats have said he stuck to those lines and that he has specifically rejected any innuendo that his father was involved in his business buildings. nancy mace accused hunter of being inconsistent with some of the statements he made today. again, wildly different interpretations of the way this is taking place depending on who you talk to. it's clear that this is an important inflection point in the impeachment inquiry. >> there's a history going back to nixon and billy carter beer through other first families of first relatives trying to trade on the name of the president or the vice president of the united states. that's not an impeachment

offense, or it hasn't been. >> that's part of what i was trying to drill down. as you rightly point out, a long line of examples of family members taking access of their influential parent's name or relative's name. what did joe biden do specifically that would rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors? that's something that moderate republicans are becoming skeptical that this committee has been unable to uncover. >> great job on capitol hill. keep at it. thank you. on capitol hill today, still no agreement on a deal to avoid a partial government shutdown starting friday night. house speaker johnson is pitching a short-term extension, kicking the can down the road. he faces pressure for more spending cuts and other concessions from the hard right members of his caucus. he has a one-vote margin. joining me now is nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake and brendan buck, former communications advisor to

speakers boehner and ryan. garrett, will another short-term extension prevent a shutdown? you have more government agencies involved. that doesn't resolve the issue. there are four appropriations bills that they tried all weekend to get through. they are coming up with obstacles. >> reporter: look, this is a mess. it remains a mess. we are five months into the fiscal year and we are still doing the short-term extensions instead of one giant bill of government funding, doing it in two separate tranches after the split-up of the funding bills. there's probably going to be a situation friday when both chambers pass some short-term extension. even though a top line deal exists on the overall spending numbers and there's agreement across the framework of all the trillions of dollars of government spending that have to get hashed out, there's still policy writers and small

disagree disagreements that are tripping up the process. there aren't bills to vote on yet. wednesday afternoon without bill text in my hand, the idea of something getting passed to avert a partial shutdown by friday night seems farfetched. that said, the political imperatives are aligned. nobody really wants a shutdown except a small element of the hard right who want to show they are fighting. there's not even a good-faith argument to be made on the right that this would be anybody's fault other than house republicans if we stumble into a shutdown over the weekend. i think that reality is influencing folks to do their work expeditiously as we speak. >> brendan, what do you make of the split screen that we are watching now? you have this impeachment closed-door hearing with hunter biden and inaction on government spending, to say nothing of ukraine, the supplemental, all of those crises on the other. >> i think it's an open question of whether any of these deadlines really break through

at this point. it feels like every few months we are talking about a potential shutdown and they avoid it. i will say, it would be pretty politically disastrous if republicans allow this -- the government to partially shut down going into next week. next week is the president's state of the union address. shortly after that, you have to fund the bigger ticket government agencies like the department of defense, the health departments. as garrett said, nobody should want a shutdown here. the problem seems to be that the speaker is having trouble coming to terms with reality, or his conference is. the reality being they are not likely to get any of the policy wins, the levels of spending are going to be what we have known for months. they have been running out the string trying to delay, delay, delay what is going to be an uncomfortable vote. i would urge the speaker to more quickly and get past the uncomfortable vote. the longer this goes into the year, the more painful it will

end up being. he has not shown himself to be decisive and drive forward to what we know the ultimate outcome will be. >> it costs billions to shut down partially. one quick question. you have been up there so many years as an observer and an aide to former speakers. if the government is partially shut down, can they hold the state of the union? is there an argument the speaker could make? >> i have not seen that. one of the sa agencies that is funded through next week is the legislative branch. they will do their full operations. it would be incredibly terrible optics for republicans and give the president an incredible opportunity to hammer house republicans over their inaction on really a -- the most basic function that the house has, funding the government, not to mention the pressing items with ukraine and israel. i gotta think they are smart

enough to know that they don't want to mess with that and going to extraordinary lengths to end the state of the union would be an embarrassing black eye. >> i will re-rack this tape at some point. they have to be smart enough to know that. >> we will see. >> we will see. thank you very much, garrett haake, brendan buck, appreciate it. stalemate. the latest on talks to free the hostages from gaza and agree on a temporary cease-fire. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. things changed for me. breztri gave me better breathing, symptom improvement, and reduced flare—ups. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur.

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hamas' chief said today that while the terror group is showing some flexibility in talks for a potential deal that would include releasing some hostages held in gaza, and a temporary cease-fire, it's prepared to continue fighting. this as negotiators in qatar continue to push hard for a deal by the start of ramadan, which begins march 10th. today families of those held by hamas began a four-day march to jerusalem, calling for all of the hostages to be freed. joining us now, raf sanchez, in tel aviv, and former nato supreme allied commander, admiral james stavridis. raf, neither hamas nor israel's prime minister appear to be on board with president biden's hope there's a cease-fire by next monday. not sharing that optimism.

the talks are underway in qatar. the leaders are putting out word they are working hard on it. what's the latest? >> reporter: i spoke to an israeli official earlier today. they said at this point the talks are basically at a standstill. you remember last weekend, the cia director bill burns, other u.s. officials met in paris with counterparts from israel, qatar and egypt. they hammered out a framework for a temporary cease-fire. they are still waiting for hamas' formal response to that. we asked hamas about that. one of the senior political officials confirms they are studying this proposal. they have yet to give a formal response to it. he says, there are major gaps between the two sides. he cites three specific areas. they will be familiar to our viewers. they have been the issues that have dogged the talks all the

way through. the question of whether this cease-fire would be temporary, which is what israel says must happen, or permanent. hamas wants it to lead to a complete end of the war. the question of whether israeli forces would withdraw from the cities inside the gaza strip during a temporary cease-fire or whether they would leave the gaza strip all together. finally, this question of allowing palestinian civilians to return to gaza city and the north of the strip. the situation in gaza city right now in the northern half of gaza is dire. the u.n. is saying, it is unable to make food delivery to the northern half of the strip because of israeli military restrictions and partly because there's a collapse of law and order in the north of the strip. you have crowds of desperate people basically looting trucks the second they come in. our crews in gaza have seen

families that are cooking literally flakes of barley that are intended for donkeys. they are cooking them into what looks like pancakes. we are hearing from one of the functioning hospitals in northern gaza, they say at least four children have died from combinations of dehydration, malnourishment in the last couple of days. the u.n. is warning that there is a real, real risk of famine in northern gaza if there isn't a cease-fire and if there isn't an opportunity to get this aid distribution on a steadier footing. >> admiral, the situation on the ground is so fraught. we are hearing from israeli generals, profound disagreements with the prime minister. he is insisting they will go ahead and invade rafah without giving the u.s. its demanded plan for what he would do with

the million people plus who are there. people who have been relocated who are living in the worst conditions, in tents, no food, no water, no fuel. >> yeah. the israelis, from a military perspective, have essentially an impossible task. they have four things they are trying to do, which in many ways are contradictory. number one, they want to destroy hamas or render it completely incapable of military response. they are perhaps two-thirds of the way doing that. that's a lot of progress. it has come at a huge cost, which is the second problem, to which you and raf just alluded, which is this terrible humanitarian crisis right in front of all of us. then the other side of this is the need for the israelis to get their hostages and all the while

defend to the north against hezbollah. very difficult package. i think they will end up going into rafah but not for some time to come. >> of course, the informal deadline on all of this is ramadan, which does start on march 10th. when you look at the situation, one of the reasons why they are hoping for a ramadan cease-fire, why this is why bill burns was pressing so hard, is that the last time in november when there was a cease-fire, temporary one, that all of the other iranian-backed militias also, without any notification, stopped attacking. excuse me. let me interrupt. we have to go to the senate floor with mitch mcconnell, the senate leader. we understand he is announcing he is stepping down. in november. >> at a young age, there's a certain introspection that accompanies the grieving

process. perhaps it's god's way of reminding you of your own life's journey to re-prioritize the impact of the world that we will all inevitably leave behind. i turned 82 last week. the end of my contributions are closer than i would prefer. my career in the united states senate began amidst the reagan revolution. the truth is, when i got here, i was just happy if anybody remembered my name. president reagan called me mitch o'donnell. close enough, i thought. my life -- my wife elaine and i got married on president reagan's birthday, february 6.

it's probably not the most romantic thing to admit, but reagan meant a lot to both of us. for 31 years, elaine has been the love of my life. and i'm eternally grateful to have her by my side. i think back to my first days in the senate with deep appreciation for the time that helped shaped my view of the world. i'm unconflicted about the good within our country and the irreplaceable role we play as the leader of the free world. it's why i work so hard to get the national security package passed. believe me, i know the politics within my party at this particular moment in time.

i have many faults. misunderstanding politics is not one of them. that said, i believe more strongly than ever that mesh's global leadership is essential to preserving the shining city on a hill that ronald reagan discussed. as long as i'm drawing breath on this earth, i will defend american exceptionalism. so as i have been thinking about when i would deliver some news to the senate, i always imagined a moment when i had total clarity and peace about the sunset of my work. a moment when i'm certain i have helped preserve the ideals i so strongly believe. that day arrived today.

my goals, when i was narrowly elected to the senate back in 1984, were fairly modest. do a good job for the people of kentucky and convince them by doing so, they might rehire me for a second term. that was it. that was the plan. if you would have told me 40 years later that i would stand before you as the longer serving senate leader in american history, i would have thought you lost your mind. i have the honor of representing kentucky in the senate longer than anyone else in our state's history. i just never could have imagined -- never could have imagined that happening. when i arrived here in 1984 at 42. i'm filled with heartfelt gratitude and humility for the

opportunity. but now it's 2024. i'm now 82. to everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. to serve kentucky in the senate has been the honor of my life. to lead my republican colleagues has been the highest privilege. but one of life's most underappreciated talents is to know when it's time to move on to life's next chapter. so i stand before you today, mr. president and my colleagues, to say this will be my last term as republican leader of the senate. i'm not going anywhere any time

soon. however, i will complete my job my colleagues have given me until we select a new leader in november and they take the helm next january. i will finish the job the people of kentucky hired me to do as well. from a different seat. i'm actually looking forward to that. it's time for me to think about another season. i love the senate. it's been my life. there may be more distinguished members of this body throughout our history, but i doubt there were any with any more admiration for the senate. after all this time, i still get a thrill walking into the capitol and especially on this venerable floor knowing that we,

each of us, have the honor to represent our states and do the important work of our country. but father time remains undefeated. i am no longer the young man sitting in the back hoping colleagues would remember my name. it's time for the next generation of leadership. as henry clay said in this very body in 1850, the constitution of the united states was not made merely for the generation that then existed but for posterity, unlimited, undefined, endless, perpetual posterity. so time rolls on. there will be a new custodian of

this great institution next year. won't surprise you to know i intend to turn this job over to a republican majority leader. i have full confidence in my conference to choose my replacement and lead our country forward. there will be other times to reminisce. i'm immensely proud of the accomplishments i have played some role in obtaining for the american people. today is not the day to discuss all of that, because as i said earlier, i'm not going anywhere any time soon. there are many challenges we must meet to deliver for the american people. and each will have my full effort and attention. i still have enough gas in my tank to thoroughly disappoint my critics. and i intend to do so with all

the enthusiasm with which they have become accustomed. so to my colleagues, thank you for entrusting me with our success. it's been an honor to work would each of you. there will be plenty of time to express my gratitude in greater detail as i sprint towards the finish line, which is now in sight. i yield the floor. [ applause ] >> wow. history in the making right now on the senate floor. joining us now, garrett haake and former senior advisor to former house speakers ryan and boehner, brendan buck. i've been covering mitch mcconnell since ronald reagan.

the fact when he first came in, reagan called him o'donnell. didn't know his name. he was a master of leadership. he has been challenged nonstop by donald trump, something he did not mention. i knew his late sister-in-law who died suddenly. she drowned on her texas ranch at age 50 this month. it devastated the family. she was the youngest of that family of six sisters. a formidable woman and a major ceo. that clearly was a shock to his system as well. garrett, you know him as well as i did. talk about the effect on the senate. he thinks he will have the ability -- he is confident he will have the ability to choose his successor, which i assume would be senator thune. >> let's take this one step at a time. this is the most consequential and probably controversial senate leader of modern history, if not the history of the body.

he served in this chamber longer than i have been alive. he is the longest serving party leader in either party, plus a year. he continues to add to this. i think i could make an argument he is responsible for the current makeup of the supreme court, the election of donald trump and the failure of the senate to convict donald trump in his second impeachment, three touchstone political moments that have mitch mcconnell's fingerprints on them. that's just from thinking about it during the course of his speech. normously consequential. i think about the timing of his remarks. he said he wanted to leave with a clean conscience of the work he has been doing. he has been focused over the last five months on making sure ukraine gets the aid it needs to keep up the fight. he talked about that in the meeting with the president yesterday. passing the supplemental through the senate not the last step in that drama was an important moment for him. leading him up to this moment. then he describes what's going

to happen next. he is staying in the senate through the end of his term. he would be leaving in january of 2027. he ends the leadership role in november of this year with his goal of handing over the leadership position to a republican majority leader, meaning he will do everything he can to make sure republicans take back the majority this year. whom that leader will be now will become a subject of intense speculation and a lot of behind the scenes arm twisting. that leader is elected only by senate republicans behind closed doors. the three most likely people -- you will hear this shorthand over the next several months quite often are the three johns. they served in leadership in some capacity. john cornyn, who was the senate majority whip until the last cycle here. john thune, current minority whip, current number two republican. john veraso. all have bases of support.

all have different degrees of maga to them. it's probably not an accident that john thune, the current senate number two, and very much a trump skeptic, let's say himself, endorsed donald trump just over this past weekend. john cornyn did so around the time that the former president won the iowa caucus. john beraso was an early trump supporter in this race, has been quick to put his thumb on the scale in favor of trumpy senate candidates. the most important election with the fewest voters in america, the effort to attain that position will start right now. frankly, they probably started at the beginning of this congress if not sooner as mitch mcconnell's health problems became more apparent and simply the fact as mcconnell says himself, father time is undefeated. he could not and would not stay in this position forever. >> i think you are right on all

points. let's talk about the most important consequential decision he made was probably merrick garland, preventing that from getting a hearing, no less a committee vote. that supreme court nomination from former president obama really led the way to this supreme court, the trump supreme court and all of the decisions that flow from that. >> that's right. i remember that moment very clearly when he announced he was not going to bring up that nomination. i was frankly stunned. i didn't know you could do that. it spoke to the kind of leader that he was. i think garrett used the term laser focused. he has always been laser focused on his priorities. the federal judiciary, one of the top if not the top priority of his. this is a person who was relatively unpopular most of the time that he was leader.

yet, he was never challenged really. maybe a little bit recently. was almost unchallenged the entire time he was leader because his colleagues knew that he was going to be that laser focused leader on issues he cared about and was ever to take slings and arrows. he was not going to stand down from any fight, willing to take on anybody and do things maybe other people weren't willing to do. for that reason, i think he had everybody's respect in the conference. the biggest thing to me today is this is -- we talked about the changing of the guard here, a new leader. this feels like what we are experiencing is a complete changeover of the makeup of the senate. it is becoming more like the house, candidly. mitch mcconnell seemed like the last bulwark in congress of

traditional republican principles and ideas. he talked in his remarks there about trying to get that national security package for ukraine. he noted, really unpopular. he believed it's important and was willing to do whatever he thought was important and let the critics say what they will. this is somebody who cares about his legacy. he was willing to take the hits, because he was doing what he thought was the right thing to do. that was one of the defining characteristics of his time as leader. >> garrett, one of the characteristics of joe biden as president has been his confidence that he could work deals on the budget, even when he couldn't, because mitch mcconnell was his counterpart in the senate. they had done it for years and years on the hill. because he did represent that old guard in the senate. brendan is right, the senate changed. it's more like the house. the initial time it changed was

in 1994 when the old guard stepped down and eventually the newt gingrichs took over on the house side. it opened up room in the senate after those senate retirements for a lot of house members to move up to the senate. trent lott and others. it did begin to change the character of the senate. it really did change in the last couple of years. >> absolutely it has. it's still very much been the cooling saucer of government as it was designed. the process that frustrated -- i'm thinking the last two democratic presidents to great end, that they couldn't move through things that even had significant popular support because of the -- essentially, protections for the minority within the senate. that has lasted up until now, through now. mcconnell, as our viewers remember, was protecting the filibuster for legislation. despite being perfectly comfortable with lowering for supreme court nominations and/or

nominees in the executive and judicial branchs. that inconsistently was something that drove his critics crazy. he was also someone who could work across the aisle when necessary. he talks all the time about the difference between making a law and making a point. whatever else you thought about his politics, he understood the differences quite clearly. during the obama administration, joe biden who had had that relationship with mcconnell was often dispatched to negotiate with him districtly. republicans have complained that during the biden administration, there is no joe biden who can come to the senate and negotiate with mcconnell and senators in that same way. so unique and so deep was that relationship between the two men, who even when they have been at each other's throats about policy, have maintained that they are friends. at all to hear president biden speak highly of mitch mcconnell, even today, even despite all of the things on which mcconnell and his republican conference, a bare minority of them in some cases, have frustrated this

president. that dynamic will change, obviously, with a new republican leader, be it a minority leader or majority leader, we can debate how much it will change, perhaps depending on who the next president is, and who if it's one of the three johns i just laid out or someone else takes the reins, that change is inevitable, and it comes to the senate however slowly. >> and so he talked about the fact that he's 82, brendan, and he has notably had two instances of remarkable health challenges, you know, in public on camera, which would have felled another person, but he plowed ahead and came back strong, and one of the people at his side, the first time that happened, was of course senator john barrasso who is a doctor and helped walk him off camera there when he was in the hallway, of what we call the ohio clock and was really a notable moment, you know, long moment of silence when he seemed to be frozen. they deny that there was any real problem, but he's had his

own health challenges, and then this terrible loss in their family just in the past couple of weeks. >> yeah, i mean, one of the realities is there are not a lot of people who were surprised he's leaving. we've seen what happened since he had that bad fall. a lot of people i think were expecting him to be on the way out, but there also is a dynamic that's been going on with the senate conference that we shouldn't overlook either. there has been a lot more sniping at him than you used to see. there are a new breed of senators whether talking about josh hawley or j.d. vance or even senator lee from utah who have been pretty openly critical of his leadership of late, and it feels like while his health is also clearly an issue, he probably recognizes that there are -- there's a new type of senator, and they're probably looking for a more trump-like leader. i think that's going to be a fascinating dynamic, whoever

comes in next. like i said, mcconnell has had a pretty firm grip on this conference, and nobody was really challenging him for many, many years. i imagine whoever is next is not going to have such an easy time managing this conference. it feels like it's going to be more of that party dynamic that we've seen in the house where you're always having to worry about what donald trump says. the daily swings of politics are going to make operating the body much more difficult. he really was that sturdy leader. you go into meetings with this person, and you know, my old boss would come in and want to make jokes and, you know, talk about what's going on in the news, and he would largely just kind of sit there and wait for the speaker to be done talking and then get down to business. this is a person really, really focused on every little thing that you need to do to keep the senate moving along, and he eats, sleeps, breathes this body and did not let politics get in the way of what he wanted to do. i worry that we're entering a new phase where that kind of

leadership is just simply not possible, and it's going to end up being much more trumpy, much more entertainment politics. and i worry about the ability to pass those debt limit deals, pass those funding deals and having a leader willing to say i don't care if it's unpopular. i'm doing what i need to do. i think there will be long-term repercussions for how the senate is run. >> and garrett and brendan, if you'll stand by for a moment, we're fortunately joined also by former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade and the author of "attack from within, how disinformation is sabotaging america." barbara, thanks for jumping in here. we're going to talk to you about the book, but let's talk about mitch mcconnell. garrett haake was speaking in the moments after, you know, mcconnell announced this that perhaps his largest impact and i agree entirely with garrett's take on this, his impact on the law, the on the supreme court.

i thought i knew senate procedure. none of us knew you could stop merrick garland, a senate nominee at the beginning, it was february -- the beginning of a re-election year from even getting heard, having meetings on the hill. he couldn't get a hearing. and to stop that and open the door to once donald trump was elected, you know, three nominations to the supreme court and all of those decisions, most notably dobbs but others as with el. >> to many of us in the law mitch mcconnell's legacy will forever be tainted by what he did with the supreme court. as you said, when antonin scalia died insisting that that seat be held open past the november election to let the people decide who should pick the next supreme court justice, and of course that ended up being trump and robbing merrick garland of an opportunity to fill that seat. but then when we saw the tables turned and ruth bader ginsburg died, just six weeks before the election -- >> it was october.

>> just weeks away, mitch mcconnell said, you know, actually, you know what? the long tradition i mentioned before, it's different when, you know, it happens on a thursday. he was very hypocritical then and allowed donald trump to replace that seat. he got the one before his presidency and at the tail end of his presidency. i think although he had the power to do that, one of the things that's so important and i talk about in my book is the need for people to exercise restraint when they have power, not to exercise power simply because they can but to show restraint in working with the other side of the aisle and being fair and justice so that the people have confidence in our institutions. >> >> i want to talk about the legal ramifications of all of this. joining us now on the phone happily is former senator from missouri, claire mccaskill. claire, you worked opposite and in some cases alongside mitch mcconnell, talk to me about mitch mcconnell and the way he

pulled the levers of power in his sort of laconic, low key way. >> well, he's a consummate lbj type leader. in other words, he knows how to count votes. he knows how to leverage members. he knows how to gain power. in fact, he would consider it a compliment that i would say that his career has been about leveraging power, whether it is decimaing campaign finance laws or changing every norm about the nomination of a supreme court justice, but make no mistake about this, andrea. this is a very strategic announcement because he is trying to gain the majority and trying to navigate the trump problem, and to do that, he needs to husband the forces within his caucus to keep a pro-trump extremist from becoming the leader if the republicans take the senate in november. so he is trying to accomplish two or three things at once with

announcing it the way he has and when he has. >> and barbara mcquade, one other legal ramification that we should talk about is impeachment because remember, his speech saying in the second impeachment, you know, there's a place you can prosecute him after he leaves office, and then of course silence when donald trump claims that he has lifetime immunity after he leaves office. >> and using sort of a procedural bait-and-switch, i think, by giving people cover to not vote to convict when donald trump was there, the senate had the power to prevent him from holding office again saying there's a time and place to deal with this. that's criminal prosecution. when criminal prosecution comes along, of course, there are those who say that can't be done because a president has immunity and because he wasn't convicted, it's a double jeopardy violation, and mitch mcconnell has remained silent throughout that. so i think in many ways, he has undermined public confidence in our institutions, in the courts and in the senate. >> talking about the politics of

this upcoming senate vote, senate election rather, the republicans have a huge advantage and, you know, statistical ability to regain majority given the fact of how close it is and that the democrats have more seats to defend. last time around, mitch mcconnell lost a lot of fights with donald trump on who the nominees were going to be, and that's one of the reasons why they lost power because in places like pennsylvania and elsewhere, they chose terrible candidates, maga candidates who were not good for battleground states. how does it look now going forward? do the mainstream republicans, despite trump's ascendency have more control, or is there more realistic notion of what is viable on choosing senate candidates? >> yeah, well, mcconnell used steve daines talking horse and sent daines down to kiss the

knee of donald trump or kiss the whatever of donald trump, and then he tried to cajole trump, daines into laying off some of the more trumpian candidates. he did get kari lake and some others, but by and large, mcconnell has had a very successful recruiting season. and i want to remind everybody, we all are focused on the presidential. if we want to keep the senate, we not only have to win in montana and ohio, which are tough. we now have a tough candidate in maryland and to keep the majority, we have to win in either texas or florida. so no question the map favors the republicans. that doesn't mean that we can't do it, but it's going to be tough. >> and we of course for claire mccaskill is the democrats. thanks to all of you, so appreciate it. barbara's book "attack from within: disinformation sabotaging america" and we'll have a lot more to say about that in the days and weeks to come. that does it for today, "chris jansing reports" starts