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tv   Meet the Press  MSNBC  January 22, 2017 11:00am-12:01pm PST

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at legalzoom, our network of attorneys can help you every step of the way. with an estate plan including wills or a living trust that grows along with you and your family. legalzoom. legal help is here. this sunday a divided country on a split screen weekend. it began with the inauguration of a new president. >> and, yes, together, we will make america great again. >> that brought out hope to some. >> it's absolutely amazing to see our democratic process and see how it works. >> and prompted millions of women to march across the country. >> we are america, and we are here to stay. >> and around the world to march for women's rights and against the new president. plus, the bizarre fight over
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crowd size. >> it looks like a million, million and a half people. >> donald trump at the cia accuses the media of lying about the size of his inauguration crowd. >> this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period. >> but the photos comparing friday's crowd with obama's tell a different story. and the inauguration address that a call to renew america's strength. >> the time for empty talk is over. >> and a dark portrait of the nation president trump now leads. >> this american carnage stops right here and stops right now. >> my guests this morning, president trump's koens lor kelly an conway, the man who lead the opposition in the senate, chuck schumer of new york. chris matthews host of hardball, nbc news white house correspondence christian walker, hue he wit host on the salem
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radio network and el yan that johnson of "politico." welcome to sunday and a essential edition of "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning on this most remarkable of inauguration weekends, in a time when a new president took the oath of office and hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the washington mall to separate. the big stories turn out to the massive demonstrations sparked by the inauguration of donald trump and then the head scratching decision by president trump to pick another fight with the press. more than two million people, mostly women, took to the streets to fight for women's rights and to rebuke president trump. in some cases officials had to cancel planned marches because the demonstrations were too large for the planned route. the huge crowds clearly rattled the white house. the new press secretary sean
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spicer gathered reporters, took in questions and flatly accused the media of lying intentionally, lying to understate the size of mr. trump's inaugural crowd. >> this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period. both in person and around the globe. >> spicer says the pictures tell the story. so here are the pictures. on the left is a shot taken from the washington monument moments before noon the day of president obama's first inaugural. the photo on the right is moments before noon on friday from the same camera. which crowd is larger? all this came a day after president's trump's inauguration address which delighted supporters and will be remembered domestically as the american carnage speech and it's imagines as a country as a waste land of crime, drugs and rusted out factories. around the world, it will be remembered as america's first
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speech. in washington, d.c., and around the nation, from new york city to boston, chicago, seattle, los angeles and even every continent around the world, millions of women marched in protest. the message, a historic rebuke to mr. trump and a declaration of feminism in a to larized america. >> thank you for understanding that sometimes we must put our bodies where our beliefs are. >> with signs, many made of poster board, often with kids in toe, women and some men showed up in other cities, houston, miami, phoenix, denver, even in juneau alaska and little rock, arkansas, women marched. president trump complained that
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reporters underplayed the size of his crowd. >> but we has a massive crowd of people, packed. i get up this morning and turn on one of the networks, and they show an empty field. a country divided fully on display on friday. among president trump supports there is hope. >> it is really excited vibe in the air. >> i think this is going to be a dizzying hundred days. first 100 days. >> but 70% of americans believe that under trump division wills continue or get worse. >> past presidents in divided times have reached out to opponents. nixon during the vee yat nam war. >> we are torn by division wanting unity. we cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another. >> george w. bush, after a disputed election. >> and sometimes our differences run so deep it seems we share a continent, but not a country.
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we do not accept this. >> but mr. trump's 16 minute inaugural address, while pleasing supporters, was a declaration of combat. mr. trump presented a dark, distaupe yan picture of the country he is inherits. >> forgotten men and women in poverty, rusted out factories derived of all knowledge. the crime and the gangs and the drugs, this american carnage stops right now and stops right now. >> president trump proposed a solution more pop you list and national list than it was conservative. his rallying cry: >> america first. >> is borrowed from charles lind berg, though mr. trump and others have rejected lind berg's isolationism and antiseminichl. around the world foreign leaders were rattled by his declaration, worrying it means an end to u.s.
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commitment to international agreements and institutions. and joining me now is the counselor to president trump, kelly an conway. welcome to the white house north lawn, which will come a familiar place for you, i think, for the next few years. let me begin with this question. the presidency is about choices so i'm curious why president trump suppose to send out his press secretary to litigate a provable falsehood when it comes to a small and petty thing like inaugural crowd size. i guess my question to you is why do that? >> chuck, the president did many things yesterday and the day before that are very meaningful to america. he signed executive orders to stop obamacare and all of its problems. many people have -- millions of people have lost their insurance, their doctors, their plans. so that stops right now. he is going to replace it with something more free market. and on this matter of crowd
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size, for me the most quantitifiable points of americas should be what just happens a few months ago that brought him here, the states he won, the 2,600 counties, the 200 countries that went to president trump and the fact that 29, 30 million women voted for donald trump for president. somebody should cover their voices as well. i'm about things that quantity fiable and important. i don't think presidents are judged by crowd sizes. we know that president obama and his accomplishments there is a lot of unfinished business there. on this matter of crowd size, i think it is a symbol for the unfair and incomplete treatment that this president often receives. i am very heartened to see kneel son came out with the ratings of 31 million people watching the inauguration. so we know people are also watching inauguration on different screens and in
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different modes. and that there was -- for me there was a prediction of a downpour of rain i think that deferred many people from coming. but there are hundreds of thousands of people on the mall and many people enthused. >> you make a reasonable and rational case before why crowd sizes don't matter. then explain you did not answer the question. why did the president send out his press secretary, who's not just the spokesperson for donald trump. he could be -- he also serves as the spokesperson more all of america at times. he spokes for all of the country at times. why put him out there for the very first time in front of that podium to utter a provable falsehood. it is a small thing, but the first time he confronts the public it's a falsehood? >> chuck, i mean, if we're going to keep referring to our press secretary in those types of terms, i think we are going to have to rethink our relationship here. i want to have a great open relationship with our press.
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but look what happened the day before, talking about falseho s falsehoods. we allowed the press to come into the oval office and witness president trump sign the executive orders. we allowed the press in. and what happens almost immediately? is falsehood is told about removing the bust of martin luther king jr. from the office. that's flat-out false. >> and it was corrected immediately. >> chuck, why was it said in the first place. >> i don't know? >> climb into the head of that reporter. >> no, excuse me. oh, no, no, no. that reporter was writing on bhof of the press pool. that falsehood that spread 3,000 times before it was corrected and it's still out there. >> but it does not excuse and you did not answer the question. >> i did answer your question. >> no you did not of why the president asked the white house
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press secretary to come out in front of the podium for the first time and utter a falsehood? why did he do that? it undermines the credibility of the entire white house press office on day one. >> don't be so overly dramatic about it, chuck. you're saying it's a falsehood and sean spicer gave alternative facts to that. >> wait a minute. alternative facts? alternative facts? four of five facts he uttered were just not true. look, alternative facts are not facts. they're falsehoods. >> chuck, do you think it's a fact or not that millions of people have lost their plans or health insurance and their doctors under president obama? do you think it's a fact that everything we heard from this women yesterday happened on the watch of barack obama. donald trump has been here for eight hours. do you think it's a fakt that 16.1 million as i stand here before you today are in poverty along with their kids?
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do you think it's a fact we spend billions of dollars on education only to have millions of kids still stuck in schools that fail them every day? these are the fact that i want the press core to cover and this is why i'm here at the white house, to change awful numbers like that. >> that is not what yesterday was about. >> yes, it is. >> so you have not answered the question. >> it is about what this presidency is going to be about. >> you sent the press secretary out there on the smallest, pettiest thing. >> look, i actually don't think that -- maybe this is me as a pollster, chuck, and you know data well. i don't think you can prove those numbers one way or the ov over. you can laugh at me all you want, but i'm very glad -- >> i'm not laughs. i'm befuddled. >> i think it's symbolic the way we're treated by the press. the way you laughed at me is symbolic. i'll just ignore it.
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i'm really glad that nbc news is so thrilled to cover crowd control because we were mocked about talking about the significance of our historic rallies during the campaign. donald trump brought in huge crowds and on great days we were ignored and on most days we were mocked and those crowd did matter. >> of course they mattered. >> the likes of people haven't seen. >> what i don't understand is why he's litigating this. why stand in front of a memorial at the cia and talk about crowd sizes? >> you don't want to talk about the rest of what he said at the cia. first of all, his presence at the cia sent a great message to our brave men and women in the intelligence community. he thought he was going to witness a swearing in of his cia director, but you know why that didn't happen? because the united states senate won't confirm mike pom pay you
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as director. ask him why -- ask him why donald trump as president has nominated 21 of the 21 cabinet positions only to have two, grand total of two confirmed while he takes office. so the democratic senate wants to hold up treasury, commerce, energy, education and the list goes on. we should have the respect and deference of having a cabinet seated to this peaceful transition of power occurs properly. but he went to the cia because lies have been told about his relationship and his respect for the intelligence community. so he went right there. we had over 1,000 requests to attend. >> can i ask you what the lies -- can i ask you to tell me what lies about the intelligence community were uttered about president trump's relationship with the intelligence community? >> that he doesn't respect them. do you think what outgoing cia director said yesterday in a statement using the vocabulary,
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the language he used about the president of the united states, somehow improves our relationship with the intelligence community? it is irresponsible and totally unnecessary. >> let me ask you this. is this responsible in he called what ice disgraceful intelligence agencies say that something naz si germany would have done and done so. that was on january 11th. was it right to compare the intelligence community with nazi germany? >> what's not right is the day before you had people releasing a dossier full of junk and lies. why did they release it? because people knew that russianen hacking was fatding from view as having any credibility towards our election results. hillary clinton lost that election fairly and squarely, basically running on the same messages we heard yesterday. it was a repeat.
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it was this awful sequel. we litigated all this in the campaign. president trump is very concerned about the leaks that have occurred, and he's very concerned that people would really denigrate the respect that he has for men and women of the intelligence community. why don't you go back to his statement on friday, january 6th, after he had an intelligence briefing that he and vice president pence won't talk about because it is top secret and they won't leak about it because you're not supposed to. they are protecting the security of you and me and our children by not leaking. but what he said that day on january 6th, put that statement out for your viewers if you want to do an honest service. he said i respect the service of our great men and women in the intelligence community. and then the last part of the statement was that he looks forward to directing his own intelligence team within 90 days of becoming the president of the united states to give us a better view of cyber security and to put better security
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measures in place. it would be nice if he had a cia director. he doesn't today because the democrats are holding up the cia director. >> i want to go back to a question you continue to deflect. why was it necessary to send out the press secretary to utter approvalable falsehoods that call into everything the press secretary will say from here on out. >> no, it doesn't. >> yes, it can. >> no, you want them to hear that. i think that is a very dangerous statement to make. >> what was the motive to have this ridiculous litigation of crowd size? what was the moment? >> your job is not to give your opinion, chuck. your job is not to say things are ridiculous. you are supposed to be a news person. >> can you please answer the question? why did he do this? you have not answered it. >> i'll answer it this way. think about what you just said to your viewers. that's why we feel compelled to
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go out and clear the air and put alternative facts out. >> so it is a political tactic to come up with alternative tack tix and set up the press as your enemy. >> i didn't say that at all. i'm here because of all the provable quantitifiable facts because of the devastation and destruction in our schools with our health care, in our economy, with our small business owners. and, yes, certainly with terrorism. this guy is going to do so much in the first week. he is going to talk to the prime minister today about the middle east and iran. he is going to end the week receiving prime minister teresa may here. they're going to help renegotiate u.s./u.k. trade. but you want to talk about things the media doesn't want to talk about it. you totally missed brexit. you want to talk about provable facts, you missed it all along.
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you got 14% approval rating that you have earned. you want to push back on us and, yet, you have a 14% approval rating. >> all i'm looking for is an answer to a simple question. you never answered why or the motivation of what was necessary about doing that yesterday. >> tell me why you just referred to us as ridiculous? tell me what we were lying about with the mlk bust. >> look, you're deflecting -- >> nbc covered that false report. nbc covered that false report, as did 3,000 other articles still up on line. chuck, you can't have a press coming into the oval office on day one of the administration. you welcome them in to be open and gracious and have a great relationship with the press. and a false article was written about the bust of martin luther king jr. days after trump met with martin luther king's son in new york city hand had a
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constructive and open conversation where he said we have to unify and help heal the country together. and any snarky attempt to undercut this president. we can't have this kind of relationship. >> i completely agree. but i'm sitting here trying to answer basic questions and you're trying to attack me with some -- >> i'm not attacking you. you attacked us as said ridiculous. look, i am going to have to leave it there. you have an interview. i have the rest of the show. >> ask chuck schumer why we don't have cabinet secretaries approved. we nominated 21. they have approved two. >> among the questions i have for him. >> thank you. >> coming up, the man many democrats are looking to to stop president trump from enacting his agenda, chuck schumer. >> january 20th, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people
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welcome back. it is safe to say before the e lux chuck schumer assumed the democrats would win back the senate and he would be getting to work enacts president hillary clinton's agenda. fast forward to today and the president is named trump and shumer is in a position of frustration. senator, let me start with a question i was going to ask you, and one that kellyanne conway, the counselor for the president obviously wanted to ask you. why hold up mike pom pay's nomination for a weekend. it seems as if he's going to get confirmed tomorrow. why be that, it does look, politically petty. >> no cia director has been confirmed the day of inauguration. the cia is in very good hands.
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the number three guy is running it. in fact, i suggested to the vice president on wednesday that have brennan stay. he's devoted to the agency. there are very serious questions about mike pom pay. republicans and democrats, not partis partisan, on seech side of this is security and liberty because senators want to have a rel disrugs of that. it just came out yesterday that mike pom pay might consider going against water boarding. so to have a discussion for a few days when this man will have enormous power -- >> we're breaking into our regular programming right now. as you see live pictures here from the white house. president trum as well as the vice president now taking to the microphone. expect some swearing in. takes a listen. >> you may be seated.
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>> greetings and welcome to the east room of the white house. [ applause ] >> before i introduce the man who got us here, let me say we are here for some official business and we are so grateful to be joined not only by men and women who will be serving in extraordinarily important roles in this administration but more importantly by family members and close friends who joined us to mark this. we're here today to swear in a group of outstanding public servants who want a great start for this administration. this group is being commissioned this afternoon as officers of the president of the united states. president trump has commissioned only 30 assistants to the president for his administration
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and it will be my high honor and distinct privilege to swear each of you in to these extraordinary responsibilities that you will accept today. with that, ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states of america. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you very much. very nice. i just went to the oval office and found this beautiful letter from president obama. it was really very nice of him to do that and we will cherish that. we will keep that. and we won't even tell the press what's in that letter. i want to start off by telling
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you i just spoke with governor nathan deal of georgia, great state, great people. florida affected, alabama affected by the tornadoes and expressed our sincere kol doe lances for the lives taken. tornadoes were vicious and powerful and strong. alabama is a special place. florida a special place, but they all got hit hard. looks like georgia lost about 11 people as of this moment, a lot of people. so on behalf of all of us, condolences. we are going to tell you that this has been a very interesting few days.
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we have set up meetings with the prime minister of the united kingdom and prime minister may will be coming over to the united states shortly. we're also meeting with the prime minister of canada and we will be meeting with the president of mexico, who i know, and we're going to start some negotiations having to do with nafta. anybody ever hear of nafta? i ran a campaign somewhat based on nafta. but we're going to start renegotiating on immigration and on security at the borderment and mexico has been terrific, actually, terrific. and the president has been really very amazing and i think we are going to have a very good result for mexico, for the united states, for everybody involved. it's very important. it's a very, very important
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thing. and speaking of important, you are very important because with you and all of the people in this room, we are going to do some great things over the next eight years. okay? [ applause ] >> thank you. >> great group. it's a great group of people. and if they're not, i will let you know about it. this is the bad news, i will let you know if they're not doing the job, okay? i'll praise them if they're doing it. i'll let you know if they're not doing it. they're going to do a great job. i'm so proud of them. each and every one of you should be extremely proud. give yourselves a round of applause. come on. give yourselves a round of
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applause. [ applause ] to your family and friends who are gathered here today, i want them all to know how important you are to the functioning of the white house and ultimately to the functioning of the united states of america. i also want to thank the families here today for all you have done to support your loved ones as they have devoted their time and energy to causes of public service, including many long nights they will be away, long, long nights. and that will go on for a long, long time, but we are going to come out way ahead. we're going to come out way, way ahead as a nation and as a country because i know what we have. i know how talented these people are. it is always a team, a great team, a team that gets along.
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as i said during my inaugural address. this is not about party. this is not about ideology. this is about country, our country. and it's about serving the american people. [ applause ] >> we're not here to help ourselves. we're who are to devote ourselves to the national good. public service is a high and great calling. it's our sol lom duty to protect our country, to defend its workers and promote the well-being of all americans. so many people are depending on us and on you as families, you as people that are going to get it done. so many people.
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the veterans, the unemployed, men and women serving in harm's way overseas, victims of crime and young americans looking to fulfill their dreams. so many of those young americans, and they are going to be fulfilling their dreams. we're going to make it much easier for them. we will face many challenges, but with the faith in each other and the faith in god, we will get the job done. we will prove worthy of this moment in history. and i think it may very well be a great moment in history. [ applause ] >> so be proud. be very proud. [ applause [ applause ] >> now, i began with this
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gentleman right here. i said, mike, how about it? and he said not even a question, and it was a great decision for me. so mike pence, our fabulous vice president of the united states, will administer the oath of office and congratulations to everybody. congratulations. [ applause ] >> and now the oath of office. with all those who are performing the oath and accepting responsibilities as assistants to the president of the united states, please rise. i, state your full name. please raise your right hand.
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i, state your full name, do sol lomly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that i take this obligation freely without any reservation and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which i am about to enter so help me god.
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[ applause ] >> well, thank you, mr. president, for entrusting us with the most sol lom and important responsibility we will ever undertake, to serve at your pleasure. it is particularly special today to have taken this oath while surrounded by our family and close friends. to those who took this oath, this is a moment that we've never forget. it is also an opportunity to reflect on the immense responsibility we have to our president and our nation. when i walked into my office this morning, there was a verse on the desk.
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it's from isiah 40:31. those who hope in the lord will renew their strength. they will sore on wings like eagles. they will run and not grow weary. they will walk and not be faint. we must serve with character and integrity and to support president trump as he places the interest of the american people first ain everything he does. finally, i want to thank not just the president one more time, but the vice president, our families and our loved ones and all the kids that are here and final ly -- and finally i want to thank god and ask for his protection over us as we serve president trump, vice president pence and our beloved country. thank you.
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[ applause ] all right. we have president trump there swearing in 30 of his assistants as was described by vice president pence. this entire ceremony taking about 10 or 15 minutes. and as you were watching on the right side of your screen, some of those faces so familiar to all of us throughout the campaign and then now after the inauguration. day two on the job now, full day of work for president trump. and president trump beginning his comments with what is the ultimate responsibility as being the president of the united states, and that is every citizen that is in the union and
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beginning with the catastrophe that has happened in the south georgia, one of the state wes're watching so carefully, which we will of course be getting to here today. now 30 individuals as he begins this phase three as they describe in the process of transition of a one administration to another. this is phase three, that beginning of appointments. that could be some three or four thousand individuals. this is the inner circle that president trump will be working with. we can see from kelly an con way to rieeince priebus. i want to bring in beth. and, you know, beth, as we were looking at some of the names and some of the faces in review and preparation for this, one that certainly did stand out of question of roll of timing jarred curb inner, the husband to ivan ka trump, donald trump's
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daughter there. so what might be that process going forward? what might he be doing? of the faces you are watching here in the east room, the first event we're seeing for this new president, your thoughts? >> yeah. well as you said, richard, it is quite amazing to see all these familiar faces we all met to suddenly have these very senior roles in the white house. this was a fairly somber ceremony. he was fairly subdued. he spoke of the gravity of the situation and to have those 30 people stand and we have people we know very well from out on the campaign trail. kellyanne conway, the president's son-in-law now taking on this very big responsibility right there in the white house to advise him. steve bannon and reince priebus who will serve as co-senior directors there in the white house. steve bannon, reince priebus, the chief of chaff. reince priebus is the
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fundamentally establishment republican in the room. steve bannon a bit of a rebel. we saw the only press advisor to president -- candidate trump and she's going to have a major strategic communications role. he is rewarding people who were with him through the dark and scary parts of the campaign for him when it looks like the republican establishment was abandoning him. mike flin we saw there. he's been controversial about tweets that he's issued about conspiracy theories and such. president trump right there with him. he is not backing away from that man, who was a very loyal friend. who we've seen here is really the making it all official. >> all right. yeah. and as we watch this, early on, right, in this phase of bringing in new staff, new appointees,
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his energy, his people, we will continue to watch that. again, we will now move you back to our regular programming. we were breaking in to bring you to the white house for this ceremony. >> welcome back. despite what white house press secretary sean spicer claimed yesterday, it is hard to ignore how much larger the crowds were for barack obama's administration. there might be -- the direct has never voted for republican for president. and the region itself is turning bluer. let me walk you through it. ronald reagan lost d.c. badly. but he won every surrounding county in virginia and maryland. he didn't go far to find surrounding territory. george h.w. bush saw his winning county retreat to fairfax county. not that far away in virginia.
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in maryland you had to go 21 miles to howard county to find some bush county. in 2004, both 25 miles have 1600 pennsylvania avenue. now donald trump who won only 4% of the vote in washington, d.c., also lost all of the surrounding counties. to find a county that voted red, he'll need to go 27 miles or 43 miles to virginia. by the way, from trump tower in new york, which some are calling white house north, the closest supporting county was richmond. it's 14.9 miles. a bit closer if he takes the staten island ferry. the point is, look, it is true that large metro areas have been trending democratic. a lot of those local residents are federal workers who now work
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and we're back with the panel and the man who may be best positioned to explain donald trump to those who did not vote for him. he is a long-time friend to the president. he was chairman of the presidential inaugural committee
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and probably be an on again and off again advisor to him. thank you, sir. let me note for everything, president trump put out a tweet this morning on the women's marches. i recognize the rights of people to express their views. much different tone than what we saw earlier or yesterday. and i guess tom, help explain these different impulses of the president. >> first of all, yesterday was an amazing day. you have the first day of a new president in office and a major demonstration, the women's march, which was beautifully executed, which was a great display of democracy. and he really feels this way. in other words, embracing the different points of view is part of the fabric of america. amazing it could happen. the controversy around the crowds, which is unfortunate, right, because it is something that doesn't need to be done. president obama's inauguration was a great event.
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his first inauguration was unbelievable passage of another great tribute to america and president trump's inauguration was equally big. but actually the controversy and the problem all starts with me as chairman of the presidential inauguration committe it would help for people to understand. i'll go through each of the facts with you, if you would like. so we come together at the conclusion of an election. so it's not formed until 57 days ago. and it is larger than the olympics. you have two or three million people coming into town. we have 21 events in six days. to give you an example of joint task force run by senate blunt, which was brilliantly done at the capital starts 18 months earlier to plan for the callal day. so now you bring in a nonpart son group. so i have 350 employees. the president when he gave me this mandate said, look, this is the most important first fingerprint the world will see
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as to how this is done. so the key is no goof-ups, safe protected, secure and the best face on america. >> and it was. and i guess i go back to -- i don't want to -- is -- why did he want to litigate crowd size? >> because he was correct from the information that he was given, which was given from us. that's what i'm trying to get to. we have 35,000 security people. so facts. when -- when he concluded the armed services ball, which was brilliant, he asked me how did we do. i said, sir, it was fantastic. it was the best inauguration in history. i was proud of the team and proud of the american people and i'm marketing, right? now, did i have a count? thank goodness the senator didn't cop firm me as a statistical warrior of counting crowds. i went to our team and said how does it look. they said fantastic.
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here's what happened and here are the mags on the parade route. i could talk about these details. >> i actually don't. >> i said within the viewing and hearing area, based on our facts from our sight team, about million and a half people. by the way, which is an accurate number. in other words, looking at those pictures, which are very difficult to cur rate, it is difficult to tell. >> i guess i want to move on. why is he bothered by this? >> his issue was why in a tweet is the point of view by the press in the morning of my first day of work showing a disparity between my success as a president on the first day and our past president, who he has great respect for on his first day. it's aoint of view that was meanfull and wrongfully expressed. that was his only point, if he's going to be held accountable to
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tweets and the accuracy, then why is the press. and the first tweet that came out from the new york times reporter, which was then retweeted by the parks service, you know, it wasn't radon van or 24. comparing photographs and time sequences is beyond the scope. >> we're getting too much in here. but explain sort of how president trump won't -- how do you keep him from gets distract by small things in order to enact big things. >> so, look, my experience with him as a friend and as a business partner, he doesn't get distracted. he is consumed by detail and the big things. and he is relentlessly focussed. so it's not like he's distracted. for him it wasn't about the numbers. he said if i am going to be scrutinized for my tweets, i want the press to be scrutinized
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the same way. on the big issues, he has a big team. moving into the white house people say what happened to the spanish part of the web or what happened to the lbgt -- >> can i jump into a big issue. you could dazzle us by speaking arabic, fluently. what are your friends in the gulf and you have had my, have you had a chance to check with them on their reaction to that speech? >> they are so excited to have a president that comes and says, look, we are going to support our allies and draw hard lines against those who are not because their problem is radical islam. but you have to have the u.s. supported with a consistent foreign policy. so they -- they get it 1,000% and they're saying fine you have to help us. if we have a radical who is
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preaching eradicate the infidels and we say we are going to take those mosque down, don't come at us with human rights. if you don't like our row y'all family. >> okay, guys. i am going to sneak in a break. back in 45 seconds, end game. but in this case we will continue the discussion with mr. barack. >> coming up, "meet the press" end game, brought to you by boing, also working to build something better.
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>> okay, guys.
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"meet the press" end game brought to you by boeing. >> we want to keep mr. barack around. >> continuing on this issue of foreign policy, do you counsel president trump to ban refugees from certain countries? what do you think that should look like now that he's in office? what should that specifically look like? >> he has really talented people
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around him that are commissioned to do that so i don't attempt to be in that. but i think from my humble point of view, when you're in a crisis, the first thing you need to do is stabilize the situation. so when we talked about refugees, which is the saddest situation in the world, refugees across europe and to us, it is a little bit uncontrollable because they can't control the export. they are encouraging the export of people. so i think all he is saying is, look, put a -- put a post up for a minute until we figure out how to control it. stop it. put your oxygen masks on your yourself, get the point of views of how to control it and reopen it again. >> let me try to run something by you because i know mr. trump. he seems like you when you're with him. he seems like a charming guy. you know him, chuck, and he's charming and funny. he listens. he has an intake valve and yet
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when he gets in front of the public yesterday and gives the biggest speech of his life and it was not inclusive or charming. there was no music to it. there is nothing of i know you voted against me some of you people in the sushs, especially. i think i am going to change you mind. by the way, i'm going to make you proud you did. 42% of women voted me this november, i'm going to make you proud to do that. why didn't he talk to the people who are minorities and women especially. there was charm or outreach to the speech. it was all screw my enemieenemi. it was so unpleasant. and you're a charmer. >> that's right. >> now that i've softened you up. >> why couldn't he be a chafrmer. >> because he was elected president of the united states. and i go back to a day job. so charm doesn't work much. >> it does. >> as a leader he's staying on point. but i can tell you one thing, if you take the woman's march yesterday, his original thought
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was why don't i invite 15 of the men to rose gordon, let's discuss points of view and if you want to discuss global warming, let's discuss global warning. as an individual he had the right instinct. as president of the united states it is difficult to do that with a new security team. so his head is there. his heart is there. it is not easy, right? i'll tell you one thing i saw. i was looking at president obama and president trump. you could see compassion in president obama's eyes saying, wow, i really feel for you with the weight of the responsibility that you're going to take. and yesterday i could see in president trump the glibness is gone. he feels the weight. he's there. he's going to do it. we all just need to give him a break. a 100 day piece tray eaties on sides. >> america first, movement of course to keep the country out of world war ii. his inaugural seemed to me a
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case for the u.s. or a case that the responsibility that the country has taken in the post world war ii era for global stability has not served american citizens well. what is your take on the meaning of the term? what does it mean to him? let me cut you off fast. >> marshal plan, foreign policies, 1948, right? so all of these multi-lateral organizations in which we have exported our accountability don't work. and they don't work because the marshal plan and gat and all of those treaties were based on foreign policies and not economics. that foreign policy is gone. >> all right. tom barack, i will leave it there. thank you for coming on. that will do it for today. we will be back next week, i hope it's to preview a backers super bowl. watch out dirty birds. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." >> you can see more end game in post game on the mtp facebook
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page. end game and the pulse of america right here on msnbc where your voice could be heard in real-time. here are the stories we want to get your pulse on today. we want to take a closer look at some of the issues that we're fighting for. >> i didn't shed blood to defend this nation. i didn't give up literally parts of my body to have the constitution tram