to say. >> you cannot -- you cannot say -- >> asked and ansered, chuck. >> the president has confidence in his national security adviser. >> it is not for me to tell you what is in the president's mind. >> no defense. declining to really back up national security adviser mike flynn who is under fire about his contact with the russians before the inauguration. also, tonight, taxing trump. the issue donald trump wants to go away but a democratic congressman is here live to explain a new legal way to force trump to cough up his tax returns. and he's back. >> spicy is going to explain it so you dumb babies can understand it. so i guess i can't use my big words. >> melissa mccarthy returning as sean spicer with alec baldwin bringing the best donald trump and kate mckinnon unveiling elizabeth warren. we had a trifecta of funny on "snl." we'll explain how the politics are interacting. plus, this hour, a debate on

whether the senate should go nuclear over the supreme court. and a new significantment whener your questions on air. two big stories tonight, white house priorities, the controversy over what is next for the immigration ban and a new test to president trump coming right out of north korea. kelly o'donnell is in west palm beach, florida. pentagon correspondent hans nichols back from washington. we're also tackling these issues with former u.n. ambassador bill richardson. i want to start with you, close to the action and i know you have new reporting on the immigration ban. what can you tell us? >> well, good evening, ari, what we know at this point is that the white house is looking at its options, and the one concern president trump has expressed about keeping up this court battle, not only has he been giving some setbacks, couple of defeats, but the time that it takes and so that process suggests that the president

wants to pivot and do something that could include a new executive order. but all of these are on the possibilities list. nothing set in stone yet no firm guidance on what the president will do when he is back in washington this week. accept to say a certain urgency about this, an important priority for the president, the white house feels very strongly that he has the authority to set limitations about non-u.s. citizens coming into the country. they with win this. the setbacks at the court at the federal level have been certainly politically very difficult for the president. losing his heart and losing with controversy is even harder. can they rework their idea, can they sort of repackage it, start fresh if you will, there are suggestions that is what they're considering, but the specifics interest still to come. >> now the missile test and the new claims the administration has been making, hans nichols

following the story. what is the latest on the missile test and you and others have been explaining why, although this is always concerning, there is actually some good news mixed in with this. >> the good news is this wasn't an intercontinental ballistic missile, something that could reach the west coast of the united states. that's what kim jong-un threatened to do. in the final stages. what north korea got was an intermediate launch about 300 miles into the sea of japan. they do learn a little bit more every time they launch a missile. that shouldn't be zpoudiscounte. they get closer to the overall goal to have that icbm. on the diplomatic front, we're reporting that the u.s. and japan will be asking a long with south koreans, asking for urgent consultation at the united nations security council that gives you a sense of the strategy that the u.s. is going to be taking. and that is to internationalize this conflict. they do not want to have a situation where this is just

north korea versus japan versus south korea as well as the u.s. the u.s. side wants to have all nations involved. so look for something coming out of the security council, and then crucially next week, we'll have a g-20 summit in germany. look for the u.s. to press for that to be on the agenda and look for other talks to be take place at nato. nato condemned this. a nato meeting in brussels next week as well. >> i want to play a little sound from one of the sunday shows. >> we're going to be sending another signal very soon. that signal is when we begin a great rebuilding of the armed forces of the united states. president trump campaigned on this. president trump led the effort on this. president trump is going to go to congress and ask them to invest in our military, so once again we will have unquestioned military strength beyond anything anybody can imagine. >> that's going to take a little time. so no other show of strength in terms of -- >> last night was a show of

strength. saying we stand with our ally, having the two men appear on camera was a statement understood very well by north korea. >> what did you make of that, hans, and you're our pentagon guy, not our hill reporter. is there a bill in the works that will change funding? >> there is a bill. defense authorization act. and that will kind of start going through this fall -- this february, late in march, see a number there. numbers are higher. and the 640 billion range, that could be where the request comes in. i don't want to bore you too much with the back and forth on where we are with sequestration. this issue of military posture, and that is what is the posture in the sea of japan, what is the posture there? you can always do some things tactically. sail a destroy near the waters, you can bring a few more subs up. what happened is you had overflights. you'll have a missile test by the north koreans.

potentially a couple of b-52s fly close to north korean air space. that is what i would be on the lookout for in the next 24, 48 hours. what is the response of the military. start sailing ships more in that direction and what do they do with airplanes and what kind of airplanes? b-52s or something a little more stealthy. but still let the north koreans know we're making a response and this is what it is going to be on the military posture side of things. >> thank you. while i have you, on all the -- returning to russia and all of the controversy, do you have any sense of how the administration turns the page here. intrigue around flynn, changing his defense. anything to watch out for? >> look at the calendar. it will be a big week in terms of international diplomacy. the entire trump administration's foreign policy team will be arriving in munich for the national security conference in munich. that will be there. you'll have pence, flynn, potentially tillerson, we don't think tillerson is going, but

mattis and secretary kelly look at the response from the europeans and the russians who will be there. before that, a big summit in bon and nato meetings in brussels. i'll be heading over there. just what the posture is at nato and how much of a support for what is happening in -- the minsk agreement with ukraine and russia, and also the other big issues and we can't forget what is happening with isis. >> thank you so much. now, coming up, we're going to talk to bill richardson about all of this as i mentioned. but also on the domestic front, president trump and his team said he won't release the tax returns under audit. democrats now aren't taking no for an answer. a formal call for the president to get his tax returns to a special committee. we'll explain with the man leading the charge. before fibromyalgia, i was active. i was energetic. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy.

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welcome back. this week, more pressure on the trump white house over ethics issues. one democrat saying he has an answer to get to the bottom of all of it. you may have seen kellyanne conway caught criticism from both parties when she pitched ivanka trump's merchandise. has donald trump ever shared business revenue with conway? nobody knows. trump has never released his tax returns. >> as soon as my routine audit is finished, i'll release my returns. >> he'll release them when the audit is finished, he said. all of this, the trump's assets and financial relationships are a question mark. he may be betting everybody will forget it or move on. but now there are house democrats who say they have a way to make donald trump release his returns. they point to a somewhat obscure provision in the tax code that empowers house committees upon written requests to make the irs furnish a tax return of any

individual. that would seem to include the president. democratic congressman bill pascual is a member of the committee that can make that request. he's launching this former call to request trump's tax returns for the past ten years. thanks for being here. >> within the tax code, section 6103, which was the result of the scandal back in 1993 under president harding, we have the ability in the ways and means committee or the joint committee on taxation or the senate committee on finance to ask for an individual's taxes if we had due cause. certainly have due cause here. >> what is due clause. >> the president of the united states invested 550 entities and all different countries throughout the world, we don't know what the specifics are of that and we have a right to know

as united states citizens. not as democrats or republicans. but as citizens. very, very clear. and article one, section 9, of the constitution, the moments says very, very specifically what the president can do and what we can't do and officials of the executive branch of government. in terms of foreign powers. we have the power, we have the authority. the chairman, who i have written to on february 1st, kevin brady from texas has the ability to say we will look into this. and decide after looking into it if we should make it public. we did this three years ago with the irs people. 51 members who -- employees of the irs were investigated when looking at the lowest learner about her involvement in whether she was prejudicial looking at this group. >> has this ever been used on a president?

>> yes, it has. >> harry truman, excuse me, richard nixon, $500,000 he owed in past taxes and looked into it. i'm not so much concerned about how much tax the president owes to the government, whether he does or not, i do not know. i'm interested to see these connections that exist in these countries throughout the world. and whether it is russia, whether it is any country in south america, i think that's important for the american people. >> what do you say? let me ask this way, the tax thing came up a lot during the campaign. >> sure did. >> if someone is watching at home now going why have i never heard about this, this whole time the congress and forget party, republican, democrat, could have pulled these and you're saying privately review them. not necessarily embarrass a candidate. why hasn't this been talked about more or been acted on? >> i don't think it was handled correctly during the campaign. that's then. this is now. there is a way to do this.

it is legal, no question about it. under the irs law. and under the constitution of the united states. i carry the constitution with me all the time. i remember in high school i used to think about this as watching paint dry on the wall. but this is an exciting document. i even have the cadol copy of it. and it is very clear about the emoluments cause. no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall without consent of the congress accept any present or gift or office or title of any kind whatever for from any king, it is very clear. >> your point is the founders were concerned about foreign gifts and influence. and tax returns could either put the issue to rest if there is nothing to worry about or raise questions that congress should care about. should you get any republicans

to work with you on this? >> i'm trying. i'm doing the best i can. we have thousands of phone calls. i have not in any way issnitiat any phone calls. the phone calls are coming in from texas. he's refusing. he's blaming my office and initiating calls. i get along with kevin very well. i like him. >> you seem like an affable guy. >> thank you. i think i am too. >> we heard about this. we wanted to have you on. it is an important issue in terms of oversight. we would love to have you back if you have updates. >> nice talking to you. now back to one of the other big stories we have been following, is the the missile test, the challenge it presents to donald trump. bill richardson, former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. and man with unique experience in this area, waiting to hear what your take is on all of this. please, enlighten us.

>> well, i've been dealing with the north koreans for a long time. this intermediate missile test, they do it quite a bit. so it is not a crisis situation. but what they're doing is they're testing donald trump. just been in office three or four weeks. they don't know much about him. the north koreans are testing him, especially with a japanese prime minister. and in the united states. so this was typical to the way they act. now, i think the president and his team have responded the right way, which is not to make it a big deal. quick response. no threats, talking to allies, finding ways to say we stand behind japan. south korea, you know, i've been critical of the president's foreign policy. but i think with north korea, you can't deal with them normally because they're totally

out of the box. and they're clearly testing and i think what the president has done is he's got some options now on how to deal with this potential crisis. it is not a crisis right now. but it is something down the line because of the potential missile coming into the united states, a long range missile, that he's going to have to deal with this in the next four years. >> who do you credit for that restraint? do you think donald trump is moving up the learning curve, saying so far, so good. tillerson or flynn or kushner. >> he must have had a briefing right when the north koreans had the missile test. and probably his own instinct, his own instinct maybe being let's cool things down, let the prime minister of japan look good, be the tougher guy. and i will just stand behind him and then we're going to look at our options. i'm going to -- rarely i give him credit, but i think this was

the right response. if you react, north koreans want a reaction. they want a tough reaction. they want to get into a little sparring. but i think that the cool reaction down the line gives the united states a lot of options, which are going to be very difficult. there is no good option to deal with north korea. >> that's something that has come through from the experts and regardless of the different ideas people bring to the table. final question, looking towards the u.n., where you used to work, talk of a security council meeting this week, what should happen there? and what should the u.s. be doing? >> well, i think there is -- do you need more sanctions? the issue of sanctions is where the u.n. security council plays a role. this was a violation, the ballistic missile agreements at the u.n. it is possible there will be more sanctions. i think the president, the administration has new options, strategic patience policy of the

past has not been working. i would suggest doing the humanitarian initiative with this young man who is an american in prison for 15 years in north korea, for a very minor offense. use kind of a little soft power diplomacy. humanitarian negotiations to maybe start talking directly to the north koreans. not the president. but the president's team. that's what i with do. >> ambassador bill richardson, always a pleasure. >> thank you. up next, both sides of the immigration debate with backlash continuing over trump's travel ban and new ice raids in six states. ♪ dear predictable, there's no other way to say this. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. someone who desires more than just beauty alone.

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i'm here today as a policy adviser and my focus is in answering the policy questions you have. general flynn served his

country. he's a three-star general. >> if you go out of the picture, that's what ducking looks like. what you're just looking at there. steven miller, senior white house policy adviser. he listed the credentials but ducked the question and a serious one about the president's national security adviser. other things going on here, russia is the backdrop for mike flynn's discussions after a country has been accused by the intelligence agencies of interfering in the u.s. election. the white house not elaborating on the missile test. donald trump's one sentence statement yesterday and to top it all off, kellyanne conway, the top white house aide, accused of saying too much when pitching evaunk wivanka's cloth. we have some gaffes some action, we have some ducking. let's bring in our super charged political panel back with me, joan walsh and christina greer, associate professor of political science at fordham and brian

darling, aide to rand paul. brian, you're new. i will rattle off a bunch of stuff, what is your sense of this evolving young administration, how they're dealing with some of the errors, some which are unforced. >> they haven't proven very good at ducking questions, i'll tell you that. with the flynn controversy it fascinating because he was thrown under the bus by chris christie today on cnn and to see other administration officials not jumping to general flynn's defense, that's a troubling sign for had him. and the possibility that he gave information to the vice president that was wrong, incorre incorrect, telling the vice president and the vice president telling america that flynn didn't talk about the sanctions, didn't talk with the russians about that. that is diplomatic. with kellyanne conway, it is a mountain out of a mole hill. i believe she probably was trying to be funny and tell a joke. there is a real question if she

was using her official position to pimp a product or promote a product. she was on fox newed a es and to make a quip. she had to dial it back and walk it back and a whole day explaining herself away. this administration is clearly having growing pains. very difficult time communicating and hopefully they can get a little better at it as time goes on. >> i think you got a circular firing squad in the west wing now. i don't know who survives. i think the leeblging o inleaki young administration is astonishing. i think mike flynn is in serious trouble. i don't know how he survives in a normal situation, i would say to you. he'll be gone very quickly. this is not a normal situation. you have people feuding, who don't have one another's backs who are elevating people's -- the gaffes and misstatements. and you have steven miller, who is pretty -- almost as good as kellyanne in ducking and just

barraging you with almost meaningless factoids that keep him from answering the question. >> take a listen to president trump on the plane, his version of a response or a nonresponse to this flynn issue, a serious question about our state craft and whether something was being done to undermine the u.s. government position towards russia. take a listen. >> i don't know about it. i haven't seen it. what report is that? >> -- before you weinaugurated before sanctions -- >> he said i can't hear you because it is on air force one. but the question was, this report, at that point, out 16 hours, now even longer, and the president's position is i don't keep track of the most serious allegations. >> this has shown us a few things. he's a boy king, right? so things are happening and he has no idea. two, he's already told us he doesn't like to read, doesn't believe in reading.

thinks it is a waste of time. three, he is showing us he doesn't understand the constitution. hasn't read the constitution, hasn't read the federalist papers. he would see what john is saying, talks about faction. he has too many factions in his own camp, had his own party. can't have people on the saturday shows contradicting people on the sunday shows. can't have people on the left side of your office contradicting people on the right side of your office. so right now, you know, trump's loyalty can be very strong. and then it fades. you are gorsuch, who is going out saying, these comments are demoralizing and i'm distancing myself. he doesn't need the president anymore. he needs the democrats actually to become a supreme court nominee or to become a supreme court justice. we're seeing not just the circular firing squad, but people who pretty soon will start to not just eat their young, but eat their colleagues as well and pretty soon it will turn on the president. if he isn't reading briefs, if

he is not understanding things, not interested, right, you can only use him but for so long april until you realize you don't need him to get your own agenda passed. >> brian, there are allegations of ignorance and what i believe was widespread political cannibalism is what christina is getting at. is that fair to this administration or what is your view? >> not at all. i don't think it is fair. i think that president trump has followed through on the promises he made to the american people. i think people are getting mad at him because he's following through with his promises. and look at congress, compare it with what he's doing to congress. congress promised to rebeale obamacare, dragging their feet on that. supposed to help president trump reform the tax code. and give us tax reform and tax cuts. they're not doing anything on that. if you look at the difference between the president, who has fallen through on his promises and congressional republicans, the congressional republicans are the ones that are falling

down on their face and president trump is the one who is checking off his list of presidential promises, won by one, and doing them very quickly. >> i would challenge you a bit on that. i think president -- president trump is the one who played a role in slowing down the house republicans because he started hearing all of the flack from people who didn't believe that he was really going to repeal it, who thought he would replace it first and he has been a voice of caution in terms of repealing before replacing. and i think he doesn't want to -- i don't think he wants to get stuck with the political nightmare of repealing, without replacing and they can't -- they just can't replace. they can't replace. >> they also -- they can just repeal. they can flat out repeal it. that's what they promised the american people and need to -- >> he promised to repeal and replace. he promised to put something else in place. i don't believe him. i didn't vote for him. i don't like him. he did all along say i'm not going to strip you all of all of

your coverage. you people who have gotten coverage. now he sees -- i never defend him, i just have to say, i think that he sees dysfunction in the republicans, but he's also contributing to it. he does not want to make the tough decisions involved in certainly in just repealing and saying good-bye to your health care 30 million people. >> brian and christina. >> i say good-bye to obamacare. that's what the american people voted for. they don't like it, they don't want it. their premiums are going through the roof. they're not getting what they were promised. they had to drop -- many of them had to switch health care plans and get new doctors. they don't like it. going back to the system we had before we had had obamacare would not be the end of the world. >> we're one of the few democracies that doesn't have health care, which is highly problematic. two, when we pull the republicans, half didn't understand that obamacare was the aca. three, republicans had eight years of fighting obama to figure out what they wanted to replace or repair obamacare

with. they wanted to be the party of no and never had a plan. there is chaos because the president is trying to sort of speak out of both sides of his mouth. republicans are going back saying we're going to repeal it like the president said, and now people are realizing they actually need this health care. there is something called health care that they actually may be expensive and not perfect. >> never more popular in the poll than it is right now. >> right. >> i think also this particular president contributes to the chaos because what we argue about and read about the president in the morning is usually not what we have to deal with during lunch time and not what we're talking about at dinner time. it is hard for the republicans to get forward with an agenda when you're dealing with someone who is saying and doing things on a whim. >> you must be part professor and part lawyer. your concluding arguments match your opening arguments. thank you. brian darling, stick around. we'll talk some senate procedure which you know is going to be exciting. stick around with us. i do have to turn to something

very important i want to share. a personal note here at msnbc. our colleague and our friend brian rakowski recently passed away. he worked on several shows here in our new york office and for our teams in miami and boston. i can tell you i worked with brian every day for several years on the cycle. he was the kind of co-worker who made certain that everyone became his friend. he was warm and funny and thoughtful. he was a really great producer, a natural leader. we are all in shock that his time came so young. he loved tv news. i know that somewhere he's still watching. we will miss him. oo busy with te kids to get a repair estimate. liberty did what? yeah, with liberty mutual all i needed to do to get an estimate was snap a photo of the damage and voila! voila! (sigh) i wish my insurance company had that... wait! hold it... hold it boys... there's supposed to be three of you... where's your brother? where's your brother? hey, where's charlie? charlie?!

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hello. i'm ari melber. we have a new segment tackling questions from you, our viewers. you may recall the musician mace once wrapped, anything you got to ask me, fax me. now you don't need a fax machine. e-mail me. here we go. our first question is from linda

spangler. she says, do i have standing to sue president trump because he's not looking out for me when he's dealing with his daughter's business interest? the answer is probably not. there are many ways to sue the president. to get that standing, people suing have to show the government's specifically harmed them. that requires a concrete and particularized injury. the rule basically is that. so that is what you need to show, most people can't sue the president for a policy they oppose. question two. from annie g. on twitter about the travel ban lawsuit. why did the ninth circuit judge issue a request for another vote? after those three judges on that circuit ruled against trump on friday, there was another judge on the larger court that suggested another hearing. but the way it works, we don't know which judge asked for it or why. now cases can get an extra hearing with the chief judge and ten other judges, like double-checking the court's work, and the court says a judge

will ask for that kind of hearing about 50 times a year, requests are usually denied and the briefs on that issue are due thursday, that is why. our last question, from twitter, where hector asks is jay-z your favorite rapper, what are his top three albums? i replied the black album and watch the throne, classics, but then former south carolina state legislator bakari sellers called me out for malpractice, my brother, raising the first album reasonable doubt. bakari is right, it is a classic and does belong on the list. there you have it. do you have a question you want answered? tweet me at ari melber or e-mail me. and we might just tackle it next sunday at 6:00 p.m. now, a battle heating up in the senate over president trump's supreme court nominee, neil gorsuch, chuck schumer is leading the charge for democrats against him saying that the gop stole this seat away after not

allowing even a hearing on president obama's nominee. will there be a showdown? two experts straight ahead. hi! hey! i've made plans for later in case this date doesn't go well. same here. wouldn't it be great if everyone said what they meant? the citi double cash card does. earn 1% cash back when you buy, and 1% as you pay. double means double.

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shut your mouth and say goodnight mouthbreathers. breathe right. this past week president trump was criticized by an unusual source, his own supreme court pick neil gorsuch saying mr. trump's attacks on judges were, quote, demoralizing, that got to some pushback and later denial from the white house. but the larger political question looming is how hard democrats want to push to scrutinize or filibuster this federal judge, since president obama's pick for the court didn't get a hearing, let alone a vote. well, we can report tonight that scrutiny is well under way. chuck schumer voicing frustrations for what he's calling a lack of independence by gorsuch. >> i sat with judge gorsuch and i said, show me you're

independent. he said, i am independent. i said, show me. i asked him some very specific questions he should ans, not about existing cases. i said, if there was a law that said all muslims are banned from the united states, would that be unconstitutional? that has nothing to do with the case before him. or before us. before the court. he wouldn't answer. i asked him, what is his opinion of citizens united, an awful case, the shelby case, which undid voting rights? he wouldn't answer. >> bill politic question is whether president trump and leader mcconnell will go nuclear and end the filibuster to slam gorsuch through. a new article by two senate veterans, democrat and republican, arguing against that tack. one of those is bah with ck wit the show here. faz, because you're the new one, i'll have you start us out. what would be good about saving the filibuster here?

>> i think for supreme court nominations a lifetime appointment, it is important that particular nominee receive a bipartisan 60 vote threshold. i think that's fair. that's been the precedent for many. and i think it should remain the precedent for every president going forward. i just think senator reid was right when he pulled the nuclear option for all other nominees in order to repair our democracy and accomplish tremendous gains for president obama and our country. >> you sound defensive. nobody brought that up yet. >> i think it was the right thing to do. it was going to come up. it was the right thing to do. >> all right. i know how this works. brian, let me read from your article and guive you a chance o weigh in. you write the filibuster by slowing the process, and giving a bit of power to the minority party ensures important changes get serious consideration. it forces cooperation and from our own experience, you and jim

manly write, we can attest it works. expla explain. >> when jim and i wrote that piece, we agreed not to get too -- not to discuss the filibuster of nominations. more so in legislation. but the -- when you look at the closure rule, it does not make any distinction between legislation or a nomination. so there really isn't a distinction. ultimately i think democrats made a huge mistake and they're paying a price now for pulling the nuclear option trigger and getting rid of it on lower court nominees and cabinet officials. >> there it is. this is like all -- this is like the fight we knew was coming. go ahead. >> look at all the nominations. look at the nominations that would have maybe been different had there not been a nuclear option. had republicans had to get 60 votes to shut down debate nominations, you would not have had many of the nominees that have gone forward in the past with well under 60 votes right

now. >> i think that president deserves to have his own team. when we pulled the nuclear option under reid, we got approximately 100 judges confirmed. we remade the federal judiciary, tremendous accomplishment for president obama. i think if you remember, president obama was dealt historic obstruction by republicans. i think senator reid was right to say we need to prepare our democracy, pull the nuclear option, allow a president to pick his team, and accomplish a great amount. now, i think you have some people who i think shouldn't be in the positions they deserve to be in, but it was donald trump who is responsible for choosing these unqualified people and putting them into positions where they shouldn't be. and i think it is up to the republicans all of whom have voted for them, they owed this problem now. there is no reason why democrats should have to vote for any of them because of the nuclear option. >> let's look at the legislative piece and the leverage here. you used to work for rand paul who used the senate to make

certain points and put pressure on issues that may not have had -- forget a majority, may not have had ten -- there was a period he was pushing on the potential abuse of drone strikes and who would they target and the due process of americans. that was a lonely fight within both parties. talk about that use and why that's important. >> he would joke he was a member -- a minority member of the minority party at the time and republicans are in the minority. he was not even the majority faction of the republican party. so the only way he could bring issues to the forefront would be to filibuster. we have seen three significant filibusters in the past few years and uses of the filibuster that were proper. chris murphy filibustered for gun control. just recently. just as recently as last year. he had 2 in 2013 with rand paul and ted cruz, who filibustered to slow government spending, to put a focus on obamacare. those were all legitimate uses of the filibuster. the problem i think becomes as if you get ready of the

filibuster, you get rid of the rights of the minority, rights of individual senators and we're going to become more top down. where your leadership and president will have far more power than average members and forget about rand paul and back benchers like bernie sanders for that matter. they'll be much less important, it will be all about leadership what leadership wants to do and that will sideline most members and that's not what our founders put together. >> looking at -- i want to remind you of a sat, before president obama came into power, there were 68 nominees, 69, who were filibustered. 69 presidential nominees. under president obama it was 79. so you had more than half of the total nominees we have been filibustered just under president obama alone. that's why the nuclear option had to be done. people were taking them hostage for political end. i think that -- >> let me push you forward. i get your point defending, but

when you look to the senate and what the democrats are trying to do in the minority, you worked for minority leader reid what is your parliamentary advice over how they can use the legislative filibuster or holds or other things in what is a republican dominated era in washington. >> merrick garland example reigns supreme. no reason to rush judge gorsuch's nomination. this should be with as much slow, thoughtful, careful study as is possible. and so i would urge the judiciary committee members to ensure that they exercise every right to slow down the hearings, to have multiple hearings over multiple days to get answers to every possible question because if the republicans now want to yell and scream about rushing this process, they have no leg to stand on given their treatment of garland. i think schumer is taking the right posture, slow it down. >> you get the bonus, the last word if you keep it short. >> i would advise the republican

leadership to use the rules to steam roll democrats by forcing a talking filibuster. the filibuster is about speaking, not about saying i'm going to object, let's make them actually sit down actually sit n in the senate floor and speak until they collapse. jimmy goes to washington style filibuster. >> or rihanna talk the talk. thank you both, come back. >> yes, thank you. >> thank you. speaking of music, the grammys are tonight. suspense building, beyond not whether beyonce beats adele and how to celebrate david bowie, but looking out whether there's pushback against donald trump and will he clap back. stay tuned. you wouldn't believe what's in this kiester. a farmer's market. a fire truck. even a marching band. and if i can get comfortable talking about this kiester, then you can get comfortable using preparation h. for any sort of discomfort in yours. preparation h. get comfortable with it.

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feels like you're always working, senator. can't other democrats help you out with this. >> >> no, it's just me, berneny,

and schumer. that's amy schumer. >> not shying from politics there, doing elizabeth warren. they had fun at spicer and donald trump, but we are going to have the grammy awards in l.a., and things get get political. people watching for this. talking music and politics is our writer and editor requester "teen vogue," how are you doing? >> good. i'm excited. >> did you catch the snl impressions? it was getting in on the idea she's maybe a little too much ho homework. >> it's interesting, like, they only make fun of the left in terms of personas. what is there to work from other than the goody too shoes. >> they were making fun of her trying to hold, like, the actors corruption to account, so her brand or her, you know, values have till coming through in the impression. >> yeah. it was strange. it was sort of that -- it was poking a little fun, but it was

how much work is she handling, and where is the kind of vortex of emptiness in the democratic party at this point with that schumer joke. you know, who do we really have that's coming through as a forceful opposition. >> you're concerned that the senate democrats have a vortex of emptiness? >> doesn't seem strong, the name that a lot of people know as elizabeth warren, and that's where -- >> you are saying the only big name. >> in terms of recognition. >> looking to the grammys, we have some hints already. i want to put up one of the artists arriving in tribute in a make america great thailered dress, you see is there. when she turns, there's also trump on the train of the dress, although hollywood and musicians, they are critical. >> a long time producer saying a moment was coming, and it was a

dress, i don't know. >> i doubt it. >> not the kind of thing i was expecting. >> others see that and know it's almost enticing to people who want to stand up to donald trump because he seems personally offended, and after streep, he's gone after "snl" several times. >> yeah. >> this instinct to humiliate when it's modelled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful. it filters down into life because it gives permission for other people to do the same thing. >> what's that mean to you? >> i thought that was an interesting moment to pick because shuch emotion driven, maliciousness, about what are the basic values. i think what she was going for there was we can all agree that we shouldn't be mean, and just

sort of -- i thought that was actually a really smart choice. >> you think it's powerful? >> i mean, for what she's trying to reach with that -- given that pulpit at an awards show, everyone's watching that award show, is the thought going into it. >> the counter argument, not, like, just saying this to make a tv question, but i really wonder is a lot of folks look at politics, the spectrum of a lot of nastiness. documented evidence that donald trump took it further, she cited, for example, his disgusting impression of a disabled reporter. >> yeah. >> that was worse, but there's a lot of people in the country, okay, he's not the politician to go dirty. plenty of other people in both parties have been tough. it's, like, does the focus on the way he campaigned, is that the right emphasis opposed to the values of the governing? >> yeah. i think there's a lot to work with in terms of policy where

she would have been appealing to the same people she was appealing to with that speech being hailed as a success, but it's -- what do you choose from when you're also trying to get attention from either trump supporters or moderate americans who, you know, you're looking to wake up a little bit to everything that's going on, so it was an interesting choice, but it is sort of middle of the road where you can say, hey, as human beings, we can always agree about not being mean. >> interesting point. almost that's going to carry the day in a different way than her, like, if you look at 5c of the immigration order and -- >> sure. she could have had an elizabeth warren binder of things to go through. >> talk about music. >> yeah, sure. >> album of the year, the big front runners here are bieber, drake, beyonce, or adele. >> come on, lemonade. how has she not won? it's the one place left in theup verse she's not a front runner

as major categories of the gramgmys at this point. >> song of the year, formation, hello, and i took a pill and visa by mike, hello, classic. >> based on what i listen to on t working out, i think we have to give that to beyonce too. her work is so stunningly political when we're talking about the grammys being more political this year. i hope it's rewarding progress and music. per perry, now, said on the red carpet before i came in,mentes to usher in an era of purposeful pop. that was interesting. so intentional in her political work this year supporting hillary, and beyonce does it with art. >> real quick, answering both of these. >> okay. >> best rap album, chance, de la soul, drake, schoolboy q, or kanye. >> kanye. >> because?

>> because -- he won't make a fuss, but because it's the best one. >> always a good reason for you. it's close. lauren, thank you. that's all for this hour on msnbc. watch for news updates throughout the night and breaking news it it happens. up next is "meet the press." this sunday, immigration fight, president trump's travel ban is struck down unanimously by a federal appeals court. >> courts seem to be so political. >> but the president vows to fight on. >> we'll win that battle. we have a lot of other options. >> what happens next? >> president trump's senior policy adviser, senior miller. plus, russian intrigue after white house denials, national security adviser conceding that, yes, he may have spoken to the russians about obama era sanctions before donald trump became president. >> i don't know about it. i have not seen it. >> is flynn's job already