tv MTP Daily MSNBC April 5, 2018 2:00pm-3:00pm PDT
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>> and there is a a fire wall between -- >> for the simple reason that bezos owns the post and now various ira and pension have lost 5% and 6% of the money because the president chose to do it. >> i have a ton of fun. thanks for watching. my thanks to steve, donnie, nick and jeremy. i'm nicolle wallace, "mtp daily" starts right now with katie tour in for chuck. >> i'm up here with -- i keep the google up for -- i feel like sarah palin. important days in history. donnie, please come over and talk about presidential history. i'm sure our viewers would love it. stop having such a good show because i can't tear myself away from your show. and then i'm not preparing for my show. >> it is them. >> i'm blaming it all on you. >> if it is thursday, does the president's red meat match -- red meat rhetoric match -- >> tonight right wing calling calls versus political reality.
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>> we'll have our wall. and the military is building some of us. >> plus confidence game, could the president's pledge of confidence in scott pruitt actually forecast a chilly climate for the epa chief. >> i can't speak to the future of scott pruitt. and how the u.s. is targeting russian oligarchs on two fronts. this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. ♪ ♪ hello and welcome to "mtp daily." i'm katy tur in new york in for chuck todd. if there is one thing we know about president trump is that he is all about his base. and right now the president is clinging to his base which is what any politician does when they're in trouble. but is all of the president's recent set orric on immigration and trade and foreign policy just bluster for his base? a lot of what he is saying doesn't match what he's doing.
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first let's take a look at illegal immigration and the border. the president is saying it is a dire situation and he's sending in the national guard. >> we have horrible, horrible and very unsafe laws in the united states and we're going to be able to do something about that hopefully soon. >> we are preparing for the military to secure our border between mexico and the united states. >> that is the kind of thing his base wants to hear but what is the president actually doing? how many troops will be sent? how long will they be there? no one knows that. on the border wall, perhaps the pillar of candidate trump's campaign, we know what the president is saying, it is going to be big and beautiful and mexico is going to pay for it. >> i promise, we're building the wall. and mexico will pay for the wall. >> and this week the president even tweeted pictures of a wall being built. that is the kind of thing his base wants to hear. but what is the president actually doing?
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here is homeland security secretaryker stin nielsen yesterday. >> if there is a law that needs to be rice replaced, it is being replaced by a new wall. this is the trump border wall -- >> replacing current wall is counting as new wall. >> yes. >> but it is not just border security where the receired meac matches up. on tariffs the president is saying -- >> today i'm placing tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum. we'll have a 25 % tariff on foreign steel and a 10% tariff on foreign when the product comes across our borders -- >> that talk about bringing back jobs and sparking economic growth is just what the base wants to hear. but what is the president actually doing? today a month after the president's announcement, his top economic adviser said, well,
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nothing yet. >> we don't have any tariffs enacted yet. these are proposals and part of the discussion and negotiations. >> and there is a gap between rhetoric and reality on foreign policy. take syria. here is what the president is saying. >> you're inclined to pull the troops out? >> i want to get out. i want to bring our troops back home. >> yet here is what is actually happening. military leaders told him more time was needed to get the mission done. so the president backed down from the idea of an immediate withdraw and decided to keep some troops there for now. as the washington post reports, president trump is discovering the policies he once described as easy fixes for the nation are a lot more complicated in reality. creating backlash among allies, frustrating supporters and threatening the pocket books of many farming communities that helped get him elected. so bottom line on illegal immigration and the border wall and trade and foreign policy is the president trying to follow
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through on his campaign promises, or trying to make people think that he is. joining me now from wisconsin is msnbc contributor and republican commentator charlie sykes. along with our panel on set today. msnbc policy editor, beth fooey and professor eddie glad and elise jordan. guys, welcome. charley, the first question to you. do president trump's voters care more about what he does or says? >> well, so far they've obviously cared more about his tude and what he said than what he has done and that is one of the distinctive parts of the trump phenomenon. that it is attitude rather than accomplishment. but what i think is fascinating we use words like "the base" but donald trump is acting as if his base is ancolter and sean hannity and lou dobbs and that is not even a majority of the republican base. >> what he's not doing, what he did in 2016 is going in and
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talking to crowds around the country and reading a room and getting a sense of what people cheer for and don't cheer for and he's reacting wholly to what is being said on fox news. how much avenof a risk is that? what are you hearing from those in wis wisconsin, are they still as happy as they once were. >> former governor tommy thompson was at a forum and described donald trump as a bully and said, look, the president of the united states shouldn't be a bully. he voted for trump and supported donald trump but i think you're seeing yes all of this red meat is designed to rile up the hard core trump base, but it is not -- it's not jazzing the larger republican base that they need to turn out. and you saw that in a special -- the supreme court election here in wisconsin earlier. democrats in the liberals ahighly motivated to moat but
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the average run-of-the-mill republican, many of whom may have held their no-- noses and voted for donald trump, they are shaking their heads about this. and i don't see how this kind of rhetoric will change that dynamic between now and november. >> is that the kind of general thinking and the assumed thinking that made it so that people did not believe that donald trump was going to win in the first place? are we finding a situation where we're out of touch with the trump voter once again, that they are not necessarily listening to everything he's saying on television and everything that people are talking about on the media and that they're paying more attention to what is in the pocket and the policies that it looks like he's going to act -- enact. what their every day lives are as opposed to what is being said on the news. >> well that is what they say. but of course, if it is a little bit about the pocket book, the new tariffs are not going to help him in places like rural wisconsin and ohio and michigan. but i do think that there is this overall sort of tribal
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sense of cult of personality whereas long as donald trump says something, he said he will do something, fights for something, that they will cut him a tremendous amount of slack even if it doesn't line up with reality. even if he actually does not accomplish anything. now of course there are people like ancolter saying if you go all squishy on this wall, i'm going to break with you. but i'm not sure that the really hard core trumpists feel that way. but again, don't make the mistake of assuming the hard core red meat trump base is exactly equivalent to the republican base. and i'm sensing a certain malaise among that republican base that is a real problem in the midterms. >> i'm not so sure the wall is a deal-breaker for some voters. i was talking to a voter during the campaign and i asked him why do you like president trump and he said because he's going to build a wall. and said well what if he doesn't build a wall and his response was its okay, i trust his judgment. that's presuming that donald trump would say we don't need it. he is saying we need it, we need
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it, but if we don't get we have to put the military down there and they should built it and we need this wall and if he can't get it accomplished and to the table, if he's not able to do that, does he look -- risk looking like somebody who is ineffective. >> yes. and the larger issue is what you were saying before, he was -- he talks a lot and today he was talking right in his comfort zone. down in west virginia. more popular there than any other state. he was talking about coal and talking about immigration and talking about women getting raped on the border like you've never seen before. he was talking about voter fraud and california. the vast majority of the stuff is made up. and yet it is a reality that he lives in and that his most hard core base lives in with him. so if he will tell them the wall will get built and we'll get it done, why wouldn't they believe that. my question is other than those really sort of hard core folks that charlie was referring to, where is the record of actual accomplishment that feel people in their pocket book which is what we're being told.
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the tax cut isn't really delivering that much money. he tried to cut health care along with paul ryan and another wisconsin republican and others in the republican leadership and he's not delivering on those sort of core messaging that he did during the campaign that if do you this, if you vote for me, i will make all of these things better. he hasn't. >> i alone can fix it. is he risking being out of touch with the voters? >> you know, among donald trump strongest supporters it really doesn't matter what he actually accomplishes. he's more of a cultural president than one that is seeking -- that needs policy accomplishments. you talk to his supporters and they tell you well the media -- they are ought to get him. congress, they're out to get him. no one is supporting him. if he doesn't get the wall built, he will deflect blame as he always does and he does it very ably. >> but if he's always deflecting blame does he at some point run a risk of looking like somebody who can't get anything done. he talked about whey great deal maker he was.
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if he can't get a deal done, how great of a deal maker are you? and does that start to pop the bubble of that myth or that claim? >> perhaps. we just don't know how long that will take. i think it is very important for us to see the talk of the wall, the talk of anchor babies and mexican rapist, this is serving as a proxy for donald trump as the cultural warrior. and so when we see -- and cultural wars activate -- and i'm troubling with charlie saying, they activate a number of different constituents and you combine with th -- this with i will not vote for a democrat and then you could try to rally the base. so i want to say that whether he actually makes good on building the wall, whether he actually makes good on some of the claims that are just wild, the fact is he's a cultural -- appealing to our fears and those fears are doing -- >> and speaking of that at the tax round table, the tax round table in west virginia, he went
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back to the first thing he said when he announced that he was running for president, that mexico is sending rapists and that mexicans are rapists and at a tax round table and talking about mexican rapists, i want to play that bite for you. >> remember my opening remarks at trump tower when i opened. everybody said oh, he was so tough. and i use the word "rape" and yesterday it came out where this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before. they don't want to mention that. >> there is talk on twitter among a lot of republican thought leaders, i think bill crystal is one of them, talking about the politics of demagoguery and you go out and you say i'm the only person that can fix the problem. i fixed all of the problems but there are so many problems to overcome and you need me here. so while i fix everything, we're still in danger. is that how you see bringing that sort of thing up, charlie?
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>> well, yes. and this is the secret sauce of his campaign. you start the campaign by talking about mexican rapist and calls for banning all muslims and insult mexico and talk about deporting millions of people and this is the part of the culture war and the culture warrior image that he has. but i think about donald trump is at the same time he said i am the fighter and the leader that you need, he also is very quick to portray himself as the victim. that i am being persecuted. the reason that this didn't happen is because somebody else has undermined me. so in trump world, donald trump cannot fail. he can only be betrayed. so it is an interest juxtaposition between being the strong leader and the constant perpetual victim but apparently that is what a lot of the -- the voters and supporters are willing to accept. >> so he made a little bit of news a moment ago on air force one coming back from west
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virginia. he went over to talk to some of the pool reporters on the plane and he once again backed up scott pruitt, talked about amazon again and he was also asked and finally answered a question on stormy daniels and the $130,000 payment. do we have that sound bite? we don't have the sound bite. he said he knew nothing about the payment and if you need to -- want to find out about it, you got to ask michael cohen. is this -- is this just a distract? this story? do voters actually care about this. >> i think he just walked into legal jeopardy and being on camera and saying none of this happened. he's facing a lawsuit. it could be a long shot that he ever gets deposed but he's gone on the record now denying that any of this ever happened and just pushing it all away. so yes, maybe his base doesn't care -- they knew he had problems with women long before he became president. so this isn't news to them. but it is news that he just denied it on camera and he's going to have to pay for that
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eventually -- >> he's macing a mueller investigation as well. and while that might be very high stakes, nothing is come of it as of now for him. so is there a sense that he feels invincible and it doesn't matter what he said. >> it is amazing that donald trump chose to amplify the stormy daniels story. it had faded and now this is going to give it a sed set of new legs an it is a story the public is fascinated with. whether they are defending it or just trying to understand it, that was one of the takeaways from the focus groups that i did with ash croft and america in mississippi and tennessee was just the utter fascination with this story and the reality show nature -- >> fascination about him having potentially sex with a porn star or money -- >> oh, just -- i really think the salacious details are most -- but also just that -- >> does that not hurt him. >> this is something that trump supporters and evangelicals will
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defend, we weren't trying to elect a saint. so it doesn't hurt him. >> so just because they are interested in the salacious story, does that hurt him. >> we don't know yet. there is an accumulation of error that could have an effect. we don't any how it will translate in terms of depressing turnout or in terms of what will happen in 2020. the accumulated effects ever his mishaps and the examples of his character deficiency may have some -- but michael avenatti is looking like dr. evil right now. and i want to say this quickly, the default position with donald trump is that he lies. we shouldn't say -- we shouldn't trust anything coming out of his mouth. we need to understand what is the end game of what is coming out of his mouth. not the particular claim. he has no interest in the merits. what is he trying to get to. so on air force one, i'm trying to figure out what is he trying to distract or hide trying to get us to look at and not look
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at. pay attention to the end game not the claim itself. >> you think it is that strategic. i'm not so sure. we'll come back to you in. charlie sykes and beth eddie and elise. and the climate may be changing quickly for the epa administrator another bad headline came out in the past few minutes. could another cabinet secretary be on his way out under the slew of controversies. at planters, we put fresh roasted flavor into every can, which has its drawbacks. guys, know anything about this missing inventory?
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republicans con proehl both chambers of congress but that is not stopping hopefuls from ramping up the anti-washington rhetoric. this ad from west virginia attorney general patrick morici running the republican soebts primary. >> let's take on washington with our west virginia conservative values. let's not just change washington, let's blow it up and reinventing it.
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we'll take up washington and keep their hands on our guns and stop the proabortion agenda. i'm the conservative fighter. >> he just destroyed the white house. but it doesn't mean anti-trump. he was seated next to the president today at his tax event in virginia. and on the president's other side is congressman evan jenkins, the other republican candidate vying for the chance to take on democrat joe manchin in the fall. the two of them have splitting the trump bump for now. not invited to sit near the president, the third republican in the primary race, don blankenship, the coal executive who went to prison for his role in a mine scleegs th-- mine expt killed 29 people in 2010. some are worried that he could win the primary and that a flawed gop candidate would make it easier for senator manchin to keep his job. coming up, the senate top republicans warning to his party about the potential hurricane coming their way in november. we're back with more "mtp daily" in 60 seconds.
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welcome back. as we said, president trump is ramping up the tough talk on immigration by deploying the national guard to the southwest border and the trump administration released new figures showing a three-fold rise in the legal border crosses last month after what had been a historic low last year. but the president hasn't made clear how many troom troops will be sent to the border and for ow long and they need state leaders to agree because they take their instructions from governors. one is deeply troubled by the plan to mill tarrize our border. this is not unprecedented. both president obama and bush ordered national guard troops to the border during their of course the illegal crossings at that time were significantly higher. but california governor at the time arnold schwarzenegger
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turned down president bush's request. so could we see pushback from california again? joining me now is california democratic congressman john garamendi a member of the house armed services committee. thank you for being here. >> good to be with you. >> what do you think? is it a good idea to send the troops to the border given the trump administration showing numbers where illegal crossings are at an uptick this month. >> it would be nice to have a plan. i think the principle of the p's, prior planning peoria vents poor performance. there is no plan. trump woke up sunday or monday morning and decided that there was some huge crisis and invasion coming from the south and we needed to make that invasion with the military. well they discovered that the military couldn't do it but maybe he could order up the national guard and so oh, my, we'll send the national guard to the border. all well and good, all of us want to have strong border and we want safe boarders and drugs and illegals crossing the
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border. that is all good. but how can you do it wisely? is there a role for the national guard? well there already is. california has had 55 national guardsmen working every day on the southern border between san diego and tijuana and over in mexicali providing a variety of services. looking at intelligence, coordinating the information flows, doing some construction. all to the good, can we send more? well, we certainly could in california, if the federal government is willing to pay for it. we haven't heard anything about that yet. but if we want to -- if the president wants us -- california to send more troops, then show us the money. because it is very, very expensive to do this kind of work. i suspect texas, arizona, new mexico feel the same way. and we'll see what happens here. but beyond that, the facts indicate that there is not a tsunami rolling over the southern border.
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nor is the drug issue only on the land. the coast guard confiscated more than 200 tons of drugs last year. 20 tons were confiscated on the land boarder. so where is the real problem here? maybe the problem is more on the water. maybe we ought to put money into that and i would suggest that is a good in any way, the bottom line is prior planning. there is no such thing in the trump administration. >> let's talk about numbers. customs and border pretuection put out numbers showing a 37% increase in illegal boarders crossings in march compared to february and a 203% increase from march 2017. that being said, there is usually a spike in the springtime and if you look at past numbers, they always start to go down in on the whole, border crossings are at historic lows. the president tweeted about it
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this morning and saying it was still unacceptable but admitted they are at historic lows. does that necessitate sending the border patrol to the border right now? >> well -- >> the national guard. not the border patrol. >> well, either way, the start at the beginning. start with the facts. i know these are totally unimportant to the trump administration, they could care less about the facts, about anything, and including what is going on in syria. but the reality is the facts would indicate that there is much, much better border control month to month, year to year than there has been in the past and in fact this morning trump said it is a 46-year low. last year, 2017 and frankly 2018 is -- tracking along like 2017. a 46-year low. >> congressman -- >> we don't have a monumental problem. we have a problem to deal with
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it. keep in mind -- excuse me. but we added $1.6 billion to the budget for the border control. that is money that trump hasn't yet figured out how to spend. about 500 new border patrol men, all of that is there for him. if he wants to send the national guard, fine. show the money to the states, make sure they're doing something useful and not just a political thing. and one more thing, if i might just take some time, isn't it interesting that it was 2006 that george w. bush sent the national guard to the border. it was 2010 that barack obama sent the national guard and it is 2018, what is similar? these are contentious mid-term elections in which the president is likely to lose seats so what do they do? send the troops. >> so you're saying this is political more than anything else. i want to get you on one more topic before we run out of time.
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president trump and gleaders in congress have tried to eliminate funding increases in the omnibus package and you voted for that omnibus package. if they do that and eliminate? of t if they eliminate that, will democrats be able to trust republicans when they decide and agree on a compromise for a bill sent to the president and actually signed by the president. >> well, first of all, it is clear through various court cases over the time that the president's task is to carry out the full faith of the laws that have been passed. and if the laws require the president to do one thing or another and provide the money for it, it is his job to do that. and presidents have been sued in the past for failing to carry out the congressional law, including the appropriations
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committee. [ technical difficulties ] it has been done in the past and i wouldn't put anything past this administration. let me just give you one example of that. the state department had $120 million to push back on russia. not one nickel was spent by tillerson. $200 million was set aside for reconstruction in syria, the president has pushed that aside and refused to spend that money. yet he wants to turn syria over to russia, iran, and turkey. and in fact, those three countries had a meeting just yesterday in akra and guess who was not invited? trump and the administration. you want to see iran operating in iraq and syria and that is precisely where president trump is going with his nonprogram, no strategy for syria. >> congressman john garamendi. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. and ahead, could the epa chief's ethics scandal cost him
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ythen you turn 40 ande everything goes. tell me about it. you know, it's made me think, i'm closer to my retirement days than i am my college days. hm. i'm thinking... will i have enough? should i change something? well, you're asking the right questions. i just want to know, am i gonna be okay? i know people who specialize in "am i going to be okay."
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i like that. you may need glasses though. yeah. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today with td ameritrade. - there's a common thread i see every time i'm in the field. while this was burning, you were saving other homes. neighbors helping neighbors and strangers alike. - this is what america's about. - sometimes it's nice to see all the good that's out there. bringing folks out, we have seen it in community after community. welcome back. more trouble tonight for epa chief scott pruitt. "the new york times" is reporting just in the last hour that those who questioned pruitt within the agency were punished, quote, at least five officials at the environment otection agency, four of them high ranking were reassigned or demoted or requested new jobs in the past year after they raised
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concerns about the spending and management of pruitt. this is just the latest in a series of bad headlines and according to the daily beast, chief of staff john kelly called secretary pruitt this week to ask if there were any more bad headlines coming. and to say that while he has the confidence of the president now, the scandals need to stop. the president spoke to members of the press corp on the way back from west virginia today. and said pruitt has done a fantastic job, when asked about the allegations he said he would have to look at them and make that determination. but said pruitt is a good man who has done a terrific job. and at the same time, officials familiar with the president's thinking tell nbc news that the president had recently been considering replacing attorney general jeff sessions with -- scott pruitt. but one person familiar with the discussion said the possibility of such a move is not likely now in light of the ethical concerns raised around pruitt's conduct.
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guys, ethical concerns have been around for a while and so why it be now. and also you know how it goes in the trump white house, friday could be right for the president to say you're fired, or tweet it. so we'll be watching to see what the future holds for scott pruitt. coming up, the president versus putin. what the white house's next move may be to punish russia. i'm your phone, stuck down here between your seat and your console, playing a little hide-n-seek. cold... warmer... warmer... ah boiling. jackpot. and if you've got cut-rate car insurance, you could be picking up these charges yourself. so get allstate, where agents help keep you protected from mayhem... ...like me. mayhem is everywhere. are you in good hands? and it's also a story mail aabout people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business
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we've helped the marine mammal center go solar, install electric vehicle charging stations, and become more energy efficient. pg&e has allowed us to be the most sustainable organization we can be. any time you help a customer, it's a really good feeling. it's especially so when it's a customer that's doing such good and important work for the environment. together, we're building a better california. welcome back. russian oligarchs are on the minds of the trump administration and the special counsel. the u.s. is expected to impose the most aggressive sanctions yet tomorrow. according to three u.s. officials, the sangs a -- sancts will affect those connected to vladimir putin and rm team stopped and questioned two russian oligarchs about questions to president trump while traveling in the united states after we learned that special counsel was given the
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okay from rod rosenstein to probe the russian connections of former trump campaign manager and chairman paul manafort. joining me now is former u.s. attorney paul fishman. paul, good to see you, thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me back. >> why is robert mueller interested in russian oligarchs. >> not that he is interested in russian oligarchs per se, his job is to find out if there were any ties between the trump campaign and people in russia. and he may well have obtained information from rick gates who is cooperating. or in other words about people to -- some of the russian oligarchs who may have connections. or to paul manafort. we don't know exactly what he is looking for. all we know is they're being stopped and questioned about campaign donations and other things. >> the special counsel does have clearance to probe mueller's contacted and there were other names redacted.
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would he want to see the russian contacts of other folks within the trump orbit as well? >> i assume that is right. and i don't think that order is a big surprise. one thing that robert mueller and rod rosenstein is good at is crossing their t's and dotting i a's and so the fact that he was looking at the -- the things that paul manafort is being investigated for is not surprising. there was a redaction. there are other people whose conduct is being looked at but what is also interesting if you look at the two paragraphs in the order that describe the things he's looking at with respect to paul manafort, there is a semi colon after the second one before the redaction. not a period. which means there is probably something else about paul manafort that he's looking at too that isn't part of the case so far. >> grammar is your friend, kids. it could give you clues to all sorts of things. let's talk about the oligarch themselves. he is stopping them as they are getting off planes because they don't have time to wipe phones -- i dropped my phone and look through the contacts.
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potentially trying to find out whether or not, as you said, any money was being funneled from them to donald trump's campaign. which would be illegal if it is a foreign contribution. if they do find that, though, does that mean that there's a connection between donald trump and vladimir putin? can you make that leap? >> no. i the only leap you could make is where the evidence takes you. if they find connections between contributions and the campaign they could look at that. a civil violation if the contributions are structured in a particular way to avoid reporting requirements. they could be a criminal offense and cases like that have been prosecuted so that is one thing. but also the things highlight connections between people and what you do during a criminal investigation is you look for connections between or among people to try to figure out who was talking to whom and when. to try to figure out wh-- who w traveling to meet with whom and put the pieces together in a puzzle that makes sense and that is the idea. what is interesting about the border thing is that the fourth amendment doesn't apply at the
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border. so where you need a search warrant to search your purse or car or some certain places when you come across the board you don't. there is a development in the law over the last couple of years in respect to iphones and smartphones. because they're commute computers and courts are more reluctant to give that leeway and the policy of the federal government has changed so really you need something more than we would just like to look. now the policy is you need some reasonable suspicion that you might find something that connects you to the investigation. >> because you carry your entire life on the foeb, it is like getting a warrant to search a house than to search somebody's purse. that is what i'm led to believe. the other big news this week is that donald trump is a subject, not a target of the investigation. the president is supposed to be relieved by that. how easy is it to become a target and if he sits down with robert mueller, can he easily change from subject to target in that scenario?
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>> so the answer is he could. but the difference between a subject and a target -- a subject is anybody whose conduct is being looked at in the investigation as potentially criminal. and that is a pretty broad swath from relativery uninvolved to very involved. you get target status when the prosecutor has substantial evidence and that you're -- committed a crime and that you are a likely defendant. one of the reasons donald trump may not be a target here is because robert mueller has decided he doesn't have the authority to indict a sitting president. in which case the president could never be a target but is that doesn't mean he couldn't conclude that donald trump didn't commit a crime and that he could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. that is one way it could happen. and mueller may not have enough evidence to have convinced himself that trump could be a target here. we don't know the answer to that question. >> we're at the 11-month mark of this investigation. where do you think it stands? >> so i think honestly i thought this timetable that people were predicting that it would take six months or a year was
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abbreviated. if you look at paul manafort, we know when he lied to the fbi. the tuesday after the inauguration. the third or fourth tuesday in january. it took eight or nine months for that lie to turn into a guilty plea. other -- and you could see the timeline. the paul manafort investigation is going on for a long time. before it was indicted. and these things take a long time and in a case like this, where you have people who understand everything has to be done exactly right, that the public is going to want -- demand that every rock that should have been turned over have been turned over and at the end of the day, it is quite likely that there will be some kind of report to congress or to the american people, i am quite sure that given the way robert mueller works and the way his staff works that they'll take their time and recognizing they have to get it right but also recognizing that the country is waiting. and a lot hangs on what comes out of the investigation. >> it is the highest pressure job not only in washington but in the country because you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. there is one side of the population that will say you didn't go tough enough and the other set who will surely say you were too tough. paul fishman, thanks for coming
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on and parsing this with us. we appreciate it. >> nice to be here. and coming up, mitch mcconnell's stormy midterm election forecast. and don't miss msnbc this sunday, we're taking an in-depth look at robert mueller. what drives the man at the center of the russia investigation? watch "headliners" this sunday at 9:00 p.m. on msnbc. back in a moment. david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪
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or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. other side effects include upper respiratory tract infection and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ♪ otezla. show more of you. i don't know. good luck. >> thank you. >> that is going to be a -- should we do a little test. >> yes. let's do it. >> who is voting for patrick? [ cheering and applause ] >> who is voting for evan? [ cheering and applause ] >> this is his congressional bid -- >> i don't know. looks like it is evan. time now for "the lid." that is president trump today in west virginia. eddie is already shaking his head. that was president trump in west virginia with two republicans
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hoping to unseat manchin. and the panel is back. elise, take it away. >> this is going to be a race to watch. west virginia, i think that manchin will probably survive. i am more because you look at the new poll that was released today in tennessee and the democratic candidate, the former governor is running 10 points ahead of marsha blackburn. and i think that's a margin of error considered, he still has a pretty comfortable lead and that was a seat they weren't even thinking was going to be an issue. it makes you think that mitch mcconnell is really trying to downplay expectations. >> they have three different candidates in the election to face manchin. >> the coal mining ceo who spent time in jail. >> don blankenship who was the
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coal mining ceo where 18 people got killed. now he's running neck and neck with the two other candidates of president trump. this is perhaps when you undermine the courts, nobody believes in the courts any longer. >> he needs to get permission from his parole officer before he can campaign in west virginia. >> a moment ago we played some sound of mitch mcconnell saying the wind is going to be in our face, we're not sure if it's going to be a category 3, 4 or 5, but hopefully we can hold the senate. those are dire terms for the senate majority leader. >> not only in tennessee, but in our home state of mississippi, it looks like a democrat has a chance to win, in terms of
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replacing thad cochran. and it seems as if the blue wave is happening. >> yeah, i got an email from a viewer, ron walled if you're watching this, and he's asked me if it wouldn't be more newsworthy if republicans held congress. and i was like, yeah, it would, because tin a midterm, the minority party usual ly wins th midterm. >> they haven't fared incredibly well by embracing donald trump. if you're lukewarm and it's not really your brand, it comes off as inauthentic. and so it's an incredibly hard road for navigate for these candidates. >> let's talk about scott
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pruitt. >> it is the swampiest of swampy behavior. i'm sorry, you want your security detail to run red lights and turn on the sirens so you can make it to meet a diplomat? it was the most popular restaurant during the obama era and still is, so he needs a bulletproof desk. from the way he's acting, you would think that -- you would s see -- bulletproof or soundproof? >> bulletproof desk? >> he's also a wannabe in terms of being one of the rich folks in the cabinet. there are a lot of rich folks in that cabinet. he comes from oklahoma. he's comes from public service, he's an attorney general. so it's a whole new world for
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him. kind of this sense of paranoia, plus the want to be rich, plus wanting to be one of the bureaucrats, several employees who raised questions about how he was managing the department. >> they said hey, maybe we don't need $100,000 a month. >> there's also this political headline that pruitt, not only was he paying next to nothing on his rent, his room rent in d.c., he wasn't paying anything at all because he kept falling behind. that's a crazy headline. but the craziest headline was that donald trump was considering installing him as the next a.g. >> turns out that pruitt is the loch ness monster in this race. the thing is for me he's a shady guy, he reflects the shady guy who's in the white house, who a's the president.
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but at the end of the day it's the policies. 200,000 americans die every day of poisoning. what he's doing every day, will harm ordinary every day children, will harm children, will harm folks, he's indecent, as we see, but also in terms of his policies. >> to laugh at the absurdity of the headlines, and you nailed why this is such an important issue. thanks, guys. ahead, spring is here. please just disregard the snow.
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one second. barely enough time for this man to take a bite of turkey. but for cyber criminals it's plenty of time to launch thousands of attacks. luckily security analysts and watson are on his side. spotting threats faster and protecting his data with the most securely encrypted main frame in the world. it's a smart way to eat lunch in peace. sweet, oblivious peace. this time, it's his turn. you have 4.3 minutes to yourself. this calls for a taste of cheesecake. philadelphia cheesecake cups.
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in case you missed it, spring has finally sprung in our nation's capital. the cherry blossoms are finally in bloom. doesn't the city look spectacular in pink? it's time to check the forecast. saturday, rain, sunday more snow. isn't springtime magical? march came in like a lion and left like a lion that can't get out because it's been on the couch all month because there's too much snow outside. this is the peak weekend for the d.c. cherry blossoms, but it's hardly going to feel like spring if it's snowing outside. so please enjoy these cherry
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blossoms we shot earlier today. there you go. virtual cherry blossoms, brought to you by "mtp daily." even though you didn't ask, you're welcome. that's all for tonight, "the beat" with ari melber starts right now. the harp makes me so calm. >> calm is good. we begin with breaking news from air force one, president trump just spoke out on the record about stormy daniels. in a moment, i will have the first live reaction from daniels attorney. trump speaking to reporters, he is denying that he made this now infamous $130,000 payment to her or that he knows where it came from. >> do you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy channels? >> no, what else. >>
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