ed gets copays as lowlily go to as zero dollars on medicare part d prescriptions. ed gets labels clear as day. and, lily.... lily gets anything she wants. ed knows he could just have us deliver his prescriptions. but what's the fun in that? switch to cvs pharmacy. that's our show for today. up next alex witt has the latest. i'll back with you. >> i'm so excited to see you and like big hugs through the tv screen. i think you're gone tomorrow so you're like in and out of my life.

>> i wore sparkles for you. >> i did like that. >> have a great show. good day to all of you. it's high noon here in the east. 9:00 a.m. out west. this is weekends with alex witt. a new headline raising questions about the president and whether he was working on behalf of russia. the white house fired back as we action pours in. >> a bomb shell report by the new york times. >> it's an extraordinary, unprecedented, pick your a adjecti adjective. >> it's chilling. it's extraordinary. >> it falls in the category of shocking but not surprising. the government shutdown now the longest in u.s. history. capitol hill is a ghost town with no new talks scheduled with federal workers caught in the middle. new proof washington's most famous novembice is getting und the establishment.

the fbi opened an inquiry if trump was working on behalf of russia. law enforcement officials were alarmed after the president fired james comey and they sought to tackle a question. did the president's actions constitute a national security threat? the inquiry triggered by what the president told my colleague lester holt during this nbc news interview. the president appeared to say he fired comey because of the russia investigation. >> regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey. knowing there was no good time to do it. i said this russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story. >> the legal and political spheres parsing out the implication of a counter

intelligence inquiry on the president. >> this is a big deal. this is unprecedented. you have to let this wash over you. the notion that the fbi, which is a scrupulous and meticulous organization, opened a counter intelligence investigation on the president of the united states, is absolutely extraordinary. >> the president tweeting repeatedly over the last few hours dismissing the report and the white house calling it absurd. we have more on that story in the ongoing partial government shutdown with our panel and first up, nbc white house correspondent jeff bennett. the president, wow has he been tweeting about this report. >> the president is lashing out in light of this extraordinary new york times reporting that says that fbi officials were so unnerved by the president's actions in the days after he fired james comey that they

launched a counter intelligence investigation into whether or not his activities amounted to anti-american actions. whether or not president trump was a russian spy. the president fired off five tweets which i'll summarize and fact check as we go. he said he fired james comey because of the way he handled the clinton e-mail investigation. the president and his allies along him offered shifting explanations for the firing. as you just played there in the open to the show, the president told lester holt just days after he axed comey it has to do with that russia thing. he also sa says the fbi opened investigation into him for no reason. anyone that reads the new york times reporting see it lays out the reasons why the fbi took that step. the president also says he's been far tougher on russian than presidents obama, bush and clinton.

you could make the argument his administration has taken a tougher approach to russia but president trump, judging him based on his own words have seemed to suggest he wants to be putin's friend even though russia is a geo political foe of the united states. james comey said i ask you to judge me by the enemies i have made. echoing fdr who delivered those words back in 1932. president trump's decision to fire comey is a central focus in the mueller probe obstruction of justice portion of his inquiry. what's interesting about the times reporting is we don't know yet whether or not this counter intelligence investigation is still being carried out as part of the russia probe. >> you did a great job.

this was something to the last point made by jeff. it's something the public was not supposed to have any knowledge of especially with the magnitude of this inquiry and whether the president's actions are a threat to his own country. put this into perspective for us. how explosive is this? >> alex, it's hard to put this into perspective because there's so h thing many things we have president do that are surprising. there's some that are surprising, shocking and there's bombshells and then there's this. this is like an atomic bombshell. if we take a step back and talk about the difference between a counter intelligence investigation and a criminal investigation, both of which the fbi conducts, here is what we learned. a counter intelligence investigation is something the fbi opens when they suspect a foreign power or a foreign agent is doing something that might damage our national security. for example, if somebody comes

from russia on a visitor's visa and that person begins to take an interest in say a nuclear power plant. they visit the power plant. they take pictures of the power plant. they talk with people about the operations of the power plant and deliver that information back to russia. it may very well be that no crime has been committed. they have done nothing illegal but the fbi might take note because that sort of has the signs of something that could be dangerous to national security. let's assume that same person who is here on a russian visitor's visa breaks into the power plant at night to gather additional information and intelligence to deliver back to russia. that has become a criminal investigation. we can see how those two things might over lap and the fbi might be running both of those investigations. we knew that bob mueller was

lo looking into potential crimes. now we know when the fbi fired james comey and not laying off general flynn, the fbi opened a counter intelligence insgrai investigation because they had evidence the president might be doing something to damage national security. >> would a preliminary investigation begin in may of 2017 and be running until now? we don't know if it is still running right now. can you categorize that for me? >> i can. a preliminary investigation in and of itself is of such concern because that means that fbi had enough evidence, sort of a reasonable suspicion barring from another area of the law. they had sufficient facts to open an investigation. they don't just do this on a whim. i can assure you that they

talked about this long and hard. they vetted it up through the highest chains and concludes d, yes we have enough to open a preliminary investigation. we can assume it's ongoing till this day. we won't know until something comes to a head and information is shared with the american people. >> okay. when you say that those at the very highest le esest levels haw about this. that means at the time christoph christopher wrey and jeff sessions. the president said he just found out via this new york times report about this investigation. my question to you, does chris f -- christopher wrey, did jeff sessions have to sign off and how surprising that the president didn't know this was being conducted?

>> almost certainly the head of the fbi a and the attorney general had to sign off. the answer to the second question is although it may seem surprising, it doesn't surprise me that the president himself was not briefed on this. why? he is at a minimum sort of the subject of the investigation if not, i don't want to use the word target. now i'm blending counter intelligence terms with criminal investigation terms. he was the one that the fbi was most interested in because he was the one who had the potential to damage national security if he was working on behalf of or in conjunction with russians. >> the president has tried to push back on this. we heard sarah huckabee sanders saying this was just obscene. there's nothing to this. the official word from the white house. no doubt we'll be hearing more about this from you as well. thank you so much. >> thank you. another major story we're

following today. the partial government shutdown. this is day 22 with no end in sight. the longest shutdown in u.s. history with mounting human, economic and political costs. 800,000 federal workers have started the weekend without a paycheck and it's if first missed payday since the government shutdown. 420,000 employees are working with no pay. that includes air traffic controllers and tsa officers. anger boiling over with protests demanding answers from washington. >> we have the mortgage. car loan. cell phone. electric, gas, utilities. we don't know what it will cost. >> are you going to pay for medication or going to pay for laundry detergent? i shouldn't have to pawn my belongings to pay for medication when i do have a job. >> just get together and get something done. i just don't care. i have to put food in my kids mouth. >> the president seems to be

stepping back from declaring national emergency for now and today the president taking to twitter to blame the democrats but nancy pelosi and chuck schumer insist the president opened the government first while negotiation os on the wal continue. you've been reporting that even that might not end the shutdown. can you explain that. >> one thing the president is looking at doing to increase the pressure on congressional democrats is to keep the government shutdown even after he declares a national emergency. he told reporters at the white house that he's not necessarily keen on declaring a national emergency at the moment. that doesn't mean this is off the table entirely. it's still being seriously

considered inside the white house and if president trump does move forward to declare a national emergency, to use those presidential powers, while that makes it through the court system which is almost guaranteed to happen, the president would consider keeping the government shutdown i spoke with an official who said this is almost an negotiating tactic to president trump. >> could this be interpreted as political spite? >> that's what this official said. the president being spiteful. he doesn't want to hand democrats any type of win and in his mind, reopening the government after declaring a national emergency in which democrats woultd not have to mae a concession would be a win. >> at the expense of 800,000 federal employees. >> right. >> any good options for the white house ending the shutdown? >> it doesn't seem like it.

we can't lose sight of the fact that the president and democrat vs have no political incentury tsc here. they coming up with legal strategies to block this. they are unwilling to come out and criticize this president and they think declaring a national emergency is an abuse of power. you've had the wall street journal come out and say the same thing.

they will support this president's move to declare a national emergency. >> that infamous tape where he said he would be proud to own this shut down. all that has to be done is played over and over again on a loop. >> it's surprising that democrats haven't really utilized that sound bite as much as you would think they would. we heard it played on the air waves since president trump made that statement. it's profound. he seems to think this wouldn't have an impact on republicans politically. now we're seeing that the white house is learning that is not the case and they are trying to do things to leave the impact

this is having on the furloughed federal workers. we spoke to an omb official who said they are looking at trying to work with pay providers to provide a mid cycle paycheck to federal workers who are not currently receiving the paycheck they were do yesterday. the president has been talking about helping the national guard with getting their paychecks. he's making an attempt now to deal with the consequences that early on he didn't think he would face. i think that's where democrats have an advantage here. >> beyond all of this, is there any conventional wisdom on who is winning the optics of this. you have congress out. no scheduled negotiations throughout the weekend. the president seems to be trying to seize on that calling democrats to come back to the washington in his tweets today. can he ever take control of the narrative given the one he owned saying he would shut the place down in first place. >> i hate to use the terms winning and losing here because at the end of the day, msnbc has

been running interviews all morning is there are people out there, goth employees who can't pay their mortgages and put food in the fridges. speaking to multiple white house officials earlier this week they are really putting a lot of energy into winning this pr war. i talked with the white house official who said that vice president pence was the person who was tasked with leading the charge on changing people's -- republican lawmakers on the hill rhetoric toward humanitarian crisis. that's a term you have seen the president tweet out three times today. at the end of the day, i don't think that public opinion is really being swayed by this at all. >> thank you so much for weighing in. i appreciate it. stealing the spotlight and bringing much needed energy to the party.

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but not at our expense. we're not the ones that can't come up with the decisions. they want us now to meet income tax refunds. they can't even meet our paychecks. they should be the ones paying the consequences, not us.

we shouldn't have to not pay or bills because they can't be groan u grown up enough, mature enough to come up with a decision. >> one of the irs workers who protested. about 200 employees are being required to work without pay to process tax returns. the only democrat represents the state of kentucky in the house and the new chairman of the house budget committee. it's a lonely walk sometimes but thank you for joining me. >> absolutely. sdp >> let's talk about the shutdown and what the battle is really about. the president is digging. he's aiming to fulfill his signature campaign promise. the democrats don't want to give the president victory. can the shutdown be boiled down to just politics here? >> i don't think it is. we have always voted for border security. we're for border security. we're for smart border security.

we don't write blank checks for $5 billion. if the administration want a wall so badly, they ought to come to congress, make the case and see if they can sell us on it. that's not what the president has done. he's said, i want $5 billion for a wall. we gave him in the last congress gave him $1.6 billion for border security. he spent only 6% of that. if there's this emergency at the border, why isn't he using the money he already has? this is really about, i think, being very good fiduciary officers and making sure when we spend money, we spend it in a justifiable way. >> republicans have argued that democrats were willing to give the president over $20 billion, closer to $25 billion for border security or the wall. that fair interpretation was for a wall. was that because daca was involved? what changed? >> well, i think there were

stipulations on what that money would be used for. what's changed is the president has proven himself to be a totally unreliable negotiator. back in december he told mitch mcconnell if they passed the pending bills, he would pass them. the senate passed them unanimously and he said i still want my $5 billion. as chuck schumer said it's like negotiating with jell o. i think there's a bigger problem in this situation. that is that the president seems to think that getting the government back open is the concession that he needs to make to democrats. that's not a concession. that's our fundamental responsibility is to keep the go government functioning. he's not making any concessions. he's making a demand but offering nothing in return. >> lot of topics i want to try to get to today. next one being the fact you were one of the first house democrats called for hearings on the articles of impeachment.

what do you make of the new york tim times report that fbi started an inquiry of working with russia? does this give greater urgency? >> it makes me very anxious about getting the information or some sense of what the fbi was relying on when they launched that investigation. it's very frightening. the two things that happened this week, that new york times story which should chill every american that we have russian asset in the white house but secondly the news that paul manafort actually shared polling information with russian operatives. you have prima facie evidence of cooperation between the trump campaign and the russian government. you have all the elements you would need to certainly warrant

an impeachment hearing. we're getting to the point, i think, i wrote something about this a week or so ago. we're very close to the point and we're getting closer after this last story that the congress has -- the only reason for congress not to begin impeachment hearings is a political calculation. that should never be the reason you don't do it. impeachment is there for a reason. i think we're getting very close to having a responsibility to begin that process. >> i want to look ahead to next month because the president's former lawyer michael cohen who imme indicate eplicated him is y before the house oversight committee on the 7th. are you expecting any revelations to solidify the impeachment proceedings? >> if anything comes out that is new, it will probably be something that relates to financial dealings with russia that may or may not be something

that would warrant an impeachment charge. i think that's probably the territory that we might see broken for the first time. virtually every one understands there's been financial dealings between the trump family and russia. the trump sons have bragged about that before and how they got money for their projects. my guess is that might come out but in terms of the other things, the basic question of obstruction of justice or cooperation with the russians, probably nothing new. it will be good tv watching though. there's no question of that. >> we'll be watching. yes. for sure. all right. always good to see you. thank you so much for weighing in. 800,000 federal employees are furloughed or working without pay. i'll be joined by some of those very workers who talk about the struggles and hardships they are facing right now. rdships they ae facing right now

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you are about to hear the real life impact on this day 22 of the partial government shutdown one day after hundreds of thousands of federal workers and contractors received pay stubs that looked like this. a big fat zero.

many took to the streets in protest this week and the president thanked federal employees for how they are managing all of this. >> the message is that i appreciate their service to the country. they are incredible people. the federal employees that we're talking about. i just really appreciate the fact that they have handled it so well. many of them are agree with what we're doing. we have no choice. >> joining me now, steve reeves in dallas. sherry in denver. fran in los angeles. kate in des moines and gary is here in new york. with a welcome to all of you and i'm so sorry for what you're all going through. steve i will begin with you here. i know you are a union president. you represent fema workers. before we get to what the union is doing. how about you personally? how are you affected? >> my checks personally affected. i haven't received pay since the beginning of january. we've had to tighten our belt.

>> are you able to pay your bills? do you have a cushion? how hard is this hitting you? >> it's hitting me pretty hard. my wife has been working a lot of time. she works in the private sector. >> sherry, i understand you are an epa scientist. well done and you have two special needs children. i'd like to know what steps you have taken to try to cope with this loss of income. >> alex. i'm a mother of two special needs kids. both kids are on the spectrum. with the short paychecks i've recently married and we spent a fair amount of money on the wedding. our savings were depleted. we're trying to figure out how we will make the mortgage payment, the car payments, put food on the table, buy or pay for therapies and buy medications for my kids.

i've had conversations with my kids about we can't go to mcdonald's right now. it's one of the things that we use as a reward for my oldest son who when he does well in high school. we let him go to mcdonald's because all teenagers love mcdonald's. >> of course. i understand your husband is even looking out of state to try to get a job that's more money which would take him out of house. >> yes. he's looking at out of area, out of the state for the time being just because it will earn him some extra money to help us get by until this craziness ends. >> that's extraordinary. fran, i know, as you join us with adorable tristan. your husband works at homeland security. he's working over time and i'm going to congratulate on tristan. i understand he came a little earlier than expected. you're having to deal with extra care costs for him.

sdp sdp >> yes. he was born at 32 weeks. we were in the process of purchasing a home. we thought we were responsible. we did have some money set aside but obviously it wasn't enough. right now our major concern is mortgage and his formula. he has specialized formula now. he is just four months. believe it or not. he's the size of a newborn. yeah. it has been very hard couple of days we have to make a lot of phone calls to creditors, to our mortgage company and it's really brought our family together. >> how receptive are they when you sigh say i'm a federal employee. what are they saying? >> we got a letter from my husband -- the department of -- his department. the letter kind of explains the

situation. a lot of people are very, very helpful right now. they understand the situation. we had our realtor stop by and give us like diapers. it's built our community. >> it's going to take a village. kate, let's get to your husband who works with the department of agriculture. furloughed and not working at all. i understand this is not your first shutdown experience. your husband is stuck because in order to look for another job, he needs to get permission to do so. his boss is also furloughed. can he get another job and how long can you survive without one? >> that's a big question we don't have an answer for. we're in catch 22 on that which is scary for us. as far as how long can we wait, we have been through significant financial hardship in the past. because of that we keep a healthy cushion inliving off of.

yesterday my husband and i wanted us time. we consider that critical to keep a healthy marriage. we went to cafe and got hot tea. we had bean soup, not pork chops. friday night, we didn't go to the movies. we sat home and read books to our 9-year-old son and that was the limit of what we did. we are saving every penny. we're good until march or april. i have no idea what we will do at that point. >> how does your 9-year-old son react. you're home reading books a and not doing family outing? what's the reaction? >> reading books is good for kids. >> i would too. >> he's very upset. our family went through a bankruptcy that included losing a house and it was less stressful than this. we knew the steps. we knew what was going to happen. here it's so unpredictable, it's

so unknown. there's no guessing. you just in a complete, you're in the wind. it's really hard. we can't tell our son this is going to be over here or the steps or here is what to expect. we're just stuck the. >> wow. you say it'sless stressful to lose your house previously than what you're going through right now. that's a huge statement. >> we knew what would happen. >> gary, i know that you represent workers at the epa and you're also the breadwinner in your family and if i'm not mistaken your wife is on disability, correct? >> correct. >> what kind of steps are you having to take and how is this affecting your workers. >> we have to cut back as every other american does. pick here or there. maybe some cable. i'm more concerned about the impact on the american people because the environmental protection act gency and employ we represent they protect human health and the environment. that's important. we're not out there sampling.

we're not our there monitoring, making sure that the emissions are being emitted by factories or storm water or discharge in the water meet the correct levels. we take our jobs seriously. we want to protect human health. >> if something like a flint disaster were happening again in the water. >> i couldn't tell you. i'm very concerned because the environmental protection agency was credited by president nixon because statement environmental funds were not able to protect human health and the environment. they were racked with political influence, decisions made on economics rather than the environmental science. that's where the employees of the epa that we represent, we want to maintain the science to protect human health and the environment. that's our job. s >> speaking of representative. i know given your union leadership role, can the union do anything to help workers with immediate or long term needs? >> right now we're just in a

position where we're passing along information. all i can tell them is if you can file for unemployment, file for unemployment. file for whatever social program is out there that can assist you. there's nothing internal within fema's union or within the afge that we have right now that we can offer to the employees to offset this stop work. >> you know, as i wrap this up, is there an expression or something that you're using to get by every day or an adjective, adverb to help you? does anyone want to take a stab at that? fran, sherry, gary. >> you have three branches of government to ensure that each one operates equally.

however we like to ask senator mcconnell to use that process to call the vote, to bring our workers back to work. we want to protect human health and the environment. that's our job. we care about the american people. >> absolutely. kate, how about you? anything you're using? >> i have to admit i'm kind of leaning on the 67 senator thing. also constitutionally 67 senators can get a vote passed regardless. the usda was formed by lynn on the to protect the american people. it's not able to do that if it's not working. it's putting american lives in jeopardy. 5,000 people a year die of food related illnesses and we weren't inspecting food. that's terrifying. >> sherry, your thoughts. >> i would agree. i think congress needs to take the step and override the president on this decision. i want to protect people and the environment. there's people who are being

sprayed with pesticides and we aren't fielding though complaints. in our region we have pricey over drinking water in wyoming. sorry. we're not there. >> steve. >> i'll tell you, alex. with us in fema, a lot of times people ask where is fema during the time of disaster. right now you can tell everybody we're furloughed. we wouldn't be there. we wouldn't be able to react as readily as we normally do. it's very concerning to us that we're putting not just our welfare and economic welfare at wisi risk, we're putting lives at rick risks. >> last word to you fran. your thoughts as you think about what you're facing. >> my thing is we're not negotiating pieces. we're human beings. we're families. we hear 800,000 federal employees but each of them have family members.

we're talking about millions that are strictly affected by it. always service we need. >> i'm going to say on a positive note we're all affected by how precious tristan is. he's just dozed off in mommy's arms. he's a t baby. i'm thinking a bright future there. i hope the same. a very bright future and this ends very quickly. steve, sherry, fran, kate, and gary, thank you so much. best of luck. he might be a long shot but that's not stopping julian castro. can he beat long odds and alexandria ocasio-cortez is it her style or politics that's rubbing some democrats the wrong way? plan democrats trong wa y? plan because of smoking. but a cigarette. had to. but then, we were like. what are we doing? the nicodermcq patch helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. nicodermcq.

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>> they'd be back. i think we're back. today we begin another one. in this journey, i'm so lucky to have an incredible partner in my wife erica. a wonderful inspiration in our daughter, who many of y'all know. what a great crowd we got out here. i also want to take a moment to say thank you to the press who

are here. there was a time -- [ applause ] >> there was a time when we thought we were going to go into journalism. i know that the press work hard and that they are the friend of the truth in this country. thank you very much for being here. [ applause ] this is where my grandmother came in 1922 when she immigrated from mexico as a 7-year-old orphan. it's where she grew up. where she worked hard for years as a maid, a cook and a baby sitter while raising my mom as a single parent. it's where my brother were raised by my mom we were

baptized just over there. we got a great public school education just a few blocks away. i had the honor of serving these neighborhoods as mayor of san antonio for five years. the morning i rode the number 68 bus with my brother like we did so many times when we were kids. only this time i brought my daughter with me. that was the same route we used the take with my mother to get to school or go to her work during the summer. i want y'all to look around this neighborhood. there are no front runners that are born here. i've believed with big dreams

and hard work anything is possible in this country. this is a community of good people, of humble people. people who go to work early and stay late. often times at more than one job so they can provide for their family. they want the dignity that comes with a good job. this is a community built by immigrants. it's a community guilt by native

americans. family who worked to build a future. folks who came here to serve our country at fort sam houston and landland and randolph air force base. this community represents america's future. diverse, fast growing, optimistic. a place where people of different backgrounds have come together to create something truly special. six years ago i had the honor of standing before the democratic national convention. i said then that the american dream is not a sprint or even a marathon but a relay.

because of their hard working i had the opportunity to stand in front of you today. that was the point of the american dream. it wasn't supposed to be just a dream. america was a place where dreams could become real. the thing is that right now the relay isn't working. today we're falling backwards instead of moving forward. the opportunities that made america the america that we love, those opportunities are reaching fewer and fewer people. today we're at risk of dropping that baton. that's why we're all here this morning. we're going to make sure that the promise of america is

available to every one in this 21st century. you see i learned from my mother so many years ago this the community that when we want change, we don't wait for change, we work for it. when my grandmother got here almost a hundred years ago, i'm sure she never could have imagined that just two generations later one of her grandsons would be serving as a member of the united states congress and the other would be standing here with you today to say these words. i'm a candidate for the president of the united states of america. [ cheers and applause ] thank you.

[ speaking spanish ] >> all right. it is official. he has thrown his hat in the ring. julian castro there in his hometown of san antonio, texas. i did an interview with him as he was on a book tour for the recent book he released. i could see it in his eyes and hear it in the passion which he told his story. it is for anyone who is thinking about supporting him, great book, that will talk about his inju journey from being here in the united states and growing up in texas and having his mom be such an activist and support in so many different facets of their different -- community to where

he is right now. rick, what do you think? >> it's a competitive race on the democratic side. seems to be a lot of good candidates. his message was very aspirational. he's got a great delivery and presence. he's not the kind of candidate i would support. he's a contender. we'll see how it works out. >> what do you think michael? >> i agree with rick. he checks oult rigall the rightn terms of doing the launch thing and having the crowd and energy and all of that. this race within the democratic primary will come down to a lot

of intangibles that will be a thin line between who comes in last and who comes in first in terms of getting the nomination. >> danielle, where does julian castro fall in the spectrum of democrat s have announced or expected to announce. >> he's great. he's been a champion for progressive causes for quite some time. he has spoken at many lgbtq events around the country. i think his presence in the primary will be fantastic. it will open up a lot of conversation. i am not sure at this stage

right now that he has necessarily the wingspan to really carry the party in a way that it needs to and if he can go toe to toe with donald trump, which is all i care about. if people can't do that then next. >> i'm glad we were here to hear the official launch. we booked you to talk about something already elect fld ted house of representatives. aoc, alexandria ocasio-cortez who is kind of ruffling some feathers. let's listen to senator kamala harris. >> i think that she is challenging the status quo. i think that's fantastic. i think that she is introducie ing bold ideas that should be discu

discussed. i think it's good for the pear and the country. >> since you're the democrat here, what is your take on her? how is she affecting the party? helping, hurting? >> i think that aoc is fantastic. i thought that as i was watching her campaign. she's a force. she's a force to be reckoned with. what frustrates me is how she's being talked down to. how conservative white men are coming to attack her from everything from how she sounds to her dancing to her outfits and not all the policies she's bringing. i think she is needed in the democratic party. i think the democratic party has made a lot of compromises over the past several years and has moved further to the middle where i would lime like them to go back to the left. i think she's a representation of that. i think she brings with her her 2.2 million followers who are very steeped in progressive policies and she's going to be a good thing for this party. instead of us having conversations about where she's so young, she doesn't know anything, she's a phenom.

that's how we should be talking about her. >> she's absolutely a phenom. twitter versus legislating. i want to get to congressman emmanuel cleaver who commented i'm sure she means but but don't attack our own people. should there be a rule about that? >> i think that democrats need to be challenged. i think there's been a lot going on with the status quo. we have allowed a lot the slide by the wayside. what we need to do is be focused on how we get donald trump out of the white house. how we deal with this criminal operation that he is running out of people's house. i think it's important for democrats to step up and if by being challenged by her to embrace their progressive roots will do that then i say bring it on. >> michael, you said yeah. i heard you say that. twitter versus effectively

legislating. >> danielle sounding like some people i met back in april 2009 who were called members of the tea paefrty. that exact same messaging was on the table in my office in 2009 where they wanted to challenge the established order. they wanted to go after those moving the party to the middle. be careful what you wish for because the truth does boil down to the one thing that republicans could not do effectively when they had power because of all of that internal broiling around was legislate. that's great. you can do twitter a and you can do all of that stuff. you've got to put a bill in the committee that you get your members behind to get out of that committee that you then get to the floor to get past to send to the senate for their passage, for their consideration. that will be the true test of whether or not she has the gravitas to lead on this

controversial and big issues she's raising. other than that, it's a great twitter feed. it's a great twitter moment. now you're in congress, you got to do the big thing you were sent there to do and that is to legislate. you don't start off by cutting off knees from the very members you'll need to get your bill out of committee. >> we are hitting the top of the hour. i don't want to let you all go before i ask you, rick, what are republicans afraid of? do they look like her as a foil? >> she a foil. kamala harris doesn't want to go on the view and talk about alexandria ocasio-cortez. she wants to talk about her book. she would do better to spend more time -- she has progressive views. she needs to educate the country about her progressive views. if that wins the day, congress will move. rather than spending time to convince people in other districts their congressperson or man or