Skip to main content

tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  January 21, 2019 9:00am-10:00am PST

9:00 am
it becomes reality. that is going to wrap up this hour of msnbc live. i will see you tomorrow morning on "today," but right now, "andrea mitchell reports". >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports." staredown, the president offering temporary dreamer protection for a permanent wall and mitch mcconnell planning a senate vote as early as tomorrow. is this the beginning of something real? the president puts this on the table. i think there is a lot there that we can work with, but he ought to listen to the things we've got to say. woman power. california governor kamala harris joining a record number of democratic women running for president. >> the american public wants a fighter and they want someone that will fight like heck for them. >> and tone deaf. the president and vice president visit the king memorial today after mike pence was criticized for tying the legacy of dr. martin luther king jr. to president trump's demand for a
9:01 am
border wall. >> one of my favorite quotes from dr. king was now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. you think of how he changed america. he inspired us to change through the legislative process to become a more perfect union. that's exactly what president trump is calling on the congress to do. ♪ ♪ >> and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington where president trump and democratic leaders are locked in a 31-day shutdown struggle, talking past each other while hundreds of thousands of americans wait for a payday. president trump's latest pitch, a temporary extension of daca and a program for refugees for emergencies in exchange for $5.7 billion that he's still demanding for his wall. mitch mcconnell would need seven democrats to break ranks and assuming that all of the republicans stand firm in order to pass the offer which could be brought up as soon as tomorrow.
9:02 am
house speaker nancy pelosi has already said no deal, but the offer could put pressure democrats to renew talks. the frustrations of federal workers across the country are growing as another payroll deadline approaches. today, thousands of families are expected at a maryland food bank where a local church is pitching in. >> these have a pretty big budget for food because we have a family of four. car note hasn't been paid, mortgage probably will be late february if they do come back, hopefully, but it affects a lot. >> he told me that we have to get something to eat from here. >> because of why? >> because there's a shutdown. there is a shutdown. >> well, from the mouths of babes. joining me now nbc's tammy lightner out of hartsfield
9:03 am
jackson airport, the nation's largest airport. >> jason bennett at the white house and robert costa, national political reporter at "the washington post" and of course, moderator of "washington week" on pbs and jeremy peters political reporter from "the new york times." welcome all. jeff bennett, first to you. let's talk about the president's weekend offer, an offer that wasn't really an offer, but he did move a little bit on to core demands from the democrats for quite some time now. one is dreamer protection and the other is the temporary protection status extension. >> and politically speaking, andrea, this was an attempt by the white house to reframe the debate, to paint president trump as a good-faith negotiator and to try to cast democrats as obstructionists and trying to paint them as hypocrites, and the kinds of measures the white house thinks that they supported under presidents bush and obama. the trouble that president trump has is that polls show the vast majority of americans, one,
9:04 am
don't believe as he says there is a crisis on the border and they blame him for this impasse, this shutdown that's now stretching into its second month. the other trouble that he has is that democrats have been and still are a unified front. they say they don't want to fund the border wall for the reasons we now know. two, they don't like this exchange that he's offering. these temporary protections in exchange for a funding for a permanent wall and they also say they don't want to negotiate until he decides to re-open the government and of course, caught in the middle are these 800,000 federal workers who are on track to miss yet another paycheck, andrea. >> tammy lightner at hartsfield, let's talk about what you're seeing at the airport. they put more tsa people on duty? they've tried to bring in more people and maybe more shift, but they've had a bigger callout from those who are -- i mean, these are very low paid workers who can't keep going now into a
9:05 am
second month relying on some day being paid. so some have taken job elsewhere. >> yeah. that's right, andrea. i can tell you right now the lines in atlanta are moving. this may have something to do with the fact that they've called in backup tsa workers. these are agents that are normally reserved for natural disasters, but right now they're helping out with screenings. tsa said we need help. 10% of their 50,000 tsa agents did not show up for work. this is affecting major airports across the united states. we're talking airports in new york city, newark, miami, houston, baltimore. in fact, today in baltimore they had to close one of the tsa screening areas. we know that last week they had to close one of the terminals in miami as well as houston. back here in atlanta, we're less than two weeks out from the super bowl. keep in mind, they're going to have about 150,000 people coming
9:06 am
through this airport. if this shutdown continues, andrea and tsa workers continues to not show up for work it's going to be a major problem. andrea? >> tammy, thank you for being there? atlanta in hartsfield. let's talk, jeremy, about the politics of this. jeremy and robert join me now because we're talking about mitch mcconnell now for the first time putting his head up and saying yeah, i'm going to schedule a vote on the president's offer. at the same time the president is getting pushback from his right, from anne coulter saying that what he offer side amnesty. >> right. >> pete williams was reporting on friday and we know this is the case. the daca bill is not being -- the daca confrontation, the legal issue is not being taken by the supreme court this term. >> right. >> they decided that on friday. they're not taking it this term. that means there's at least up to a year of continued dreamer relief because right now the lower courts have stayed the
9:07 am
president's order rescinding the dreamer protection. so when they talk about a three-year offer, that's really a two-year offer and the argument from dreamers and their supporters is how do you get a job if you're saying you're going to be applying for a job, but after three years it might evaporate? >> i've always been skeptical, andrea, that congress can come up with any type of legislative fix for immigration reform. we've seen time and time again them fail to do it for the last generation or so, and that really is because the president is in such a difficult negotiating position because of his hard-right flank. they're going to see anything that offers anything but deportation for these dreamers as amnesty, and that's just the reality of the situation. now, i think you combine that right now with, i guess it's a greater sense of unity, i would say on the right among republicans. remember, president trump was saying we're unified, we're unified and that wasn't really the case, but what you saw happen over the weekend was
9:08 am
republicans coming together around this proposal because at least on paper they have put something forward, and i think that that -- that the republicans hope that will draw democrats to the table. whether or not that happens right now doesn't look like such a rosy situation. >> robert, you're on the hill. the democrats were holding firm and they were remarkably unified given how fraktious their caucus really is, but will this be appealing to some democrats including senate democrats and you have people like joe manchin from west virginia where the prison at hazleton is really on a tripwire now with these guards working without pay and you've got all of these federal workers there, 170,000 or so in west virginia. there could be pressure somebody like joe manchin, a red state to join with mcconnell and vote against the pelosi position.
9:09 am
>> that would certainly be the case, andrea if the government was reopened at this moment. reeder schumer in the senate and speaker pelosi in the house have been able to hold their ranks together making the case internally and externally. these sort of discussions are possible and they would be okay with moderate democrats speaking in support of a package that supports dreamer protection, but you can only have those talks once the government is reopened. at this time the white house is going to see, can it pursue real negotiations on immigration if the government somehow is forced to reopen. whether it's an outside event like a tsa walkout or moderate republicans in the senate say enough of this. let's re-open the government and could there be a broad immigration package or is this positioning in politics? >> robert, what about the politics of it? >> at this point, the president has been taking the hit politically as well as republican senators, but does this now help the president put the burden back on democrats, whatever the merits of the case
9:10 am
are, does it put more pressure on democrats given the lengthy shutdown to try to yield something? >> the president is still trying to make the case nationally for a border wall or a barrier, steel fence, whatever he wants to call it. he made an address to the nation. he made the speech saturday afternoon trying to make the case that there is a threat at the border that demands border security and the challenge this white house faces when you talk to officials there, we know moderate senators and democrats and republicans would like to do a broader immigration deal and they know there is appetite among members of the house to do that. can this administration walk away from the shutdown and actually have this kind of broader discussion or not. at this point the president is so dug in with his own base, signalling to them he's willing to fight to the dribrink on the shutdown and he's putting himself at risk with some of his base by saying he's open to these dreamer protections and the hard core republican voter who was there for president trump.
9:11 am
they don't like it at all, and so the president is putting himself at risk, but we're not sure yet as reporters what he's gaining here. >> and you know, this, jeremy, is becoming an issue around the world. they finally found the need last week to bring back furloughed state department workers, but local workers around the world at embassies and our embassies are barely functioning and they run the embassies and we look like the uk and the brexit disaster. >> it's an international embarrassment that the united states cannot get its government fufrjzing, b fufr functioning, but it's the smaller percentage that the players opening the government aren't feeling the political pressure to do so, and i don't know when that happens, when they really start to happen, the pinch as awful as it is for the people not getting their paychecks and the entities that cannot run themselves because they don't have the funding.
9:12 am
once the president and the leaders of both parties in congress start to feel that pressure you will see some movement, but i don't see that happening soon because we're in a situation with the republican party especially where for the last few years they have only responded to their base which says you have to fight. you have to fight harder. you can't just cave like you always do, and it's created a situation right now where president trump has his back up against the wall because he needs to be perceived as fighting. >> the iroart of the deal. irony abounds. thank you all for being with us today. coming up, she's running. california senator kamala harris becomes the democrat to jump into the 2020 race. stay with us here on "andrea itch inn mitchell reports" only on msnbc. mitchell reports" only on msnbc. no more excuses with cologuard. we all make excuses for the things we don't want to do.
9:13 am
but when it comes to colon cancer screening... i'm not doin' that. i eat plenty of kale. ahem, as i was saying... ...with cologuard, you don't need an excuse... all that prep? no thanks. that drink tastes horrible! but...there's no prep with cologuard... i can't take the time off work. who has two days? and i feel fine - no symptoms! everybody, listen! all you need is a trip to the bathroom. if you're 50 or older and at average risk, cologuard is the noninvasive option that finds 92% of colon cancers. you just get the kit in the mail, go to the bathroom, collect your sample, then ship it to the lab! this is your year! own it! cologuard is not right for everyone. it is not for high risk individuals, including those with a history of colon cancer or precancer, ibd, certain hereditary cancer syndromes, or a family history of colon cancer. ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. covered by medicare and most major insurers. sorry, is that too loud?oud.rd is right for you. you don't need any more hormones in your house.
9:14 am
that's why you chose kraft natural cheese. made with fresh milk without the added hormone rbst. it's cheese as it should be. i but i can tell you i liberty mutual customized my car insurance so i only pay for what i need. oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no... only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪
9:15 am
and the army taught me a lot about commitment. which i apply to my life and my work. at comcast we're commited to delivering the best experience possible, by being on time everytime. and if we are ever late, we'll give you a automatic twenty dollar credit. my name is antonio and i'm a technician at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome.
9:16 am
california senator kamala harris making it official, announcing her 2020 bid this morning. she's now the third senator, seventh candidate to enter what is shaping up to be a crowded field and a diverse field of democrats comes as several other potential contenders including joe biden, michael bloomberg, bernie sanders and corey booker are making high-profile appearances to honor dr. martin luther king jr.
9:17 am
joining me now is heidi heitkamp of north dakota. nbc news political analyst charlie cook, editor of the cook report, and mike nemely and brian fallory and executive director of demand justice. welcome all. first to you, how does this field shape up and what do you think of kamala harris, you've worked with her, entering the race? >> i think kamala and all my colleagues are fabulous people and will bring a lot of really important issues to the forefront. i think what's going to happen here is the more the merrier, you know, and people keep asking me who do you think's going to come out on top. i said you have to watch them compete and until they're all in and until you see kind of the organization, the money and certainly the charisma and ability to connect with audiences, i don't think we know who's going to win this. i think the only one that comes in with the really serious
9:18 am
national profile is joe biden if he decides to get in. >> but do democrats risk what republicans had with 17 candidates on stage dividing up the field and someone like donald trump coming to the fore? do democrats risk having everybody knock each other off and some outsider or someone who is not the best equipped to confront donald trump? get the nomination. >> you have to remember, donald trump won and so that competition actually led to a candidate who could defeat secretary clinton and so competition at this stage is good. the idea competition is best, but i think that there is going to be a lot of dialogue and a lot of discussion between now and the nominating convention, and we may end up going into that convention without a nominee which would really create a lot of excitement and so what happened, i think, with donald trump is there was all this excitement on the republican side and this kind of foregone conclusion on the
9:19 am
democratic side, and i think it sucked a lot of the attention and a lot of the oxygen out of the room. so i'm excited about this competition. >> and charlie cook, big picture. where does the party go? do you think to the progressive candidates like elizabeth warren? do you think a woman despite the hillary clinton defeat, are there different kinds of women now in this race or is it joe biden or is it somebody who can sell finance like mike bloomberg? >> well, i think we can look at it ideologically. we can look at it demographically and generationally and the other thing is think of a broadway play where in the beginning the executive producer and the director have to envision how they want the role to be played and democrats have to look at what kind of a nominee do they want? cothey want someone who is unifying and reassuring and can reach into the middle or do they want someone that can intensify the base and get a maximum turnout. so i think that this is a year
9:20 am
and a half-long process where they have to decide, a, what they're looking for and then decide who matches that. so i think of it in those terms. and brian fallon, you worked for hillary clinton. what are the burdens for a woman candidate especially after she had so many advantages on paper, at least, and you know, found herself falling short on getting the nomination and not being able to defeat donald trump? does it put a bigger burden on women to somehow prove that they can do it organizationally? they can do the retail message? the messaging and the organization and all the rest? >> i don't think so. not among democratic primary voters. i think all things being equal among primary voters they're probably looking to nominate a woman. the women are the most outraged people in the last two years and the principle illustration of the resistance was that women's march the day after the inauguration and so i agree with senator heitkamp, it's
9:21 am
impossible to anoint a front-runner at this stage even though joe biden will enter the race with the highest name recognition, but i do think that kamala harris, someone on paper has the highest ceiling. that doesn't say that it will materialize exactly the way her campaign manager may draw it up, but on paper you can envision a path for kamala harris that quite resembles barack obama's and i don't say that because we're taking two african-american candidates, but literally combines african-american people and progressive, young voters. everybody focuses on iowa and new hampshire, but if you look at south carolina and you're going in the first week of march to the so-called sec primary states, louisiana, tennessee, alabama, mississippi and in some states, seven out of ten voters are black voters and that would advantage a candidate like kamala's. >> and california on the third. >> it's no longer the june last
9:22 am
primary in the schedule. mike memo, you're the biden whisperer and you were with him today. what about will he and won't he? when can he decide, can he wait? >> i still can't tell you if he'll run for president and as you know, there are still family considerations that can keep him from entering the race, but i think we saw this morning as he was addressing the national action network event speaking to an audience on martin luther king day, a real significant step in sig will nahhing thnali the crime bill in 1994 and he called it the biden crime bill. today he didn't specifically reference the crime bill and he said i haven't been right on criminal justice issues, but i've always tried and he's addressing one of the biggest liabilities that he has in a potential race at this moment as he's giving this serious thought. >> i was covering him and he was always bragging about how many extra cops he was hiring. >> that's right. >> now with sentencing reform
9:23 am
and with black lives party that's no longer a plus. >> there is a generational split and we saw today an older generation of african-americans, and al sharpton couldn't have been more with his praise of him, and he might have been hearing boos and heckles in the room. he tried to tie himself to the obama legacy on this issue and talked about the ways in which he's partnered with president obama, the first black president, but he recognizes he has work to do on this issue. >> heidi heitkamp, is this the year of the woman for all of the reasons that brian and others here have talked about, the women's march, donald trump and what he represents, all things being equal, when people need to first of all, win the primary and also prove that they are the person that they can take on donald trump. is that a woman or is that a woman already in the race? >> i think after this year we're not going to be talking about the year of the woman. we will be talking about the years of ideas and the year that everybody has an equal opportunity to represent this
9:24 am
country and to serve in leadership, and i think that this is actually that point because i've been through this before. my first race was '84 and the first year of the woman and i ran again in '92 which was another good year for women and ran in "12. so when you look at it we'll get beyond this year of the woman because we'll look to great leaders and across the board regardless of what demographic they represent and we're going to say we're going to elect the most capable and qualified and charismatic leaders for this country, and the great news is a lot of those competing and a lot of those who fit the bill are, in fact, women on our side. >> and charlie, brian fallon was suggesting that kamala hairs could be the barack obama, but what about beto o'rourke? is he the outsider? the new face? >> i think someone's personality is going to catch on. someone is going to come across as a compelling, interesting person. we have no idea.
9:25 am
you can make a case for a dozen of these people. we have no idea who is going to catch on, and as we were talking about earlier, is this going to be more of an establishment oriented or more of a disruptive force. if you think of the continuum you had between hillary clinton and bernie sanders, i think that we're going to be looking at this as it's like a rubik's cube in looking at all different angles and we have no idea which one is going to catch on, but someone, people want to like someone. they want to connect with someone and that's going to be important. >> charlie cook, thank you so much. senator heidi heitkamp, thank you, and mike nemely. thanks to all. rudy awakening. what the president's lawyer is now saying about his client's business deals with russia in the months before the election. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. reports" only on msnbc
9:26 am
you might take something for your heart... or joints. but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.
9:27 am
but when i started seeing things, i didn't know what was happening... so i kept it in. he started believing things that weren't true. i knew something was wrong... but i didn't say a word. during the course of their disease around 50% of people with parkinson's may experience hallucinations or delusions. but now, doctors are prescribing nuplazid. the only fda approved medicine... proven to significantly reduce hallucinations and delusions related to parkinson's. don't take nuplazid if you are allergic to its ingredients. nuplazid can increase the risk of death in elderly people with dementia-related psychosis
9:28 am
and is not for treating symptoms unrelated to parkinson's disease. nuplazid can cause changes in heart rhythm and should not be taken if you have certain abnormal heart rhythms or take other drugs that are known to cause changes in heart rhythm. tell your doctor about any changes in medicines you're taking. the most common side effects are swelling of the arms and legs and confusion. we spoke up and it made all the difference. ask your parkinson's specialist about nuplazid.
9:29 am
for the first time president trump's personal attorney rudy giuliani is acknowledging that the president continued talks to build a trump tower in moscow throughout the 2016 campaign.
9:30 am
talks which had to involve the kremlin itself. instead of the talks ending in january of that year as michael cohen had testified to congress or in june as he later admitted in his plea agreement. >> it's our understanding that they went on throughout 2016, there weren't a lot of them, but there were conversations. can't be sure of the exact date, but the president can remember having conversations with him about it. >> throughout 2016? >> yeah, probably up to -- could be as far as up to october or november. it covers up to the election. any time during that period they could have talked about it. >> joining me now is harry littman, washington post contributing columnist and ruth, columnist also an msnbc contributor. harry, what is the legal significance? there's political significance and legal significance, but the fact that the president had already got encounter
9:31 am
intelligence information that there was an investigation in play against putin and russia. at that point he'd been briefed by the cia and the other agencies. he was the candidate. he was briefed as hillary clinton was, and he was calling for sanctions to be lifted against moscow and making all sorts of pronouncements about vladimir putin. >> two kind of legal significance. the first would be if he actually had directed as the buzz feed report suggested, then cohen's potential crimes, he would be completely on the hook for so there would be -- so he would be the mastermind of a conspiracy against the united states of an obstruction of justice. if, on the other hand he merely was aware or even encouraged, you have a much more murky case probably having to center on aiding and abetting cohen's lies. the second legal significance is more general.
9:32 am
note that you'lliagiuliani is h here because this is actually one of the questions that trump answered and answered in writing. it goes to show the power of mueller's having these questions answered in advance because it was a few days after that that mueller unveils what he already knew, namely that cohen had been lying about it. so now you have trump forced into an answer that says it was through the election. we don't know the exact records of his answer, but it has to now stand as truthful and he's got to defend it. >> and to the point of obstruction, the other thing that rudy giuliani said this weekend was that the president of the united states under article 2 can fire anybody he wants, comey, without it be obstruction, but this is his example he gave on cnn to what would be obstruction. >> if he goes up to his cabinet member and says if you don't do this i'm going to break your
9:33 am
legs. >> right. >> or i'm going to take money away from you or i'm going to have your wife put under investigation, now we have obstruction of justice. >> but let me -- >> i mean, think of all of the examples he could have used without saying, you know, breaking your legs? ruth marcus, is that really what the president wants his lawyer to say on national television? >> i have that question almost every time i see rudy giuliani on television, i have to say. you asked harry about the legal significance. i want to talk about the political significance for a second because this is an extraordinary thing. if we knew then during the campaign what we think we know now based on his own lawyer's testimony, television testimony about the president and his dealings with russia and his organization's dealings with russia, we would have been astonished and, i think, outraged during the campaign that he was simultaneously talking to russia about a
9:34 am
business deal and having these other kind of candidate negotiations and positions on sanctions, on nato, on all sorts of things that were of interest to russia. that is why it would have been intolerable if the truth had been known then and that is why it is such a big deal politically that we know it now and one other question that still seems open to me. did this end? did this end after the lech? what do we kn what do we know about that? >> this was an incredible offer to vladimir putin himself. with the controversy, harry, about the withdraw from nato arguments that he's made at nato summits. i've heard that from people who were in the room and who were leaders and heard it themselves, and the most recent lifting of sanctions against deripaska and manafort, how does he get away with this politically? >> boy, you tell me. that's at least the $32,000
9:35 am
question if not the $64,000. there are so many events like that, you know, a couple dozen that now look so different in the retrospective look knowing that he was looking to not just feather his nest. this was going to be his biggest project ever. $300 million in the offing something he had dreamed of forever. something that also, by the way, deeply implicates both donald trump jr. and ivanka trump, donald trump jr. in particular who may be very exposed now to criminal liability because he testified to congress everything stopped in 2014. >> and we're going have to leave it there. ruth marcus, harry littman. thank you so much. we'll be right back. an thank you so much. we'll be right back. isn't what goes into your soup... just as important as what you get out of it?
9:36 am
our broccoli cheddar is made with aged melted cheddar, simmered broccoli, and no artificial flavors. enjoy 100% clean soup today. panera. food as it should be.
9:37 am
the aarp auto insurance program from the hartford? let's take a ride with some actual customers and find out. - well, tell me about your experience when you switched to the hartford. - when i switched to the hartford, i'm sitting there thinking, "man, i should have "turned 50 years ago." they saved me a bunch of money. you can't beat that. - what blows me away about the hartford is their lifetime renewability benefit. now this is their promise not to drop you even if you have an accident. - i know when i'm driving, i'm covered. - [narrator] drivers 50 and over can save hundreds of dollars when they switch to the aarp auto insurance program from the hartford and get other incredible benefits like lifetime renewability. not an aarp member? the hartford can help you join in minutes.
9:38 am
call the hartford to request your free quote at... or go to...
9:39 am
you'll earn unlimited double camiles on every purchase,. every day... not just "airline purchases." (loud) holy moley that's a lot of miles!!! shhhhh! what's in your wallet? - shhhhh! - president trump and vice president mike pence meadade a surprise visit to the mlk memorial, just a block or so from the white house. this after saying there was nothing on the president's schedule and there is so far no service day as had been previously done by presidents on martin luther king jr.'s birthday. joining me now is cherilyn,
9:40 am
director counsel of the naacp legal defense fund. good to see you, especially on today when dr. king should be in all of our hearts and minds and his legacy. let's talk about what dr. king would have been saying and doing going into an election year about the state of our country. >> i know that we should refrain trying to project on to dr. king our own agenda. this was a man who left us a blueprint for what it means to be an advocate for justice and what it means to believe in equality. so it's clear to me that first and foremost dr. king would be concerned about the 800 federal workers that are without a paycheck. this was a man who ended his life helping sanitation workers with a strike in tennessee. first and foremost he would want the government to be reopened and he, too, would want mitch mcconnell to bring to the senate floor the bills that have been
9:41 am
passed by the house to re-open the government. that's first and foremost. second, i think, voting rights. we all know this was a central platform of dr. king. we know about the selma to montgomery march. we know about the speech, give us the ballot. he believed that was the opening to justice in this country, and so he would be in support, i think of hr-1. the omnibus bill that has now been put forward in the house to fight voter suppression that we have seen since the supreme court decision in shelby county that has gutted the voting rights act and one of the signature accomplishments of dr. king and other civil rights activists of that period. >> i want to talk about the 2020 race, as well. >> bernie sanders in south carolina today spoke out against the president. let's see. >> today we talk about justice and today we talk about racism, and i must tell you it gives me no pleasure to tell you that we
9:42 am
now have a president of the united states who is a racist. >> cherilyn, from your perspective, that's not breaking news. >> no, but that is a very, a very aggressive statement from a national political candidate. >> it's only aggressive because in our country, we have so refrained from calling out racism, you know, for what it is. i can say that, you know, the legal defense fund and the organization i lead, we sued the president challenging his election protection commission that he created when he first came into office and we sued him on the grounds that it was intentionally discriminatory. we sued the decision to rescind tps status from haitians and we have charged racial discriminations. so i don't feel that this is the last candidate who is going to say that. i do think in this country we refrain from using that word, but we should understand that calling someone racist is not worse than people actually being
9:43 am
racist especially when they have enormous power and that power controls the lives of children separated at the border or tps recipients or african-american recipients around this country and it's time to speak truthfully. i think it's more important to focus on the policies that express that racism and that so harms so many people around the country. >> the vice president yesterday was trying to use mlk's legacy to justify the border wall proposal and the position on immigration. let's watch what the vice president had to say. >> one of my favorite quotes from dr. king was now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. you think of how he changed america. he inspired us to change through the legislative process to become a more perfect union. that's exactly what president trump is calling on the congress to do. >> is that a stretch? >> sometimes i think this
9:44 am
administration can't get more cynical, but it always does. this morning i was at a breakfast where martin luther king iii, dr. king's son, rebuked vice president pence's remarks and said that my father was a bridge builder not a wall builder, and i thought that was a lovely turn of phrase. this was a terrible thing for vice president pence to say, a very cynical thing to say. not at all surprising, but you know what? today i'm not focusing on what president trump is saying or what vice president pence is saying, i'm focusing on the spirit of dr. king and the reality that there is a lot of work are if us to do and there is a week stretching out ahead are for us and people should be calling senators and asking that the government be re-opened and that those bills come to the floor pressuring senator mcconnel and they should be supporting hr-1 and they should be with the civil works positions and we're leaned in fully to do that work and to push back against this cynical effort to turn our country in this terrible direction. >> let's talk about kamala
9:45 am
harris because kamala harris is announcing today. she's made the announcement today. she says it's martin luther king jr. day, and it's in honor of shirley chisholm. i covered shirley chisholm and to see the diversity of this year's possible candidates, kamala harris, what do you think her chances are. it's very early to say, i guess? >> i don't know. i'm not the political predictor, but i can say i was a young girl when shirley chisholm decided to run for president. people like shirley chisholm -- and i suspect there will be little girls seeing kamala harris inspired by her and i think that's exciting. one other thing, they talked about the coalition and they talked about progressives and african-americans and women and we should remember her mother is asian-american and so she also has that portfolio to bring to the table. she's a really interesting candidate. she has extraordinary experience being the attorney general of
9:46 am
california and many people have seen her now in confirmation hearings on the senate judiciary hearings and they see how serious and tough she is so i think she'll be a formidable candidate, but there are many in the race. >> cherilyn, thank you so much for being here today. up next, going ballistic, as the white house prepares going for a second summit with kim jong-un. a new report that north korea has more undisclosed missile sites around this country. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. reports" only on msnbc we just hit a spot, and we just lost control. (glass shattering) my life flashed before my eyes. (911 operator) 911, what's your emergency? (overlapping radio calls) if the firemen didn't answer their call, i truthfully don't know where i would be. i'm grateful for you guys, every time i step on the field. ♪
9:47 am
9:48 am
9:49 am
9:50 am
the white house announced that president trump will hold a second summit with kim jong-un next month, possibly in vietnam, we hear, which has relations with both cunanan trez. but today victor and his fellow researchers have now discovered another secret missile base in north korea, one of many, as many as 20 undisclosed missile sites in the north. >> we have to go after nuclear weapons, but we also have to go after the delivery systems which are these 20 missile bases. you know, the concern is that trump will get so desperate for a deal that he'll take a bad
9:51 am
deal where the north koreans promise to giveaway things they're not going to do in the future for real concessions by the united states, troops, or sanctions or stopping exercises. >> joining me now is joe, the president of tile shares fund and an msnbc national security analyst. let's talk about what victor has done in this research, showing they are hiding more stuff. why should we go ahead with a high-profile summit which helps both arguably in a political context, but which could be risky for the u.s.? >> very interesting report today. it is mainly an historical report. this is an old base. goes back to the 1960s. but terrific analysis of what's going on there, what we know about it. no secret to u.s. intelligence, of course, but it's one of em undeclared sites. so this is why victor cha and many others, including me, believe that one of the goals should be to get north korea to declare a list of all its sites and then we can workout a plan for how to dismantle these
9:52 am
sites. that's one of the hopes coming out of this summit. >> but that was a demand in singapore. pompeo goes to pyongyang, doesn't meet with kim jong-un is totally stiffed. kim yong chol here on friday called him gangster-like person for even demanding an inventory. >> that's why the stakes are so high for the second summit, as you mentioned vietnam in february, because it may be our last chance. it could go one of two ways. with president trump you never know what is going to happen, but it could go one of two ways. one is that the president doesn't take it seriously, it's a photo op like singapore, there is no deal of any kind. that could risk the whole thing unraveling. the second is that we're actually listening to the south koreans, president moon of south korea, has been working with kim of north korea to work out a step, a major step that could be taken, an agreement for north
9:53 am
korea to dismantle a particular site, if not declare all of them. in exchange for some sanctions relief and a big gift, a declaration for the end of the korean war. it's -- i'm hearing that that is one of the likely outcomes of this summit, but we're still about four weeks away. >> now, that itself would be a big reversal from the original position which was that the u.s. position was, you declare and you denuclearize before we start lifting sanctions. it was hard enough to get the world together on sanctions. >> right. that is completely unrealistic. we have to accept that we're not going to get this grand slam that john bolton or mike pompeo want, that the north koreans unilaterally give up anything before we do anything. that's not going to happen. so the best outcome for this summit is a step-by-step process. they start dismantling. we relax sanctions so the north and south koreans can start cooperation.
9:54 am
they give more sites, we relax sanctions, et cetera. that is the only way this deal is going to work. >> what about the fact that in singapore, when we were all there, the president started talking about removing u.s. troops from south korea peninsula, then you had secretary mattis putting the brakes on that finally after singapore. but what they did postpone the annual joint exercises which goes to readiness. now, the exercises are coming up again in march and april. the president could lift that again. >> yes, in fact, all indications are that he will lift it again, we will not have those exercises. i heard general vincent brooks on the pbs news hour friday talking about the fact that, look, if you don't exercise, you do suffer readiness. it does degrade your military capabilities. but it's worth it in this case if there is a deal, if this will help ease tensions. so i agree with the general. it's worth it to relax these exercises. the problem with president trump actually goes beyond korea. he seems to treat our bases, our
9:55 am
alliances as if they're stores that he has opened up and he might be willing to close these stores. >> let's close this shopping center, we don't need nato, we don't need the pacific rim protection, nuclear umbrella for our allies. >> he doesn't understand the historical significance, the great national security significance of these alliances and these bases, and that's why he may be willing to give them away for free. >> by the way, secretary pompeo did talk to his counterpart in south korea yesterday because they have to hold their hands as well and make sure they're not going too fast. thank you so much. >> thank you, andrea. >> good to see you. and a loss today. a legendary c.i.a. officer tony mendez passed away over the weekend after a battle with parkinson's. he gained fame in recent years after ben affleck portrayed him in the oscar winning film "argo." before that it was mendez who pulled off the impossible. he hatched the plan that helped six american diplomats escape where they were being held
9:56 am
hostage at the u.s. embassy in tehran. they were taken in by canada at their embassy. mendez was recruited by the c. >> a. in 19635. he became a master of disguise. he is survived by his wife also a long-time c.i.a. officer. tony mendez was only 78. no more excuses with cologuard.
9:57 am
we all make excuses for the things we don't want to do. but when it comes to colon cancer screening... i'm not doin' that. i eat plenty of kale. ahem, as i was saying... ...with cologuard, you don't need an excuse...
9:58 am
all that prep? no thanks. that drink tastes horrible! but...there's no prep with cologuard... i can't take the time off work. who has two days? and i feel fine - no symptoms! everybody, listen! all you need is a trip to the bathroom. if you're 50 or older and at average risk, cologuard is the noninvasive option that finds 92% of colon cancers. you just get the kit in the mail, go to the bathroom, collect your sample, then ship it to the lab! this is your year! own it! cologuard is not right for everyone. it is not for high risk individuals, including those with a history of colon cancer or precancer, ibd, certain hereditary cancer syndromes, or a family history of colon cancer. ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. covered by medicare and most major insurers. ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. aso our tools and technologyw yodeliver results you can see.s. we can connect to your audiences wherever they are and however they watch whether on their tv, laptop or mobile device.
9:59 am
and to make sure they don't miss your message, we give you access to advertise on over fifty networks, sharing it on the hottest shows, digital sites, and mobile destinations. let's find your audience today. see what you can do at comcastspotlight.com. thanks for being with us. think about dr. martin luther
10:00 am
king, jr., and his legacy today. follow our show on twitter, facebook at mitchell reports. and here is aman mohadin for "velshi & ruhle." >> gafrp. it's monday, january 21st, let's get smarter. >> you have an announcement you would like to make? >> i am running for president of the united states. >> yea! [ laughter ] >> and i'm very excited about it. >> the american public wants a fighter and they want someone that is going to fight like heck for them and not fight based on self-interests. and i'm pry paired to do that. >> we are heading into month two of this partial government shutdown. it comes after the president rolled out what he calls a compromise on saturday. he said he'd give about a million immigrants three years' protection from deportation in exchange for that $5.7 billion he wants for his wall. >> this is not a 2000 mile concrete structure from sea t