that wraps up this hour of msnbc live. i'm philip mehta. now it's time for "weekends with alex witt." there she is. >> 7:00 a.m. on the east, 4:00 a.m. on the west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." all documents related to jared kushner's security clearance and they want it by monday. there's new fallout. >> who else knows that the president did this? >> alan weisselberg. >> one little-known figure came up and shocked long-time trump insiders. we'll take a look at who he is. democrats poised to call for the president's tax returns and

what democrats are expecting to find especially after the cohen testimony. two new controversies involving ivanka trump, what she said, when she said it, and what does it mean. ne next. first up after a bruising week, the president will speak at the cpac conference, annual gathering of conservatives. nearly the same time 2020 presidential candidate will have his official kick-off rally. the very busy saturday coming on the heels of the big report from "the new york times," saying trump order his chief of staff to give son-in-law jared kushner top security clearance, secret security clearance last year. here is how adviser kellyanne conway responded. >> why would he tell everyone that's not something that he meddled in that process? >> he has the absolute authority to do that and he trusts jared as one of his members of the

senior team trying to negotiate peace in the middle east. >> but that still doesn't answer the question as to why he didn't admit doing so. they're denying last month's "new york times" that he played any role and kushner receiving clearance and now congress is demanding that the white house provides all documents for kushner's clearance and by monday. as cohen's public hearing and mr. trump's response still reverberate. >> in his way, he was telling me to lie. mr. trump knew from roger stone in advance about the wiki leaks drop of e-mails. i recall don junior leaning over to his father and saying, the meeting is all set. and i remember mr. trump saying, okay, good. let me know. >> nbc's mike piquera is at the

white house. lots of groundwork has been laid for hearings, more investigations to come. good luck with walking us through all that is happening. let's start, though, with the deadline facing the white house on monday. >> you're absolutely right, alex. follow the transcript seems to be the mantra, the update to follow the money, while the house is controlled by democrats. myriad of investigations. we saw that long testimony in public on wednesday, followed up by michael cohen behind closed doors with the house intelligence committee on thursday. we'll get back to that in a minute. with regard to your specific question, elijah cummings, who did chair that wednesday hearing, he has a separate investigation going on. he wrote letters way back on january 23rd to the white house asking for information about the processes for clearance, security clearances for white house officials. now over the course of the last 24 hours, after that controversial bombshell report from "the new york times," alleging that -- reporting that

president trump himself interfered in that process and overruled his chief of staff, top white house lawyer here, among others, including intelligence professionals and granted that top clearance to his son-in-law and top adviser jared kushner, that takes on a new urgency. elijah cummings demanding those documents, setting a deadline by monday. meanwhile, michael cohen will be back march 6th. adam schiff of california says he wants to drill down on some of the things that were went over -- that were gone over in that hearing just last week. democrats are using that as a road map for some of these investigations. house intelligence will also hear from felix satter next week. he, of course, is the russian-born real estate developer, an associate and business partner at times of president trump, who was said to be instrumental, according to michael cohen in that trump tower project that is proven to

be so controversial aal in moscow that was under devel development or at least under consideration. over in the ways and means committee, democrats newly in charge there. richie neil from massachusetts is the chairman. he will be asking for tax returns it's recently been reported by nbc news. president trump's tax returns and he's writing to the irs demanding the same. the house judiciary committee again, another key player here, run by jerry nadler, the democrat of manhattan. he will be initiating investigations and hearings into what are termed trump abuses, attacks on the court, attacks on the fbi, attacks on the media. that seems it has a very broad scope. we'll learn more about how they're going to narrow that down. lot of investigations here. the trump white house has already said there's too much going on here. they're pushing back on these document demands and requests. it remains to be seen how far democrats will get with the paper but plenty of hearings,

opened and closed, coming up in the next couple of weeks. alex? >> wow, good job outlining that for us there. is a lot to unpack. >> yeah. >> thank you, mike. >> okay. ladies, we're going to delve into all of this further with the both of you. julia, on the kushner security clearance, you wrote about another argument that's being made and that the focus should be on why kushner was denied that clearance, not necessarily the president's handling of this. although i am going to ask you about that, abigail. is this something that the committee can get an answer to, why he was being deny aid security clearance in the first place, or at least the hold-up? >> we're hearing talk that they would like to get former chief of staff john kelly to testify before and explain why. we do know jared kushner has had quite a bit of dealings with foreign entities in the past and during this administration he was the key point of contact for the decision or the move to move the u.s. embassy in tel aviv to

jerusalem. he has a lot of ties to saudi arabia with those arms deals and potentially with how the white house moved around the issue of jamal khashoggi's murder. clearly he has had dealings with foreign countries in the past. he was involved in that trump tower meeting in 2016. i think they'll look to see why he was denied this security clearance but also like to know his ties to other foreign entities because clearly this has plagued the trump administration since day one. >> julia, basically you could just follow the money, right? the fact is that he's an investor and the concern about security clearance is that you could be beholden to foreign adversaries or foreign entities monetarily, and that's the concern. if you just want to boil it down to the basics. >> absolutely. and i think that's where they're going to start out with.

a lot of democrats in the committee are concerned, where does his investment, outside investment that came before the trump administration tie into his work in government? what if there is a conflict of interest there? i think that is where democrats really want to get to the root of this. and i think you're going to hear a lot about his foreign dealings financially, well before he joined the trump administration, because that could have been a reason why he was denied that security clearance multiple times and why, you know, the administration really pushed to just get him one. >> right. in terms of damage for the president, abigail, john kelly wrote, i believe, a five-page document that detailed why he was concerned and did not want to have to clear jared kushner with the top secret security clearance. kellyanne conway says it's within the president's purview to do this. so why lie? and what's the fallout?

>> i think that's the key. why lie? i think when we're looking at the situation, it's yet another self-inflicted wound on the white house. obviously, as julia laid out, it raises a lot of questions as to why jared kushner wasn't issued the security clearance to begin with. i think the president made it worse for himself, but also ivanka trump, denying that he interfered in it. it raises questions as to why did you feel the need to lie about this? why is jared kushner also tasked with handling these very high-profile, highly classified issues, when you look at what he's doing in the middle east, particularly given the fact that he is a foreign policy neophite prior to joining the white house. but when you're looking at it, you nailed down the right question. why lie about it? it's another self-inflict ed wound. they opened themselves up to another line of intense questions from house democrats and other people just raising red flags about this entire

situation. >> you bring up a point, is jared kushner the most qualified person to be doing these ventures on behalf of the white house? let's go to michael cohen. because he's back on the hill for the fourth time, resuming his intel hearing. what is it that the panel could learn from him that they have not already? >> i think you're going to hear quite a bit more we heard him give explosive testimony on wednesday and they'll want to elaborate that on even more. we also heard him hint to say there wasn't collusion however i did have my suspicions and i think you'll have the panel say what were those suspicions? why do you feel this way? there will be almost a continuation, a delving more deeply into his testimony. that last testimony really brought up a lot of questions. you also saw freshman

congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez bring up trump's tax returns. she laid out the road map for democrats to investigate that. that is something that will definitely include that and see how that plays into that saga. >> she was roundly applauded for her laser-like focus during that hearing. she did a great job on that. nbc news, abigail, is reporting that this house committee, ways and means committee, is expected to request the president's tax returns the next few weeks. however, they said we're going to hold off, wait until the mueller report gets filed before making that request. what's change heerd? >> one of the interesting things, activists from the democratic base, you heard calls to immediately demand the tax returns once they won the house. based on conversations i had

with pelosi staff and others on the hill was that going after trump's tax returns was a partisan move and the only reason for it was political. so really they want to lay the case as to why they needed the tax returns, what purpose it served, what they could glean from the tax returns. back to ocasio-cortez in the hearing, she did that and democrats made the case as to why these tax returns are necessary and the the issue it raises by the fact that trump has not yet released them. when talking about what changed, it was the cohen hearing and these lines of questioning from democratic lawmaker. >> i think you're right. julia manchester, abigail tracy, good to see you. >> thank you.

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beyond fast. >> i don't think i have the authority to do that. >> you do have. >> but i wouldn't do it. i wouldn't do it. jared's a good -- i was never involved with his security. >> there were anonymous leaks

about their being issues but the president had no involvement pertaining to my clearance or my husband's clearance. previous denials are leading to more investigation, subpoenaing the white house for documents. bypassed warnings of chief kelly, don mcgahn now facing a monday deadline to get information. deputy national security adviser to george w. bush, juan zarate. welcome back, sir. how big of a deal is this? do you think there was a breach of security procedure? >> good morning, alex. certainly there wasn't a breach in terms of the president ordering security clearance. he has that authority. >> right. >> he has the authority to determine what's classified or

not, who has clearances and certainly who speaks on his behalf or is an envoi. puzzling, right? but what is interesting here, and you've already covered some of this earlier in your program, is what were the concerns that the intelligence community and the fbi had with respect to giving jared kushner these clearances, the particular elements of leverage that foreign intelligence services or foreign counter parties would have over him and, in particular, with respect to the portfolios he is covering for the president and the united states, issues related to middle east peace, the relationship with saudi arabia. jared kushner has played a constructive, important role in nafta in relation to latin america. what are those concerns? all of this turmoil raises the question, what were those concerns? and are those concerns even more

valid or troubling today, given the role that mr. kushner plays? all of that now is a swirl because there's a question as to why he was granted these clearances and what role the president played. >> essentially, as we were saying in the last block, juan, it's about following the money, right? they're concerned that foreign entities could potentially hold him up to a level of blackmail. maybe not that specifically but say hey, look, we gave you this. it's a money thing. and also the fact that jared kushner had to refile his papers, attempting to get a security clearance, all the information, what, three times? >> yeah. >> had to keep going back. what about this? oh, i have to put that on. it looks bad. why would the president lie about it? you're right, he can offer the security clearance to him. >> right. i think, you know, there's been sensitivities around, you know, nepotism. he has jared kush nerks ivanka

next to him, serving as advis advisers. maybe they're concerned about any appearance of nepotism. looks like that, feels like that. i think the president has been conditioned to think i can't overreach on some of these investigations. right? he has been stung quite a bit on that. maybe he's thinking, i shouldn't be perceived to be intervening on things that have a normal course to them, like security clearances. but who knows? the president had the authority to do this. the problem, of course, as we're saying, it raises questions of leverage and trust. it's what leverage do foreign counter parties have over jared kushner that raised the initial concerns, have those gotten worse over time? and this question of trust. not the president's trust of jared kushner, but the intelligence community's trust and even jared kushner's trust

of the intelligence community. you not only receive information and hopefully get the most information available to help the president, to help with the decision making, but you also do things with that information. you share it with counter parties. you come back and you share information with the intelligence community about your communications. and so if there is a rupture in that trust, that then raises questions of effectiveness, raises further questions of leverage. do foreign counter parties know more about jared kushner than the intelligence community? all of this creates too many questions and now you've got congress involved. >> and i'm looking at a report from "the washington post" february of last year in which it states that jared kushner, apart from staff on the national security council, issues more requests for information to the intelligence community than any white house employee. why would he be asking for so much intelligence? >> well, you know, that could be

inoccuous, right? he has a very wide-ranging portfolio. he's negotiating middle east peace. he needs to see what's happening with israel and palestinian authorities, what's happening on the ground, what they're saying, do i doing, but what other key partners in the middle east are saying, doing, like what the chinese and russians are trying to do. all of that can be innocuous. but whether or not he should have high level of clearance, it does raise questions of what he's asking and for what purposes and should he be seeing some of these things? >> and, juan, is there any way that jared kushner could have already caused some damage? >> it's hard for me to tell but at a minimum, this question of the rupture of trust, i think, is important because whoever the president puts out there to represent him and the u.s. government and the american people has to be effective, right? they have to have the best

information possible. they have to be trusted by elements of the intelligence community that have to produce answers to questions, analytic pieces, even collect new information on your behalf to try to make the best policy decision possible. so, at a minimum, i don't know if people have leverage over him or if information has been conveyed in improper ways. who knows? i don't know yet. but the question of this trust and effectiveness is upon us. and i think that's really going to be the first order question for jared k uchushner and the president. >> i very much appreciate your analysis, juan zarate. come see me again soon. thank you very much. >> thank you. matthew calamari went viral after the cohen hearing. he's real and loves trump. i'll ask campaign adviser sam nunberg about this next. nunberg about this next.

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mr. trump did not directly tell me to lie to congress. that's not how he operates. in his way, he was telling me to lie. he doesn't give you questions. he doesn't give you orders. he speaks in a code and i understand the code because i've been around him for a decade.

>> one of the bombshell claims made under oath by michael cohen, former lawyer and so-called fixer for donald trump, will join me now, sam nunberg, and a frequent guest here. >> hi, alex. >> give me your assessment of the hearing overall and also this code. you've been around donald trump. what is it that he's referring to? do you understand this code of language that michael cohen says the president speaks? >> first of all, the president has never had me lie for him under oath and i didn't lie to the justice department at all for him. i wasn't going to either. even if i was working for him, i wasn't going to. let's say if i had a press inquiry, i was asked a certain question, i would then ask mr. trump, can you tell me what's going on? we'll figure out what we're going to do. never happen. doesn't happen. they're lying. >> he wouldn't answer your question? he wouldn't tell you what's going on? >> right. >> why not? >> or he would -- or something

along the lines of yes, it's $8 billion. no, it's $10 billion. >> but you're a campaign adviser. why would he not tell you the truth? why would he not inform you so that you can go out and give an informed answer? >> i think that, look, when you work for a client in politics or other people that you can work for in this type of industry and in the private party industry, they will tell you to go out and say things that they want said. with that said, it is unusual with the way -- working for then mr. trump that he wouldn't tell you what was really going on. that was the issue. and i think it's partly because he doesn't trust people because it's something i thought of in hindsight, alex. when i had to sign that nda, and i got fired so early, he treated me so terribly. why would he want me to sign an nda? i would never do anything to him but it's the way he treated people in the past. he throws them out like garbage that he doesn't expect them -- so they can call michael cohen a rat all they want.

if you don't give loyalty you're not going to get loyalty. >> that's something that michael cohen was expressing, clearly, during his hearing. cohen also said that then candidate trump had advanced known knowledge from roger stone, a man you called a mentor. >> yes. >> about wikileaks and that they were going to release the e-mails. let's listen. >> mr. stone told mr. trump that he had just gotten off the phone with julian assange and mr. assange told mr. stone that within a couple of days there would be a massive dump of e-mails that would damage hillary clinton's campaign. mr. trump respond ed by stating to the effect, "wouldn't that be great?" >> roger stone denies that he had any contact with julian assange. clearly someone is lying here. you know roger stone. what do you know about his contacts with julian assange?

>> not to undo -- i don't want to get in trouble with the government. i don't think this has anything to do with my grand jury. roger would have loved to talk to julian assange. roger would have loved to see the e-mails from russia. roger would have loved to sit in that embassy with julian assange. if he even could have hacked the e-mails, he didn't. he was lying. now calling donald trump and saying that, that was roger getting himself in trouble. why? i was fired unfairly, roger quits. he had no reason to remain loyal to donald trump and got himself in this trouble. i believe that conversation happened. in other words, i believe michael over roger stone. i also don't believe that roger spoke with julian assange. >> roger was lying, trying to impress trump, engrashiate himself and keep himself relevant. he put himself out to do things

for donald trump. roger needs to understand something. i met somebody that met with roger. i don't talk to roger. i said let roger understand this in a way he can understand this. did ehrlichman get pardons from president nixon? no. you want to go to jail for donald trump, that's your prerogative. >> cohen said that president trump knew about that famous meeting at trump tower when they were trying to get dirt on hillary clinton. let's listen to that. >> i are recall don junior leaning over to his father, speaking in a low voice, which i could clearly hear and saying the meeting is all set. and i remember mr. trump saying, "okay, good. let me know." >> so you've said you believe don junior probably would have told his father about that meeting. so where is the truth here? >> i don't know. look, on this one, i would have -- i don't think what michael said exactly

corroborates or proves that donald trump knew about the meeting. i'm going to take don junior at his word unless somebody shows me something that doesn't chime out. what i would say, alex, in the e-mail exchange between don junior and the representative, goldstone, he said let me go to rhona. and he said no, no, no. this is where i disagree with people on panels and things, i don't believe that proves collusion, the meeting. >> let's go with the names that were brought up in the testimony. 30 times adam weisselberg. let's talk about him. how much damage could he have on donald trump and make toward the trump organization? >> first of all, i have no firsthand knowledge of donald trump committeeing any financial

crimes. anything i did with them was completely legal, above the board and was told to make sure was above the board but adam allen weisselberg knows every single thing that went through. he would look at it and question me after donald trump just to go over something and it could be as insignificant to $400 just to understand what the voice was. he has worked for fred trump. allen even was subpoenaed and testified when donald trump or trump org was sued for building trump tower by polish immigrants. he has been around there that long. that said, i don't know if anything illegal has been done. this stuff that michael is talking about, i have no idea. >> if someone were to know about it -- >> allen. >> -- it would be al snen. >> 100%, allen would know. >> you were on set when michael cohen said matthew calamari.

you smiled just now. >> he can do damage because he's pretty stupid and i would tell him to just plead the fifth. i would hope that his attorneys would tell him to plead the fifth. you saw a clip of him trying to talk on "apprentice." it didn't work out that well. we used to call him the squid. he's donald's enforcer. he met him before he had trump tower. guy didn't graduate high school, was a security guy. beat somebody up at a u.s. open and then was doing security for trump. he's very lucky to be where he is. >> not right now maybe. >> not right now but i've heard rumors, alex, of what he has done. i don't know. we used to joke around and say he deals with the cement people. >> got it. felix sater, is there a reason to ask him about trump tower moscow negotiations? this is a man who had an office on the 26th floor of trump tower, the premier floor, right?

and the president has said before, i'm not sure i would even recognize him. why would the president say that? and what kind of information might felix satt esater have? >> i never met felix sater. what i know about felix satervis-a-vis me, when i was in my voluntary they asked me about trump moscow many times. bief left the voluntary, they asked me if i knew anything about trump tower and i think felix sater is consequential, because he seems to be the person who was the key point outside person on trump tower moscow. when i was working for trump up until august 3rd of 2015, i had no idea about trump tower moscow, i never heard about it. michael has said that subsequently after i left he spoke to cory lewandowski about scheduling a trip to moscow. on one hand, it could help trump saying, look, we weren't talking

about trump tower moscow before he announced that year. on the other hand, yes, we were talking about it up until around june of 2016. at least trump was lying to the public about it. >> give me your assessment of what michael cohen has yet to say behind closed doors. he's coming back wednesday to the house intel committee. how damaging do you think his testimony is ultimately? >> the most damaging thing you can get out of michael now would be about whether or not michael was flat-out instructed to lie, either via the president's lawyer, who i know is a very good man and he denies it, or jared kushner's lawyer, who i think has shown this week in terms of how he lied to the press about jared's clearance. that's where i think the president really -- as somebody who doesn't necessarily think he should be removed from office, i assume he's going to be impeached. i want to say one thing very quickly. somebody who knows michael, somebody who has worked for donald trump and somebody who is

conservative and a freedom caucus type guy, i was very, very -- if they didn't do the better bring up their game f they're trying to help donald trump, the way they acted will not help him. it could get him removed from office. that was pathetic. >> sam nunberg, always appreciate your candor. >> thank you. we are just getting started. top of the hour, a round table discussion on up with david g gura. >> a story we talked about for the past many months but that piece in "the new york times" the way in which jared kushner's security clearance was secured. how much that 2016 campaign centered on now president trump's allegation that hillary clinton mishandled sensitive

information. that appears to be at issue here as he wraps up his trip through the middle east. bernie sanders is getting ready to officially kick off his campaign at brooklyn college. politics editor is there, we'll check in with her, get a sense of what senator sanders is going to say and how this campaign is different from the one he waged in 2016. >> that's worth sta staying tuned for. thank you so much, david. the fight over the president's tax returns and how house democrats are making the case to get them released. ♪

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former fixer turned felon michael cohen returns wednesday to capitol hill. joining me now, member of the ways of means committee, what was the biggest takeaway from the cohen testimony? >> it strengthened the need for us to get more information. a lot of folks questioned mr. cohen's credibility. i get that. president trump has surrounded himself with people who lie. and michael cohen was one of those people. he was convicted of mistruths that were substantial. so i get that people want to question his credibility. what you can't question is he put a lot of information out there that really begs the question. and i think puts us in a

position where we don't have a choice but to follow up. for example, in requesting the president's tax returns, something that the committee that i'm serving on has been working on, the need to do that was strengthened by some of the claims that mr. cohen made about the president inflating his value. does any of that show up in the tax returns? i guess we'll have to see. it clearly demonstrates that we have a responsibility to look into these matters. we can hold our conclusions until we get the information. >> right. >> but the american people require us to do our job and we have to look into this. >> the fact that michael cohen is a convicted liar, if you want to put it that way, and the republicans at every possible turn repeated that over and over again, sometimes for color and the word pathological. did it seem to be lost to them that he lied under oath? yes, again he was under oath but the stakes are incredibly grave. he's doing this testimony in front of a global audience, potentially, and only stands to

spend more time behind bars if he was, indeed, lying. is that a case you could make to your constituents who say well, representative kildee, the guy's a liar? >> he may be. the fact of the matter is that everything he said in that hearing, he has already told the investigators that worked on his case. that information, i'm sure, has been conveyed long ago and repeatedly. he was not there to reduce his sentence. he was there because he, i think, is trying to redeem himself and trying to find some dignity as he heads off to jail and he's trying to do the right thing before that moment occurs. >> and adding more lies to that would hardly serve that purpose well. right? >> it wouldn't serve that purpose and it would not result in the reduction of his sentence. it was a really pathetic demonstration of blind loyalty to a president who is clearly a pathological liar himself. republicans on that committee looked pretty bad. and it's not a good reflection

on them personally and it's certainly not a good reflection on the republican party. they have essentially sold themselves out to donald trump. they're going to regret that day for a long, long time. >> you know what they say, particularly about corporations, that everything starts at the top and funnels down. let's move to the intelligence committee. we have upcoming hearings for cohen, felix sater and allen weisselberg as well. is there anyone else that congress should be reaching out to to try to get testimony? >> anyone close to the president, who has legal or financial entanglements is open to suspicion at this time, based on what we already know and based on what cohen presented. i think mr. weisselberg will be a key player in all of this. donald trump and his closest associate, the treasurer of every organization that he has operated in, they know every dollar that goes in and out of that organization. so i think that's going to be the key, next key witness. >> so with regard to trying to get the president's tax returns,

i'm sure some of your constituents say this is part of a witch hunt, parodying that which the president has said numerous times. what do you say to them? we're just trying to follow the money and get answers? >> i say i swore an oath to uphold the constitution and do the job i was elected to do. we have two choices here. ignore this mountain of damning evidence that paints the picture of a president who is essentially running a crime syndicate from the white house. ignore it, or do our job, follow up and let the facts take us where they may. i don't think that relieves us of the obligation to do the hard work that deals with the economic challenges that every american faces. we're doing that. we can't simply say this is going to upset somebody so this really important part of the job, that's described in the

constitution, we don't have a choice. we have to follow the facts wherever they may lead us. >> michigan representative dan kildee, always good to see you. >> thank you, alex. ivanka trump's comments sparked a stern review from capitol hill. s sparked a stern review from capitol hill (grandma) nooooooo... (dad) nooooooo... (dog) yessssss.... (vo) quick, the quicker picker upper! bounty picks up messes quicker and is two times more absorbent than the leading ordinary brand. (boy) hey look, i got it. bounty, the quicker picker upper. got it. ran out of ink and i have a big meeting today and 2 boxes of twizzlers.. yeah, uh...for the team... the team? gooo team.... order online pickup in an hour. get up to $200 off on pcs and your tech destination. at office depot officemax

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two new controversies surrounding ivanka trump. a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want drawing a strong retort. and then the "new york times" says officials ordered a security clearance. let's bring in the cofounder of all in together. former white house aide to george president bush. this new report on kushner security clearance, i want to make clear nbc has not confirmed this reporting but here is what ivanka did say about that process when interviewed last month. >> the president has no involvement pertaining to my clearance or my husband's clearance. >> what were the problems early on.

>> there weren't any. >> so no special treatment. >> no. >> so weigh in this given the "new york times" report. >> the "new york times" says that is not true, so we have ivanka trump saying something that clearly is not true given the -- at least based on the report that we have from the "new york times." and this is the problem with the president's children working in the white house. you know, i counselled against this early on. i said it's always a problem for people who have the same name as their sitting president to work in the white house because they're prone to protect their father or their father-in-law. and the white house aides working for the president, this is a challenge for ivanka and clearly we'll see what happens if she gets called to testify under oath. >> what is your take on all this, lauren? >> i mean more than working for the president of the united states, she works for the american people. to cover up any involvement of the president in a massive, you

know, national security challenge, it's really problematic and you know, the president has a -- has made a habit of this. you look at what he was willing to overlook the case of michael flynn. you look at his willingness to have michael flynn in the white house even though his own ordered him over and over again that it was dangerous, it fits a pattern and there's a reason why we have career civil service folks working on security clearances. they are experts in this and they are there to protect the security, the national security of the united states. this is not about personal family ties and that should have been respected. >> let's get to the other controversy about wages. let's take a listen to the remarks on that. >> i don't think most americans in their heart want to be given something. people want to work for what they get. so i think this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not

something most people want. >> look, she tried to clarify that later in a tweet saying that i support a minimum wage. i do not, however, believe in a minimum guarantee for people unwilling to work. what's your reaction to that? >> part of why this is so painful is because ivanka is someone who has been handed wealth from birth and never has to work for what she has and it sounds so tone deaf. we have people working multiple jobs and are still below the poverty line. in most states the minimum wage is legally below the poverty line. and this discussion started in international aid and development circles. part of the reality of what's happening in the dwrieunited st is that the poor the trapped. trapped in a permanent cycle of poverty. they are not socially mobile in our country right now. >> do you get a sense republicans agree with ivanka on

this? >> no, i get a sense that lauren is right. i mean, what ivanka said initially sounds very tone deaf. the majority of americans haven't inherited wealth and want to work but they also want to be paid well in what they do. this is a good conversation for us to have. >> thanks, guys. ahead, next hour, a comparison to that remarkable wa watergate event. remarkable wa watergate event. it sure is. (mom vo) over the years, we trusted it to carry and protect the things that were most important to us. we always knew we had a lot of life ahead of us. (mom) remember this? (mom vo) that's why we chose a car that we knew would be there for us through it all. (male vo) welcome to the all-new 2019 subaru forester. the longest-lasting, most trusted forester ever.

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that's it for me on this hour of weekends. i'll see you all at noon weekend. now it's time for "up "with david gura. >> well, this is "up." now reporting on how jared kushner got the security clearance over the objections of career officials and the white house chief of staff. >> the president does have the authority to gifz a top secret security clearance to whoever he wants so why did they lie is the big question. >> house committee demands details by monday. with his testimony he guesses democrats the keys to the ding come, a ten course meal, you can pick your metaphor. >> pandora's opened not only in terms of witnesses but also potential crimes. >> today president trump addresses conservatives at cpac

has the president