tv Weekends With Alex Witt MSNBC March 9, 2019 9:00am-11:00am PST
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stop cuts to part d drug coverage. i found a companyeans to who believes in me.rt. they look out for me. and they help me grow my career. at comcast it's my job to constantly monitor our network, prevent problems, and to help provide the most reliable service possible. my name is tanya, i work at the network operations center for comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. that's our show for today. see you tomorrow on "am joy." throwing et over to alex whit. >> if they can understand. >> they can't hand tell between show. >> send us the show. it will be a show one day. thank you, see you tomorrow. a very good day from all of you
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in new york. welcome to weekends with alex witt. michael cohen, what he brought this week? a member of the intel house will talk to me to tell me why the new documents matter so much. what does the departure of the sixth director mean going forward? and the president paying respects to an alabama home that was hit so hard. why was he seening bibles when there? happening now, three major stories. growing fallout over the sentencing of former campaign paul manafort. democrats facing a growing backlash over congresswoman ilhan omar and 2020 hopefuls are making their case across the country. after touring the damage in alabama, the president signed bibles. his team sed says people in a baptist church asked him for his autograph.
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before leaving, the president signed with manafosided with ma. many believe it was a lenient sentence for multi-million dollar crimes. >> i feel badly for paul manafort. the judge said there was no collusion with russia. i don't even discuss it. the only one discussing it is you. i haven't discussed it. >> well, to be totally clear. judge ts elliot did not say there was no collusion, but manafort was not being sentenced for crimes related to collusion. there is a distinction there. also developing this hour, almost a week of her anti-semitic comments, democrat omar find herself at the open of discussion after saying this about president obama. we can't only be upset with trump. his policies are bad but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies.
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they just were more polished than he was. i would talk about the family separation or cageing of kids and people would point out that this was trump. i mean, this was obama. i would say something about the droning of countries around the world and people would say it was a obama. >> well, earlier, i spoke well nor holmes norton, the democratic congresswoman representing dvenlth listen to her action of omar's criticism of president obama. >> i'm almost relieved. because it looks like he is she is an equal opportunity critic. i tell you, i think the production i product of social media, when people hear her now, they are probably writing her off. no experience, how are you to understand how are you to behave as a member of congress.
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in terms of her speaking her mind. that's what free speech is all about. >> democratic candidates back out on the campaign trail, in fact, democrat bernie sanders is speaking to people in iowa. we will bring you his friends and later this hour, we will bring you the strategist. the question is why he left and what he thinks about sander,' new run for president. meanwhile, president trump is railing against his former attorney michael cohen calling him a liar for claiming under oath he never asked for a pardon. kelly o'donnell is joining us from west palm beach, florida, right here where the president is spending his weekend. what is happening on this front? >> reporter: well, anna, on a windy saturday here in west palm beach, let me tell you the president has been hammering away at michael con. today he's at his golf course, where presumably he is getting some of that energy out driving on the links, but before he left the white house, he was very
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sharp in his criticism of cohen and for as long as michael cohen is heading to prison and available to congress and others, the president may see him as an opportunity target to go after him, trying to exploit a perceived discrepancy in cohen's own comments about a request for a pardon. president trump was impressed by this from reporters as he was headed away from the white house on friday. here's how he laid out about cohen and the disparity on cohen's position on whether or not he ever wanted a pardon. >> i know that in watching and seeing you folks at night that michael cohen lied about the pardon. it was a stone cold lie. he lied about a lot of things. when he lied about the pardon. that was a lie. he knew about pardons. his lawyer, said they went to my lawyer and asked for pardons.
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i can go a step above that. i won't go into it now. >> reporter: well, when the president was on the plane, he talked about michael cohen say he had personally asked the president for a pardon when they were still on speaking terms. >> that is different what his lawyers say. they say they had im inquired about the possibility of a pardon when they were operating under what is known as a joint defense agreement when there are sort of allies facing prosecutions and document and information. they were working together at that time. until michael cohen was indicted and later cooperated and that agreement cleaned up. cohen fired back with his own tweet calling that all lies, encouraging the president to use what was the international women's day to make his own
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apology, said cohen, two women he had some relationship with in terms of a candidate, two women who received payments in the large scheme of things to try to conceal those personal relationships they had with the president that he denies, so michael cohen and the president entangled again on twitter and in their comments publicly. >> oh, yeah, it is windy down there. we will see you next hour. thank you so much. joining me a democrat from the house intelligence committee. i'm going to get to what happened behind closed doors in front of your committee regarding michael cohen later. i do want to start with the comments, new ones by your congressman ilhan omar. she complains about trump, saying we can't be only upset about trump. his policies are bad.
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but many of the people who came before him also had problems. does it help, sir, for democrats, the democrats to revisit the obama legacy for 2020? >> so look, alex, i don't know any democrat who wouldn't say on occasion they disagreed with president obama's policies. i don't know a single democrat that wouldn't swap out president obama for president trump in a new york second. the fact is an overwhelming number of democrats strongly support president obama in most of his policies, oh lord, would i love to have him back again. >> i think a few people feel that way. with regard to the congresswoman, is it rushing the state to speak like that? >> well, i think she is in a different fish bowl than she has said before. any utterance at any time will be amplified.
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if she doesn't do it, herself. it will be responded to in a way that she has ever seen before. let's hope there are growth and learning pains going on here. >> so you and your colleagues passed a comprehensive and corruptible anti-legislation. it was brais placed on condemning all forms of hate as they are lingering over the anti-semitic comments. why did her comments get attention on both sides of the aisle? do you think it reflects a generational divide or republicans are trying to make it look that way? >> so i thought the thing about the anti-hate path. first of which is that there are 23 republicans who voted for hate or against opposition to hate. i simply fail to understand that. one went so far as to say
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because it didn't have an anti-white discrimination clause in it he couldn't support it. one thing in spite of all the media attention given to that particular resolution, which passed overwhelmingly, we also took up the sweeping ethics reform measure in a generation. so we did not allow all that attention on thursday to distract us as we were draining the swamp and making sure people can have confidence in the electoral system. >> yeah. super important. now we'll get no what happened with lawyer michael cohen testifying again behind closed doorgs to your committee. we saw him wheel in these documents. sources say he supports open testimony wednesday of last
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week. so what you can tell us in those documents, did you find evidence that supports any of the ongoing investigations, that would include obstruction of justice. >> i think i would assume the phrase, you are assuming facts that contain documents. >> you are not going to answer it, are you? >> no we have done it too many times. i will tell you this, i genuinely believe i have learned as much if not more in the two days the of interviewing michael cohen this week and last week than i did in two years under the investigation under the republican majority. it was a substantive exchange. he was fully cooperative. i think it materially contributed to our investigatory efforts. we will, of course, as in all goods investigations insist on having corroborating everyday. >> when you say you learned so much in these two episodes with
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him, that was all the behind closed doors. you are not including what we have all heard on wednesday of last week? >> no i think there is a different purpose and a differ tone. the oversight committee which did a excellent job has a different lane. as you know, our efforts focus on counterintelligence also notably with all due respect to the profession you were in and i was in for ten years. there is a different tenor that occurs when you don't have cameras in the room. it's more serious, i think. i was quite pleased. >> you know if i didn't like you so much. let's listen what cohen told the oversight committee specifically with regard to the presidential pardon. here's that. >> i have never asked for, nor would i accept a pardon from president trump. >> so when he testified before your committee the i get you to answer whether or not the issue of a presidential pardon came up?
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just the issue? so, alex, i think common sense would suggest anybody to a logical conclusion on that question. let me go back to the issue of the sensitivity about the absence of cameras and to remind you that the transvictims of these two interview sessions will be released in the not too distant future. it hasn't been determined that date. you corner have that long to wait before you can see every word asked and every word answered. >> okay. what about reporting that michael cohen's lawyers first floated the idea of a pardon with the president's legal team. can i ask you if you have the evidence to determine whether or not he lied to congress a second time? >> you can ask. >> oh, please. so how about this, the whole episode altogether has this undermined his credibility for you or do you find his testimony
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credible? >> so he was incredibly cooperative. as we all well know, as has been represented in open sources, he brought receipts. he did bring documents. i'm not getting into exactly what they were. it is a question now of piecing toke the whole cloth. it's not appropriate or prudence of standard practices to dra any hard and fast piece of testimony or one document. all of these have to be pieced together. it will including gathering information from people beyond michael con. as of course, you know the intelligence committee has announced we will have felix sader in for an open session i believe later on this month. that's a piece and parcel of this as well. >> it is, indeed, as talking with you and getting what we can. i do appreciate the candor you are able to give us. thank you so much. divide and conquer, how
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resolution condemning not just antisemitism and race across the board. joining me now a national political reporter for "the washington post" and brian bennett, senior correspondent for "time" magazine. nice to see you, bryant i'll start with you first. do you ung the democrats opened themselves up to criticism by allowing this resolution to lg as it did before passing it? >> this is not what the democrats want to be talking about. it plays into trumps plan about who is alive with israel and not. rep omar with her comments have opened this up for the democrats. they felt they had to do something. it kept it up in the debate for so long. what they want to talk about is what they are doing to countercorruption. the massive investigations into trump's alleged activity they've launched and they want to talk about the voting rights bill they've passed. they don't want to be talking
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about this divisive issue. >> i will get to representative omar with you in a moment. felicia, you specifically reportedthon and how it created division in the democratic party. why did it divide democrats? >> it's interesting. leading up to the actual vote on thursday. this did tear democrats apart. you have members of the old guard calling for this you had some members saying this should be directed towards anti-semitism and calling for this to be a narrow resolution. on the other hand you have members of this newly emboldened freshman class saying i not about this one specific hate. we want to broaden it out against hate and all different kind of groups. so you saw on thursday the measure was about to hit the floor and got pulled off and
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finally did come down for a vote. what i thought what was interesting in the final tally, the focus had been about the debate in the democratic party on this. at the end of the day, every democrat voted in favor. you had 23 house republicans voting against it. now they all gave various reasons, some house republicans said they thought it was watered down. son some favored a narrow anti-semitism and another mo brooks from alabama saying that he thought this should have been broader and including discrimination of other groups of christians or caucasians. you had several members on the floor as well such as doug collins from georgia, bringing up that very point. so it's interesting this debate has many do went in some direction. >> perhaps not what was intended in the first place. okay. so representative omar, you know, one of these newly
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emboldened ones, one felicia identified them. featured in an interview with politico magazine. her comments about president obama are getting some traction. let's take a listen to some of what she said. >> we can't be only upset with trump. his paless are bad, but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies. they were just more polished than he was. i would talk about the family separation or cageing of kids and people would point out that thchs trump, i mean, this was obama. i would say something about the droning of countries around the world and people would say that was obama. >> how do you see this playing out, brian? smr once again, this plays into president trump's hands, he has been critical of obama's policy on the right. now you have representative omarek co-ing voices of the left during obama's presidency, who
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felt he was governing with half measures and not going far enough of big picture policies. it's true, i covered the obama presidency. it wasn't until the second term that he designed the daca program and ruled that out after massive pressure from the left. so we shouldn't be surprised to hear this bubbling back up coming from representative omar and others who have come in from into congress trying to bring the democratic party in their view to bigger and bolder ideas. she is talking about legitimate disappointment that she and others on the left. >> i want to begin with paul manafort and begin with you. you wrote about this. if he would have never joined trump's campaign, paul manafort would be likely a free man
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today? do you think that will factor into his pardoning about that? >> we heard about the president has called him a good man. >> feels bad for him. >> yeah. he feels bad for him. so it's entirely possible though he doesn't have a great track record in that regard. it is true if you think about manafort, it's entirely possible he would have gotten away from hiding dollars from tax authorities if he hadn't met trump. it's important to think of where we are. we have a sitting president, his campaign manager for those two critical months is now going to jail for tax fraud and bank fraud. now that doesn't speak to the central question of the mueller probe. but which is russian involvement. but it does speak to the president's judgment in hiring him, not looking at his past and
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then of course we found out during the proceedings because of a mistake in the court filing that he met with contain teen kilimnik, a russian operative and had allegedly given him campaign polling data. >> right. >> so that wasn't a part of what he was convicted of and going to jalg now. but that information is now out there and it hurts the president. >> we have to say that is specifically what the judge said. again what he was sentenced for. english sha, quickly, how'd this all -- ow -- felisha, where is heading? >> several candidates have come out to use the manafort sentencing to make their case on the need for criminal justice reform. i think that's a debate that's
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energized a lot of voters in the democratic base right now. brian mentioned beyond the sentence, itself is realizing this is one of the many legal woes the president is expecting. we imagine the mueller report to come out one day this week. >> that will only become a legal marass for him. the democrats are investigating him and going beyond the president, himself, to examine for instance the allegations of misconduct in georgia when it comes to issues of voter rights there. >> there's a little still percolating we will have to talk about in the future. thanks, guys. 2020 tension between sanders campaign staffers and clinton campaign officials. so what is the truth? a former campaign insider will join us. a former campaign insider will join us. i hear it in the background and she's watching too, saying
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it's a serious discussion about the important issues facing the american people. if we do not when i will strongly support the democratic nominee and hope and believe others feel exactly the same way. donald trump must be defeated. >> democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders speaking a few moments ago in desmoines, iowa, joining me a former senior adviser. welcome to you. we want to get into this with you. we have the "new york times" quoting you saying you have strategic differences with sanders and his wife. what happened too macy make you? >> as we said in a statement set, we felt sanders had a creative vision for the campaign. we felt we weren't on the same page. we wanted to step away so he can
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put a team around him that shared the direction he want today go in. i want to say this is very amicable. we left the sanders' campaign on a positive note. we are proud of the work we did for him in 2016. i'm still very appreciative of him allowing us to be a part of that campaign. >> okay. let's get to what there has been a slew of reporting on, both the public and private feuding between the clinton and campaign staffers. did you see any of that sand what is it about the rivalry that makes it' hard to let it go? before i have you answer that it struck me listening to bernie sanders there, if he said i do not win, i will strongly support the democratic nominee. do you think the leftover resentment is the fact that he took a long time to get around to that last go around? >> i don't agree. i think he campaigned hard for
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hillary clinton in the last campaign. >> did he do it as soon? was it pretty evident he was not going to get the nomination? >> i think he said he was going ultimately through the primaries and endorsed hillary clinton not too long after that we put 2016 in the rear view mirror. we faced a threat and democrats need to centralize around one final idea which is we feed to get rid of donald trump. i think a lot of this animosity from 2016, we need to leave it behind. >> a lot of people will agree with you, get rid of donald trump. is that enough? is that enough for democrats to run on? they've got to have their own
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platforms. are they more left or more progressive? speak to all that. >> i think elizabeth warren has a sharp positive message that's resonateing. corey booker has a weidenaartive he is talking about it in a way that matter to american motors. i think candidates that are about to enter the field i think beto o'rourke could be a have a party that wants to change the page and move forward. i think he can be a tremendous candidate. i think we have a tremendous field of candidates out there. look. i think you know the nbc poll shows trump is in a rocky place to begin the final two years and
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re-election campaign. only 41% of the public want to vote for his re-election. so that's a tough place for him to be in. i think we have a great field of candidates with powerful messages. i'm very optimistic we can defeat trump in 2020. >> could i let you go, the last sime time sanders ran for president, did he ever go about distinguishing himself from other candidates now that might have similar policies? >> i think it's a testament to senator sanders that much of the democratic party has moved in his direction. i will say i think the party was moving to the left over the last decade. it was one of the things we saw as we went into the last campaign. i'm not sure everybody recognized the degree they were moving to the left. a lot of candidates have moved into that space only makes sense
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because that's where electorate is. is he only a grass roots guy? >> i think he is a grass roots guy. kamela harris was effective in the first 24 hours of her candidacy raising money. like i say, i think beto o'rourke should he get in, he displayed in texas the last go-around a huge ability to raise money from small donors and online. i think several of these candidates will be very, very competitive in terms of their ability to muster grass roots support. i will say as they campaign across iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, they're all drawing great crowds, so i think it's a part of the enthusiasm of the democratic party and the desire to get rid of donald trump and where his party is headed. >> thank you so much. >> yes, absolutely.
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for paul manafort, it's one day of reckoning in the books, still another one to be written. how will next week go for the disgraced campaign chairman? e disgraced campaign chairman? y ge when you can stay home with neulasta onpro? strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. in a key study neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17% to 1%, a 94% decrease. neulasta onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the day after chemo and is used by most patients today. neulasta is for certain cancer patients receiving strong chemotherapy. do not take neulasta if you're allergic to it or neupogen (filgrastim). an incomplete dose could increase infection risk. ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. in patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. the most common side effect is bone and muscle ache.
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collusion with russia i don't even discuss it. the only one discussing it is you. i haven't discussed it. >> the special counsel's office never recommended a specific sentence. guidelines called for 19 to 24 years. he was sentenced to 47 months, not even four years. joining me is a professor of law, rather, at the university of memphis, steven mulroy, the author of "rethinking the election law." sir, welcome to you. were you surprised by the lenience of this sentence? because michael cohen, let's point out, who has been cooperating with prosecutors. hef got three years. right? >> right. >> that's a year less than manafort who went out of his way to impede the investigation and lied. >> yes. the disparity between the two is somewhat striking especially because after agreeing to a plea agreement, manafort then violated that by lying to
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federal prosecutors and engaging in witness tampering so much so he is now in cushion toad in jail awaiting his sentence. i think that you know it's on one hand surprising because of the disparity. on the other hand, not as surprising because judge ellis, a reagan appointee had been skeptical about this prosecution from the get go and made comments revealing that skepticism. so maybe in hinds sight we shouldn't have been surprised. >> what about the possibility of the president leaving a pardon for manafort? is that how you leave it? you think he's thinking, well, maybe? if he does pardon him, what can we expect? >> so it might very well be the case that whether trump intends to pardon him or fought, whether he's made up his mind, you know, his lawyer rudy guiliani says that snug is being thought about
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regarding pardons. it could be the case he is dangling the possibility of a pardon out there. i know this, if there is a pardon granted, there is an investigation right now by the manhattan district attorney on state level fraud charges and tax avoidance charges and those charges could not be affected by a presidential pardon. >> okay. wloobt the president's claim -- what about the president's claim, you hard it there. the judge, judge ellis, said there was no collusion with russia. let's take a listen to this one more time. >> the judge said there was no collusion with russia. it's had nothing to do with collusion. there was no collusion. it's a collusion hoax. it's a collusion witch hoax. i don't clued with russia. the judge, i mean for whatever reason, i was very honored by it also made this statement that
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this had nothing to do with collusion with russia. >> so the president is mixing things up sheer. according to court transcript, the truth is the judge said manafort is not before the court for any allegation that he or anybody at his direction clued with the judgment. he puts this together the judge said there was no collusion. what does the government and the case filings suggest to you on all this? >> i mean you are exactly right. he is mixing up the federal court did not have an election judge ellis made that point but that does not mean the judge weighed in on collusion, he
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now to soaring democratic enthusiasm still a year out to from 2020 primaries. candidates are packing one campaign stop after another. the "new york times" is out with a new look at the beat trump verror and reports while the energy has been uplifting for many candidates it posed somewhat of a challenge to stage early stage popularity. joining me now, bill press, talk show host daniel mood y mills ad nsnbc political analyst. glad to see all of you. still, ladies first, put this in perspective. this high level interest in so many different candidates. >> i think democrats are very excited right now about having
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real substantive policy questions that candidates are bringing to the table right now. they're all strong contenders. i'm not sure who at this very moment i see on the debate stage with i think the turnout people are seeing, whether they be town halls, big street rallies is very exciting and i think that it is going to help us carry on forward to twoin2020 with a lot fervor. >> i don't think either of the gentlemen beside you would put trump at the table when it is said and done. bill, talking about the standard gauges for excitement, crowd size and noise, but it is difficult to distinguish candidates. how do you think candidates are evaluating campaigns in early days? >> alex, we haven't even had the first debate yet. there's a long way to go. in 2018 there's no doubt, the energy and momentum, enthusiasm was on the democratic side, there were more democrats
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running for office than before, turnout was higher than before, and look what happened. 40 new members in the house of representatives, i think seven governors across the board, hundreds of new state democratic legislators. that energy is continuing into twoin 2020. the field is crowded. we know there could be more coming in, joe biden is on the verge of it, maybe terry mccauliffe, beto o'rourke, it will take time for that field to sort out. no doubt it is paying off in terms of huge crowds, small dollar donations unheard of before, and it is as long as democrats don't get too cocky, they have a good shot at 2020. >> interesting point, that last night. let's go to you, rick. there's a "the washington post" column that's titled everyone is underestimating trump, it could hurt democrats and republicans alike. in this article it argues that republicans should make sure they have a plan for what to do
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if trump wins in 2020. given that it will be harder for the rest of the gop to argue with the trumpists. what's your take on this? >> i think that's right. look, trump does not have high popularity, but people are going to judge the 2020 campaign based on their own economic conditions. that's always been true. and if they believe that candidates are going to somehow hurt the economy, let's stipulate that trump doesn't lead us into some national disaster or the economy doesn't tank between now and 2020 and the economy continues to be good and unemployment is low, that's a tough case to make, despite trump that people are going to want to feel secure the economy will keep going. the economy keeps going for four years of trump, they're going to make a case. take elizabeth warren. she talked about breaking up facebook, google, apple, and amazon. but i should remind viewers that the combined valuation of all
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those companies is one-eighth of what the government spends every year. it is a $4 trillion enterprise. in fact, it overspends every year twice the valuation of all those companies, so how is elizabeth warren telling us that she wants to meddle in private sector successful companies when in fact she supports the very policies that created those consolidations, not only in the tech and banking industry, because she raises the cost of compliance, keeping down future competitors, so all that money is chasing compliance and not innovation. big companies love elizabeth warren, they can afford the compliance, small competitors can't. >> for those that haven't heard that sound bite, let's play elizabeth warren. and danielle i'll have you react to it. here it is. we don't have the sound bite. you made a good point, you articulated it well, rick. danielle, your thoughts about this, is it smart for elizabeth warren to do that, creating
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specific targets as she continues to take on big money? >> i think it is absolutely on brand for elizabeth warren to be saying that she's going to take on big business, that she has been one of the candidates that's been out front, talking about racial wealth gap and wealth disparity, how unbalanced our economic system is. given what just transpired around amazon in new york and deciding not to come, regardless of all of the tax incentives that are being thrown at them, without any guarantee of whether or not they were going to actually employ people that were in new york for sustainable unemployment at amazon, there were a lot of things that are given to companies without a lot of return. i think what elizabeth warren is bringing up to the surface is we can't get into a situation we did with the banks, right, and companies that are too big to fail, that we need to put all our resources, give them everything they need because now cities and states are at the will of big tech companies and
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what they want and need. i think there needs to be some type of transparency, some type of oversight because they're getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and elizabeth warren is well aware of what happens when you allow companies to run amuck, right, and go unchallenged because oh, they're the biggest employers. >> so bill, did you hear the exchange on morning joe with hickenlooper? >> i did. >> and hickenlooper had a hard time self identifying as a capitalist, saying he believed in capitalism. what are your thoughts on that? >> let me just say, i didn't think john hickenlooper was a serious contender, now i know he's not or certainly not ready for prime time. look, we know there have to be limits on, restrictions on good regulations, no child labor, good strong environmental protection, but i don't think any of us should hesitate to say we are a capitalist or that
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capitalism works, it is our system. it worked for a long time. properly regulated, properly contained, nothing wrong in saying yes, i'm a capitalist. >> rick, i want to get personal before we wrap it up. i want to ask you about the article in the "daily beast," titled venful trump is black bawling disloil conservative operatives like rick tyler. is it impacting your work? you gave me a powerful sound bite last saturday, and i reiterated it many times, played it other times through the weekend. >> i was honored to be black bald by the trump white house. and this too shall pass. all i was trying to do is get good conservatives elected to congress. donald trump doesn't want good conservatives elected, that's his choice. he'll move on. >> that's it. good to see you guys. thank you. ten years of tax returns, what dems want from the white house. returns, what dems want from the white house. with fidelity wealth management you get straightforward advice,
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in the democratic party. >> this is what supporters want out of her, want her to say things that perhaps no one else in the party is willing to say. >> i'm sure when people hear her now, they're probably writing her off. >> and bible belt. critics assail the president for signing the holy book. >> the bible is a sacred book. i'm of the opinion only jesus should be signing a bible. >> good day, everyone, from here at msnbc world headquarters, welcome to weekends with alex witt. happening now, new developments in three major stories, growing fallout over sentencing of paul manafort. democrats facing growing backlash offer ihlan omar. and presidential hopefuls making their case to people across the country. turning to tornado damage in alabama, the president signed a bible. the team says they asked him for the autograph, before leaving he said he feels badly for manafort
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that was given less than four years in prison. many believe it is lenient for his slew of multi million dollar crimes. trump told reporters he has not considered whether to give manafort a presidential pardon. also developing, ihlan omar after what are called anti-semitic comments. >> we can't be only upset with trump, his policies are bad but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies, they just were more polished than he was. i would talk about the family separation or caging of kids and people would point out that this was trump. i mean, this was obama. i would say something about the droning of countries around the world and people would say that was obama. >> last hour, i spoke with democratic representative danny
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heck who encapsulated a prevailing feeling among democrats. >> i don't know hardly any democrat who wouldn't say on occasion they disagreed with some of president obama's policies, but i also don't know a single democrat who wouldn't swap out president obama for president trump in a new york second. >> i also pressed the representative on what he learned from the documents donald trump's former lawyer michael cohen provided to his committee. >> i genuinely believe i learned just about as much if not more in the two days of interviewing michael cohen this week and last week than i did in two years of the investigation under the republican majority. >> meanwhile, democratic presidential candidates are back on the campaign trail. we have senator bernie sanders making this pledge a few moments ago in des moines, iowa. >> the nature of our campaign is not belittling people, it's not opposition research, it's not attacking other people, but it's a serious discussion about the important issues facing the
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american people. if we do not win, i will strongly support the democratic neiman hope and believe others feel exactly the same way. donald trump must be defeated. >> meantime, the president is slamming his former attorney, michael cohen, calling him a liar for claiming under oath he never asked for a pardon. nbc white house correspondent has more on this. a real he said, he said. bring us up to speed. what all happened. >> good afternoon to you. it developed into a game of ridicule between the president and the individual that said he once would take a bullet for donald trump, long time fixer, ten year lawyer for the president, michael cohen. it's happening naturally over twitter over the course of the last 12 to 24 hours, the president tweeting bad lawyer and fraudster michael cohen said under sworn testimony he never asked for a pardon. his lawyers totally contradicted him, he lied. additionally, he directly asked
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me for a pardon, i said no. he lied again. he also badly wanted to work in the white house. he lied. here's what president trump said to buttress that point on the way out of the white house yesterday. >> he knew all about pardons. his lawyers said they went to my lawyers and asked for pardons. >> reporter: so it is true that lanny davis, michael cohen's lawyer, has put out a statement saying that prior to his representation of cohen, before july of last year, michael cohen did ask his then attorneys to approach the white house in the form of rudy giuliani and jay sekulow, two of the president's lawyers, and talk about a pardon, about the subject of a pardon. meanwhile, michael cohen, we know that he was again with the president for ten years. he knows what gets under the president's skin apparently if you are to believe the tweet he put out in response to president trump. just listen. just another set of lies by potus, says cohen. mr. president, let me remind you
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today is international women's day. you may want to use today to apologize for your own lies and dirty deeds to women, karen mcdo you goal and stephanie clifford. those two individuals allegedly were sexual partners of president, then mr. trump, now president trump, who received those hush money payouts through the offices of michael cohen, again, the president's fixer and lawyer. >> okay. thank you for the setup for the conversation. appreciate that. joining me, author of power up newsletter at the "the washington post." and john harwood, cnbc editor at large. welcome to you both. you see, john, this is all spilling into public view here. is there a way to tell who is telling the truth about the pardon request and who has more to lose here, is it varying shades of gray? >> boy, the honesty choice between michael cohen and president trump is really a
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tough one. michael cohen's lied about a lot of things for a long time and we know the president seems averse to telling the truth across a whole range of issues, political and otherwise. we saw from the quinnipiac poll that the american people by 50 to 35% say they consider michael cohen more believable in this circumstance than president trump. but at a minimum, it seems that koen michael cohen was being cute in his testimony before the house oversight committee when he said he never asked for a pardon and i think it's going to be difficult to figure out exactly who is telling the truth but there's a lot of untruths floating around this entire white house and this entire set of individuals. >> i got to tell you, cute is no way to address congress. when you address an investigative committee, what's the sense how this will play
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out, whether or not he perfejur himself. >> you're right. he is battling against the criticisms that he lax credibility. it is why he is going to prison three years, because he lied to congress. you would think he would be especially cautious in terms of this testimony and being extremely accurate. his lawyers said he only asked for a pardon before they agreed to release the joint agreement when he was actually working with the president's lawyers and then after that he didn't. but i think at the end of the day, it is important to remember this investigation does not live and die with michael cohen. what michael cohen has been so effective at doing is at providing receipts, that as the congressman told you earlier, at loo leaving a trail of bread crumbs for the various committees, outside the senate judiciary,
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ways and means to pursue the investigations further. >> i think basically when it comes to michael cohen, the word never ought to be looked up in webster's dictionary, decide what exactly that means. jackie, let's go to the controversy in the wake of that regarding congressman ihlan omar. you wrote that aoc and company is taking on the old guard, and they're having some success. expand on that and what it means for the party going forward. >> we've written about this a few months now. we've seen this debate in the old guard versus new guard, playing out with regards to the position on israel. actually, as soon as congress began, there was an anti-bds bill that 2020 candidates were all opposed to. that's the boycott sanctions and did i vestings movement against israel. it illuminated tension between progressive democratic base voters and older congressmen
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about how involved we should be with israel. and taking into account how much money that congressional oh indicates to them. i think what we're seeing is progressive voters who omar and alexandria ocasio-cortez have their ear to, are questioning the relationship in a way the old guard, nancy pelosi, steny hoyer and people over the past -- over the course of their careers really have not questioned, and so a lot of staffers have said to me anonymously speaking on background that there is a lack of nuance in the conversation between anti-semitism, anti-zionism, and questioning the israeli government in general and their treatment of palestinians and their occupation of the west bank. >> how do you see nancy pelosi navigating these waters, john, not only has to face the president but also members of
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her own party. >> well, it's difficult. democrats do very well with jewish voters. obviously jewish donors loom significant in politics and the backdrop of support for israel is much different for people like nancy pelosi who grew up in the post war era than for the newer generation of members of congress coming along, and the question as jackie indicated, is this anti-israel and anti-jewish as donald trump said or is it anti-benjamin netanyahu and his government in israel. those lines can be difficult to draw sometimes. nancy pelosi decided rather tha comments to bring this resolution to the floor, it was a difficult and messy few days, very controversial within her caucus. ultimately the entire caucus supported that resolution and
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oddly enough republicans who jumped on omar's comments, you had nearly two dozen of them voting against that resolution which ended up condemning bigotry of all kinds. so there's no question that this is a mine field and some of these more progressive members who are a small number of the caucus but are vocal and get a lot of attention are taking the party in some dicey directions. >> i'm supposed to wrap. can i ask you, six white house communications directors, bill shine resigns. does the white house even need a communications director? >> donald trump is the white house communications director and the revolving cast of characters is just the people that he brings in to do some of the ministerial duties below him. he controls it. bill shine isn't responsible for the president's bad press. the president's press reflects him, his policies, his values,
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and this is something that's been a constant in the administration and will be as long as he is president. >> figured that's what you would say. thank you guys. good to see you both. it is tax season for president trump like he's never had it. democrats prepare the fight over his tax returns, but what do they expect to find? what do they expect to find?
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prevent problems, and to help provide the most reliable service possible. my name is tanya, i work at the network operations center for comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. when are you going to release your tax returns? >> probably over the next few months. they're being worked on right now. >> i will absolutely give my
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returns but i'm being audited now. as far as the tax returns, snas soon as it is complete. >> the only one that cares about my tax returns are the reporters. >> you don't think the american public are concerned? >> i don't think so. i won, i became president. >> that's the president's evolving position on releasing tax returns. now house democrats are preparing for a showdown over whether congress can demand and conduct oversite on his taxes. joining me, brendan boyle. welcome back. your ways and means chairman richard neil is preparing formal request for ten years of tax returns, according to "the washington post." what do you and your colleagues km expect to find in them? >> first, thanks for having me back, alex. you know, in the modern era from president nixon and watergate
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on, we have had every presidential nominee release at least some years of tax returns. donald trump despite numerous assurances he would at some point release them obviously broke that norm. i think it is important and this is part of hr 1 we passed yesterday, that this president and vice president and all future presidential candidates release their returns up to ten years. i believe that that is in the best interest not only when it comes to president trump and his many questionable potentially nefarious relationships and the ways in which he could potentially be compromised by those who hold his enormous amount of debt, but it is beyond trump. this is something we need to solve for this president and future presidents. >> let's make it clear, the irs said even if he were to be audited, he could certainly release tax forms, nothing prevents him doing so. you hear the president say repeatedly at least during the campaign that oh, i'm going to
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release my taxes for sure. put it all together. how smoothly do you think the request for the returns will go? >> well, the fact that donald trump has had so many different shifting stories on his tax returns and has been so completely unwilling to release them onlync suspicion that there's something there that will show to a certain extent that he's compromised. that's why this matter is so important. that's why it hasn't died over the last couple of years. if he didn't have anything to hide, i think it is quite clear, he would have released tax returns like every previous presidential nominee has done since nixon. >> treasury secretary mnuchin is coming before ways and means thursday. do you plan to ask him about taxes and releasing them? >> i think that first as part of the proper oversight role congress has with the administration, with all members of the cabinet, there will be a wide variety of questions going
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to the treasury secretary as there should be. with respect to president trump's individual tax returns, i don't think that's going to be the exclusive focus of the hearing. at the same time, though, there have been reports in the press that treasury is preparing to push back and fight in court any attempt to use the already existing law to force the president to release his tax returns. that is troubling to me and i would think that would be a topic that would come up. >> might that be troubling to you because if there is some protracted court battle that bleeds into the next election cycle over this, do democrats risk any political fallout as a result? >> i don't think we -- i would be surprised that we would receive political blow back when it is pretty obvious that president trump is in the wrong here. even a number of my republican colleagues are on record saying the president should release his
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tax returns. there is in general always in the back of our minds, we have to be clear we're on the right side of the law and that we don't overreach. a great example of congressional overreach was the 1990s when that partisan republican congress went so overboard how they investigated bill clinton that it ended up back firing on them in both the '96 and '98 elections. i think it is clear, and this past election confirms this, that democrats and congress have been deliberative, very fair about their approach. we have been the ones saying let's hold off in terms of what steps we next take until we finally get the report of the special counsel. so i think the record shows we have been quite prudent when it comes to investigating this president. >> congressman brandon boyle, i'm sorry we're out of time. i look forward to seeing you again soon. thank you, sir. coming up next, the 2020
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is gaining access to the president. mother jones is reporting the former owner of the massage parlor which she sold before it came under investigation for soliciting prostitution has been selling chinese executives access not only to the president while at mar-a-lago but also to his family. cindy yang and her husband according to an old website have a business that arranged taking photos with the president. set up a white house and capitol hill dinner as well. yang has not been charged and denies any knowledge of illegal activity at the spa. nbc reached out to the white house and yang yet to get a response from either. there are 604 days left to the 2020 election. most candidates are flocking to the south by southwest festival in austin, senator bernie sanders opted to visit good old fashioned iowa. the senator's rally just wrapped up. good day to you.
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why did senator sanders go to iowa instead of texas this weekend? >> reporter: he asked that to an aide of senator sanders, was told he wanted to be here in iowa with voters. he spent three days here, had three different rallies. it was his first return to iowa since becoming an official 2020 presidential candidate. it was a warm return, a place he said started, helped start his political revolution in 2016, and he added he wanted to complete that revolution this time around. it was in 2016, you remember sanders, iowa was a place that helped bernie sanders gain some legitimacy. he came close, almost beat hillary clinton here, and this time around he wants to go and win the primary here, win the caucus here this time around. he added that this time in 2020 there are ideas that are being talked about among democratic candidates, ideas like medicare for all, $15 minimum wage, free
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college that are now mainstream democratic ideas. he said that now that the party shifted to his side, he has the people on his side. ready to go forth and win this caucus. listen to how he wants to take on donald trump. he had a real fiery moment. listen here. >> i don't come from a billionaire family. my parents didn't give me a $200,000 a year allowance when i was three years old. my family knew what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck. i know where i come from and i will never forget that. >> reporter: sanders said 7,000 people have signed on to his campaign just here in iowa, those are volunteers who are going to help him win the caucus. he says he heads to new hampshire for rallies tomorrow
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and then he will be in south carolina later this week. >> 7,000 volunteers just so far in iowa. that's a huge number. that speaks volumes right there. shep brewster, thank you so much. joining me, the director at university of virginia center for politics, larry sabado. of all candidates seeking the democratic nomination now, who do you think the president should be least excited to go against in general? >> actually, there are quite a few of them in that field. we've got 13 or 14, depending how you constituent them. i think we'll get to 20. but look, if you look at the polls, and they're awfully early and not very reliable at this point, but joe biden would be the one that trump would probably fear the most. >> regarding joe biden and "the washington post" posing this question, larry, is joe biden's
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affability enough. if biden enters the race, what is the biggest obstacle he faces in primary season? >> his own record and it's not his fault but we're at a point of time, alex, where every single thing you've ever said and done back to the beginning of your career can cost you, particularly in an inter party contest with 19 other candidates. joe biden goes back to the '60s, that's when he got involved. i remember as a college student being amazed on election night, 1972, that while richard nixon was sweeping delaware and 48 other states, joe biden was bumping off a heavily favored republican incumbent for the senate. he has taken thousands and thousands of votes and stands, given thousands of speeches, there's rich material for his democratic opponents, and if he makes it to the general for donald trump. >> okay. let's look at the most recent
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crystal ball prediction, t electoral race neck in neck. where is a democrat most likely to get that path to 270, through michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, or do you think there's a candidate better off trying to go through arizona, florida, georgia? >> you know, honestly, alex, these are false choices. and i hear this debated, should we go through the south and west or through the midwest. the answer is you go everywhere where you have a chance to win because it is going to be difficult actually for either party to put together 270 if some current conditions remain true. don't know what will happen in the economy or foreign policy, but when you look at the basics, alex, democrats in particular don't have a choice. they have to win back say two of the three key states they lost, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, and potentially they'll have to add a surprise
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like an arizona. maybe they could win a state like florida. always a very closely contested state. but it has been leaning republican. you would have to have your head in the sand to deny that. >> so is florida red in your mind or still purple? >> no, i would say it is purplish, but a red tinge. how is that for not taking a stand. >> one of the biggest referendum items, florida restoring voting rights for felons. does that change the game down there? you have 1.5 million people that have become eligible because of that referendum and that is not a figure that's small. 1.5 million. >> alex, theoretically that's true when you look at raw numbers. the problem is so far at least there have been very few additional rej strants, and
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people are surprised they're not as heavily democratic as expected. this is a diverse group of people, large group of people. lots of african americans, hispanics, lots of whites that are eligible too. so i think if democrats are counting just on that, it is a big mistake. they have to work some key regions in florida hard and do a better job organizing than they did in 2018 when they even lost a long term incumbent senator, bill nelson. >> can i ask you to look at texas, whether that's realistically in play for the democrats and whether beto o'rourke could carry texas. >> if beto o'rourke is on the ticket, you have to include texas among states we would be watching hour by hour, not just day by day. alex, we have been around awhile. i can't remember how many cycles i have heard texas is going to be competitive. you'll be surprised.
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it's going to be closer than you think. o'rourke made it closer than we thought in the senate race, but presidentially, i'm a skeptic. put me as somebody looking at missouri, in texas, show me. >> we'll have you back many times to see how you develop on that front. thank you so much. >> thanks, alex. jared kushner's meetingsing with t -- meetings with the saudis and why are officials concerned. e sd why are officials concerned.
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a flu report in the "daily beast" says jared kushner's latest trip to saudi arabia, embassy staff were shut out of one-on-one meetings. a senior trump administration official pushed back saying the reporting is not true and sources are misinformed. joining me to stand behind her reporting, erin bango. national security reporter for the "daily beast." as i understand it, you quote three sources. you're standing by, you're comfortable and the white house is pushing back. what do you have to say about that? >> obviously we stand behind our reporting of the story. so what we know from our reporting is that senior staffers and officials in the embassy in riyadh are frankly and plainly frustrated. this has sort of happened in the past with jared's trip to saudi,
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they were largely left out of meetings that happened in saudi and riyadh, not read in on intimate details of conversations between jared kushner and mbs and his father, so i think that this has become a norm and i think they're at the point now where they're wanting to speak about it. we also know it is concerning members of congress who say why don't we have more transparency into these conversations, especially given what's gone on about the relationship between the u.s. and saudi arabia following the killing of jamal khashoggi. >> and a lot of this, a lot of concern would be from national security perspective, right? but how so? how does all of this go into that vain? >> i think the relationship in general between the two countries has developed and changed quite drastically the last six months. one of the main concerns at least for members of congress is they're really interested in the on-going conversations between the u.s. and saudi about the
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potential nuclear deal, and they feel as though they need more insight into what conversations jared kushner had if any with mbs and members of the royal court about that possible nuclear deal. there's a lot of speculation about a 1, 2, 3 agreement, whether that's moving forward, and if private businesses in the u.s. are still engaged with saudi arabia possibly through the white house on this potential -- >> let me pick up on that. there's something from the house oversight committee that released a stunning report, part of what you're referring to, alleging that members of the trump administration pushed a plan to sell nuclear technology to saudi arabia and that one of the companies that would benefit from such a sale has ties to jared kushner. what are you hearing about that? >> we had some reporting last week in the "daily beast" that mentioned that the u.s. is actively still working on a plan to export nuclear technology to saudi arabia. you know, we're less clear about
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the ways in which private companies are engaging with saudi arabia on that. in order for them to engage with saudi arabia on, you know, the technology actually going to the country, they need a specific authorization, 810, which would allow them to sort of discuss the intimate details and planning of that export. so we're unclear if any companies have received those 810s, but we know the state department, department of energy are still actively working on putting together a plan whereby private businesses could export nuclear technology to the country. >> look, senate democrats have taken an extraordinary step, trying to move to prevent saudis from developing nuclear weapons, but mbs publicly said his country is going to do it if iran does. do you have any sense this topic was discussed when kushner and mbs met? >> we had push back on that, senior administration officials say no, there was no conversation with mbs or any member of the royal court about
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a nuclear deal, but there are members of congress skeptical about this because one state department official was included in those meetings, he's from washington, not the embassy in riyadh, but his focus is on iran. we know jared did discuss his middle east plan with saudi arabia but there are members of congress telling us we're really concerned, if there were conversations about a nuclear deal, what was actually discussed. where are we in the stage about this nuclear deal. is it going forward, at what stage is it at. they're concerned. >> yeah. the more you report on this, the more often you're coming back to talk to me about it. it is important. erin banco, thank you so much. president trump signing bibles, a faux pas or unforgivable act? a faux pas or unforgivable act
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i'm a dancer, casting directors will send me a video of choreography. i need my phone to work while i'm on the subway. you'll see me streaming a video, trying not to fall. (laughs) (vo) there when it matters. buy the new galaxy s10 and get a galaxy s10e on us. we couldn't get here fast enough. i wanted to come the day it happened. i spoke with the governor, she said just give us a little more time, we need a little more time. secretary, i want to thank you for a great job and the folks at fema, tell them to stay as long as they have to stay, whatever it is. >> president trump there
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speaking at a baptist church in alabama serving as a disaster relief center. after the remarks, a striking scene, what you see here is the president was autographing bibles and hats and other items. joining me, peter emerson. he worked in three democratic administrations. as we get into this, lauren, the president signing the cover of bibles, that's drawing a lot of reaction. what do you make of it? >> i read press reports about it, i think it was a few children started asking him to sign the bibles at first. the request came from folks attending the event. look, i'm a christian, that wouldn't be my choice, but religious freedom is an important concept in this country, to each his own. >> what about to you, peter. this isn't the first time the president created what we could say an unusual scene at a disaster sight, that moment he
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threw paper towels to the crowd in puerto rico. what's your reaction to the president this time signing bibles? >> in this case he was in a disaster zone, some people including children came up and asked him to sign the bible. i know of no theological reasons or prohibitions against doing that. however, if i were trump, i would have asked to take a bible home with me, because frankly i think divine intervention is his only hope now. >> is there a way you could have suggested the president handle it differently, peter? >> i think it would have been very awkward if someone comes up and hands you a book, whether it is a bible or whatever the text may be and asks you to sign because there's some hope in their eyes that maybe this man, this president will get some relief to them. my heart goes out to the victims more than anything else. >> absolutely. bigger picture, if this moves on from kids that bring bibles, you
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had other trump supporters doing so of the adult fashion, right, what does this moment say about those supporters? >> i mean, the supporters see the best in him and they frankly want to do what they want to do. i'm with lauren in that to each their own. this is one of those moments where i just think trump couldn't have had a bad response to it, he couldn't push the bible away, say i'm not going to sign that, i think it would be awkward. i think it boils down to this. it is sort of hypocritical. i think the right would come after obama had he gone around signing bibles, but at the end of the day, it says more about trump supporters than about trump himself. >> all right. you all weighed in. we're going to move on from that. let's go to the visit to alabama, it comes as "the washington post" is reporting that trump is losing ground on top priorities to curb illegal immigration, cut the trade deficit, and blunt north korea's nuclear threats, setbacks that complicate his planned re-election message as a can do
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president that's making historic progress. then, in addition, lauren, the february job numbers that come in below expectations. put this together, tell me how problematic it is for the president. >> well, you know, it wasn't a gate week for the president. i think a lot of people were disappointed to see the north korea summit end the way it did two weeks ago. >> uh-hum. >> but i think we are still pretty far out from 2020. i think that these particular things are not the best messaging for him, but i think once we get closer to the election, you'll see him talk about manufacturing jobs, you'll see him talking about the tax cuts, which i know have been controversial especially as tax season, some people are seeing smaller returns, others aren't. he's probably going to really focus on an economic message. i will say, though, on the immigration policy. his base really wants that wall. however, you have almost 80% in some polls of people who want a solution for the dreamers and
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comprehensive immigration reform is very popular. so how do you combine those two things? it is a difficult line to walk. >> can i ask you quickly, lauren, since you said it's a difficult week for the president? can you recall the last time it wasn't a difficult week for the president? >> well, you're putting me on the spot here. this presidency moves very quickly. the news cycle is faster than ever and he did have a good week recently when he was negotiating about our middle east policies and other things like that. in general, you're right, it wasn't a good week this week nor was the one before it. >> let's get to another big story from this weekend. the white house communications director bill shine is out, shifting over from where he had been in the white house. how do you read this development, peter? >> let's see, unfair, unbalanced, occasionally unhinged at "fox news" to fake news propaganda at the white house and now he's gone to the
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reelect. what's curious to me that was relatively predictable and seamless is that the reelect is becoming a dumping ground of swamp, if you agree, for people who have either been fired or pushed out of the white house. it's really quite extraordinary. >> it's curious, rinna, because "the wall street journal" reported that mr. trump felt that the communications chief was not able to turn around negative news conference cycles quickly enough to focus on more favorable stories and this is according to a source pretty close to the white house. it sounds like a tall order. this was the sixth person to serve as trump's communications director. what are the chances he says, i'm not going to fill the job the next time around because he's his own communication director. is there any way of corraling him? >> you make a great point there with that last bit with him being his own communications director. there's nothing you can do when the principal frankly wants to be their own mega phone all the time and that is what trump has
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done. i've been a communications director on two different campaigns now and -- presidential campaigns and to have that level of intimacy where you need to have the same views and i'm sure that shine pushed back over and over and said we can't message it this way and trump just said, this is who i am, this is who i want to be because it works with his base. this is what he sees as his secret sauce taking his direct message out to the public time and time again whether they're his base or not. nobody can be successful in that role. it's just very hard to be in this white house. it's not a pleasant experience. it's chaotic and it's working for somebody that really has no control over his own thoughts i think often times. his message is never cohesive and it's going to be very tough to work for someone like that. i'm not surprised shine is out and i'm actually glad someone like him is no longer in the white house. he's a terrible, terrible track record with women and just in
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general professionally. >> i think i said shine was the sixth, he was the fifth. any way, the house passed an antihate resolution this week. this was all in response to the comments that were made by democratic congresswoman ilhan omar and they were condemned as being anti-semitic. lauren, with reaction to that, let's take a listen to the president. here he is on it. >> i thought yesterday's vote by the house was disgraceful because it's become the democrats -- the democrats have become an anti-israel party. they've become an anti-jewish party -- >> lauren, what do you make of the president calling the entire democratic party anti-semitic? is he simply trying to seize on the opportunity, trying to distort the image of the democratic party? >> he is, and i think what's important here is, we have a president who he loves to go on the attack. he does not shy away from it and unfortunately that is not really a good argument for him to make given his track record on things like the charlottesville rally
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and the comments that he had after that, so i would have preferred had he not weighed in on that, perhaps republican allies could have wade in on that but he really should not have. regardless, her comments this week were unbelievably unacceptable and i think that we need to really have a conversation in this country about how we're treating people of religions that are different than ours on all scales. we need to have acceptance and we need to come together and i just think all of this rhetoric is not helpful. >> peter, i want to get your take on this here because i want to first place new comments on the congresswoman on president obama what she said also gaining attention. >> we can't be only up set with trump. his policies are bad but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies, they were just more polished than he was. i would talk about the family separation or caging of kids and
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people will point out that this was trump. i mean this was obama. i would say something about the droning of countries around the world and people would say that was obama. >> is she right about that, peter? >> i'm really delighted that she's willing to criticize leaders of the democratic party and leaders of the republican party. i was part of the seismic change in the '60s and '70s in the democratic party and there's no doubt that she's representative of what is now a very, very significant shift within the democratic party. i think what she's going to need to learn are two things. the difference between the '60s and '70s is there was no social media. every time you challenge, every time you misspeak, it goes around the world. it's amplified and echoed and words have power to both help and to hurt. >> good points from all of you. guys, thank you so much. it is another trump tower meeting that may prove more foreign entities tried to help
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i found a companyeans to who believes in me.rt. they look out for me. and they help me grow my career. at comcast it's my job to constantly monitor our network, prevent problems, and to help provide the most reliable service possible. my name is tanya, i work at the network operations center for comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. look at the time i've gone long. so i'm out of here. take it away, kendis. >> you can hang out and do the next two hours if you'd like. >> no, no, no. welcome, everybody. i'm kendis gibson with a very busy news hour ahead of us. president trump is south f
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