welcome back to "kasie dc." i'm kasie hunt. we're live every sunday from washington from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. tonight, breaking news the department of homeland security secretary has resigned. kirstjen nielsen is out tonight. we have some of the top reporters in washington with their latest reporting. plus wrestle mania, getting ready to go in new york.

and cheaper by the dozen, the 2020 democratic field expands again and they 'not done yet. we come on the air with breaking news. kirstjen nielsen is resigning as secretary of homeland security, president trump announcing it by twitter saying she'll be replaced by kevin mcaleenan. who until this point has served as border protection and customs commissioner. she was asked to the white house after a week of trump's frustrations, including not being able to seal the border. according to the source it was up to nielsen to convince him to keep her on the staff. she's reportedly been the subject of president trump's wrath on a number of occasions during which she had to tell the president no. she also clashed with other figures in the white house.

supporters of the president, democrats and even fema chief brock log. just this week it was reported that she was blind-sided in pulling the nominee for i.c.e. my colleague asked her if she would leave her post. >> have you ever considered resigning in the time as you've worked as the -- >> i will continue to work as hard as i can, as long as i can support the men and women of dhs. >> did you ever senior it? i think the suggestions -- when i've heard the suggestions, they're in situations i would never consider resigning. >> was the president in way personally frustrated with your leadership? >> not that i believe so. >> with that i'd like to welcome my panel, ken dilanian, jeff mazon, hans nichols, and david

drucker. thank you for being here tonight on what is never a dull moment in the trump administration. hans, you have some of our latest reporting at nbc about how it unfolded. >> this is still a moving situation, we want to be careful. it's clear there was frustration on both sides. >> from nielsen's side -- >> and the president. i was so a source close with kirstjen nielsen, we're getting into who broke up with whom, and it's difficult this stage to say it one way or the other. we know there's frustration. we know she had been close to getting fired before. and this is the capricious nayture of the trump administration. everyone saying nielsen hung on. we saw her on the border, she's walking with the president -- >> this was basically hours ago. 24, 48 hours, something like that? >> i've done a lot of back and forth, a lot of jet lag on my part as well.

we'll go with 36. which is completely made up. this happened -- so it was 52 hours ago. this happened friday midday. down there with the president and this is when the president comes out makes a statement at the border we're full. before he headed out he said he wanted to go on in a tougher direction with director of i.c.e. his own nominee he yanks. we know she was frustrated by that. >> were they close to each other or was this a situation of the president going around her, over her head. >> i know the latter to be true. i don't know the former to be true. i know she wasn't consulted. >> ken, what do you think is the most important take away? nielsen has become the face of this child separation policy -- >> right. >> -- so much of what the president has done at the border. >> what's so interesting is it wasn't long ago that the dhs

secretary rose and fell on the terrorism issue now that's gone it's the border. we're in a change here, trump basically abandons his long-time director of immigration and customs enforcement. it's been reported his top adviser, steven miller, was behind that decision. now his longs-time dhs secretary has been removed, he's upset she's not tough enough dealing with the border. many people believe this is a crisis of the trump administration's making. but they're apprehending more people than before and trump is railing against the tide saying seal the border. >> we have trump talking about vitialla. >> we're going in a different

direction. ron is a good man but we're going in if a tougher direction. we want to go in a tougher direction. >> so jeff mason, you're at the white house day in and day out. the president saying he's going to go in a tougher direction. ken mentioned stephen miller and how he has played into these policies. how do you see his fingerprints on the decision? >> his fingerprints are in virtually everything regarding immigration and always a direction of get harder. "reuters" is reporting the president asked for her resignation and she gave it. that makes sense. they were spot on saying this was going to happen several months ago and she managed to save her job. but she's in been in a precarious position for a long time. the administration response is not getting stronger, that's what he says. it is ironic it would happen after they were together at the

border. in general he's looking for somebody who's a tougher face and that's what stephen miller is looking for too. >> david, how do republicans view stephen miller and the president's shifting posture on this? clearly there are political elements to this as well. >> i think republicans have generally been frustrated with the president because they share his concerns about the border. there is a crisis at the border, things that are happening that didn't always happen. in terms of who is trying to cross, the level at what they're trying to cross. and the question is what can you do about it? the president can fire someone who works for him, sign an executive order, but how are you going to solve a border crisis? there is a case to make there is a border crisis. you need congress involved. the president hasn't figured out

how to work with republicans and democrats. everyone will think about the disagreements with nancy pelosi and democrats in the senate and there's a filibuster and all of that. but the president has not figured out how to work with republicans to change laws and do anything other than build a wall. for the first two years of his presidency he had a republican house and senate. when there was a shutdown that the democrats pushed they had a chance to corner that. and the president ended with nothing. that's because if he wants to change the laws he complains about, if you want to master the art of the legislative deal it's something he has not done. and he ends up in the same place, lashing out at people that work for him. unless he decided it's a good issue for him, it was good in 2016, it'll be good in 2020. >> just a little bit to add to the breaking news. the former secretary of the department of homeland security

said she submitted her resignation and it's effective today. she also has written a letter discussing what she believes she has accomplished as the dhs secretary and determined it's the right time for me to step aside. i say with confidence, our homeland is safer than when i took the position. we've taken efforts to defend our border, obstructure the flow of drugs and uphold our laws and values. confirming your reporting here. >> the key question of the reporting is did she fight for her job? i don't think we have anything out there that indicates she fought for her job. the question is whose initiative, did she wake up saying today is the day or did the president do that? it's really when the president

is looking for villains to blame. he goes back and forth with congress. sometimes mexico is the bad guy -- >> congress is always the bad guy. >> -- and sometimes he goes after his administration. he seems to wake up every morning saying whom am i going to go after? going after congress, that's something he can solve. mexico, a little unclear how he's going to get mexico to do his bidding. his administration, that's where he has control, he can fire people down the line and have actings. he loves actings because they serve at the pleasure of the president. you've seen that. this is a pattern the president likes acting. >> it's remarkable the backlog of vacancies. >> and that can't be blamed on congress. >> in key positions important both domestically and internationally to have a power base. i think the president is doing himself a disservice from a

policy standpoint because he needs strong leaders that have his back and also have senate confirmation and that sort of legitimacy to carry out what's important to him. >> especially the defense secretary, we've seen that in foreign policy. but i want to show you all something that, you know, i think is going to be a legacy for this administration, which is the children at the border. some of whom were kept in what had been described as cages. here's nielsen talking about that on criticapitol hill. >> i want you to exist the cages exist. >> they're not cages. >> what are they? >> areas of the border facility that are carved out -- >> of course, the existence of those cages reported by our own jacob soboroff on msnbc. ken, one interesting note too, i was reading through the statement from benny thompson, the chairman of the homeland

security chairman in the house, he pointed out and many democrats have called for her to step down over this issue. but he also pointed out, look this is the president's policy we shouldn't necessarily blame it all on her. does this help the president move past this in some kind of twisted way? >> i don't know. it's ironic she's getting pushed out after getting known for defending what is indefensiblnd. we have a crisis of family immigration at the border and one thing people talk about is hire more immigration judges because they're not all eligible for asylum. but the trump administration hasn't called for that. it's hard to imagine someone could be tougher on the border than president trump is now. and kevin mcaleenan is a career civil servant and won a civil service award in 2015.

it'll be interesting to see his posture. >> does nielsen talk? she's fast with her resignation letter. look at the half a dozen people resigned from the administration, none of them talked, kelly, mattis, we don't have the interview yet. we can hope that "kasie dc" gets the first one. wouldn't you love to have her sense of this? she's out, and if they had this contentious relationship and she feels empowered to talk now, it's a great interview. >> here's my question, does she think it was worth it? >> good question. where does she go from here? she's in her mid 40s. she has an entire career ahead of her but doing what after what she's gone through. to hans' point, one example she might follow is john kelly's because they were close allies. when he left, that was another reason for all of us to wonder

how much longer is she going to stick around. >> she was willing to own the toughest and most criticized parts of president trump's immigration policy. she was in some ways internally a punching bag and absorbed it all and kept going to work. a lot of this for the president is shifting to 2020, showing he's tough, trying to make a statement what he wants to do next in the realm of things he can control because he hasn't figured out how to work with elements of the government he doesn't control. but personally for her it's a move he wants more because you wonder how he can get more. his policies are constrained by the law, by practical reality. if you shut down the border, what does it do to the u.s. economy, which is why he had to back down. >> he was talking about this as recently as saturday in what was a jaw dropping quote for many.

look at what he said saturday morning. >> congress must end catch and release so illegal border crossers can be quickly and safely returned to their home. get out. sorry, get out. sorry, can't handle it. and i told my people yesterday, our country is full. we're full. our system is full. our country is full. can't come in, our country is full. what can you do? we can't handle anymore. our country is full. can't come in, i'm sorry, it's very simple. >> remarkable, ken, considering the history of this country. >> as the grandson of immigrants myself, nobody likes to hear that. there is a case to be made and david frum made it in an article in the atlantic that we're at a tipping point on immigration. immigration is driving the worst thing about our politics -- >> hillary clinton talked about it in the context of europe in a quote that was remarkable. >> even under the democratic policy, path to citizenship for

the 12 million or whatever is here, there's still the issue of the border, when you're flooded with people, one thing you don't do is cut foreign aid to those countries which is what donald trump proposed last week. >> none of us has an answer for economic migration. the rules were set up post world war ii seeking asylum. we don't have the language, let alone the policy osa global level. what we're going to do about economic migration. and people are migrating at a speed that hasn't been seen in human history. it's not just a challenge for this administration, the next administration and in germany and around the world. my question is kirstjen nielsen, was becoming the face of these policies worth it. tonight i'm going to be joined by congressman tom cole.

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>> welcome back. tonight one of the framers of the president's immigration policy at the southern border is leaving. kirstjen nielsen has resigned. joining me now, vice ranking republican on the house appropriations committee tom cole. and nanet bennington. thank you both for being here and being willing to play bipartisan at the table. congressman cole, first to you. what does this say to you about how the president's policy on immigration are evolving? we know reporting here at nbc news that the abrupt pulling of the president's nominee to head i.c.e. was part of this whole saga because he -- the president said he wanted to be tougher than he thought this mr. vitallo would be? >> i think it says there's a lot of frustration at the white house.

that's what personnel changes at the white house are about. we've seen the threats, close down the border, cut aid to the central american countries that are sources of migration. i think this is is an effort to shake things up, bring in a new team and see if he can get different results. i think this is a really complex and challenging problem that's going to be hard to master. >> do you think cutting aid to those countries which many people are fleeing is a smart policy? >> no, i don't think it is. i don't think it's meant to happen. i think the president is trying to get the attention of people. we're not getting the cooperation of people. we are providing a lot of money, it has made the situation better in the last several years. i think the same is true with mexico. the closure of the border is hey we need you to step up and do more than you're doing than to actually shutdown a border that would have done economic damage on both sides of the border.

>> do you think there is an escalation in the sheer logistical challenge of handling the asylum seekers coming into our country? >> i think part of this is caused by the president and what he's doing. when you stop people at the ports of entry from coming in through the ports of entry, you'll have more people come in between the ports, which is what we're seeing happening now. i was glad to hear my colleague say he agreed on not cutting the aid to the northern triangle because i think it's key to keep funding there or it's only going to get worse. i was at the border this weekend and i'm hoping the new acting secretary will do something about what's happening on the humanitarian front. >> what did you see down there? >> when you see the photo of the women and children under the bridge, those families have been transported to another area. instead of one tent, now they

have three tents. i saw a 4-month, 5 month old outdoors living under a tent, mylar blankets, hard floor, the same clothes. mothers crying out at us, mobbing us, acting for help. i'm hoping the new acting secretary is going to do something about it. >> what's the solution? >> congress appropriated $415 million in february, and the question is have they received the money? are they using the money? because they need to use the money for the humanitarian relief before another child dies. >> do you agree with that? >> i agree with using the money wisely. but there's more here than that. a lot of it is dysfunction on capitol hill, which is not the president's fault. i think what the obama administration tried to change -- >> let's remind the viewers -- >> it limits the amount of time you can hold a child in the

company presumably of a parent or adult to basically 20 days, a little less than that in dhs handling. so that needs to be looked at. and frankly we need to look at the policy of being able to return people rapidly. we have massive cartel involvement in this now. it's big business. we have governments that are almost silent partners. >> does that mean you're for changing the asylum laws? >> i think we need to look at them. i think most of it is economic driven and people see an opportunity -- cartels see an opportunity to make money and move a lot of people this way. there does have to be more. when you're getting 4,000 people a day you're apprehending, 100,000 a month, that's a crisis situation. and more money with the same laws and no change in the policies isn't going to make a lot of difference. >> i would say the flores decision was put in to protect

children and make sure they had -- they were treated properly and not detained. the trauma the children face when they are detained and the cond not good for them mentally, i disagree on that front. and homeland security, how can they run anything? they have no one in charge there. who's running it out there? supposedly you're in a crisis and you have nobody running it. >> a little bit less at the trauma at the border more on the trauma of the journey. these children are moved 1,000 miles in terrible conditions. the conditions they get when they're here, they're not adequate at all, i agree with you, but they're better than when they were removing across the border. the parents are bringing them on a very dangerous journey. >> do you think the president's rhetoric is inflaming this

problem? do you think he should cool it ahead of the campaign. >> the problem, i think the president's rhetoric has much to do with the people coming here? no. as a matter of fact if anything, it would make you less inclined to come. clearly the opportunity to come to the country and stay here and overwhelm the system is what's bringing people up here. i think his frustration is we don't seem to be able to come up with a policy in congress. we don't seem to have the resources, we don't seem to be able to deal with the problem. i think that's why he's shaking things up. >> thank you both so much for being here. democrats swamp iowa and also new york. al sharpton joins us to talk about his impressions of the 2020 field. impressions of the 2020 field -we bought a house in a neighborhood

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i am here today because as we speak, donald trump and the republicans in congress, are doing everything within their power to normize hatred, racism and bigotry. >> we have to make sure we confront those who will use fear to hold onto that power as our president uses fear to hold onto

that power, to make us angry, to keep us apart, to make us fearful of one another and ourselves. >> we have a president today who is a racist. who is a sexist. who is a homophobe. who is axenophobe and a religious bigot. >> nearly all the candidates went to the national action network. here with me is al sharpton and careen john pierre. rev, i want to start with you because this was quite a show you put on over the course of the past week. what stood out to you? who impressed you? what did you take away from this

conversation you think our viewers should know about? >> well, i thought that all the candidates, in their own way, were very impressive because they gave some very detailed, specific policies they would deal with in terms of closing the race gap that we still have in the economy, that we have in health care and education and in the criminal justice system. it was not just sound bites. it was specifics. and they answered questions that i would raise. i think that what we were particularly looking for is something we had never seen in front of a civil rights, mostly black and brown audience of civil rights activists and workers, such as beto o'rourke and, of course, mayor pete buttigieg. i thought they -- you know, it was very interesting to me, they

came in and were received korj wally and both of them left getting sanding ovations. it stood out to me because we have never seen them in that setting. most of the others we have. i think the real message is after all of this about let's get away from identity politics, let's move to the center on issues like race that squarely the major democratic candidates are saying, no, we are going to deal with race, deal with the race gap and we are going to deal with people, whether it be lgbtq, whether it be women, whether it be blacks, we're going to deal with the constituencies that make up the party because they have distinct issues that need to be dealt with as part of the broader message of the party. i think that's a significant turn from the rhetoric we've

heard in the last few cycles. >> interesting point. you mentioned pete buttigieg who's been answering questions this week about his use of the phrase all lives matter back in 2015. here is how he has answered those questions, talking now about black lives matter. i think we have that sound. but -- yes, we have it. take a look. >> we insist that being pro minority and being pro racial justice not only can but must be compatible with being pro rule of law and respectful of the law enforcement doing the right thing. it should enhance, not diminish, the value of a good police department when we assert what should go without saying but in these times must be said clearly and again and again that black lives matter. >> pretty interesting way of approaching this. obviously we grappled with this

when hillary clinton was running for president. how do you take pete buttigieg's remarks? does he come across as authentic? >> i think he does. that's been part of his rise in the last couple weeks and the reason he's raised $7 million and had these viral moments because of his authenticity. that's a key point in this presidential kind of primary we're seeing. what's your lane and how authentic is it? i do want to thank reverend al for putting on this conference because one thing we're seeing is that racial justice is now part of this platform. we are seeing these candidates talking about racial justice and also it plays to the diversity that we're seeing with these candidates. it's as diverse as america really. so i applaud mayor pete, he did that in a really good way. and from what reverend al sharpton said, the crowd took

him in and applauded him for what he said. he took on racial justice head on. he didn't deviate. he went in and talked about it. apparently so did beto. >> as more and more democrats jump into the presidential race. frank bruney wonders, how do they vet their candidates? he goes on to write, i'm worried because there was an actual mini-debate on the left recently over whether pete buttigieg is ga enough. do his whiteness, upper-middle-class background under cut his authority as a minority. this question is out there. i'm worried because it echos an earlier question about whether kamala harris is black enough. here is pete buttigieg on his own experience just this

afternoon. >> when i was younger, i would have done anything to not be gay. when i began to halfway realize what it meant, that i felt the way i did about people i saw in the hallway at school or the dining hall in college, it launched in me something i can only describe as a kind of war. if that war had been settled on the terms that i would have wished for when i was 15 or 20 or frankly even 25, i would not be standing here. if you had offered me a pill to make me straight, i would have swallowed it before you had time to give me a sip of water. it is a hard thing to think about now. it's hard to face the truth that there were times in my life when if you had shown me exactly what it was inside me that made me a gay, i would have cut it out with a knife. >> remarkably personal statement

there from pete buttigieg. reverend al can i get you to weigh in on what frank was writing out there in the case of pete buttigieg and kamala harris, and then also what that kind of experience that buttigieg was speaking to, being born one way and wishing to be something else? >> i think he's right in how do you deal with vetting people without can by losing them. i remember when barack obama was running, they were asking is he black enough. i think it's really insulting because there's no monolith in any area. we can be black in different ways and styles in way we deal with things, but it doesn't take away your blackness or being gay

or whatever it is that you are. i think it goes back to kareen's point, you have to deal with whether someone is authentic and trying to act something other than what they are, rather than embrace what they do. i think when you hear the painful message that you just heard from mayor pete buttigieg, saying he would have cut out whatever he could have to not make him gay or take a pill, it shows why we must in this country start giving people the room and embrace them as to who they are and as to what they are. no one should want to be any different than what they really are, and that is a result of the bigotry and the bias they face. the only reason he would feel that way is because what he thinks he's going to face. which is why dealing with these

issues and those that would be president are to be questioned if they can be president of everyone, not just who they consider in their presence. >> thank you for your insights, sir and sticking around with us. >> thank you. when we return, inside the fight for the mueller report and the president's taxes. t for thed the president's taxes. what?! i'm here to steal your car because, well, that's my job. what? what?? what?! (laughing) what?? what?! what?! [crash] what?! haha, it happens. and if you've got cut-rate car insurance, paying for this could feel like getting robbed twice. so get allstate... and be better protected from mayhem... like me. ♪ into our subaru forester. we fit a lot of life (dad) it's good to be back. (mom) it sure is. (mom vo) over the years, we trusted it to carry and protect the things that were most important to us.

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about president trump's campaign and finances intensifies this

week. house ways and means committee chair is demanding six years worth of the president's individual and business tax returns with a wednesday deadline. acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney suggested they could be waiting quite a bit longer than that. >> democrats will never see the president's tax returns? >> never. nor should they. there's an issue that was litigated during the election. voters knew the president could have given his tax returns, they knew he didn't and elected him anyway, which is what drives the democrats crazy. >> all this while we wait the release of the mueller report. attorney general william barr is set to testify this tuesday before the house appropriations committee about the department's budget request. so ken, let's start there. where are we on the fight over the redactions in this report? i know democrats on the house side are focussed on the grand jury material, debating how to get that out there?

where is the justice department right now? >> barr is redacting four categories of information, grand jury material, classified material matters, and matters that may infringe on the personal privacy of peripheral figures. but a what does that mean? how extensively is he redacting? grand jury can be read narrowly or extensively. they also got information other ways, they had fbi interviews. i think barr realizes there is an incredible demand for answers here. for the public to find out what the millions of dollars got us in this investigation. and we're going to see a report that answers most of the questions. the problem is we don't know what will be redacted. but i believe ultimately congressional democrats will get their hands on most if not all of this report. >> what's the sense in the white house about what could be in the report that could set the president off? there's been some reporting about some of the things that

mueller might know about what the president was told by people who work for him may not reflect well on him, shall away say? >> i think there's a recognition that there might be some unflattering things that come out. but overall, i think there's a feeling of confidence. you saw that in rudy giuliani's comments, saying release the whole thing. we know there's nothing in there we have to be concerned about. the bottom line is there was no collusion as the president likes to repeat over and over again. so i'm sure that there is a recognition that some things that might come out may create story lines we don't love. but the biggest headline is the one that's been out for weeks, he's clear. >> no prosecution for obstruction in particular. let's talk about the president's tax returns. is it reasonable -- first of all, let's point out the irs the is agency responsible for this. that was mick mulvaney, the

white house chief of staff talking about this. but there are rules saying the committee can ask for the returns. . >> right. what's interesting is what mick mulvaney said, the president could have published them during the campaign, he chose not to. the president likes to say no, i couldn't i'm under audit. you can do anything you want with your own taxes whether you're under audit or not. >> it matters not. >> i think number one the president will understandably think to himself there's no reason to release my tax returns because i did win without doing it. and number two, what a great fight for him to have, because now i have something else for the democrats to fight about, they're being unreasonable, i'll say they're coming after me. he'll put this, they'll come after your tax returns, this is not fair, it's not right, they don't want to work with me. so i think the president is happy to have this battle, it'll

end up in court. who knows where it will end up, i don't think it ends up with the people seeing his tax returns any time soon. >> do you think the precedent this set is going to last. bernie sanders has been asked multiple times, he claims his taxes are simple, yet we haven't seen them? where is the line drawn? >> reporter: i think they should all release their taxes. everyone since richard nixon has released their taxes. the american people should have seen his taxes three years ago. let's be clear, a lot has happened in two years we have a president who's an unindicted co-conspirat co-conspirator, and there's question to his relationship with russia and saudi arabia. and a majority of americans if you look at polling want to see his taxes as well. thank you all for being here today. when we return, what a

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i'd say to all of you, you need to not be -- >> the gentlewoman's time is expired. >> you know what? you can't shout down a woman. >> the house will be in order. >> 33 house republicans broke with their party this week to pass the violence against women reauthorization act. you heard that correctly. it was a proved with a vote of 263 to 158 despite heavy lobbying from the nra. gun lobbyists are against the measure's so-called boyfriend loophole, a new provision that would make it harder for convicted abusers to gain access to firearms. and now all eyes are on the republican-controlled senate where the future of the measure is unclear. carin, this has been one of the most bipartisandecades. >> for decades, yeah.

>> in the congress. and it has republican opposition now because the nra has said we don't want to bar people who have stalking convictions, restraining orders from buying guns. >> yeah. it's 25 years that this reauthorization has been around, and it should really be a no-brainer. it should be bipartisan support. we should be protecting women, especially women who are dealing with domestic violence. and it is a shame. it is shameful for republicans who are not supporting this to be on the side of the nra, to be on the side of the abusers, essentially, is what they're saying. it's a dangerous, dangerous moment in time that we're in if this is where republicans are after 25 years of reauthorizing it and there being bipartisanship behind it. and, you know, mitch mcconnell should put this on the floor. he should move forward with this. there is no reason why he shouldn't. and one more thing i want to say, there is always this conversation about what are democrats doing? are they just focusing on taking

down donald trump? but here is something that they are doing. right? it took the democrats taking over the house to actually put this to get reauthorized. and it's really just shameful to see this. >> i will say this was something they were trying to work on before the end of the year. but as you do point out, this particular issue could cause this entire thing to potentially come crashing down. so joni ernst and amy klobuchar are working on this in the senate. karine, thank you so much. first, reporting from julia ainsley on kirstjen nielsen's resignation. and we're going to hear from senator richard blumenthal. he joins me live as well. i don't keep track of regrets.

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welcome back to "kasie dc." breaking news tonight out of the trump administration. kerstirstjen nielsen is resignis secretary of homeland security effective today. president trump took to twitter to announce her exit, saying that u.s. customs and border commission commissioner kevin mcaleenan will take over. nielsen followed up with a tweet of her own saying she submitted her to the president. in fixing the laws which have impeded our ability to secure

america's borders and which have contributed to discord in our nation's discourse. and a senior u.s. official tells julia ainsley that nielsen was called to the white house following a week of trump's frustrations, including over not being able to seal the border. according to the source, it was up to her to convince him to keep her on. nielsen was heavily criticized for the trump administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents and placing them in what reporters described as cages. >> i just want you to admit that the cages exist. >> sir, they're not cages. >> what are they? >> areas of the border facility that are carved out. >> here with me on set, former rnc chairman and msnbc political analyst michael steele. associate editor and columnist for real clear politics, a.b. stoddard, julia ainsley, "new york times" associate reporter and columnist katie rogers. thank you all for being here

tonight. julia, i'd like to start with you as far as what is our latest reporting on how all of this kind of unfolded behind the scenes, what drove it, and was what does it mean going forward for our immigration policy? >> well, it was a shock. it was a shock to nielsen and the department and people close to her, because she has been through a lot of waves with this president. if you remember back to may 2019, the numbers started rising. he lashed out after her. he lashed out to secretary keller who is close to her. at that point he was chief of staff. and rather than her backing down, she went along with the policy to separate children from their families. she has been intensely loyal to this president and his administration's policies, despite large public pushback to a lot of these policies, and she continued to go along with this. and this week it came up could he seal the entire border. she was even willing to explore those operation, but a lot of it just wasn't logistical from an economic perspective, from the ability to shut down any of the places people can come through. basically what we know is the

president grew frustrated. and part of that frustration was driven by his watching a fox news. he saw lou dobbs lash out at her. he saw the head of the border patrol union lash out at her and say this is a problem with the hs leadership. i know when she came to the white house tonight, she was in the meeting, and i was speaking with people who said is she being refired? is she resigning? well, it's up to her. if she can convince him some thou keep her job, possibly she could. but obviously that's not what it came down. to and part of that shock too -- >> do we know if she tried to keep her job? >> it was at least a 30-minute meeting. i would love to know all of the things that were discussed in there. yeah, she has held on to this for a long time and tried to be persuasive and show that she is loyal, which we know the president values. but a part of the shock means that a lot of people in dhs are left wondering who their leadership now is. is kevin mcaleenan.

there is a big power vacuum here, and it's all caused by a lack of planning, because this was a very quick reaction. >> certainly, across the board, how many of our major cabinet positions are empty and likely to be for the remainder of the administration. ab, i'm interested about fox news playing a role in this and criticizing nielsen's role in not going along with the president. it does seem to those of us who have watched all of this that she has been for the most part an eager defender of all the president's policies. >> julia is right, she has defended all of them, and she has been loyal to the detriment of her own reputation in a very impossible situation. it's interesting to me that she fell under criticism in light behalf we saw the last week. start the seal the border, pushback from all the texas republicans on the record. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said it would be

catastrophic. people were open about the fact that this was not possible. i think he was asking her to break american asylum law, and she had to tell him she couldn't do it. and he didn't want to hear that. and that's really probably what the final straw was. so lou dobbs is incorrect that it's her fault that the border can't be sealed or we can't say the all these country, theme people fleeing narco terrorism, you can no longer claim asylum in the united states of america. and i think that the next person who comes in is likely to face the same problems. i think they will be asked to break the law. >> he was even an appointee from obama, by the way, the person who will be taking over. >> the truth here is the secretary was made incompetent by an administration, specifically a president who doesn't want to do the very difficult job of actually learning what's going on. and find out exactly and precisely between a combination

of policy within his own administration and legislation on capitol hill what is the sweet spot. so the secretary can go out and do what needs to be done to, one, secure the border, and two, begin to address the inflows that are coming from the southern region. absent that, this secretary, like many others before her are spun throughout into the political ether where they are left to die by a thousand cuts delivered by folks like lou dobbs, who, again, are clueless on what the policy is. you don't do policy by talking point. you do policy by speaking to the experts on the ground, paying attention to legislation that's being proposed, and within your own administration, empowering your secretary to pull those combining features together in a way you come out looking good. >> i'm having trouble recognizing this normal functioning government of which you are currently speaking. >> exactly. that's my exact point. there is no such creature in this administration, which is

why we're going through secretaries after secretary, and we're now at a point that these cabinet positions are filled more by acting individuals than those who actually have the job. >> katie, inside the white house we know stephen miller is a real voice on mission. if you're stephen miller, to julia's point, is it better to have somebody appointed by the obama administration, career civil servant, simply because it's easier to push that person around than it is to push around a kirstjen nielsen who has shown she is a willing defender of this president? >> just really quick, i'm a white house correspondent, not a columnist. i want to make that really clear. >> sincere apologies. >> although that would be nice. if i'm somebody like stephen miller, i'm somebody who has amassed quite a large portfolio on immigration in the white house over the past two years, and i'm probably somebody who is pretty frustrated at the way this administration just can't move fast and break things and nobody seems to have ownership of the immigration issue. it belongs to different agencies

and subagencies, and you can only get so far with one -- like to your point, you can only get so far before you have maximized a person's utility to you before you kick them out the door and find somebody else. so if i'm stephen mill. >> have i larger portfolio than i had before, and i'm looking for somebody who might show more creativity than nielsen did, i guess, in terms of policies that might be more drastic, might be more aggressive, might be even more right leaning, especially as 2020 ramps up, the president has punted health care, which is a signature issue for a lot of his democratic opponents. his bread and butter red meat issue is immigration. in an ironic way, it's one he understands the best and he needs somebody who is going to execute these like move fast and break things policy. >> let's be clear what he understands. >> that's why i'm saying it is what he understands the best, but -- >> i'm going to push pause on this for a second. i want to bring in the former hud secretary and current democratic presidential candidate julian castro, who is

joining us by phone. sir, it's always great to you on the program. >> great to be with you, kasie. >> so first, your initial reaction to the news that secretary nielsen is stepping down. >> she leaves behind a very shameful legacy, a legacy of cruelty, as many had pointed out. it's even worse because this president seems hell-bent on finding somebody that will be even more cruel than she was. it's also not surprising because now that democrats control the homeland -- the house homeland security committee, other oversight committees, you're probably going see more and more of these cabinet secretaries resign. scandal that is coming their way or that they're already enveloped by these investigations that are being done, whether it's the number of children that are still separated from their families or other aspects of the department

of homeland security, probably really begin to take a toll on not only the secretary, but others there. so it's not that surprising that she would step down. >> sir, forgive me, i believe that you had previously called for nielsen to resign. that's the case? >> oh, it is, yeah. i think she has been a terrible secretary of homeland security. >> so how do you think this plays out going forward? do you see any merit? you point out that perhaps the president will have more control over an act iing secretary thane might have over a cabinet official. what do you think is the right future for this agency? >> ideally, you would get somebody there that is going to follow the law, is not going bend to the will of a president that is determined to break the law, is going to be able to have a backbone eventually. and most of all, what we need is we need to go in a completely

different direction. a few days ago, i release mid detailed plan on immigration that i called people first. and this administration had asked americans to believe that we need to choose between border security and compassion. he has wanted us to choose cruelty. i believe that we can have and we do have a board they're is more secure than it's ever been, but instead of cruelty, we need to choose compassion, and my hope is that the acting secretary, whoever he or she is will follow the law, will push back against the president when he wants the person to break it, and hopefully at least in a small way move us back into the direction toward treating people like human beings. >> sir, do you think that there need to be any changes to our asylum laws based on the number of people that we're seeing flee violence in these central american countries?

>> i don't. i think, in fact, that the federal government needs to stop playing games with people who are seeking asylum, rejecting them at the ports of entry so they get so desperate they try and enter somewhere else along the border. we also need to invest in an immigration judiciary that can handle the number of claims that need to be processed. so i think that we can make investments so that we do this in an orderly way. we know that a lot of the people who are claiming asylum, requesting asylum are not going to be ultimately granted asylum. but some of them will be. and they deserve to have their claims heard. >> julian castro, a democratic presidential candidate, thank you so much for coming on tonight, sir. really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> let's continue this conversation about asylum policy, because, julia, it's one thing that does seem to be shift

ing a little bit in terms of how they're talking about immigration policy on capitol hill. and this comment from mitt romney -- i keep wanting to call him governor. he is senator. he talked to chuck todd this morning about this. take a look. >> there has been a dramatic change, and that is we're seeing unaccompanied young people as well as families with lots of kids pouring into the border, and they say the magic word. i'm seeking asylum. and by virtue of our laws and processes here, we bring them into the country. we don't begin to have enough space in our facilities to maintain the kind of care these people deserve so they're being just turned out into our country, 125,000 of them so far this year. it's overwhelming our system. we have got to be able to deal with this in a way. it's going to take some legislation to get it fixed. >> how significant is the change in the number of people coming to seek asylum here in this country? >> first of all, we saw an uptick under the obama

administration. in 2014, we started to see families and unaccompanied children come here and seek asylum. now the numbers are higher, significantly higher than they were then. but it's not like this is a problem that came up overnight because the laws have dictated that you have to -- you cannot hold children longer than 20 days, even with their parents. that's a federal court decision. and you can't hold a child in detention. you need to send them to health and human services. we have protects in place for asylum seekers and for children. i think that people are now coming around to the fact that maybe this is time to have a healthy debate over what asylum. you saw nichols bring up a good point about how asylum rules were written around wartime and we're now seeing economic migration. what you wouldn't want to do is cut off aid to the countries where you're seeing large economic migration. that's actually the way this michigan. when secretary kelly came in, he had been head of south com for the military understanding that region and said what we need are

more investments in this region. instead, this administration is going after everything to make it harder to come here without addressing those root causes. so perhaps a debate would get to those root causes. >> so michael steele, how does firing your department of homeland security secretary help address any of these problems? >> it doesn't. and that's the point. that's really the point i was trying to make earlier is there is a haphazardness to it. there is no dot connecting in terms of how there is a continual flow within a particular policy. it's not just about oh, building a wall. it's about all the ancillary pieces that make up our border security and how we process those who come through those particular portals, whether as was pointed out for economic reasons, political asylum, et cetera. so instead of -- and i've been saying this for a number of years now, instead of the u.s. government looking to its southern partners and creating a comprehensive economic pact or

arrangement, all the way down the pipeline so that you can begin to hans' point -- >> address the root causes. >> yeah, the root cause, then will you really begin to stem that flow. you can put up the wall. you can tighten the border security. but if there is economic depression and economic hostility, people are going to flee that. >> julia ainsley, thank you so much for rushing in tonight with this breaking news on your beat. we always love having you. much more to come on this hour of "kasie dc," including the latest reporting on the departure of homeland security kirstjen nielsen. i'll be senator richard blumenthal who calls the nielsen era a disgrace. i'm working to keep the fire going

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welcome back to "kasie dc." joining me now is senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. senator, always great to have you on the show. >> thank you very much for having me. >> i want to start with your reaction to secretary nielsen's decision to resign, reportedly at the request of president trump. >> she has been a disgrace as secretary of homeland security, and she leaves behind a legacy of separating families, caging children, and lying about those policies. but in addition to that legacy, she still leaves behind a strategy. make no mistake, that strategy has been one of conscious and purposeful cruelty seeking to deter and discourage people from

coming to this country, making that trip of hundreds of miles across impossible terrain with children in their arms, knowing that they face cruel conditions here on their arrival. and that policy of deterrence and discouragement, outright cruelty simply hasn't worked. but the president appears to be ready and eager to double down on it. >> senator, what concerns if any do you have about the likelihood that there could be a long-term acting secretary of the department of homeland security? we know this is a civil servant. he had previously headed the customs and border protection agency as part of dhs. do you have any concerns about what that might mean in terms of how the administration puts pressure on our asylum laws? >> it is deeply worrisome for me, and i think for members on both sides of the aisle that we will lack leadership at that top

position and also other layers of that administration because the lack of leadership is telling in the way that these policies are implemented. there has to be discipline and order in that department. the lack of it shows at all levels. and this policy of purposeful cruelty will continue unguided and unregulated if there is no real leadership. there is still an acting secretary of defense. there are acting members of this administration in other key posts, and i think it worries us greatly. >> what's the likelihood that the senate approves a nomination to replace nielsen within the next, say, 12 months? >> i think the likelihood is high if there is a qualified candidate who is willing to break with his administration and demonstrate the backbone that is necessary, the grit and determination to change our

policies. there is no mystery about what is required here. it's more resources for the immigration judiciary. it's more resources for the facilities at the border so as to ease the humanitarian crisis that's ongoing there, health care and detention, and more resources for central america. not just throwing money at dictatorial regimes, but forcing real change so that the brutali brutality, rape, torture that is driving people out of their country to ours is eliminated. one story that is very telling here. in one of my trips to the border, i encountered a young man who had his daughter, probably about 2 years old in his arms. he had walked across mexico knowing that he might lose her here and that is in fact what he faced. and he stood there on this concrete floor, brick concrete wall, and he anticipate mid next

question which is why did you come knowing you might lose your daughter? and he said my daughter cannot stay alive in the country where we live. that's why people are coming here. they still hope for the caring goodness of americans. they still see america that way despite donald trump. >> and we've heard so many heart-wrenching stories about separated families, and now reportedly it could take up to two years for some of those families to be reunited. sir, while i have you, you're a member of the judiciary committee, a former prosecutor. i want to ask you about the state of trying to get ahold of the mueller report. are you at this point satisfied with what the attorney general has done so far? and what's your evaluation of the efforts of house democrats to try and get a copy of the unredacted report? >> i'm deeply unhappy that so far william barr has failed to provide the mueller report to

congress. there is absolutely no reason that there should be redactions for the report as provided to congress. we deal with classified information and personal information all the time, ongoing investigation information. we can learn how to keep that confidential. we do it all the time. and as for the grand jury, he should have petitioned long ago for that material to be made available. so they believe the house judiciary committee is absolutely right to issue a subpoena, and we have legislation in the senate. i've written it and introduced it with chuck grassley, a republican of iowa. we've been joined by another republican and another democrat. so it's bipartisan. to require that all of the mueller report, not the barr summary, but the mueller report be provided to congress and the american people. we paid for it. we deserve to visit. and we're going to press forward because the american people really deserve it.

>> senator blumenthal, thank you so much as always for being here tonight. >> thank you. just ahead as president trump pushes a hard-lime immigration policy, how will this play out for democrats in the presidential 2020 primary? e how geico could help you save on homeowners insurance. nice tip. i'll give you two bucks for the chair. two?! that's a victorian antique! all right, how much for the recliner, then? wait wait... how did that get out here? that is definitely not for sale! is this a yard sale? if it's in the yard then it's... for sale. oh, here we go. geico. it's easy to switch and save on homeowners and renters insurance.

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congress must end catch and release so that illegal border crossers can be quickly and safely returned to their home. get out, sorry, get out.

sorry. can't handle it. and i told my people yesterday, our country is full. we're full. our system is full. our country is full. can't come in. our country is full. what can you do? we can't handle anymore. our country is full. can't come in. i'm sorry. it's very simple. >> joining the table, chairman and chief strategist for priorities usa and former political director for hillary clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. guy cecil, katie, a.b. still all here. guys, great to have you. so my question here is, you know, there has been a lot of reporting that all of this really plays in to the president's overall strategy for 2020, that he is running for reelection, that this was the issue that got him and his view elected in 2016. so this is the issue he is going to try to bring back to the forefront. is that going to work? >> no. and it didn't work in 2018. i mean, let's remember that this administration --

>> he wasn't on the ballot in 2018. >> no, but he created a crisis, created a crisis out of whole cloth over caravans, if you might remember immediately after the election got no additional discussion. it basically ended the day after the election. he consistently creates these dynamics and he is overplaying his hand. it's one thing to say you want a sensible immigration policy. most americans want a sensible immigration policy. they don't believe that putting kids in cages is a sensible immigration policy. most americans believe that it is shameful. and by the way, it doesn't even accomplish what they set out. and that is the remarkable thing about it. it's not just a sin against every person that is held captive and to americans that pay for this monstrous behavior, but it doesn't work. despite all of the rhetoric, all of the talk, all of the i'm going to go up to the rose garden and insult as many people as possible, it's not working. asylum seekers are not stopping their potential entrance into

the country. people aren't stopping from coming to the border. they're still coming. >> we have seen an uptick, yeah. fair enough. a.b., do you think the president's strategy could work, though? it's clear that it did help him in 2016. >> i think he was being disingenuous for a long time that everyone crossing the board worry be stopped by a wall, and they were all carrying fentanyl packs, and they were coming to your front lawn and they were ms-13 members. that's not true. that's just not true. we all know factually drugs are coming in the port of entry most of time and there are women, children and families fleeing marco terrorism. the truth is he is starting to talk about asylum and it is the crux of the problem. the democrats will not want to say on the campaign trail we have to fix -- we have to narrow our criteria for asylum entry. we can no longer absorb these people there are displaced people all around the middle east and europe. three million left venezuela in four years alone. this is no longer -- we are not

able to meet the needs of the people, the refugees all around the world fleeing and coming here. and the democrats are not going to want to say that. they want to say we're a refugee nation, an immigration nation. and the president has finally actually started to use the real language. what he does with that, where he goes with that, the policy decisions he makes, the argument he makes to the congress, how hard he sits down and tries to compromise is entirely separate issue. but he has identified the problem which is that we can no longer absorb the number of refugees we once did, and that's a hard conversation to have, but that's the problem. and the numbers have been increasing for years as julia pointed out, even under president obama. it is no longer criminals or people coming here for a quick job. >> guy, hillary clinton actually said, she was talking about european migration problems, but she made a nod to it. it's created political instability in a lot of places, in democracies in the west. do you think there is any truth to that? >> i just want to push become on

one thing. i think what democrats have been saying is we need to invest, we need to invest in a more sensible immigration policy and a way to more quickly ajude d l adjudicate, to say these people, we don't have the room for them, we've made the argument many times before in history. we're making that argument now. the republican party is making that argument now for one very specific reason. they're uncomfortable with black and brown people moving across the border and into this country. they're uncomfortable with muslims. they're uncomfortable with mexicans. they're uncomfortable with south americans in the same way they have been uncomfortable before and stopped ships from entering into this country during some pretty difficult times around the world. i do think democrats are willing, are willing, and we have before, by the way. it wasn't that long before we might remember that comprehensive immigration reform passed with a historic number of votes in the united states senate, would have been signed by the president but was stopped by a spineless john boehner who no would not put to it the floor because he knew it would not get

a majority of the republicans, even though it would have passed and we wouldn't be having this conversation today. >> michael steele? >> i take your last point. but i want to go become to your first point. isn't that effectively, guy, what hillary clinton was saying when she was talking about european immigration and the impact that we were seeing play out across europe over the last few years? she -- i mean, while she wouldn't put it necessarily in an american context because she was in the middle of a presidential campaign -- >> these comments came after campaign. >> that's true. they did come after. i think they do speak more to ab's point about the very gnarly aspect of an immigration discussion in this country that we don't want to have in a very honest way. and it does boil down to okay, just how much is too much. and so the president is sort of saying it in a way that is ugly and xenophobic and all of that. but i think to ab's point, the root of it really boils down to

okay, how can we have an honest conversation about where we begin to draw the appropriate lines not just to our south, but european and otherwise. >> i think we can have an honest conversation when the president loses and not until. and i think that's just the fact. we're not dealing with a set of facts when you're dealing with donald trump in this way. >> to that point, i think the conversation has become so divisive; it is really hard to see how we ever get to see eye to eye. all right. we're going to continue this conversation coming up after a breck. believe it or not, even more democrats are running for president. it is making political scientists, mathematicians and astrophysicists reconsider the forces at play in the universe. >> if the limit never approaches anything, the limit does not exist. the list does not exist. >> our new state champions, the north shore math leagues.

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the field of 2020 democrats continues to expand with no end in sight. this weekend, congressman tim ryan entering the race. senator michael bennett apparently not far behind. governor steve bullock is hiring top names and could get in the race in may. stacey abrams still hasn't ruled out a run either, although she might consider the u.s. senate as well. and then of course there is joe biden. his supporters trying to keep his powder dry until he makes up his mind. >> for my whole career, i wish i

had been labeled in delaware the seven times i ran as a moderate. i'm not sure when everybody else came out and said they're for gay marriage. i'm not sure when everyone else came out and talked about a lot of the things i talked about. but the point is the definition of progressive now seems to be change. it is are you a socialist. well, that's a real progressive. or you believe in, you know, whatever. the traditional judgments of whether or not you were, quote, a liberal was whether or not, what your positions on race were, on women, what your position on lgbt community, what your position on civil liberties, you know. i'll stack my record on those things against anybody who has ever run, who is rung now and who will run. >> do you suggest the party is running to the left? >> we'll find out whether i can win in a primary. >> guy cecil, it has been an interesting, to put it mildly, week for joe biden's

noncampaign. how much has he hurt himself over the course of the last week with kind of these drip, drip, drip story, his refusal to make up his mind, his noncampaign being unable to respond. >> i don't think the issue is him not getting in the race at that point since 70 april. the real problem is having an apparatus that can respond in the way the media works and things get covered these days. things move around twitter. there is no 24-hour news cycle anymore. it's a 140 or if you're lucky 280 character news cycle. the biden operation needs to put an operation in place that can respond the these things and needs to do so soon. so my hope is he'll make a decision before the end of the months, which he said, and that he'll get into the race or he'll make the decision not. to. >> katie, the president is already kind of getting in on this, making jokes about biden's -- the accusations that he has grappled with from women who say that he was in their

personal space. >> right. >> he had been the candidate that the white house was most afraid of. after this week, do they feel better about running against him? what's the thinking behind the scenes? >> they're in such a bunker mentality that i think they're probably concerned with what biden can do should he decide to run. he sounds a lot like somebody who is deciding to run. so it sounds a lot like he is gearing up. i think there is concern inside the white house about biden. i alsoly the is interest in sanders and why sanders hasn't got as much attention as some of these other candidates right now. he is sort of off in the wings. so biden and sanders are the two that they're looking at. and i think what was really interesting about the tweet the president sent this week was that it momentarily pulled joe biden out of this bad news cycle because it took the focus of this president who has had so many accusations leveled against him and then biden came out the next day and said oh, have i permission to hug this man. in the end, you have biden interested in his own legacy, and he is willing to go out there and sort of make another

gaffe after the president steps in and pulls him out of a bad news cycle. >> sure, you have these two strong personalities sort of going after each other. >> i saw you sort of react when you said bernie has been a hobby horse. do you think shea front-runner? >> absolutely. i don't think there is any question that senator sanders comes in with a national network, the ability to raise money, which he has proven over and over again, the capacity to win primaries and caucuses. and i think that his primary opponents should take him seriously. >> and let's talk about his platform for half a second. >> sure. >> because he likes to point out that his ideas were once radical. take a look at what he had to say this weekend. >> those ideas that we talked about four years ago that seem to very radical, well, they are ideas that are now supported by a majority of the american people, and they're ideas that democratic candidates from school board to presidential

candidates are now supporting. >> ab, that was an i told you so from bernie sanders if there ever was one. >> yeah, for sure. i agree with guy. he has a very robust presence in this race already, no question. great polling, great money, fervent supporters who are convinced that if he's not the nominee, it was rigged again. i think we're really not going to know anything about this field until we get into the debates and we see how hard bernie goes at biden. what's interesting about this ever expanding field, bloomberg might get in, reconsider his decision if biden stumbles. celt moulton is going to get. in as you said, it never ends. they obviously all are not intimidated by joe biden and president trump. joe biden has the best chance to beat president trump next year, no question. and all these people have decided that they can come up against joe biden. so that's what's going to be interesting for someone like bernie is to see how he differentiates himself and how he tries to put vice president

biden down. and i think we'll know a lot more about bernie's strength than joe biden's the middle of the summer. >> it's a smart point. katie roger, thank you so much. when we return, the president has touted his embrace of benjamin netanyahu with israeli elections this week. i'm going talk with the liz ambassador to the u.n., up next. i'm working to keep the fire going for another 150 years. ♪ to inspire confidence through style. ♪ i'm working to make connections of a different kind. ♪ i'm working for beauty that begins with nature. ♪ to treat every car like i treat mine. ♪ at adp we're designing a better way to work, so you can achieve what you're working for. ♪

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in just two days, israel could have a new prime minister. the country will hold nationwide elections, all while incumbent benjamin netanyahu is under a cloud of corruption charges.

settlements in the west bank. are you concerned at all about the repercussions of that?

>> we will analyze it. we will be open minded to that. but i think that we are still believing direct negotiations with the palestinians. this ishe the only way to move forward. 40 years ago, that's what our prime minister did in egypt. so the best way to move forward is to have direct negotiations between the palestinians and the israelis. unfortunately, the party is not willing to consider that, and he's very skeptical about accepting the ideasti coming fr the white house. >> is your impression that the american government would support thisov settlement annexization plan? >> i think the american administration hasn't seen the plan. but i know they worked a lot, put a lot of time into it. so we will wait to see. we will respect it.

and we are willing to negotiate whatever it will be on the plan. but still the plan is not enough. you need parliament to sit down, enter the negotiating. it doesn't matter what the prime minister says, what the plan will say. you need both sides to negotiate. >> president trump addressed the republican jewish coalition here in the united states. i want to play for you what he had to say about benjamin n jja netanyahu. who is going to win the race? it is going to be close. i think it's going to be close. two good people. two good people. but i stood with your prime minister at the white house to recognize israel, a sovereignty over the golan heights. >> he was, of course, speaking to american jews, referring to

netanyahu as your prime minister. have you been concerned at all about how this debate over dual loyalty that we have been having in the united states has played out and its impact on israel? >> absolutely. when we hear that coming from leaders in the congress blaming the jewish community of dual loyalty, it is disturbing. they were blamed in poland, in europe and it is absurd. it is disgusting. and i think we know that the jewish community here is loyal to the u.s. but at the same time israel. i know we are many christians. you can also blame them for their loyalties because israel at the sameca time, they are lol citizens. >> okay. thank you very much for being here. >> thank you very much. when we return, what to watch for in the week ahead. he .

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before we go, let's talk about what you are watching in the week ahead. guys, what are you looking for? >> we're a week from tax filing and i think a lot of americans are going to find the deductions they got the year before aren't there and that the tax cut that was promised to working people isn't going to actually show up in their tax returns and it's going to appear to republicans detriment. >> that is a great point. >> big discussions after this resignation this week about who is going to fill out the cabinet

positions, especially dhs. but will barr will be testifying this week. so a lot of questions. >> she can never get through a hill appearance without a problem. >> obviously more heat will be on the attorney general. >> for sure. >> just republicans repositions around another cabinet secretary and how they will message on the recent development with the secretary of homeland security and what they're going to do. >> fair enough. i am personally watching the announcement set for april the 14th. we were all having a spirited discussion off camera about his candidacy and others. so keep an eye on that. that's going to do it for us here tonight, though. we will be back with you next week from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. coming up next headliners, a special look at the "national enquirer," the magazine that has targeted the president's enemy. s but for now, good night from washington.

good evening. for years people waiting on checkout lines in a newsstand have been drawn in by headlines from the nation enquirer. the weekly tabloid once known for celebrity gossip began playing an unlikely role in politics. >> the "national enquirer" is at the checkout aisle all across america. >> powered by its sensational articles, it has become one of

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