kickoff in newark. but my question to you, row sarah dawson question, what's going on there? >> my friends started tweeting me, was rosario dawson there? she was not there. i did try after the interview to ply him for information, get information about it but he didn't give me many details. i think what i can say news wise is don't expect a wedding on the campaign trail. that's what i can tell you. that isn't something that appears to be in the works. but they're very much on. it's very much on. she wasn't there. >> okay. you know what, i'm sorry i even have to ask because i do respect his privacy that way. the fact he's trying to protect that. >> he was being a good boyfriend. i did ask -- his aunt and uncle were there and i'm asking the secret, trying to give them tips if he does get married. the tips are what we both know, say the wife is always right. >> there we go. thank you, my friend. >> i passed it along from his

aunt and uncle. i don't know if he appreciated it much though. >> that's great. good day to all of you from msnbc headquarters in new york. high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." final deadline, dems make a new date for the president to turn over his tax returns. what could happen if trump does not comply. flash point in the fight over immigration. why the president is doubling down on a threat. new reaction today to the president targeting a minnesota congress member over remarks she made about 9/11. and in just minutes i will be talking with congressman ted lieu about his exchange with candace owens. it is a moment that has now gone viral. developing this hour, house democrats out with a new ultimatum to get the president's tax returns demanding they must be released by a new deadline. that date is april 23rd. the chairman of the house ways and means committee said if the irs does not comply by that

deadline, he will consider it a denial of his request and escalation of the legal battle ahead. treasury secretary steven mnuchin missed the official deadline this week and in i new letter to the irs commissioner, insisting he has the authority to get the president's returns. and saying the law is unambiguous saying the president shall release any tax returns as requested by his committee. meanwhile, growing backlash after the president tweeted representative omar in this tweet. and some have used it to criticize the congresswoman. >> it was founded after 9/11 because they recognized some people did something and all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. >> house speaker nancy pelosi

joining the coursous of democrats who they claim insights violence against representative omar. this has the president is reviving a controversial policy in the administration rejected as unworkable as well as illegal. the president still saying he's strongly considering a plan to take central american immigrants apprehended at the border and bus them to so-called sanctuary cities. >> we will bring the illegal -- what do you call them, illegals. i call them illegals. they came across the border illegally, we will bring them to sanctuary city areas and let that particular area take care of it. and they want more people in their sanctuary cities. we'll give them more people. we can give them a lot, an unpliu unlimited supply. they always say we have open arms. let's see if they have open arms. >> let's begin at the white house with hans nichols. good saturday to you, hans.

first, the deadline that came and went. what's the significance of the deadline if the irs is not compliant? >> it's clear the ways and means committee is anticipating a legal challenge. think of this as yours and mine tax returns, last week it's almost as though the white house and treasury secretary was asking for an extension. that's what mnuchin seemed to be asking. now it seems like the ways and means is not granting that extension. they have given this april 23rd deadline and being clear about the section of the tax code they're using to get it. we all have to get familiar with it. it's section 6103 is the part just read. i will read you a little bit of the letter. they think the wall is on their side. the irs has failed to provide the requested return and return information despite an unambiguous legal obligation to do so. that's the house democrats and also ways and means committee

think the law is on their side to get them from the president himself or the backdoor, through the president's accounting firm. alex? >> hans, thank you for the setup. we l take this conversation to democratic congressman ted lieu, a member of the jiesudiciary committee. we're guessing you will not see the president's return by the deadline. realistically, is there a viable path to getting them? >> thank you, alex, for that question. i would be very surprised if the white house complied with this request. they have been stonewalling every single congressional request and that is unheard of with any administration. there's a difference with this request, the law actual slaz if the house ways and means company requests these tax returns, the irs shall provide it. that's what the law says. we believe the courts will enforce the law and we believe we will get his tax returns.

>> what's with all of this hullabaloo of the definition of the word shall? does it make any sense to you? >> i'm a recovering lawyer but i can tell you shall means shall. they must do this. they cannot violate the law. the law is very clear and the house ways and means committee is entitled under these tax returns under the law. if the administration doesn't like it, they have to try to change the law. >> okay. let's get to the reports that the president offered a pardon to the acting dhs if he encountered legal problems as a result of closing the southwestern border. the president denied it happened. but i know you tweeted about the implications for these reports for possible impeachment proceeding as well as committee's investigation. can you expand on that? >> happy to do so. on the judiciary committee we're currently investigating a tax on the rule of law by donald trump including issues such as dangling pardons, obstruction of

justice, witness tampering and we're going to conduct this investigation, we're going to gather documents, interview witnesses under oath and at the end of the day, we're either going to exonerate donald trump or we're not. and then we're going to have a conversation with the american people after we've done this investigation. certainly what donald trump is alleged to have done by telling a federal employee to violate the law and then he was going to give them a pardon, we're going to certainly investigate that to see if, in fact, that happened. >> one thing the president did confirm yesterday that has a way to get back at democrats, his administration is considering dumping undocumented immigrants in sanctuary cities. i want your reaction to this. >> so why is the president all of a sudden tweeting about this crazy idea? i think it's to distract from the fact he has a failed immigration policy. he has a failed health care policy. right now he's in court trying to eliminate pre-existing conditions health care coverage for americans. so i think that's why he's just bringing up this idea at this moment in time. and the idea itself seems to

show he doesn't really understand how many sanctuary jurisdictions there are. it's not just california. you have states such as colorado, iowa, florida, pennsylvania, georgia, they have sanctuary jurisdictions. this is going to cost a lot of money shipping to these people all around the united states and it's going to go all over the united states. it really is a crazy idea. >> money that would come from, let's say i.c.e., already not funded to the extent they wish they were. where would the money even come from? >> i don't know where the money would come from. if you were to simply watch how republicans talk about sanctuary cities, it seems they don't understand the concept at all. it's not saying if you're undocumented and commit a crime, you're not going to be pros kbe and put in jail, you will. it's not that they will take an additional step and refer you to i.c.e., that's the only difference. the reason we want to do that is it encourages witnesses who have

seen crimes, witnesses who have seen other things that have happened to go to law enforcement without fear they might get deported. >> sounds like the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing. anyway, let's move on to the mueller report. as you know, we're expecting the redacted kwopy from bill barr in a couple of days now. set the stage for me, for the legal fight of the unredacted version, let's look at what judiciary committee jerry nadler is saying about that. >> congress has need of the entire report, including the grand jury material, including everything, and i presume we're going to get the redacted report within a week. when we do so, if we don't get anything, we will issue the subpoena and go to court. >> so do you think the issuing of that subpoena is inevitable now? >> depends on what it is we actually get from bill barr. i do want to say with every passing day i become more and

more disappointed. with attorney general bill barr, he's going from what i thought he was, independent thinker, to now simply a pawn for the president. he knows, for example, it's the just department's mission to defend laws in court yet he's doing the bidding of the president by trying to eliminate the affordable care act in court. he also used the word spine when talking about what was authorized surveillance by four fisa judges who also happen to be republicans in terms of issuing surveillance warrants. and he's now saying to congress he will not provide the full mueller report. that's not acceptable. we had 420 members of congress on a bipartisan basis vote to see we want to see the full mueller report. >> unanimously. ag rod rosenstein talked about this in an interview with "the wall street journal," and he defended bill barr's handling of the mueller report saying he's being as forthcoming as he can so this notion he's trying to mislead people i think is

bizarre. first of all, are you surprised to hear rosenstein take barr's side? based on rosenstein and your experience with him, are you inclined to believe him? >> i am spurpd by deputy attorney general rod rosenstein's remarks because 23 you look at the reporting you had members of rosenstein's team expressing discomfort and somewhat alarm the way bill barr characterized the mueller report in his very brief four-page summary. we have to see what the full report is. congress is entitled to all of anywhere is information. i understand the department of justice has their own internal policies and regulations but those don't apply to congress. under the separation of powers, the framers gave congress the sole power to impeach the president. for us to make the decision, we need to see all of the evidence the white house and executive branch can't hide that from congress. it would violate the separation of powers. >> i've got to ask you about the house judiciary committee

hearings on white nationalism and the clip of candace owens. you've seen it. it wracked up millions of viewers on social media. for viewers who didn't see it, here's a quick reminder. >> i don't know miss owens. i'm not going to characterize her. i'm going to let her own words do the talking. >> whenever we say nationalism, the first thing we think about is hitler, a national socialist. if hitler just wanted make germany great and have things run well, fine of the but problem was he had dreams outside of germany. >> she's trying to present i was launching in offense of germany and hitler when the question asked to me is whether or not i believed in nationalism and nationalism was bad. what i responded to was i do not believe we should be characterizing hitler as a nationalist. he was a homicidal, psychopathic maniac that killed his own people. a nationalist would not kill their own people. >> i'm curious about how this all played out and were you

expecting it the way it did. >> thank you, alex, for that question. this was a very serious house judiciary committee hearing on white nationalism. the point i was trying to make is the republican party gets to select their own witnesses and of all of the people they could have picked, they picked candace owens, who had been criticized earlier this year for making those exact statements about hitler. so my point was about the republican who's happened to choose her from any other witness they could have. if you see the rest of my questioning, i moved on to policy spongss policy responses how we can address white nationalism. >> one more question before i let you go, top story this weekend would be the controversial surrounding congresswoman omar ilhan's comments. the president using 9/11 footage to go after her. what is your position on both of their actions? >> rep omar is getting death threats. last week a man was charged criminally for threatening to kill her.

the president of the understands the way of his own words. it is wrong. it is dangerous for the president to try to insight violence against omar. he needs to take down his pin tweet right now. >> democratic congressman ted lieu, thank you so much, as always. >> thank you. changing his tune, why the president is now distancing himself from wikileaks.

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it was just another sort of cruel way how he uses immigrants as pawns and wanting to make his base upset at immigrants. the way he's doing this i think is sick, i think it's terrible. >> congressman mark veasy speaking with me this morning. a democrat from the dallas-ft. worth area denouncing the president's threat to send people to immigrant cities that do not agree with his politics. joining us, bob kuszak, editor and chief of the hill and, eugene, first here, wasn't the president already arguing he doesn't have enough money allocated by congress to pursue his immigration policies, so how can he go about doing this one? is it practical? how do you pay for it? >> it doesn't appear the president has actually thought out how he can make this idea come to fruition. but it is politically motivated. we should expect initially the

president to have a plan that he's made clear of how something like this would benefit americans as a whole. what has been concerning to a lot of his critics is the idea what he's doing actually can be very harmful. even though he often exaggerates about public safety issues related to immigrants or makes statements that are not based on data, just the idea that he can put individuals in a community that he and his supporters believe is a danger sends a very clear message to these people in sanctuary cities who are primarily liberal or at least left of trump and it seems very partisan, the policy motivations for this. >> let's talk further about the political calculation here. is it worth it for him to jet up his base with this plan? he's getting backlash, including from some republicans. >> yeah, that's right. this is risky for the president, especially with independent voters. certainly we have not seen the president move to the center.

he's still courting his base and that's how he believes he won in 2016. i think he's just trying to highlight sanctuary cities and the issue itself. if talk to legal experts -- and even some in the administration, they say there's no authority to actually do this. but it's certainly high lighted a hot-button issue, and i do think for red america, they like this idea. blue america thinks it's crazy >> bob, you have the dhs that tweets back and says, you know, we don't even have a plan for this. this is nothing we're even considering. how does that play out with his voters, because it's directly contradicting what the president wants to do. >> yes and the white house was contradicting itself yesterday on this. i don't think this is going to happen. i think congress when it gets back in town probably geoes on record saying it shouldn't

happen and put republicans on a tough spot where they will have to vote with the president or with democrats. that will be tough. but they don't have the authority appropriation wise or money to do this. >> let's get to other stories getting attention, that being the president's targeting of democratic representative ilhan omar. using a graphic that we will not play showing burning images from 9/11 and this video out of context the speech omar gave about civil rights. take a listen to it. >> care was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. >> i want to make a point that cair was not founded after 9/11 but it made a lot of move after

9/11. now does this thing to appeal to his base? >> to quite a few people in his base. we know representative omar has become one of the more high-profile targets and specifically trump supporting targets, including his immediate criticism of trumpism and many of the policies the president supports and her legal views. the challenge in what this does is hurt the president of people who support him in the past, who are willing to give him a risk, give him a chance, who are now no longer supportive of him. we know it's independent voters walking away from trump in significant numbers that could hurt him in 2020, like it hurt him in 2018. why this is a move that gets him points with people already on his team, it legally is hurting him with the people he needs if he thinks he will stay in the oval office pass this first term. >> switching gears, i want to ask you about how the president

is reacting to wikileaks founder julian assange. this week he said i know nothing about wikileaks. let's listen to what he said repeatedly during the campaign. >> wikileaks, i love wikileaks. this weeky leak stuff is unbelievable. it tills you the inner heart. you have to read it. it's been amazing what's coming out on wikileaks. oh, we love wikileaks. they have -- wikileaks. this wikileaks is unbelievable. what we've learned about her and her people. >> did you see another one? another came came in today, this wikileaks is like a treasure trove. >> so, bob, why is the president changing his tune here? do you think there's something his administration can be concerned that julian assange might tell authorities? what's behind it? >> alex, that's a great question, that's what we don't know. we don't know exactly what went on on or didn't go on between

roger stone and assange. of course, assange's release about information of democratic emails helped donald trump immensely and that's why he mentioned it. i doubt assange will be talking and the extradition to the united states can take over a year but at the same time i do think maybe there's some concern. and i think it's smart for the white house to try to distance themselves from assange. >> what's your take on this, eugene? last word to you. >> yes, i think the white house is being cautious in trying to recognize that perhaps they're in a situation that's bigger than what they initially thought and perhaps this was something the campaign should have made the president aware of when he was seeking office and bragging about his affections for wikileak. >> okay, guys. good to see you both. thank you. the mar-a-lago dissident with the new twist today. what the chinese national was carrying that has the fbi investigating whether it could be part of a bigger scene. be part of a bigger scene. i can't tell you who i am or what i witnessed,

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see what you might save at cvs pharmacy. new revelations about the chinese woman who talked her way through security at mar-a-lago while the president was nearby at his golf course. she's now been charged with trespassing and lying to a federal agent.

the thumb drive she was carrying began immediately downloading malware to an analyst computer and in her room authorities found a detector for hidden cameras, four chinese passports and nine u.s. b drives. joining me now, sarah blassky, a reporter who's part of the "miami herald's" investigation into all of this. this is an incredibly fascinating story. let's start at the beginning here, sarah, as i welcome you here. the woman first claimed she was at mar-a-lago. she was supposed to use the pool although officials did not find any swimsuits on her. how was she able to first get through mar-a-lago security? >> thank you for having me. as we understand it, she got through the first checkpoint just outside of mar-a-lago.

she was not on the list and she said she had a family member here, which they did not double-check and she got in any way. she got to a secondary checkpoint and there a receptionist checked her name and did not find her on any sort of guess list. that's how should ended up getting caught up, but staff at first found her family member based in her last name, one of the common in china. >> now the fbi is investigating is whether she was spying at mar-a-lago. tell me about some of the evidence. i went through some of it but it looks pretty bad. >> sure. she actually tried to enter mash laggio wi mar-a-lago, four cell phones, thumb drive infected with malware, as you mentioned. we don't know much more about

what was on those electronics. we know federal investigators are still analyzing them and we know espionage charges could come, depending on what they find. so far though the evidence that has been presented has not been for an espionage charge, it's been for lying to federal agents and unlawful entry to private property. we expect to learn more about what was on those monday at her arraignment. >> if she had all of those items, sarah, is there a way to conclude that the chinese government did or did not know? >> we don't know. presumably various analyses of whatever is on those cell phones, messages, emails, those kind of things could point investigators towards some sort of conclusion about if or who she was working for, if she was working for the government, she was, you know, just a bumbling tourist. we still don't know, but potentially there is information there.

we know a preliminary analysis did reveal that the event she told federal agents she was going to attend, in fact she had known it was canceled prior to leaving china and came anyway, which tried to make entrance to mar-a-lago anyway. that's the newest information that came from the analysis of those electronics. >> i don't know, bumbling tourist with malware and hard drives and four chinese passports. that is quite extraordinary. let's take a listen to what the president said just last week about the security at mar-a-lago. here he is. >> i'm not concerned at all. we have very good control. we have extremely good, and it's getting better in cyber -- frankly, what we're doing with cyber is a story in itself. no, i think that was a fluke situation. >> are there any reasons, more reasons to worry about security about mar-a-lago given what we know about this intruder and all of the items she had in her possession? >> one of the most interesting things that came out in court this last monday to me wats the

idea she had been on a guess list, she had been an invited guest to one of these events, all of that electronic equipment would be allowed inside mar-a-lago. certainly guests are screened for bombs, chemical weapons, biological weapons. what they're not screened for is electronics. why they would put their electronics through a metal detector on their way in, but beyond that they're allowed to bring in four cell phones, external hard drive and laptop. >> all right, susan, this is not the last of the story. when you get more, come back and share it. thank you. the most damaging information to the president is coming up. information to the president is coming up. i don't keep track of regrets. and i don't add up the years.

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new reaction to the president's tweet using 9/11 footage to criticize congresswoman ilhan omar. nancy pelosi making a statement saying the president shouldn't use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack. the president's tweet includes disturbing images of the 9/11 attacks, which we will not be playing for you. and it also uses a shorter version of these remarks by congresswoman omar. >> far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second class citizen. frankly, i'm tired of it and every single muslim in this country should be tired of it. cair was founded after 9/11

because they recognized that some people did something, and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. >> joining me now is helena maxwell, director for progressive programming for sirius xm and msnbc analyst and dean abdullah, host of the dean abdullah show on sirius xm. rick,ly have you get at this one first. i want to take these issues one at a time. first up, your reaction to the president's tweet. >> look, it doesn't do any good to politicize what happened on 9/11, a terrible tragedy. but i think everyone is criticizing representative omar is missing her larger point. i will share a quick story. a couple of weeks after 9/11 i was adjudicating another speeding ticket in court, and that morning i would say literally 80% of the people in that courtroom that morning

were -- were muslim. it became a little comical because the judge was having such difficulty pronouncing their names. so either muslims disproportionally drive very fast after 9/11 or they were being profiled. and they were being profiled. and that is her larger point. was she clumsy or could have articulated her point better? absolutely. but taken in context she was making a point muslims were being discriminated against for an act that people who distorted the muslim faith used to attack us on 9/11. >> interesting. that's an extraordinary perspective there. dean, how about you? what's your take? >> rick has a good point but i can bring about much more recently in the last campaign donald trump said islam hates us. donald trump said muslims cheered on 9/11 in new jersey that rudy giuliani didn't back up. donald trump has revved up hate

of muslims. we've seen attack of hate crimes, attacks on our places of worship, muslims killed for their faith in this country and new zealand recently. so what omar is talking about is the start reality and much of this created by trump. could she have picked different words? to me, that's ridiculous. he speech was when being muslim in america after 9/11. and what it was like being demonized and continuing to be demonized. whatever faith group you are the man running for president says i want a shutdown on your faith or race or sexual orient algs. that's when my kmun'community w through and why we have seen a spike in hate crimes from the campaign until today. >> your take on this? >> one of the things i want to say is democrats stepped up in this moment.

nancy pelosi's statement was not enough. we need to clearly and unequivocally support ilhan omar. and donald trump, the president of these united states, is putting her life in danger on purpose. it's not like he's accidentally doing this. he's purposely and intentionally putting her life in danger. somebody was just arrested in upstate new york for calling her office and threatening to shoot her in the head. in the same vain donald trump is saying this person, let's put them under an even brighter spotlight and greater scrutiny for something we all know was taken out of context. to piggy back on dean's point, what she was saying is that we're demonizing an entire group of people for the actions of a few. and that's exactly what we're doing right now. we're demonizing all muslims and we're saying we will ban them for the united states because of what a few have done. i'm sorry. i think at this moment we need to be serious because there are lives at risk in this moment.

and donald trump is putting her life in danger and really i would say anyone muslim or appearing to be muslim, including six attacked after 9/11 because so many mistook them to be muslim. in this country we need to be a lot more not just allies but we need to be accomplices i believe in this moment and stand up for bhoem cannot stand up for themselves. at this moment we need to speak up for ilhan omar and defend her. she's a mother with children and now her life is in danger. >> amen to that. rick, who is the president targeting with that tweet? >> unfortunately, alex, this is a really long story. the story goes like this, with each subsequent immigrant group that comes to the united states, unfortunately, our history is they've always been treated the same. the fear is muslims will come to the country and all of a sudden we'll all have to be muslim. it's a ridiculous notion, as if

we all suddenly became -- we all spoke german when the germans came or irish when the irish came or views or italians and none of us are speaking italian or need to become islamic. the idea of a patriotic muslim is an affluence to these people. it's unminority knit we have to go through this every single time with every group. if you believe in the american cull chush a cultural and people have the ability to assimilate, you don't worry about it. but the muslims coming across the southern border are the current targets of this racial fear >> dean, you have the president also tweeting on this idea of placing undocumented immigrants in sanctuary cities yesterday. how much of this coupled with the 9/11 tweet is just about playing to his base? >> i think almost everything donald trump does, he does to play to his base. when i say donald trump is not my president, i'm not being snarky. i'm being honest.

he doesn't want to be my president. he wants to be king of his base. everything he does comes through that prison. what will make my base happy? demonizing muslims has gone on long before donald trump. i just wrote about it for the daily beast. senator mccain was the first republican national candidate in 2011 demonizing muslims on a national level saying we want to impose sharia law that we're not loyal to this country, we can't be in his cabinet. he was the first one and donald trump saw that played well so donald trump continued to demonize muslims, play to his base, fearmongering at the southern border. but there's something more sinister, alex. there are people like trump and those on the right who want to marginalize muslim-americans from politics and media. i say it also people coming after me. they want us out. they don't want our voice out there because they view us as a threat. congressman omar is muslim, black and immigrant and strong outspoken woman.

she's rolled into one the greatest fear and intertwining a tragedy after 9/11 which i witnessed in lower manhattan on that day for political gain. it's despicable, it's vile and november 3rd, 2020 is the only way to get rid of this. >> zerlina, in terms of being outspoken, did she do herself significant harm by her comments about jewish people? >> you know, i think the reason why i think people push back against the pylon with her first comments is because we saw this coming, exactly what's hanning right now. on the one hand she said something that definitely trafficked in tropes, anti-semitic troops, but she apologized. and yet every single time she says something else, we try to frame that as some sort of anti-semitic thing when she's not the one being anti-semitic. for republicans and kevin mccarthy and donald trump jr.,

all of these folks who literally retweet nazis to call her out for being anti-semitic while they're being anti-semitic is ridiculous. and i think the hypocrisy is very clear. i understand you need to be careful with your words. i don't know if it's because she and i are the same age but i have a deep empathy with her as a fellow black woman who sometimes may misspeak or say things that are not as articulate as i would like them to be. i think as a new freshman congresswoman and a woman under scrutiny she never faced before, she's going to perhaps make some mistakes but she earnestly apologized and none of the people who have attacked her since then apologized or even condemned the attacks against her and death threats she's receiving. i think while she can be more articulate, we all can be. but she apologized and i think she meant it.

we need to be fair in our critiques instead of like dan crenshaw, who legitimately took her way out of context and puts his hands up and acts like he doesn't know why this happened and everybody is attacking her when he actually ginned up this hate against her. the idea people are so naive they couldn't expect she would get an increase in death threats when they're taking her words out of context on purpose in order to generate more death threats, i think that's where we need to put more scrutiny on those folks and their words. so i would say, alex, we should look at what dan crenshaw said and analyze his words and hopefully he will be more careful and what he's saying in the future. >> these are great conversations. >> let's not forget the patriotic americans who died in 9/11 and who are muslim as well. >> absolutely. >> absolutely. great chat all three of you. thank you very much. breaking down the top congressional investigations that pose a potential threat to the president and his tenure in the white house.

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i don't care about the mueller report. i have been totally exonerated. no exclusion, no obstruction. >> obstruction by tweet, one of

the theories being advocated here, i have never took as a basis for obstruction. >> after three years of lies and smears and slander, the russia hoax is finally dead. >> you always expect something from the democrats if they don't get what they want in the mueller report, they're going to ask for the taxes. if they don't get what they want on the taxes, they will ask for something else. >> as they wait the results of the mueller report, the president faces or allegations of jeopardy. a new article in "the washington post" emthphasizes the biggest threats to the president beyond mueller. joining me now msnbc analyst cynthia oxny. welcome. let's go through this list because i want to start with obstruction of justice. the two house committees are looking into this. they need the full unredacted mueller report to do a full constitutional evaluation. is there any legal move that

will get that report to congress, and what legal challenges could president trump face if the evidence shows he wasn't exonerated as he claims? >> well, we're obviously waiting this week for the report and before everybody gets all excited they're going to get a bunch of new information, after barr's testimony i'm not very optimistic we're going to get what much of the report -- he said he's going to color code the report and it might look more like an easter basket than the report itself. so i'm concerned that we're not going to get the information. then what's going to happen is there's going to be a legal battle to get it. than will be protracted. that's a problem. it will be interesting how much we get is legal analysis and how much is counterintelligence analysis. we will have to see what we get this week. but it will be a huge legal fight. at some point they will subpoena mueller to come testify. the problem is if there's a

60-day ruling that most of the information cannot be released, until there's a ruling contrary to that from a court, his hands will be pretty tied. a lot of things will develop in the next six weeks on that front >> what about adam shift that suggested the president may have made foreign policy investments to enrich himself. how do investigators even go about proving this? >> adam schiff has hired dan goldman, who used to work for msnbc, who is a specialist in this russian organized crime. they're doing an investigation. i think it's pretty difficult to do it out of congress. they don't have the same kind of resources. again, the mueller report, which presumably looked at this as well, should give us a lot of information as a basis and it should help schiff but it's a very difficult thing. it's also tied up -- it's important, obviously, if the president has been making foreign policy decisions because he was hoping to get a trump

tower deal or because he has a money laundering problem that putin knows about and the country doesn't, we need to know that. that's fundamentally important for us to know as a country. but it's a pretty difficult investigation and we have to -- we'll start with the base of the mueller report and schiff will have to build on it. >> what about the mystery behind the president's taxes? it brings up a question whether the president inflated his net worth. the house oversight and ways and means committee, they both want answers on this. it's clear the president doesn't want the country to see the foot prints of his financial life. is it about containing political damage or are there legal ramifications to consider how the president obtained loans or whether he even paid enough real estate taxes? >> can i tell you of the six in the "the washington post" report we're talking about, i think this is the most dangerous for the country on some level, and that is because i see a constitutional crisis coming based on this. the underlying statute says that

when the chairman of the house ways and means committee asks in writing for the taxes, they shab turned over. they shall be. that's the word. they're not being turned over. and now the chairman has given a deadline of april 23rd, presumably a subpoena will come after that on the 29th. let's just play it out. let's say he does the subpoena, and clearly the white house is not going to comply. they're ordering down the line to the irs commissioner, improper but that's what's happening. when they don't comply and it goes to court, what if a court says yes, you will? here's what my concern is, they just may not do it. and then who's going to enforce that subpoena, the attorney general? the attorney general who is now becoming -- who turned out to be the president's lawyer and not the people's lawyer? i just see us coming to a head here and i'm pretty worried about it. i don't think there's really an answer just yet.

i know there's not an answer just yet and i worry about it. to me this list in "the washington post" on some level is very important and very dangerous for the fabric of our judicial system. >> we just touched on three of the six and we're out of time. very interesting article for sure. thank you very much. a fiery exchange on capitol hill over the accordable care act. ly ask congressman matt cartwright why he took on the attorney general next. ok on the attorney general next. to make you everybody else... ♪ ♪ means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight and never stop. does this sound dismal? it isn't. ♪ ♪ it's the most wonderful life on earth. ♪ ♪ it's tough to quit smoking cold turkey. so chantix can help you quit "slow turkey."

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a new target, the president threatens to move migrants from the southern board tore sanctuary city as cross the country. under fire, the attorney general facing backlash days before he's expected to release the mueller report. one word he used that has led to questions about where his loyalties lie. war of words, the president tweets a graphic video to a congresswoman about comments she made about 9/11. and hometown kickoff cory booker taking the stage in newark, new jersey, a few minutes from now. good evening, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." this hour we have democrats out with a new push to get six years of the president's tax returns, escalating the legal battle for a pushing missing piece in the investigation surrounding the president. after the irs missed the initial deadline this week, the chair of the house ways and means committee now issuing a ultimatum, chairman richard neal warning if his committee does

not receive the return by april 23rd, he will consider that a denial of his request. in a new letter to the irs, neal insists he has the investigative authority to request the president's returns and argues the law is unambiguous, the treasury secretary, quote, shall release any tax returns as requested by his committee. meanwhile democrats accusing the president of inciting violence by representative ilhan omar thxt pinned tweet in the president's account showsburging images of the 9/11 towers. editing out of context is the snippet of the speech that even questions whether congressman omar is an american. >> cair was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something, and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. >> the president is right in the middle of a legal firestorm

after saying he's considering bussing central americans to so-called sanctuary streets to retaliate gens democrats. >> they want more people in their sanctuary cities? we can give them more people, a lot. we can give them an unlimited supply. let's see if they're so happy. they say they have open arms. let's see if they have open arms. >> just a moment ago i spoke with congressman ted lieu, who condemned the president's plan. >> why is the president all of a sudden tweeting about this crazy idea? i think it's to distract from the fact he has a failed immigration policy. and the idea itself seems to show he does not understand how many sanctuary jurisdictions there are. this will cost a lot of money shipping people across the united states continue will go all over the united states. it really is a crazy idea. >> let's get to video of the president leaving the white house and arriving at his golf club in virginia earlier today. nbc's hans nichols has the latest on this. first of all, what's on the

president's agenda, hans? >> it looks like golf and not much more. it's typical of presidents in past times, george w. bush spent time golfing on saturday. it's a nice day here. here's what's on the agenda on the legal side. that is the white house and treasury department has to figure out a traty to somehow counter this two-pronged approach from house democrats. not only richard neal from ways and means setting ed deadline of april 23rd but the chairman of the house oversight and means committee talking about his tax firm, sis that a way to get a backdoor to the tax returns? when you read the letter, it's studded with legal language. they're clearly anticipating a legal fight before the court. let me give you a flavor here. it saying stat othery language is unambiguous, raising no complicated legal issues, citing the 6031 statute. it's not unproper for the

justice of the irs to second guess the committee's motives. that's why they're going after the irs, not treasury secretary. it is directed to the irs commissioner. and then they say they're assuming everyone will act in accordance with the law and act properly. alex, this is clearly going ahead to the courts in one way or another. the white house said last week the president will never, ever give up his tax returns and it's clear democrats want to make an issue of this and also want to get their hands on six years of tax returns to figure out just where the president's financial interests lie. it looks like it's heading to the courts. alex? >> before i let you go, the president is taking congress to task to bus immigrants to so-called sanctuary cities. what is the information from the white house? >> the white house is not responding to that part of the charge. what we have from the white house is this shyness to get ahead of the president. two days ago when the story initially broke, white house officials and dhs officials said it simply wasn't true. it had been considered but would have been totally scotched.

a few hours later the president comes out to the camera and owns it. we will see what the individual responses are to congressional criticism, democratic drit six. but it seems to me this is a fight the president wants and he's happy to talk about it. >> hans nichols, always happy to talk to you. joining us now, john harwood and steph, you first here, the president tweeted due to the fact democrats, unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we're giving strong consideration of placing illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities only. first of all, what are the chances this plan actually happens to any degree? plenty of mayors, chicago, seattle, they said bring it on. first of all, where would the money come from to move these people? >> certainly. according to axios' reporting it's not likely this would actually happen. there are several reasons for

that. one is as you just said, there's no funding for this. i.c.e. is strapped for resources and it would be expensive to transfer immigrants from the border to specific areas in california and elsewhere, whether it's true flying or bussing. that's an expense. there's also a huge liability when it comes to transporting people that far. if anywhere were to get injured on that journey, that would fall back on i.c.e. and ultimately lead to more lawsuits for the trump administration. that's a huge liability as well. that's something i heard from immigration lawyers who i was speaking to after the tweet. and at the end of the day this is trump basically offering a free ride for immigrants to places they would already be wanting to go, places that already offer more leniency within the courts when it comes to immigration cases. >> not to mention the fact dhs itself said via twitter, we have no plans to do this. there's nothing drawn up to do this at all. anyway, john, what about the legal fallout, would there be

some for the homeland security chief if he shuts down the border? >> well, there could be. i mean, legally the president might be able to order it. the question is how does that get applied and how does it work? it would have a tremendous deleterious effect on our economy if they did that. that's why business has been very strong saying don't do it. i think what the president is talking about is something that he wants only to talk about. he likes to talk big about things and say i've tough. i'm going do this and that. but some of the schemes like this one, either shutting the border or transporting these immigrants is so hairbrained and would be so counterproductive that it's much better to bluster than it is to try to implement it. if you try to implement it, it would not only be bad for his administration, it would be bad for republicans in congress who would have some of the blame

heaped on them for economic effects and creepy spectacle trying to engineer where immigrants go and drop them off for punitive reasons. it's not something i can see progressing past the presidential tweet or presidential huffing and puffing stage. >> i like the way you categorized it, hair-brained that's good. let's see what the attorney general said when asked who has seen the special counsel's report. here's that. >> who, if anyone, outside of the justice department has seen portions or all of the special counsel's report? has anyone in the white house seen any of the report? >> i'm not going -- as i said, i'm landing the plane right now and i have been willing to discuss my letters and the process going forward. but the report will be out next week and i will not get into the details of the process until the plane is on the ground. >> why, stef, won't the attorney

general say whether or not the white house has seen the report? >> that's a good question. we've seen many of his remarks ha really sparked concern, especially when democrats said maybe his loyalties aren't where they thought they were. that and the fact he brought up the fbi potentially spying on the trump campaign. there's several things that he said throughout the hearing that called into question, okay, where is he on this? is he trying to protect the white house? and, of course, it really all depends on when we finally get a look at the mueller report itself. there have been people defending barr, rod rosenstein has said look, he's just trying to get this out there, takes a while to process the report. he came out with his initial findings from the report merely because people are curious, people want to know what's inside. we have to see how it plays out, how much of the report we get to see. there's still a lot of open questions but some of the things bash said during that hearing

sparked concerns, especially among democrats. >> what, john, about the argument the legal surveillance on the campaign trail is more than just a conspiracy theory? >> there is no credence to it. we know how the investigation started. it started with george popolopodus bragging to a diplomat about information the russians had and there were a whole bunch of specific contacts that were subsequently lied about with all of the people involved. this is not a mystery. but why the authorities began to look into what was happening around the trump campaign is not necessarily investigating the trump campaign itself. the people with connections to the trump campaign were alarmed, the national apparatus in the country including senior officials who served under presidents of both parties. this wasn't a republican/democrat thing but national security thing. the president, of course, has been trying to discredit it, republican members of congress

tried to discredit it, but they're credibility is very weak. >> i want to get a couple questions in on 2020 as the field got a little bigger this week, srepresentative swalwell announcing his candidacy. do you think people are realizing claiming a spot on the debate stages may be a bit easier than we realized and declaring this to raise their national profile? >> there's certainly a lot of reasons to run in 2020, especially against a candidate like trump. so, of course, some really do have a legitimate chance at winning the presidency. we're seeing some of the front-runners already start to come out. there are people we know will have legitimate chances. others are running to gain a role in the future administration. they're running to have their name out there for vice president or head of a department, u.s. government department. there are many reasons to run. and we are seeing there's really no downside to running at this point. it does give you more name

recognition. you are going to be on the debate stage. they're going to be able to say you ran in 2020. you have a chance to let the issues you care about be known. there's little downside to running at this point. >> what about, john, which you did speaking it presidential helpful pete buttigieg on your podcast speak easy, it happened this week. among the things you discussed is how his sexual orientation is playing into his campaign. let's listen to what pete said about that. >> i'm not running to be president for anyone. if i thought of myself just in terms of identity wise, it would be a lonely place because i'm the only maltese american episcopalian day veteran that i know. if we get identity right, it could be a source of solidarity to people whose identities are completely different. i think divisive identity politics is what's being practiced by the white house today and using race to divide

us, for example, in the middle and working class. we have to turn the page on that. >> i want to get your reaction to that interview. john, you first. >> i think the argument he's making is there are elements of all of our identities that are different from one another but we also have a lot in common. he's trying to say by showing that i as a day man running for president am also a former business consultant. i'm mayor of a small town, somebody who served in naval intelligence. he's got ties with a lot more people than one would assume on first glance. to your earlier questions, i think pete buttigieg is a very good argument for the question why are so many people jumping in. when he got in a lot of people were saying he's running for vice president but look how he's doing, third in the polls in iowa and new hampshire. he's on fire in terms of attention. he raised $7 million, more than some of better-known u.s.

senators running against him. and anybody in this field if they're gifted have got a chance to catch lightning in a bottle, and right now pete buttigieg has done that. >> stef, quickly, your thoughts? >> yes, mayor buttigieg is one of the candidates we're watching closely at axios. it's fascinating to watch him come, as we said, somebody discounted for running for something else and now seeing him third in the crucial polls. the race is wide open. people we expect to be front-runners now can always change up in the future. of course, as he said, identity politics do matter today. they do matter in politics, especially as the demographics of our country continue to change. we're looking at something minority white within the next several decades and so identity politics do matter. like you said, pursuing that in the way that's right and inclusive will be important and it will be an issue we see repeatedly in 2020. >> we will repeatedly see the

both of you as well. stef and john, thank you very much. the other big story, speaker of the house nancy pelosi releasing a statement a few hours ago in response to the president tweeting 9/11 footage in context with ilhan omar saying -- the president shouldn't use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack. it is wrong for the president as commander in chief to fan the flames to make anyone less safe. joining me now, democratic representative from pennsylvania, congressman matt cartwright. welcome back to the broadcast, stir >> hi, alex, how are you? >> i'm well. i hope you are too. the president tweeted this graphic video and we're not going to play that but it showed the burning world trade center towers and other images from 9/11 but the president criticized omar of some things that were insensitive if not offensive. where do you come down with this? >> i have to side with the

speaker on this, alex. i don't agree with everything she says but on that, i couldn't agree with her more. we have to politicize every single thing in life in this country, and we shouldn't do that. at some point want to ask at last, at long last, is nothing sacred? let's not make 9/11 about politics. it isn't about politics. we need month move on from there. alex, i was a courtroom jury trial attorney for 25 years, proud member of the associations for justice. one of the greatest things we did after 9/11 when they set up the victims' compensation fund, 1,400 trial lawyers got together and volunteered their team for the families of the deceased and of the firefighters and first responders who got sick before the victims compensation fund and there's a move now to reauthorize the victims' compensation fund. that's one thing we're working on in congress.

it's a very important effort. >> let me get to your congressional colleague, alexandria oscasio-cortez, who tweeted members of congress have a duty to respond to the president's explicit attack today, representative omar's life is in danger and for our colleagues to be silent is to be complicit to the president's dangerous targeting of a member of congress. is there a further plan for a response beyond the speak snerz. >> speakers? >> i have to say, i come from northeastern pennsylvania, where people voted for president trump by the jormajority, but ask him wish you wouldn't tweet so much. and that's true. the problem with twitter, you go on twitter, there's a tendency to want to be edgy and interesting and flashy and get attention. it's not a great medium for somebody who is trying to be presidential and who should be presidential.

and what i hear over and over again, even from people who supported president trump is, gosh, we sure wish he wouldn't tweet so much. and we wish he would be more presidential. i do too. >> let's get to what you did this week, which was question attorney general bill barr, because he appeared before the house appropriations committee. let's take a listen to that. >> your decision as our new attorney general to throw the weight of the united states department of justice behind an effort to get the federal courts entirely to invalidate the patient protection and affordable care act as unconstitutional is breathtaking. it stands out, your decision does, for its breadth, its scope, its recklessness, and its lack of legal justification. >> so the facts are you asked about health care instead of, say, the special counsel report.

is that because you think the mueller report is a dud, or because you think health care is what your constituents want to hear about or both? >> kind of both and neither, alex. i did a head count. and i got to 130 million americans who have pre-existing conditions. who don't want to see their protections laid out in the patient protection and affordable care act dissipated and thrown away. that's what would happen if the justice department prevails in its case to invalidate that law. they won in the district court in texas. it will go to the fifth circuit. it will end up in the supreme court of the united states. the attorney general's response, i was unsatisfied with that and i will tell you why, his tone was dismissive. it was smug. it was flippant as if to say, well, we don't know if it will win. do you think it will win?

and it also raised the question of whether they're just going through the motions of all of that to satisfy a campaign promise that the president made. there have been reports that bill barr himself was against pushing for that position in the court but that he got overruled. so i'm not sure what he meant but i didn't like his tone, alex. >> you took him to task for it. congressman matt cartwright. thank you very much, sir. good to see you. >> you bet. coming up we will take you to newark, new jersey, for cory booker's hometown rally set to start any minute after he's introduced by his mother. the worst... ...especially when your easily distracted teenager has the car. at subaru, we're taking on distracted driving [ping] with sensors that alert you when your eyes are off the road. the all-new subaru forester. the safest forester ever.

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any minute now new jersey senator cory booker is expected to formally announce his bid for the presidency in a rally of his hometown of newark. it's a busy day for more 2020 contenders. beto o'rouke is in south carolina. bernie sanders is campaigning in indiana and michigan. and john hickenlooper is in iowa. we are in the heart of newark, new jersey, following the booker campaign. welcome to you. what do you think the major takeaway is from today's rally? >> alex, we are just moments away from cory booker and his mother taking the stage for his official kickoff. we're in his hometown right now and we should expect to hear themes of unity, expect to hear the words love multiple times in his speech. the idea of working together for

a common purpose. while we're in the hometown, yes, he has tons of support here but there are a lot of people who are undecided on his role as president. i'm here with kitty. kitty, you live just miles from here. are you a booker supporter? >> right now i'm undecided but cory is high on the list. >> what's important to you? >> what's important to me is health care and taxes. they play a big role in the way i'm going to vote in 2020. >> right. thanks, kitty. and then i also have ira here. ira, you live in newark. are you a booker supporter? >> i am a booker supporter. i'm here to learn more about him and what he has to offer. >> what are the important issues for you in the campaign? >> for me it's education, education reform for urban school districts and economic policies that support all groups, not just big businesses. >> great. thanks, ira. as you can see, there's a

diverse crowd of people who do support this, booker running for president, and some still candidate shopping. we're months away but booker is trying to persuade everyone in this crowd today. we will hear him in moments, alex. >> we're very much looking forward to that. thanks for that, leigh anne called well and your guests joining us. meanwhile, we have dangerous weather ahead for the southeast specifically. let's go to msnbc meteorologist jessica webb they are from texas to tennessee? >> unfortunately, this is the second weekend in a row they've dealt with severe weather but this is the highest we have seen all year currently. we see the radar revved up across the deep south. a classic bow form ago cross central and iron texas f you have family, friends, they need to be taking shelter at this time. that is damaging winds we're expecting throughout the day. also possible tornadoes. we currently have 36 million

under that enhanced to severe weather risk throughout your afternoon here. damaging winds, also large golf ball size hail possible throughout the afternoon. the difference with this storm system that we can see, the squall line really forms overnight and that makes tornadic activity hazardous. also torrential rain, heavy downpour as cross central texas into southern arkansas as well. we're talking two to three inches of accumulation. alex, once again, this is the highest threat all year. family, friends in this area need to take shelter. >> i'm sure they appreciate the heads up. thank you so much, janessa webb. newark, new jersey, awaiting its favorite son. cory booker about to speak at the presidential campaign kickoff rally. there's his mother introducing him. we will sneak in a quick break on "weekends with alex witt" and come right back. when senator booker takes the podium, you will be there as well. e there as well

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and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit this woman right here, that is cory booker's mother, and she's the one introducing her son as he has this rally in his hometown of newark, new jersey,

to officially kick off his presidential campaign. we do expect to hear from him as soon as he finishes speaking and that is carolyn booker, i should add, in terms of introducing her. she's a civil rights activist and as soon as she takes the podium, we're going to take her there as well. let's get new details about the president's sanctuary plan after he tweeted he's considering sending immigrants to sanctuary cities. >> it was floated by the white house multiple times and shot down repeatedly by the career officers from the department of homeland security, which is why they're there to make sure there's legal review. not only legal because of the political motivations behind it but illegal because they would have to appropriate funds that -- they would have to use funds that were not appropriated for that purpose. >> joining me now is mr. evans, who worked on three

administrations and amy holmes, former speechwriter for then-senate majority leader bill frist. we welcome all three of you. i just want to put a disclaimer because once cory booker gets to the podium, we're going to get there as well. if it get as i little rough, sorry about that. let's go to the significance of the president who's reviving this plan, despite all of these illegalities around it. what do you think about that? >> first, i'm not surprised, alex, the president is once again continuing to usurp a wall. the president in many ways views himself above the law. but politically speaking the president is attempting to utilize this as a political wedge, if you will. for republicans immigration is still a very significant issue. it's the top three, depending on which survey or poll you look at. so i think the president is attempting to use this by saying, democrats have said that they are essentially going to allow everyone into the country so since they want people, we will take people and bring them to democratic strongholds.

i don't think it's right morally or ethically and i don't think the president will win this case in court, but i do think he's looking at this through a political lens and i do think it's something that will sort of rally the base around him. >> quickly, let's get you amy before cory booker gets there, do you think the president will get this plan or just a series of tweets? >> we do think it's a little bit of booth. we know his senior adviser was pushing this and he takes stephen miller's advice seriously. but he was calling the democrats' bluff. kirstjen nielsen, for example, she said there's no such thing as an illegal human. we have the new governor of california said california should be a sanctuary state, let alone san francisco where he should be mayor, a sanctuary city. the president is saying look, democrats, you said you want illegal immigrants in your community. now i'm suggesting perhaps you can have them. >> as promised, everyone, we're

going to go to cory booker now in newark, new jersey. his tomorrow town where he was a successful mayor, quite popular at the time. let's take a listen to him. thank you to you guys. if you want to stick around, shermichael, amy and peter, we will talk on the other side if we have time. >> thank you. >> cory! cory! >> thank you! i want to start off -- didn't my mom do a great job? i want to thank my mother. it was her example all my life, her example of grace and courage and service. it's her love, which is the reason why i'm here today. i wish my dad could be here and in my heart i believe he is here as you said. we're here today to seek

justice. we're here today because we are impatient for that justice. and our sense of moral urgency, our impatience comes from the most demanding of all values, it comes from love. love of our families, love of our communities, love of our country, and love of each other. you know, the mayor was right, newark brick city, this community -- this community taught me all about that love. it's not that feel-good, easy going love. it is strong, courageous love. it is defiant love. the kind of love that works through heartbreak and pain and betrayal. it's the kind of love that keeps

on going and never gives up. it's the kind of love that sacrifices. it's the kind of love that is essential to achieving justice. i learned right here on these streets that you can't make progress by dividing people. you can't make progress by stoking fear or setting us one against the other. i learned that the only way to overcome the really tough challenges is by extending grace, finding common ground and working together. and we know this, that today so many of us are hurting, so many of us are understandably angry, so many of us are feel ago frayed for our futures and our families. too many people believe the force is tearing us apart are

stronger than the bonds that hold us together. well, i don't believe that. i believe we will bring our country together. i believe we will achieve things that other people say are impossible. i believe we will make justice real for all people. and that is why i am running for president of the united states of america! let me tell you -- >> cory! cory! >> let me tell you -- >> cory, cory! cory! >> let me tell you, we are a great nation because of all of our people, and to the people

across the country who don't speak english as their first language, i want to say to many of you -- [ speaking spanish ] i will be a president for all people in america! when i arrived here in newark over 20 years ago to work as a tenant rights lawyer, i found a city for challenges that some folk said were intractable. but we in newark refused to believe any problem is too hard if we tackle it together. we were a community impatient for justice. newark has always been a community impatient for justice. a community that knew in the words of dr. king, wait has

almost always meant never. in communities like ours and frankly in communities all across this country, wait still too frequently means never. wait for clean water. wait for decent-paying jobs, wait for better schools. wait your turn. wait. here in newark, we refuse to wait. when this incredible city took a chance on me as their mayor, the chief executive of this city, new jersey's large of the city, i didn't wait to start bringing people together. we didn't just talk about the injustice of families not having heat in the coldest months of the year. we took on the slumlords and doubled the rate of affordable housing production right here! we didn't just talk about the

injustice, we didn't just wait to talk about the injustice of people not being able to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, we opened grocery stores in food deserts, we got people to invest here, we opened new businesses here, we created thousands of jobs here together. and after 60 years of decline, after 60 years of decline, look around you. newark is growing again! and new jersey, when you sent me to washington as your senator, i brought those lessons with me. politics in d.c. are broken. but we still found ways to bring

people together and get things done. after decades of criminal justice system moving in the wrong direction, i led a bipartisan effort to write and pass the first meaningful reform in a generation, and i worked with republicans and democrats to write and then pass a law that is bringing billions of dollars of investment to low-income urban and rural communities that have for too long been left out and left behind. there are so many places like that across america, not just cities like this one, farm communities and factory towns that like us here in newark have been given up on and talked down to, counted out and

underestimated. and they can't wait for change. none of us can. we are here today to say we can't wait. >> we can't wait! we can't wait! we can't wait! >> we can't wait when powerful forces are turning their prejudice into policy and rolling back the rights that generations of americans fought for and heroes died for. we can't wait when this administration is throwing children, filtering violence into cages, banning mass limbs from entering a nation founded on religious liberty and preventing brave, transgender

americans from serving the country they love. and we can't wait because many of our most serious challenges as a nation were with us long before donald trump entered the white house. we can't wait because we have a criminal justice system that in the words of my friend brian stephenson treats you better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent. a system -- a system so deeply baked with bias that it ruthlessly discriminates against black people and brown people and low-income people with mental illnesses, folks with addiction. we can't wait when we have an economy for people who work two or three jobs, pick up extra shifts where they can and they still can't pay the bills. profits are soaring while wages

for most americans have barely bijed. massive corporations have taken over entire industries, killing off competition, driving out innovation, squeezing out small businesses. and american family farmers, our first entrepreneurs, are disappearing at a disturbing rate. we have had decades of unjust policies that have destroyed our economy and extracted money from our commonwealth and plowed it into tax cuts for the wealthy and wars overseas we didn't have to fight. instead of investing in the things we all know grow our economy and create more opportunity for all, like education and infrastructure. and that's why when i am president of the united states, we won't wait!

we won't wait for criminal justice reform! we will end the system of mass incarceration in america. we will invest in people, their education, their mental health, treating addiction. we will end the school-to-prison pipeline. and we will empower the formally incarcerated with jobs and opportunity, not a slippery slope back to jail and prison. and we won't wait to legalize marijuana at the federal level. but that is not enough! we will push states to do the same, invest in the communities that have been devastated by the decades-long failed war on drugs. and we will expunge the records of those who have already been

convicted. we won't wait. we won't wait for more thoughts and prayers, for communities that have been shattered by gun violence, from pittsburgh to parkland to charleston, to communities where kids fear the fireworks of fourth of july because to them they sound like gunshots. we will pass universal background checks. we will ban assault weapons. and close the loopholes that allow people who should never have a gun to get one. and, folks, we will bring a fight to the nra like they have never, ever seen before! and we will win!

we won't wait to meet the challenge and the crisis of climate change because we have no other choice. we will build a clean energy economy. we will hold polluters accountable, and ensure that every child can drink the water from their sink and breathe the air in their neighborhood without getting sick. we won't wait for inclusive -- excuse me, for inclusive economic justice. we will fight against the onslaught of attacks on workers' rights in america. you see, it was my grandfather's union job that helped my mom and my family move from poverty into the middle class, and we will protect that pathway for workers who are now seeing their rights eroded. we will build an opportunity

economy where there are good-paying jobs and fair wages in every neighborhood, and where the dignity of work is respected. where benefits are secure and portable, so you can change jobs or start a new business with confidence and where small businesses can be as they always have been. the main engines of job growth and economic growth in america. [ applause ] >> and we will change -- we will close -- we will close the racial wealth gap in america. because we can't be blind to the impact of generations of racism and white supremacy that were written into our laws over centuries. that's why we will create a federally funded savings account for every child born in america that starts at birth. and as they grow up, it will give the lowest income kids in

our country up to $50,000 to pay for college, put a down payment on a home or jump start a small business. we won't wait. to deliver a great education to every child. we will fully fund public schools. and that specially includes special needs education. and we will ensure that the most valuable profession in any democracy, we will make sure that public school teachers get the pay increases they deserve. the resources they need. and their student loan debt is forgiven. we won't wait to expand pathways

to opportunity for all young people. we will make college affordable. we'll invest in and strength our hcbus. and we will create the world's greatest system of apprenticeship and training programs right here in america. we won't wait to fix our broken health care system because in america health care is a right. i will fight for medicare for all and i will start with lowering the age of medicare eligibility and giving americans a real public option. i will use the government's bargaining power to once and for all bring down the cost of prescription drugs and i will

once and for all end the sabotage of the affordable care act. we won't wait to fix our broken immigration system. because in america immigration is and always has been a source of strength. we will pass comprehensive immigration reform. we will re -- we will create a path way for citizenship for all of those living in the united states and we will protect our dreamers and make them what they already are, citizens of the united states of america. we will end the moral vandalism of family separation and have an immigration system that affirms our values. we won't wait to stop the dangerous assault on women's

rights. women will have reproductive justice. we are americans. women must have the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies and economic futures. as your president i will appoint supreme court justices who will defend roe v. wade. and we will take on the systemic challenges that affect women and hold back our entire country. we'll fight for equal pay, affordable childcare and finally establish a national paid family and medical leave program for our country. and we will build in our country, starting with the highest office in the land and

all across our nation, we will build a culture where men respect women. where sexual assault and harassment are no longer swept under the rug. and future generations don't have to raise their hand to say me too. we won't wait any longer for equal justice under the law. we will pass the equality act and ensure that lgbtq americans are protected under federal civil rights law. we will pursue a new voting rights act and end gerrymandering and get the dark money out of politics once and for all. and unlike this president, i won't ignore or give license to

white supremacy. i will put more resources towards protecting our country from it and we will no longer wait for america to stand up for justice around the world. we will strengthen our alliances and defend human rights. not coddle dictators or squander america's moral a authority. as commander-in-chief -- as command commander-in-chief there is nothing i will take more seriously than the responsibility to protect our nation and keep faith with the people who wear our uniform. we call ourselves -- we call ourselves the home of the brave. but when our -- our brave veterans come home, we need to make sure they have a home.

we will end veterans homelessness. veterans deserve everything they fought so bravely for. health care, education, and good-paying jobs. the only way we build a nation of liberty and justice for all is by doing together. we have to decide whether we will choose division and blame or if we will do the hard work of conquering fear with faith. apathy with action, and hatred with love. but we know the challenges. we know that there are forces at work, at home, and abroad, trying to get us to fight the

wrong way and on their terms. from 1600 pennsylvania avenue to the kremlin, we know what their strategy is. it's to pit us against each other. for their own gain. to make us suspicious of one another. to make us fear each other, dislike each other and to make us hate each other. that's how they win. now critics are going to tell you and tell all of us a campaign pow -- powered by grace and love and a deep faith in each other can't beat that. but i say it is the only way we win. you see the president wants a race to the gutter and to fight us in the gutter. but to win -- to win we have to fight from higher ground in

order to bring this country to higher ground. so we can't allow them to divide us. and we must also resist the urge to divide ourselves. because the people on my block, the people gathered here and folks all across the country can't wait. they can't afford a politics of division that sacrifices progress for purity. they can't afford to allow this election to become just an exercise in political posturing or box checking competition that is completely divorced from the realities of so many people who are struggling and hurting. look, i'm the only senator who comes home to a low-income, inner city beautiful community. and i know and you know that we

don't have the privilege to wait for what fits into someone else's narrow view of what it means to be a progressive. our first priority must be to make people's lives better. right now to move the ball forward how best we can, as fast as we can, and to ensure that the closest -- those folks closest to the pain and closest to the struggle have an active hand in defining how we confront it. a real progressive movement refuses to stall out in righteo righteous indignation. it challenges thatt -- indignation that improves people's lives. a progressive movement does not