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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  July 22, 2019 9:00am-10:00am PDT

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of that will go directly to the victims of the data breach. 2017 breach exposed names, addresses, even social security numbers and dates of birth. consumer product -- excuse me, consumer financial protection bureau found equifax failed to provide reasonable security for sensitive personal information. that wraps up this hour of msnbc live. "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," squad patrol. the president today accuses the four democratic minority congresswomen of being, quote, a racist group of troublemakers and not being very smart. my conversation with president obama's national security adviser. >> well, the message to americans is that only some of us can count, and i've never heard that out of the mouth of an american president before. >> razor's edge. tensions rise after iran seizes a british tanker and claims to arrest cia assets, something the
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president calls totally false. >> i would take with a significant grain of salt any iranian about actions they've taken. big show. as robert mueller prepares to finally questions from answers this week, what do they hope to gain? >> substantial evidence that the president is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and we have to present or let mueller present those facts to the american people. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. president trump is in attack mode. in other words, it's monday. two days before robert mueller's highly anticipated televised testimo testimony, the president unleashing a tweet storm, taking aim at mueller, the media, the federal reserve and escalating his relentless attacks against
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four democratic freshmen congresswomen of color saying today, quote, the squad is a very racist group of troublemakers who are young, inexperienced and not very smart. joining me now, political analyst robert costa. msnbc political analyst and moderator, of course, of "washington week" on pbs on friday nights, michael steele, former chair of the republican party and nbc political analyst and former democratic congresswoman donna edwards all joining us today. peter baker, let me go first to you. you wrote extensively this weekend on the president and race, his long history. we've all been covering this. let's talk about the strategy. he is escalating it today. we heard him say friday he's sorry about the chants and acknowledging he wouldn't do it again. the vice president saying he wouldn't do that again, wouldn't let people do it without calling
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them out. then sunday morning he was off to the races and today even more. >> strategy for 2020 is to make sure that voters see a choice between him and what he's going to portray as the socialist wing of the democratic party. that no matter how much they don't like him, americans should be wary of democrats that will turn america into, in effect, another venezuela. by making it a race-based argument, he deattracted from the ideological argument, in which there is a big debate about whether the green new deal or medicare for all, some of these ideas that the younger congresswomen are advancing are the right ones for the country. he can't help but sort of playing on racial divide in this country by saying, "go back," by enjoying it when the crowd says "send her home," he makes the argument, not just a
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philosophical one, but our nation's deepest, darkest, hardest divisions. >> and robert costa, you've written about this. you've reported on this. the washington post, here is a quote from today saying, as often is the case, trump act add loan, impulsively, following his gut to the dark side of american politics. now the country would have to pick up the pieces. dozens of friends, advisers and political allies would would work behind the scenes to try to fix the mess without any public admission of error because that was not the trump way. >> own strategy to come out with these racist tweets a week ago and focus on these four minority congresswomen as part of his own political project, it's more important to note that the republican party and people who work for the president, while they may have had private concerns, have largely gone along with the president.
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there's been no seismic shift in the party. standing up and saying they're going to break away from the president in a significant way because of his comments. so, while it was him, turning the page and he was the one who wanted to move in this direction, others in the party wanted to talk about other issues. the party believes he has such political capital, he must follow along. that's a mirror into the gop. >> a lot of support, actually, from republicans. liz cheney, memorably, on face the nation. >> let me cut to the heart of the issue. these four congresswomen detest america as it exists, as it is currently constructed. they want to tear down the structure of our country. they want it to be a socialist, open borders country. >> is that going to be the
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campaign bumper sticker? >> in short, yeah. of the president. not necessarily senators and republicans in the house believe that. but from the president's rationale, it worked. he has now engaged these four congresswomen in a way that he can go back to that narrative as often as he wants. robert put his finger right on the point from his reporting. you can see that a lot of the leadership of the republican party is taking a hands-off approach on this. they come in on the back end. to the extent they have a microphone from andrea mitchell as they're walking the halls and saying what do you believe? well, try to take a high brow approach to it, but you can't. this is gutter politics. this is in your face race politics. it's race baiting. it's fulfilling the racial animous that a lot of folks still have across the country. and he's giving license and voice to it. and he will continue to do that. it will slack off. we'll get into the fall. debt ceiling and other things
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have come up. i bet you he will ramp it back around to these communist congresswomen who want to take the country into a dangerous space. and that will be part of the debt discussion. he will always come back to this because, in his view, it works. >> donna, it's notable that he's only using those socialist terms about these four women of color. not about bernie sanders, a democratic socialist, small s socialist. i had the opportunity in as ppe to speak to secretary rice about national security and john bolton but also about race. this was front and center. let's watch. >> the message to americans is that only some of us count. and i've never heard that out of the mouth of an american president before. there's no other words for it.
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it's xenophobic. it's racist. it's divisive. and it's not who we are. but it seems to be who this president is. >> it is being noted also around the world, angela merkel, justin tr trudeau, outgoing prime minister, theresa may, and incoming, likely, prime minister boris johnson, an ally of president trump, saying it's racist. >> it's not what the republican party is today. the republican party is trump's republican party. i can't make a distinction between somebody who puts out racist tweets and a racist. a person who puts out racist tweets is a racist. that is the republican party right now. to the extent that republicans are quietly saying oh, we don't like that, let's move on, they are complicit in their silence. and i think it's being heard
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around the world. and it's a playbook that the president used in the 2016 election. and he's just ramped that up. the question is, what will the republican party look like tomorrow? >> as we sit here, the president is awaiting the arrival, excuse me, imminently, of imran khan, the new prime minister of pakistan. a cricket player, a famous cricket player and a newcomer to politics, who had a populist appeal and, of course, huge issues with pakistan's continuing support, covert support for the taliban in afghanistan, a threat to u.s. troops, to our allies there, and to the future of afghanistan. there are negotiations under way and a lot will be discussed. they're going into the oval office. several meetings today, one in the oval office. we may hear the president speaking there, and separately, about an hour from now, they have a private, larger meeting.
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and, again, we may hear from the president. peter baker, rashida tlaib, nancy pelosi and many others were at the naacp convention in detroit today. one of the four, of course, speak at the naa. let's listen. >> there's all of us young women. it's beyond just the four of us. the quadrasquad is all of you. if you support equity, justice, you are one of us. but let me tell you, this is the largest incoming class since watergate, ironically. and the most diverse. >> and, peter, with all this diversity on capitol hill, these women are still somewhat isolated. they're getting support from their colleagues now. they've had an obvious problem with nancy pelosi and there is a meeting with aoc and nancy pelosi later this week, but this
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is becoming an issue as republicans, as we've been saying. not only are they trying to sugar coat it, they're running away from the microphones and saying they aren't aware of what the president said and that they did not see that rally in north carolina. >> yeah. what's striking, of course, is that before the president started this about a week ago, the democrats are busy fighting among themselves. these young congresswomen were talking about pelosi being the real problem. pelosi was saying it's just those four people and they're whatever. their whatever being their public following, twitter followers. there was a real debate going on among the democrats that seemed damaging to them about who was really representing the party at that point. a lot of the freshmen who were not part of this squad group but represent more red-leaning districts came in and gave the democrats the majority, 2018 midterm election were feeling nervous about being labeled as allies of these younger, more
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liberal, more firebrand members. and then donald trump gets involved. then the president gets himself in the middle of it. the democrats suddenly are not fighting amongst themselves, at least not so much. they have a common enemy, being the president. even though they're still very tense and very fractious about his own congress, he has given them something to unify around. we don't like what's being said about these young congresswomen just starting out in congress but we very much don't like what the president is telling them about send them back, go home and everything. >> robert costa, as long as republicans are going along with him and are afraid of being primaried, frankly. test case is lindsey graham and what he has done in south carolina. he is up for re-election and so far is not being primaried, as far as i know, is this what we'll see as well from the
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republicans? is there no level of racist tropes from the president of the united states, from the oval office that will somehow engage more than the handful of the republican senators and congress members? >> there is only one republican running against president trump for the nomination, for massachusetts governor, william well. his campaign has not gained any traction. the independent from michigan thinking about it, former congressman mark sanford of south carolina, thinking about it. what really matters is not so much what governor weld and congressman omash and sanford are doing, with all respect to them, notable politicians. the significant people in the party who have been former nominees like senator romney or mitch mcconnell, when do they break? until they break -- senator romney more than most has treaded toward the line of breaking. has not done so yet. that could signal a real turning
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point. someone like governor romney, now senator romney knows so many democratic donors that could fuel an insurgent bid against president trump, they're not ready to back way from the president at all. >> michael steelee, peter baker, robert costa, donna edwards, thanks to all. president trump and the first lady traveled to the supreme court to pay their respects to former justice john paul stevens, who died last week at the age of 99. justice stevens' body will lie in repose in the great hall. he will be buried in a private funeral friday at arlington national cemetery. he served 35 years on the high court and was a veteran of world war ii. spy games, tehran claiming have capture d iranian national working for the cia. we'll have more on that. they've already sentenced some of them to death, they say. deay
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in another dramatic twist, in the escalating crisis in i n iran, officials in tehran claim they've captured 17 assets or spies, working for the cia. iranian intelligence officials say those arrested are all iranian citizens. iran claims they were lured into collaborating with the u.s. while applying for visas or attending conferences overseas after being promised money and
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job opportunities here in america. iran has provide nod proof of any of these claims and in the past has made exaggerated and false claims about espionage. the cia will not comment but the president tweet tad it is all false as outgoing prime minister theresa may is gathering her team to decide how to respond. the tanker was sailing in international waters, iran claims. a video over the weekend shows masked commandos preparing to storm the tanker, whose captain did not resist. leon panetta is former cia director and joins me now. how do we dial this down? or do you think the u.s. wants to dial it down? >> well, unfortunately, right now both sides are engaged in the same game of poking each other and trying to see if the
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other side is going to blink. i don't think that's going to happen. the united states is not going to suddenly embrace the nuclear agreement, and iran is not going to change its ways. so the only danger here is one of miscalculation that could lead to war. i think the alternatives here are not very good. obviously, one alternative is war. i don't think either side wants it. the other alternative is to continue the stalemate that's poking at each other. the problem is that that, too, can lead to war. i think there's only one alternative, which is negotiation. that is the area that, frnk frankly, both sides ought to be focusing on. >> zarif in new york, meeting with reporters, offered negotiations but the price, precondition was very tough, which would have been lifting sanctions permanently. but was that a signal? john mclaughlin, former acting
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director of cia as well, said this should be taken up. that this is an opening bid and they should start probing to see what might be possible. >> i think the best hope here is to go back to what the president said, which was that he's prepared to negotiate without any conditions. and i think iran ought to be prepared to do exactly the same thing. the more they try to condition these talks on various elements of dispute between the two countries, i think the more difficult it's going to be. why not have both sides sit down and begin to talk, to have a dialogue about the issues that are involved? after all, you know, the president didn't have any conditions when he sat down with kim jong-un, and they're sill negotiating. i think he ought to take the same approach with regards to iran. >> and kim has nukes, a lot of them, as many as 60 to 80 wea n
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weapons. spice, terms of art, certainly not cia covert agents, according to what the president has to say. what is the risk here? 17 iranians, none are americans. they are being held. some are already being sentenced to death, according to iranian reports. what do you think is going on here? >> i think it's part of the game that's being played out between iran and the united states right now. it reminds me of that scene from casablanca where they said pick up the usual suspects. that's what they've done here. they've picked up all the usual suspects, whether or not they're guilty or not, they're going to make a show of trying to break down any intelligence by the united states. i doubt very much whether there's a lot of substance here,
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to who they picked up. i think this is more for show. they're going to go ahead and do it. it's one of these poking realities that we're dealing with now. iran is continuing to try to find ways to poke the united states, and the united states is trying to figure out whether or not to respond, is being careful about it. but at some point, as these tensions increase, somebody is going to make a miscalculation. somebody is going to make a bad judgment. and the chances of suddenly winding up in a war are increasing. they're both playing with fire. >> speaking of playing with fire in the past hour, the secretary of state announced new sanctions against a chinese firm for allegedly accepting the purchase or smuggling iranian oil. what are the implications of that at such a critical, sensitive time? >> well, you know, again, this is all part of increasing tensions between the united
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states and iran. and they can play this game. in many ways, they're just wasting time because they're not going to get one side or the other to blink and to do what they want them to do. and that's the whole purpose here, is to try to see if they can get enough leverage to make the other side do what they want. that's not going to happen. it's a waste of time. the most important thing, i think, for both the president and for iran to do is to recognize that if they do not want a military conflict -- and i don't think they do -- then they're going to have to sit down at a table and begin negotiations to try to resolve this issue. that's the only way out of this mess. >> i just wanted to share something that susan rice, former national security adviser, of course, said to me this weekend at aspen. >> regardless of what might happen at the principal's table, the president wakes up and does what the hell he wants to do on
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any given day, any given moment, without the benefit of the input and wisdom of his national security team and the experts in the interagency and that is exceedingly dangerous. >> her comment when i was questioning the way john bolton is running the national security team where you've got people from the pentagon to the state department actually being shut out of the conversations before decisions are made. >> andrea, this is the craziest foreign policy process i've seen in my lifetime at the white house. you've got, you know, a national security adviser who is not working with the national security team. they are not presenting options to the president the way they should. and the president is basically off, tweeting whatever the hell he wants to tweet. so, this is, you know -- it's chaotic. and it's dangerous. the problem is that at some
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point, if the united states wants to truly engage with iran or, for that matter, russia, china or other countries, they're going to have to build allies that are willing to sit down and work with the united states. the greatest danger right now is that russia and china are going to continue to work together. and that represents a real threat to our security. the only counter to that is the united states building strong allies to counter both russia and china. if the united states doesn't do that, we will continue to operate simply by chaos. >> leon panetta, former cia director, and defense secretary. thank you very much. thanks for being with us today. >> thank you. humanitarian crisis. i'll talk to the congresswoman, one of the congresswomen working to ensure medical care for undocumented migrants at the border. next on andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. itchell reports on msnbc (flight attendants) ♪ when you have nausea,
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democratic lawmakers.
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refugees along the southern border, those who already arrived enduring these terrible conditions. senator chris cooms released his video from a detention center in mccallum, texas. the little boy said he had not been able to brush his teeth. joining me now is democratic congresswoman lauren underwood, who returned from a trip in a holding facility in texas. as a nurse and all your medical experience, what did you see? >> yes, andrea. many different detention centers, processing centers. while there had been some improvements in the conditions under which migrant individuals are being kept, you see much more widespread use of the maps
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mats on the floor, for example, for the children to lay on. it's overcrowded, unserpent and inconsistent medical screening. that's what i've been working on, to make sure we have consistent medical screening in these border patrol facilities to prevent the preventible deaths we've seen of migrant children. >> what is the average stay? they're not supposed to be there for more than 72 hours, i think. >> that's right. and some have been there for a couple of weeks. we heard reports of people unable to brush their teeth, having trouble access some of the resources like pampers, shower, large holding cells we've seen in the images coming out of the border.
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those are done inconsistently throughout facility to facility, whether it's a border patrol station, customers and border protection facility or large soft shell, donna holding facility down near mccallum. >> is it still the case that when congresspeople such as yourself are coming, there there has to be advanced notice so you can't make a surprise inspection? >> that's right. it's my understanding we have to give a 24-hour notification if we want to visit any of the facilities. in my district in northern illinois, we have to notify i.c.e. 24 hours in advance if we would like to visit their facility. >> are you able to speak to some of the people being held, are there unaccompanied children or are these mostly mothers and infants or children?
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>> individuals of all circumstances are being held, single adults, male and female, family members. if there are children, then the males with male children will be held separately than the females and female children and there are uncompanied children. we visited our delegation visited four facilities on friday to determine the situation and circumstances under which people are being held. >> i know you voted, as a freshman, you voted with the leadership with speaker pelosi on the emergency aid bill. and separately from the so-called squad, the women who had been under attack. you may not be in their camp politically. what is your reaction to the way the president has targeted them with racist names? today saying they're racist and not smart. >> this exchange of words between sitting congresswomen and, mr. president, like it or
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not, sir, we are here, serving in the united states congress. there is a cohort of smart, prepared, dynamic young women serving in congress and, yes, they are bold and are setting the agenda. quite frankly, andrea, women are setting the agenda in this 116 lth congress. i've been very alarmed by the president's words. >> you're one of the youngest. he demeaned them or tried to demean them by talking about them being young and inexperienced. you bring a wealth of experience, human experience, medical experience, and of a different generation, to say nothing of being an african-american woman, that is underrepresented in this old man's club that for decades has been the congress of the united
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states. >> that's right. when i was elected in november and sworn in, in january i became the youngest black woman to ever serve in the united states house of representatives but i'm also a nurse i bring the sum total of my experiences as a young black woman but my professional experiences to my work in the congress, which is why i've introduced a bill, u.s. border patrol medical screenings act, to make sure there is consistency among immigrants into the united states to prevent the deaths of these children we've seen the last year, making sure there's an electronic medical record so that conditions or medications they cross the border with are tracked as the individuals move across our immigration system. we can solve these problems in our country and i am really focused on using my background and experience to inform the work. >> thank you for your service. and it's great to meet you on television and i look forward to
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meeting you in person. thank you very much. >> thank you so much. come up, must see tv. what to watch for on wednesday. we'll have a viewer's guide when robert mueller testifies in front of congress. stay with us. you're watching andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. ea mitchell reports on msnbc saved hundreds. that's a win. but it's not the only reason i switched. geico's a company i can trust, with over 75 years of great savings and service. ♪ now that's a win-win. switch to geico. it's a win-win.
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[ referee whistle sounds ] ♪ sport dr[ cheering ]s when you need the fuel to be your nephew's number one fan. holiday inn express. we're there. so you can be too. wednesday is only two days away from what will start at 8:30 in the morning, robert mueller finally speaking,
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answering questions for the first time about his two-year probe after months of resisting congressional demands that he testify. what do democrats plan to get from the special counsel who already said his 448-page report is his final word on the matter? what do republicans expect to get? house judiciary chair jerry nadler has faith he will at least be able to bring those pages to life. >> the report presents substantial evidence that the president is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and we have to present or let mueller present those facts to the american people and see where we go from there. the administration must be held accountable and no president can be above the lye law. we hope it won't be redundant and we expect to answer specific questions. >> they can ask, he doesn't have to answer. attorney general during the clinton administration and susan page, washington bureau chief for usa today. harry, you're the lawyer. you start first. he said he wasn't going to speak
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beyond the four corners. a lot of questions can be asked. for instance, the president says he has been exonerated. do you agree? >> and much more than that. as nadler says, they have to bring it to life. they have to eat their peas and carrots and not skip right to dessert. page 85 you say the president contacted mcgahn and told him to fire mueller, yes? you get into a rhythm and mueller is almost adopting your language. that's their main task. either by showing some daylight between mueller and barr based on the letter mueller wrote in the wake of barr's assessment of the report and possibly even the $64,000 question, would you have indicted the president but for the olc memo? first and foremost they have to do the basic work of having
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muellmul mueller semul mueller assent to the most important fact. >> what if he does ascend to the most important facts, do you consider that obstruction? well, i can't offer an opinion on that. i'm not going to offer an opinion on that. is there a way mueller can still be strictly adhering to his sense of what the prosecutor might do? >> sure. he is a reluctant witness. he is a man of few words. there are questions he could address. no collusion, no obstruction. that's been the president's mantra. does he agree with that? and if donald trump weren't president, would they have recommended prosecution on obstruction of justice? that's a question that is talked about in the report but it's not clearly answered. and that may be the most critical question when it comes to whether democrats feel momentum toward impeachment.
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>> harry, what about the fact that he decided controversially not to subpoena the president and force the issue, perhaps, because of time conflicts or perhaps because of pressure from rod roseinstein. we don't know why he didn't try to interview him beyond those 20 questions with all those i don't recall, i don't remember answers. >> we don't. it's probably the first response for historians to address. but on wednesday, all of that, they ignore. they've got more than enough to do, just trying to get -- it's not even his impressions. was this obstruction just the facts. they're pretty damning if you actually hear them. >> particularly damning as i was watching ari melber's wonderful, beautifully constructed hour, the summary last night. susan, the russian interference, the way the russians interfered.
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"time" magazine's cover, who became the image of minors for trump. all of these fake election events that took place, all orchestrated in st. petersburg. >> the challenge for democrats will be hitting that rhythm that harry talked about. members of congress don't customarily do in hearings because they're usually trying to make speeches themselves, follow their own line of attack. it's something that the republicans will be determined to disrupt. they'll have their own agenda at this hearing, and own questions about the legitimacy of the origins of this investigation and whether it was fairly conducted. >> and be going after the fbi. just to remind everybody of what happened with 11 hours of benghazi when the republicans were in charge and they did such a bad job of following up each other and not following up each other, that after 11 hours, we were left thinking that, you know, hillary clinton was really the victim of all of this.
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susan page, harry lichtman, thank you both so much. >> thank you, andrea. is there a diplomatic way out of the crisis in iran? stay with us on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. a mitchel reports" only on msnbc of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7 and maintained it. oh! under 7? (announcer) and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. oh! up to 12 pounds? (announcer) a two-year study showed that ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke, or death. oh! no increased risk? (announcer) ozempic® should not be the first medicine for treating diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not share needles or pens. don't reuse needles. do not take ozempic® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to ozempic®. stop taking ozempic® and get medical help right away
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heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. ♪ausea, (vo) try new pepto liquicaps for fast relief and ultra-coating. (flight attendants) ♪ nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. ♪ (vo) get powerful relief with new pepto bismol liquicaps. breaking news right now. president trump has been speaking at great length to reporters in the oval office where his visitor is imran khan,
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prime minister of pakistan. meanwhile, new audio is revealing the dramatic moments leading up to iran's capture of the british capture of that bri tanker on the strait of hormuz on friday. this british naval officer warns iranian forces not the seize the tanker. >> if you obey you will be safe. if you obey, you will be safe. a lot your course, 2, 3, 6, 0, degrees immediately. over. who better to talk to than an
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admiral? our commander at msnbc and chief national security and diplomacy analyst, you know those words very well from what you know and the britts were claiming they were in international waters. was iran looking for provocation here? >> absolutely, andrea. every one of those ship has a transponder on it. the position is not only to the people of the ship goes up to the satellite and shipping company knows where they are. there is no question in my mind that ship was conducting routine international passage. the problem was the british warship was too far away this time to actually intervene so they attempted simply using the radio to wave off the iranians. just to give your viewers a sense of scale here. the iranian gulf is a huge body of water. it is the size of california. think of trying to patrol california, the britts have five
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ships. trying to patrol california with five police cars. in united states we have only 40 ships operating in and out of those waters. it is a challenging problem. destroyers and aircraft carriers in that region. >> i remember back years ago when i was covering american escorts of ships to the strait and a previous crisis. now the president is saying it is not our job, we are not going to pay for this. those in the region needs to take care of their own. where do we stand on this? >> no single nation and not even the united states can take on this task fight itself. you are absolutely correct. in the 1980s, i was a young, we
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did it as a coalition, the united states has to lead in this coalition, we'll provide intelligence and logistics and our ship will participate, some of the germans and norwegians. that's the only way to get it done. it will be a coalition effort and i think nato will have a pretty good chunk of this when all said and done as a former nato commander. i think nato will step up on this one. >> and were the britts wrong to seize the iranian tankers for smuggling. did that cause this to happen as a tit-fc-for-tac.
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maximum pressure, sanction campaign from the united states. cratered the iranian economy and the iranians are lashing out trying to show attention showing that they had impact. we'll see that continue and tactically the bri tactical tactically the britts were in the rights being held at gibraltar. it is the u.s. and iran negotiating for a solution or we are headed to a hot summer in the gulf. >> commander james, thank you so much for being with us. >> peoples march. hundreds of thousands protesting on the streets of puerto rico as the governor ignores the call to step down. we'll have a live report when we come back. stay with us. port when we come back. stay with us be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. listen to the doctor. take it seriously.
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streets of puerto rico. more than a million people are now expected at these rallies calling for governor rossellos to resign. gabe gutierrez is joining me by phone. i know communication has been tricky, tell us what's going on. >> reporter: about 250,000 people have joined these protests. so many people here from san
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juan and traffic is at a standstill. one of the highways was shut down. it is impossible to get around. this is something that has been building for several days. last wednesday we saw major demonstration in san juan. it was fuelled by the governor's announcement last night that he would not resign. he would not seek re-election next year. he's stepping down. that still did not satisfy protesters. they say they'll not quit until the governor does. they are infuriated about what they see as corruption in this government and those chat messages that were published last week. protests are growing throughout the day. andrea. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you for being in san juan.
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that does it for "andrea mitchell reports." you can follow u us @mitchellreports. here is stephanie ruhle. >> thank you very much. former mueller is set to testify on the hill in less than 48 hours. what do lawmakers want want? >> we'll be speaking to one of those members who's set to grill him. president trump is still attacking four congresswomen of color. now calling them troublemakers. we'll dig into trump's strategy. the 2020 candidate says the economy's lights are blinking red. we'll look at senator elizabeth warren's plan. president trump just spoke with reporters ahead of a