that is it for me. thank you for watching.

joy reid picks up with "am joy" right now. [ applause ] >> good morning and welcome to "am joy" live this morning from the one and only java joe's in des moines, iowa. tomorrow voters in this very state will have the first say in the race for the democratic nomination. you see they're enthusiastic. practically every 2020 campaign is here this weekend in the final stretch making their last pitch to iowa voters ahead of monday's crucial vote. the outcome could potentially propel any one of 137 democratic nominees to the white house. saturday night, just as we closing out our "p.m. joy" show, something happened that never happened. "the des moines register," this paper right here, pulled its final poll ahead of the caucus, minutes before the poll was supposed to be released. it came after the pete buttigieg

campaign raised concerns that buttigieg's name was not incl e included in at least one phone call of the survey. they said they couldn't confirm it so decided not to release the poll. it's considered the gold standard of iowa polling and has a long track record of correctly predicting the winner of the caucuses. for it to be pulled, very unusual. here to discuss is pete buttigieg, candidate for president and former mayor of south bend, indiana. good morning. >> good morning. >> the celebrity walk here. >> thank you, thank you so much. >> he's got greet every voter. it's what you do. >> morning. good morning. >> there he is. >> how are you? great to see you.

thank you for coming down. this is your seat. >> in good health. all right. let's do it. i have to start by asking, this is weird, man. >> yeah. >> what happened? can you walk us through what happened? >> i don't know all the details. it sounds like somebody identified a glitch where at least some respondents or one respondent wasn't hearing all the names, so they made this decision not to release it. >> it was one of your support s supporters. they called one of your supporters and said, isn't there another name you want to read to me? and they were like, i don't think so. >> yes. they alerted the campaign and it came to the attention of the pollsters. i don't know all the technical issues behind it, that must have been a tough decision to make. at a moment when you've got a president demonizing the media -- don't get me wrong, i can get frustrated and hot under the collar sometimes. >> we're quite lovely. >> but how seriously people take

the recording of their polling. >> absolutely. this is a great paper. "the des moines register" is a great paper. you're making your final pitch. we've been listening to all the campaigns making their final argument. part of your final argument is on medicare for all. on your take that it would be too risky and too big of a change, but how would you then, if you become the nominee, lead a party where a supp stanl share of the voters want this fundamental change? >> what i'm offering is a profound change. what i'm proposing would be the biggest thing done to american health care since the inception of medicare itself. it's just that most americans and, as far as i can tell, most americans are skeptical of the idea -- >> most democrats approve of it. >> unless you ask them if they're okay of being kicked off their private plans. then it's more complicated. my idea of moving in this

direction is create -- we call medicare for all who want it. if progressives like me are right it's the best plan, everybody will choose it. if we're wrong, we're going to be glad we didn't kick them off their plan. i'm trying to put some humility in the policy. it's an example of we have a historic majority ready to go forward on meaningful progressive change, even stronger than what president obama had available to him a decade ago, not only on health care, but issues where our party has been on defense in the past. thinking about immigration, gun violence. most folks are with us, including a lot of independents. i'm seeing as we go to counties that supported president obama and now trump, i've seen people come out of the woodwork and acknowledge we're not going to be on everything, but they they they're the future former republicans i like to talk about in my stump speeches. we have an opportunity to

galvanize, not polarize. >> i'm glad you said that. politics is part passion. passion is part of it. you know, having run a campaign for merit's a numbers game and you have to decide who is the easiest, most economical to get out and how to spend your money. you tacked about flipping republicans. a lot of your pitch, what i hear from you is about these future former republicans, about religious conservatives, bible believing christians. >> and religious liberals. >> i'm a liberal christian. there's that bucket of voters that is available, and then there's the base of the party which is largely -- it's not all, but largely black and brown voters and young voters. those are the voters you're having a hard time with. even though you're the youngest candidate, young voters and particularly black voters are difficult for you right now to win.

for people who are out there -- everyone is being a pundit now. they're saying, hmm, pete buttigieg is trying to win over voters, some of whom in their churches, they don't agree with your marriage. you're trying to win those voters over. that's a hard haul. but the voters you're having trouble with are the black voters who vote democratic. why are you not a risky bet if you're having so much trouble with black voters and trying to win conservative voters who are really republican? >> it's because i'm offering a message to speaks to everybody. i never would have been able to be elected and re-elected in my own community if i hadn't been able to build a multiracial, multigenerational coalition. that's what it's going to take in order to win. right now we're reaching out to everybody. i will not take any vote for granted, and i will not leave any vote on the table. that means reaching out to folks, including a lot of black and brown voters who have felt taken for granted by the usual politics, in addition to reaching out to people who haven't voted democratic in a

while or voted democrat at all. >> a friend of mine asked me to ask you this question, because they like you, and they think you're a good candidate and a solid candidate. but they look at things, the story that came out with challenges with black voters on your staff, the polling in south carolina. even they who like you are worried, why do you think you're having so much trouble pulling black voters in? >> we're talking about voighters felt often taken for granted by politics as usual and are skeptical and have every reason to be skeptical. what i'm seeing among most of the black voters i talk to is the top priority is making sure we defeat donald trump. nobody is hurting, nobody is feeling the pain of this moment more than americans of color. that means there's skepticism that you've got to clear the bar that you can actually win. i'm new. i get it. i haven't had years or decades to demonstrate that. the process of actually proving that we ask mount the kind of organization and turn out the folks to get something done on

an actual election day begins tomorrow right here in iowa. >> i want to read a tweet from you. i may not be able to find it. here it is. and you tweeted this. in the face of unprecedented challenges, we need a president whose vision is shaped by the american heartland rather than the ineffective washington politics we've come to know and expect. i got a lot of criticism, heartland sounds like a doll whistle for white voters. >> i'm talking about a diverse heartland where i grew up. i'm from a city in the middle of the midwest that is about 45% non-white, that reflects america in so many ways. part of what i'm trying to do is make sure that we recover some of these ideas. i believe faith includes the poor people's campaign just as much as the 700 club. i believe patriotism includes making sure our troops aren't sent to conflicts that could be avoided just as much as supporting them when they are. i believe family values ought to

make room for same-sex family like mine. i believe the presence of the american heartland is racially diverse. >> do you think the democratic party -- an urban-based party, democrats get more votes from cities rather than heartland republicans. those voters tend to be republican. i go back to are you trying to run a race about converting voters over to democrats or getting out the base? >> why should we have to choose? >> because it's a numbers game. >> we've got to do both. the thing is our answers are better for both. our answers are better for farmers. they're better for industrial workers. folks are saying these things like, are we going to focus on racial justice or focus on the kitchen table. it makes it sound like black and brown folks don't have kitchen tables, too. our ideas and policies are the best for everybody. our message should reach out to everybody. >> i talked to your campaign about this issue, the policing issue. i've been talking to voters and

bring up a candidate's name and say what do you think. usually with you policing comes up. in that issue -- you're not mayor anymore. have you ever thought to maybe talk to -- i don't know if you have or not -- the former police chief who was fired? have you had a conversation? >> i'd like to have another conversation with him. i've seen him often since that whole painful process that opened this up. we had conversations about the community and somebody who cares about the community just like i do. this is kind of a family situation where we have had a lot of pain and a lot of struggle together as a community. and i think any time a mayor or somebody with a background as a prosecutor steps forward to run, we have to wrestle with these things, not in theory, not just in terms of legislating, but really in terms of doing something. our story in south bend is one of not having gotten things perfect, but also having made

tremendous advancements in the inclusion of community and advocate voices and in making sure we're stepping towards the world we've got to live anywhere your race has no bearing on your relationship with law enforcement. we're not there and we know it. we know some of the reasons why. we've been working side by side to get things done. >> i don't know if you remember where we met. i met you when you were running for dnc chair and i moderated one of these debates. you ran against tom perez, the current dnc chair. walk me through where you got in your mind from wanting to be the head of the democratic party, wanting to run the democratic party, being the dnc chair to wanting to be president? >> i think any time you decide to run for anything, at least me, the process goes like this. you look at the office, what it calls for and what's missing. then you look at what you have to offer. it's the process i've used to run for office and to not run for office. in the case of the dnc chair, i saw my party seemed to be

struggling to connect in the midwest and the so-called rust belt. needed to reach out to younger voters and do a good job of connecting with state and local races. i'm a millennial midwestern mayor, i might have something to offer here. i stepped forward. did not get elected chair. but i'm glad i did because it was an opportunity to share this message of the values that bring us together that are very much important to us as democrats but can also broaden our attempt. for the presidency, i see a moment where we have to look to the future in order to govern. the next president will face cyber security challenges to global health issues, tech economy, protecting workers in the gig economy, a lot of thangs that are new, and also in order to win. so i began to sense that being a different kind of voice, being a veteran from a diverse city in the heart of an industrial midwest from a new generation would allow me to tell a different message than a lot of

my competitors and might be the right answer in order to win and in order to govern. i think we're on to something. >> definitely raising money like crazy. i have to ask you some dnc chair questions now. you didn't win. if you had been, would you have changed the rules in the way that have just be changed for, to let michael bloomberg in, and would you have changed the rules to let the more diverse candidates who got pushed out. >> in someone competing under the rules the dnc is setting, i don't think it's my place -- >> are you happy to let bloomberg in? >> i'm concerned about the diversity for sure. >> adding bloomberg, are you as a candidate -- >> i think anybody with a realistic shot at winning the nomination should be expected to stand up among their competitors, debate and compete. so to the extent that's going to happen going forward, i think that much is healthy. >> if you were to become

president, you could choose the dnc chair and shape the way the parties go forward. do you think there should be multiple states that get to go for sfwhawar forward? maybe at the same time as iowa, other states -- >> every election we need to look at what is right and where we're headed. i know iowa has taken steps, admirable steps to expand inclusion. we'll see how that plays out tomorrow evening. also nevada and south carolina are so important because they represent different parts of the american experience. they represent the diversity of our party and our country and maybe the most important thing of all, they break down this presidential election process so it's not just something that happens on the airwaves and not something that can be bought. you're looking voters eye to eye. >> like you're in their living

room? >> sometimes you meet somebody for the third time they're like, you're in my top five now. i think there's something very important about that because this is a deeply human process. it should be. when somebody -- it's one thing to read about an issue in a policy brief or the memo or the news, but when somebody comes up to you and it happens to me several times every time we do an event saying i'm fearing for the life of my child because of a mental health concern or a student says i'm afraid to go to school or someone says i want a commander-in-chief because my nephew is on his way to the middle east right now. it changes your awareness of what's actually at stake. >> last question. i see i'm about to lose you for time. is this a must-win state for you? >> we have to have a strong showing. i'll let the pundits set the goal post. we absolutely have to do well here in iowa. this is our chance to actually prove what everybody has been talking about all year which is when we can mount a campaign.

that's why we're pushing to get in front of every voter i can. that's why i've got to mention if anybody is supportive of this campaign, hope they'll go to peteforamerica.com. >> are we still calling you mayor pete? >> i can still go by mayor pete. >> it's your brand. >> exactly. >> thank you for coming? >> thank you for having me. >> thank you very much. good luck. good luck. we'll be watching. have a great day. there's the crowd. they love you. we ran into some of your super fans last night who were at the next table over to us, and they offered to give us their table -- i can do it next year. no rush. cologuard is the noninvasive option that finds 92% of colon cancers. you just get the kit in the mail, go to the bathroom, collect your sample, then ship it to the lab. there's no excuse for waiting.

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moments ago i spoke to democratic presidential candidate pete buttigieg in iowa. i have a great panel to discuss mayor pete and all the candidates. tomorrow is the first vote of the 2020 primary, finally, finally cast. dan ball, chief political correspondent at "the washington post," and careen jean pierre of moveon.org and the author of this great book, you must read it, "moving forward." >> thank you. >> let's go through the mayor

pete piece first. i'll go around the table. your thoughts? >> i'm so glad we came on to have a conversation with you. it's important to talk to people who are representative of the community. look, mayor pete is making a generational argument. it's not a structural or institutional argument. we will see very soon if that is what voters actually want. he has a strong operation on the ground. he is set to do very well here. the problem is, and i'm going to get straight to it, it won't matter if he cannot massively increase black voter support. when he started off in this primary in september, he was at 1%. that was a huge, huge problem. now it's a crisis. so the question is what have they been doing for the last six months, the numbers haven't been moving. so that's the thing to me that i think many especially black young voters think, okay, what's going on. like i said, people feel like

we're in a big deep hole under donald trump. so they want to see big changes. i think that's kind of part of it. but what is he doing? what has he done in the last six months? >> the challenge for black and brown voters, he's not doing well. it's a numbers game. the utility of getting out black and brown voters, it's easier tore democrats to get those voters to the polls where they're mostly democrats. it's a conversion thing he's trying to do and it's expensive and difficult to do. hard to do. >> it's hard to do. this is i think part of the challenge, he's not resonating with his generation. it's the generation he needs in order to win. i say this because for the midterm election in 2018, generation x, y and z outvoted any other generation.

and that base actually grew. if you're not resonating with your own generation, you'll need to expand the electoral base. that makes it a little tough. yesterday at voto latino, specifically young african-american and young ladino voters to go out and caucus, his name was barely mentioned. this is in iowa where he'll need to mobilize and women. warren, sanders, biden were mentioned. his name was at the bottom. for me that's curious. he needs a strong showing in iowa to move forward. >> maria named the three oldest candidates, three of the oldest who are running, over 60 at least. younger voters anecdotally are talking about those voters because younger voters aren't necessarily looking for youth as far as the conversations i've had. they're either looking for a sense of return to something that feels like normal, biden, or some kind of structural change which is bernie or

warren. that's what i'm hearing, or even bloomberg, somebody who can buy their way into getting donald trump out. >> i think that's right. i would also aid that i think andrew yang probably resonates better with younger than mayor buttigieg does. if you step back and think about where he started and the fact that he's in the mix here in iowa, that's been a tremendous accomplishment on his part. but iowa is everything. >> he must win here. >> i don't know that he has to win. i think in their campaign, in my conversations, my reporting with various campaigns, if he can beat joe biden in iowa, then he's got something to talk ab t about. >> that's a good point. >> the bet he's making and it's a difficult bet, if he's able to do that and spring into new hampshire, then he can make inroads in the african-american community and the latino community. that's still a big question mark.

if he doesn't do what he has to do here, it's irrelevant. >> i think the joe biden factor is very big, also, for amy klobuchar. you're seeing her rise more when it comes to fund-raising, outraising elizabeth warren. i think she's still one of the sleeper candidates, it's going to bei interesting to see what happens here. >> the moderate wing, a billionaire wing and a progressive wing. there is a question -- we know where the billionaire wing will vote. it feels like if biden doesn't perform as advertised, it feels like the billionaire wing will either rise on its own or go to him. but it is very muddled whereas the progressive wing has two people in it. >> one or the other, yeah. you're right. steyer and bloomberg in particular has changed the calculation in all of this. you have to remember bloomberg,

his theory of the case has always been if biden doesn't do well, i'm here, here i am. he has what 800 to 1,000 staffers across the country. he's putting in the money and putting in the process in all of these different states. the other part of his theory is if we go into the convention. that's who we need to watch if biden doesn't do well in iowa and new hampshire. i actually don't think it's mayor pete. i don't think it's the other moderates. >> it's not just bloomberg. what's really curious is that he has been investing in issues that young people and women care about. march for our lives, not just gun reform though, he's talked about women's sexual reproductive health, environmental issues. he's investing very heavily in

stacey abrams' fight, to make sure our ballot box remains sacred. when you look at the issues he's been investing in for the last 10, 15 years, most of the american population, we're already there in many ways. >> we've got to go. dan, do you have any tea leaves on who is ahead? >> what we wrote today in "the post" is all the campaigns think bernie sanders will turn out the most voters, but whether that translates into a delegate victory is another question. >> that's right. >> we'll see. i think it's still so fluid and so many undecided voters. >> we're not letting anybody here go. everybody will stick around. we have so much more to talk with you guys about. we'll come back at the end of the break.

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all right. we are here at java joe's. i'll start with stephanie. stephanie, who are you supporting? >> i'm undecided. down to two, buttigieg and warren.

>> did your interview move you in any way? >> it did. so impressed. >> let's go. who are you for? >> i have biden, klobuchar and pete. >> biden, klobuchar and beat. >> amy klobuchar, precinct captain. >> so you've decided. >> yes. >> you didn't sound confident. >> i like joe, i like amy. anybody but trump. i think i'm going with amy. >> i agree with my friend. i like joe and amy and pete. >> are you going to wait until you walk into the caucus to decide? >> probably. i'm going to be volunteering at my precinct caucus, so maybe i'll know by then. >> raise your hand if you're from iowa. who are you for? >> joe biden. >> who are you for? >> i'm a first-time voter and i'm forward wren. >> who are you for? >> caucusing for pete buttigieg. >> in the house. i'm going in, going in, going

in. >> elizabeth warren or amy klobuchar. >> wants a woman president. >> bennett. >> another bennet voter. >> still trying to figure it out? >> between who? >> pete and biden. >> we're out of time. one more. >> elizabeth warren. >> we'll talk to more people in this beautiful place. coming up, the latest polls, the democratic process taking off. voting tomorrow! so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ you may have gingivitis. when you brush, and the clock could be ticking towards bad breath, receding gums, and possibly... tooth loss. help turn back the clock on gingivitis with parodontax. leave bleeding gums behind. parodontax.

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what did you think? can you walk us through how this happened? >> i don't know all the details. it sounds like somebody identified a glitch where at least some respondents or one respondent wasn't hearing all the names. so they made this decision not to release it. at a moment when you've got a president demonizing the media, one of the things i've noticed -- don't get me wrong, i can be frustrated and hot under the collar at times -- >> we're quite lovely. >> but how seriously people take the recording of their polling. >> all right. pete buttigieg's reaction this morning about "the des moines register's" decision to cancel the release of a highly anticipated poll underscoring just how crazy this weekend has been.

we're getting a sense of how voters across the country feel and their chances against donald trump. a new nbc "wall street journal" poll shows a virtual tie between bernie sanders and joe biden, 27% respectively. elizabeth warren at 15%, bloomberg at 9% and pete buttigieg at 7%. the poll has a margin of error plus or minus 4.75 percentage points. the poll shows biden with the best advantage of beating donald trump, 50 to 44%, followed by sanders 49 to 45%. warren and buttigieg hold one-point deficits to trump. back with me, dan, maria, theresa and karine. this is what people are stressing about, who can beat trump. everyone is being a pundit and trying to decide, it's not who do i like, it's who can beat him? >> this is where we are in 2020. people are really concerned about what is going to happen to

this country. if you think about it, in the general election in november, it's going to be a choice election. >> it's an incumbent, a referendum on the incumbent. >> it's also going to be a referendum, meaning when i say by choice, where do you see this country growing? this president is literally putting a wrecking ball into our constitution as we saw with the help of republicans, the policies he's putting out. he is incredibly dangerous, and people are done. so they're looking at their choices and they're thinking, okay, who is the person that can do it? not looking to make history or do anything wild or crazy. okay, we have to get this guy out. >> or are they? here's the thing, my sort of take on it is if you have an incumbent, it's supposed to be a referendum. full spot. the democrats are arguing over whether it should be a referendum on trump or whether it should be a choice between these policies that are pretty

substantial changes to the way this country operates, health care system, tax system, et cetera or trump. that's not a referendum election. that's a choice election. >> i think no matter how we define the language, it is a referendum on this president. we know after three years what this president has done to both sides of this country. the energy on his supporters, the anti energy on the other. i think that's what this election is going to come down to. but the other thing we know about president trump is, we always said he's a rule breaker. he's created a different set of rules in which he plays this game of politics and the way he governs. whatever democrat goes up against him has to be prepared for that kind of election. that gives trump some advantages. looking at those numbers, what was interesting was those battle ground numbers are not as good for democrats as the nation as a whole. that's the challenge. >> when you say is it a referendum or a choice, it's a

ref wren dem for registered democrats. for individuals that the democratic party has an opportunity to grow the base, that is some choice. people are saying what are the big issues you have to solve. i don't have to convince a young person that climate change is real. but i do need to make sure that person registers and votes. >> can i just add to that. the choices about energizing the base, that's the thing democrats will have to do. they're energized as you look at the last three years. we've got to get these young people, build the coalition. >> you would know, because you worked on the barack obama campaign. let's go through it. 2020 bid, very uncomfortable about trump running for election, 49%. very uncomfortable with sanders, 43%, very uncomfortable with warren, 36%, very uncomfortable with biden, 35%. the discomfort level question, what does it mean?

>> each candidate has its own baggage. with biden because some people see he's not up to what he was as a vice president. he's just older. with trump, it's the defensiivv siveness. >> here is the biggest problem i see, is that we know what donald trump is going to do. his play is very, very clear. he's going to drag whoever this nominee is, their negatives. that's the biggest concerns. how are democrats ready to fight that? how are you going to beat that? he's not expanding his base. he just wants to make sure whoever is running against him, he's as negative -- they're as negative as he is. >> this week's impeachment hearing, trial in the senate has been disturbing for so many reasons. the things put on the table by republicans on what a president can do, which is pretty much what a king can do. now thinking beyond trump and

who is there to bactrim up. the nbc "wall street journal" poll, prefer a democratic controlled congress, 49, want republicans in charge, 43. democrats are winning on that. on whether trump should be removed from office, on this poll, 46/49. within the margin of error. a smaller percentage that trump should be removed in office. one more. the senate has enough info already to decide trump's fate, 39%. the senate needs to hear from additional witnesses, 37%. don't know, for some reason, 22%. one more, trump abused his power of office, overwhelmingly they agree, most of the republicans apparently agree. how does what the senate has done wind up impacting the race? >> how does it wientd up hurting -- impacting the senate races and trump? >> i think it is an issue that will be, if not front and center in voters' minds in november, certainly part of what they're thinking about. what we've seen is that number

on remove or not remove has remantd bained basically steady. this is better for president trump than before the trial started. you would have to say that, if you're in the trump re-election campaign, you say, okay, this is working out reasonably well, even though everybody who is against trump is furious about the way it's played out. >> i have heard nothing but even republicans saying they are absolutely disturbed of trump with a continued republicans senate if his articles are unlimited. thank you very much, dan. stick around. there's more "am joy" after the break. thank you very much. (vo) parents have a way of imagining the worst... ...especially when your easily distracted teenager has the car.

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have really come to like tom steyey, although i'm undecided. he's one of my top three candidates because of the same thing pastor cameron was talking about, being a self-made

billionaire and growing that type of a company and i just -- i'm really impressed by that. >> my second choice would be elizabeth warren. he's a strong woman and as mentioned before, it would be really, really inspiring and motivating to see a woman be a president. and she has also really, really amazing thoughts. good morning and welcome back to "a.m. joy" live. from java joes in des moines, iowa. that was a snippet of our nate nate focus group. one thing is it highlights is the stark divide in the democratic field. on one end of the progressive you have progressive candidates like bernie sanders and elizabeth warren, who rely on grassroots donations. on on the other hand, you have

self-funded billionaires like tom steyer and mike bloomberg who can dominate the air waves with ads because of their massive networks. elizabeth warren has built part of her support by touting her popular wealth tax and openly mocking billionaires at her rallies. >> you may have heard there's some billionaires who have taken exception to this. go on tv and cry. so sad. so sad. >> it's almost inconceivable that someone like that could be neck and neck with a billionaire like mike bloomberg who has such vast financial resources he could box his rivals out in key television markets completely. that's exactly what's happening. two recent polls found them to be in a statistical tie nationally. really begging the question to whoever ultimately wins the nomination. how do you unify a party that's having an identity crisis? joining me now is tim o'brien, a

senior adviser for the bloomberg campaign. tim, friend of show, it's good to see you. it's been a while. >> joy. >> you left us to join the bloomberg campaign. there's a little bit of a delay -- >> i'm happy to be here. >> excellent. welcome back. let's go right to the elephant in the room. "the new york times" did a poll back in november 2019 that showed the support for the idea of a wealth tax at 63% nationally. even 57% among republicans would look at that number among democrats, 77%. let me read you a little bit from a "guardian" piece that says, i don't like rich guys. they like him, tom steyer, et cetera, et cetera. some billionaires are getting a break. why should a billionaire become the nominee of a party where the vast majority of people want a wealth tax? >> well, you know what, i don't

think it's an elephant in the room. it's a great discussion to have, joy. obviously, mike bloomberg is a wealthy person. if being successful in the united states was a sin, then we'd also have to take henry ford, thomas edison and oprah winfrey out of the mix. if people would resources shouldn't get into politics we would have to raise doubts about george washington, john kennedy. in isn't new. this isn't about a billionaire buying an election. this is a billionaire with the resources to buy exposurexposur. if you could buy an election, other people in this campaign, who are spending a lot of money, wouldn't be stuck in the single digits. mike polled this week in a couple of national polls. i think he'd already lapped pete buttigieg and elizabeth warren. he's right behind senator sanders and senator biden. i don't think that's because of campaign ads. i think that's because we're in 35 states. we have 1,000 people on the ground. mike bloomberg has campaigned in 24 states. he was in colorado and arizona

yesterday with lines going around the block. we have surrogates across the country. the issues that mike cares about, he's a pragmatic progressive. everything that elizabeth warren and bernie sanders care about, mike not only is highlighted as part of his campaign agenda. the math actually adds up around it and it's things he's delivered through long careers as fill philanthropist, meyer a businessman. one of the things the democrats need at the moment is a lack of unity. if people want to throw donald trump labels around like evil billionaire, we'll get to the point where like-minded people linking their arms don't come together. if mike bloomberg was just a rich guy, he wouldn't care about things like better public health, creating jobs or avenues for the middle class, immigration. i'm in mcallen, texas, right now. there are no other democrats

organizing en masse down here. we're down here, even though democrats have told us, it's hard to organize latino organizers to get them out, but we're here because we i think thits important to do and moral a important to do in the trump era when all the obscenities are occurring on the border here. mike has repeatedly said the resources he's pouring into this campaign are going to be in the service of the party. and if he's not the nominee, it will be the service of whoever the nominee is. he has not had a bad word to say about any of the democrats campaigning against him. he understands we all have to have a unify message here. link arms and take this battle to donald trump's doorstep. >> and i think all of that is true. you can see by the way mike bloomberg has spent his money on climate change and gun reform that he puts his money where his mouth is. one of the challenges a lot of progressive democrats have with where he is in this race, because of his resources, he's not only able to buy his way onto the airwave, whichist a

marketplace, he can buy his way on, but a lot of people are worried that he's kind of bought his way into the debates. i want you to listen to michael moore, who is supporting bernie sanders, last night at a bernie sanders event complaining about this change in the rules of the dne dnc has put in that will let michael bloomberg into the race even though the rules before wouldn't let him in. >> he doesn't have to show he has any support amongst the american people. he can just buy his way onto the debate stage. i've got to tell you what is so disgusting about this, i watched the debate in iowa here two weeks ago. the all -- the all-white debate. and the fact that the democratic -- the dnc will not allow cory booker on that stage, will not julian castro on that stage, but they're going to allow mike bloomberg on the stage because he's a billion [ bleep ] dollars.

>> oh. lucky for the bleep. and i think the challenge people have with this change in the rules is that, you know, mike bloomberg isn't any billionaire. he's a billionaire who wrote an $800,000 check to the dnc. he's a big donor to the dnc. is it fair to say the rules are being made different for him because he's a donor? >> no. no, joy, i think it's a good question to ask. i don't think any of this is accurate. mike bloomberg is not getting on the stage because he's a billionaire. he's getting on the stage because he's established a lot of traction with american voters who understand what he's doing and don't hold it against him because he cares about bread and butter issues for middle working class americans. he's a pluralist and he's shown his whole life to show that's true. i love michael moore. what he just said right now. if we get around yelling and throwing labels around we sound

like trumpistas. the dnc rules are a dnc rules. i as a citizen am concerned we don't have a cory booker, kamala harris or other people of color on this stage. that's another problem. that's not mike bloomberg's fault. elizabeth warren was calling for two weeks ago to make sure mike blool bloomberg was on the debate stage because she wanted to debate against him. now she's saying the d in. c bent the rules. mike bloomberg was the single biggest donor to women rubbing in the vulnerable districts in the 2018 midterms. he turned the house of representatives blue. we're the only campaign right now spending vigorously on down ballot basis. we're spending get out the vote and every democrat campaigning. democratic need to get realistic about some facts. the dnc has $8 million in it's

coffer. the rnc and donald trump have $80 million. had mike bloomberg not entered this race, the democrats would be going into this battle under-resourced and underorganized. he's not in this because it's a vanity run. this is the culmination of his life's work. he's worked as a philanthropist on every single issue progressives care about and he's gotten results around those. if at the end of the day people want to create this cartoonish idea because he's successful he shouldn't compete or because he has a lot of money and democrats can compete effectively at the most dangerous moment in history against a competitor in the white house who's a corrupt and object season predators and they don't want to get the armaments together to take that to his doorstep, we're going to end up with donald trump in the white house. >> let me bring in my panel.

ceo of vote latino is here and a msnbc contributor and careen jean pierre author of "moving forward," also an msnbc contributor. i want to broaden this out and keep tim in as well. how is that not a valid argument? jfk was rich. being a rich does not make a person a bad person. why shouldn't a billionaire who is a philanthropist and agrees with democrats on gun reform and climate change not run for president. >> i think billionaires should be allowed to run for president, absolutely, that's not a problem. i think it's the way bloomberg is going about it. i love tim. tim is my friend. we need to have an honest conversation. the reason bloomberg is on that debate stage is because he's a billionaire. that's just a fact. to not own up to that is a bit

disingenuous. say that's it and move on. if we look back, there's a process. you have these candidates going through the four early states who jumped in about a year ago. they've raised money. they've done everything that the dnc has laid out to do. and when you had julian castro, in particular, and cory booker, in particular say, dnc, please, change your rules. you're losing important voices. they said, no. jean perez said no. now they're gone, including kamala harris. now the rules have been changed? it's just -- you have to question that. >> tim, your response? >> well, so -- and i love karine, too. i can't see you but it's nice to be on the same air waves with you, my friend. i profoundly disagree. i don't think he's on the stage just because he's a billionaires. his billions got him exposed. auto he's that stage because he spent decades addressing core

problems and someone who has governed a large and complex city. no one else campaigning has governed. mike has had to deliver solutions day in and day out. i know from meeting voters on the road. i've been in seven swing states now. they care about the ideas that he's focused on and the fact that it's not a bag of promises. he's actually delivered solutions to struggling people around things like health care, job creation and quality education. i do think, and i think this is where we probably would align. there's a huge problem with money and politics in the united states. i would remind, i think, everyone watching. mike after he was mayor he instituted campaign finance. that's the same problem elizabeth warren now is advocating at the federal level. mike bloomberg if he became president would go right after the problem that ails campaign

financing, which is that good people are kept out of the system because there's not robust public funding for campaigns. citizens united is the real elephant in the room around this. and mike would address that in the white house. and it's a long-term battle. to go after what the courts have done here and where congress is right now, you need a lot of resources and purpose that aren't there right now for democrats. >> yeah. let me bring -- i want -- we talked about this before the break. is where michael bloomberg has put his money and how that's been showing up in terms of people being open to him. here's a piece of the super bowl ad that's going to air, because he has that kind of cheddar to be able to do that. >> on a friday morning. >> george was shot. george didn't survive. i just kept saying, you cannot tell me that a child that i gave birth to is no longer here.

when i heard mike was stepping into the ring, i thought, now we have a dog in the fight. i know mike is not afraid of the gun lobby. they're scared of him. and they should be. >> i mean, he's with march for our lives on guns and not afraid of nra. >> he talked specifically about talking we have a fair nice with stacey abrams. he led on education reform. he has all these other policies to demonstrate he's with the american people. when it comes to should he be on the debate stage, he was able to buy influence so people could get exposure so his polling went up in a very significant way, whereas julian castro is also a mayor of a city, who also was a cabinet member but he didn't have the financing to actually elevate that. i think is the struggle. but what i find particularly of interest within the bloomberg -- with bloomberg as a candidate, he didn't wake up one morning and say, this is what he's going to do. he actually has a history of record outside of hi mayoral

tasks by creating these other issues he knew are relevant to the american people and, frankly, with he need to act big on. we cannot wait any longer on climate change. it's here. how do we have an executive willing to go toe to toe. is he the one? i also think elizabeth warren would be the one. he's aligned and also has a record. i think that's what makes him unique. >> a lot of people have asked him, with all the money that michael bloomberg had, did he at some point consider just backing -- because there is that also thought that maybe he got in because he's afraid of elizabeth warren or bernie sanders would be the nominee and he came in as sort of a stop bernie, stop warren candidate. would it have made more sense for him to back one of the moderates? >> i can answer all those questions for you. are you ask he am, joy, or someone else on the panel? >> yes. no, no, you, tim. >> okay. look, you know, the reality is he's doing all of these things. he's running his own campaign, he's backing down valid

candidates, he's done this throughout his whole life whether running for president or not. again, you know, it's very interesting. people are seeing he's moving up in the polls solely because of advertising. there is no im proof that's the case. we're canvassing in black communities that tell us they have not democrats this early on their doorstep who care about their issues. we're in rural areas. i'm in south texas at the border. mike is on the ground state by state. to attribute his rise in poll to advertising would cheapen his campaign. i would disagree with you there's a cause and effect only between the advertising and him being on the campaign stage. i do think the reason he jumped in, i think, early in 2019, up you know, he admires a number of

the candidates. as the debates happen, he lost faith the candidates on the debate stage could bring it to donald trump, given the acuity of some of their messages. i think when some of the policies rolled out, he was worried it would alienate more in the democratic party than unite them. then in the late summer, early fall he did his own polling. michigan, wisconsin, arizona, north carolina, texas and florida, i've been in all of those except florida now. the democrats got hammered in every one of those states by donald trump. in every one of those states mike bloomberg had a record, a menu of policy proposals and appeal to a diverse range of stakeholders in our party who need to come together to beat donald trump. independents, the business community, people of color, progressives, and moderates. >> let me play really quickly the -- a preview of the sean

hannity interview, which i'm sure everyone in this audience is looking forward to, with donald trump. that's going to air later on today. in which he asks what he thinks of mike bloomberg. here it is. >> very little. i just think of little. you know, now he wants a box for the debates to stand on. okay, it's okay, there's nothing wrong. you can be short. why should he get a box to stand on, okay? he wants a box for the debates. why should he be entitled to that? really? does that mean everyone else gets a box. >> i guess they'll have to negotiate boxes. >> what's interesting, cory booker and all these people couldn't get the things bloomberg is getting. i think it's very unfair for the democrats. but i would love to run against bloomberg. >> okay. i want to go to karine because you're little but i saw you jump up on a stage like a warrior, so being little doesn't mean anything. >> let me tell you a secret.

little people don't see themselves as little. we don't. i just don't. i see myself bigger than everybody else. >> you are in spirit, sister. >> it's true. >> this argument to me -- normally you're small -- >> small but mighty. >> it's true if you go through presidential candidates, taller candidates seem to win. >> over 6 feet tall. >> we've never had a candidate who can look up to donald trump and say, i may be little but i'm a real billionaire. are you? >> i'm thinking -- it's hard to think what donald trump is thinking but that's probably the biggest worry he has, right? a real billionaire could potentially go ens against him and call him out on it over and over and over again. and so i think that's a big problem. i do want to say, look, you know, michael bloomberg has done some good stuff. he spent $100 million during the mid-term in 2018 give us back the house, he's -- those key issues we talked about,

education, climatele change, yes, he's done those things. if you look at any of the other candidates, none were able to spend $100 million on the mid-term. no one was able to have 1,000 people across the country knocking on doors, registering voters. so, his money has helped him. that's just something we have to be really honest about. >> absolutely. >> but at the same time, you know, there is -- i think there is a part of everyone's heart, even if maybe even bernie sanders supporters deep, deep, deep down that kind of wouldn't mind seeing them debate each other. >> two individuals from new york city going toe to toe, one who is absolutely fierce. yes, he might be shorter but he's fitter. and i think even that debate stage where you see donald trump who has -- does not take himself -- doesn't take care of himself physically next to michael bloomberg who does, it's almost like a teddy roosevelt boxer. he's like, i'm in the ring and i'm ready. >> let's go to -- we love a

chee cheeseburger, it's good. how badly does bloomberg want to debate donald trump? how much is he relishing the idea of debating the donald? >> well, mike bloomberg would eat donald trump alive on a debate stage. who knew that donald trump was such a snowflake? the reality here is he's making fun of mike's -- he's making fun of mike's height because mike stands on hi stack of accomplishments that makes him about ten feet taller than donald trump. he's scared of him. mike bloomberg is everything donald trump says he is but isn't. the fact he's constantly talking -- i've been asked a lot lately because trump has been coming after mike so much. what's it like to be in donald trump's head so much? what i've said is when you get inside donald trump's head, all you're going to discover you find there is a putter, a cheeseburger, a porn video and

somebody else's credit card. we're more than happy to occupy that spaces and see him on a debate stage. >> that's going to get clipped. tim o'brien, who is not only a friend of the show but also a biographer of donald trump. not a bad thing to have on your campaign whoever you are running for president. good luck, tim. after the campaign you'll come back and be a guest our our pundit friend again. up next, we'll hear -- thank you. we'll hear from voters of color right here in iowa. our special focus group. this is going to be good. that's coming up. what's going on? it's the 3pm slump. should have had a p3. oh yeah. should have had a p3. need energy? get p3. with a mix of meat, cheese and nuts.

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let's start with the fact that iowa is amazing. my city was born in this very city of des moines, so i love it. but real talk -- we love it! we love it! best city. but, you know, real talk, when looked at from a macro level iowa is not super representative, it's 90% white. this msnbc's trymaine lee sat down with six iowa democratic voters what they're looking for when they head to the caucuses tomorrow. >> iowa caucuses are here. is there any candidate that is exciting you guys? anyone that is making you feel

hopeful, positive, feeling good? >> well, right now, i'm really undecided, but i'm leaning to two candidates. and one is biden and elizabeth warren. >> who else? who else is getting you a little excited? >> well, it's -- i think all of them are amazing. all of them are amazing. and i've kind of got mine narrowed down to probably four. biden -- >> just four? >> yeah. >> just four. >> yeah. biden, warren, sanders and tom steyer. >> i agree with that, too. i really have come to like tom steyer, although i'm pretty much undecided. he's definitely kind of one much my top three candidates. i also really like amy klobuchar. and i think -- i'm surprised her numbers aren't as high.

>> tom steyer, before i was really paying attention to the candidates and staying up late and watching tv and you always see his face. >> joe biden first because you cannot talk about the success of barack obama without mentioning the fact that he had joe biden. >> i'm leaning towards bernie and warren. i like bernie's policy on, like, climate change. and then my second choice would be elizabeth warren. she's a strong woman. >> elizabeth warren because i want to see a woman president in my lifetime. we saw a first black president. i want to see our first woman president. >> on that point, the democratic field started off as the most diverse in history. now it's been winnowed down and all white. a number of the candidates have had issues with whites in the past. does that concern you at all that instead of getting close to that we're still dealing with an

all-white field with a problematic history when it comes to race? >> i just want to see us really chime in on criminal justice reform, mental health, education, and -- and the things that really matter that affect us every day. even tax relief. >> as a woman, especially as a minority woman of color, i'm really getting tired of everyone else making decisions for me. >> absolutely. >> no offense to the men -- >> you have a right. >> but it's just -- it's very frustrating. so i really want to make sure whoever the president is that they, you know, allow women to have more choices and options. >> are you optimistic that whoever the ultimate democratic nominee is, are you optimistic they can actually beat trump. >> i believe that as a party, if we come together, we'll beat trump. if we don't come together, we're going to get trumped by trump. >> what's it going to take to push you over the line? >> definitely being unified. it's time we step up and gather together on the -- and be on the

exact same plate because if we're not, then, you know, what's the whole point of all this? >> we have to unify, too. we have to able to bring both parties together somehow on some of these issues. you know, it's okay to lean left. it's okay to lean right. what can we come together on? ultimately i think that's the reason obama won. he was able to draw support from both sides. i think we need to have a candidate that's strong, that has strong democratic values but is also able to pull over people from the other side. >> joining me now is msnbc national reporter trymaine lee. i saw a lot of undecided voters. did you get a sense there was any passion toward any of the choices they're making or are they just punditing who they think can win? >> i tell you what, joy, in talking to these voters of color, there are actually black people in iowa, a lot of them. it was great to sit down and talk with them. there wasn't necessarily a passion they were pushing behind

one candidate or the other. as we know cliche at this point black voters are especially practical and pragmatic. i got the sense here they're just trying to beat trump. i asked them would they support any democratic nominee, whoever the democratic nominee is? they said yes. they said, you have to come where we are. send surrogates to the church, to the candidates, come to our communities. while the polling shows joe biden with a double digit lead nationally, half either support another candidate or are undecided. while there isn't that passion we saw in 2008 for barack obama, in 2012, they're really looking for someone that can beat donald trump. they're ready to get behind that candidate but they have to come to the communities and connect with voters who support to give support and simplin you spoke with six voters. had any of them had voters come to their homes? that's a thing that happens in iowa. >> no, no. >> i mean candidates. >> no, not to their homes. they said during this time of

year they're bombarded with the a ads, the phone calls. everyone is pushing, pushing, pushing. they're waiting for that moment when a candidate comes to their community. they haven't so far. they said they're still excited to play a part in this process. they're happy iowa still is first in the nation, even though there had been a lot of discussion about reordering the primaries and caucuses to better reflect the democratic base. for these voters in iowa, they're happy to be first. they haven't gotten that hand-to-hand contact with the campaigns but they're waiting. >> i know we play a portion of all the long interviews you did. when you spoke with the voters, did these voters think it was important for whoever the nominee is, who is, you know, at this point more than likely going to be a white candidate, is it important to these voters that they pick a person of color as their running mate? >> you always hear the name

stacey abrams, to have a stacey abrams unify black and white in the party. for them they said, no, race is not the primary focus. they want someone right on the issues, who has the right politics, who is able and willing ready to go after donald trump. they want people who support medicare for all. you hear folks saying they're caring foir their aging parents, health care is a big issue, ron bishop woods, his son was murdered on january 1st. he cares deeply about those issues. race is secondary to being right on the issues, joy. >> you always do such a great job. thank you for doing this for the show. we'll have you do a lot more over the campaign season. thank you, my friend. really appreciate you. still to come, who won the week. iowa edition. more "a.m. joy" next. i'm your mother in law.

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the number of uninsurising.ricans, the cost of prescription drugs, rising. the threat to people with pre-existing conditions, rising. the good news, so is support for the one candidate who'll do something about it. as mayor, mike bloomberg helped expand coverage for seven hundred thousand people, including hundreds of thousands of kids. including hundreds of thousands of kids. as president, he'll lower drug costs and ensure everyone without coverage can get it. that's a promise. and unlike him, mike actually keeps his. i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message. little theo's nose had cause for alarm. his ordinary tissues were causing it harm. they left his nose raw, with each wiping motion. so dad extinguished the problem, with new puffs plus lotion. puffs now have more lotion to soothe through the blows... and more pillowy softness, to cushion your nose.

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we are back here at wonderful java joe's in des moines, iowa. this gorgeous, wonderful crowd. i have two members of the focus group you just saw tree maymain

did. i'm going to go to you, bishop pu were undecided when you first started off. i wrote down all the different variety of names you were talking about. are you decided now who you're going to caucus for? >> i absolutely am. >> who is that going to be? >> i believe america is ready to wake up from the nightmare we've been experiencing so it's time for a great cup of joe. joe biden. >> a cup of joe. one joe biden caucuser here. how about you, kenneth? all right. we support everybody's choices here. kenneth? >> i had a variety. i think they're all wonderful. >> i think you had the most. >> i did. and anything is better than what we have, so -- >> right. >> -- i feel like -- i had the most but i've got it narrowed down to two. so biden and sanders. >> wait a minute. biden and sanders are completely opposite. >> but they speak our language. as african-american and people of color, they speak our

language. we are in a critical time that we need someone who can unite and who can bring us back together. not only that, but we need someone who is concerned about the lower and the middle class. and i believe that they both are concerned about that. >> that's interesting because they are sometimes the number two choice. people who like biden like sanders and people who like sanders like biden. it's strange but the data bears that out. it seems like both care about the middle class. thank you for participating. has anyone else decided? very quickly. who have you decided on? >> bernie sanders. >> you decided on bernie sanders. >> let's run back here real quick. we got to go. who raised their hand? who? >> biden. >> it's kind of even. just like the caucuses are and the polls. up next, donald trump's

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if you have eight witnesses who say someone left the scene of an accident, why do you need nine? the question is, do i need more evidence to conclude the president did what he did? i concluded, no. i think he shouldn't have done it. it was wrong. inappropriate is the way i'd

say, improper, crossing the line. then the only question left is, who decides what to do about that? >> well, who decides? >> the people. the people is my conclusion. you know, it struck me really for the first time early last week that we're not just being asked to remove the president from office, we're saying, tell him you can't run in the 2020 election which begins monday in iowa. lamar alexander -- from coming before the senate impeachment trial. joining me now is charlie price, writer at large for "esquire." let's get your take on that. does alexander -- by the way, lamar alexander is not running for re-election. he's speaking to history and what history will think of him. >> if you throw the evidence out of office because he's a crook, he really shouldn't run the next

time because there's a constitution -- there's a constitutional prohibition against this. i -- of all the -- i wish they just said, he's a republican president, he's given us the judges we want, we got our tax cuts, the heck with it. but all this incredible, you know, contortion -- we can't do it because the election is fallen. he did it but we don't think it's seriously wrong enough to get thrown out of office. he's still doing it. we don't know what it but he's still at it. >> and he's doing it to the election. i think the thing that gets lost here is what trump is being impeached for is imperilling the election. if you say, he can can't stop him from running in the same election he's rigging. okay, let's keep moving. let's have joni ernst, a senator from this state. so, she had some things, thoughts and words, on state of the union. here they are. >> are you confident he won't do

this again, he won't try to get another foreign country to look into a political opponent, whether it's elizabeth warren or pete buttigieg or someone else? >> i think that he knows now that if he is trying to do certain things, whether it's ferreting out corruption there, in afghanistan, whatever it is, he needs to go through the proper channels. whether you like what the president has done or not, we can argue this up one side and down the other all day, does it come to the point of removing a president from office? i don't believe this does. >> let me -- so, the audience here, what do we think of her answer? i don't want to force them to respond to it. i'm going to come to you, karine, first, i'm coming to my parents. if your lovely daughter was to do something and you did not sanction her for it and she was allowed to get away with it and you said, you're fine, i'm not

going to do about it, would she have learned as joni ernst says donald trump has learned? >> no. she would do it again. my 5-year-old is just at a different level than what is happening with donald trump's behavior. i think most 5-year-olds are. it doesn't even compare. like toddlers, we should not be insulting toddlers by comparing them -- that answer was such a joke. we have to remember when donald trump actually called ukraine president. it was after robert mueller testified. >> the day after. >> the day after. i mean, this is somebody who is going to do it again, again and again. like charlie said, he's probably doing it right now. the problem is, republicans have decided, they have decided that they don't care. they have looked the other way. they have -- they are complicit to this criminality now. what it's doing is, it is rolling back 200-plus -- 200 years plus of history, of legal standard, of protocol. and it is problematic.

it's going to hurt them down the road because voters are not stupid. just look at the polling. >> joni ernst is up for re-election. she's especially said that donald trump, in her view, having been -- had a trial in which he decided the ending, in which he orchestrated the ending and worked with the jury foreman to make sure he was acquitted, now knows better than to do this again. based on what? >> it's nonsense. i think she realizes she's more afraid of donald trump than afraid of holding the constitution up. she was sworn into office to protect our constitution at all costs and to make sure she is properly representing iowans. she has failed in her task. while everybody says, who's going to go down in history, none of them, no one is going to remember their name because they did not do the right thing for our country. when we start talking about how do we set protocols for the future, the united states, this idea of corruption, we actually tell people, we will not do business with you internationally if you do not

follow these guidelines. we will not engage in your governments if you don't follow these guidelines. we will not engage in business with you. now the rest of the world says, you are a laughing stock because all bets are off. that is what this decision by the republican senate has set the stage for us. we needed to make sure we course correct in 2020 and every single individual that has been indicted in these impeachable offenses actually pays a price. >> to what marie said, there's an anecdote, and i think it's in the rutgers -- i've read so much from corruption literature -- >> you can't cross-reference. >> yeah, things are getting blurry. he actually wants to eliminate the united states oe prohibition on bribing foreign leaders. hurting business. >> yeah, he wants -- the other person who has tried to speak to history, stream to history after the things he said in the course of defending donald trump is alan dershowitz, out redefending himself on saying that a

president who believed his re-election was in the national interest can essentially do anything he wants and corruption of the office is not impeachable. here he is on fox news sunday. >> of course, any citizen would find that troubling if it were proved. yes, that would be troubling. trouble is not the criteria for impeachment. >> i'm not asking you -- >> doing something troubling is not impeachable. that's not what the framers had -- >> you think linking an ally to investigating your political opponent -- >> if a president linked aid to an ally to personal interest not in the public interest, that would be wrong. that would be a reason for me not to vote for him. >> you seem to be saying, professor, what donald trump did was wrong and troubling but not impeachable. >> no. you said if a president did it solely for his own interest, would it be -- >> i never used the word solely. >> i'll using it. >> okay. so, now the excuse is, if it's only for his personal interest,

then it's a problem, but as long as he can add another reason why he's doing it, it's okay. >> yeah i'm going to pull a quote from dim -- the dim foggy presidential history. we could get the money. i know where it could be gotten. but it would be wrong. that's what he's arguing. he's arguing nixon's case to john dean about getting hush money for the burglaries. everyone knew he was going to get hush money for the burglaries but he knew the tape was running. he said, well, that was wrong. that was going to bail him out. that's what dershowitz is arguing. he's arguing, we cannot read a president's mind, therefore, you can't impeach him because you'll never know. >> and he could corrupt his office as much as he wants. charlie, maria, karine, they're all going to stick around because up next a very special iowa edition. nyquil severe gives you powerful relief

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okay, everybody, we are back. and it is time to find out --

yes, who won the week? back with me are charlie, maria and karine. it's going to be a good one. >> every democratic candidate who karine. >> every democratic candidate who is running against a republican senator who voted, right, to cover up for donald trump and deny the american public the truth, that is who won the week. but like i said earlier, voters are not stupid. impeachment was historically high. 75% of people, voters, wanted to see witnesses. and what did the republicans do in the senate? they denied what the voters wanted. >> right. >> there will be retribution in november. >> the fact they're all run to go sunday shows to try to justify it, joni ernst from this state included, means they're nervous about it. lamar alexander is worried about history but she's worried about reelection. >> she should be.

many of them should be. >> absolutely. who won the week? >> i say young voters. pew finally came out this week and said generation x, y, and z, outvoted in the voting booth in 2018 and they voted in change. the fact that we're kicking off what's going to be the most important election of our time with 12 million more potential more voters and baby boomers, they won the week. they're going to be organized and fierce and they're going to say we know the direction we want our country to go to and they're going to own it. >> who is getting young voters excited here? >> in iowa, we're getting a lot of feedback from elizabeth warren, a lot of people interested in bernie sanders, and a lot of folks are also interested in biden. they're reflecting what the rest of the iowans are showing. >> i feel like if there's a surprise, warren seems like she could be the most surprising. >> it's because she's been doing a really smart job, brought in julian castro early on.

they've been going to all these different events together and saying, these issues you thought we had left behind because julian is no longer on the stage, we're meeting people where they are. >> who seems most -- because barack obama was the surprise in '08, who seems like they could be that kind of surprise? >> i agree, elizabeth warren. she's doing this unity message which is so smart. that's what democrats are going to need. >> now it falls you to, charlie pierce, a tough position to be in. >> i wish everybody a happy st. bridget's day. >> and happy black history month. we did that yesterday. >> but my who won the week, and i know it's declasse to brag on your own delegation, but ayanna pressley won the week. we had this incredible, weird variable where three of the five frontrunners couldn't be here so it depended vitally on

surrogates like julian castro, bailey, elizabeth warren's dog, michael moore and the squad for bernie sanders. but ayanna pressley has made herself a star. i have not seen somebody take over a stage that really didn't belong to her like this in a long time. not only did she win this week. she won a week in 2024 and 2028. >> absolutely. she has emerged as the wakanda warrior. >> i texted you earlier today and said, ian in-- ayanna pressy for president. >> could she wind up on the short list? is she even 35? >> she said her birthday is tomorrow, she's 46. she's amazing. >> we'll look that up, that's not true. before i got to mine, i want to go around the table, you and i

had just gotten here, you've just gotten here as well. is there any sense, it feels so confused, and i've never seen a race like this where people literally can't make up their mind. >> we were phone banking in iowa among young latino voters and they were saying, we don't know who. 25% of people are responding that, and we're saying, still go caucus because that's your responsibility, that's how to make sure these candidates know you're in the room. >> i feel the same way. at the racetrack they call it a cavalry charge, when there are four or five horses at the top of the stretch and there's no room for any of them. do you know who's going to have some people? i say this only because i enjoy, having worked once for mo udall, a funny politician. andrew yang has some people. >> the yang gang, they're entertaining. he's got good surrogates as well.

i had a sort of a dark and dismal who won the week. but you know what i've decided? you know who really won the week? this crowd. this crowd. [ applause ] these people are so amazing. we have had the best time here at java joe's. we're having delicious coffee. we've had great conversation. we're taking selfies. they look amazing. they answer the questions. they're brilliant. this has been one of the most fun, fabulous, one of my favorite shows we've done this year. thank you guys. [ cheers and applause ] we love you guys. we'll give you some face time, we want their families to see them on the air, because you guys are awesome. everybody is going to caucus who are iowans, they're voters. love them, love them. thank you very much. all of our folks, all of our family members that have been here. more "a.m. joy" after the break.

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[ inaudible ] . my friend alex witt has the latest. alex, happy sunday. >> happy sunday to you. the applause from that crowd,

they love you so much, i was like, where am i, the super bowl? they love you, they're so happy to have you there. >> it's a wonderful time. greetings from iowa. >> safe travels home and while you stay there as well. a good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters in new york, high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. in the west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." just over 24 hours before the first 2020 votes are cast. we're getting our last look at the neck and neck race in the hawkeye state. meanwhile, back to business on capitol hill where the impeachment trial still isn't finished. how it will affect the president's state of the union address on tuesday night. growing epidemic. countries around the world scrambling to contain the coronavirus. the federal travel ban that goes into effect tonight and whether it's likely to help stop the spread of that disease. but everyone, right here at the top of the hour we have some breaking news, this is from south london, where at least two people have been injured in what officials are calling a