the country. >> when i took over -- when i behalf. but tonight you as a spectator, as a took over america we didn't have bullets. it's kind of like a new across the years do you think it's a possibility that mike commissioner of major league baseball coming in and saying bloomberg could emerge from this when i took over for baseball debate tonight one of two ways, you know we didn't have any baseballs. it's crazy, mika. either the presumptive front >> so after taking over the runner for the democratic country and its military president trump is now laying nomination or a candidacy that claim to the justice department. might almost be done? good morning and welcome to "morning joe" on this wednesday, february 19th. >> i think that's possible. we've got a lot to get to this i think the candidacy that might morning including the almost be done if he has a president's rash of pardons and really terrible debate and even the people who are close to commutations yesterday as gene robinson put it on twitter, bloomberg advisers that i've spoken to, have been talking to instead of draining the swamp trump has decided to pardon it him, are so concerned about his and that is just ahead. wooden performance when it comes we will have a big conversation about that. to that kind of human >> we certainly will, but first interaction that they've almost a big birthday yesterday, willie advised him not to take part in geist. tell us all about it. any debates at all because they >> you can call me shark. don't see an upside to him. >> you can call me shark. so he could do really, really my wife kristina sharky geist, badly. i'm not sure he can emerge as the front runner because of those polls we just got today hence the shark, mika. out of california. i mean, how does even a >> yes. >> turned 45 years old.

she's doing great at 45, she's a fantastic debate performance by great mom, a great wife, an mike bloomberg unseat bernie entrepreneur and a complete sanders who is doing so well in superstar. so happy day after your california? i just don't see all of those birthday, kristina. >> i love it. people supporting bernie sanders at the moment suddenly saying, >> fantastic. wow, that was a great performance by mike bloomberg, i willingy, you and i have been will switch to mike bloomberg. fighting for years for justice. that's not going to happen. so even if he comes out of this >> took a decade. the leading moderate with a >> it came yesterday. a decade. great debate performance and the >> what? other moderates say, okay, fair >> all he was trying to do is enough, it's going to be pass health insurance for bloomberg who has the best chance of taking on trump, he's children and blago gets thrown not going to get those bernie sanders people to support him, in jail. maybe we can't joke about it. whatever happens tomorrow night. >> no, we really can't. >> steve, mike bloomberg, smart >> can we? guy, accomplished guy, but still >> no. >> i did think about you filled with peril on the debate yesterday that happened because stage because he might say all the things a decade ago that whatever is on his mind. were running gags, that were a >> well, i completely agree. joke to us, somehow have become this is probably the most true as former illinois governor important night of mike bloomberg's political career rod blagojevich thrown in jail tonight in terms of how he handles himself and how he's for among other things extorting perceived. it will be the first time pretty a children's hospital, trying to much everybody has seen him in sell barack obama's senate seat, this format. he had some mayoral debates a released from prison. had his sentence commuted by decade or more ago, we don't president trump. some would suggest because he count those. was a contestant a decade ago on two things, first, people talk

about mike as a republican, "the apprentice" and built a became a democrat, he was actually a democrat before he became a republican before he relationship that paid off for became a democrat and that him as he arrived back home in really reflects his view that chicago just a few hours ago local government is not about this morning. partisan politics, it's about blago, joe, in fact, is free. fixing potholes and solving >> yeah, we joked about blago problems and that's in part why he became a republican to run for mayor of new york. and the terrible -- i'm talking but second to that, look, about a decade ago. california is a huge problem for we joked about donald trump back those of us who are not aligned with bernie sanders. in like 2010, 2011. california is an extraordinary liberal state, bernie is doing we called him america's abraham extraordinarily well there and lincoln and we would all have a bernie is the one, we all need big laugh about it because he'd to worry about, not mike come on and give his opinions bloomberg, not joe biden, not and we'd like all laugh. whomever because bernie is in thinking how funny that was the pole position still at this because, of course, he was the moment and i don't see no matter what mike bloomberg for anybody does tonight i worry that that's not going to change the antithesis of america's abraham lincoln even then, and here we prognosis in california and i also believe, as i think joe and others do, that if bernie have now obviously, mika, this sanders is the nominee this party we will go down to defeat president who thinks that the handily. state -- he is the state and the >> oh, boy. still ahead on "morning joe," state is him. one of the titled held it's straight out of louie xiv conservative principles has all

but evaporated on capitol hill. fiscal responsibility. >> wait. and it's disturbing. holded on. hold on. >> things are getting worse. hold on. >> i took over the military, the tea party came to town so when i took over america, when i everything is going to be okay. took over and became the chief ted cruz is -- so they're a law enforcement officer of small government, right, the tea america. so we will talk about all of that and talk about the party. >> no. >> no? commutes. a lot of people asking why it happened. it's pretty easy to figure out >> they are too scared of trumped and just lost what they why it happened but we will get stand for. >> they don't believe in that that in a minute. right now we have to get set up anymore. >> no. >> they don't believe in small for a big debate tonight. government. what a shock. >> so mark sanford is calling >> tonight should be very exciting. a look at the democratic field out fellow republicans for that and we are going to read from for president ahead of tonight's his new column next on "morning debate. the latest nbc news "wall street joe." journal" poll shows bernie sanders now with a double digit national lead in that primary race at 27th, the senators 12 .large ever over joe biden isn't because he gained support over the past month, it's because biden lost 11 points and is now at 15%. that is a statistical tie with mike bloomberg and elizabeth warren who are both at 14%.

bloomberg up 5 while warren lost a point. pete buttigieg also within the margin of error for second place at 13%, up 6 points since last month. amy klobuchar gained 2 points now at 7%. >> willie, again, sanders didn't go up a point in this poll but his big lead all because of joe biden's collapse. there is no doubt the next few days are going to determine whether joe biden can carry on in this campaign or not. he has got to put in a good performance tonight and he's got to finish in at least second place in nevada or katie bar the joe." ♪ door, it's over. >> yeah, i mean, only for so long can he say wait for south carolina, wait for south carolina. as he waits for south carolina these losses add up, these polls keep coming up that show him down double digits over the last couple weeks. the story tonight will be mike bloomberg getting his moment on

stage. he's controlled the narrative through his ads, $400 million or so worth of them across the country in a lot of these super tuesday states but the country hasn't seen him perform, he hasn't debated in a decade or so the country will get its first real look at mike bloomberg in the context of this big field. meanwhile, president trump if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, trails five major democratic little things can become your big moment. candidates in hypothetical that's why there's otezla. matchups. biden leads trump by 8 points, otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. bloomberg leads trump by 7 points, sanders and buttigieg by with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. 4 points, senator amy klobuchar by 3 points, that's within the don't use if you're allergic to otezla. margin of error. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. when the race is narrowed to voters from 11 key battle ground otezla is associated... states things get a little ...with an increased risk of depression. tighter. all of the margins slink except tell your doctor if you have a history of depression... ...or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. for joe biden's he maintains his some people taking otezla reported weight loss. 8 point lead in those states over donald trump. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. mayor bloomberg's lead decreases upper respiratory tract infection to 2 points, sanders and and headache may occur. klobuchar to 1, effectively tied tell your doctor about your medicines, as is mayor buttigieg. and if you're pregnant or planning to be. joe, this is the conundrum for otezla. democrats which is that joe biden has not looked like a show more of you.

great candidate, he was viewed through the at&t network, edge-to-edge intelligence as the front runner, he's fading gives you the power to see every corner of your growing business. now, but when you look at the states that the democratic party has to win in november he is still strong right now. from managing inventory... >> i was going to say i'm to detecting and preventing threats... surprised by those numbers. donald trump not doing badly in his approval rating and yet if to scaling up your production. you look at those states -- giving you a nice big edge over your competition. because the national polls when you start talking about general that's the power of edge-to-edge intelligence. elections, throw the national polls out the window. they don't matter at all. what matters are those swing states, wisconsin, michigan, the best of pressure cooking and air frying pennsylvania, north carolina, now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, florida, arizona. those are the swing states that you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside really matter. and the fact that joe biden is and juicy on the inside. the ninja foodi pressure cooker, that far ahead of donald trump the pressure cooker that crisps. right now in those swing states, willie, i mean, you're sitting there going, wait a second, it looks like the guy who has the cleanest shot if you just look at the data of beating donald trump is about to get bumped out

of this race, and for a party that claims it's obsessed with nothing more than beating donald trump, i mean, that's -- again, those are two data points that seem to be in conflict with each other. >> and, mika, the biden campaign will throw that poll we just showed up and put sirens around it because that's their case right there. they're going to say iowa, new hampshire were not our states, not representative, we finished poorly in both of those states, fourth and fifth, but you have to hang in there with us because look how we do in the states that will matter to you in november. if you want to beat donald trump the argument from the biden campaign goes you have to ride with us, we will get you second place maybe in november, we will win south carolina and we can recover from this. that remains to be seen, especially with michael bloomberg now in the race taking away some of the support from joe biden. >> i wonder, mika, biden who said he was coming in this case -- or bloomberg who said he was coming in this case biden 27 past the hour. collapsed. >> i know. >> i wonder if we find ourselves this week president trump called

in a position where now biden president obama a con job for underperformed greatly the first simply tweeting about the two states, do you think that recovery act. steve rattner has another fact bloomberg is actually check. facts are always good. precipitating joe biden's >> we like facts. >> in response to the collapse and may actually be president's tweets gloating leading the way to a bernie about the economy. sanders nomination, which, of >> the obama recovery, yeah. 11 years in. course, is what michael >> the president is not very bloomberg said he feared the most? good on facts so we try to do >> and that's -- the question then is what's his intention? our best here to make up for that. you guys had a good run at it i have to say that michael yesterday and i wanted just to bloomberg brings to the forefront a set of questions start with that tweet that you put up yesterday, pivot from where some could end up there. i just want to focus on the parts highlighted in yellow paralleling him to trump in some ways. where he says that he now has those questions might be answered tonight a little bit, the best jobs ever. as we said, michael bloomberg is and so if we take a look at his set to appear on the debate stage for the first time in las actual jobs record, what you vegas tonight. will see, in fact, that not only five other candidates also made does he not have the best jobs the cut. record ever, he does not have biden, buttigieg, sanders, klobuchar and warren. the best jobs record including that's going to be who you see on stage tonight. even president obama. yesterday senator warren went if you look at job creation after bloomberg tweeting, it's a under obama since the recovery began in the fall of 2010, obama shame mike bloomberg can buy his way into the debate but at least now primary voters curious about created 201,000 jobs a month. how each candidate will take on if you look at what trump has donald trump can get a live done in his first three years he

has created 182,000 jobs a demonstration of how we each take on an ego maniac month, jobs a month, so 10% less billionaire. job creation under trump than wow. under obama. joining us now from las vegas if you want to -- national political reporter for >> wait. wait a second, steve. nbc news josh letterman. i'm confused. wait. ca trump tweet josh, set the scene for us. tonight bloomberg makes his and he said that he had the best debut on the national stage going up against the other job gains ever, right? candidates. >> reporter: it's really a first but i'm looking at these charts do no harm situation for mike bloomberg, mika. look, he is not known to be a that come from donald trump's government statistics, his own great debater, he hasn't done this in many years since the last time that he ran for mayor administration, and this is of new york and he's going to saying that barack obama did 10% have to climb out of this better on jobs than donald mountain of controversial trump? comments that have emerged over >> trump did not even have the best jobs record of the 21st the past few weeks that his rivals have been pointing to, century let alone any centuries including new comments that came that preceded it. out yesterday. you can see that really starkly the human rights campaign now on the next slide by simply sums calling on mike bloomberg to this up and basically says that apologize for saying as recently as last year referring to over the last 36 months of obama transgender women as he, she or compared to the first -- >> wait, the blue is trump, it. but the flip side here, mika, is right? mike bloomberg doesn't really have to knock it out of the is trump the blue? >> trump is -- no, we're

park, right? he's not amy klobuchar in the sticking to the traditional way that he needs a stellar colors, blue for the dems, red debate performance in order to for the republicans. >> oh. propel him forward and get a >> and so over 36-month period whole bunch of free media. under -- he can buy all the air time that >> wait. but this says that trump is 1.5 he wants and he has. million workers behind, but so if mike bloomberg can emerge trump just said this week that relatively unscathed this he had the best job record. evening, that's a win for mike bloomberg as far as his campaign is concerned. >> josh, it's willie. this shows -- and this is the you talked to people around the statistics that bloomberg campaign and they are sort of setting expectations low donald trump runs now. >> i hope he doesn't fire them. just for performance tonight, >> i don't understand. can you explain? saying, you know what, he hasn't >> the answer -- the simple done this since 2009 when he was answer is that trump has taken creative liberty, shall we say, debating bill thompson when going for his third term as mayor. with the numbers in his tweets how would they view a good night and he does it all the time. here? the 15,000 lies, you are seeing everybody is going to be coming an example of that, that his at him, it's going to be bernie sanders and elizabeth warren jobs record is not even as good from one side, joe biden obviously is threatened by mayor as obama's to the tune of 1.5 bloomberg who is taking a lot of million jobs over the same his support. how is he going to approach this 36-month period. night? >> reporter: well, the bloomberg i'm not taking all of obama and comparing it to trump just campaign will canner it a good exactly the same, last 36 months night tonight if people watching of obama, first 36 months of the debate walk away from it trump, 1.5, 2 million fewer jobs thinking there are three people who could be the next president,

bernie sanders, mike bloomberg and donald trump. and they think if they can get under trump. >> wow. >> and then if you turn to rid of the rest of the noise and another claim that was in that sharpen the contours of the race tweet where he talked about the like that, that they are able to greatest economy ever, this is -- i pulled this quote from make an effective argument to democrats that, look, of these another place, but it's the same two democratic candidates mike idea, he's saying we're going to get gdp to go to 4, 5, even 6%. bloomberg and bernie sanders which do you really think has the best chance of defeating this is what he said after his donald trump and they think tax cut was passed in the fall that's a contest they can win. of 2017. what's the reality? >> all right. nbc's josh lederman, thank you. the reality is that job growth has only poked its head above 3% joe, before we go to the next poll i have a question four times, there has been no about bloomberg as it pertains 4%, there's been no 5%, there's to paralleling him to hillary been no 6% and, in fact, if you clinton. here is the situation, if you look at who can go against look at trump's gdp numbers on trump, biden wins, right? an annual basis, they have been he is at the top of the polls. >> right, easily. >> biden provides a contrast. decelerating from 2.8% in 2017 >> right. to 2.5% in 2018, last year down >> bloomberg, one could argue, is just like hillary clinton where in some key areas, women, to 2.3% and the private sector big money, entitlement to this thinks it will be more like 2% whole thing, they cancel each other out. i'm just saying are we setting this year. ourselves up for the same so -- >> steve, i don't understand. problem? >> you said throughout 2015 and i don't understand. donald promised us if we passed

2016 that hillary clinton was these tax cuts we may get up to the worst opponent for donald trump. 4, 5, 6% gdp growth and further >> the worst. >> because she did not provide compounding the confusion is the adequate contrast on some of fact that donald trump and a lot donald trump's weaknesses and of of people in the media say this is just the best economy ever course we saw that at the end of the campaign in the most and yet i saw a chart a few days dramatic form when there was a question asked about honest and ago that axios reprinted, again, trustworthiness. i think donald trump was at 36%, based on donald trump's own only 36% of americans found him numbers from donald trump's to be honest and trustworthy. administration that if you take well, for hillary clinton that number was at 35%. the last ten presidents and for whatever reason. whenever the topic of women came up donald trump attacked bill their record on gdp, donald clinton and hillary clinton at the same time, her for enabling trump is in sixth place out of his bad behavior. whether that was fair or not, it ten presidents. so actually not only is this not stuck. it was bill clinton who saw his the best ever, he is in like the approval rating slide bottom half of the class again. precipitously during that campaign under the withering >> that is simply a fact. his gdp numbers in the kind of attacks of donald trump. so you could make the same low 2% range are nothing -- >> that's terrible. >> i would make a broader point, argument about mike bloomberg this year as well. joe, which is that it's really hard -- and i'm trying to be again, tonight is really an intellectually honest -- this is

really hard to think of things important night for mayor donald trump has actually done bloomberg and it's important to make the economy better. because we've got to see how he we had a tax cut that created a swats away these answers. suge gaer high, with he got some nothing -- nothing that was thrown at donald trump stuck to growth for a couple quarters and him. he always knew how -- he knew then it tailed off, created some what was coming, he knew how to swat it away and pivot and investment, investment is now attack somebody else. negative in this country. the trade war devastated the we'll see what happens with bloomberg tonight. agricultural sector, >> going to need to see a ton manufacturing jobs are being lost today in all of the swing trast. there's also a new poll this states that are going to be morning from california where important in the election. votes in the march 3rd super so when you boil it all down the tuesday primary sanders stands question is what did donald at 32% gaining five points since trump actually do to make the economy better, or is this, in last month while joe biden lost fact, as president obama ten points now at 14%. suggested in his tweet on elizabeth warren also shed 10 monday, a continuation of a very points in a statistical tie with biden at 13%. long -- a very long recovery mike bloomberg and pete that we have had since the great buttigieg are also in that financial crisis. crowded spot for number two. >> you know, the good news is, both with 12% but on the rise though, mika, that even though he's in the bottom half of the bloomberg also up 11 points and class for the last ten buttigieg up 6, amy klobuchar presidents, his gdp has grown gained 1 point over the last month now at 5%. more slowly than five of -- i what do you think? mean, you look at it here, he is >> what i think, willie, there just doing terrible were some people painting

unfortunately in t scenarios several months ago talking about a biden collapse he's doing bad on jobs, if you and said that bernie could win compare him to barack obama. barack obama's last three years iowa, new hampshire and have the even more effective than the money to go through super first three years of donald trump's administration. tuesday and that this democratic at least, you know, he promised race could be over before it even began. that he was going to not only when you look at these balance the budget, but that he california numbers, when you was going to pay off the federal look at the money that -- that's debt. at least he's got that going. in the bank for bernie sanders, >> well, former presidential not mike bloomberg, but for candidate mark sanford has an bernie sanders and you see those op-ed in the "new york times" sort of numbers out of the most asking -- >> oh, wait, he doesn't, i'm important state in the democratic nomination process, sorry. >> -- why do my fellow republicans make excuses for do you know what, maybe those trump's deficits. people saying that bernie could he writes in part this, run away with this thing early president trump's abandonment of maybe they were on to something. >> that actually now may be the fiscal responsibility will prove most eye opening of all the disastrous whether we think polls we showed this morning. about it or not. his state of the union address >> yes. >> as you say, if bernie sanders underscored his own thinking. wins big, but if he wins at all in california and takes that it was long on pander and did huge, huge group of delegates not address our country's bleak away from the state with him, he financial state, yet amazingly begins to run away with this thing. so the case for michael conservatives whom i've long bloomberg has been i set up shop respected somehow look the other in these super tuesday states

way. this is a mistake. like california. if you're just looking and what is accumulating is deadly. listening along in the car bad finances kill countries. bernie is at 32%, the next down there is no bigger issue. is joe biden at 14% in the state some of thigh conservative of california and michael friends when i criticize the bloomberg is at 12%, up 11 president respond that a points from last month. president sanders would be even the case for bloomberg is that worse for the deficit. he can win these big delegate true, but that makes it all the states like california and knock more important for those of us on the right to vigorously off bernie sanders. i mean, if you look at that nbc challenge the president's poll, joe, president of the united states is at 47% support, reckless financial path. if the left has abandoned all his approval rating, but also sense of fiscal discipline, we people are scared of bernie have to be the ones to talk sanders in this poll because they say 67% of them have reservations or are very uncomfortable with the candidate numbers that most seem to have somehow forgotten. being a socialist. >> i agree with mark, i always -- we were always and yet he's cleaning up so far, fighting, willie, we were always he's going to do well in nevada, we believe, and if he does as fighting not only democratic well as he looks like he's going administrations, we were to do in these super tuesday fighting republicans in our own -- in our own congress to polls it will be game over balance the budget. before we know it. we did it four years in a row >> well, we hear all the time for the first time since the that bernie sanders is not 1920s, a century ago, and yet jeremy corbyn. i know there are differences, these republicans that came in

but i always go back to when the claiming to be tea partiers, like ted cruz comes in and says show started early 2009, katty we have to keep our word this time, we can't be big government kay commented on a "newsweek" republicans again, they have blown a hole in the deficit. color that said we are all it's going up to a trillion socialists now. and katty said you americans dollars plus. the national debt is higher than make the worst socialists in the world. it's ever been before. you define yourself by your because of donald trump we're work. you define yourself by your job. moving in a path where we are going to spend more money as it i still remember it over a decade later katty said, you relates to the gdp and have a higher debt than we had during know, the attitude across europe is, well, that's good enough. world war ii. i mean, this is a disaster and that's a day's work, i'm going it's happening during good home. in america for millions of economic times with interest americans that day never ends. rates at record lows. they are driven by work, they're there is no upside to this. driven by success, driven by the it only gets worse. belief that they can still do and it's republicans that keep better, but, willie, i'm sorry, driving us over this cliff claiming to be fiscally conservative. they have completely sold out to i don't see how bernie this failed reality tv star and sanders -- i understand he picks up working class voters in they're bankrupting america. >> joe, i found your demands for wisconsin, michigan,

pennsylvania. i don't see how democrats do fiscal and ethical and anything but bleed out their new ideological consistency quaint in the era of donald j. trump. found support in the suburbs the loyalty is not to those when they put a socialist at the top of the ticket. i could be wrong. prime ministers b i don't think i am. >> we will see. principles but of course to donald trump. i mean, you know, he's done well steve rattner, these are people who built their careers many of them on being fiscal hawks, enough so far, i think there are these are people who built their people who when they look careers on going after the closely will say, i'm not sure i deficit and talking about tariffs, for example, most of want my private health insurance them were against tariffs until taken away. there will be people who will donald trump decided he liked look very closely at his plan, tariffs, lindsey graham i'm thinking of him among others. he has been vague about the whatever the president wants, numbers in a way elizabeth he's getting from them. warren was not. >> it's interesting because the perhaps it hurt elizabeth warren. for the moment you have to stop president inherited a deficit of at this time and this is just a snapshot in time on the eve of about $450 billion and as joe the nevada caucuses and say that bernie sanders is the front said it has now gotten to a runner at this moment. trillion, roughly half of that things could change. >> oh, yeah. >> mike bloomberg could do rough justice is from the trump better. bernie sanders is the front runner to be the nominee of the tax cuts, roughly half is from spending increases where the democratic party and to take on democrats to be fair were donald trump. complicit because they got what things could change after they wanted, trump got his tonight, who knows, depending on military, democrats got some how bloomberg does. other stuff. if joe biden has a run and comes but what's also an interesting back and somehow steals nevada little factoid, nobody cares then does well in south carolina

about this for some reason. in the 500 some odd questions this thing will change a million different ways, but bernie that have been asked in the sanders is looking very strong debates there has not been one right now and can go back to his question in the democratic well and raise money again and debates, not one question about again and again as this goes on. debts and deficit. it has disappeared not just from >> he's got the most energized the front page but from the back campaign, he's got the most page. joe is completely right, this is energized supporters, he's got a disaster waiting to happen. the most energized fundraising >> all right. base. you just go down the list of coming up, we know how trump tv things, he's got everything would cover donald trump, but except 55, 56 billion dollars in how would bloomberg tv cover a president bloomberg? his personal bank account and we will see how that plays out in we're going to dig into that next on "morning joe." the coming weeks and months. ♪ mika, the two most eye opening polls this morning, i agree with willie, at the top of the list you have to put that california poll, super tuesday is going to award 45% of the delegates that democrats need to win the nomination, california is a huge chunk. >> yeah. >> of that 40%. that's eye opening. the second eye opening number has to do with those swing state polls in the nbc news "wall street journal" poll that came out yesterday that show even with donald trump's -- one of donald trump's highest approval

rating numbers, you have joe biden easily beating trump in those swing states, and that's where the election is going to be held. >> that's the decision. >> the election, who is going to be the next president of the united states will be determined in these battle ground states. everything else is ground noise. everything else is just details. this is what matters. and in the swing states right now it's biden and bloomberg who do the best against donald trump. all of this could change in a week. >> it could change in 24 hours. we will see what happens tonight. >> it's very telling, though, mika, that at donald trump's best and at joe biden's worst, joe biden still easily beats donald trump in the only states that -- >> i'm telling you it's a contrast. >> the only states that matter in electing the next president. it's also geography. this guy is from scranton, applebee's new irresist-a-bowls now starting at $7.99.

pennsylvania, i'm not doing his now that's eatin' good bidding, i'm just telling the truth, he is from scranton, in the neighborhood. pennsylvania, he spent his entire life connecting with the these are our sales... industrial midwest, that's why by product, by region. joe biden is doing so much you can actually see taste- trends. better in those swing states than anybody else. since when can we do that? >> well, president trump has since we started working with bdo. taken his sights to the west (announcer) people who know, know bdo. coast as he is fundraising in california before he puts on three rallies over the next three days. today in phoenix, tomorrow in ( ♪ ) colorado springs and friday in only tylenol® rapid release gels las vegas. as he did in iowa and new have laser drilled holes. hampshire, trump will do his they release medicine fast, best to counter-program the for fast pain relief. democrats who will be debating tylenol®. in las vegas tonight ahead of the nevada caucuses on saturday. let's bring in nbc news the best of pressure cooking and air frying political reporter monica alba, now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, she is in phoenix where the president will hold an event you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside today. monica, what do we expect from the president today? and juicy on the inside. the ninja foodi pressure cooker, >> hey there, mika, that's right, this kicks off a long string of these counter-programming rallies in critical states for the president but really the major point of this is one aide telling me it's sort of the art of the troll. this is a reelection campaign

that has a lot of money in the bank and they are sort of more focused on the general election nine months out as they watch the democrats battle it out to see who their eventual nominee will be. tonight as those democrats are taking the stage at our nbc news the pressure coo i need all the breaks, that i can get. debate the president will be at liberty butchumal- cut. here in phoenix rallying with liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. martha mcsally who stood by him liberty mutual customizes your car insurance in the impeachment trial and is so you only pay for what you need. sort of being rewarded by that by the white house and we will only pay for what you need. see that also tomorrow with ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ senator cory gardner. but the big finish is this rally in las vegas on friday just hours before the democratic caucuses there. it's worth noting that in iowa and new hampshire while there were gop contests and the president was touting record turnout as compared to prior incumbent presidents, there is no gop contest in nevada. they canceled it, the state party did, to consolidate delegates and support for the president leading into the convention. this is really just mostly a flexing of organizational muscle and might ahead of it and

they're happy to steel headlines from the democrats. the president is staying in las vegas this whole week, he will be at his own hotel. it's not really just logistical headaches for the democrats, they have got some counterprogramming issues on their hands, too. >> monica, it's willie. the president was tweeting yesterday about bernie sanders, about democrats stealing the nomination from bernie sanders again as the president said it. mayor bloomberg tweeted back, said why are you so scared of me? why do you want to run against bernie sanders? >> the president tweeted back, no, i want to run against you. what's your real sense talking to people around the president and in the white house of how so here is the message, he's viewing michael bloomberg's candidacy? is it something he's taking anybody here worth $60 billion, seriously? is he threatened by mayor bloomberg as a potential you can run for president, and opponent? >> they've obviously spent the you can buy the airwaves. last year preparing for who they thought the democratic nominee was going to be and michael bloomberg was never on those my friends, that is called al lists. when this all started to happen they really raised their garky, not democracy. eyebrows and paid a lot of attention, but they did sort of >> during his time in office dismiss it at the outset, they didn't think this was going to be as much of a potential threat president donald trump has been

consistently tied to his as we're seeing it now given the apparent business conflicts of current polling. so when you see the way that interest, but michael bloomberg they've sort of attacked senator says this won't be an issue for him as he plans to sell his $60 sanders, they have all of these preparations on vice president joe biden, even if you think billion company if elected. back to senator elizabeth warren and the attacks of last year, we yesterday his campaign announced haven't seen anything like that that bloomberg would put his from the campaign quite yet on name sake company into a blind bloomberg. i think that all changes tonight when we do see him on the debate trust and proceed to sell it if stage and the campaign will sort he wins in 2020. of start to attack him more the former mayor of new york based on what they see city currently owns about 90% of policiwise but they've been bloomberg lp and said that all the money from the potential letting the president take the sale of his company would go lead on that. he sort of rel she is that fight into his charity, bloomberg mostly on twitter, willie. >> all right. nbc's monica alba. philanthro philanthropies. bloomberg has in the past thank you very much. repeated this sentiment and has also criticized trump for not and, joe, just before we go, doing the same. instead the president handed the trump versus bloomberg, i feel trump organization over to his sons. trump's feeling the heat is bit. bloomberg said that the only >> he is. restrictions he would put on the i mean, he is. sale of his company is that it they haven't figured this out not be sold to a foreign buyer yet and they understand or to a private equity company. joining us now senior completely that michael bloomberg whatever they raise, contributing columnist for news michael bloomberg, that's a rounder error to him and he can

week, cnbc contributor and write a check. what they were thinking was former congressional council and going to be one of their biggest long time media ceo tom rodgers advantages, fundraising, and media correspondent for "the suddenly is going to be not only -- new york times" michael grinbaum >> canceled out. >> -- neutralized, but be who covered mike bloomberg canceled out and probably extensively when he was at city doubled by michael bloomberg. hall, the bureau chief for the the other thing they're starting to recognize is that this guy "times." great to have you both on the knows how to dominate media show. >> tom, this is familiar cycles just like donald trump. that mike bloomberg has gone to obviously, getting more familiar school in what donald trump did four years ago and there even is as we move through the 21st century. a grudging respect in the trump here you have another billionaire running for office camp that this guy knows how to with the possibility of business conflicts as he moves into seize office, but mike bloomberg says he's going to wash his hands of the whole thing. what should we think? >> well, as he hits the debate pointed out last week was the stage for the first time tonight leak about hillary clinton. a preposterous leak. there is another debate going on within his own organization, how he will never select hillary clinton as his vice president. should his onus operation cover him as a candidate? >> right. >> whoever wins this. if it is a white man or a white there's some resistance woman, they will get -- they internally to the restrictions will get a person of color, that have been in place in terms whether it's a black or a of how bloomberg should be covered by his onus operation.

hispanic or somebody that will demographically round out and they are not allowed to inspire voters to get out and vote. investigate him and he's applied but it was such a preposterous leak, it was meant to troll the that same rule to not media, it was meant to troll investigating his democratic everybody. >> who does that sound like? rivals. as his candidacy gets more >> right. guess what, they owned for about prominent and his news organization over the years has a day media cycles. gotten much more prominent, this if you get a bad story about was a "new york times" story michael bloomberg, then their yesterday that discussed this campaign just throws out a leak and it's not quite apples to that the press can't avoid. apples, but i believe bloomberg and, yes, who does that sound has about 2,700 journalists like? >> yeah, exactly. today to "new york times" 1,600. it's all these questions about stop and frisk and red lining and everything else he has been it's a major news operation's facing have come out, the campaign has one by one rolled out more african-american story and the question is how do support from the congressional you resolve this? black caucus, from mayors across he said once president he would the country. so they are trying to push back sell bloomberg, but the question against this. but, again, they have been able is what happens during this to control this conversation and that changes tonight on that campaign. i think it's more or less a no stage when our moderators at win for him because whether he nbc, but also bernie sanders and restricts people from being able elizabeth warren and joe biden get to put their sights and to investigate him and the democratic candidates or not, demand answers from mike anything that comes out of that bloomberg in a way he hasn't had news organization that those to answer questions in a very

long time. >> all right. rivals don't like they are going to say that it's a bias news still ahead on "morning joe," more new polling just crossed from the "washington organization because it's the bloomberg operation. post" cementing the trend we so it's a tough one to resolve have been discussing here, bernie sanders surging to the either way. lead nationwide. >> michael, there are some plus, we will read from the really good, really seasoned political reporters over at must read opinion pages and get into that slue of presidential plume berg who i know are frustrated about i this. as bloomberg continues to rise pardons and commutations with in the polls, as he continues in the eyes of a lot of people to nbc's ken dilanian's latest be the antidote to bernie sanders if joe biden doesn't reporting. you're watching "morning joe." hold up, is this sustainable? we will be right back. >> man: what's my safelite story? is bloomberg just going to stay out of the presidential race as a news organization? >> yeah, you know, i've spoken to a lot of journalists who feel very pained about it and i think they are feeling like it's increasingly untenable. i want to rewind a second and just think about the political opportunity that i actually think michael bloomberg may have missed here. he wants to establish himself as the anti-trump, he complains about a president who a sails the president at every opportunity. what if he had sat back and said, do you know what, i'm a big boy, i will let my employees my truck...is my livelihood. investigate my life, i'm an open so when my windshield cracked... book, i support the first

the experts at safelite autoglass came right to me. amendment. he would have won a lot of points, i think, with a certain >> tech: hi, i'm adrian. >> man: thanks for coming. constituency of the democratic ...with service i could trust. right, girl? primary that would i think >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ really relate to that type of -- that type of pledge. >> do you see any possibility of every year, our analysts this deal changing and the visit thousands of companies, in a multitude of countries, bloomberg saying, look, we have to cover you now, you're going where we get to know the people to be one of the front runners that drive a company's growth to be the nominee? >> i think that you're seeing and gain new perspectives. some of bloomberg's instincts of that's why we go beyond the numbers. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. control and kind of wanting to keep his power over his -- over no. his employees. uh uh, no way. it's an instinct he has, it's ♪ kind of a knee jerk thing and come on. no. no. it's going to become an issue for him over the course of this n... ni ni, no no! race because he's a very only discover has no annual fee on any card. stubborn person, as many of his friends and colleagues could attest. >> jason johnson, is this a sustainable model for mayor bloomberg and also for bloomberg as a news organization as we go forward? >> no, not at all. look, at some point he's going to want his own fluff pieces, who doesn't. he's going to eventually change these rules. one, you're missing out on ad a lot will happen in your life. dollars, as a basic level if you

are not reporting on the biggest story in 2020 outside of perhaps wrinkles just won't. the olympics. but i suspect what's going to neutrogena® happen is it's going to be very, rapid wrinkle repair's fastest retinol formula works so fast. very limiting. he has a lot of ndas within his it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. own organization, you know, how much can reporters within making wrinkles look so last week. bloomberg ask people who are trapped and you ndas? i think at some point he's going rapid wrinkle repair® pair with retinol oil to open up the floodgates to for 2 times the wrinkle fighting power. investigate him, investigate other people to answer these questions. neutrogena® the larger issue for the public, the larger issue for the democratic voters is not how the leadership that makes a difference. vo: a great president and an effective mayor. obama: he's been a leader mike bloomberg organization throughout the country operates but how the mike for the past twelve years, bloomberg campaign operates and mr. michael bloomberg is here. how they treat other members of the press. if he allows his own vo: together they worked organization to investigate him to combat gun violence, an he's willing to talk to other and again to improve education for every child. news organizations the average voter is going to think it's obama: i want to thank the mayor of this great city, fine. >> tom, it's not just that mike mayor bloomberg, for his extraordinary leadership. bloomberg has said in the past i say these journalists, i don't i share your determination want to see critical pieces to bring this country together to finally make progress for the american people. about me in my organization, it's that we are covering this bloomberg: i'm mike bloomberg, story. and i approve this message. so he gets the double whammie of what does his own journalists cohort do about it, but the fact

that now every other news organization is looking at bloomberg and it's a bit like the justice department, whether they're being fair or not, there is now the question of whether they're perceived to be fair or can be fair given the limitations put on them. >> well, i think that's a great point, katty. i think beyond bloomberg news covering bloomberg, remember the same restriction applies to investigative work on his democratic vie valls. i think where he would really be open to criticism is for pouring $400 million into paid media at the same time being open to criticism that he's using the massive resources of his news operation to investigate his democratic rivals is actually far more of a vulnerable point down the road, i think, than the issue of one more team covering bloomberg. there's going to be plenty of scrutiny on michael bloomberg as his candidacy advances, there isn't going to be any lack of investigative journalism there. where he's most vulnerable is if he was viewed as taking all of

his resources from his company and pouring it into investigation of the other candidates and as a result, as i said, i don't think there is -- this is a no win, but i think that's probably the best place to draw the line. >> michael, just a question about bloomberg, just given the fact that you covered him cover extensively. is it a parallels to trump, bloomberg was a republican, now he's running as a democrat. there's that shift. past statements, and also policies that reflect, how do i say this carefully, like a lack all right. of humanity. now to president trump. what does he need to prove yesterday announcing a host of tonight and are parallels to pardons and commutations, wiping trump unwarranted. >> there might be a wizard of oz away the crimes of nearly a dozen once powerful public effect where voters have been figures, among them trump blanketed by the strafing of commuted the sentence of former democratic governor of illinois, advertisements presents mike in rod blagojevich, one time the best possible light, and we're going to be pulling back contestant on trump's tv show the curtain, seeing maybe 5'8" "the "celebrity apprentice."" on a good day billionaire from

blagojevich served eight years new york city who has a mild of a 14 year sentence after being convicted of corruption mannered public persona. for trying to sell the u.s. he can be funny. he has a bit of a borsch belt senate seat from illinois vacated by barack obama, in an sense of humor. effort in part caught by fbi that plays in new york city. i'm not sure how that will play wire taps. trump also pardoned former new across the country. you're going to get introduced york city police commissioner to his kind of unique style. bernard kerik, a close associate he can be ornery. he can be a little needling, but of rudy giuliani. kerik pleaded guilty to eight he's also going to have a long record to present. felony charges including tax he's going to be talking about fraud and lying to white house his public health initiatives, officials. and the man once known as the banning smoking in restaurants which has created benefits all junk bond king, wall street around the world, and it's going financier michael milken was to be a major test for him, and also pardoned. he pleaded guilty in 1990 to actually whether he's going to be able to be patient and put up securities fraud and conspiracy. with what will probably be two trump also pardoned david straight hours of full-frontal attacks from his rivals, that's safavian the top federal the real question. procurement official under can he stand up to that. george w. bush sentenced to a >> that will be fascinating. year in prison in 2009 for covering up his ties to lobbyist all right. so tom rogers, you're looking at jake abramof, as well as former a couple other media stories

brewing today. san francisco 49ers owner david mcclache filing for bankruptcy. debartolo jr. who pleaded guilty in 1998 to concealing corruption what's the significance? >> mcclatchy is the second involving former louisiana governor edwin edwards. largest newspaper in the country. it filed for bankruptcy. according to a white house they own the miami herald, the statement, trump followed the recommendations of long-time friends, business executives and kansas city star, the sacramento political allies in making his p bee, it's a big statement about decision. for example, nelson pellets the the state of local newspapers, billionaire who threw the president a $10 million local journalism, while everybody is aware of the fact fundraiser on saturday blacked that print newspapers have been suffering as of late. in the last 15 years, the milken, including patriots owner carnage has been something in robert kraft, fox host maria that industry. 50% of the jobs have been lost. 50 million in daily circulation. bartaromo, kevin mccarthy and about 35 billion in revenues. secretary of transportation you're talking about 25% of all elaine chow. in at least one case according the daily newspapers in the to the daily beast it appears country, about 1,800 newspapers cold hard cash did the talking. have gone away in the last fifteen years, and this is the paul pogue a construction second biggest one in the country and it looked like it company owner who pleaded guilty was going to be able to navigate

to underpaying his taxes by and now it looks like it's going nearly half a million dollars and received three years to fall like the other two major probation was issued a full pardon and clemency by the chains into private equity hedge president. affording to fec pilings pogue's fund hands. family has donated hundreds of >> go ahead. >> off the mcclachy bankruptcy, thousands of dollars in direct contributions and in kind air travel to the trump victory committee. beginning in august of 2019 his no miami herald, the effect this son and his wife made over has on city hall coverages $200,000 in contributions to the campaign. wow. >> just a quick collection, it's throughout the nation, people not knowing what is going on in their daily lives where they eddie debartolo jr. former 49 live. >> this is a huge problem. i took mcclatchy public in the owner. willie, it's face nagt for a guy that was supposed to clean the 1980s. it's a great company, and the swamp, he has done just the world has changed. opposite, he basically bought warren buffet had newspapers, off the swamp. it's a lot of corruption, people the enterprises stock is trading involved in corruption, getting at 1 something. that company has its own set of a free pass because of donald issues. trump. we're facing a situation where but i don't know about you, for me -- a lot of people are asking newspape what's this all about? newspapers could be passenger trains.

why is he doing this? many major cities and minor cities that simply don't have it doesn't make sense. it actually makes perfect sense daily newspapers anymore, and it is, as you suggested, a huge to me. i'm not as concerned about social problem of how to keep yesterday's commutations and these state houses, local governments accountable. pardons as i was with what he there have been some did with war criminals when he organizations that have sprung up. some nonprofit, some for profit, pardoned war criminals who shot but i think we should be rethinking the whole model and little girls walking down the you know, i think we're going to street in iraq just for the hell talk about pbs perhaps in a of it. minute. but this is all to set up -- there may be a role for it's all to make everybody numb, government funding, no strings to make the media numb, to make voters numb to the fact that separate from the coverage. he's going to pardon his we have to have accountability. we have to reporters out there hinchmen, he's going to pardon covering this stuff. his co-conspirators, he's going >> well, on the pbs point that to pardon people like manafort, going to pardon people like you raised, steve, last week flynn, going to pardon people trump's budget proposed zeroing like roger stone. out public broadcasting funding you can see this one coming a mile away because it's an from the federal government. >> but they do that every year. extraordinarily corrupt thing to >> they have done it every year. do so what do you do? you go ahead and pardon some many thought it was a response to the whole pompeo episode with the anchor of "all things others and you pardon war criminals. when you can pardon a war considered" and trump tweeting, criminal that targetedrl walkin

why does npr continue to get funding. it has been a con stanstant for. iraq, killing her, suddenly republicans in congress have continually supported ongoing pardoning roger stone doesn't seem quite so shocking, does it? >> he signaled that he would be funding for public broadcasting and the question is why. it goes to the issue we were looking at roger stone's just talking about, what happens sentence. when newspapers go away, what's i think we can see that one coming down the road. we played it at the top of the left by way of local coverage, show. he said i am the chief law and local public radio stations enforcement officer of the country. the president of the united in particular are often the only states said that yesterday and he proved yesterday again that source of local news for a lot he actually believes that with some of these pardons. as you know, we know a lot of of these communities in the rocky mountain areas, in the these players. rudy giuliani told him about midwest, and as a result, there's a fair amount of bernard kerik, so pardon bernard republican support. kerik, these are all friends. i happen to be working on this isn't the typical channel capitol hill when reagan in the that presidents have used for clemency, this is the friends first term vetoed public and family discount that the broadcasting funding and it was president has been using for a the only veto override of the lot of his friends to get them first term of the reagan out of prison or to pardon them. let's bring in nbc news administration to reinstate public broadcasting funding, and correspondent covering national security and intelligence, ken dilanian. ken, good morning. just walk us through a little bit of how the president came up with this particular list of

people and why now. >> good morning, willie. we found out there are a lot of well, i think you guys made the republicans on the local boards of public radio and public television stations. it helped that big bird was in salient points here. there lobbying on capitol hill you're absolutely point, it's in full feathered regalia, but the friends and family plan. sesame street is on hbo max. just so people understand, the they can't rely on big bird president has the absolute right to do this, obviously, it's part lobbying capitol hill anymore. of his constitutional powers, but there is a process that's tom roberts, jason johnson, been in place for a long time within the justice department, steve rattner, katty kay, thank there are pardons attorneys who you as well. review pardons applications and new video as former illinois generally it's a really hard governor rod ba enjafter being thing to get a recommendation on from a doj attorney, you have to have shown remorse, there is a number of factors that go into it. all of that, of course, was from prison by president trump, thrown out td window here. there's very little evidence that any of these cases went one of the high profile people through the pardons attorney. in the case of junk bond king michael milken he had already sprung from prison by the applied for and been turned down president who vowed to drain the for pardons on at least two swamp. good afternoon board members. occasions the reporting shows. that's the first thing to keep in mind. these came down the pike from, as you said, from friends of the president. it was a great day for rich, powerful, well connected white men because that's largely who

got these benefits here. you know, i'm old enough to remember the scandal that was called pardon-gate when bill clinton on his last day in office pardoned or gave clemency to 140 people including his brother roger clinton, two we have some great new ideas that we want democratic members of congress and a wealthy financier named to present to you today. [son]: who are you talking to? mark rich. that was a huge political [son]: that guy's scary. scandal even though he was out the first item on the list is selecting of office. that had enormous repercussions. a chairman for the... for the advisory board this is another day in the norm shattering presidency of donald what's this? trump. i think joe is absolutely right as well as use the remaining... about what this is all about. child care options run out. this is laying the groundwork, people are already talking, my lifetime retirement income from tiaa doesn't. sources are, about the idea that trump certainly intends to take a hard look at roger stone, paul guaranteed monthly income for life. manafort, mike flynn, all these mueller defendants who have i need all the breaks, that i can get. pushed back and are not cooperating with the federal government, are stand up guys at liberty butchumal- cut. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. and trump also wanted to liberty mutual customizes your car insurance distract from this burgeoning so you only pay for what you need. public scandal at the justice only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ department where his attorney general has told people he's considering resigning after this intervention in the stone case.

>> so i'm going to ask you a question, ken, that may be moot in this trump era, but i will ask it anyway. was there anyone who resisted this? was there anyone who pushed back and said if you want to do criminal justice reform, great, let's look at low level drug dealing with our finances really haunted me.ttle cranky. sentencing, et cetera, et thankfully, i got quickbooks, cetera. but letting these people free and pardoning these people who and a live bookkeeper's helping customize it for our business. are your buddies is not the way to go about this, it looks bad, (live bookkeeper) you're all set up! it he very least? (janine) great! >> we don't have that reporting (vo) get set up right with a live bookkeeper yet, willie. it's hard to know whether with intuit quickbooks. anybody within the formal justice department channels even had an opportunity to push back on this because the way this white house works, information is so compartmented it's not even clear who knew that this was going to happen. because this power is so uniquely vested in the personal whims of the president, very little has to go into these decisions other than a presidential decision. so it will be interesting to learn in the coming days the answer to your question, which is did anybody close to him tell him this was a bad idea, tell him the optics aren't good? some of these people obviously

committed horrible crimes and hurt a lot of people and in the case of paul pogue that mika mentioned that's going going to have reverberations. you have a family that gave a lot of am unto trump-related campaigns. apparently there is reporting that this pardon was recommended by former republican senator rick santorum. so here is a clear example of something that's been a scandal in past president sees when people who got a pardon were shown to have contributed as with the case of bill clinton, the best of pressure cooking and air frying it was an enormous scandal. this is going to -- this is now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, going to be a subject of further you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside scrutiny, i think. >> do you know what's so interesting, ken, is yesterday, and juicy on the inside. the ninja foodi pressure cooker, last night we started to hear the pressure cooker that crisps. people around bar perhaps maybe you can give us a background talking about how barr has considered resigning over donald trump's tweets. well, yesterday afternoon trump doubles down and basically says i can do whatever i want to do and all but said he didn't care what barr thought.

and then he pardons all of these people without going through the time honored process of going through where? going through the justice department and the attorney general. so while barr is complaining about tweets, donald trump does something where he doubles down to show even more contempt for the attorney general's opinion that donald trump shouldn't be tweeting or making these decisions without going through the justice department. >> you know, joe, i'm not -- knowing bill barr and his views on executive power i'm not sure he's going to be that disturbed about these pardons because he is the one who said and written over the years that the president has the absolute right not only to do these pardons, but to intervene in criminal cases and in a way that sort of shatters the post watergate iran is a different place standard, but he is upset -- he made clear this that abc news than when i took over. interview -- that at least the >> when i took over our military, we didn't have appearance of donald trump ammunition. tweeting about the justice >> i'm actually, i guess, the system and federal judges and chief law enforcement officer of

jurors and cases is making it, the country. >> when i took over -- when i barr said, impossible to do his job. took over america, we didn't you know, after those tweets that you mentioned by donald have bullets. trump doubling down on that very it's kind of like a new thing, which has led a group of commissioner of major league baseball coming in and saying federal judges to convene an when i took over baseball, you emergency meeting to respond to know we didn't have any it, after that i facetiously tweeted yesterday, well, bill baseballs. it's crazy, mika. >> so after taking over the barr said he would resign if country and its military, president trump is now laying this happened, has he resigned yet? by the end of yesterday there claim to the justice department. was reporting including confirmed by nbc news that he good morning, and welcome to "morning joe" on this wednesday, had talked to friends and associates that he was february 19th. considering resigning over this. we've got a lot to get to this it's widely believed that it's morning, including the president's rash of pardons and not because of the substance, it's more because of the commutations yesterday, as gene appearance. bill barr is actually a true robinson put it on twitter, believer, he doesn't want to instead of draining the swamp, appear to be donald trump's lackey. joe, you call him trump's roy trump has decided to pardon it, and that's just ahead. we'll have a big conversation cohen and i think he's okay with about that. >> we will. that. when you start to have former but first, a big birthday yesterday, willie geist. >> you can call me shark. department of justice officials, >> as she's known on instagram. when you have federal judges my wife, christina sharky geist, raising the alarm it starts to turned 45 years old. affect his reputation and i think he's becoming concerned. she's doing great at 45. >> what in the world did he

expect? >> ken, something that you she's a great mom, a great wife, understand better than most an entrepreneur, and a complete anybody is that the washington superstar, so happy day after legal community is about as your birthday, christina. tight of a community as there >> i love it. >> fantastic, and of course you is. yeah, he doesn't care what and i have been fighting for people like me say, he doesn't years for justice. care what people in the media says but he lives in the >> oh. >> took a decade. washington legal community with >> it came yesterday. >> what? democrats, republicans, with >> you know, all he was trying prosecutors, u.s. attorneys, to do was has health insurance judges. for him to be mocked and for prison and blago gets thrown ridiculed by the president of in jail. maybe we can't joke about it the united states and for him to anymore. >> i did think about you look like a lackey you're exactly right. yesterday when that happened and that very small community because all of the things a decade ago that were running gags, that were a joke to us, that he lives in that's somehow have become true as former illinois governor rod devastating. >> jack boldsmith the former blagojevich thrown in jail for among other things, extorting a bush administration official, children's hospital and trying to sell barack obama's senate seat released from prison, had wrote an op-ed this is before the president's tweets and his sentence commuted by before the abc interview saying bar has to stop this. president trump. some would suggest because he he has to stop the president

was a contestant a decade ago on from tweeting about and the apprentice and built a intervening in the justice relationship that paid off for system. him as he arrived back home in if he can't stop it he should chicago just a few hours ago resi resign. this is from a barr friend and support. this morning. i think that hold is taking view among republicans and trump blago, joe, in fact, is free. >> yeah, we joked about blago, supporters and that's really starting to affect barr's and the terrible injustice. calculus. whether he actually will resign this job that he loves and is >> i'm talking about a decade intent on changing the justice department, that's another ago. we joked about donald trump back question. >> nbc's ken dilanian, thank you very much. in 2010, 2011. coming up, much more ahead we called him america's abraham on tonight's democratic debate as the new front runner bernie lincoln, and we'd all have a big laugh about it, because he would sanders will be center stage. come on and give his opinions but it's mike bloomberg who will and we'd like all laugh thinking be the center of attention, we will talk about that. we're back in just a moment. how funny that was because of - [narrator] meet the ninja foodi pressure cooker course he was the antithesis of america's abraham lincoln even then and here we have now with tender crisp technology. obviously mika, this president who thinks that the state -- he the best of pressure cooking and air frying is the state, and the state is are now in one pot. and only the ninja foodi has tender crisp technology, him. it's straight out of louie the

so you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside test. test. 14th. it's disturbing. test. test. test. test. >> things are getting worse. test. test. >> when i took over the military, when i took over america, when i took over and the ninja foodi pressure cooker. became the chief law enforcement the pressure cooker that crisps. of america. we'll talk about all of that and talk about the commutes. a lot of people asking why it happened. it's pretty easy to figure out why it happened. we'll get to that in a minute. we got to get set up for a big debate. >> tonight should be very exciting. a look at the democratic field for president. ahead of tonight's debate, the latest nbc news "wall street journal" poll shows bernie sanders now with a double digit national lead in that primary race at 27%. the senator's 12 point margin over joe biden isn't because he gained support over the past month, it's because biden lost a former army medic, made of the we maflexibility to handle members like kate. 11 points and is now at 15%. whatever monday has in store and tackle four things at once. that is a statistical tie with michael bloomberg and elizabeth warren who are both at 14%. so when her car got hit, she didn't worry.

she simply filed a claim on her usaa app and said... bloomberg up 5 while warren lost a point. i got this. pete buttigieg also within the usaa insurance is made the way kate needs it - easy. margin of error for second place at 13%. she can even pick her payment plan up 6 points since last month. so it's easy on her budget and her life. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. amy klobuchar gained two points, now at 7%. >> boy, i tell you. usaa willie, again, sanders didn't go up a point in this poll, but his sales tax, real estate credits, solar incentives... big lead, all because of joe and we have no way to integrate all that? biden's collapse. there's no doubt that the next no...but bdo does. few days are going to determine (announcer) people who know, know bdo. whether joe biden can carry on in this campaign or not. he has got to put in a good performance tonight, and he's got to finish in at least second place in nevada or bar the door, it's over. >> only for so long can he say wait for south carolina, wait for south carolina because as he waits for south carolina, these losses add up, these polls keep coming out that show him down double digits over the last couple of weeks, and the story tonight, and we'll get to this in a minute is michael bloomberg getting his moment on stage.

he's controlled the narrative through his ads, $400 million by consolidating your credit card debt across the country in super into one monthly payment. tuesday states. the country hasn't seen him and get your interest rate right so you can save big. perform. he hasn't debated in a decade or so. we'll get our first look, the get a no-fee personal loan up to $100k. country will get its first real look of mike bloomberg in the context of this field. president trump trails five major democratic candidates in hypothetical match ups. biden leads trump by 8 points. bloomberg leads by 7 points. sanders and buttigieg by 4 points. senator amy klobuchar by 3 points. that's within the margin of error. when the race is narrowed from eleven key bat groutleground st things get tighter, all shrink except for joe biden's he maintains his 8 point lead in those states over donald trump. mayor bloomberg reduces to 2 points, sanders and klobuchar to 1. this is the conundrum it seems to me for democrats which is joe

biden has not looked like a great candidate. he was viewed as the front runner. he's fading now, but when you look at the states that the democratic party has to win in november, he is still strong right now. >> i was going to say, i'm surprised by those numbers. and my side super soft? get a no-fee personal loan donald trump not doing badly in yes. with the sleep number 360 smart bed, on sale now, his approval rating, because the you can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. national polls, when you start can it help me fall asleep faster? talking about general elections, yes, by gently warming your feet. throw the national polls out the window. but can it help keep me asleep? they don't matter at all. absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and what matters are those swing automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. states, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, north carolina, so, you can really promise better sleep? not promise... prove. florida, arizona, those are the swing states that really matter. don't miss the final days of the ultimate sleep number event, and the fact that joe biden is save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. that far ahead of donald trump plus 0% interest for 24 months on all smart beds. ends sunday. right now in those swing states, willie, you're sitting there going wait a second, it looks like the guy who has the cleanest shot if you just look at the data of beating donald trump is about to get bumped out of this race, and for a party >> including my campaign or any

other campaign that makes vicious personal attacks against that claims it's obsessed with people. >> the culinary union nevada's nothing more than beating donald largest labor union says some of trump. i mean, that's -- those are two its members faced online data points that seem to be in harassment after they announced concerns about medicare for all. conflict with each other. >> as i said, two things, number >> and mika, the biden campaign one, i'm totally against online will throw the poll we just showed up and put sirens around bullying and harassment, but it because that's their case also, let me just say this and i right there. don't want to be overly paranoid they're going to say iowa, new hampshire, were not our states. here, is that we live in a crazy time and there are a lot of not representative, we finished folks out there who do bots and poorly in those states, 4th and all this other thing. i saw some of those things and 5th. you have to hang in there. there are people out there who look what we do in the states want to divide the progressive that matter. if you want to beat donald trump, you've got to ride with movement. >> all right. us, we'll get you second place taking on the bernie bros, is he in november, win south carolina, doing enough there, joe? and we can recover if this. >> he should have just condemned that remains to be seen them and stopped there, but, especially with michael bloomberg now in the race taking willie t sounds like he's away some of the support from bringing in bots, trying to joe biden. >> yeah, i wonder, mika, it is blame some of the -- that biden who said he was coming in behavior on bots, when he knows, in case or bloomberg who said he reporters know and certainly was coming in case biden women journalists especially and collapsed. i wonder if we find ourselves in

minority journalists especially a position where now while biden who have complained about being the target of these bernie bros for years know that it's not underperformed greatly the first two states, do you think bloomberg is actually bots that are responsible for precipitating joe biden's most of these vicious attacks. collapse, and may actually be leading the way to a bernie and all bernie can do is condemn sanders nomination which of course is what michael bloomberg it and distance himself from it, said he feared the most? >> well, and the question is which he did before he started then what's his intention. blaming bots. >> yeah, the bot -- the bot i would have to say that michael point sort of got him off track there, but, yeah, obviously there hasen bn not bloomberg brings to the just this year but in 2016 from forefront a set of questions where some could end up paralleling him to trump in some people online who support bernie ways. those questions might be sanders specifically what we are talking about now with nevada answered tonight a little bit. as he said, michael bloomberg is and the debate tonight and the caucuses coming up on saturday set to appear on the debate stage for the first time in las is the members of the culinary union who came out against vegas tonight. five other candidates also made the cut. bernie sanders because of his medicare for all plan and they biden, buttigieg, sanders, klobuchar, and warren. heard from a lot of sanders that's who you're going to see on stage tonight. supporters with threats and the yesterday, senator warren went like. after bloomberg tweeting quote, i think bernie sanders also tonight is going to have to it's a shame michael bloomberg answer some questions about some can buy his way into the debate of the people who support him and some of the views they have, more high profile people who but at least now primary voters curious about how each candidate have ant submit tick views as will take on donald trump can

well. get a live demonstration of how joining us now msnbc contributor mike barnicle, "morning joe" we each take on an ego maniac economic analyst steve rattner and politics and journalism professor at morgan state billionaire. wow. joining us from las vegas, national political reporter from university, politics editor at the root and msnbc political nbc news, josh letterman. contributor jason johnson. set the scene for us tonightment professor johnson, let me begin with you and what you're looking bloombe -- tonight. at tonight as bernie sanders bloomberg makes his debut on the opened up a lead for himself in the state of nevada, we looked at california a minute ago. national stage. >> it's a do no harm situation what are you looking at at as mike bloomberg makes his debut for mike bloomberg. on the sedate stage. he's not known to be a great >> first off, are the rest of debater. he hasn't done this for many the democrats going to stop years. he's going to have to climb out treating bernie sanders like donald trump? what i mean by that back in 2016 all the other republicans they of this mountain of controversial comments that have really didn't go at trump, they emerged over the past few weeks that his rivals have been pointing to, including new didn't dump on him because they comments that came out just were sure that he was going to yesterday, the human rights campaign now calling on mike eventually fade and wanted all those supporters to come to him. bloomberg to apologize for what happens, he ends up saying as recently as last year winning. at some point the rest of the referring to transgender women democratic party have to go after bernie sanders not just on as he she or it. policy but how he operates, how he treats his campaign. but the flip side, mika is so i want to see if they're going to go after him as a real michael bloomberg doesn't have

front runner. the second thing is what does to knock it out of the park. mike bloomberg want to do? he's not amy klobuchar in the i've been watching his old way he needs a stellar debate debates from oe 01, debates from performance in order to propel him forward and get a bunch of 2009 he is not the most exciting free media. he can buy all the air time he person in the world. you've got to a stage with elizabeth warren and joe biden and bernie sanders, there is some real personalities there, wants and he has. so if mike bloomberg can emerge so i think that if i were relatively unscathed, that's a bloomberg you want to introduce win for michael bloomberg, as yourself to the public as much as you want to come out swinging far as his campaign is concerned. >> you talked to people around on either bernie sanders or the bloomberg campaign, setting elizabeth warren. >> well, you know, and mike expectations low for performance tonight. you know what, he hasn't done barnicle, elizabeth warren is talking about everybody this since 2009 when he debated attacking mike bloomberg tonight. bill thompson when he was going i don't know if she's looked at any of the polls, michael for his third term as mayor. how would they view a good night bloomberg ain't in first place, here? bernie sanders is in first place because as you mentioned, as we used to say in the south everybody's going to be coming by a country mile. at him, bernie sanders and elizabeth warren from one side, joe biden obviously is to follow up on what jason said, threatened by mayor bloomberg if you are attacking michael bloomberg all you're doing is helping the guy who is 20, 25 kwhost taki who's taking a lot of his support. points ahead of you, that's how is he going to approach this night? >> reporter: the bloomberg bernie sanders. >> well, first of all, on bernie campaign will consider it a good sanders, and jason was right on night if people walk away it in his words that we just thinking there are three people who could be the next president,

heard and bernie in the clip that we showed said, oh, bots bernie sanders, michael bloomberg, and donald trump, and they think if they can get rid this, bots that. of the rest of the noise and i will tell you what isn't a sharpen the contours of the race bot, i will tell you what's like that, that they're able to bernie sanders people and that make an effective argument to was a rally they had on wall democrats that look, of these two democratic candidates, street last week, a funeral for michael bloomberg and bernie sanders, which do you really joe biden's candidacy, complete think has the best chance of with a casket. defeating donald trump, and they think that's a contest they can complete with a casket, a biden funeral. okay. those weren't bots. win. >> nbc josh lederman, thank you, and joe, i just have a question on elizabeth warren it is hard about bloomberg as it pertaining to paralleling him to hillary to understand the guidance she's clinton, and here's the getting from her campaign people situation. if you look at who can go against trump, biden wins, why she hasn't gone after bernie right. he's at the top of the polls? >> easily. sanders long ago. they were both competing for the same share of the electorate in >> bidenbloomberg, one could ar november and december and she really stayed away from him. it appears maybe in retrospect a just like hillary clinton where in key areas, women, big money, mistake. >> i wonder, steve rattner, whether you look at these polls entitlement to the whole thing, and you see that bernie sanders they cancel each other out. is in first place, which is the reason mike bloomberg jumped are we setting ourselves up for into this race because he didn't the same problem. >> you said throughout 2015 and want sanders or elizabeth warren 2016 that hillary clinton was to be the nominee, but you look the worst opponent for donald

at the polls now and it's trump. >> the worst. looking like mike bloomberg may >> because she did not provide be assuring a bernie sanders adequate contrast on some of nomination if you look at the california numbers, if you look donald trump's weaknesses and of course we saw that at the end of at some of the other super tuesday numbers, if you look at the campaign in the most the national polls because it's dramatic form when there was a question asked about honest and sanders way out in front and trust worthiness, donald trump it's joe biden who is taking the was at 36%, only 36% of precipitous drop since michael americans found him to be honest bloomberg has been in the race. so you've got the two moderates and trust worthy, well, for fighting each other in the teens hillary clinton, that was at 35% while bernie sanders is cruising for whatever reason. to victory. >> well, that's certainly a whenever the topic of women came up, donald trump attacked bill reasonable way to look at it, joe. clinton, and hillary clinton at i would in candor look at it the same time, her for enabling his bad behavior, whether that slightly differently. was fair or not, it stuck. i think there was that fear about mike bloomberg coming in and what it would do to joe it was bill clinton who saw his biden but what happened to joe biden i would argue what approval rating slide happened to joe biden in new hampshire and in iowa and it looks like perhaps in nevada had precipitously during that campaign under the withering nothing to do with mike bloomberg. that simply had to do with how attacks of donald trump. so you could make the same joe biden was perceived as a campaigner. argument about mike bloomberg in fact, the theory of mike this year as well. bloomberg's case to some degree was the idea that sooner or so again, tonight is really an later joe biden was not going to get there and we needed a important night for mayor

strong -- we, democrats -- bloomberg, and it's important needed a strong moderate because we have to see how he alternative to beat donald trump and that bernie sanders was not swats away these answers. going to do the job. nothing that was thrown at so i think that's how i see it. donald trump stuck o hto him. now, bernie sanders an he knew what was coming. he knew how to swat it away, and pivot and attack somebody else. we'll see what happens with >> he is a strong campaigner. bloomberg tonight. >> still ahead on "morning joe," >> i think the fact that elizabeth warren kind of one of the big prizes on super imploded simply moved a whole tuesday is delegate rich bunch of voters over in his direction and he is certainly california. we've got new numbers on the the guy to beat and i think you will see that tonight in the primary case in that battle ground next on "morning joe." debate in terms of how mike as a struggling actor, bloomberg and others treat him. >> and to follow up, mika, on what mike barnicle asked, when is elizabeth warren going to start attacking bernie sanders? it's bernie sanders who is in her lane. it's bernie sanders who took her votes. it's bernie sanders who poses the threat to her nomination, not michael bloomberg. again, i think biden and klobuchar should be attacking michael bloomberg, but, you know, if you are going to vote

for mike bloomberg, you ain't voting for elizabeth warren. >> right. i need all the breaks that i can get. >> and if you are going to vote for bernie sanders you ain't at liberty butchumal- cut. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. voting for michael bloomberg. she has got to pull supporters liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. from bernie sanders to her camp only pay for what you need. to be competitive. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >> absolutely. and i think the biden/bloomberg is so interesting because bloomberg is swooping in because biden is a poor campaigner. i look forward to seeing mike bloomberg compare on the national stage because i don't think we've seen him. i think we've seen his commercials for the most part. so it should be fascinating. everyone stay with us, there's much more ground to cover on the significance of tonight's democratic debate. also ahead, the fallout continues in the aftermath of the houston astros sign stealing scandal. what some of baseball's biggest the best of pressure cooking and air frying stars have to say. now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, that's next on "morning joe." hi guys. this is the chevy silverado you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. the ninja foodi pressure cooker,

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♪ there's also a new poll this morning from california where votes in the march 3rd super tuesday primary, sanders stands at 32% gaining 5 points since last month while joe biden lost 10 points, now at 14%. elizabeth warren also shed 10

points in a statistical tie with biden at 13%. michael bloomberg and pete buttigieg are in that crowded spot for number two. both with 12%. but on the rise, bloomberg also up 11 points and buttigieg up 6. amy klobuchar gained 1 point over the last month, now at 5%. what do you think? >> what i think, willie, there were some people painting scenarios several months ago talking about a biden collapse and said that bernie could win iowa, new hampshire, and have the money to go through super tuesday, and that this democratic race could be over before it even began. when you look at these california numbers, when you look at the money that's in the bank, for bernie sanders, not blo mike bloomberg but for bernie sanders, when you see those numbers out of the most important state and the democratic nomination process, you know what, maybe those ♪ people saying that bernie could

run away this thing early, maybe they're on to something. >> that may be the most eye opening of all the polls we saw live look at new york city, just about the top of the hour. this morning. because you say if bernie welcome back to "morning joe." sanders wins big but if he wins it is wednesday, february 19th. at all in california and takes that huge group of delegates still with joe, willie and me we away from the state with him, he have msnbc contributor mike begins to run away with this barnicle, former treasury thing. so the case for michael bloomberg has been i set up shop official steve rattner and politics and journalist and these super tuesday states like professor at morgan state california. if you're just looking and university jason johnson. listening along in the car right and joining the conversation, now, bernie is at 32%, the next washington anchor for bbc world down is joe biden at 13% in the news america katty kay is with state of california and michael us. good to have you all on board. >> you know, willie, back when bloomberg is at 12%. up 11 points since last month. movies stopped being silent and the case for bloomberg is he can win big delegate states like started having talkies there was a famous headline garbo speaks. california and knock off bernie sanders. i mean, if you look at that nbc poll, joe, president of the united states is at 47% support. his approval rating. trout speaks, mike trout who i don't think has uttered a word but also people are scared of since he became probably the bernie sanders in this poll because they say 67% of them greatest baseball player in our time, he actually spoke out have reservations or are very yesterday about the houston

uncomfortable with the candidate astros, which means that, man, being a socialist and yet he's the floodgates have opened. cleaning up so far. he's going to do well in nevada, the astros are really being we believe, and if he does as well as he looks like he's going deluged with attacks from other to do in super tuesday polls, it ball players, harsh attacks, and will be game over before we know you just wonder how this season it. >> we hear all the time that is going to play out for them. bernie sanders is not jeremy >> yeah, mike trout and aaron judge another guy, two of the corbyn, i know there are best players in all of baseball, always careful with what they differences but i always go back say, in trout's case if he says to when the show started early anything at all, outspoken yesterday about this astros scandal. here is what they had to say. 2009, katty kay commented on a >> it's sad for baseball. you know, it's tough, you know, "news week" cover that said we they cheated and, you know, just are all socialists now, and i don't agree with the katty said you americans make punishments, you know, the the worst socialists in the players not, you know, getting world. you define yourselves by your work. you define yourself by your job. anything. you know, it was a player-driven, you know, thing. i still remember it over a you know, it sucks, too, because decade later, katty said, you a guy's career has been affected, a lot of people lost know, the attitude across europe is well, that's good enough, that's a day's work, i'm going jobs, it was tough. home. in america, for millions of it would be me going up to the

plate knowing what's coming americans, that day never ends. would be pretty fun up there. like i said, a lot of guys lost they are driven by work. they're driven by success. respect for some of the guys. driven by the belief that they can still do better, but willie, it's tough, taking the trophy away, taking the rings away, i i'm sorry, i don't see how think they should definitely do something. bernie sanders -- i understand i don't know what, but just to he picks up working class voters cheat like that and not get anything, it's sad to see. in wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, i don't see how >> i think the astros should be democrats do anything but bleed stripped of their 2017 out their newfound support in the suburbs when they put a championship? socialist at the top of the >> yeah, i just don't think it ticket. i could be wrong. holds any value, you know, you i don't think i am. >> we will see. cheated and you didn't earn it. i mean, you know, he's done well that's how i feel is it wasn't enough so far. i think there are people who earned. it wasn't earned the way of when they look closely will say, playing the game right and fighting until the end and i'm not sure i want my private knowing that we're competing, we're competitors, and the biggest thing about competition is laying it all out on the line health insurance taken away. and, you know, whoever is the better player, better person, people looking closely at the plan, he was vague about the numbers in a way elizabeth you know, comes out on top, you warren was not. know, and you just lay it out but for the moment, you have to there. you know, to know that another stop at this time, and this is team had an advantage that just a snapshot in time on the

eve of the informed caucuses nothing you can really guard against, i just don't feel like and -- nevada caucuses, and that's earned or, you know -- bernie sanders is the front yeah, that's -- it's not earned. runner at this moment. things could change. bernie sanders is the front >> i thought the apologies were runner to be the nominee of the democratic party and to take on whatever. i thought jim crane's was weak. donald trump. things could change after tonight, who knows, depending on i thought manfred's punishment how bloomberg does. if joe biden has a run and comes was weak, giving him immunity. back and somehow steals nevada and does well in south carolina, this thing will change a million i mean, these guys were cheating different ways, but bernie for three years. sanders is looking very strong you know, i think what people right now, and as you point out can go back to his well and don't realize is altuve stole an raise money again and again and mvp from judge in '17. again as this goes ongoing. everyone knows they stole the coming up on "morning joe," ring from us. >> you know, willie, you can we'll get a look at the swing out west as he looks to steal the headlines from his tell especially you're looking challengers. "morning joe" is back in a at mike -- at aaron judge, moment. you're looking at mike trout, unlike cody had no problem saying it, and it pained them to talk about their fellow players, at the same time for them it's so black and white.

these guys were cheating. and, by the way, let's just stop in august 1619, a ship appeared on this horizon, talking about 2017. they were cheating in 2019 and, near point comfort, virginia. it carried more than 20 enslaved africans, by the way, altuve at the center who were sold to the colonists. of it with his buzzers. i mean, until he denies it and no aspect of the country we know today has been untouched by the slavery that followed. the league denies it, the guy had buzzers going around third america was not yet america, base. and like you said, chat man was but this was the moment it began. smirking after he hit the home [sfx: typing] run off of him because he knew he stole the sign. there is no way a mere mortal could have hit that ball out of the park. but these players for good the best of pressure cooking and air frying reason want justice and they're now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, not getting it from major league you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside baseball. >> and aaron judge made that and juicy on the inside. point yesterday. he said you're telling me they the ninja foodi pressure cooker, the pressure cooker that crisps. cheated in 2017, it won them a title and then they all of a sudden stopped in 2018, 2019? come on. i think you and i were both surprised not that the guys spoke out about this, but that they spoke out so strongly and to have the two reigning mvps in trout and bellinger and aaron judge the biggest star in the

new york yankees, these are arguably the three of the five aveeno® with prebiotic striple oat complex highest profile players in all of baseball, the faces of balances skin's microbiome. baseball saying they cheated, so skin looks like this they stole titles, they stole and you feel like this. mvps. this scandal just got a lot aveeno® skin relief. bigger yesterday. >> it sure did, willie. get skin healthy™ as you know, no sport values its records more than major league baseball does. their records mean everything to the game. history of the game. this record that the houston astros have for their championships is permanently stained and what's happened in major league baseball today, major league baseball has a real, real problem. you could envision specific players in opposing teams refuse to go take the field against the astros because they have been branded as cheaters and yet they have not really addressed the issue yet that infamous press there's a company that's talked than me: jd power.people conference with the owner, jim 448,134 to be exact. crane, and two players, josé they answered 410 questions in 8 categories altuve and alex bregman refusing about vehicle quality. to use the word we cheated. and when they were done, chevy earned more j.d. power quality awards across

it's festering every day in major league baseball now less than a month away interest cars, trucks and suvs than any other brand opening day. >> and the astros management, over the last four years. joe, saying it wasn't the so on behalf of chevrolet, i want to say players fault, they were failed manager and gm.hip, we got rid "thank you, real people." you're welcome. we're gonna need a bigger room. that's not going to fly with anybody. >> no, it doesn't fly with anybody. the players are the ones who benefited from it. the players are the ones who got multi-million dollar contracts because they cheated. the players were the ones who got an unfair advantage over pitchers. by the way, where are the houston astros pitchers? where were they while this was going on? is there no hopper among thieves? why didn't they call this out while it was happening? why didn't they tell them to stop? they knew it was going on. i don't understand it. >> well, joe, to your point, i mean, their best pitcher, gar rick cole is now with the new york yankees and he says he didn't know anything about this.

that's kind of hard to believe as you just pointed out but he's sticking with his story. >> come on. if a guy hits a home run, wins the american league championship series and is running around third base and grabbing his jersey saying don't tear it off, don't tear it off, don't tear it off, everybody on the team knows. everybody in the locker room is talking about it and laughing about it after. they all, willie, they all knew and none of them said anything. >> let me just say now that cole wins pinstripes i take him at his word on everything. he is a very honorable guy into wow. >> very honorable guy. talking b jason, a miscarriage of justice let's talk about a president who has -- who has . president trump has taken his pardoned war criminals that shot sights to the west coast as he little girls, pardoned war is coming to california before he puts on three rallies over criminals that killed the next three days. defenseless prisoners and then today in phoenix, tomorrow in yesterday, of course, pardoned colorado springs, and friday in

las vegas. as he did in iowa and new hampshire, trump will do his wall street convicts, pardoned best to counter program the democrats who will be debating politicians who acted in the in las vegas tonight ahead of the nevada caucuses on saturday. sleazeiest of ways. i mean, this is -- i mean, you let's bring in nbc news can -- like my old torts political reporter, monica al professor used to say at ba, she's in phoenix where the university of florida, you can see this one coming like a president will hold an event freight train out of the mist. today. monica, what do we expect from the president today? this is donald trump numbing >> hey there, mika, that's everybody to the future pardons right, this kicks off a long of his co-conspirators, roger swing of rally, in a critical state for the president. the major point is one aide stone and paul manafort and telling me, the art of the maybe even michael flynn. troll, this is a reelection >> oh, yeah, joe, and here is campaign that has a lot of money in the bank and they are sort of the thing, he has always been this guy. more focused on the general it's not new. election nine months out as they you can go back to joe arpaio watch the democrats battle it who was basically racially out to see who their eventual profiling any brown person in arizona and president trump came in and said, okay, you're nominee will be. tonight as the democrats are perfectly fine with this. taking the stage at the nbc news and i think you can't stress debate, the president will be here in phoenix rallying with enough about basically pardoning a war criminal. vulnerable senator martha you look at what gallagher did, mcsally who stood by him in the you know, stabbing prisoners impeachment trial is being with a knife. rewarded by the white house, and his own seal team 6 said this we'll see that also tomorrow

man is crazy. with senator cory gardner, but they said he will kill anything. the big finish is this rally in his fellow soldiers turned him las vegas on friday just hours before the democratic caucuses in and obviously donald trump is smarter than the generals and there, and it's worth noting the soldiers because he pardoned him anyway. what we're seeing here is what that in iowa and new hampshire, while there were gop contests and the president was touting proto dictators do, what we're record turnout as compared to seeing is what autocrats do where they basically say to the entire public and to fellow prior incumbent presidents, politicians, number one, the law there is no gop, they cancelled is always bent to my will, it's it to consolidate dpeelegates a not about what you did, it's not about the laws you break, it's support for the president leading into the convention. this is mostly a flexing of not about the people that you organizational muscle and might harm, it's about whether or not ahead of it, and they're happy i think you're important. to steal headlines from the whether or not you're loyal to democrats and the president is me. if i like you then i don't care actually staying in las vegas what the law says. so this is the dangerous part. this whole week, he's going to and it's not just the norm be at his own hotel. breaking, but it makes it difficult for our justice it's not logistical headaches department to do their job. for the democrats, they've got look, i don't think william barr counter programming issues on is a particularly ethical guy, their hands too, mika. but when he says, look, i can't get people to spend 300 hours >> it's willie. the president was tweeting about putting cases together if they know that you're always being bernie sanders , about democrat going to pardon somebody if it happens to be your friend who gave money to your campaign. stealing the nomination.

these are what we were talking mayor bloomberg said why are you about last fall when we were saying there are other so scared against me. impeachable offenses that this the president tweeted back, i want to run against you. president en ganls in and he's doing more of the same but he's what's your real sense about been doing it since he got into office. people in the white house about >> katty kay, this is, you know, a couple of, i guess, a week ago how he's viewing michael there were some trumpian bloomberg's candidacy. websites that put up my quote is it something he's taking seriously? is he threatened by mayor saying trump would arrest any journalist if he could get away bloomberg? >> they have obviously spent the with it. last year preparing for who they that was critical of him. thought was the democratic nominee was going to be, and and i didn't know if they were michael bloomberg was never on putting it up to be critical of those lists. when this all started to happen, they really raised their me saying it or not, but it is eyebrows and paid a lot of so obvious. i mean, there's this attention, but they did sort of dismiss it at the outset. they didn't think this was going authoritarian streak in him. to be as much of a potential don't take me at my own words, threat, given the current take him at his own when he says polling. when you see the way they have basically what louie xiv said. attacked senator sanders, they have all of these preparations i am the state. on vice president joe biden, when i took over the country. when i took over the military even if you think back to they didn't even have bullets. senator elizabeth warren and the i am the chief law enforcing of attacks of last year, we haven't seen anything like that on the united states of america, i can do whatever i want to do. bloomberg. i think that changes tonight i am the state. when we see him on the debate it's what authoritarian leaders stage and the campaign will

say, it's what donald trump says attack him policy wise. when he says article ii gives me they have been letting the president take the lead on that. the power to do whatever i want as you see, he sort of relishes to do. that fight mostly on twitter, it's what steven miller says when he says the president's willie. >> nbc ice monica alba, thank authority cannot be challenged. you very much. coming up, how a new generation of leadersongress this president has authoritarian instincts like no united states to city councils, a new book examines how millennials what president before him. and it's a little more than frightening, isn't it. things might look like with them in charge. >> yeah, look at the people "morning joe" is back in a around the world that he seems moment. - [spokeswoman] meet the ninja foodi pressure cooker, to admire, sisi in egypt, erdogan in turkey, putin in russia, xi in china. these are all people who are authoritarian. not just seems to admire them but sometimes seems to express envy for them, that they have powers unfettered by a free press, unfettered by courts that are independent that he doesn't seem to have. this isn't just post-impeachment, this has been a trait of donald trump's right from the beginning, right in the beginning of his presidency he

talked about how he wanted to be more involved in the fbi, how he wanted to be more involved in the justice department but was holding himself back as if that was some concession that he was making. the problem that we have learned recently is that democracy is partly laws, but it's also partly norms and traditions and a president not getting involved in judicial cases is a tradition. it's not a law. it's not written down there that he can't do that. i think that's the -- that is the weakness of the system that is being shown up. it works if you have a president who accepts the norms and traditions, but if you have one that doesn't, which a populous the best of pressure cooking and air frying tends not to do because a now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, populous thinks they are right and everyone else is wrong and you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside everyone else is against them then your traditions look a and juicy on the inside. the ninja foodi pressure cooker, little fragile. >> well, and if trumpian the pressure cooker that crisps. supporters on the trump right we have like 40 years of data! that's incredibly valuable! make that argument they need to ...i...i don't know... go back and -- if they can say, well, it's his justice department, he can do whatever he wants with his justice department, that's not what a when did we introduce siracha? lot of them were saying back in

not soon enough. 1993 when the clinton these are our sales... by product, by region... administration got together with ...set against evolving demographics. the justice department official you can actually see taste- trends. to just put together a press since when can we do that? release regarding travel-gate. since we started working with bdends. the meltdown and the freak out (announcer) people who know, know bdo. among republicans on the right was extraordinary and you look what this guy is doing where he's completely knocking down any wall of independence between the department of justice and the white house, and now suddenly they're mute. now suddenly it's okay. now suddenly because it's donald trump, this failed reality tv host to spent the past 20 years giving political contributions to elliott spitzer and anthony weiner and to charlie rangel and to hillary clinton eight times, suddenly this paragon of conservatism who has run up the debt higher than anybody in u.s. history, suddenly, mika, it makes it okay. we're also going to be talking, i'm sure, about this tomorrow

through the eyes of a lot of the democratic candidates. there is a big debate tonight obviously in las vegas, takes on added significance because it's the first time we're going to see michael bloomberg actually in a debate and we will see how he handles that. but we have a slue of polls that have come out this morning leading up to the debate, we have talked about the california poll already that shows bernie sanders way ahead, but there's a set of national polls that came out, this is nbc news "wall street journal" poll that shows bernie sanders at 27%, biden at 15%, bloomberg 14, warren 14, points. you go to the "washington post" abc news poll that came out just this morning, another national poll, sanders up 8 at 32%, biden [ fast-paced drumming ] down 11 at 17%, bloomberg at 14, warren 11, buttigieg 6 -- or 7,

klobuchar 6. mika, you look at these numbers and it's hard not to look at joe biden's fall and see that the beneficiary is bernie sanders sitting alone comfortably at the top of both of these polls as well as the all important california poll. >> well, it should be interesting, first time we will see mike bloomberg with these candidates. it's a smaller group. i think for many reasons tonight's debate is more significant than the ones in the past. if you look at the head to head matchups, who can beat trump, though, biden does significantly better than he's doing in some of these states and you just have to sort of wonder what the so you think michael decision is for the democratic bloomberg is buying this election. >> that certainly seems to be party. you have the sanders/warren the strategy. dip into your personal reserve of billions of dollars and use potential battle here, if elizabeth warren wants to take it to go up in the polls but at on who is eating into her -- her the end of the day, i don't think that's enough to win a potential it would be bernie presidential election because voters are asking how their sanders. i think mike bloomberg actually individual lives are going to be shaped by the choice we're about has perhaps already had an to make, and i don't think, you

know, a future where the only impact on joe biden. steve rattner, what are your two offerings in the democratic thoughts especially since you party are either a billionaire know mike bloomberg personally who thinks he can buy power or and work with him, as he someone who says that you got to prepares for tonight's debate. be for a revolution, and it's my what do we expect to see that way or the highway. that just leaves most of us out. perhaps we don't know about mike >> so here is the message, bloomberg? >> well, first, let me say with anybody here worth $60 billion, respect to the polls you were just talking about i think as we you can run for president. all know the national polls are and you can buy the air waves. no some ways a lagging indicator of what's going on closer to the ground as we go through these primaries. my friend, that is called oly the national polls will have and will move in response to those. secondly, you mentioned california. california is going to be very g -- oligarchy, not democracy. much, i think, bernie sanders country. that is a very liberal state and >> mayor michael bloomberg likely will be taking fire he is well positioned there. tonight at the democratic debate in terms of mike, look, this is in las vegas. mayor bloomberg commented on his democratic rivals in a newly his first debate since he was mayor, he is a smart guy, he has published interview with been working hard to prepare, he reuters, when asked how he would is up against four or five differentiate himself with the other candidates, bloomberg said people who have been doing this now for a year or more and have he would emphasize his a lot of experience on this experience as the mayor of the stage. largest city.

i think the ad that you showed earlier this week of mike going and attacked vice president joe biden saying while he was vice after bernie sanders, so to speak, will -- could well be one president, he read speeches that of the themes of tonight. someone else wrote for him. his job was not to manage but do i think mike is idealogically things the president needed about as far from bernie sanders as any two democrats could be done, and for all i know, he did a competent job said bloomberg from each other and i think he of biden. has deep questions about the way bernie sanders has allowed the bernie bros and so on and so bloomberg dismissed pete buttigieg as having limited forth to carry on. experience, managing a city with roughly 100,000 people, compared none of that is at all mike's style. i think you will see a lot going to new york's population of on there. and i think the stakes are very 8.4 million. he is the mayor of a town. high for the other so-called let's not get too carried away. moderates that joe biden, amy so joe, we know where democrats klobuchar and mayor pete's to are going tonight with mayor try to take mitch mcconnell down a notch so that they could bloomberg, they have said it out become the centrist alternative. loud again and again. as we sit here today it's he's trying to buy his way into election, trying to buy the essentially sanders and bloomberg with a few other nomination, trying to buy the presidency. do you think that's an effective people swirling around trying to find a place at the table. attack on mayor bloomberg as we >> good time to point out as we get our first look at him on the debate stage. always do that you work with >> it would be one thing if he mike bloomberg and you manage his money as well. said it about tom steyer, a guy >> thank you. >> jason johnson, i want to show you a poll that jumped out at us who doesn't have government experience. with bloomberg, he was mayor of

new york city for 12 years. of battle ground states. we talked about these national that's a pretty damn tough job head to head matchups not being terribly useful at this point, so he can be judged by that but this is within battle ground record and there's some positive states as we talk about joe things, obviously, that could biden's slides, he is the only help him out in his campaign. there are also some negative one with a lead outside the margin of error in the battle things. we have heard about stop and ground states, the states that frisk. are going to decide the next i'm sure we'll be hearing about much more. it's not that simple that he's president to still have that lead there. trying to buy the presidency. so what does the democratic it is, i think it's disturbing voter, what does the democratic to a lot of us that you can just party do with that piece of information? >> and, again, i'm glad that you write checks and pop to the top pointed out there is no such of democratic or republican polls. state as north michi ohio that's certainly not a trend we want in american politics. but again, it's a little more carolina. i think what it looks at here is nuanced than a billionaire leaving a corporation saying i what mike bloomberg is actually think i want to get into doing in this race. government and run as president. i think this is an important again, mayor of new york city distinction. mike bloomberg is not a for 12 years is something. centrist, he is no at moderate. the guy is a former republican. there are so many cross he's pretty conservative. currents, though, willie, and he was in favor of stop and love to that you and mike about frisk, he was in favor of large it, this debate tonight, if class sizes. i don't think this is an issue you're elizabeth warren, do you of him stepping into the moderate lane, the moderates go after bernie sanders who would be mayor pete and joe seems to be getting your support biden and amy klobuchar. or after michael bloomberg who mike bloomberg is in this race because he's spending a lot of actually epitomizes so much of

money and because he's saying i what elizabeth warren has been can win. for ate lot of democrats who are spending her entire career fighting against. if you're joe biden, do you moderate, that is the majority of the party who are like, look, decide to go after michael if i can't get my moderate i at bloomberg or do you go after least want the guy who is going to win. that's where mike bloomberg has bernie sanders whose national been moving in. that's what bernie sanders is press secretary just said that still sort of struggling with anybody asking for bernie one way or another. and i think, again, heading into tonight the biggest challenge sanders health care report was engaging in a smear campaign, for plume berg is going to be telling people, okay, now that and then went on to smear you've seen me and seen my commercials i can actually win this thing. i don't think -- i've said this michael bloomberg by saying, well, michael bloomberg has had before, somebody like elizabeth a heart attack. warren you are third in delegate unless there's something that count what are you doing chasing i'm missing, i think bloomberg after the guy who has never had some stents put in in 2000, earned a vote? she should not go after mike bloomberg, she should go after bernie as curt brought up, bernie had a heart attack in the people she is competing with. >> katty kay, it's not october. surprising there has been so mike, this is -- i hate to say it because i like bernie, and listen, i'm not so sure that bernie sanders can't win this thing in november. we don't know who can win. okay. because everybody but a few of us on the set were saying trump couldn't win in 2016.

that said, there's something very trumpian about a national press secretary for a candidate saying that if you ask for health care records, you're engaging in a smear campaign, and then turning and smearing the person you consider to be your chief rival by just making up a heart attack. like this is something the sanders campaign, bernie said, you know, oh, i can't control this. he can control what his national press secretary says. they need to walk this back because this is exactly what donald trump would do. >> yeah, his national secretary is not a bot. bernie went after the bots last night when asked about the same conduct about people in the country. some of them are anonymous, some of them he does not know and will never meet. this is his national press secretary, impugning michael bloomberg, sliming up michael bloomberg in the course of a tweet.

we're going to find out first pitch tonight 9:01, joe, elizabeth warren, does she go after bernie sanders, i kind of doubt it. i think her natural target will be the billionaire on the stage closest to her, mike bloomberg. not tom steyer. i think that's where she'll go. joe biden, it will be interesting to see what joe biden does. joe biden has the chance to stick around for quite a while, depending on what happens tonight. i doubt very much that he will go after mike bloomberg too harshly, although i think he will go after him on his competence as vice president and running the reconstruction fund that passed in 2009, and helped provide the building blocks for the economy that we all prosper under today. i think he might go after him on that, about his role under barack obama, but he's not a guy who is comfortable attacking the other candidates. >> yeah, and in the past the

attacks against joe biden have not workedment attacks haven't real -- worked. attacks haven't worked well in this campaign. elizabeth warren said she was going to attack michael bloomberg, and the other candidates were going to do so as well. we'll see. if he looks like he's being teamed against, if he brushes aside all of those questions, that will probably help him. for me, the person i'm most interested in watching tonight is elizabeth warren because i still don't understand her precipitous fall in the polls. i don't understand why she didn't do better with her ground operation and her really strong campaign in iowa and in new hampshire. so it's going to be very interesting to see what he does in nevada. she could turn in a really good performance and attract attention in nevada. she needs to do well in this nevada caucus.

probably won't do so well in south carolina. but once you propel yourself in past south carolina, boy, this race escalates quickly, and you better hope you have a few good headlines behind you before things start to move as fast as they move on super tuesday. >> remember, she was the front runner in a package with bernie sanders in terms of being the progressive candidates and she's fallen behind and bernie sanders has raced to the top. they have had effectively a truce together through this campaign. she has been critical of some of his supporters, largely because they believe the same thing. can she now turn at this hour and say i have to go after bernie sanders have that come off as real and authentic. i think you say, in michael bloomberg, bernie sanders and elizabeth warren have with them on the stage the living, breathing embodiment of everything they are against, the leaked member of the billionaire

class which they say is buying their way into an election. certainly they're going to go after him. chief national correspondent for "new york times" magazine, mark leibovitz is back from the table, he joins us now. what's the backdrop, what's the set up? what are you going to be watching tonight in vegas? >> vegas is exactly like the flinty back roads of new hampshire. nothing changes at all. no, it's pretty bizarre. if you think about it, i mean, vegas is vegas, and it's just like another show here, right, you have these huge billboards and it's vegas, and you have this other billboard, and there's the promotion for the debate out here. tonight is going to be a really fascinating debate, and obviously bloomberg is probably the number one story and what everyone is going to be watching the out here, it, again, there is so much chaos everywhere, the democratic debate sort of fits in seamlessly, and on top of everything else, you have the president coming to town. >> what are you looking for

behind the scenes? people talk to you. you don't remember everything they say because some of it is off the record. what about the tension in the campaigns between the bloomberg campaign, sanders campaign, the heart attack issue that just came up. what about the tension behind the scenes? is it legitimate? >> it is. in some ways there's this shock and awe thing with bloomberg. no one really knows what hit. it's like this big silent hit that's been looming over everything, and all of a sudden it's being activated. one week ago or eight days ago it was a huge night for amy klobuchar. a huge night for pooeete buttig coming out of new hampshire, and the oxygen lasted a couple of days, and all of a sudden bloomberg becomes the story, biden becomes the story, sanders becomes the story, and look you have a lot of really kind of distinct but also very competitive narratives going on, and i think tonight, i mean, i think the people i do talk to, even people who are not around politics out here so much are fascinated to see what this is going to look like.

>> the national domestic workers alliance hosted its assembly in las vegas where more than 1,000 domestic workers across the country got together to listen to some of the presidential candidates speak ahead of the nevada caucus, the political director and executive director of karen action, jess morales, good to see you this morning, you heard from the candidates or a bunch yesterday. who impressed you the most? >> you know, our folks were impressed bid all of them. elizabeth warren's personal story, tom steyer was pretty fiery. bernie sanders talking about his policy positions but i think ultimately they're pretty excited about anyone talking about our policy agenda around the domestic worker bill of rights. >> did any of those candidates speak directly and more authentically than others. obviouhe tell you what you want to hear. which of these presidential candidates have sort of lived this and based their political

careers on it? >> our organization is primarily women of color, almost entirely women of color, and those are going to be the most decisive voters in this election. i think elizabeth warren's story about being a working class woman, having a care worker in her family really resonated but then we also heard bernie sanders really talking about the health care and care stories that he has heard around the country and our workers indicated that those two things really put them at the front of their mind and their decision making. >> jess, the composition of your membership in addition to, you know, domestic workers largely immigrant, a lot of immigrants, nannies. >> many immigrant women. >> many nannies. >> yes. nannies, home care workers. >> did you hear all of the candidates personally? did any of them -- >> not every single one of them. >> did any of them or which one of them talked specifically

about the phrase maybe using the phrase the dignity of their work and the dignity of their lives? >> yes, dignity is at the core of what we're trying to give domestic workers, and we have heard a number of candidates talk about that. i think yesterday elizabeth warren was the one who was really pressing on that. and that definitely is a word that absolutely resonates because what domestic workers are fighting for is dignity and respect on the job. so these jobs can be good jobs for the 21st century. >> jess, what's a specific policy that you and your organization would like to see enacted? we can talk broadly about dignity of work which is very important obviously but when you get down to the brass tacks, what's a new policy or a better policy that you would like to see implemented by the next president? >> there's two big policies. one is our federal domestic worker bill of rights, which would right 80 years of wrongs

of domestic workers, among the most exploited and under paid workers in our economy. 80% is going to be one of the largest sectors of the economy. if you're not a domestic worker you need to be worried about that. it means the jobs of the future are not good job care, and that's why universal family care is a part of our agenda, we want to make it affordable for everyone in the sandwich generation, people taking care of their kids and parents at the same time to be able to afford child care, elder care and make sure people can live with dignity and respect. >> jess morales, rocketo, up very early in las vegas, thank you very much for the time. we appreciate it. joe. >> willie, we always have a what we learned, we used to always do what we learned today. you know what i learned today, las vegas, like the area, las

vegas -- you know where i'm going. >> i know exactly where you're going. >> it's grown so much. >> sprawling. >> was leibovich in the light of day, was he in east las vegas where the sun has already risen and was jess in the risen and was jess in the far reaches of west las vegas because it was really dark in west las vegas compared to east vegas. the cars turning off the strip. leibovich has sunglasses on. >> the sprawl of that city over the last, let's call it, 20 years, is such that the sun is up in some parts of las vegas and not in others, where jess was, we should invest in that second backdrop. >> note to self tj.

>> mayor pete buttigieg hit back after rush limbaugh said the candidate's sexuality would hurt in a race against president trump. we'll play that next. ♪ luck be a lady tonight ♪ luck be a lady tonight [crackling fire] [wood rolling] alexios, add toilet paper to the shopping list.

[chiseling on stone] oh, and camel milk. and a chicken. and moisturizer. alexa: thanks, guys. i'll take it from here. in august 1619, a ship appeared on this horizon, near point comfort, virginia. it carried more than 20 enslaved africans, who were sold to the colonists. no aspect of the country we know today has been untouched by the slavery that followed. america was not yet america, but this was the moment it began. [sfx: typing] you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. the ninja foodi pressure cooker, the pressure cooker that crisps.

the idea of the likes of rush limbaugh, or donald trump, lecturing anybody on family

values. i mean, sorry but the one thing about my marriage is it's never involved me having to send hush money to a porn star after cheating on my spouse with him or her. so they want to debate family values, let's debate family values i'm ready. >> that was mayor pete buttigieg with his comments in response to rush limbaugh. let's go to charlotte, good morning. >> thanks for having me. >> it's a great collection of some we'new faces we've seen in washington. let's start with pete buttigieg, we've almost taken his story for granted. a young mayor from indiana, openly gay, is doing so well, in

a span of a year he's rocketed to the top of the polls. >> i started interviewing mayor pete for this book in 2017, long before he was considering running for president. and one anecdote i remember from the conversation, he had just gotten his dog, he's the mayor of south bend i said what's your dog's name. he said truman. i said why did you name the dog truman? he said if you want a friend in washington, get a dog. i said you live in south bend. >> that was in 2017. >> at that point he was considering running for dnc chair. but part of what i tried to do in this book is get to some of these young leaders before they really popped. so i have interviews with young members of congress, the women who got elected in 2018. so what i hope readers can get is a real sense of who these people are. >> it's interesting that more than a few of the people you

chose for your book have a tie to september 11th and everything that happened in this country after september 11th, including enlisting in the armed forces, talking about dan crenshaw and max rose specifically, but the impact september 11th had on these young people. >> this book is about the forces that shaped millennial politics. then events that millennials experienced that shaped their role in the world. what social scientisearly 20s, leanings for years to come. so we start with 9/11, because it shapes them the way, for example, jfk was for baby boomers. it traced them through 9/11, the financial crisis, the rise of barack obama, the social

movements that shaped social consciousness during obama's term, the election of donald trump, and ends in the moment we're in right now where millennials are stepping up to the plate politically. >> you talked to dan crenshaw, a republican. did you get into some of the demographic changes that are going against the republican party? did you talk about climate change with dan? some of these other issues that republicans, including i can't believe this, but i read last night, lindsey graham is saying republicans better get right on climate change or we're going to be left behind because of millennials. >> absolutely. so i include republicans like dan crenshaw and carlos karbelo in order to get at some of the generational trends that are broken down by party or

transcend party. and climate change is one of them, republicans and democrats both agree that climate change is happening if they're under 40, they just differ on the best way to deal with it. i found republicans do well with white voters, millennials are one of the most racially diverse in history. republicans do well with married voters, republican do well with religious voters, millennials are rejecting organized religion every way they can. millennials are going one way and the gop is going the other, that's the challenge for them. >> you write about this amazing collection of freshmen, the women who came in and make a name for them themselves, obviously alexandria ocasio-cortez is the highest profile. ellis stephanic, who was active

in the impeachment hearing. laura underwood is another one from illinois. she's been on our show a few times, she's impressed us, keeping her head down and going after the issues. is there a common thread with the women who came into congress last year? >> yes. the women who came into congress last year, there's a don of diversity. alexandria ocasio-cortez is a soci socialist, lauren underwood is not. what it is is the sense that the 20th century political wisdom that led everybody to believe that somebody like donald trump could never be elected was crumblining once he was elected they thought if he can get el t elected, why can't i, so they ran with their different positioning they needed in the district, and they won. that's why there was 26

millennials in congress now when before 2018 there were five. >> the new book is "the ones we've been waiting for". charlotte, thanks for being here good to see you. >> thanks for having me. that does it for us. the democratic debate in las vegas at 9:00 eastern time. for now, stephanie rhule picks up our coverage. >> hi, there, i am stephanie rhule, it's a big day, wednesday, february 19th, here's what's happening now. tonight, six candidates will take the debate stage in vegas, a few days before voters in nevada weigh in, and the stakes are high as three candidates try to keep up their momentum, two try to jump start theirs and one makes his debut on the big stage tonight. and it comes after more good news for the sanders campaign, senator bernie sanders with a double digit lead in two new polls. the others in the field appear to be battling it out for the

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