tv MSNBC Live MSNBC September 7, 2020 2:00pm-3:00pm PDT
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hoax. -- today three msnbc officials tell us white house talked to wilke about taking over as defensive secretary if donald trump fires mark esper. we learned last week the revelation from stephanie wilcox that she taped conversations with her former friend melania trump to protect herself -- misuse of funds but trump -- in a tell-all book from michael cohen, he paints his former boss as a i cheat, liar, fraud, bully, a racist, a predator, a con man who made overt and coadvertise attempts to get
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russia to interfere in the 2016 election. according to "the washington post" and he trump loved putin because the russian leader had the ability to take over an entire nation and run it like it was his personal company, like the trump organization, in fact. cohen's book also details donald trump's racist insults and hatred and contempt for former president barack obama. according to the new york times describes mr. trump hiring a faux-bama where he belittled the first black president and fired him. in an interview, michael cohen described his biggest fear about the upcoming election. >> do you think he will win another term as president? >> donald trump will do anything and everything within which to win, i believe that includes manipulating the ballots, i believe he would go so far as to
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start a war in order to prevent himself from being removed from office. my biggest fear is that there will not be a peaceful transition of power in 2020. >> you can see more of lester holt's interview with michael cohen tomorrow on nbc nightly news and he will also join rachel mado to discuss his book on tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. here on msnbc. looking forward to that. michael cohen is not the only book to author a scathing rebuke of donald trump, there's also a damning account from the man who investigated the man's campaign ties to russia in 2016 former fbi agent peter struck who in his book refutes the russian investigation was politically motivated to hurt donald trump and -- within the fbi about the counter intelligent investigation into the president. we needed to ask a question that
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in never before a risen in t the -- 240 year history of the republic whether the president might be acting as an agent for foreign adversary. and believes russia has hidden leverage over donald trump. >> without exaggeration president trump's -- n president trump's -- >> do you think the president is a national security threat? >> i do. >> joining us is chief national correspondent at the new york time and msnbc contributor and david, senior editor from the atlantic and former speech writer for george w. bush dshl -- gentlemen, welcome. i want to start with the military story from the atlantic. david, you wrote an article today about how it sounds just
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like trump. i think the title is "everyone knows it's true" in and you remark about how we've heard silence from the people who could deny this and have the authority to deny it, people like john kelly, you also go through individual instances where the president has shown a lack of compassion for military families or disdain or just disregard for american troops who are currently serving, tell me about why you believe that this is something that everyone knows is true, regardless of whether it is confirmed with on the record sources. >> well, as so often with trump scandals, scandals happen in plain-view, we're not used to this, we're used to if the idea takes a bribe would try to con seal the bribe. the president opens a hotel few blocks from the white house and
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take bribe there's, he can't because he'd be making an effort to conceal it. so in my follow up i went through all of the things we should remember, the terrible incident with the beret a sergeant who was killed with three american special operators, president trump called the fallen soldier's widow in a car with others present and told her that he knew what he signed up for. she was so offended about this in front of others that she couldn't talk to him at all and said talking to the president made her cry more and the president could not even remember her husband's name when on the phone with her. we all saw that. we saw the story of president trump on the phone with another military family from north carolina they complained about the slowness of
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the benefits owed to them and the president then said i'll write you a check $25,000 from my own money. they were taken back but okay we'll wait for the mail and only came after they shamed him by telling the story to "the washington post" so many instances, lack of regard people have gone through these extreme experiences, losing a loved one in battle. >> a lot of people point what he said about john mccain. i covered the 2016 election. i covered donald trump. i covered this moment. and at time, mark, republican operatives and people were saying it was over, donald trump can never survive this and immediately in the aftermath of it, i went to a campaign rally in mobile, alabama with roughly 20,000 people there. they didn't mind the comments on john mccain. frl today the president was
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asked about the atlantic story in reference to what he said to john mccain. listen to this answer. >> mr. president, a lot of people are having a hard time -- - >> no i don't understand that at all because i've always been on the opposite side of john mccain. john mccain liked wars. i will be a better warrior than anybody but when we fight a war we're going to win them. and frankly, i was never a fan of john mccain. you know that. it's been very obvious. >> john mccain's not alive any longer. the president is still insulting him. i guess my question now is, and he also didn't mention john kelly there, my question now is, mark, what's different about today than that july moment, august moment in 2015?
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how could this possibly mean more, matter more to this reelection than what the john mccain incident did in 2015? >> because it involves not just john mccain. it's a very safe defense for donald trump to say i never liked john mccain, we never got along, all that, but this is about john kelly which he did not, as you mentioned, answer there. this is about alexander -- who tried to black list after the impeachment hearing, he's despairaged a slew of military servants again, he knows the base doesn't like john mccain. he's an easy applause line. this goes a lot deeper in part because there hasn't really been a clean answer on the atlantic
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piece, which hasn't really been refuted beyond what we've heard. it's also just the silence of a lot of the republicans in the senate has said, this doesn't sound like him at all, this sounds far-fetched. i think they expect there will be other shoes to drop next few days rkz people coming forward speaking on the record about this. >> he said there's more reporting to come. john kelly himself has not refuted this and situation was described in the article where the president was talking directly to john kelly, he'd be in a unique position to say this is not true. it's notable he's not come out and said that. this is just one of a lot of many big and potentially damaging stories that are coming out about donald trump. there's also this peter struck book. but the republicans have gone after peter struck and tried to tear down his credibility because of the tex messages that
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were revealed about how we felt about donald trump. how damaging is peter struck? or is he someone who is already so politically-maligned by the president that his book won't matter as much as this military story. >> i don't this it will have the massive ub impact of defaming american generals and soldiers and gold star families like the johnson family. the 2016 russian inter convenient in politic convenient in politi -- intervened in an election they knew donald trump would probably lose. it was a terrible risk why were they so committed, to help this person in this race? that's a question we've never had a good answer to. what we've learned in the months since the mueller investigation closed was that bob mueller
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never went or allowed to go to answer that question. what was it? what connection did trump have with the russians that made it so important? the trump people say there's nothing there, it's all a hoax but the reason mueller never found anything he was never allowed to look. peter struck was a reeminent counter intelligence specialist who knew this file better than anybody and has now gone in public to say he wasn't allowed to look either but it was there, you could see, not the details but the shape of the thing in the dark, the p massive connection between trump and russia long before 2016 that might explain why they wanted to help him with such risk. >> so there's peter struck. there's also mark cohen with a book "disloyal" coming out tomorrow, he makes a lot of allegations about trump's behavior behind the scenes, a lot of stuff that
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michael cohen and the campaign was asked about post 2016 about donald trump anticipates be s be about trump's behavior, whether he was ratesist or a predator of women. he is coming out with this as he is serving a prison sentence what about the credibility and revelation that's could come from this book. >> you answered your own question, he is serving a prison sentence and the question of credibility is not a perfect situation, especially wrighting an argument on credibility as the trump white house sur gates have been quick to point out. the cohen book adds to the noise machine, it sort of takes away from the reelection's campaign opportunity to talk about something else. i think what this cues up is a bob woodward book coming out called "rage" in the next couple weeks and apparently has a lot
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of stuff on it. trump has already tweeted about it, seems pretty nervous about it given the energy he placed into it. this is an avalanche of really, really damning information. whether it sways undedecided voters, whether there are undecided voters, what it turns trump supporters away from him is not likely but it certainly does solidify, i mean, just the air of scandal around him, air of unfitness around him that makes very cleanly the case for the biden campaign and for people who don't think donald trump deserves another four years or shouldn't be here to begin with. >> well, we'll wait for that new book by woodward. i keep going back to this military story. it's one that has stuck with me. it just feels -- maybe i'm wrong about this but it feels different, david. the number of people that have not come out and said that this story is not true, have not come out
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and said that this does not sound like the president i know. >> that's the really striking thing. donald trump -- look, if any other president had these kind of aspersions thrown at them they would be surrounded by people about credibility to say it's not true. donald trump doesn't have an admiral standing forward on his behalf or a general, he doesn't have command respect across all party lines. he's got sarah huckabee sanders and the problem with the trump campaign they exploded their credibility so early, when trump needs validators -- >> yeah. >> -- the validators the smallest party wouldn't trust, certainly wouldn't command respect, in the way the many zing -- distinguished
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generals served for many years on the backs of which isis was broken. these are the man to be admired. general matt is trump despairageages as most overrated president in american history. the only figure donald trump doesn't think is overrated is colonel sanders. >> you also mention in the article when it comes to character witnesses, we saw at the rnc, there weren't real personal stories, even from the kids about who donald trump was behind the scenes. the closest that you write they came to it was with tiffany trump who said the president, her dad, called her when somebody on her mother's side of the family died. that's as far as it went, he called her. >> in 2012 mitt romney told the
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story when i partner at his company had a child go missing, romney closed the company, and organized a block-by-block search for the child. there's other philanthropic work he's done, it's not unique to mitt romney. candidates for president tend to be remarkable human beings and a lot of people believe in them. people who liked barack obama could tell that story. big stormies and little stories, every day kindnesses. as you said it's completely missing from the trump record. and the speeches of the family members are weirdly impersonal, like they hardly know him at all. tiffany trump, best she could say, donald trump sometimes called her. >> thank you both, always good to see you two. and coming up, donald trump donor turned post master general
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dejoy could face investigation for illegally reimbursementing employees -- ngd trump with a surprising reaction it to it. and the powers and principles of john lewis move on and will talk about how his truth is marching on. truth is marching on it happens to all of us. we buy a new home, and we turn into our parents. what i do is help new homeowners overcome this. what is that, an adjustable spanner? good choice, steve. okay, don't forget you're not assisting him. you hired him. if you have nowhere to sit, you have too many. who else reads books about submarines? my dad. yeah. oh, those are -- progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. look at that.
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post master general louis dejoy has been accused of making changes at the postal service to sabotage mail has been reported that five people who work for new breed logistics where louis dejoy was chairman and ceo for 31 years said that they were quote urged by dejoy's aides by the chief executive himself to write checks and attend fundraisers at his mansion and cited to employee that's dejoy
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would then have the employee's bonuses raised to help defray the costs of their contributions, which is illegal. campaign finance recorded suggest between 2000 and 2014, 124 individuals who worked for the company gave more than $1 million to federal and state g.o.p. candidates. many had not previously made political donations and have not made any since leaving the company. senator minute leader chuck schumer calling for a investigation into the allegations -- the another carolina attorney general, an elected official independent of donald trump is the right person to start the investigation. joining us a law professor at georgetown and former federal prosecutor and msnbc
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contributor. paul, always good to see you. these would be campaign violations. what would investigators need to find to have a prosecutable case. >> so we're thinking about $1 million in possible illegal campaign contributions to republicans, so if the boss orders you to make a donation to his favorite political candidate that's a crime, if he then reimburses you for those donations, that's a different crime. dejoy did use these donors that's a violation of both federal campaign financing laws and also north carolina laws because his company logistics was head quartered in north caroli carolina. so corporate executives have gone to prison and corporations have been fined billions of dollars for crimes like this. the other crime to be investigated is if dejoy was reimbursing his employees for
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their politic at contribution business giving them bonuses that's the same in the eyes of the law as a corporation itself making the contribution, which is illegal. so there will be a state investigation for sure. the concern with the federal investigation is that the statute of limitations has run, we're talking about conduct that occurred between 2000-2014 and statute of limitations for federal campaign financing violations is five years, so that statute has run. >> what's the bar for evidence? would they need to find e-mails confirming this or ready employee's words matched one their actions and increased bonuses plus that they didn't donate before they were at the company or after the company, is that enough to set up a circumstantial case that is prosecutable? >> yeah, so we have presumably
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eyewitness testimony. even if these employees don't want to come to court the prosecutor can subpoena them, haul them into court and make them tell the truth and apparently seven employees have told the story to the washington post about this illegal conduct so there's one possibility for a federal or state investigation, again, the concern about the federal investigation is the statute of limitations, for the state case though katey, sometimes it is quite sloppy how white collar criminals are so in this case, according to the post, when people would make a donation, not long after they get this bonus from the boss in the amount or close to the amount of the donation. so there was a siphonization between when the campaign contribution happened and then when they got this bonus from the boss. >> so, louis dejoy was a g.o.p.
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fund race-- race-- fundraiser and is now post master general and there was controversy about the changes at the post office. i find telling the president's reaction to louis dejoy in this story. he didn't immediately come to his defense. let's listen. >> would you support an investigation, sir? >> i think let the investigations go but he's a very expected man. >> if proven to be a campaign finance scheme do you think he should lose his job. >> yeah, if something could be proven he did something wrong, always. >> i feel it is similar to what he said about paul manafort when he was first being investigated, i didn't know him, he was only here a short time, felt like he was trying to put distance
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between himself and louis dejoy. >> how many times have we seen this movie? the president cuts and runs whenever he thinks one of his boys has criminal exposure. it's interesting in this case trump himself can't actually fire the post master general, that has to be done by the postal service board of governors, now the majority of appointees of that body were nominated or appointed by trump so he has some leverage but he himself can't fire dejoy, dejoy could also be impeached by the congress, but he'd have to do that presumably before the election if you're concerned about what he's going to do with regard to the election, but again, trump himself, no direct power to get rid of the post master general. >> so it's interesting that this story was teased in august by a congressman, jim cooper, a democrat from tennessee, during that questioning of louis dejoy in front of the house at the time it kind of felt like it was
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coming out of left field. but let's play it now given the revelation by "the washington post". >> did you pay back several of your top executives for contributing to trump's campaign by bonusing or rewarding them? >> that's an outrageous claim, sir, and i resent it. >> i'm just asking a question. >> the answer's no. >> certainly interesting now, looking back on it. >> interesting and again, possibly an opening for federal prosecutors because if he lied under oath, that's a different crime, the statute wouldn't stop running until he told that alleged lie which was in august. the concern here, which federal prosecutor would investigate? would someone in bill barr's justice department be allowed to do that?
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i think that's question. perhaps a u.s. attorney from north carolina where there will be jurisdictions might do this investigation. but i think the best hope that justice will be served is with the north carolina state prosecution and there the procedure would be that the north carolina board of election would do an investigation and if they find criminal conduct they refer the kasich to the to the -- refer the case to the north carolina process computers who are computers who ar p carolina process youthors caror north carolina prosecutors not controlled by donald trump, to get this case as a democrat. >> got to think of everything nowadays. before we go, let me go on the record with what louis dejoy's spokes person told the washington post --
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that's monty hagler supposes man for louis dejoy. paul butler thanks for joining us in these times. coming up in southern california parts of los angeles county are logging their highest temperature in history this weekend. 121 degrees and that right there is exacerbating an already dangerous and destructive situation, all of those wild fire as cross california. microban 24.
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from 100 degrees to snow, colorado could set a record with a possible dramatic temperature change of 60 degrees in just 36 hours. an example of the extremes climate causes. on saturday denver set a record-high for the month of the september with 101 degrees, but tonight it could start snowing with temperatures dropping to 30's and possible snow accumulation by tomorrow. meanwhile, in parts of california, today could be one
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of the hottest days the state has ever recorded, feeling conditions as more than a dozen wild fires are spreading rapidly. the record-heat wave is expected to hit triple digits, the largest fire, creek fire, has burned 79,000 acres in central california and as of now is zero percent contained. more than 200 people were rescued by helicopter after the creek fire trapped campers over the weekend at a popular reservoir. let's bring in our reporter in yucaipa, california, near the el dorado wild fire. steve, doesn't look good there and does not look good for the near term in california. how are firefighters keeping up? and are residents prepared to move if they need to? >> yeah, i mean, it's these blast furnace-like conditions especially over the weekend, 120
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degrees in l.a. county, woodland. so you have this extreme heat mixed with the fact there's dry vegetation everywhere, mixed with the fact we're still if red-flag winds in southern california. there's more than two dozen major fires burning spread across california with over 14,000 firefighters on the front lines, that's happening right now, 2 million acres have burned in california alone just this year. you're from california, you know how rare that is because we're not even in the heavy part of the season, which comes in october and november. i want to show this moon-like landscape, way in the distance can still see firefighters trying to protect some of these homes because the smoldering may kick up as the day progresses. the winds pick up, that's when you have fire storm that's kick up again. there's still extreme fire danger not only here in southern california but central
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california and areas between. this fire, 8600 acres, 21,000 people evacuated from their homes, it's about 7% contained this fire start bid a gender-reveal gone wrong. a photo op in a park very near where i'm standing, they had a smoke incendiary, almost like a grenade that went off and exploded, it caused this fire now 8,000 plus acres that have scorched the landscape. those people are in touch with investigators and cooperating but they can still face an extremely heavy fine if not some sort of criminal charges based on what the fire does now. this fire is continuing to spread as is several of those fires across california as we continue to monitor this with the heat still keeping up. it has cooled off going on through the week but still very hot, very dry, as the day moves on it's still very windy.
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it's a lot for firefighters to take on, especially how spread across the state these fires are. it's a dangerous situation in the golden state. back to you. >> steve patterson, please be careful. i'm sure that couple feels bad but come on people practice some responsibility, you don't need it to be a big to-do. anyway. steve patterson thank you for joining us. coming up we'll talk about the late congressman john lewis and lessons about his life we can carry forward into the future. future we're all finding ways to keep moving. but how do we make sure the direction we're headed is forward? at fidelity, you'll get the planning and advice to prepare you for the future, without sacrificing the things
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lewis was there presidential historior an celebrates john lewis's life in his new book "truth goes marching on "i before passing away john lewis contributed the afterward for the book writing this -- joining me now pulitzer prize winner jon meachum his new book debuted at number one on the number one seller list. congratulations. it's certainly a worthy story to debut at number one. i'm struck by the afterward he wrote for you while he was still
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alive and i'm struck at the moment we're living in where we are not one, we're more divided than we've ever been, we have a president who is trying to divide us further and it feels like right now there's just no way to knit us back together. what did you learn about john lewis's struggle and the struggle for equality that maybe gives you more hope than i have at the moment? >> well, i do have a little more hope than that and it's not me, it's congressman lewis so let me channel him for a second. what he would say if he were sitting here is if you don't think america is change, to move from fear to hope, and from division to unity, then come walk in my shoes, that's what he would say, because in those shoes he was arrested 40 times, in the last half century or so, you know, we live in a country that was functionally shaped by
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apartied in my native region and he walked into the line of fire again and again and again, wet on the pet trks us bridge or on the freedom ride -- >> jon, i'm so sorry to interrupt you on this topic especially but kamala harris is running a bit late. we were scheduled to go to her. she's just start in milwaukee. let us briefly go in there and we'll come back. -- >> we must invest in healthy communities because healthy communities are safe communities and one of the attributes of healthy communities is that there's access to capital for the small businesses that are the heartbeat and fabric of the communities what we know about small businesses their leaders in business,
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they're civic leaders, they hire locally, they understand the u jewels that exist in their communities and need to encourage that in their communities. we've talked about that. there's been a number of injuries that have been raise -- issues that have been raised including pointing out this epidemic covid has been an accelerator, in one way in particular, is highlighting the disparities in technology based on race. those who have access to technology, thinking about things like the fact that families now are sending their children back to school virtually and whether that family has access to broadband, to the knowledge about how technology works may have everything to do with the capacity of the children in that family to actually survive through this moment, much less
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thrive. we have talked about the importance of building an entrepreneurial class, meaning, having our government and as our priorities, it is part of joe biden and my priority investing in entrepreneurship and in vesting not only through the work that we will do that is about access to capital to the small businesses administration, access to capital about putting money into opportunity zones one part of it also $150 billion in new capital and opportunities around investing in private venture capital as well as what the government can do. this is about an investment in not only those specific communities but in our country. understanding that someone of the greatest sources of wealth and inter-generational wealth come about through that kind of focus. we have talked about the importance of community banks, during the course of this crisis
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up to 90% of minority and women-owned small businesses didn't get the benefit of the ppp in large part because unlike donald trump has been concerned about the wealthy, the people who are working every day and trying to raise their families don't have access to those kind of relationships and have not received the benefit of something like ppp. we've talked about the need to make tax credits permanent and doing that -- through doing that increasing funding to as much as $5 billion annually to provide credit for equity, investment and small businesses that benefit low and moderate income areas. these are some of the conversations we've had this afternoon and it is also in the context of a pledge that joe biden and myself are making to small businesses throughout our country, including here in milwaukee that we see you, we
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understand the significance of what you are in terms of the health and well being of communities and we see the benefit to the entire country to invest in our small businesses and small business today, and i couldn't be more thankful for the business leaders who have taken time-out of your days -- today, of course, is labor day. and so part of the work that we've been doing today is to honor the men and women of labor, including -- we talked about this -- the pride that milwaukee and so many of us have in organized labor. the lieutenant governor talked about that. and what we must do to always support the working man and woman to engage in collective bargaining and have all the wages and benefits that come with a hard day's work and acknowledge the dignity of work. with that, lieutenant governor, i'm going to pass the mic for to
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you make some statements. >> all right, cool. thank you so much. i just want to thank you for being here. i want to remind people that this is the senator's very first trip, so we are excited to be able to participate. i think i speak for everybody in this room as we know how crucial the state of which is is, especially the city of milwaukee will be in an election. it is important to have leaders who care, leaders who are going to show up and listen to the concerns, especially with so many black business owners here at the table right now. and you juxtapose that with the white house's recent decision to cancel all trainings related to race. and it's unfortunate that at a time we have so many disparities in the state of city of milwaukee and the state of wisconsin, he won't respond to a crisis within a crisis. we are lucky to have the soon to be vice-president here today.
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i'll pass it back to you before we get out of here. >> we're going to jump out of this for a moment. that was lieutenant governor mandela barnes. that's also senator kamala harris. she made a business stop talking to black business leaders and the way the government and private financing can help lift up communities if biden/harris ticket were to be elected in november. we're going to sneak in a very short break. and on the other side, we're going to continue our conversation with jon meacham about john lewis. stay with us. with usople love filling out forms? maybe they like checking with their supervisor to see how much vacation time they have. or sending corporate their expense reports. i'll let you in on a little secret. they don't. by empowering employees to manage their own tasks, paycom frees you to focus on the business of business.
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with a focus on customized insights. so you're ready for today. my wife and daughter had been killed in an automobile crash, and lying in the bed were my two little boys. i couldn't have imagined what it would've been like if i didn't have insurance to cover them immediately and fully. forty years later, one of those little boys, my son beau, was diagnosed with terminal cancer, given months to live. i can't fathom what would have happened if the insurance companies had the power to say, "the last few months, you're on your own." the fact of the matter is health care is personal to me. obamacare is personal to me. when i see the president of the united states try to eliminate this health care in the middle of a public health crisis, that's personal to me too. we've got to build on what we did because every american
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now, we're back with jon meacham to continue the conversation we were having a moment ago. his book about john lewis is called "his truth is marching on: john lewis and the power of hope." sorry about the interruption. we were talking when how john lewis would say, if you think it's bad right now and we can't move forward and come together, i invite you to walk in my shoes. continue on with that. >> all right. well, he believed fundamentally in the power of love. he believed that for all the forces of division, all the stumbling blocks a fallen world put in our way, that if enough of us, if you and i and enough of us actually oriented our hearts and minds in the right direction, toward generosity, not greed, toward selflessness
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over selfishness, that in fact we could bring about the kingdom of god on earth. he and i disagree about that. i don't think that's possible on this side of paradise. but i do know this. the example of his life, the fruits of his work are a nation and a people who, for all of our problems, are, in fact, better positioned to act as citizens and as stakeholders in this democracy today than we were when he started. so if you doubt the capacity of america to change, look at john lewis. as you said, he was born in segregation. he didn't see a white person except for the mailman until he was well into his teens. he was, again, 40 times taken to jail. he was taken to parchment which they call destination doom.
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his friends said it was a miracle he survived. they're surprised he survived. let's talk about what he survived. white supremacist white police. they were trying to enforce an order of apartheid. so i'm not saying that because things changed in the past they will change again. and john lewis would never say that. but what he would say is that his life is witness that if we vote, if we fight for the right to vote, that's the greatest form of nonviolent protest you can imagine. and to connect with what you just showed from senator harris, if when we see something wrong, as congressman lewis would say, if we see it, we should speak up and speak out and stand up.
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there is a problem with the capital markets into minority-owned businesses. it's a clinical fact. that can be addressed. if enough of us understand that, in fact, we are a stronger and better nation when we follow the path of a john lewis, not the path of a bull conner. >> jon meacham, thank you so much for sticking around with us and for tolerating that brief interruption in our conversation. >> it's great. >> we're always happy to have you. congratulations on the number one debut for the book, his truth is marching on, john lewis and the power of hope. jon meacham, thank you for joining us. and that is going to do it for me today. happy labor day to all of you out there, especially those of you who are laboring on this labor day. msnbc's continuing coverage picks up with my colleague steve kornacki right now. >> good evening. i'm steve kornacki at msnbc
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headquarters in new york, and we are now 57 days away from the presidential election. labor day means there is now a full core press underway from both campaigns. all four nominees, two for president, two for vice-president were out in full messaging mode today. the president speaking from the white house. joe biden in the battle ground state of pennsylvania and the vice-presidential candidate, each of them in the critical state of wisconsin. this afternoon trump defended his handling of the coronavirus and continued to talk up the possibility of a coming vaccine while also attacking senator kamala harris for saying that she wouldn't necessarily trust a vaccine that's been approved by the trump administration before election day. >> under my leadership we'll produce a vaccine in record time. biden and his very liberal running mate, the most liberal person in congress, by the way, is not a competent person in my
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