tv Weekends With Alex Witt MSNBC February 6, 2021 9:00am-10:00am PST
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his, quote, erratic behavior. >> should former president trump still receive intelligence briefings? >> i think not. >> why not? >> because of his erratic behavior related to the insurrection. i just think there's no need for him to have an intelligence briefing. what value is giving him an intelligence briefing? what impact does it have at all other than the fact he might slip and say something? >> also in that interview, the president talks about covid relief and what parts of his aid package are nonnegotiable and what might not make it in the final bill? we'll have a lot more on that in a moment. first, today marks one month since a violent mob stormed capitol hill and there are new arrests of those who participated in the deadly riot, including this woman, who is no in custody with her role in the attack. she's seen here in that pink hat using a roll -- pole, rather, as a battering ram trying to smash
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one of the windows of the capitol. she was also accused of using a bull horn to direct rioters. this all comes as we're days away from the start of trump's second impeachment trial. one person we won't be seeing or hearing from, however, is donald trump himself. his defense team confirming trump won't testify. a new reaction this morning from congressman ruben gallegos. >> well, this is more a typical trump move. this is not about defending his presidency, it's not about defending his actions, it's about, again, dividing america. it's a very cynical move because he believes and he understands the republican senate is not going to hold him accountable. >> there's a lot of new information to run through with the trio of nbc reporters and we will begin with nbc's mike memoli, joining us from wilmington, delaware, where president biden is spending his weekend. mike, welcome to you. in the past few minutes we're learning more from the white house on the former president and intel briefings. what do you know? >> that's right, alex. as we welcome you from the
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wilmington white house, as our friends kendis gibson, put it this morning. but we have seen the biden administration marking a break with the past administration on policy, executive order after execute order, undoing the policies and in some states reinstating obama policies. one thing we've seen as well is a conspicuous effort to sidestep some thorny selections involved by his predecessor as well. number one is impeachment. we will be talking about that shortly. but another has been a question members of congress raised about whether or not president trump should have access to intelligence as is the case for all former presidents when they request it. we saw the white house this week saying it would be under review by the intelligence community. but as you played there at the top, president biden was asked directly about this and he weighed in rather forcefully saying he didn't think there was any value in it. we just got a statement in the
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last few minutes from the white house press secretary and i want to read it to you, she said, the president was expressing his concern about the former president receiving access to sensitive information but he also has a deep trust in his own intelligence team to make a determination how to provide intelligence information if at any point the former president requests a briefing. some important things there to unpack in that statement. number one she's saying president biden, despite what he said yesterday, has not made this decision to block access to the former president to that intelligence. she's also making it clear something that i think is important for all of us to understand, why president biden, now in office, services access to the daily presidential briefing, full intelligence, most classified intelligence our intel agencies have to offer, former presidents don't have that same sort of daily access as well. they can request it, especially if they're traveling overseas. that is typically when they are offered that kind of intelligence. so an important thing there for the press secretary to try to sort of make clear. as you mentioned, president biden also focused on advancing
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his american rescue plan, that $1.9 trillion initiative. we heard in that interview yesterday as well, some of the areas he might be willing to buzz, especially where it relates to some democratic objections. joe manchin, the senator from west virginia, expressed concern about the minimum wage. take a listen to what the president told norah o'donnell on cbs about that very issue yesterday. >> i'm going to act and i'm going toing at fast. i'd like to be -- i'd like to be doing it with the support of republicans. i have met with republicans, really fine people who want to get something done but they're not willing to go as far as i think we have to go. if i have to choose between getting help now to americans who are hurting so badly and getting bogged down in a lengthy negotiation or compromising on a bill that's up to the crisis, that's an easy choice. i'm going to help the american people who are hurting now. >> so just to clarify my own
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comments there, of course, in an interview later in the day with norah o'donnell, the president did say he, of course, still continues to support the $15 minimum wage but he did indicate that's one of those things that may have to get dropped from the package in order for it to get passed threw the congress. >> yeah, a couple of things there and i'm wondering if maybe there can be an accommodation for the former president if he were to travel, those in charge of his security would obviously be made aware. nobody wants to see anything in terms of a security breach if he were to be put into a difficult situation traveling. the rest of it, we'll see how that all plays out. lastly, i love wilmington white house. good call, kendis gibson, duly named. there it is. let's go from there to nbc's monica alba, who's in west palm beach, florida, for us. so there's word today on trump's impeachment defense. what might we see from his attorney? >> we're getting a little bit more insight into how they're approaching materials they may
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want to present next week, alex. we're learning from this david shown and bruce castor, the only two currently named to the president's defense team. they will be physically laying out the case when the trial begins on tuesday. they have said most of the arguments will center on the question of constitutionality of whether you can actually vote to convict a person who is no longer a sitting president, somebody who is now a private citizen. but we're now also getting a few more details about what kind of video they're revowing. bruce castor talked a little bit last night on fox news how they may use footage and interviews from last summer's social unrest following the death of george floyd in terms of how you saw people get together and protest. they're going to try to argue on behalf of the former president, that was well in their first amendment rights and when donald trump spoke at the stopped the
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steal rally and urged supporters to, quote, fight like hell and head to the u.s. capitol, of course, then they breached the ground and engaged in that deadly riot. but here's a little bit more from bruce castor on their thinking overall just days before the trial. >> there's an awful lot of tape of cities burning and courthouses being attacked and federal agents being assaulted by rioters in the street cheered on by democrats throughout the country, and many of them in washington using really the most inflammatory rhetoric that's possible to use when you have the president of the united states give a speech and says you should peacefully make your thinking known to the people in congress, he's all of a sudden a villain. >> alex, that's what we do know. what we don't know so far is how long this trial is expected to last. donald trump's first impeachment trial in the senate was about three weeks. this one, according to david
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schoen and bruce castor, may only run one week but we don't have any timing or schedule yet from lawmakers on capitol hill. we also don't know if they will ask witnesses to come forward and testify. the president said he will not be doing so and he will not be submitting a written letter either. that was under consideration from the original team of attorneys who actually parted ways with donald trump since theyp cot come to terms on a legal strategy ens the former president wanted them to ensue baseless claims of election fraud. so far we have not seen those kinds of things with the new team but we will keep an eye on that. >> that's very interesting, monica. thank you very much. we will see you again. and joining me now house democrat head of the house, judiciary and homeland security committees and guest on our show we always welcome. thank you for joining me again.
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we will get to the impeachment in a moment. but i would like to start with the statement there's no need for donald trump to receive intelligence briefings. do you agree with that? is it you would like to perhaps not see him receive intelligence briefings but heard me suggest possibly, of course, get the information where it could affect the safety and security of his life, if he were to be traveling somebody not safe. can you do both? >> alex, it's great to be back with you. let me just say this, i think president biden was being very kind when he said there's no need for the former president to get intelligence briefings. look, we watched this president in action for four years. we saw him stand on the stage with vladimir putin in helsinki and basically do everything but ask the russian dictator for his autograph. we've seen him on a phone call with the russian dictator and
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refuse to ask him about bounty cans being put on the head of american solders. we've seen our former president snuggle up with kim jong-un of north korea. i believe this former president and i believe it with all of my heart, that he would use intelligence as a bargaining chip or sell it to the highest bidder. i prefer to join in on the words of my intelligence committee chairman, there is no need -- there's no circumstance where the former president should receive any intelligence, not now, or quite frankly, in the future. now certainly, alex, to your point, if the former president was traveling for some reason and, you know, american intelligence had information that could cause him -- or could increase his safety while traveling to another place, certainly, there would be a way to share that information.
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but even that information would have to be very clearly and narrowly defined. we don't trust our former president and neither do many of our allies around the world. >> yeah, that's been made clear. in terms of the interpretation of this though, does the intel question combined with impeachment, does it feel maybe while more into certainly your expressions and into the minds of many, does it feel punitive towards the former president, and if so, are you at all concerned about appearance could further splinter the country? >> alex, you know, having served as a former law enforcement officer for 27 years, we have to take action that the situation requires us to take. you know, it would be nice if we could have just sat back on some things and considered possibly political ramifications or how things would appear or be perceived. we don't have that luxury. you mentioned earlier, one month
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ago today, the violent mob broke into the u.s. capitol and threatened lives, assaults police officers, killed one. two others have committed suicide since then. dozens of others received great bodily harm. desecrated the most iconic building of democracy in the world, and that's at the hands of donald trump incitement of a riot. it has nothing to do -- we have to field questions every day, right, the president of the united states will have to -- donald trump was impeached and hopefully will be convicted because of the role he played in inciting a riot on january 6th. the question has come up, should he receive intelligence briefing? the answer is based on this intelligence committee member's opinion, no. the two really have nothing to
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do with each other. we're going to proceed with the trial, impeachment trial next week and you will see my colleagues under the leadership of jamie raskin, present a very clear and overwhelming case. >> yeah, when i think about it just at the bare minimum with the present having tweeted several weeks back in december, looking ahead to january 6th, and he said, will be wild. ask people to show up. and then also, of course, in person saying people had to fight like hell. that may have been all, that may have been the only two dog whistles that those two went on to attack the capitol needed to have, but as a former impeachment manager, which you had in the last year's impeachment, what is your big advice to jamie raskin and the rest of them? >> and alex, before i go there, let me go back to something you just said. let ugs not forget that several of the violators, law violators
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who showed up on january 6th, said they were following president trump's orders. so for the impeachment trial, you know, i have spoken to several of the new managers. i told them how proud i am of them and that they were chosen for the special talent and skills and abilities and delivery -- the ability to communicate, and for their own personal stories. i know they're going to do an exceptional job. what i have told them is just to remember that the stakes are so high and what you're fighting for, they are the true patriots and our democracy is everything. it is the foundation on which we build multiple american dreams. and that's what they are defending. because the insurrection, the attack on the capitol on the 6th was all about destroying our democracy, denying our democracy, overturning a free and fair election. and so i told them to just
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understand that how important the stakes are but they're the right ones to present our case and include some personal stories when you can about why this matters. why it really matters so much. and the president of the united states, i know the former president has chosen not to testify. that does not surprise me. i'm sure his defense attorneys would not want him to come in with alternative facts or ask us not to believe our lying eyes while listening to his words and watching the footage, which would just complicate their case. the impeachment managers are going to be on their a-game. and we'll see what happens. but i'm very, very excited to see them present the case on behalf of the american people next week. >> it's going to be something to watch, that's for sure. let me ask you about what we heard from trump's impeachment lawyers who told nbc news he's not going to testify at trial. he's not going to submit a written statement.
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the house lead impeachment manager wanted trump to testify. how important would his testimony have been? >> well, i remember in the last hearing, and i said i have never seen -- as we remembered the former president obstructed witnesses. he obstructed witnesses. he submitted written statements that war incomplete or full of falsehoods. you know what, i said last trial that i have never seen someone work so hard to cover up information, evidence or testimony that would prove their innocence. i'll tell you what, if the president can separate him and his responsibility for the shameful, tragic, horribly events that occurred on january 6th, i would think he would wouldn't to come before the u.s. senate and give his side of the story. he does not want to do that, and his defense attorneys definitely do not want him to do that. >> yeah, some of your democratic colleagues, while speaking on
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the house floor, described their experiences, their feelings during the capitol attack, their fear. let's take a listen to some of that. >> the events of january 6th are still burning in the memories of all of us. >> we know what it feels like thinking it is a real possibility that we would not see our families and loved ones again. >> the trauma from just being here, existing as a muslim, is so hard but imagine my team, which i lovingly just adore, they are a diverse -- i have lgbtq staff. i have a beautiful muslim that wears her hajid proudly in the halls. i have black women who are so proud to be here so serve their country and i worry every day for their lives because of this rhetoric. >> and i just remember taking a second thinking, if they touch these doors, if they hit these
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doors the way they hit that door, if they hit these doors and come anywhere near my staff, and i'm just going to be real honest about it, my thought process was, we bang until the end. >> rashida tlaib, wow. i'm fighting back tears listening to that. a month later, how does this attack still resonate for you? what are the questions that you still need to have answered? >> let me say this, alex, i was in the gallery that day. and as a former law enforcement officer whose dealt with a lot of violence and tragedies, there's not a day that has gone by that i don't think about what happened, not just what happened that day but what could have happened. sometimes what could have happened can really be the most stressful. there's not a day that has gone by, including weekends, that i don't discuss this, what happened on january 6th, with my
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colleagues. can you imagine being a member of congress who receives threats every day like tlaibia does, receives threats every day, and then you have this violent mob break into the capitol, basically trying to track down and hunt the speaker, talking about hanging the vice president of the united states, where do you think she thought she was on their list? and so i understand while it was a very extremely traumatic incident, members who have worked hard to become members of congress, to have to face a day like that, just days after taking their oath, is just disgraceful and it just takes me right back to the impeachment and everybody who participated need to be held accountable. the questions that still exist, who participated? we know we've made a lot of arrests.
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we still have a lot more to go. who funded this horrible attack on our want? why wasn't there stronger law enforcement presents prepared for the fight on that day? you know, usually local, state, federal get together and they're prepared in a more proactive way, not waiting for all hell to break loose on the phone call and then respond. i really think we failed in many ways, this body, congress, failed the capitol police on that day who were obviously not prepared. it is our job to get to the bottom of it, and we will. >> i'm so glad you will. they are all questions we're all wanting to have answered. relative val demings, you have an open invitation. if you want to come back tomorrow, that's fine. i look forward to speaking with you soon. >> okay. and the biden relief effort, when will it help the americans in dire straits?
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we are back with capitol hill's race for more coronavirus relief. democrats are one step closer to passing president biden's $1.9 trillion plan after the house passed a key procedural step. senator mariana sotomayor is joining us now from capitol hill. welcome, so what still needs to be worked out? >> we likely won't see that much movement this week when it comes to the bill because the senate will fully turn their attention to the impeachment trial beginning on tuesday. that, of course, causing a bit of a delay. however, that's exactly why democrats both in the house and senate really wanted to pass through that key provision you mentioned, the budget resolution, which they were able to do this past week. because it not only gets the ball rolling, makes sure that members and certain committees can put pen to paper on certain amendments and proposals, but it also, most importantly for democrats, allows the senate to
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be able to pass this bill without any republican support. and democrats are really trying to go big here, really trying to match that $1.9 trillion proposal biden put out in the first days of his administration. we're now hearing from president biden himself what he will negotiate on, what he will and won't compromise on, although he definitely wants to have bipartisan support. one thing he will absolutely not budge on is the $1,400 direct payment check to americans and a big reason why, it was a campaign promise. a lot of -- people can argue that senate -- excuse me, senate democrats were able to win the majority because both warnock and ossoff campaigned on getting those stimulus relief checks to americans as quickly as possible. but i want you to take a listen to what he said in his latest interview with cbs, where he very much talked about where he's willing to negotiate with
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republicans to make sure that those stimulus bills are very much targeted to certain income wage earners. take a listen. >> middle class folks need help, but you don't need to get any help to someone making $300,000 or $250,000. so it's somewhere in between an individual making up to $75 and phasing out and a couple making up to $150 and phasing out. but, again, i'm wide open on what that is. >> so you hear him there talking about specifically who should be earning that money, even though they will directly make targeting point at some point when they continue these negotiations again. however, he has said that $15 minimum wage proposal he pitched likely won't be in this bill. to answer your question on timing, of course, they have to now congress has to draft this legislation, it has to pass through certain committees. then pass both chambers. so we are seeing a long timeline but speaker nancy pelosi is
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saying they will put a bill on the president's desk before march 18th, which is when a number of extensions expire, alex. >> okay, mariana sotomayor, thank you very much for those details. i appreciate it. speaking of details, joining me to look at biden's economic plan is gene sperling, former director of the national economic council under presidents obama and clinton and also author of "economic dignity." gene, welcome. good to see you. let's draw on your experience. you've been through these negotiations before. so here's a noneconomic question, based on your experience, how quickly do you think this bill could pass and when you think americans could expect to receive their stimulus checks? >> i think the white house believes that there is -- there is a clear deadline and that's march 14th. because that's when the unemployment checks run out. so i think that they are very, very focused on hopefully trying to get this all through by the
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end of february, early march, so that money can get out and millions and millions of people most in need, those who lost their jobs at no fault of their own, due to this pandemic, will not see the type of interruptions in their unemployment checks that so many millions experienced under donald trump, and probably are still hurting and suffering from. >> so let's get specific on the whos. you have republicans and moderate democrats saying this particular round of payments should only go to the hardest-hit families and recently the white house signaled they may be open to narrowing specifically who qualifies for the payment. so who do you, gene, think should be eligible? >> i think that what president biden is doing is right. what he's saying is that, look, republicans are saying is suddenly now for the first time ever they're worried about targeting money to, quote, those in need. this is a little hard for some
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of us to take who watched them give more to those making over $5 million in the trump tax cut than they did to 60% of americans combined. what i think president biden is recognizing is that some of the people who may have had decent incomes in 2019 have lost jobs or lost income or have exceptional care costs, and so i think what he's saying is, i would rather make sure nobody falls through the cracks, even if that means that perhaps some people who have never lost their job get some, that's not the worst thing in the world. what he's saying is the worst thing in the world is to leave that person who's struggling to care for their family out in the cold. i should point out that there is -- this new census pulse data which shows that 33% of american families are having trouble with normal expenses. 50% of african-american and
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latino families. so i think he's doing the right thing and we're in a very deep economic hole, and i think you've heard it a million times, the risks are doing too little dramatically outweigh the risks of doing too much. >> so big picture, and i'm going to refer to an op-ed in "the washington post" from larry summers, of course, top economic adviser to former president obama, he called president biden's proposal ambitious and warned it could cause inflation. had you worried about inflation? >> you know, i just have a strong disagreement with what larry summers wrote in that particular column. we're in such a deep hole as we are, you have to make sure you have the firepower to get out of that hole even if some things go wrong, even if there's unexpected economic events. let's just remember where we are today. we are $9.9 million jobs behind
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where we were when covid started. we're over $12 million jobs just off the pace we were before covid started. we've just lost 178,000 jobs in the last two months combined and over 4 million people dropped out of the labor force. this is really not the time to be worried about are you going to do too little? if you asked me this way, between the risk of having a somewhat heated economy versus the risk of having millions of americans stuck in the type of long-term unemployment or evictions or foreclosures that cause tremendous dignity and long-term economic and emotional costs to people, i'm going to take the risk of making sure i help those people first and foremost. i am going to worry much more about not helping them than i am an inflationary surge we haven't
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seen in decades. >> you know, it's almost a humanity level approach you're putting here. i will put up the tweet you recently tweeted there. it's echoing a lot of the sentiments you just shared with me, gene. when you talk about the long-term effects of having so many people out of work for so long and the lasting emotional and economic and dignity harms, give me your biggest concern on that. >> this has been proven, look, most of us have gone through some period of economic unemployment, things being hard. it's tough. you scrape, you get by. it's different. when you stay unemployed for long periods of time, people often lose their house, their spouse, their health and many never recover. and, you know, this is something i have talked with joe biden about during the campaign. he is someone who really feels that pain of the person walking up the steps as he says to tell their children they've lost their job, and he knows that
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many, many of us recovered fine from the great recession. but he knows that those who didn't were those who were long-term unemployed, out of work for a year, two, three years, those who lost their house. those young people who came into the job market at the wrong time. he's not just committed to getting a recovery, he wants this to speed full employment, not just because he's trying to hit a particular stat, because he sees the human cost and that severe economic pain. >> he's among the most empathetic presidents we ever had. gene sperling, thank you very much. it's good to see you. thank you. >> thank you, alex. congressman marjorie taylor greene has been removed from her committees but does this leave her more time to raise her national profile while on the job? job? lf. so why wait to screen for colon cancer? because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers
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committees because it would be a waste of my time. you know who i am, i'm a very hard worker, and i'm proud of it. so now i have a lot of free time on my hands, which means i can talk to a whole lot more people all over this country, and i can talk to more people and make connections and build a huge amount of support that i've already got started with people that want to put america first. >> yeah, okay. after being stripped of her committee assignments in an unprecedented move, congresswoman marjorie taylor greene certainly isn't changing her tune. look at her saying now she's been freed to push the republican party even further to the right. joining me now is marlena maxwell, from siriusxm and host of the show zerlina on peacock, former spokesman for the house oversight committee and "usa today" contributor and nbc news think contributor. welcome all of you. i'm glad to have you. we'll go ladies first, zerlina.
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your reaction to greene's comments. >> she's not pushing the republican party to the right. she's pushing the republican party off of a cliff, alex. i don't think we really fully understand because we tend to try to do some sort much false equivalent and say she's pretty extreme like some people on the left are extreme. she believes in jewish space lasers and she believes jewish space lasers create wildfires. that's not a right or left position. that is crazy. so i think we're so stuck because we've lived through the donald trump era but i think in this new era, it's incumbent on the rest of us, people living in reality, to focus on getting rid of the bad faith and false equivalence that essentially got us here and we should stick to the truth and the facts and then move forward with the conversation about policies, whether you're on the right or the left.
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>> i mean, just looking at some of the things she stated she believes in, it's on the screen right now, which leaves me somewhat speechless but i will continue here. ashley, let's listen to something senator ben sasse said about his own party. >> cults are not conservative, lying that an election is stole inis not conservative, acting like politics is a religion, it isn't conservative. you're welcome to censure me again but let's be clear about why this is happening. it's because i still believe, like you used to, that politics isn't about the weird worship of one dude. >> very powerful statement. i'm curious what you make of that, and also house leader, minority leader kevin mccarthy standing by greene this week saying the party is big enough for everyone. is the republican party big enough for members like both ben sasse and marjorie taylor greene?
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>> oh, goodness, i don't think so. i think she needs to be rooted out. if she wants to take up the mantel of trumpism, be my guest, but that's not going to get her anywhere. we saw the violent insurrection that happened at the capitol and people like her, who are leading the party into an extremist organization, some could say even domestic terrorist party at this point, just considering the fact there hasn't been a solid condemning of the violence. she is exactly what needs to be rooted out of the republican party if they ever hope to have a majority again. and senator ben sasse and senators like rob portman, who are being pushed out of the party for their more moderate views and acts of bipartisan just shows you the wrong direction this party is going. so, no, i don't believe there's room for both factions to exist. i think they need to move more to the center and be able to work with democrats to get things done. people like marjorie taylor greene are not going to help the republican party do that and they need -- they need to be
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rooted out and kicked out of congress. >> so, kurt, we're going to take a look again at some of the conspiracies greene promoted. yet more republicans voted to remove congresswoman liz cheney from leadership than strip marjorie taylor greene from leadership assignments. i'm curious what that says about the republican party and what do you say? give me what i should say to someone just outside of work, i will say, who is a republican, ardent republican and said, yes, but i have to support the republican party so that's why i would support her. i'm a republican. i -- when i was trying to push back on that, i just kind of said okay. i didn't think there was any reasoning with that. >> i think people who don't align with these lunatic conspiracy theories who still want to associate themselves with the republican party, they need to realize, listen, marjorie taylor greene got a standing ovation from her colleagues at this meeting they had this week.
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this is the party of conspiracy theory. this is the party of falsities. this is the party of lunatic, deranged, unhinged thinking. there are not two sides of the republican party anymore. there's one giant side now that has completely cannibalized the other. there are some remnants of what the old party used to be, the ben sasses and mitt romneys and lisa murkowskis, perhaps. but by and large, the numbers speak for themselves. the republican party and leadership like kevin mccarthy made a calculated decision to go all in on trumpism, and there's no erasing it at this point. >> why? >> i think because they lack the courage to do what they need to do, to self-police and have self-accountability. i think about what happened this week, the country music community, one of the biggest stars in the entire format got caught on tape usualing a racial slur. the leadership in this nashville community made a decision to
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hold him accountable even though they knew it would be unpopular with the country music fan base, they still decided they would have a moral standard if you cross that line, you're done. imagine if the republican party had that same standard, that same courage to stand up to their base and say this is not right? leadership means leading, not following. and for too long republicans have been following the fringe and not leading. >> speaking of country music, maybe we've evolved somewhat since the member of the dixie chicks and they're calling out george w. bush and they got canceled big time. let me ask both of you, zerlina and ashley, the impeachment trials starts next week. we had last night one of the lawyers suggesting they would use video of congressman maxine waters and all of the video from black lives matter protests, that will be part of the defense. you first, zerlina, what your reaction is to that? >> i don't know why they're going to use that in their
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defense. it has nothing to do with what happened january 6th. because they can't look at the facts with what happened on january 6th with all of the documented evidence and firsthand accounts of the people who participated in the insurrection, they said donald trump told us to go. and so because they don't have a defense, they're focusing on smings that are not relevant, like the constitutionality of impeaching a president who's no longer in office or the first amendment defense, which doesn't have anything to do with this because there are obviously ways in which the first amendment -- you don't have those -- you can't yell fire in a crowded theater, for example. i think what their defense is demonstrating is they don't have one. so they're going to try to throw everything at the wall, again going back to the piece about false equivalence, there's no equivalence about anything maxine waters has ever said or done and the people who stormed the capitol and erected a gallo and said we're going to hang mike pence. that's just the fact.
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that's the evidence. that's going to be difficult to defend. >> last quick word to you, ashley, on this. >> to zerlina's point, the real issue here is that the trump campaign and trump team had a very hard time finding a defense attorney that was going to take this on precisely because of what zerlina just said, they have no defense for the behavior that caused a violent insurrection at the capitol and, therefore, is leading the republican party again to their deranged, unhinged side of history. >> yeah, i have a feeling representative jamie raskin is not going to tolerate too long trying to divert the focus. we will see what happens. good to see all three of you. you're all welcome back any time. thank you very much. all of you be sure to catch zerlina maxwell's show "zerlina" 6:00 eastern on the peacock streaming channel. up next, what are the risks of giving donald trump classified intelligence briefings and what might he do with that kind of sensitive information?
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new today, president biden is ruling out the idea of keeping donald trump updated on u.s. national security secrets. take a listen. >> should former president trump still receive intelligence briefings? >> i think not. >> why not? >> because of his erratic behavior related to the insurrection. i just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefing. what value is giving him an
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intelligence briefing? what impact does it have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something? >> joining me now is susan gordon, former principle deputy director of national intelligence. she served as deputy to dan coats during the trump administration and also held senior positions in the cia and also briefed five of the last six presidents. welcome, and i'm glad you're here. i want to make it clear joe biden, the president, has yet to decide for sure which direction this is going to go, whether he will keep the former president from getting access to these briefings. that said, did you ever think we'd be having this discussion, where a former president would be considered too unreliable to get intel briefings? >> good afternoon, alex. no, never, never imagined this moment. and i think that's why it was convention to brief former presidents because they're going to be statesmen and you want to
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make sure that they have a good picture of global security for either your interests or statesmen or their interest. so i don't think we ever imagined this. the reason i wrote the article though was one, timing, i was afraid it would get lost in the mix because right at the moment when i wrote the article, the trump administration of leaders was still in position and they couldn't really comment and president biden's nominees were not yet ensconced so i thought maybe we shouldn't get it lost in the mix. >> so, you agree obviously with the president, on this. >> i do. >> what did you see when you worked with donald trump that led you to conclude he should be cut off? >> so the first thing is apply the normal standards of classified information and that is, does he have a need to know going forward? i don't think there's anything that we see now that serves the
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national interest in him continuing to have access to classified information. so the beauty of this is -- >> let me just butt in here then. >> sure. >> what are the circumstances in which any former president needs to have access to this kind of sensitive information? >> if he's going to conduct a diplomatic mission, if his experience wants to be brought to bear. what is different about president trump in addition to the need to know is if you look at his foreign contacts, his attorney business and his foreign travel, all of that is a troubling security profile. and the second is his announced intent to perhaps seek office makes him a really attractive target to those who would do harm to us. just remember, it doesn't have to be his intent, it's the intent of others and then can he be used? and if he doesn't understand the importance of the information that he has, the pedigree of the
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information, he can actually be a really useful asset for foreign interests. >> interesting. were you ever, susan, in the room when trump was being briefed? there are reports that suggest that he engaged somewhat differently from presidents before him. i remember the rather infamous one about how everything had to be sin open sized into one sheet of information and the word trump had to be sprinkled liberally throughout that. do you get the sense he's even interested in post-presidential briefings? >> i don't think i do now, but i do think that if he doesn't have access to them, it will become interesting to them as it goes forward. so i think there's the decision the president will make now and then there's the question of ongoing because i think it will come back around. if you just look at the activities of the 6th of january, you're looking at someone who has tremendous influence and, again, that is someone who is really
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interesting to those who would do our nation harm. >> how about being in the room with him when he was being briefed, did you ever have personal observations? >> i was in the room with him several times. he was different from other presidents, but every president is different. a little more economically focused, a little bit more impatient. what i will say is the intelligence briefers, however, know how to deliver the message they need to deliver at the moment. so, stylistically, it could be a romp but as far as were we able to deliver the message that we needed to deliver, i never felt we were impeded from that. >> okay. susan gordon, it was a great op-ed in "the washington post," middle of january. i was very glad to read it and glad you could join us today. thank you very much. see you again, i hope. meantime, keeping the lights on, how the latest stimulus plan could be the difference between staying open and closing up shop as nearly a year of shutdowns crippled small businesses.
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to the latest on the coronavirus pandemic, most california residents have been under some kind of stay-at-home order much of the last year. now businesses are struggling and looking to president biden's relief bill for help. let's go to nbc's scott cohn. he's joining me from san jose today. scott, welcome, my friend. what is needed across the golden state there as far as covid relief? >> in a nutshell, alex, what they really need is a lifeline, continued lifeline, but as we come up on this one-year mark, small businesses in particular are still hurting. let me give you an example, the willow glen creamery right here in san jose, it's been in business for 18 years. the owner, jeff mullen, tells me he's down $400,000 in revenue over the past year. he took one paycheck protection loan for the first program. he's trying to get a second one from the second stimulus, said there's a lot more bureaucracy
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this time around and he's looking ahead to the american rescue plan being proposed by president biden. for those who say it's too much money to spend, he's asking that you take a long view. >> any kind of money that we can get is an investment for the next five years. it's not just, hey, you know, we'll give them $100,000. that should be plenty. this is going to, you know, help position us -- position us to keep hiring, you know, for us a lot of this is people's first jobs so we teach them responsibility, expectations. there's a lot to it. >> the needs in california are not that much different from the rest of the country, except for the scale in the state of 40 million people. they need help with getting vaccines out, vaccinations out in a state that has a poor record on that thus far. aid to businesses like the willow glen creamery, aid to state and local governments and
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extended unemployment in a state where the unemployment system has been a mess with $30 billion in fraud thus far and counting. alex? >> scott cohn, sobering report. thank you though. it is the most important event ever to play out at new york's yankee stadium. at this hour giving a live look at a long line at the legendary ballpark serving as a mass vaccination center. we will take you there. an repel. look how the shirt on the left attracts pet hair like a magnet! pet hair is no match for bounce. with bounce, you can love your pets, and lint roll less.
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