well, we're new friends. to be fair. eh, still. if it's thursday the biden administration is planning to declassify a damning intelligence report which will likely put the u.s. and saudi relations on a pretty tough place. how will that play itself out? so far president biden hasn't yet connected with the king. will minimum wage make it into the covid relief bill? democrats are at odds over how hard to fight. and new allegations, new denials and new problems for new york governor andrew cuomo as a former aide goes public with allegations of sexual harassment. ♪♪

welcome to thursday, it is "meet the press daily," the biden administration will release an intelligence report that will conclude what a lot of people already knew, that the saudi crown prince mohammad bin salman known colloquially as mbs approved the 2018 murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. moments ago white house press secretary jen psaki affirmed to reporters that they remain committed to that report's public release. she also said the administration is considering a range of options to hold the saudis accountable for this action. this report's public release by president biden will mark a clear break from president trump's handling of u.s.-saudi relations. he downplayed khashoggi's killing because of the kingdom's lucrative financial ties to the united states not to mention his personal business ties with the saudis. abc news was among the organizations that confirmed the

intelligence following the murder. this public release, which will name and shame the crown prince will be a notable development, especially considering biden ran for president, vowing a hard line and a bit more of a confrontational stance with the saudis, to hold them accountable for khashoggi's murder. take a look at this exchange that then candidate biden had with my colleague andrea mitchell during the presidential primaries. >> mr. vice president the cia has concluded that the leader of saudi arabia directed the murder of u.s. based journalist jamal khashoggi, and executing non-violent offenders and torture. president trump has not punished senior saudi leaders, would you? >> yes, and i said it at the time, khashoggi was, in fact, murdered and dismembered and i believe in the order of the crown prince, and i would make it very clear, we were not going to, in fact, sell more weapons to them. we were going to, in fact, make

them pay the price and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are. and i would also, as pointed out, i would end, end subsidies we have, end the sale of material to the saudis, going in and murdering children, and they're murdering innocent people. and so they have to be held accountable. >> so will the release of this intelligence report be the opening move of this administration to make the saudis an international pariah? or not. mike memoli is outside the white house for us and with us is our chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell and robin wright, the author of several books on the middle east. mike, let me start with you. take us a little bit through the delay here. it's almost as if the saudis don't want to have this phone call happen, which one might understand. >> well, chuck, as the white house press secretary jen psaki just indicated in her briefing,

this isn't really a delay in the call. she's sort of downplaying the scheduling aspects of this as a little bit of miscommunication about when -- and misreporting frankly about when this was supposed to take place. it is clear here that this biden administration is taking a very different approach to saudi arabia than their predecessor. listen, joe biden as a former chairman of the foreign relations committee, as the former vice president perhaps knows as well as anyone the nuances, the challenges, the pros and cons of working with saudi arabia as a key partner in regional stability there. but i think what we're seeing is, in some ways, a reaction to the real red carpet that was rolled out by the trump administration to saudi arabia, a real change in the relationship under their administration. very much encouraged by jared kushner at the time. we saw something very unusual in the trump administration, which was first -- i was in the oval office for this meeting that president trump held in march within months of taking office, not with the king of saudi arabia, but with, at the time,

the deputy crown prince mohammad bin salman. he later did something again very unusual, made his first destination overseas as president to saudi arabia here. i think a lot of this is about mohammad bin salman directly. there's great discomfort -- great hope placed within the larger foreign policy community about him as a potential moderating influence in the regime there, but what we've seen, obviously, and with khashoggi's murder of the clearest example is very troubling signs here. and so what the biden administration is prepared to do with the release of this report is something it's required legally to do as senator chris murphy, one of the leaders on the hill of this just told andrea in the last hour, this is something the trump administration did not comply with, and so what they're doing in terms of releasing this report is not necessarily an indication of the broader concern here but you also have to remember, chuck, there are many members of this administration and the national security team specifically who are also veterans of the obama administration who saw another one of the pitfalls of the

relationship with saudi arabia, which was challenging what was a signature foreign policy initiative, which was the iran-nuclear deal as well. >> mike memoli, getting us started, thanks. i want to sort of emphasize a point, andrea, that mike made about basically, you know, donald trump was not subtle about his reasoning why he was not going to publicly condemn saudi arabia. here's what he told me two years ago when i asked him about khashoggi. >> if you're going to look at saudi arabia, look at iran, look at other countries, i won't mention names, and take a look at what's happening and then you go outside of the middle east and take a look at what's happening with countries, okay, and i only say they spend $400 billion to $450 billion over a period of time, all money, all jobs. >> that's the price, as long as they keep buying you overlook the behavior. >> no, but i'm not like a fool that says we don't want to do

business with them. if they don't do business with us, they'll do business are the russians or the chinese. we make the best equipment in the world but they will buy great equipment from russia and from china. chuck -- >> yeah, all right. >> take their money, chuck. >> andrea, he made it crystal clear, he was all about a transactional relationship with the saudis. and this wasn't a case where he was being subtle. he was -- he was oddly comfortable publicly defending them. >> you know, overnight i reread that "meet the press" transcript, chuck, and it was so clear it was transactional and also transactional in terms of personal business. going to riyadh as their first summit was such an extraordinary change from what's normally done, it's either canada or mexico, you don't go to riyadh and now most recently, not only jared kushner but we learned from the "washington post" that

secretary mnuchin that weak was in the region, in saudi arabia, came back after the riot but now has announced a private investment firm with saudi and other persian gulf states. making the revolving door more rapid. it's another whole issue. the question now is whether joe biden is going to do what he said to me in that november 19th debate, and try to make saudi arabia a pariah, or do something which chris murphy and others would recommend, you know, punish them, sanctions against members of the hit squad, others that we know of, not mbs, so that we can still have relations, he is the defense minister as well as the crown prince, he has recently talked to, you know, general austin, lloyd austin, our defense secretary. but he's not going to be in the oval office. he's not even getting a phone call. it's the president to the king, i believe it's tomorrow now because of the appendectomy

overnight by the crown prince but they're going to try to moderate it but i think this temporary freeze on the weapons to yemen is most likely going to become permanent. >> robin, when you hear that joe biden said we're going to call them out for the pariah they are, do you think we're going to hear president biden use the word pariah? >> i would doubt it and i would suspect a phone call with king sal man will be conjeenl at the beginning saying how important the interests are long term but i do think this is a turning point in the relationship that dates back 75 years to the moment franklin roosevelt met the founder of modern saudi arabia on a ship in the suez canal which began something that became -- saudi arabia became a pillar of u.s. foreign policy, not just in the middle east. this is a humiliating moment for the royal family. remember the young crown prince, aggressive and ambitious as he

is, wants to be not just the leader of saudi arabia but the new nassir in the middle east. he thinks he can provide the kind of regional leadership to find what the region does next and this is a way of signaling not just to him and the king but to the whole royal family in the united states is not rolling out the red carpet, is not going to engage with him as has happened in the past. this is a really tough blow, i think. the question, of course, is does the u.s. do something symbolic, like rap him over the knuckles, release the report or does it sanction, for example, seize properties of the crown prince and his family. something more than just a travel ban that says you're not welcome to washington again. >> yeah. andrea, what do you think -- how do you think israel and jordan and the uae is going to respond to this? i say this because the saudis, they've been -- look, they're --

they've forged relationships with a lot of our key allies, they're a key ally for security in the united states. how is our other allies in the region going to handle this versus their loyalty to the united states? >> and, you know, it's also complicated with the rest of the gulf states with the uae and the emirates, at a key moment also as the u.s. is trying to find some running room to negotiate, again with iran, with european allies and with russia and china, the other members of the original iran deal but to try to move beyond that iran deal, get back into compliance and then move on to missiles and iranian aggression in the region. they don't want to lean too much against the saudis, at the same time they're trying to, without getting too much criticism politically here at home for leaning forward and trying to reengage iran. it's very complicated.

they're going to try to walk on this balancing line. that's why you're not going to hear words like pariah and i don't think you're going to see the kind of tough sanctions. i don't know this yet, but they want to say something strong about the security and safety of dissidents around the world not being attacked, obviously, and dismembered the way jamal was, you know, jamal khashoggi was just a hideous, grizzly murder, maybe not what they intended, who knows but that certainly needs to be punished. but i don't think you're going to see the kind of tough sanctions that would endanger a relationship that is so -- still so critical. >> robin, what do you -- how do you expect mbs to behave going forward? does he become defiant, angry, or does he try to find -- does he try to play the long game? >> i think he's going to play the long game. remember, he's only in his mid-30s and he expects to be around as the leader of the king

tom for the next 30, 40, 50 years. saudi kings have a history of longevity. president trump was worried about saudi arabia turning to russia and china and the reality is that those military systems are not compatible with what the saudis have bought from the united states. they may buy some material but like many in the gulf there's a western bias in terms of they think the equipment is superior and they really turn more to the west in terms of where they think their security is long term. >> yeah. >> so i think he'll lie low for a while. remember, we're all in the middle of a pandemic. he has not been very visible. saudi arabia was supposed to -- and it did, host the g-20 and that was to be the moment last november that he made his debut and some even predicted a transition of power at the time that would have to then be recognized by the world and none of that happened because of the pandemic. so there's not much reason for him to be visible. >> and robin, any chance the king names a new crown prince?

>> no, i don't think so. i think the real -- the reality is that he is aged, he's in his mid-80s, he is ailing in multiple ways and he basically created a whole new royal family out of the 6,000 princes spawned by the founder of the modern kingdom. and he's -- didn't go to the next brother, or the eldest son among those brothers. he went, instead, to his fourth son. and so i think he's committed there. i doubt we'll see a change. the question is, will his powers be in some way diminished? he's consolidated all five channels for power in the kingdom. and i doubt he's going to give those up. >> and andrea, you know, it's interesting here, with president biden, here's a guy who, chair of the senate foreign relations committee, former vice president, had so many good personal relationships with so

many of those leaders over there, but there is some discomfort in sort of our professional alliances, all over the middle east. is there a leader that you feel as if president biden is going to be the one that he's like, that he can have the candid -- i don't think it's netanyahu, is it the jordan? >> no. probably, yes, who has been a reliable ally, the closest ally. netanyahu and biden clashed memorably when biden was vice president on his first trip to israel. and they chose that moment to expand settlements and got a tongue lashing from biden. it was really a raw moment. so i don't think it will be netanyahu, and we've got 30 days or fewer for the fourth election of netanyahu who has his own share of problems. >> well, mike, andrea, robin, thank you for getting us

started. the bigger observation we all know is we don't need saudi arabia's energy the way we used to which means the relationship and the terms of this relationship is going to continue to change. anyway, tremendous to get your guys' knowledge on to get us started. thank you all. up next, will minimum wage measures end up in the final covid relief bill? we are still awaiting that decision. how stacey abrams is serving as a model for black women changing to landscape all over the south. we designed our 5g to make the things you do every day better. with 5g nationwide, millions of people can now work, listen, and stream in verizon 5g quality. and in parts of many cities where people can use massive capacity, we have ultra wideband, the fastest 5g in the world. this is the 5g that's built for you. this is 5g built right. only from verizon.

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we will pass -- we will pass a minimum wage bill. we must pass a minimum wage bill. >> welcome back. it is another busy day on capitol hill but it's also a busy waiting game if you will. we're expecting a decision from the senate parliamentarian now.

seeing in the provision to boost the minimum wage and allow it to be passed through this arcane process called the budget reconciliation process. the house is likely to vote on their version of the bill tomorrow. as you heard a moment ago nancy pelosi erated during her week le press conference the house's veergs will increase minimum wage regardless of senate rules and we learned more about the security situation or lack thereof. the acting chief told lawmakers there were about 10,000 demonstrators on capitol grounds and 800 of them broke into the capitol. far more than the law enforcement was prepared to take on. and the senate just confirmed jennifer granhome, making her the tenth cabinet secretary confirmed for the biden administration so far. and tanden is looking unlikely.

the white house stands by her. and leigh ann caldwell joins me now from capitol hill for all of the updates. start with any moment now senate parliamentarian news, any hint why this has taken more time, more campaigning, more lobbying on each side of this debate? >> reporter: well, chuck, our capitol hill team is joking that perhaps she's waiting for all the senators to get out of town in about an hour to make her decision so she's not flooded with questions and complaints after her decision. so we don't really know, speaker pelosi said at her news conference earlier today the decision will come any minute. i texted one of my sources, and said is that accurate? and they said, wishful thinking. so no one really knows the timing, except for the

parliamentarian here but everyone's on pins and needles because it is going to be a big moment on how democrats move forward and we've talked about this before but if the parliamentarian says it cannot be included in the covid relief bill, she's not taking into consideration politics at all. she's only looking at senate rules and procedure. that is what she's basing her decision on. if she says it can't be included that perhaps is an easier lift for democrats to get this covid bill done. but we're checking our phones every minute. >> you just got at sort of the conundrum here, if you're in the leadership of the democratic party and your job is to get this bill passed and you're in the biden white house and your job is to get this bill passed, you're viewing the minimum wage thing as a -- well, it would be nice, but if we have to take it out, fine, let's do that. do you think they're -- do you think there are those that -- is

that the divide, it's less about the policy itself and more about, is this worth the fight over covid relief right now? >> reporter: yeah, well, that's what schumer's message has been all week to his members. he's been reminding them, do not sink this entire $1.9 trillion bill because of one or maybe two provisions that you don't like. and so to me that was a message to people like senator manchin and others who are threatening to do just that. so schumer's trying to keep his members on board regardless of what comes down with the minimum wage ruling. it just seems that this is the most contentious part of it. but minimum wage has also been a democratic priority for years. pelosi today said it's long overdue. it's been 15 years since it was last increased. and so i think that democrats are having to figure out how big of a priority and how important this is. or they might have to figure out

anyway. >> and it's through the roof. which is why there's a part of me that wonders if you're biden you know there's a bipartisan deal to be cut here if you made it stand alone, but it might not be to 15. another topic, the afteraction report on january 6th, this 9/11 style commission. i'm curious, is there a dispute between some democrats at what they want, nancy pelosi's first obviously offer had a lopsided, you know, more d's than r's, mcconnell complained about that. but jim clyburn seems to have hinted he would like to see something that's more 50/50. are all the democratic leaders on the same page here? >> reporter: that's always a good question and senator coons, who is not a member of relationship, but is one of the more moderate members, also said earlier today on tv that he would like to see a 50/50 split. so pelosi is, today, trying to

spin it in the sense by saying we didn't say it's seven democrats and four republicans, we're saying that democrats get to appoint seven seats, republicans get to appoint four seats. hinting that perhaps biden will appoint or democrats will appoint independents, or maybe even republicans to the board. but she's saying that that is really the easy part and she's saying that that's something that can be easily negotiable. what she's starting to focus on is the scope and that's what we heard from senate -- or minority leader mitch mcconnell on the senate floor yesterday when he suggested that perhaps, if violent extremism is part of this commission, then perhaps violent extremism, which what he is calling is happened at the social justice rallies and protests and looting sometimes in the summer should also be included. and so, you know, but what -- so the scope is what pelosi is now trying to focus on, not the makeup of the commission, but there is one thing, too, when

pelosi equates what senator mcconnell said yesterday on the floor, to senator ron johnson who is basically denying january 6th, she is worried, it seems, that she's worried that republicans are going to appoint january 6th deniers to the commission. >> yeah, well i get what she's trying to do there, almost make that a non-starter. leigh ann, i can't wait for you to one day write in your memoir, we're all on pins and needles, the parliamentarian speaks, run to the camera. not often we're waiting on that. we all would like to know. this hour, if it happens, the camera is yours when you need it. thank you. >> absolutely. >> we've got more coming up here, one more important item to note on capitol hill today. today earlier, i believe, the house is expected to pass a

landmark lgbtq rights bill. gender identity based discrimination, employment, the house previously passed a version of this bill in 2019. but it died in the republican controlled senate. and one last note here, on the latest development in the legal battle over trump's taxes, new york city prosecutors have the former president's tax returns and corresponding financial reports in the hands, officially, of investigators. nbc news confirms that manhattan da cyrus vance received the documents earlier this week. the supreme court refused to black the grand jury from getting the paperwork. not clear if these returns will ever be made public. governor andrew cuomo pushes back harassment allegations from a former aide. what this latest crisis means for cuomo and his party. keep it here.

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welcome back, moments ago white house press secretary jen saw see said new york governor andrew cuomo's accuser deserves to be heard, a former adviser is coming forward with allegations calling pervasive harassment by the government, including kissing her. she wrote "i tried to excuse his behavior, i told myself it's only words, but that changed after a one-on-one briefing with the governor to update him on economic and infrastructure projects. we were in his new york city office on third avenue. as i got up to leave and walked

toward an open door he stepped in front of me and kissed me on the lips. i was in shock but i kept walking," she's running for manhattan borough president. governor cuomo's press secretary released a statement denying the claims. this came on the same day that house republicans sent a letter to new york congresswoman and house oversight committee chair carolyn maloney, urging her to subpoena comeau to testify about covid deaths in nursing homes. we learned earlier this month that they're investigating that matter. overseeing the capitol bureau and its investigations. brandon, thank you for doing this, so let's -- just tell me the atmosphere right now, and albany politically, when it comes to cuomo, is he a man on an island, how under siege is he right now politically? >> well, chuck, i don't think it

gets any worse for a sitting governor at this time for someone who had been really on top of his game last year. he had a national audience for his daily briefings. many people believe that new york had really set the path for many states in how to deal with covid and had been doing what people thought were so many things were right about it. the nursing homes and the states, like many other states, the policy to -- the directive to have nursing homes accept covid-positive patients has become an issue that will not go away. initially they dismissed this as a political witch hunt by the trump administration and the justice department's civil division but recently that became an fbi investigation along with the eastern district of new york. so it's very unclear that they are the same investigations. in fact, the eastern district investigation may be based on

additional or other information. and then in the backdrop of all this, you've got now allegations of the governor's and his people, intimidating lawmakers, bullying lawmakers, and as you just noted, lindsay boylan, a former staffer with economic -- she comes forward in december, it's sort of died after her tweets about that. but she -- she wrote this very detailed essay yesterday and it has now brought even democrats saying this cannot be ignored. the question is, who's going to investigate it? >> well, and i guess is there a place that would go, is that something that the legislature would decide to do? is there, you know, obviously if this weren't in congress it might go to the ethics committee. you might have something like that. what would -- what would an investigation look like in albany of this? >> well, quite frankly it would like like a mess because the

joint commission on public ethics in new york state is -- many people believe that it's controlled by the governor's appointees. it has not done -- >> are these the folks he fired? did he fire this -- unceremoniously about a year ago. >> that was the moreland commission, that commission set the framework for what -- top political figures. but the jco is the joint commission on ethics. many lawmakers would not have any faith to get to the bottom of this and it doesn't handle sexual harassment. the governor's office of employee relations does some of the sexual harassment investigations for the state. it couldn't go there because it would be, you know, the political connections are too strong. the legislature also would not be a good place. so the next question is, would the state attorney general, or possibly the local district attorney in albany pursue an

investigation of this? >> yeah. so politically this is a man who doesn't have a lot of friends inside the democratic party, let alone the republican party right now. where does he go from here? i mean, is he -- the cuomo i know tries to keep going and will cling to this to keep running and not quit, or keep trying to run for reelection. but what's the rest of the party going to do? >> it's a good question. yesterday we saw a lot of key democrats, including the state senate majority leader issue statements condemning any form of sexual harassment. so they're not circling the wagons right now for the governor. earlier today his former chief of staff, his former secretary steve cohen, who is an attorney and also had been a member of the u.s. attorney's office in the southern district held an extraordinary conference call with reporters to essentially

argue for the governor, to act as a character reference for him and say that through the years he had never seen this sort of behavior. but this is troubling for the governor. you know, i think, you know, on one hand you've got to deal with an fbi investigation. the administration has been subpoenaed. they're fighting on that front. you have the state legislature, the republicans who are pushing for subpoenas of the governor and more of an investigation of the nursing homes and how that was handled. so he's taking it on all front seat right now and notably this week he has not held a briefing in a few days, i'll tell you that. >> bren dan, the three highest profile new york politicians are the two senators and aoc. kirsten gillibrand was the first senator to call for al franken's resignation in the allegations against him. i can't imagine aoc or schumer coming to his rescue here.

he appears to be on a new york democratic island here. >> he is. i think aoc has not supported him on this issue of the sexual harassment. kristin gillibrand made some comments on it. when he appeared at a press conference at a restaurant, the reporters gathered hoping to ask him about some of these things and the senator, who normally does not run from the press quite literally did, he escaped out a back door and into a waiting car and got out of there. so he is not -- >> you'll see a little bit more of that these days for the next couple days. bren dan lions, appreciate it, albany times, you guys have a pretty big story and a long year to cover it. thanks for coming on and sharing your perspective. >> thank you. an effort to change the face of politics in the south. we take you live to birmingham,

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in our mission to defend. cybereason. end cyber attacks. from endpoints to everywhere. welcome back as we continue to honor and celebrate black history month all this week msnbc is taking an in depth look at where the country stands in the struggle towards anti-racism. for many activists fighting against inequality means we're going to get more candidates of color in positions of power at all levels of government. following the democratic success in georgia this year led by activists like stacey abrams a new political strategy is emerging in parts of the south driven by black women. nbc's chris jansing is in birmingham, alabama, speaking with black women trying to change the status quo. the upset victory for doug jones he always credited mostly to black women organizing and supporting him.

so fitting that you're in birmingham. >> yeah, and they know that they have a very high hill to climb, not just from doug jones, but mississippi seat for governor that they thought they might be able to win that they didn't win in '19. look, they are using stephanie abrams as a blueprint, including putting together a coalition of voting rights advocates, community organizers and being very targeted about the voters they're going after, not just black women but young blacks and also poor rural blacks who felt disenfranchised and they're going to them where they live, chuck. take a look. in a state largely run by republican white men black women are shaking things up. women like arika, kimberly and nashombi. >> we keep running and going and building and encouraging, we keep inspiring. >> reporter: each runs an organization at growing voting power. >> nationally there's a

misconception about what's possible in mississippi. we will find resources to make sure that your voice is heard on election day, not even just stopping there, but to make sure people's actual meryl conditions, their needs of their lives are met afterwards. >> electricity just coming -- >> reporter: after a storm knocked out power and water in jackson, they're delivering food, building relationships first and then registering new voters. >> not only are they coming out but we're starting to see change. we get closer and closer to winning statewide office every single year. >> reporter: all across the south black women are leading. why does it always seem to take black women to get this stuff done? >> i mean, you're welcome. >> we're going to show america who we are. >> reporter: many of them young and inspired by stacey abrams' successful decade long fight to flip georgia. alabama's kara mccure founded black lives matter. >> it's the alabama we want,

we'll make small communities across the state the communities we want. >> reporter: there are recent successes, including the confederate symbol removed from the mississippi state flag. and while there is still a statue honoring confederate women outside the mississippi capitol these women are undaunted. >> we have hundreds of stacey abrams in mississippi working to change mississippi. that's an example all over this world. >> reporter: so they're determined but of course there are things that stacey abrams have that they don't have which includes she's a fund raising juggernaut. also georgia had a big influx, as you know, chuck of more progressive voters, something they're not seeing in alabama and mississippi but they will also say that you're going to be strategic about the races we're looking at starting local. if people had listened, if stacey abrams had listened 10, 15 years ago to folks who were saying this cannot be done, imagine where georgia would be and, in fact, where joe biden would be right now, they say just watch us.

chuck? >> well, chris jansing, i think the numbers are definitely there in mississippi. alabama might be a little bit of a tougher climb, but when you look at the numbers in mississippi, organization could go a long way there, anyway, chris jansing thank you for that great report. all week on the platforms of nbc news we've taken a deep dive into the state of the struggle following the summer's reckoning over racial justice. head to nbc news.com to see more of our in depth coverage. for powerful allergy relief plus a cooling sensation. live claritin clear. with relapsing forms of ms, there's a lot to deal with. not just unpredictable relapses. all these other things too. who needs that kind of drama? kesimpta is a once-monthly at-home injection that may help you put this rms drama in its place. kesimpta was proven superior at reducing the rate of relapses, active lesions

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this is a critical area where republicans and democrats agreed, it was one of the best meetings i think we've had so far and we've only been here about five weeks. it's like the old days, people actually are on the same page. welcome back, that was president joe biden yesterday after a >> that was president joe biden talking about supply chain issues, and it included a number of republicans, a couple who even questioned the election results. some that planned to object to the certification. and even one that did. yet the white house invited them and they were there. senator braun, you heard the president there. do you concur with his remarks that it was one of his best bipartisan meetings so far. >> he has not been here very long, but for my first meeting

there with him i thought it was excellent. we're talking about something like semi-conductors, things being built outside of the u.s., and in a state like indiana they are returning out of them. so how do you get the supply in someplace and move it around to make sure we don't shut down critical industries like the auto industry, appliances, and many others. because i thought it was fruitful, i thought everybody was engaged and had a chance to speak their own two cents. i like that, yeah. >> look, this is an issue where there is some broad support, but it is easier said than done. the rhetoric is all there. we have to make this stuff here. what's realistic about okay, semi-conductor plant, go. >> that's the disconnect, chuck. the business that i ran for 37 years pointed out yesterday that when you have a supply chain

glitch, whether at the manufacturing end or the distribution end, if you have a demand more than 5% than what you're currently used to, that causes kinks in the system. 10% shuts some of it down. what we have had with covid and so forth, a lot of that you can't do overnight. that's why i think the realism that set in, some of this will have to be pre-emptive and we may not get there on time on semi conductors. we have more things like minerals. you normally need time to fix the problem, you really do. >> all right, let me pivot to the minimum wage and present an argument. in taking the cbo analysis into effect, it may increase the

deficit. many businesses just got a massive tax cut that also increased the deficit. $15 an hour is okay, it's barely a living wage. we're not talking about people getting amazingly rich here on minimum wage. so what do you view is the downside to a $15 minimum wage. an advocate would point out these deficit issues saying a tax cut went to these business owners. >> i will qualify it a bit in this sense. i just got out of the budget meeting and it was a robust conversation that probably went two hours. my point was a big difference between main street, places like indiana, and wall street with the businesses that are touting $15 and $16 per hour minimum

wages. the business i have always pride d in raising wages and raised eyebrows when i said that is a responsibility of business owners if you want to keep good employees. if you differentiate it by the type of wage, training wage, part-time, time, then you're hitting a mark. but if you do it one size fits all, all of the jobs will be lost on main street. costco was interviewed today. i love what they're doing with their benefits and their $16 wage, it should be higher. many small businesses, the employees are like family, they pay their employees before they take money out of their business. you throw in a one-side fits all and you will eliminate some

jobs. i think it should be more thought out, not rushed. there is inequality in this country mostly between large corporations and people at the lower end coming into the labor market. >> is there a better way to incentivize wage increases? i don't think they have had the impact the wages that many said they would. >> kids and a good young executive team run it now. we raised wages for truck drivers, and the lowest unemployment in the state, we bid up the wages and the market will be what dictates it and then you will see where there is, i think more obligation to do wa is in the spirit of what

bernie sanders is talking about where the larger companies kind of brag about it. those tax cuts mostly went to big c corporations that were paying and effective tax rate lower than the new nominal rate at 21%. main street, you know, you got a little tax break, that's where you reinvest and you build those jobs, and there are two sides to that story, too. >> you sound like you're not a big fan of that tax cut bill. sounds like you weren't a fan of that bill, i don't have much time, but -- >> i wasn't a fan for c-corps being the only ones in mind going from 35 to 21. proprietorships, partnerships, sub-ss. that's the way small businesses roll and they got the break they needed from 40 to 30 roughly and that part was good, that should

have been the priority. just a few business owners in the senate made sure that happened otherwise it would have been the big guys begin that got all of the benefits. >> a short visit, but i appreciate you coming on. thank you for coming on to share your views, sir. thank you all for being with us this hour. we'll be back tomorrow with more "meet the press daily." "meet the press daily. fine, no one leaves the table until your finished. fine, we'll sleep here. ♪♪

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good afternoon. i'm katy tur, it is 11:00 a.m. out west and 2:00 p.m. in the east and it was exactly one year ago today that an official at the cdc told officials that the coronavirus would cause massive disruptions to our lives. >> i had a conversation with my family over breakfast this morning and i told my children that i didn't think they were at risk right now, we as a family need to be preparing for