month. the president is giving remarks in virginia on lower health care costs but it is where he is doing, a swing district, a congressman who has been critical at times of the president on his agenda. this is showing a test, do the swing district representatives want to have president biden with them. the early answer seems to be yes. thanks for getting up "way too early" with us. now we have "morning joe". now we have nancy pelosi's police spying on congress. >> we have so much in common. we both love soup. >> what is the soup du jour? >> it is the soup of the day. >> that sounds good. i'll have that. >> nancy pelosi's gazpacho. >> chowder. >> chowder! chowder? it's chowder. >> please, sir. i want some more.

>> what! >> gazpacho police. >> good soup. >> gazpacho. >> good news, you don't have to eat meat. i made enough gazpacho for all. >> what is that? >> it is tomato soup searched ice cold. [ laughter ] . >> go back to russia. >> nancy pelosi's gazpacho police spying on members of congress. >> oh, my god. >> oh, my god. >> the opportunities are endless. wow. >> and the money line out of there was barnie in the simpsons saying, go back to russia, when lisa wanted to serve the gazpacho. willie, let's be serious for a second. i don't like cold soup and i wish there were gazpacho police

around my house every time mika tried to serve that for me. >> it is good for you. >> no, no, no, no. >> it is healthy. >> but i mean it is tough. you have the gazpacho police. russian goulash, the sufrlg in russian goulash is just horrible. it is so stupid, but the dumbest part was what she was trying to get at. >> right. >> calling the capitol police like nazis because a guy left his door open. i don't know whatever happened to these republicans but they're so fragile and frail. a guy leaves his door open, right. leaves his door open to capitol police, nobody is in there. they take a picture, check out, make sure everything is all right. suddenly, suddenly these snowflakes are just, of course, freaking out and claiming that,

you know -- comparing the capitol police to hitler's storm troopers. seriously, it is really a comedy. it is just so stupid. >> yeah. i mean idiocracy was made in 2016 and mike judge was on to something when you watch the comments being made. by the way, gazpacho on a hot summer day, not bad actually. you don't want it with a dollop of historical literacy we got yesterday. she has a habit of making cheap nazi comparisons. she said the mask mandate last year was similar to the holocaust. she did later apologize. she shed medical staff coming in

to give vaccines were medical brown shirts. she just got it wrong and walked into a soup nazi reference tailor made for the moment. >> it is so ridiculous. the whining and they're not even good shock jocks. >> no, that's a good way of putting it, trying to get those moments and to trend. what are you doing? with us we have pulitzer-prize winner columnist associate editor of "the washington post", eugene robinson. chief white house correspondent for "the new york times," peter baker. congressional correspondent for "the washington post", jackie alemany joining us this morning. good to have you all. diving right into the news, two administration officials confirmed to nbc news the national archives and records administration has asked the justice department to examine if former president donald trump's handling of the white house

records violated federal law. sources tell "the washington post" and "the new york times" the request came after the national archives discovered classified information may have been among the 15 boxes of white house records that should have been turned over at the end of the trump administration but were instead taken to mar-a-lago. officials tell nbc news this all is very preliminary, but if the justice department does investigate the former president for this the irony will be quite rich as trump relished hammering hilary clinton during the 2016 campaign over the classified material found on her private e-mail server. >> some bad things came out today, you know, those classified -- you know the word, classified. she sent vast amounts of classified information including information classified as top secret. top secret.

okay. and this is where they said that she was extremely careless and, frankly, i say grossly incompetent. we can't have someone in the oval office who doesn't understand the meaning of the word confidential or classified. and may be classified at the highest, highest level. how sad. >> and here is a guy, mika, who revealed classified information, top secret information inside the white house to the russian foreign minister and the russian ambassador to the united states, like, his first year in office. just blurted it out and revealed it. so, again, the hypocrisy even going back then, just over-the-top outrageous. >> jackie alemany, following the different lines towards this, i was reading in yesterday

everything from ripping up things to putting them -- eating them, i mean like trying to destroy documentation in the white house. i can't -- i can't even imagine the visual image of having people destroy things that you know you are not supposed to be destroying, but also to removing them and taking -- they left as they came in, kind of strangely different and slightly corrupt. >> well, i think that that's why those clips that were just played are so important for everyone to remember, especially when this investigation might potentially lead to whether or not this was negligence or actually intentional behavior. but it is clear that the former president knew exactly what was wrong with doing these things. he called up nancy pelosi and hillary clinton on ripping up documents, taking classified information, accepting gifts, mischaracterizations because he knew it was politically damaging and gave the appearance of being

corrupt. that's what i think ultimately the doj is going to have to do if they decide ultimately to investigate the 15 boxes taken from mar-a-lago, which is what the archives has asked them to do according to our reporting yesterday. >> in an interview with "the washington post", a republican prosecutor from michigan said rudy giuliani and other legal advisers to former president trump asked him to seize his county's voting machines and turn them over to the trump team. he says giuliani contacted him two weeks after the 2020 election, after the county initially misreported and corrected an inaccurate election count that had biden beating trump by 3,000 votes in a district that's a gop stronghold. the "post" reports the inaccurate tally was an error that soon placed an trim at the center of false claims by trump that the election had been stolen. he refused the request and said,

we don't have that magical power to just demand things as prosecutors. you need probable cause. even with grounds to take the machines he added he could not have released them to a party with an interest in the matter. giuliani has declined to comment. jackie, this is your reporting as well. i mean between that and the georgia known call, i mean this administration seemed to be culling for improper votes. >> yeah. >> in any way they could. >> somehow -- well, it is amazing first of all we are continuing to find so much new information that has yet to be uncovered, which is exactly what the january 6th committee is doing. but this story especially is just fairly shocking because it shows them actually trying to implement some of their plans that we've seen sketched out in executive orders to seize voting machines. here is a situation where they dialled in on a specific county and were -- and found a reason to do so despite it being obviously quite unconstitution. even in the conversations i've had just in the past few months there are still a lot of people involved with this effort who

believed that these voting machines needed to be seized to be protected so they could prove fraud. these people are true believers and i have to give credit to my colleagues emma brown and john swain who did the heavy lifting on this pretty bonkers story. >> giuliani did go to law school, right? he did actually -- >> he was a lawyer at one point, a functioning mayor. willie geist, jump in. >> peter baker, we are just getting in the last few minutes as this conversation goes on an excerpt from maggie haberman, your colleague usa new book. it is not coming out in the fall but it gets to this. i will read what "axios" printed this morning. while president trump was in the office staff periodically discovered wads of paper clogging toilets in the white house. most believed the president had been flushing documents down his toilet. your thoughts. >> first of all, everything

maggie has reported i'm sure is true. again, we keep coming back to the phrase shocking but yet not surprising. is anybody surprised that president trump doesn't have a lot of respect or president trump didn't have a lot of respect for the rules about documents, about how things are done, norms, standards, rules, laws? we knew from 2018 when our colleague annie reported that he was ripping up pages and aides were trailing behind and picking them up and taping them back together. these didn't belong to donald trump, they belonged to the taxpayer. he was putting paper unique into the toilet or some other way that was not recovered it would be a violation of law. there's a problem that the president's records act has no enforcement technique. as we saw with others, you can

potentially be prosecuted for classified information, but simply ripping up papers there's no way to get to the law and enforce it. >> if this plays out, the investigation continues. the select committee investigating the january 6th attack on the capitol now has subpoenaed former white house trade adviser peter navarro. the committee is asking for records and testimony from navarro. in a testimony committee chair bennie thompson writes this. quote, navarro has not been shy about his role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has even discussed the former president's support for those plans. more than 500 witnesses have provided information in our investigation and we expect mr. navarro to do so as well. the close ally of former trump was a key public figure in the effort to overturn the 2020 election results. in his own book navarro details a plan he devised with steve bannon they called the green bay sweep. it was meant to delay the certificative case of the election and eventually to change the outcome.

navarro has said former president trump and more than 100 lawmakers were, quote, on board with the strategy. navarro has openly discussed his role in planning to overturn the election several times including recently with msnbc's ari melber. >> we were going to challenge the result of the election in the six battleground states. we believed that if the votes were sent back to those ballot ground states and looked at again that there would be enough concern amongst the legislators that most or all of those states would decertify the election. >> do you realize you are describing a coup? >> no. i totally reject many of your premises there. >> you say, quote, pence refused to take my repeated phone calls about election irregularities despite a direct request from president trump to do so. what was your vision, that you would get pence to do that which trump couldn't get him to do?

>> i simply wanted to brief mike on what i had found. i had what we called the receipts and that's all the conversation needed to be. >> why wouldn't he -- was it wrong to try to overturn the election to keep trump in office? >> no, not legally. everything i did was clearly between the lines. >> those were two separate interviews with ari back in january, joe. just explicit confession of what he did to try to overturn the election. as he described this green bay sweep plan, as they called it, he said the only reason it didn't work, the only reason they didn't complete their coup is because mike pence didn't take the ball and run into the end zone. >> again, as we often say with donald trump, they're all saying the quiet part out loud. this is a guy who is admitting that they were going to try to undermine the constitution of the united states of america and were going to try to undermine a peaceful transition by throwing out the state results that had

come to the capitol that were supposed to be counted. so, yeah, that is a coup. it is just like, you know, i'm seeing, peter baker, it has been fascinating watch these republicans who have followed up with mitch mcconnell, who talked about the insurrection, saying, oh, it is not an insurrection, it is a riot or, you know, it is not an insurrection, that's the wrong thing to say about it, despite the fact some have actually called it, i think properly so, a terror attack. everybody's playing semantics games, games with words basically. it is what they're doing. when you have people charged with sedition for planning to overthrow the government and, you know, gun supplies stocked up on the other side of the river, former military people planning this all out, this is sedition. i don't know why it is so hard

for people like marco rubio to call an attempted insurrection an attempted insurrection, but other republicans too think somehow if they don't say those words, if they push away from sedition, even though there are rioters charged with sedition, that somehow it will all go away. i'm not exactly sure what they're trying to prove here. >> of course, now we have the rnc, republican national committee, describing it as political discourse. i think what is report to remember. there are two things here. one is what happened before january and one is what happened on january. what happened on january 6th was not just violence, just a protest went wrong. it was intended to stop the counting of the electoral college votes. it was to a particular purpose, to stop the transfer of power. >> and it succeeded for several hours. >> it succeeded for several hours.

the fact they didn't succeed more didn't mean they weren't trying to with great violence and great intensity. then what happened before january 6th leading up to it, that inspired a lot of people who were there on january 6th because they were told again and again by leaders they trusted that something bad had happened, the election had been stolen, fraud had been committed, all of which is not true, none of which has been proven at all. >> joe, it is like a collective effort to bend the truth. >> well, my gosh, just destroy the truth. that's been a collective effort for four or five years. gene though, you are so right and i'm so glad you said that they -- their effort was to stop a constitutional process, stop the counting of the votes. that is in the definition of a conspiracy to commit sedition, trying to stop a constitutional process, trying to stop members

of congress from passing a law, trying to stop any rightful governmental action. you just look again at the definition of sedition and it fits exactly what they were planning, it fits exactly what the january 6th rioters did. it is why there are going to be people that will be sent to jail for being part of a conspiracy to commit sedition. again, these republicans have now moved from, oh, they were just tourists, nothing to see here. ron johnson saying, oh, i wasn't worried about any of those people. now, if they had been black, oh, my god, yes. if it had been black lives matter, talk about him saying the quiet part out loud for him, oh, then i would have been concerned. again, oh, just tourists, nothing to see here. now they're saying, well, it is a riot. most of them will admit it was a riot and they should be sent to jail. it is a riot but it is not an insurrection. you can't say it is an

insurrection or, god forbid, you say it is terrorism. then suddenly snowflakes all over the trumpian right just meltdown and become whiny little babies. >> they absolutely do. you know, it is -- i'm glad we started today with the gazpacho police because that's kind of -- you know, that's -- that makes as much sense as what the republicans are trying to say about the insurrection, that somehow they're trying to draw this impossibly thin line between a riot that made members of congress fear for -- cower for their lives and vaccinate the chambers and stop the process, that's a riot. and this thin line between that and sedition, insurrection, a

coup, there is no line. that's what it is. they're not bending the truth when they say, oh, it wasn't any of this bad stuff. they're just lying. they're plain lying because they can't all be dumb enough not to -- you know, they're not all marjorie taylor greene. they can't all be dumb enough not to understand what happened because they were there. they saw it. >> well, you know, willie, the thing is here you look at what's been going on with the republican party and you start to understand why mitch mcconnell came out and was as forceful as he was. here is a party -- again, we are joking about the gazpacho police, but also all of this just screeching and whining from republicans about, you know, comparing capitol hill cops to nazis because they're just checking on their office to make sure their office is okay. the rnc attacking other

republican members, the rnc talking about legitimate political discourse and the rioting and, of course, trying to backtrack. but, again, that was in the resolution. all of the things that have been going on, all of the things they're doing to distract from what people like mitch mcconnell and i'm sure kevin mccarthy would like their team to be talking about, highest inflation in 20, 25 years, supply chain problems, schools not opening up fast enough, whatever it is, crime on the rise, a southern border in chaos, all of the things that republicans want to use in '22 to win big, they just keep getting in their own way every single day. >> yeah, they do. i think you're right. that's why the last two days actually we've seen mitch mcconnell come out and say ex

explicitly he believes it was an insurrection. he made the point that we were all there on january 6th, we watched it, everyone here knows exactly what happened. anyone else playing the semantic games is trying to wash away one of the worst days in american history. that's what they're trying to do. jackie alemany, my question to you as you cover washington, as you cover capitol hill, how many are willing to follow him down this path. how many of them in the house begin to come around to the position staked out by mitch mcconnell? >> i do think senators are more likely to follow in mcconnell's steps. they have less conservative con stis jensies. i want to make a point that we are drawing a distinction with the resolution that had the word nonviolent in it and that

didn't. at the end of the day these are lawmakers trying to draw the distinction between the efforts they were engaging in and fomenting in in the lead up to the insurrection. at the end of the day these are unconstitutional actions and this was a coup attempt. so i think, you know, this is lawmakers trying to sort of separate themselves from their responsibility and the accountability they should be taking for fomenting and encouraging all of these people who ultimately actually did the storming, which was the rhetoric that they were being fed for months leading up to january 6th. >> all right. jackie, thank you very much. great point. still ahead on "morning joe" we will be joined by two members of congress this morning, chairman of the house democratic caucus, hakeem jeffries, and congress david cicilline will both be our guests. plus, after dodging reporters for days nbc news finally gets

hold of minority leader kevin mccarthy. we will show you his new comments about the rnc's censure resolution and what liz cheney and adam kinzinger are saying in response. also ahead, more democratic-led states lift mask mandates as covid cases and hospitalizations continue to fall. and authorities reveal the cause of death for comedian bob saget. we'll have the latest coming up on "morning joe." we will be right back. "morning. "morning. we will be right back.th lipton. because sippin' on unsweetened lipton can help support a healthy heart. lipton. stop chuggin'. start sippin'.

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and went to sleep. no drugs or alcohol were involved. the orange county, florida, sheriff's department office released a death investigation report the day after he died, saying it found no signs of foul play in the orderly hotel room. the "full house" actor and comedian had been on comedy tour at the time of his death and was found unresponsive in a hotel room at the ritz carlton orlando and was pronounced dead at the scene. in the hours before he had performed a stand-up act at a venue in jacksonville. bob saget was 65 years old, joe. >> it is just such terrible, sad news, of course. willie, it reminds me always bit of -- remember natasha richardson was standing up on a ski slope, she just fell backwards, hit her head, got up, didn't think anything of it and then tragically died later on.

this is just so frightening and, again, everything about it -- you know, no drugs or alcohol involved. the room was orderly. he was packed, ready to go the next morning and just hit his head. maybe he -- you know, who knows. maybe he hit his head underneath a cabinet or something, but it is just shocking, shocking. sad news. >> you know, i had the same thought as mika was reading that story. i just had liam neeson on my sunday show four days ago and we had a conversation about his late wife, natasha richardson who, yeah, she was skiing had green run, an easy run, and hit her head and thought nothing of it. even if you think it is nothing, if you hit your head pretty significantly it is worth getting it checked out. what a terrible tragedy from such a beloved and truly hysterical guy in bob saget. >> yeah. more news now as covid-19

infections drop, several more states are lifting their mask mandates. we told you yesterday about new york governor kathy hochul ending the indoor mandate there. now four other states are loosening their restrictions as well. on february 18th washington state will lift its mask mandate on outdoor gatherings of 500 or more people. the governor there says an announcement on indoor masking, including in schools, could come as soon as next week. starting tomorrow rhode island will no longer require mask wearing indoors. the state's school mask mandate is also set to expire on march 4th. illinois will also see its indoor mandate expire later this month with exceptions for jails, hospitals and schools. massachusetts is set to end its school mask mandate on february 28th. however, districts will still have the option to require masks if they choose to do so. i think schools are the hardest

issue here, joe. it is just unfortunate that vaccines for kids, even under 5, couldn't catch up with this and be a part of the plan for being at school because that would solve the problem. >> well, it would certainly help. but as willie said and as we've known for sometime now, we've gotten a lot of data in and, of course, the chances of infection, the chances of negative results for younger children -- >> right. >> -- extraordinary low, even though sometimes it tragically happens. a bigger problem would be, of course, when they go home and may infect older -- >> teachers. >> -- parents or grandparents, also teachers. gene robinson, at this stage after two children being in suspended animation, parents, and i think rightfully so, have said enough, we've got to take the chance, we have to learn to live with this, my child needs to learn how to interact with

other children. even if the masks are off, if somebody in the room has underlying conditions they can wear n95 masks. but at this point most of the democratic governors are understanding that their constituents on both sides of the aisle have had enough. you kind of have the cdc standing at the door saying, hold on, hold on a second, we're not exactly sure yet, and everybody is sort of running over 'em and saying, enough is enough, we've got to learn to live with this. >> well, i think that's kind of the danger, is that as the cdc struggles to catch up with where people basically are right now, i mean everybody is tired of this. i'm tired of it. you are tired of it. everybody is tired of covid. that doesn't necessarily mean that, you know, 2,500 people are dying every day in this country from covid-19. so this is not over.

but we are at the point in many states -- not in all state, but in many states where the omicron wave seems to be on the way down. it has crested, it is on the way down, cases are way down, and especially in those parts of the country, i just think it is a good thing to take advantage of -- it may just be a respite from covid-19. who knows whether there will be more variants or whatever to come up. but to take advantage of the moment to release some of these restrictions, give everybody a bit of a break, and then we will see how things develop. you know, there's something of a problem in making that a blanket policy for the whole country given that these omicron infections are not uniformly down from coast to coast. >> right. >> but certainly in, you know,

the northeast and in many parts of the nation it seems to be over. let's give everybody a break. yeah, let's -- i think the school mandates can probably -- the mask mandates could probably come off. that would give you the opportunity if you need to later on, to say, okay, you know, we took them off when we could, now we have to put them back on. >> yeah. willie, i will say though the overwhelming majority of people right now who are having negative effects from, whether it is omicron or other variants, are the unvaccinated. it is like we said before, you know, if people want to smoke cigarettes it is a free country and they can smoke cigarettes. personally, i don't think i should pay higher taxes for their medicare and medicaid, but that's the country we live in, i

do. it is the same thing with people who are unvaccinated. if they willingly go against just basic medical advice, every bit as basic as smoking is bad for you and they don't get vaccinated, well, that's their choice. this is america. but i think -- i think most americans are like, hey, we're not going to shut down the country for another six months or a year because 90 percent of the people who are having serious impact from omicron are having it because they won't get vaccinated. that's their choice. fine. our choice is we want to get our lives started again and hope you're okay, hope you will get the vaccine, we will be thinking and praying about you, but let's open schools. let's open the country back up. >> yeah. there's no great mystery to this anymore. there's no statistical mystery. if you are vaccinated you could get covid but you are very unlikely to get sick, you are very unlikely to get

hospitalized and it is nearly impossible for you to die, though it does happen once in a while. i think, yeah, science rushed this vaccine out, they pulled off a miracle along with the government, the pharmaceutical companies. we have the vaccines. we have the protections. we know what to do. it is time to turn the corner, and it has been extraordinary to watch the dam break in the northeast on the mask mandates from new jersey to connecticut to delaware, changes in massachusetts and new york. it is beginning to happen right now. we got some great news from the winter olympics from team usa overnight. u.s. snowboarder chloe kim is first woman to win two olympic gold medals in the halfpipe. going back to back. the 21-year-old superstar was the only american to make last night's final. she won the event with her first run score of 94, which was nearly four points higher than the rest of the field. she is the best in the word. she was coming in and she delivered. meanwhile, 22-year-old american nathan chen followed up his world record short program with

a near-perfect free skate this morning to win the figure skating men's singles competition, taking the gold medal. the performance put to rest memories of a disappointing showing at his first olympic appearance in 2018 where he placed fifth after a disastrous short program landed him in 17th place after the first day. the 22-year-old yale student has come a long way from first taking to the ice at age 3 in his older sister's skates, becoming the first american figure skating champion now since 2010. chen's gold medal might not be the last he takes home from beijing. that's because team usa, which earned silver behind russia in the team event monday, awaits confirmation from the ioc and international skating union that the, quote, legal issue is dated to doping linked to the

15-year-old russian skater. she practiced as usual yesterday, just hours after nbc sports and other outlets reported she tested positive for a banned heart medication in december. the drug is banned by the world anti-doping agency because it can help endurance and increase blood flow efficiency. there's been no official decision at this point. it is still not known if or how it will affect the results of the team event or his ability to compete in next week's competition. the international olympic committee and russian officials declined comment so far. mika, she is the best figure skater in the world. some are talking about becoming the best, whoever did it, she is 15 years old, landing these quads nobody has seen before. >> wow. >> unbelievable. >> they won a gold in the team event. if they take the gold away from them, the u.s., which got the silver, would move up and nathan chen as part of that team would

get another gold medication. it is a heart medication. unclear why she was taking it but we should learn more in the next day or so. >> wow. 15 years old. we will be following that. coming up, you could call it cancel culture hypocrisy. right-wing figures are quick to defend those who spread covid misinformation but don't have the same outrage over the banning of books in schools and libraries across the country. we will dive into that next on "morning joe." "morning joe." [limu emu squawks] woo! thirty-four miles per hour! new personal record, limu! [limu emu squawks] he'll be back. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪

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♪♪ what a beautiful shot of washington, d.c. it is about 15 till 7:00 in the capital city. if you have to be at work at 7:00, well, if you are me you have about five more minutes before you have to get up and rush out the front door. i used to go across that bridge. well, i always cut it a little

close, but mika will tell you about that some other day. why don't we go from my driving habits in rush hour to the russian/ukraine conflict. i look at that bridge and it brings me back to waking up. oh, my god, i got to get to work. there we go. exactly. the problem was, peter -- could we go back to the bridge a second? the problem was i would be calling and i would have a meeting and people would say, where are you, joe? i would say, well, the draw bridge went up. they would say, joe, there's no draw bridge on the 14th street bridge, but that's my younger days. i try to get wherever now 15 minutes early because i'm an old man. peter, something fascinating happening. you know, the old saying was that politics was supposed to end at the water's edge, and, of course, that's been thrown out the window over the past 20 years or so. we have seen this week sort of a return to that, mitch mcconnell saying joe biden is making all of the right moves, republicans

pretty much saying the same thing, that he is being tough. some of his harshest critics on the editorial page of the "wall street journal" writing op-eds yesterday saying biden -- i can't believe, but actually saying biden is a man for this time. i'm wondering, is the white house picking up this bipartisan praise? because they're being much tougher than the obama administration was in 2014, and can we expect them to continue in this direction as the crisis drags on? >> what is interesting, joe, is this a return to a sort of bipartisan view of russia that existed before donald trump. remember, the last four years prior to biden coming in the republicans were thrown off their normal game because instead of talking about how bad vladimir putin was they had to keep quiet even if they didn't agree with donald trump's courtship of, you know, the kremlin. now that trump is sort of off the table, at least down in

mar-a-lago, they are able to return to their more normal, you know, view of russia, which happens to coincide with the democratic view of russia for the most part right now, especially as putin is threatening an invasion of ukraine. there's sort of a bipartisan consensus again with the exception of the part of the party led by tucker carlson which is saying, hey, why shouldn't russia get to have ukraine or at least dominate that part of its space. so it is a really interesting moment in that sense. it did kind of snap back to the more normal view of things because, in fact, it is not like republicans suddenly became enamored of russia other than trump and a handful of his, you know, circle basically. >> all right. we have -- >> you know, it is fascinating, it is fascinating, mika, on peter's point that u.s. policy towards russia, especially the republican party's policy towards russia was sort of schizophrenic during the trump years.

you would have donald trump bending over backwards, being an apologist for vladimir putin and for russia, but you would also, especially in the senate, you would have hawks passing some of the toughest sanctions against russia imaginable. obviously ted cruz has been a harsh critic of snowstorm strom strom -- nordstrom 2 and you are seeing joe biden moving his way a bit and saying if there is an invasion that deal is dead. obviously the sanctions against the german government, against that pipeline would also go up. but i suspect by behind the scenes, if they don't say it correctly, have agreed behind the scenes if there's an invasion then, well, ted cruz's view wins the day and there's no pipeline deal. >> and joe biden has been pretty clear about this, about if russia acts there will be serious consequences.

now, we've seen a push by a number of republican-led legislatures to ban certain books from schools, but the same voices who cry out against cancel culture they don't seem to have a problem with those moves. molly has been covering this for "the atlantic" where she is a contributing writer and joins us now. molly, draw the line of the hypocrisy you see here. >> well, it is pretty spectacular, right. you have the people defending joe rogan, who are saying that cancel culture is wrong, who have basically run on this idea that people are, cancelled, right, and they're notice saying when "mao" pulitzer prize-winning book is removed from the library and other books are removed from the library. there's a cancel culture going

on in america but they're not interested in it because it is censorship that conservatives are doing. >> did you find any conservatives that are speaking out on this issue or is it a ball of silence. >> in for now there haven't been -- conservatives have sort of ignored this. i would love to see it and it would be great if you could get someone like a barry weiss or one of these people who fought so hard for joe rogan, who is a multi-millionaire with the big contract and lots of success, would fight so hard for these books that are, you know, books in libraries and that children want to read. i wish that there was that same kind of crash-in for actual censorship. >> you know, it is so interesting also. there's also, molly, it is

extraordinary hypocrisy or maybe just stupidity. they could tell us whether they're hypocrites or whether they're stupid. this sort of blurring of the lines between free market decisions which, of course, as me as a small government conservative, i kind of like the free market. i like businesses to be able to do what they want to do. and then what is done in public space in libraries. spotify, spotify has the right to cancel anybody they want to cancel if they think it is in their corporation's best interests. the same with their bottom line. remember the freak-out on dr. seuss's family? i hope, you know, after i die if my kids have a chance to destroy every "morning joe" episode that i was ever on, i hope they'll destroy it! like let them do -- because if they somehow can buy the rights to this and destroy it all, i want 'em to so they don't have to live with that shame

throughout their lives. but they're like, oh, wait, the dr. seuss family doesn't have a right to decide what is best to protect their legacy. that's cancel culture. spotify doesn't have the right to make their decisions. tech companies don't have the right to make their decisions. the government should step in and take over these companies. yet libraries at schools, in public spaces, they're banning these books and we hear them say nothing about that. you talk about sort of an upside down world with these conservative hypocrites, this is it. >> book banning is low-hanging fruit for them, right, because we have a republican party where primaries are very, very trumpy now. we have this kind of performative trumpism, so book banning is very easy for them because there are a lot of conservatives, religious people who have always sort of had a little bit of a thing for book

banning. this is a very easy win for these conservative primary candidates, so you are seeing that. you are also seeing the parent tip lines where parents can complain about the kid -- about the teachers, which is another kind of academic freedom then which is extremely important and which was something that historically these conservative cancel culture people wanted freedom of speech on campuses. remember that? >> yes. contributing writer for "the atlantic." thank you for coming on the show. we appreciate it. still ahead, the latest inflation report is due out this morning. we will bring you the data and the impact it could have on interest rates. plus, push to rein in the power of big tech. we will talk to a congressman who is trying to keep companies like amazon and apple from gobbling up their competitors and why that's important. "morning joe" is coming right back.

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you had half of the stories it seems today in "the washington post", so you ought to be able to take a day or two off but no rest for the weary. what are you working on today? >> we are getting back to some january 6th reporting, also following where the national archives story is going exactly. we have heard that the contents of these 15 boxes includes gifts, memos, obviously the love letters from kim jong-un and now maybe some potentially classified information. hopefully checking in with our sources to see if the unpacking of these 15 boxes has gotten done, and then, again, getting back to -- we have a bunch of january 6th stories on the back burner and hopefully we can get those out the door as that investigation is coming to a conclusion in terms of the deposition and interviews that the committee is having and as they move towards their public hearing phase. >> there's some ambiguity, we certainly understand about

whether they're classified documents or not. houck do you think it will be until we have a better understanding of how many classified documents, if any, are in this stash? >> that's something we're waiting for clarity on. a dong yumt, if it is potentially marked classified that would be a little bit clear, but it is unclear whether the archives actually has the power themselves to decide the sensitivity of a document. that needs to be done by the department of justice, hence the wording, careful wording in our reporting. so, you know, we have not heard yet that documents are explicitly marked as classified, but that's something we are obviously going to be sniffing around on pretty hard today. >> all right. jackie, thank you very much. good to have you on. we will have more on that reporting ahead that jackie just mentioned. at one point in time republicans in congress had half a dozen committees investigating laurel canyon over the classified information found on her private e-mail server.

but with donald trump now potentially caught doing something similar or beyond, those same republicans are surprisingly silent. maybe democrats will have something to say. we will ask a member of the house leadership, congressman hakeem jeffries, about where it ranks among the party's priorities. "morning joe" is back in one minute. " is back in one " is back in one minute (music) ♪ so i think to myself ♪ ♪ oh what a wonderful world ♪

♪♪

it is the top of the hour and the sun has come up over washington. we are awake here in washington. welcome back to "morning joe." it is thursday, february 10th. eugene robinson is still with us and joining the conversation we have the host of "way too early," white house bureau chief at "politico", jonathan lemire. wake up. are you awake? >> i've been up for hours. >> i can tell. no falling asleep. >> my day started early. >> kurt bardella, a columnist for "usa today" and adviser to the dccc. it is great to have you on board with us. we will start with russia and ukraine as threats of a russian invasion remain high. the white house has approved a pentagon plan to help evacuate thousands of americans in ukraine should moscow attack. officials say u.s. troops from the 82nd airborne division could be called on to help americans

fleeing the country. these troops will begin to set up check points, tent camps and other temporary facilities inside poland in coming days. officials say the troops are not authorized to enter ukraine but will provide logistics and other support from the polish side of the border. according to officials, there are about 7,500 americans registered with the u.s. embassy in kyiv and thousands more could be in the country. the preparations by the biden administration come ahead of a major military exercise between russia and belarus that will start today near ukraine's border which officials fear could provide cover for an invasion. the military drills involving thousands of troops will last ten days. willie. >> so this bipartisan group of united states senators, hoping to reach a deal on a sanctions package to discourage russia from invading, appears to be at

an impasse for the moment. according to nbc news the number of issues senators were trying to address to get the bill completed is growing. speaking to reporters yesterday, senate foreign relations committee chairman bob menendez said, quote, i think there's some differences. if we can't broach those differences soon, then we'll have to figure what the pathway forward is. ranking member rich says time is of the essence and says they're making progress. the group led by them is at odds over how the nord stream 2 pipeline should be be used. this has been a bipartisan effort on sanctions over in the united states senate. where does it stand and how does it fit into the total package

>> good morning. you have the sanctions package for russia, and the one thing you can say about it is that it is really, really difficult. there are so many various strands at play right now. the more interesting question i find is that just the question of how exactly how the united states would stop the nord stream 2 pipeline. you saw that very uncomfortable press conference between the german -- the new german leader, olaf schultz and president biden, was that on monday or tuesday, in which chancellor schultz would not even say the word nord stream 2. that got a big response back in berlin. you know, this is a pipeline getting gas from russia to germany. germany relies heavily on

russian energy and chancellor schultz is not that thrilled about the whole idea of having to cut this off after the enormous amount of money that has gone into this pipeline. you saw president biden saying point-blank, you know, nord stream 2 will not go forward if vladimir putin invades ukraine. olaf schultz standing next to him just kept saying, we're united, we're united but he wouldn't even mention the words nord stream 2. we still -- i have not been able to figure out exactly at this point how the united states can stop that pipeline from going forward. it is in the hands of germany, not so much america. >> that's way wanted to ask you, jonathan lemire. awkward moments when joe met olaf. it seems that -- we have republicans saying the quiet part out loud. it seems like joe may have revealed something that he and olaf said behind closed doors

when perhaps they decided it wasn't going to go forward if there was an invasion, but olaf wasn't ready to say that publicly and the german chancellor said, well, you know, we don't want to really show our cards to the russians. can you give us any insight on that. did president biden misspeak or did he perhaps reveal a little bit more of their -- that one-on-one conversation he should not have revealed. >> that's the theory, because to helene's points, there doesn't seem to be a way he could turn off the pipeline. it is certainly a key flashpoint in the german/russian relations and germany slower to get on board with the u.s. deterrence than some of the other european countries. two other points to note here, i think it was striking. it struck me anyway, that the communications from the u.s. about getting u.s. civilians out

of ukraine. as one biden administration mentioned, we're not going through a repeat of afghanistan. and there wasn't a great mech michl to get u.s. citizens out of the country before the military withdrew. they're hoping to make this an easier process. of course, it is impossible to track every american in that country, but diplomatic efforts are certainly still underway. i can say it is not going that well. the british foreign minister and the russian foreign minister wrapped up a news conference in which lavrov walked off midway through and said talking to her is, quote, like talking to a deaf person. >> uh-oh. >> he said this to her face. lavrov being lavrov. >> yes, he is. >> and also saying this, that -- how russia deals with its own territory is not her business, which is interesting there because right now there's speculation this "own territory," does that mean ukraine? if so, that's pretty ominous.

>> oh, boy. no, no, no, no. >> gene robinson, i would love to see a one-man play on broadway called "lavrov being lavrov." you talk to so many people that are in the diplomatic field and, yes, despite the fact that he has been a thorn in the side of america for a very long time, even dr. brzezinski would quietly tip his hat. you know, the cold warrior of cold warriors would tip his hat at the fact that sergey lavrov always, always did a lot more what lot less than other diplomats. >> yeah. >> he is just a fierce defender of russia on the world stage. i would think if you talk to most ambassadors and most foreign ministers they would say also one of the most skilled. >> yeah, i think he's extremely skilled. so this was intentional, right.

>> right. >> the way he treated liz truss was intentional. you know, he has this mind meld with putin, and putin obviously gives lavrov the latitude to go out and do things like this, to be a very undiplomatic diplomat at times and to shock. at the same time liz truss is delivering a message to lavrov, presumably one he didn't want to hear. >> yeah. >> both boris johnson, the prime minister of the uk, and kier starmer, the leader of the opposition labor party are both in brussels today in sort of a show of unity. >> huh. >> basically to support nato policy against the threat of any kind of russian invasion. so there's -- you know, the uk

is kind of large and in charge in terms of being with the united states, arm in arm on this policy. >> yeah. helene cooper, jump in. >> yeah, the thing about lavrov though is that he is very aware of the political situation within the uk, and he knows that at this point in time prime minister boris johnson is under so much siege because of those covid parties. >> the parties. >> -- that he had, that he can come after him and he's smart enough to know that he can come after boris johnson and he can dismiss the current government in that sort of dismissive way and not have to pay that much for it because he's also tapping into, you know, the zeitgeist within britain right now about the johnson government. on jonathan point's point about the evacuations, i just wanted to say the pentagon, after going

through afghanistan, the last thing they want to do is evacuate americans from ukraine. they are -- already. they are very angry because they think that americans in ukraine are not paying attention to the state department warning. every military official. >> frustrating. >> -- that i have talked to is like, how many more ways can we say leave the country. they estimate there are 25,000 americans who haven't registered in addition to 7,000 who have and there's a fed-upped-ness at this point. we are giving you the warning, we are telling you the country is encircled by russia, please leave. >> president biden himself said so. >> joe. >> i was just going to say, helene, we had the same thing in afghanistan. all right. you had the state department repeatedly telling americans for six months, get out, we can't

help you, if you stay bad things will happen, we can't assure you that we can even get you to the airport from where you are, leave. there was one state department after another after another after another. americans in ukraine are being warned time and time again to get out. so what happens if there's an invasion? are we going to hear trumpists and people on the far right screaming and yelling about americans being left behind in -- americans being left behind in ukraine? because the state department and the u.s. government can only warn you so many times to get out of a country until you take that responsibility on your own shoulders for not listening to repeated warning. yes, it did happen. nobody wanted to say it at the time because afghanistan ended so chaotically, but the state

department had been begging americans to get out for six months. now they're doing the same thing in ukraine and, helene, i would guess, yes, military personnel and our intel community has to be enraged at these americans that won't leave because they will be the ones risking their lives to get them out later. >> not just that, but it has the potential to trigger something really scary. the biden administration, president biden has said repeatedly he is not sending american troops into ukraine. but once you get into the question of evacuating americans, you start -- you are going to hear people screaming about, do you send in troops if you have americans caught in any kind of cross fire, do you send in american troops, do you establish some sort of corridor with the russians and say, you know, we're going to be -- this is the highway, we're going to be pulling our people out of. at this point you have the

specter of american troops having to possibly go into ukraine to rescue americans, and then you have really upped the risk factor of something going wrong. >> okay. we're going to be following this, but we have other news to cover. two administration officials confirmed to nbc news the national archives and records administration has asked the justice department to examine if former president donald trump's handling of those white house records violated federal law. sources tell "the washington post" and "the new york times" the request came after the national archives discovered classified information may have been among the 15 boxes of white house records that should have been turned over at the end of the trump administration but were instead taken to trump's florida estate, mar-a-lago. officials tell nbc news this is all very preliminary. and then there's a new report this morning. "axios" reports while president

trump was in office staff in the white house residence periodically discovered wads of printed paper clogging a toilet and believed the president had flushed pieces of paper in the toilet. that's according to the forthcoming book by "new york times" maggie haberman that will be published october 4th. we don't know yet if those boxes of materials at mar-a-lago contained classified information, classified materials, but we do know trump tore up documents that should have been preserved. kurt, in your latest piece for "usa today" it is entitled- but hilary's e-mail." and you write in part this. given the bombshell revelations, coupled with their concern with federal government record-keeping compliance, you would think republicans would be

foaming at the mouth, chanting, "lock him up" and calling for an immediate series of hearings and subpoenas to be issued to anyone who was part of the trump white house, and yet nothing. crickets, silence. the very republicans who led the charge for investigations into clinton's e-mails don't have a thing to say about what trump and other senior administration officials did in apatient violation of the presidential records act. it is worth noting that at one point in time, republicans in congress had half a dozen committees investigating clinton. so, kurt, i mean the infraction is so obviously compared to hilary's e-mails, this is so much worse, and they are silent. there is a need for oversight and accountability, but it would take the republicans actually not being hypocrites. >> yeah. i mean, again, i remember during the run-up of benghazi -- again,

this is something that went from 2011 all the way to 2016. the last hearings on benghazi was in october of 2016, a month before the presidential election. there were at one point in time six different committees investigating this things, they had 33 hearings about clinton's e-mails. >> right. >> jim jordan was out there. right now he is the ranking republican in the house judiciary committee, he was calling for doj investigations, he was calling for fbi investigations, all because they were so concerned about transparency, accountability, keeping up with the federal records act. now they have nothing to say about the flagrant and blatant and warped, flushing documents down the toilet, aides having to piece things back together, you know, the archives having to go to mar-a-lago to retrieve 15 boxes, some of which contained classified information. now the republicans have nothing to say. for anybody who thinks we have the january 6th committee and we should leave it again, again,

you can do more than january 6th. this is about complying with federal records act. >> it could be about a lot of other things. >> you're right. kurt, another committee should get to the bottom of this and go all in. there can be two, three, four, five, six committee investigations going at the same time. certainly if you follow the republicans' game plan that you know so much about and that you talk about so much, and here is the thing. yes, they are being hypocrites. how wonderful to have pry time hearings that actually have people talking about donald trump taking records, official white house records, shredding them up, shoving them down the toilet, staff members coming in to testify and showing clips of jim jordan, showing clips of everybody else on that committee

talking about how sacred these official documents are and how horrible it was that hillary clinton, you know, did what we've found out it seems like so many people in the trump administration did with their e-mail accounts. and then again, the destruction of these documents and have the staff members running behind saying, yeah, we always had to run in and grab the documents out of the trash can and piece them together, the ones we could. the ones that donald wasn't flushing down the toilet. >> good god. >> i want to see that in a primetime hearing. >> yeah, joe. again, this hearing sells itself, right. you have the aides, tell us what you had to do, how did you get these documents, what process did you take to put them back together? >> we have clips actually flushing them. did donald trump go into the bathroom himself and put the papers in the toilet? >> did some poor white house aide have to go and retrieve it somehow? >> i wouldn't do that. would you? >> what was going on there?

my god. i can't imagine that. >> i wouldn't do that. >> we are talking hazmat gear i think. >> oh, my gosh. >> then you have someone like mark meadows, white house chief of staff. i remember when he was on the oversight committee talking about documents and e-mails. this guy is using personal phone, he is using -- >> we might have found the person. no. >> my gosh, there's a voluminous amount of people you could have the hearings with and it would be appropriate. all you have to do is set up the hearing by playing the clips during the hillary clinton era and say, this is why we're having the hearing and make them answer for it. >> it is an obvious double standard. some of the trump aides suggested in last day or so as president you have broad discretion what you can classify and unclassify. that may give him a little bit of wiggle room, like, hey, i was behaving appropriately. we heard every night in 2016 on this rally stage saying, hillary clinton abused her e-mails and it was a question of judgment.

that was the argument donald trump made, hillary clinton didn't have the judgment to be president because she would use her private e-mail account for government issues. this will be an issue. >> when you think sober, responsibility judgment, who do you think of but donald trump? >> given the toilet angle of the story, i don't think it is the last we've heard of it. kurt bardella, heel even cooper, thank you for your reporting. still ahead on "morning joe," spotify stood by joe rogan but will the podcaster stick with them after a huge offer from a conservative platform. we will have the latest on that saga. remember a few years back when a woman in spain decided to touch up a damaged fresco and made it look like this? something similar just happened in russia, only this time it was a museum security guard whose

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that helps you build a future for those you love. vanguard. become an owner. joe rogan says he is not leaving spotify after rumble, a right-wing youtube-style platform, offered him $100 million. rogan made the announcement during a stand-upset tuesday night. spotify has the exclusive rights to rogan's product casts in a deal reportedly worth $100 million. on a podcast tuesday he called a video of him using the "n" world several times over many years a political hit job. however, rogan also said it was a relief because it made him address the stuff he wishes wasn't out there. rogan talked about his own controversy during the stand-up set, covid vaccine misinformation on the podcast. he reportedly told the crowd, if

you are taking vaccine advice from me, is that my fault? what dumb stuff were you about to do when my stupid advice sounded better? if you want my advice, don't take my advice. joe. >> mika, that is such garbage. you and i both know people, actually close to us, that listen to this guy and take his advice. >> yeah. >> and they use his advice. >> and he was putting it out there as advice. he was trying to provide information, disinformation. >> right. and after he got covid, he talked about, you know, ivermectin and all of this other stuff. so, yeah, it is so hypocritical. come on, just give me a break. >> it is a lame response. >> it is a lame response. it reminds me, it reminds me of these comedians that actually are political commentators that will trash people nonstop for a year, and when somebody pushes back they go, hey, wait, i'm

just a comedian, what are you doing here, go. you are pretty sad if you are attacking a comedian. it is the same thing here, where he is giving advice three hours a day, giving his world view three hours a day. he has intense followers that follow him and then he goes, what are you doing, listening to me? why would you be so stupid to listen to me. the hypocrisy is crazy. willie, whenever i'm frustrated by this rank hypocrisy, you know what stories i love to hear about? bored security guards painting eyes on priceless works of art. do you have any of those dialled up in your juke box? >> today is your lucky day, joe. it is our top story. a nearly century-old painting in russia received a bit of a touch-up from a security guard who was bored on his first day of the job. >> come on, man. >> the work of art, featuring three figures, valued over a million dollars. it is a million dollar paint.

the security guard thought it could use -- >> a little hit. so he drew eyes on the three figures. >> no. >> using a ballpoint pen. according to the museum's curator the guard's motives still are unknown, but she believes it was, quote, some kind of lapse in sanity. restoration of the artwork could cost more than $4,000. it brings to mind an incident in spain in 2012 when an elderly par issuoner took it upon herself to restore a prized fresco of jesus cries damaged over the years. culturists said they had the best of intentions but her skills not the best. you know who else had lapses in sanity? vincent van gogh. >> exactly. >> let an artist be an artist. >> yeah. >> i agree. you know, who is the vegas guy

that owns the casinos. >> steve wynn. >> who unveiled a priceless painting and then was pushed into it. >> it was a picasso. >> no, it was not. >> it was a picasso. oh, my god. he leaned into it. that's a bigger story. the guy drawing the eyes was just sick of working overnights. i hope he gets a better shift. >> okay. coming up, this is someone who worked overnights for too many decades. coming up, the push for a more fair and competitive marketplace. rhode island congressman david cicilline joins us live to talk about bipartisan efforts to protect small businesses. that's next on "morning joe." that's next on "morning joe. (music)

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welcome back to "morning joe." 35 past the hour. european scientists claim they have made a major breakthrough

in their quest to develop practical nuclear fusion. researchers in the uk generated 59 meeting you jules of heat during a burst of fusion, more than doubling the previous record. it is the same process that powers the sun, becoming a viable and sustainable low carbon energy source. joe, this could be a potential game changer. >> it really could be. gene, it is one of the reasons i'm so optimistic about so many things. we somehow find a solution for so many crises we have, and if we are, in fact, going to tackle climate change we have to do what we can do in the short run and be far more aggressive about it than we are right now. but also the possibility of

nuclear fusion, that possibility as we move forward in areas like that could, again, give us an abundant energy supply with almost no carbon footprint. that's, again, a great hope for the future. >> yeah, that would be -- and you need it all really. i mean if fusion comes online, that would be incredible and it would be a game changer, certainly in the power generator sector. but you also need solar, you need wind. people -- you know, carmakers and eventually consumers are moving toward electric cars. that cuts down power usage. we have to do it all. but, you know, you can be somewhat optimistic, you know, not when you look at the temperature records and see that the hottest years on record have all been recent years and it keeps getting hotter. but, you know, it is not before

time but we are making progress. that would be a big deal. >> yeah. mika, you know, i saw an article yesterday about people who are -- i think they're panicking about climate change and they're having to go to psychiatrists and there are people in mental health field that are focusing just on people who are obsessing about climate change and who are spending their day going down this black hole of bad information, of all of the things that are happening across the world. again, i certainly -- i understand there is a real need for us to focus on climate change and be far more aggressive. if the united states has 4.5 % of the world's population, we as a practical effect have no larger carbon footprint you know, 4.5%. we have a long way to go to get there. while we are doing that, people have reason to be hopeful.

we need to give them reasons to be hopeful, and there are people that are working on technology, just like they worked on the vaccines. i think -- i think we will get there. we just -- again, we need to do everything we can though to invest in research that will help us, again, move in the right direction, especially on climate change. >> absolutely. so after more than a year of investigating, house lawmakers on the antitrust subcommittee just released a 450-pay report on how tech giants such as apple and google are able to skirt rules for their own benefit. this as the biden administration throws its weight behind bipartisan efforts to protect small businesses. joining us now, chair of the house antitrust subcommittee rhode island congressman david cicilline. in this report, what solutions do you offer, especially to

protect small businesses but also from these major tech giants from gobbling up everything? >> well, good morning. look, this is an investigation which we conducted over 16 months. it has collected millions of documents, had dozens of round tables and hearings, and what we concluded that these large platforms are really gate keepers. that they use this incredible market dominance they have to favor their own products and services, to charge exorbitant fees, to collect data from businesses and individuals who rely on the platforms and they use it to continue to maintain their dominance. it is bad for consumers, very bad for small businesses, bad for innovation. so we put forth not only what we found in the investigation, in a bipartisan way we developed a set of recommendations. we passed five bills already in a bipartisan way out of the judiciary committee. they are all designed to restore competition back into the digital marketplace. my bill, the american innovation and choice online, will set rules of the road and be sure

that they have to operate fairly and not disadvantage their competitors, create a level playing field and stop some of the worst anti-discriminatory practices they're engaged in, to bring competition back into the digital marketplace. >> so if you could pare down for us, what are some of the most important recommendations that have been made and what has been the response so far from some of the large companies? >> well, you know, i think my legislation as an example will prohibit these platforms from engaging in if kind of worse behaviors that, again, i will give you an example. facebook saw vine, which was a smaller company that did short videos on it. they excluded them from their gigantic network, eventually killed vine, they went out of business. who is now competing with facebook? a chinese company, tiktok. we want the competition to come here in the united states, and by preventing that sort of -- you know, excluding people from

their platform, gobbling up small businesses, we can have more competition. this is bipartisan. the american people by big margins are calling on congress to rein in big tech, but these technology platforms that have monopoly power are doing everything they can to protect the ecosystem that has generated profits never seen in the history of the world. despite the ads you see on tv saying, we want regulations, they don't want anything. they want to keep it the way it is to be able to behave like mon open lists, to generate more profits, to crush or be able to acquire competitors. we are battling the big titans of our time but the american people are demanding this. we see the danger of this, on january 6th there's a direct line between platforms that facilitate the dissemination of their information and because of the monopoly power you don't have the choice to go to other platforms and as a result you

have january 6th. it is a danger to our economy and democracy, and this is inconsistent with democracy. we are going to get this done. the administration has come out in support of it. my colleague ken buck has been the leader on the republican side, and we're going to work together to restore competition so we can benefit small businesses h. >> congressman, obviously the tech companies are at the forefront of the antitrust efforts. this week we had different headlines when frontier airlines said it would buy rival spirit for $2.9 billion, creating a significant size fleet. talk to us about that deal and what kind of scrutiny it may draw from lawmakers like yourself? >> well, i think the kind of concentration we are seeing obviously as a special danger of the technology platform because

these platforms are a part of our lives in so many ways. unlike the monopolies of the 20th century that resulted in higher prices, they're collecting so much data from the moment we get up to when we go to bed, they are collecting that data and using it in ways that are pernicious. we had hearings last week about the impact on the food supply and food prices because of market consolidation. we are seeing it everywhere. you know, the committee is going to continue our work in a variety of other spaces as well. we have a president and an administration that is the most pro-competition administration in my lifetime with people like jonathan kanter and lina khan and tim wu and the president himself, who issued the most comprehensive pro-competition executive order in history. we have everything in line in

the house and we're going to address all of it as the antitrust subcommittee of the house judiciary committee. >> congressman david cicilline, thank you for joining us and sharing that with us this morning. we appreciate it. up next, texas received more than $2 billion in federal funds to safely reopen schools amid the pandemic, but teachers there are asking where did the money go. we will have that new reporting next on "morning joe." that new that new next on "morning joe." let's go to marshawn lynch. what? man, you just ate the product shot! save big. order through the app.

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school districts say they paid out of pocket to buy masks during the latest covid-19 surge. this comes despite millions of dollars in federal funding given to the state to reopen schools safely. so now some faculty are saying where did that >> it's sort of been a historic infusion into federal dollars in the school district. congress didn't attach many striengs to it. now we're getting a better look under the hood, not everybody is happy. >> this week nancy trevino quit her dream job as a teacher in mccallen, texas? i had noticed earlier this was different than i was used to, it's so many more. >> reporter: already feeling overworked and underpaid, she contracted covid for a second time five days if, sick and without a negative test, she

says she's pressured by the school district to go back to work and that was too much. >> i started to get a reaction in my skin, hives, stress hives. that's when i told myself, my body is telling me, slow down, take a breather. >> reporter: she was given $50 million from congress to help teachers and kids return safely amid the pandemic. the teacher's union says it's among a number of texas districts where billions if taxpayer funds didn't get teachers masks and paid time off for covid sickness. >> we heard from a special education teach worry spent $100 of her own money on n-95s to keep her safe at work. our members are not asking for the world to turn in a different direction. they're asking to be provided with n-95 masks and tests and be able to take leave when they're sick. this is basic stuff. >> reporter: roughly $37 million was tacked for student learning and feeds, according to spepgd

plan. about 470,000 went to ppe and related supplies. other big ticket items, 12 million for a mariacci center and 4 million to expand a nature park. they say they care deeply about the staff and students, that all campuss have ppe and they receive no reports of ppe shortages after the cdc recommended kn 3595 masks, they have ordered them and funds have been spent appropriately with the focus on students and staff and maccal ensaid this week they talked about covid relief for teachers. two years under the pandemic, there is little transparency around covid-19 relief spending, while a staffing crisis continues to take its toll. >> when i was saying advice to a few of my colleagues, a lot of

them hugged me and said, nancy, i'm so happy for you, i wish i could leave. >> and because the schools were given so much money, but it's important to remember the first two tranches were specifically emergency funds that were supposed to bring students and staff back safely. that was the first priority for those funds. >> the white house feels it's one of the successes of the biden administration and its first turn in office, there is oversight to make sure it's spent appropriately. officials said it's something they will look into. >> nbc news' heidi pryzbilla, thank you so much for that report. still ahead, the president says he will follow the science when it comes to navigating the pandemic. but what about the politics? as democrats begin shifting their messaging on covid restrictions. we will talk to a member of the house leadership congressman hakeem jeffreys. plus domenic chu joins us to

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the family of nancy pelosi's gazpacho police spying on each other. >> we have so much in common. we both love soup. >> what is the soup? >> it's the soup dujour of the day. >> nancy pelosi gazpacho. >> chow down. >> ha, ha, ha, chow dear, it's chowder. >> hey, sir, i want some more. >> what? >> gazpacho police. >> soup. >> one large crab bisque to go. >> wait, dald, good news, everyone, you don't have to eat meat. i made enough gazpacho for all.

it's tomato soup served ice cold. >> ha, ha, ha, ha. >> go back to russia. >> nancy pelosi's gazpacho police. >> that's good. >> nothing for you. >> joe biden, oh my god, thank you. a view of the capitol at 8:00, my lord, it's gorgeous. you know, willie, it's just again the stupidity of it all, it hurts, it hurts. i mean, and the thing is, again, i guess this raises people money? i mean, people, obviously, we talked about it before, gave jim and tammy faye baker a lot of money. that didn't work out too well for them. so the congresswoman was talking

about an incident where a texas representative complained on tuesday that the u.s. capitol police entered his office, taking pictures of quote confidential legislative products back in november, capitol police, of course. they did not claim that he had been illegally spied on, saying a quote vigilant officer entered his office as standard procedure after noticing the door had been left wide opened for hours and, yes, if the door to my old office had been left opened for hours, i would love for somebody -- this was on a set, once again, these so-called law and order republicans that talked about law and order for a year, they defend people that bash the brains of cops on january the 6th calling them tourists.

calling them patriotic, these same people like you see american flags that troops have fought and died for to defend, that they raise iwo jima, that we planted on the moon what stands for freedom and they can't take that away. right. >> mm-hmm. >> they useded that flag to like bash in the head of cops. and so now again, you know, two stupids calling, confusing soup with storm troopers. but now they're attacking capitol cops and comparing them to nazis because they're going around doing spot checks. really this hatred for law enforcement officers, this hatred for cops,

thisvillification of cops who are basically doing their job, it runs deep into the republican party. you have people saying the hatred for the u.s. military when you have hosts who hate the u.s. military so much. they say the u.s. military is using hocks from afghanistan to attack americans. they hate the fbi so much, they say the fbi is going to knock down their doors and send them all to jail. i mean, there has been a hatred of the intel community. i mean, this is as kevin williams famously writes, the right is having their hippy moment and they hate cops, they hate the intel community, they hate the military. they say the military is coming after americans. i mean, it's really just sick. and this disorder, this is the disorder that we conservatives wield against in the 1960s and the early 1970s.

the reaction to the disorder is what really caused the rise of people like ronald reagan and modern conservative movement. it is now overtaken the extremists on the right and they hate cops. they hate capitol hill cops. but there just taking basic spot checks and they're turning that into some fascist action. it's really, really sick, they're attacking the very people that are trying to defend them every day, even though, eastern though they celebrate cops getting their brains bashed in for american flags. it's sick. they're sick, sick people. >> some of these radical republicans will have to make up their minds, whether they're the good guys or the bad guys. it appears they're the good guys when it serves their political purpose%. imagine watching the video we

are seeing and thinking law enforcement are the bad guys if all of this. the people on the bottom within an inch of their life, the bad guys here, the officers being squeezed into revoling doors, with some members, listening to the congresswoman from georgia, this is not new for her to make these wild historically illiterate comparisons to nazis, to the holocaust. she's done it before. she called that medical workers medical brown shirts for trying to bring the vaccine to communities. she compared mask mandates in the capitol to the holocaust in which 6 million yo jews were exterminated by the nazis and yesterday comparing what she saw in the halls of congress, she was trying to say gazwacho

historical illiteracy on display yesterday. >> it is really sick. i don't disagree with that. after running from reporters on tuesday, nbc news' garrett haake caught up to talk about the center of liz cheney and adam kinsinger, which plays into all of this as well as what constitutes legitimate political discourse. take a look. rse. take a look. . >> i think anybody that enters this building that it is not legitimate, i don't think that's what the rnc is talking about here when you talk to em. >> reporter: so do you agree with the decision? >> the rnc, i think the reason why adam is not rung again, there is a reason why he will have a hard time here.

i don't think she will. >> rnc's job is to help the republican party continue to grow, but the rnc has, they also have a responsibility to say their own opinion of others and i mean, i think a lot of republicans out there look at some of the actions of adam and liz and have real problems with it. >> interesting contrasting views between mccarthy there and mcconnell the day before about the role of the rnc in supporting republican candidates. both liz cheney and adam kinzinger have responded after mccarthy's suggestion, cheney is not planning to run for re-election. her spokesman says, quote, as everyone knows, truth has never been his strong suit. congressman kinsinger had more to say on the podcast on tuesday. >> i mean, my goodness, you know, having the title of speaker but then really being, you know, subservient to a

sophomore in congress who's crazy and a number of them, why would you eastern want that? the republicans may win the majority, but that is going to be, i think, when he is hostage to marjorie taylore do more damage to the party next ike e week. he looks like a feckless, weak man. >> adam kinzinger issiot rung for re-election, out on a limb, telling the truth about january 6th. as we have been discussing this week, more and more republicans, prominent ones, like mitch mcconnell are coming around publicly. they've held that view since january 6th, but are coming around to say it in public. >> they are it's really something just how much over the past week we've seen main stream republicans, the most powerful republicans start to speak out. have you not only the most

powerful republican right now, mitch mcconnell in the united states government, being very clear and unambiguous. you have the former vice president of the united states, mike pence come up this past week talk about donald trump and you see the divide in the republican party between the more establishment members and some of the more extreme members. and you have in the middle of that, you have kevin mccarthy, who is riding a wave right now inside of his own caucus. it is very interesting, two things as we always say can be true, you had a senator a couple days ago and i don't know why i always forget his name, the one from missouri, you have that senator who said that what the rnc did accurately reflects what rank and file republicans believe. i think that's true. you have mitch mcconnell, though, actually speaking to a

larger concern and fought just the extreme element of the base or fought even, you know, 50% of the republican party. but looking at what the overwhelming majority of americans believe about january 6th. you look at mitch mcconnell's statements, mike pence's statements, mitt romney's statements, liz cheney, adam kinzinger, they're in line with where most americans, are if you are not running in a gerrymandering seat, then you are going to want your leaders to talk more like mitch mcconnell, more like mitt romney if you have to win 78 wide in swing states like pennsylvania or ohio or north carolina or florida or other states, other states that are still swing states, so we do have a bit of a give and take in the republican party a. battle in the republican party. that's why i think you see senators who have to run state

wide taking the tact, taking the position the majority of americans are taking, you have house member who's are taking some of the more extreme positions, because that's what the people who vote in republican primaries and their gerrymandered districts think. >> well, here's what democratic caucus chair hakeem jeffreys had to say about rnc chair ronna mcdaniel's descriptions the of january 6th as quote political legitimate discourse. >> the c in rnc doesn't stand for committee. it stands for cult. it's the republican national cult. police officers lost their lives as a result of the events of january 6th. and the cult says, it's legitimate political discourse. they've come to that conclusion because they continue to bend the knee to the former twice

impeached so-called president donald trump. >> congressman jeffreys joins us now, to continue that conversation as we welcome you back into the show, what do you think the impact of this cult as you put it and these comments are on not only just the process in washington, but our democracy? >> well, good morning, it's great to be back. the american people have real concerns in terms of their quality of life every day, every month, every year as they're trying to raise their children and pursue the american dream. democrats are going to continue to work on these e those issues, to create the lower costs, to address inflation to work to keep the american people safe. the problem is, instead of having a main stream republican party that we can work with to solve challenges on behalf of the american people, we have a cult that continues to bend the knee to the former twice

impeached so-called president of the united states. so it impacts the american people. it impacts our democracy and you know i'm just hopeful that common sense republicans will take their party back. >> i'm gene robinson, a slightly different topic. but we have reports how the former president trump took boxes of government documents to mar-a-lago, they might have been classified documents among them. there is a report from maggie haberman's upcoming book about him flushing documents down the toilet. are democrats going to investigate this apparent breach of law? are there going to be hearings on this or is this all sort of left up to the january 6th committee? >> well, it is my expectation first and foremost the january 6th committee will continue to

follow facts by the law, be guided by the constitution, present the truth, nothing but the truth. to the extent there were violations of law, a federal statutes of the federal presidential acts because to cover up like behavior of the former president, i certainlily think that should be unearthed, presented to the american people in the most compelling way possible and hopefully acted upon by the relevant authorities to the extent the law was broken. no one is above the law. that includes presidents, members of congress and others. i think we'll see what the facts are at the end of the day and, you know, let the chips fall where they may. >> congressman jeffreys, good morning, it's jonathan lemire, it's a long time to election day. it's a long climb for democrats to hold onto the house, due to the party out of power usually gaining seats in the mid-terms. but this week, nbc news has

learned that later today, in fact, former president obama is going to be speaking in a virtual session to house democratic caucus you helped organize. tell us what brought this about, what sort of message do you expect from the foreman president to deliver? and how can this bolster your party as it looks to defend a very slim margin in the house. >> mid-terms are always challenging. i do disagree with the premise we are headed into the minority. i think the american people when they understand the stakes, both what we have done on their behalf to advance the ball to make life better in terms and the radical nature of the house republican conference at this moment, that we can make a strong case to hold the majority. now, we're excited to hear president obama articulate where he thinks we are at not just as a party, but as a country, how

we can communicate to the american people, the story that we have to tell. i think we have a freight story to tell under president biden's leadership. 6.6 million jobs created. more than any presidential american history. that's incredible. the fastest rate of economic growth in 40 years. that's incredible. unemployment at 4%, wages being you know up across the board. the omicron variant in retreat. president biden leading the effort to pass a monumental infrastructure agreement to fix our crumbling, bridges, tunnels, traps port system, create internet access all across the country, making sure we have clean water. that's anen credible story to them. we have to them nit a clear, concise, exempting way. . in part, that's what our messages discussion will be about light later on today. >> thank you so much for being on the show this morning.

new polling shows americans are ready for the country to open up. in the latest survey from axios and ipsos. 29% say they're looking to open up. with precautionles. 23% are in favor of keeping the precautions if place. for the least popular options, it's a tie between dock away with all mandates completely and increasing them even more. joining us now to help break down these numbers, a partner at the polling firm impact research, and, joe, you know, we look at these numbers, we think about the democrats and how they really need to position themselves as they head towards the next election cycle. >> yeah. they really do. i. to look at one of the last elections we have. bryant, i will tell you, the data out of the georgia governor's race is just so incredible and so revealing. we in the media look at terry

mcauliffe's statement, which, of course, he really did hurt himself with that statement. but it was that statement about parents not having a say in their schools coupled with a larger concern and why one focus group after another we heard the democrats closed our kids' schools and they weren't even sorry about it. they never even apoll -- i heard that in one focus group after another write read the ver base. what are you learning? what are you learning from that race? >> i think that's exactly right. i think that voters are getting to a point where they see the costs of the restrictions that we're putting in place. it doesn't mean they didn't support a lot of those restrictions, especially earlier on before we had the tools to protect ourselves. but democrats, swing voters have come around to see those costs and don't necessarily think that a democratic elected officials hear those costs all the time and see those costs and how much

they affect parents and everybody else. >> okay. sorry about that. so 29% look at reopening the country with precautions. can you look at how the democrats are representing themselves state by state by state, is there a disconnect when you have a lot of the country at this point feeling like especially when it comes to schools that children need to be given some uniform freedoms here? >> look, i think what you have seen is a little difference when the swing state democrats are very aggressive in pandemic measures and getting them under control in their states have been in this place for a while. you can look at some of the mid-western governors, where this has been the reality for democratic states for a while. i think a part of that is some

democrats confident to take the win, that things have changed in large part due to things we have done, due to things the congressman articulated before me to get this pandemic to a point where it is not a daily crisis for people who have used the tools, like the vaccine to protect themselves. >> brian, willie geist. okay. >> willie, you're up. >> brian, tell me just broadly about where the country ask i mean you kind of alluded it to in terms of these mask mandates and school closures and everything else. it feels, to use a term that has been used a little bit, that it's time to move on. >> well, worn out is the term that really struck me. i think it was a pugh poll, 60% describe themselves worn out by the pandemic. that includes people who will continue wearing masks, who will continue that are vaccinated. they've done the right thing. people are tired it's been years

at this point. >> hey, brian, jonathan lemire. i wanted to ask you about this. you are right, white house aides said the same thing to me, the virus is trending in a new direction. democrats should take the win. do you have polling error or thoughts as to what would happen if god forbid another variant shows up, some restrictions have to get put back into place. how does messaging about easing things up a up, play, in needed, we might put masks back on. >> i think that's a really good question. there is another thing we haven't seen, which is a much more deadly two people that are vaccinated strain that could change things again. i think people understand things will change from time to time. 83% of people think this is going to be endemic. i think people will be more that

than on a constant war footing. >> thank you very much, for this conversation and bringing us poll rules. we have breaking news from overseas, prince charles has tested positive for covid-19 for the second time. the announcement came just a day after the 73-year-old prince of wales and his wife. the duchess of cornwall attended and i vent alongside a number of top government officials. we'll be following that. still ahead on "morning joe", authorities reveal comedian bab saget's cause of death. one month after he died. plus the plan to block lawmakers from trading stocks is picking up steam. the latest on where that effort stands on capitol hill. before we go to break, it's thursday, which means we have a new edition of mika straight up, a podcast, i sat down with

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here's a look at other stories making headlines this morning. actor bob saget died of head trauma. his family revealed the cause of

death yesterday one month after his passion. authorities concluded that he accidentally hit the back of his head on something, thought nothing of it and went to sleep. no drugs or alcohol were involved. the orange county, florida sheriffs department office released a death investigation report the day after he died saying they found no signs of foul play in the orderly. the "full house" actor and comedienne had been on comedy tour at the time of his debt and was found unresponsive in a hotel room at the ritz carlton orlando and was pronounced dead at the scene. in the hours before, he had performed a stand-up act at a venue in jacksonville, bob saget was 65-years-old, joe. >> such terrible sad news, of course. willie, it reminds me a little bit of remember natasha

richardson was standing up on a ski slope. she fell backwards, hit her head, got up, didn't think anything of it and tragically died later on. this is so frightening and again everything about it, no drugs or alcohol involved. the room was orderly. he was packed ready to go the next morning and just hit his head, maybe he you know, who knows, maybe he hit his head underneath a cabinet. it's sad news. >> i had the same thought, i just hadley yam liam neeson, we had a talk, she was hitting an easier returns hit her head and died later from it. what i am hearing about bob saget, even if you think it's nothing, if you hit your head

significantly, it's worth checking it out. what a terrible tragedy from a beloved and truly great guy. >> joe rogan said he is not leaving spotify after rumble offered him $100 million. rogan paid that announcement during a standup set tuesday night. spotify has the exclusive rights to rogan's podcast in a deal reportedly worth $100 m on his podcast tuesday, rogan called a video of him using the n-word several times over many years a political hit job. however, rogan said it was a relief because it made him address the stuff he wishes wasn't out there. ro gap talked about his other controversy during the stand-up set. covid vaccine misinformation on the podcast. he reportedly told the crowd, if you are taking vaccine advice from me, what dumb stuff were

you about to do and my stupid idea sound better, if you want my advice, don't take my advice. >> we have team usa snowboarder chloe kim is the first woman to win two olympic gold medals in the halfpipe going back-to-back the 21-year-old superstar was the only american to maclast night's final. she won the event with her first run 64 of 94, which was nearly four points higher than the rest of the field. she is the best in the world. she was coming in and she delivered. meanwhile, 22-year-old american nathan chen followed up his world record short program with a near perfect free skate this morning to win the figure skating men's singles competition, taking the gold medal. the performance put to rest memories of a diso'pointing show, his first olympic appearance, fifth after a disastrous short program landed him in 17th place after the first day.

the 22-year-old yale student has come to way starting at age 3 in his older sister's skates, becoming the figure champion now since 2010. chen's gold medal may not be the last he takes home from beijing because team usa which earned silver in the team event want monday %, awaits confirmation from the ioc and international skating union, the legal issue holding up the medal ceremony in that event is related to reports of doping, thimpg linked to the 15-year-old russian skater kamila valieva, practice as usual hours after nbc sports and other outlets reported she tested positive for a banned heart medication in december. the drug is banned by the world anti-doping agency because it can increase blood flow efficiency.

there has been no official decision at this point and is not known if or how this will affect the results of the team event of her eligibility to compete in next week's individual coachtician. the international olympic committee and russian officials declined comment so far. she is the best figure skater in the world. some are talking about her becoming the best, whoever did it. she is 15-years-old, landing these quads that nobody has ever seen before. >> unbelievable. >> they won a gold in the team event. so if they take that gold iowa from them, the u.s. which got the silver would move up and na then chen as a part of that team would get another medal. it's a heart medication. fought sure why she was taking it. >> wow, 15-years-old. we will be following that. coming up, pe to navarro has been aer happy to talk about the election. the latest on the new subpoena handed down next on "morning joe." n the new subpoena n the new subpoena handed down next o

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. >> the select committee on the january 6th attack on the capitol, the committee is asking for records and testimony from no var ro in a statement, committee chair benny thompson writes this, navarro has not been sky to overturn the results of the 2020 election. the close ally of former president trump was a key public figure in the effort to overturn the 2020 election results. in his own book, he details a plan he devised with steve bannon they called the green bay sweep. the plan was to delay certification and eventually change the outcome. he said former president trump and more than 100 lawmakers were quote on board with this strategy.

no var ro has openly discussed his role several times, including with msnbc's ari melbourne. >> we were going to challenge the election in the situation battleground state. we believe if the votes were sent back to those battle ground states and looked at again, there would be enough concern that most or all will decertified the election. >> do you realize you are describing a coup in. >> no, i totally reject many of your mentions there. >> you say he had a direct request from president trump to do so. what was your vision that you would get pence to do that?

>> i had what's the conversation. >> was it wrong to overturn the election to keep trump in office in. >> no, everything i did were clearly behind the lines. >> those were two separate interviews in january, just explicit confession of what he did to try to overturn the election and described this green bay sweep. the only way they didn't complete it is mike pence didn't take the ball and run into the end zone. >> as we often say with donald trump they're all saying the quiet part out loud. this is a guy admitting they were going to try i to undermine the constitution of the united states of america and were going to try to undermine a peaceful transition by throwing the out the state results that had come to the capitol that were supposed to be counted.

that is a coup. it's like, you know, i am seeing peter baker, it has been talking about the insurrection oh, it's a riot. it's not an insurrection, it's the wrong thing to say about it. despite the fact that some calm it a terrorist attack everybody is playing a semantic game and games with words is what they are doing when you have people charged with se digs planning to overthrow the government and gun supplies stocked up. former military people planning this all out. this is se dichlths i don't know why it's so hard for people like marco rubio to call an atempted insurrection an atempted

insurrection. others think somehow if they don't say those words, if they push away from se digs even tow there are rioters charged somehow it will all go. i'm not sure what they are trying to prove here. >> they say they didn't mean the vie levenlts that's not what it said i think kalths important is one what happened before, it was intend to stop the counting of electoral college votes to a particular purpose. >> it proceed for several hours. the fact they didn't see more is they were trying to do a great violence and intensity.

they were told again and again to trust it that something bad had happened. none of which is true at all. >> coming up, do members profit from their positions? lawmakers free to buy stocks raising serious questions about the possible conflict of interests. we'll tackle that next on morgue joe. we'll tackle the way that they've always been. the world's been waiting for what you do. to be a thriver with metastatic breast cancer means asking for what we want. and need. joe. and we need more time. so, we want kisqali. women are living longer than ever before with kisqali when taken with an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant in postmenopausal women with hr+,

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in context for us? >> it's hard to paint this than anything the numbers you said point to. inflation is a problem, from wall street, the expects were very high for what this consumer-focused number would be and the reality was worse than expected on a year over year basis we are looking at price gains, you mentioned that groat year on year. that is a headline number. if you strip out the effects of energy and food prices, it is still 6% hire, which is the highest levels since 1982. we did see an immediate effect in the markets. interest rates for every part of the u.s. sovereign bond market

stockmarkets are falling, especially in the nasdaq, where many of the dig technology or media stocks are seeing much more effective. now the big issues, guys, are what now face the federal reserve in terms of interest rates. what does that look like? i the tell you they are pricing in more aggressive moves by the fed. if there is one silver lining, i don't want to be all about uncertainty, the effects of inflation were very severe and already in 2021 continue with that pace without showing a slowdown. you will hear that as a base effect. from last years ago it was so big, it will take so much more inflation for us to show big gains. so it could moderate in the coming months but with gasoline prices eight-year highs will

demand money from policy makers. >> to your point i am reading the ap story that came out. january inflation was .6%. the same as in previous month. prices had risen from october to to have and .november to october. so if you look month to month, it's going gone from .9. the numbers are high, we are starting to see a slowing of the rate of increase that ban the with $2 trillion on the side line. i know people putting $2 trillion on the sidelines when the pandemic was full force. now they want to spend that money, it will take a while. to your point, remember at this

point last year in 2021, we were starting to see the weening affect from fiscal stimulus. a lot of the recovery programs. we're starting to phase out in the course of last queer. exist maybe see more of a slowing down just because you don't have as much of that fiscal stimulus, the taxpayer money being put into the economy, as you had last year. also, if the federal reserve is going to -- by the way, this print really does show you that the federal reserve probably has a little bit of license and latitude to tighten rates because prices are running so hot, if the federal reserve removes that monetary or cash stimulus in the system, you could see effects in the coming months. the only issue, there's a lag effect, right. you can't just put a policy in place and have it immediately affect what's happening with consumer prices. sometimes it takes three, six, nine months, maybe a year. so it's going to be 2022-2023

before you maybe start to see some of the real easing in inflation concerns. >> and of course this is something that a lot of people have been concerned about for a very long time. you look at four years of the trump administration and tax cuts, massive spending hikes domestically, massive spending hikes even prepandemic, massive spending hikes domestically, largest deficit increases ever, largest debt increase ever. and that's been happening for a lot of years. the economy is overheated. cnbc's dominic chu, thank you so much. let us hope, mika, that the inflationary pressures subside a bit in the coming six months or so. but, again, it's going to take a while for all of this money that was on the sidelines, all the

money that was pumped into the economy to burn its way out. >> looking at historic numbers. joining us, former white house political director under president obama, now president and ceo of the center for american progress. why don't we start right there. wa do you see is the impact on the numbers we were just talking about on, for example, the progressive agenda, which is heavy on spending? >> it's an argument for it with build back better, bringing down costs for family care, health care, also drive down energy costs as well, which are huge drivers in inflation. mika, at the end, let's be cheer, the rate of growth of inflation this month is the same as last month, which is stag nanltd, and if you look over the course of 2021 versus 2019, the average american family has $340 per month more in disposable income now than it did then in

2019 before the pandemic. that's even when you adjust for inflation. if you look at the 5.7% growth of the economy last year, it's the highest it's been for years. joe biden and members in congress have taken actions already. it will balance out eventually. >> obviously still a big raw number, patrick. >> it is. >> so as much as we talk about the january 6th committee, which is critically important and has to be investigated, what people are thinking about right now is going to the gas pump and looking at the meter and seeing $100 up there or going to the checkout at the grocery store and getting that total. you say, what did i buy? everything just costs more. that's hitting people. so how do you, you know, square that message with what you just said if you are a democrat, let's say, running for congress or running for re-election this

year, that people are worried about how much everything costs and it's hitting them hard? >> that's the right question. the only way to answer that is to acknowledge what people are experiencing at the pump and e and at their kitchen table, remind them we have 6.6 million new jobs we have, the largest in decades in job growth in america, and make clear the parts of the agenda have have to be completed to drive down health care costs and drive down energy costs and then make a distinction between twha the democratic par si the doing on these issues versus republicans talking a good game but not taking action. you ask the right question. you have to acknowledge where people are at but clear what your path is to alleviate pain and the astonishing growth we've already had. >> on another topic, patrick, yesterday we reported on nancy pelosi signaling she now supports the efforts on capitol

hill to control stock ownership by members of congress. you write about this, a ban on congressional stock trading is about one thing -- trust. it's getting the backer of speaker pelosi. some republicans have resisted it, one senator saying it will prevent people from running for office, they don't want to come up here if they have to give up their investments. why do you think it's so important? >> well, tank you for raising this. i looked at this for market watch, time to put a line in the sand on this issue. this has been going on for decades. studies show that republican leadership over a 15-year period seeing 35% gains on stock returns. other studies have shown across parties, democrats and republicans stock returns over 36%. this is a bipartisan challenge and the average american isn't

privy to the kind of information that members of congress are that enables them to enlarge their portfolios. for the senator and other members saying people won't want to come to congress if they can't do this, well, you know, there are hundreds of millions of folks in this country who would love the opportunity to serve their country and would not be doing it to pad their wallets or stock portfolioings. there is bipartisan legislation that is up, excited to stee representatives stanberger, and it hits it in the right spot. it's good that speaker pelosi and schumer are rallying for this. for politicians, i defer them to former senators purdue and lofter out of georgia as a consequence of what they were doing during the pandemic and trading pharmaceutical stocks. >> patrick, a great op-ed, and it is an idea whose time has

come. i know when i first ran well over two decades ago, this was an issue that i was talking about that people continue to talk about, and it is just ridiculous that members of congress can trade in on their knowledge and sell stocks. thank you so much for the op-ed and for being here today. president and ceo of the center for american progress, patrick gaspard. mika? up next, a live report from ukraine on the simmering tensions there. plus, continuing coverage of this major inflation news on the economy. chris jansing picks things up in two minutes. two minutes. hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪

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...i'm feeling a little lost. quickbooks can help. an easy way to get paid, pay your staff, and know where your business stands. new business? no problem. success starts with intuit quickbooks. hi, there. i'm chris jansing in for stephanie ruhle live at msnbc headquarters in new york. it is thursday, february 10th. we're going to start with abruzzese and it's big, the latest inflation number out and it shows the biggest jump in prices in 40 years.breaking new latest inflation number out and it shows the biggest jump in prices in 40 years. the consumer price index is up higher than the jump 7% last month. as you can see, the year-over-year increases have been steldly getting bigger. if you've been to the grocery store, gas pump, you know prices have