se brendan bucks. what do you expect out of this meeting today?e brendan bucks.ut of this meeting today? brendan bucks. what do you expect out of this meeting today? >> i think there is more to be gained by mike johnson. i'm actually surprised donald trump is giving him this audience. mike johnson is in pretty big trouble in his conference. standing next to donald trump is helpful for him. i don't know that it is enough to save him, but certainly helpful. i'm looking at it more curiously, what does trump get out of it. he is very transactional. so i'm curious the interaction between the two on the bigger issues that are in play, namely the aid to ukraine. is donald trump going to pressure mike johnson not to pass that aid. and so while they say what it is about on the face, i'm curious what issues they will get into. >> is there anything that the speaker could do to get out of what you describe as big trouble? >> i don't know. it all comes down to the whims of marjorie taylor greene and i'd hate to get in her head. i don't know if trump giving the bear hug to mik

let us go back to brendan buck. thank you for standing by. we wanted the congressman to finish this long day on capitol hill. let us talk about political playbook. it reports one of the other republicans who has signed on to marjorie taylor greene's motion to vacate, congressman massey is hoping to force johnson to resign on his own rather than remove them. and they were siding the decision nine years ago to step down. can you share what the pressure was like on speaker paneer at that time? do you think johnson could withstand and a similar amount of pressure to leave voluntarily. >> i have no doubt that thomas massey would like him to resign jon weiner was born a half years into his service. he was expecting to step down the previous congress he was actually sticking around longer. pressure had risen throughout the conference, the freedom caucus made john boehner famous among conservatives. i don't know -- thomas massey talks about going home and having members feel pressure. i don't know your average voter knows who mike johnson is, let alo

. >> joining us now, msnbc political analyst brendan buck. former aide to both house speakers ryan and boehner. let's talk about mitch mcconnell here. as noted, he delivered a fiery attack on trump after january 6th and then pretty quickly said, well, i'll back him if he is the nominee. he's done so, even despite all that's happened to trump, who is currently sitting in criminal trial. what does this say to you about mcconnell, you know, the politician, and also just where the republican party is right now? >> yeah, i think mcconnell was being honest there. i don't know he has a whole lot of sway in the republican party these days. there has been a big fight, i think, between two factions. the traditional, hawkish foreign policy party that mitch mcconnell defined for so many years and trump, the populist, nativist party. trump has sort of won that argument. mcconnell, on his way out, seems to be conceding that to him. but let's remember, mitch mcconnell, ultimate politician, has really one goal. he just got done his biggest foreign policy win

. >> joining us now, msnbc's political analyst brendan buck.aide to house speakers ryan and speaker boehner. you know i'm going to ask a congress question, but what we just watched, i asked nikki haley, would you vote for someone convicted of a crime, and the fact that kristi noem's answer is yes, what does that tell you? >> it's not surprising at all. four years ago, certainly eight years ago, there was a large faction of the republican party, including kristi noem, who thought, let's get through this moment and we'll figure out what the party looks like. she and a lot of people have realized this is not a short-term moment. even if donald trump is not elected president, there is no future from anybody, kristi noem, who thinks she has a future in the republican party, probably wants to run for something herself, you have to be aligned with donald trump. no one is waiting for him to go away. she's also trying to be his vice president. >> that could be an easy springboard. >> of course. there's one train leaving right now, and it is with donald

. >> nbc's julie tsirkin is on capitol hill, brendan buck is a former aide to speakers paul ryan anditical analyst. julie, i understand the drama and infighting has boiled over on the house floor, one lawmaker threatening speaker johnson directly, but serious stuff needs to get done, so give us the lay of the land right now. >> reporter: this is what happened, chris. i got off the phone with congressman derrick van orden who members of the freedom caucus, in that tense group that you described aid that he threatened johnson calling him tubby while actually van orden told me literally moments ago that he was referring his comments to matt gaetz. he was telling the hard-liners to bring it on, facetiously meaning the motion to vacate because he is tired, he said, of the quote, cancer that has been spreading among the republican party in the house here. all of this, of course, happening in the context of the foreign aid funding fight, right? johnson right now is trying to pass separate bills to fund ukraine, to fund israel, the indo-pacific as well. those groups, the group of hard-liners

scottsdale, arizona, along with claire mccaskill, former democratic senator from missouri, and brendan buckrmer press secretary for house speakers john boehner and paul ryan. dana, this law in arizona is currently on hold for 14 days. arizona's a.g. has said she won't enforce it, so what is the impact being felt on this ruling so far? >> reporter: yeah, ana, it is sending shock waves throughout the state of arizona. many people angered, saddened on both sides. we spoke to voters who say that they will be galvanized, and this will impact them when it comes to november because they want their voices heard. there's a group now that is collecting signatures to try to get an amendment, an initiative on the november ballot so that they can try to codify reproductive rights in the state and many people say this will get them out to the polls because this is an issue they really care about. so right now the law is on hold because it's being sent back to the lower court. they will look for additional constitutional challenges, and then that's when the process starts. this could go in effect as early

joining us now, msnbc political analyst brendan buck.rmer aide to house speakers ryan and boehner. good to see you. let's start with the nonsense here. these two men are going to appear together to talk about election integrity. donald trump, of course, is still pushing the big lie. he is still refusing to acknowledge he lost the 2020 election. and we know johnson was the author of some of the legal briefs that supported that and still backs it. give us your sense. >> yeah, i'll be curious to see how they're defining election integrity. there are the dynamics you explained. donald trump has been talking about the trials as election interference and whether or not there's some angle where they're talking about the house doing more oversight of the trials. so that's very curious to me. i'm also just sort of curious as to how this came about in the first place. i understand, of course, why mike johnson would want to stand next to donald trump right now. he's fighting for his job. donald trump is the most popular person in the party. i'm not

joining us now is brendan buck, former top communications adviser to paul ryan and boehner and "politico'sous relationship with marjorie taylor greene and also an interview with christian broadcasting network. >> with regard to marjorie taylor greene. she's a colleague, i've always considered her a friend. marjorie and i are going to visit later today, and look forward to the conversation. >> marjorie taylor greene, are you going to speak to her this week? have you spoken to her? >> i've tried over the two-week break. she wasn't interested in speaking. >> brendan, you've worked for two speakers. how does this compare? >> not a good sign. i know that she met with him just recently. it doesn't sound like he won her over at all. i think the threat is very real for the speaker and it really does come down to how he handles ukraine. i think at this point he cannot count on marjorie taylor greene to not bring that motion to vacate. i think that's almost certain: there's almost nothing he can do that's going to keep her in a good place. it only takes one member to bring it up. the real question t

. >>> we will bring in brendan buck and robert gibbs. robert, i will start with you. biden campaign jumped on this ruling. they say florida is winnable. there are no democrats in statewide elected roles in florida. the state hasn't sent a democrat to the white house or senate in more than a decade. is this fool's gold? >> it's probably a little too early to say that it's fool's gold. as you mentioned, where this issue has been on the ballot in ohio, in kansas, in other places, they have won every single time. whether or not there's enough to bring out enough democrats to win in a presidential year, i think it's too early to tell. it makes florida extraordinarily interesting. you mentioned also that arizona is likely now to have a ballot measure. we know how close a swing state that is. we also know very clearly from what's happened in 2022 and 2023 and now into 2024, this is an amazingly potent issue for democrats. they will use it throughout this election campaign. >> i am skeptical whether there's enough time left -- if it's not too late, if there's enough time left

joining me now, brendan buck, msnbc political analyst, he served as the chief communications advisor house speaker paul ryan and press secretary to former house speaker john benner and, critic strategist and former advisor for the obama campaign, amicia cross. trenton, the freedom, is making concessions for spending to rebuild the bridge in baltimore. will the republicans play politics over something that is vital to the nation's economy? >> the freedom park is is making those demands. of course, they will be ignored. at the end of the day, this is something that is going to happen, whether you are micah johnson or any rank-and-file republican, you know this could happen, something like this could happen in your district at any time. this is a classic thing the freedom caucus does. micah johnson is getting good at doing them. i imagine that is probably what is going to happen here. >> let's talk fundraising. the biden campaign right now has a huge money lead over the trump campaign. what should they be doing, spending most of that money on, the biden folks? >> georgia. we know the bi

. >>> joining us now, a man very familiar with the building behind him, msnbc brendan buck.f this? >> it's remarkable the number of people retiring and the type of people retiring. you have sitting committee chairs who are going to hang it up. mike gallagher, committee chair of china is leaving. it's interesting what you touched on, not being able to get things done and dysfunction. it's also a terrible work environmental right now. imagine going to work every day and all of your colleagues hate you and they're all trying to attack you. ever since january 6th, it's both republicans and democrats don't like each other, but now you have republicans who simply don't like each other, and being a member of congress is not an easy gig. you're flying back and forth to washington. imagine having small kids in your family and telling them you have to leave and going back to washington and doing nothing of consequence. all of these people think they're going to go to congress and do these big and important things and none of that is happening right now. it's not surprising that people

and msnbc political analyst, brendan buck. i got lost in my words there introducing you. i'm sorry.to me about the wire that speaker mike johnson is currently walking on. >> as ryan laid out, democrats paved a pretty clear path for him. the only problem with this is he's now relying on democrats not just to pass significant legislation but to keep his job. that's something we have never seen in probably a couple hundred years. the minority party elevating the majority speaker. look, donald trump gave mike johnson a pretty big lifeline on friday when he went to mar-a-lago and brushed back marjorie taylor greene but also said he didn't dismiss the idea of doing aid for ukraine. that gave mike johnson the narrow opening that he needs. very clear that the votes have always been there for ukraine, israel, taiwan, you name it. the votes are there. it's just whether or not johnson can figure out the moment to do it where he could jam this through and survive. i think that's what he's looking at right now, if he can pull it off. >> what if he gets a lot of democrats? is that going to turn o

brendan buck joining me now. as always, good to talk to you.s of conversations. maybe not this direct threat, but these conversations. how do you balance getting for instance what you see as important aid across the finish line yet maintaining your position as speaker of the house with threats from the likes of marjorie taylor greene? >> it might be just that simple. i've always thought her threat was about ukraine and in this letter, she makes it clear that's what this is all about. to a surprising degree to me, mike johnson has been leaning into this idea for weeks now that the next agenda item in the house is aid to ukraine. for a long time, he was pretty hard to nail down on where he stood on this, but he's made clear he thinks it's the right thing to do and she represents the isolationist part of the republican party. the trump part of the party now. that is simply not interested in sending any taxpayer money anywhere. he faces a pretty tough choice. where i come down on this is if you are going to save your job, you're probably going to n

joining us now, brendan buck, former press secretary to boehner and ryan, also an msnbc political analysto-host of the weekend here on msnbc. i'm looking forward to that show. she also previously served as chief spokesperson for vice president harris. this trial is already changing how trump is forced to campaign. he stopped to greet construction workers outside the new jpmorgan building yesterday, he went to a bodega on monday. how do you see the spectacle of the trial shaping the race? >> donald trump never struggled to get attention for himself. i guess he's doing that again. i have to disagree with stewart on this. i don't believe that this is helpful in any way for donald trump to be spending his days in a courtroom. yes, he likes to play victim, but we're not in the primary anymore. he's able to rile up republicans and dispatch his primary opponents pretty easily, but now we're in a general election, and our own nbc polling has shown the biggest vulnerability that donald trump has in a general election are these indictments, are these court cases. and if this is the context in which

. >> brendan buck, eugene daniels, thanks for bringing it home. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." "chris jansing reports" starts right now. >>> good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. from chief financial officer to a jail cell, donald trump's long-time lieutenant allen weisselberg sent to rikers island for lying to prosecutors. he's the latest to pay the price for his allegiance to the former president, even as trump prepares to face his own trial in a few days. >>> the raging debate over abortion just got some brand new fuel with arizona's supreme court upholding a near total abortion ban. republicans are now scrambling to limit the political damage. democrats hoping that this will be the issue that decides one of the most critical swing states on the map. >>> and any minute now, president biden and the prime minister of japan will take questions following their meeting at the white house. key to those discussions, how to counter china's growing economic and military aggression. we'll ha

joining us, two people who worked for house speakers, brendan buck, he is an msnbc contributor. >> ical value going through the disaster that happened on the floor last year when we were stuck and couldn't do anything for three weeks. there's a small minority of the house who doesn't seem to get the bad politics, doesn't get that they don't gain anything from changing the speaker and seem intent on forcing this issue. i think they are going to lose this fight and it could be good for the house if democrats work with the overwhelming number of republicans to defeat the motion to vacate and take away this weapon from the freedom caucus where we don't have to worry about them so much. i don't know how long that dynamic will last. but in the short-term, i think it would be good for governance in the house. >> how would that happen? what would have to happen for that to be removed? >> i don't think the motion to vacate is going away. democrats have said if the context for a motion to vacate coming up is speaker johnson brings up ukraine aid as he is doing, they are not going to help marjo

brendan buck is an msnbc political analyst who served as an aide, and dasha burns is here with me. not new. a very small number of supporters have been showing up periodically, since the trial started, very small. but, what can you tell us? >> i was there yesterday at the courthouse. i was there last week and it is what you just saw there, there are some lone protesters, many of them actually not talking about the case at all, having their own soap boxes about various issues they want to talk about using the media that is there to try and call attention to whatever it is that they want to say that day. no one is stopping anybody from doing that. i think what is also interesting is we haven't seen any of trump's family members show up. you wouldn't necessarily expect melania to sit there during a hush money trial, talking about trump's alleged affairs and what not, but not don jr., not eric, no one from his family has come out to the court to support him. we have seen him really lean on the media a lot. he spent a lot of time talking to press and we have seen him start to do these r

brendan buck, msnbc political analyst, thank you for joining us. >>> thank you for getting up "way too early" with us on this monday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. >>> this trial the wearing on donald trump. i've been watching him. you know, people get to talk about him, and he has to sit there for hours without saying anything. kind of like he did on january 6th. >>> we'll get you caught up on donald trump's hush money trial with expert legal analysis ahead of opening statements, which are set for later this morning. who will reportedly be the first witness called by the prosecution? >> let's talk about the trial this weekend. >> all weekend long. twitter was going wild. >>> also ahead, it appears ukraine will finally get the critical funding it needs after the house passed a package of foreign aid bills which includes more military support for israel, as well. the bill now heads to the senate despite efforts by marjorie taylor greene, who got called out, yes, by the new york post. kind of sums it up. >> it does. >>> good morning. it is monday, april 22nd. welcome back the "

msnbc political analyst brendan buck, thank you, as well. >>> thanks to all of you for bet getting up "way too early" on this monday morning. "morning joe" starts now. >>> my weekend co-anchor was going to join me, but in solidarity with president biden, i decided to lose all my black support. nothing makes sense anymore. the candidate who is a famous new york city playboy took abortion rights away, and the guy who is trying to give you your abortion rights back is an 80-year-old catholic. how does that make sense? i'm not saying both candidates are old, but you know jimmy carter is out there thinking, i could maybe win this thing. >> it's been a year since i delivered this speech, and my wife, jill, with me tonight, was worried how i'd do. i told her, don't worry. just like riding a bike. she said, that's what i'm worried about. the 2024 election is in full swing. yes, age is an issue. i'm a grown man. running against a 6-year-old. age is the only thing we have in common. my vice president actually endorses me. being here is a reminder that folks think what's going on in congress is

. >> covering a lot of ground, brendan buck, thank you. >>> thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" with us on this thursday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. >>> get this. today, former president trump held a fundraiser in atlanta. on the way to the event, he stopped at a local chick-fil-a. look at this. >> can i have 30 milk shakes? also some chicken. >> after trump placed the order, the cashier said, we're going to need to see the money first. we heard some things. we heard some things. we heard some things. [ applause ] >>> good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is thursday, april 11th. speaking of the former president, his legal team lost yet another desperate delay attempt in the hush money criminal case, making them 0 for 3 in last-minute attempts to push back the looming trial. it starts on monday. we'll look at what legal options they have left. >>> also ahead, speaker mike johnson is headed down to mar-a-lago tomorrow to meet with trump. the trip comes as the former president's allies in the house are threatening johnson's speakership. what are they p