take a listen to what the senate majority leader told hugh hewitt. >> what they wanted the most i refused to go along with and the white house backed me up. that is we're not ready to just send a blank check down to states and local governments to spend any way they choose to. we need to have a full debate, not only about if we do state and local, how will they spend it, but also we haven't had much discussion about adding $2.7 trillion to the national debt.

in an interview with conservative radio host hugh hewitt. >> we're looking carefully at a number of those rules that are being put in place. and if one goes too far, we initially try to jawbone the governors into rolling them back and adjusting them and if they're not and people bring lawsuits, we file statement of interest and side with the plaintiffs. joining me is justice correspondent pete williams. on one harnd the federal government puts out one set of guidelines on restrictions they recommend would be put into your state. on the other hand, the federal government deleting law enforcement officers, if you go too far, watch out. this does feel as if, if you're a state implementer of the law, you're getting two different messages from the federal government. >> i think barr las actually tried to walk a pretty narrow line here. this began with an interview he did two weeks ago on fox with laura ingram, again the hugh hewitt interview last week and again with the memo he put out yesterday. i think he's really trying to say to the right, yes, i know that you have serious concerns about t

but he says this,o hugh hewitt, on the idea of whether states should be able to go into bankruptcy, he said, i would certainly be in favor of allowing stateto use the bankruptcy route. my guest is the first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generatatns. s not something i'm going to be in favor of. the implication to some people including some republicans like peter king of new york is that senator mcconnell would not use federal money to help states and he's encouraging them to go bankrupt instead, speaking to a senior republican aide in theey senate, aid, no, senator mcconnell just wants the option of bankruptcyor these states. he's not telling them what to do, but he is concerned about the rising debt and, morph-over, judy, mcconnell says he wants to ta a break before an more spending. not everyone agrees with that. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins t reportingay on everything from the capitol. thank you, lisa. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: in th's other news, wall street rallied for a time, but could not hold its ground. the dow jones industrialvege

. >> yesterday, senator mcconnella on the hugh hewitt radio program, and the two men were discussing states and city aid, and senator monnell and republicans have a concern that states may have had some fiscal problems before this crisis. if ty don't, he does not want to be bailing out, in his words, states that had problems with their pensions before this started. but he says this, to hugh hewitt, on the idea of whether states should be able to go into bankruptcy, he said, i would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route. my guest is their first choice would be for the federal government to br money from future generations. that's not something i'm going to be in favor of. the implication to some people including some republicans likne peter of new york is that senator mcconnell would not usem federaey to help states and he's encouraging them to go bankrupt instead, speaking to a senior republican aide in the senatethey said, no, senator mcconnell just wants the option of bankruptcy for these states. he's not telling them what tohe do, bus concerned about

board of the nixon foundation, his wife esther right up here in the front row. [ applause ] and hugh hewitt, the president of the nixon foundation who you'll hear from in a few moments. we have many distinguished guests here today. many former officials from the nixon and other administrations and staff and friends of the nixon foundation, and we're honored to have you here tonight. this year marks the 50th anniversary of patricia nixon becoming the first lady of the united states. under her leadership, the white house collection added over 600 paintings and furnishing elements to the white house collection which is the most of any presidency. the significance of this will be discussed in tonight's program, but it's very important to us here at the white house historical association as a core part of our mission which was inspired, as most of you, or all of you know, by first lady jacqueline kennedy, to be the private nonpartisan private partner to the white house for conservation, preservation, restoration of those beautiful state homes in the white house for the acquisition of items for t

to get this thing in mitch mcconnell the day after they pass this piece of legislation he tells hugh hewitt he says no we're i'm done we're done with i'm not what are they talking about i'm not doing in other areas of legislation my only priority is conservative judges and that's always been his pride and interview somebody that people know we do this and they send me interviews on the you the signs that this is an interview with. jake tapper in nancy pelosi and so so do jake almost like he's like a 4 lauren child he looks like a child talking to mama that's where there's looks like so tapper is asking her well why did she give up so much why did you do this and all come down it was like janet you're an idiot calm down i have this under control well the truth is she doesn't have it under control she's already been outmaneuvered by the republicans on this and there's nothing like i mean again how do you get outmaneuvered by the turtle how is that and you just say oh yeah i'm just going to wait till the next time there's not going to be a next time or if it is it's going to be a long time fro

. >> that is attorney general bill barr speaking with radio host hugh hewitt.h coronavirus restrictions that are burdensome impinge minutes on liberty adopted from the limited purpose of slowing down the spread. he added we did not adopt them as a comprehensive way of dealing with the disease. if orders begin to impact interstate conference, the justice department would join lawsuits begins the governors. with us, msnbc legal analyst and my friend so great to see you on this wednesday morning, danny cevallos. danny, good to see you this morning. >> thank you. >> i've got to say i don't necessarily understand all of this, how this case has any legs in general considering the fact that the governors have put this in place to protect the health and welfare of the citizens of their state. can the president effectively pressure governors to modify the orders? >> the constitution supremacy clause does not mean that the federal government can tell the states what to do. actually, the framers envisioned quite the opposite. the federal government is one of limited power

hugh hewitt and zerlina, how do we deal with the disparities and health care based on race in this country in the middle of the pandemic so that we come out having, in many ways, better in terms of equalizing health care as we take care of the american populous. >> one of the things that comes to mind as we go through this crisis is that the results are not surprising and it reminds me of something that representative iona presley says, the people closest to the pain need to be the closest to the power. in this particular moment, this particular crisis, all the factors, lack of adequate health care and housing, a livable wage that allows people to have a safety net if a crisis like this should come up rn those a, thos issues that some have pushed to the for froefront in concrete ps of legislation that they are still continuing to push through the senate and the who us because people need real support. they need actual cash in hand to pay the rent, to buy food for their family members and buy medications they may need on a regular basis. all of these structural issues in the long term need

interview last night that perhaps states should be able to declare bankruptcy mcconnell telling hugh hewitt this, saying, i would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route. it saved some cities and there's no good reason for it to not be available. you can imagine that sparked some backlash among many governors. here's new york's andrew cuomo today. >> you want to see thatmarket fall through the seller? let new york state declare bankruptcy let michigan declare bankruptcy. let illinois declare bankruptcy. let california declare bankruptcy you will see a collapse of this national economy >> the white house and treasury have suggested phase iv can come soon but with this level of political tension on some of these issues, kelly, could be a while before they reach any sort of agreement. >> oh, yeah, that one's a hot one in terms of what comes next and any relief efforts in the meantime, we'll see if that vote advances today kayla, thank you so much kayla tausche in washington. >>> meantime, the treasury department issuing some new guidelines to limit relief loans to

take a listen to what the senate majority leader told hugh hewitt. >> what they wanted the most i refusedo go along with and the white house backed me up. that is we're not ready to just send a blank check down to states and local governments to spend any way they choose to. we need to have a full debate, not only about if we do state and local, how will they spend it, but also we haven't had much discussion about adding $2.7 trillion to the national debt. >> so john, a couple things there i want to pick out. first, state and local funding has been a huge issue for democrats. they tried to get it in the package that will clear congress tomorrow. they're stopped, and mcconnell tells you why. there are idealogical differences in terms of how many should be dolled out in the states between democrats and republicans. even though the chair of the national governors association, the maryland governor, mr. hogan himself, is the one ask trg the money, and mcconnell is reflecting with his confidence is. you talk to republican senators and house members, they're not necessarily comfortable with all

bill barr was on hugh hewitt this morning, the attorney general, and he said that they might sue states with too-strict lockdowns. he said, quote, we're looking carefully at a number of these rules that are being put into place. and if we think one goes too far, we initially true to jawbone the governors into rolling them back or adjusting them. and if they're not and people bring lawsuits, we file statement of interest and side with the plaintiffs. so this is sort of the same question i asked garrett in texas, but i think it applies here, as well. what's motivating this administration when it comes to these rolling reopenings? is it health, is it the economy, or is it the election in innovate? >> well, of course, what bill barr is saying echos what the president himself tried to say at one point where he said, he had total authority over what the states can do. and of course, the president feels like he is going to be held accountable for how this response to the coronavirus goes and how things look come november. and how the mood of the country is. and what the governors do in the sta

senate majority leader mitch mcconnell gave an interview to conservative radio host hugh hewitt duringrump administration was too distracted by the impeachment hearings to properly respond to the coronavirus threat, which brings us to a segment we call "really?" with seth and amy. ♪ >> seth: really, mitch mcconnell? you haunted corncob doll the impeachment trial was too distracting? really you realize that trial ended back on february 5th and your boy was still out here calling the virus a hoax until about a week and a half ago. i'm not surprised you're trying to rewrite history since you made it clear you're not happy with some of the outcomes. i mean, really >> really? yeah mitch, you think your boy trump was too distracted to think about the coronavirus? he was on trial for selling the country down the river and he was still out there holding rallies and playing more golf than a san diego dentist he's a multitasker he's a new yorker. back in the day, he could bankrupt three companies in the afternoon and still have the energy to yell at his housekeeper when she set his tick tacs out

this is tom cotton speaking to hugh hewitt this week. cotton the same day the president said no, wrote a letter to the administration saying don't believe china and be prepared because there could be a pandemic coming. listen to tom cotton say why he was so alarmed. >> i saw two things from china about mid-january that told me this virus posed a great threat. on the one hand, all of the hoppy talk the chinese communist party and all the lies they were telling the world and the w.h.o. like they had it under control and it couldn't be transmitted from person to person, so on and so forth. that contrasted with the extreme draconian measures they were taking. you know, locking down an entire city, larger than new york city. >> dana, there's nothing that tom cotton can see that the president of the united states can't see. tom cotton was acting. liz cheney also, a few others, very few people in congress who do their jobs, who take their committee assignments seriously and read the briefings. intelligence was telling them china is saying this

i want to bring in bill barr because there's a lot of reaction to what he said on the hugh hewitt showing about some of these restrictions, like and some of it to house arrest for american citizens saying he is willing to further look into some of these restrictions. he said these are unprecedented burdens on civil liberties. the idea that you have to say in your house is disturbingly close to house arrest. i'm not saying it wasn't justified or in some places it might still be justified but it is very onerous as it is shutting down your livelihood. so what about him looking into possibly some of these restrictions and shutdowns, infringing on our federal constitutional rights? >> i think it's not going to happen. i think it's talk on a talk radio show and i wonder about the attorney general engaging in that kind of talk. it's a legally suspect because if you look at when the president talked about, i have total authority to reopen the states, a lot of constitutional scholars on both the left and right noted that under the tenth amendment to the constitution the states have all the powe

but, in the meantime, the attorney general was talking with hugh hewitt a couple of days ago about how some states have gone too far with the stay-at-home order. and he said, you know, when you look at stay-at-home orders, they're kind of like chemotherapy for coronavirus. and he around with we are getting to the point where we are killing the patient. well, let me tell you. the attorney general has taken a lot of heat for saying this. >> we're looking carefully at a number of these rules that are being put into place. and if we think one goes too far we initially dry to jaw pope the governors into rolling them back or adjusting them. if they are not and people file lawsuits we file statements of interest and side with the plaintiffs. as lawsuits good morning as specific cases emerge in the states, we'll take a look at them. ages ages you mentioned is he getting a lot of heat for that listen to what the media said yesterday. >> attorney general william barr who is not a medical doctor going after the white house guidelines for gradually lifting stay-at-home rules. >> trump has picked u

here he is speaking with radio host hugh hewitt. >> if we think one goes too far, we initially try tong them back or adjusting them. and if they're not and people bring lawsuit, we file at the same time of interest about and side with the plaintiffs. >> he added that the restrictions are very burdensome, impingements on liberty adoptied for the limite purpose of slowing down the spread and that, quote, we didn't adopt them as the comprehensive way of dealing with this disease. if orders begin to impact interstate commerce, the justice department would join lawsuits against the governors. and joe, good if we had testing >> i'm so confused. claire, i went to law school and i'll admit there were some times when i shouldn't have been reading sports illustrated, i should have been listening to my contracts professor. but you know, i did pretty well in kind law. and i'm so confused by what the attorney general said because i didn't learn any of that. maybe that like mod lawyer 101? i decided to opt out of that one. but we have the administration doing the whole i am spartakus or i'm mussoli

hugh pym. if we go to dan hewitt at itv.ederation which represents hospitals has told itv news it would support any doctor or nurse who refused to go to work because they feared they were not able to access the correct ppe. are they right to back them? would you both be comfortable working on a covid ward using what is meant to be single use ppe? to the secretary of state come on the 30th ofjanuary the world health organization declared a world health emergency and borisjohnson declared a world health emergency and boris johnson did declared a world health emergency and borisjohnson did not attend a single cobra meeting until march the 2nd. is it acceptable he was being briefed rather than attending those meetings? thank you for that, if i can pick up the latter half of that question and jenny may be able to speak a bit more on the ppe side of things as well. the prime minister, from the moment it became clear there were challenges in terms of coronavirus developing in china has absolutely been leading our nation's ever abso