senator jeff merkley will join us to discuss both of those votes in the senate. been more responsive to the humanitarian crisis at the southern border created by the trump policies than senator merkley has. a humanitarian crisis has been created there by the policies the president of the united states has instituted. democratic senator jeff merkley appeared on this program in june after being refused entrance to a former walmart being used to hold children in brownsville, texas. >> i'm senator jeff merkley from congress. and i made contact with this facility and asked for permission to come and see what is going on inside with these children. >> we don't have any permission on that. i'm going to have to ask you to please step away, sir. >> this week senator merkley visited the detention center for children in florida. he was able to speak to some of the children there. after his visit he described it as "a chilling prison camp." senator jeff merkley will join us next. join us next. in only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured and left those doubts behind. i faced re

. >>> jeff merkley announced his decision on a video. >> over the last year, i've weighed whether i canute more to the battle by running for president or by running for reelection in the senate. today i'm announcing that i am not running for president. i believe that there are democrats now in the presidential race who are speaking to the importance of tackling the big challenges we face. >> was anyone waiting on jeff merkley or mark cuban? >> i think jeff merkley is an interesting character in that he was a potential alternative on the progressive side, but no big surprise there. i do want to say something about susan collins, who you mentioned earlier. it shows here that the few republican gains they made have an impact on these court battles. because previously there's another supreme court nominee at some point, you know, her vote was very important last time. it's a little less important now. they can still do these nominees without her support. >> mcconnell won't lean on her as much because she has a tough race in 2020 so she's allowed to move to the center than she might be allow

the next announcement expected to come later this morning from jeff merkley. he's been considering a white house run. entering the race monday, john hickenlooper looking to find that moderate link. >> i believe that not only can i beat donald trump, but that i am the person that can bring people together on the other side and actually get stuff done. >> one potential democratic c contender who will not be entering the race is eric holder. he says that he will instead focus his efforts on restricting and other voter rights issues. >>> and following the deadliest tornado to hit the united states, the death toll remains at 23, 10 people still in the hospital. governor kay ivey signed a major disaster declaration request. at least three of the deaths involve children ages 6, 9 and 10. >> youngest victim, a fourth grader. taylor thornton also killed. cnn spoke to jessica chandler. the twister missed her by minutes because she took her two kids to the store to get baby formula. her boyfriend was inside when the tornado hit their mobile home. >> he has a fractured le

attorney general, senator shared brown of ohio, and senator jeff merkley of oregon, oh, and add hillary clinton who also said, quote, i'm not running to a new york city television station. but by judging by the candidates who are running, this is a democratic party different from even three years ago when clinton last ran. some say more liberal, others say too liberal to beat president trump. joining me is one of the candidates, former housing secretary and former mayor of san antonio, julian castro. let me start by asking you, mr. castro, in a crowded field, how are any of the candidates distinguishing yourselves? does it make it where you have to do something provocative to even be noticed, or do you just run your race hoping your message breaks through, even though you have so many people on the stage with you? >> it's good to be with you, reverend al. for me i've always believed that the the first thing that you should do when you're running for office is to tell people what you're going to do for them and their family if they i'm god articulate a strong, positive future. i've talke

joining me now, democratic senator jeff merkley, member of the appropriations and budget committees.rt with a reality check on this. what is the final budget going to look like for the special olympics, and if this cut isn't actually going to happen, why is the trump administration fighting this fight? >> well, they're fighting it because they're laying out their priorities. a budget is a vision that says, here is what we care about and here is what we don't care about. this budget is about what they care about, let's have tax breaks to let rich people be richer, people like betsy devos. and what they don't care about is children, letting them be in a setting where they can receive public applause and support, which is something so missing in many of their lives. >> senator, andrea spoke yesterday on this program with mark shriver about just what the impact of this $18 million cut would be. i want to show you a clip of that and then ask you about it. >> what does the loss of $18 million mean? >> it means closing down what we're doing in schools to end social isolation, as the congres

. >> jeff merkley. >> jeff merkley, senator from oregon. suggest to you that people are seeing that joe biden is in the race and it's not worth running? because he hasn't fully announced, but we all think he's going to. is that what's going on? >> i don't think it's -- i think perhaps for some folks, vice president biden is a factor. for a lot of folks, though, they're looking at time and money. and with 20-plus, 15-plus potentially people in the field, you have to be able to raise the money. you have to have the time to go out there, speak to the voters and get across the country. and you have to have people to work for you, okay? so these are strategic decisions, i think, some folks are making. i think some of those people you named, all would be great presidential candidates. but we've got a good field this year. it's not done being filled out. but, look, i think the folks in the race right now are in the race because they think they can be president of the united states. the people that aren't are like maybe this isn't my time. >> one o

senator jeff merkley gets tonight's last word. "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts now. >>> tonight, within minutes of being handed his second federal prison sentence paul manafort gets hit with 16 new charges in new york city, where a presidential pardon won't help him. his lawyer then went outside and misquoted the federal judge before being shouted down. >>> also the comments in the hallway today that could point to obstruction of justice. as a powerful democratic committee chair says trump's former temporary a.g. matt whitaker didn't deny talking to the president about the handling of the michael cohen case. >>> and news tonight of the back channels between cohen and rudy giuliani and an attempt to roll out what they're calling the garth brooks defense as the 11th hour gets under way on a wednesday night. well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 783 of this trump administration. and before we bring you the news of this day more or less in order, we thought we would begin with th

this week that they're staying out, including hillary clinton, mike bloomberg, and oregon senator jeff merkley. >> the best contribution i can make is by working to make the senate a full partner in-- in this-- this bold agenda to save america. >> reporter: just today, ohio senator sherrod brown, who had generated some buzz for ad he hd to forgo a run. early polls show biden would start the race at the top, where he's never been before in a presidential race. he sputtered out of the 1998 campaign amid a plagiarism scandal and dropped out of the 2008 race after finishing far back in the iowa caucus. he didn't run in 2016, in part because of the death of his son, beau. this time, biden could be quickly cast as out of touch with today's democratic party as voters scrutinize his four- decade senate record. he has already apologized for his handling of anita hill during the clarence thomas supreme court confirmation hearings, and for his support of tough on crime legislation in the 1990s. >> we must make the streets safer. i know we haven't always gotten things right, but i've always tried. >> repo

this week that they're staying out, including hillary clinton, mike bloomberg, and oregon senator jeff merkley >> the best contribution i can make is working to make the senate a full partner in this bold agenda to save america. >> reporter: today ohio senator sherrod brown, who generated buzz for a candidacy, said he had decided to forego a run. early polls show biden would start the race at the top where he's never been president in a presidential race. he sputtered out of the 1988 campaign amid a plagiarism scandal and dropped out of the 2008 race after finishing far back in the iowa caucus. he didn't run in 2016 in part because of the death of his son, bo. this time biden could be quickly cast as out of touch with democrat's democratic party as voters scrutinize his four-decade senate record. he's already apologized for his handling of anita hill during the clarence thomas supreme court hearings and for his support of tough on crime legislation in the 1990s. >> we must make the streets safer. >> i know, we haven't always gotten things right but i've always tried. >> reporter: one other pot

does -- >> jeff merkley, the senator from oregon.uggest to you that people are seeing that joe biden is in the race and it's not worth running -- he hasn't fully announced, but we all think he will. >> i think for a lot of folks, they're looking at time and money. with 20-plus, 15-plus potentially people in the field, you have to be able to raise the money. you have to have the time to speak to the voters and get people to work for you. these are strategic decisions. i think some of the people you named, all of them would make great presidential candidates, but we have a good feel that's not done being filled out. but the people that are in the race think they could be the president. the other people who are not maybe think this isn't my time. >>> the record that joe biden will get with his record. when he was senator, he opposed bussing, the efforts to integrate schools. very controversial at the time. in a recent story in "the washington post" was quoted in a story in 1975 saying i do not buy the concept popular in the '60s that we

we saw senators sherrod brown and jeff merkley and former new york city mayor michael bloomberg all say they're not running in the past week. in the same iowa poll, 64% of likely caucus goers say biden should run this time around. and 31% say he should hold off because they think his time has passed. >>> joining our conversation now is the former senior adviser to the sanders campaign in 2016 and congressman ro khanna is back with us, along with the rest of our panel. you worked for senator sanders last cycle. you won't be working with him this time around. what do you think senator sanders has learned or did learn sanders has learned or did learn since 2016 that would help him in 2020? >> he learned an enormous amount. when you first run for president of the united states, it's an extraordinary jump even if you're coming from the united states senate. i think he learned a lot about the way you guys in the media work, the demands of a candidacy and organization that needs to be put together. we were pretty notorious last time around because you covered it and know this. we were a pretty

among our guests, senators cory booker, kiffin gillibrand, kamala harris, jeff merkley, bernie sanderseth warren, along with mayor pete buttigieg and beto o'rourke, congressman john delaney and entrepreneur andrew yang, and other notables such as stacy abrams, valerie jared, eric holder, representative hakeem jeffries, karen bass, lucy mcbath, congressman gregory meeks, alexandria ocasio-cortez and the reverend jesse jackson who will be joining me shortly. go online and register. it's free. it's april 3rd to the 6th in new york city. >>> coming up, president trump is rolling back another obama legacy, but does he have a plan of his own? be right back. his own be right back. i hear you, sister. stress can affect our minds. i call this dish, "stress." stress can also affect our bodies. so, i'm partnering with cigna to remind you that your emotional and physical health are more connected than you think. go in for your annual check-up. and be open with your doctor about anything you feel. physically, and emotionally. body and mind. cigna. together, all the way. that's better. you wouldn't

like oregon senator jeff merkley who just gave up on a white house bid. >> my best contribution is toun for reelection. >> if other democrats start sluggishly, they could follow suit like colorado's potential challenger to john hickenlooper. >> he is running for u.s. senate, he hasn't figured it out yet. speak out some republican incumbents seem to be rooting for a long presidential season. >> the prospect of running for president is pretty exhilarating and i wish him well. >> if beto o'rourke or stacy abrams runs for president, they are going to need to do better in swing states than they did in their home states because they both just lost that they are. whoever the eventual nominee is will have help from michael bloomberg who he says isn't going to run but he will write checks. >> bret: let's get some insight on the economy and the china trade deal, joining us tonight national economic counsel director larry kudlow. first of all, give us an update on china and these negotiations, there is optimism on the streets, is there optimism in this building? >> the meetings two weeks ago wen

speakers and panelists, senators cory booker, kirsten gillibrand, kamala harris, amy klobuchar, jeff merkleybernie sanders, elizabeth warren, along with mayor pete buttigieg, john delany, other notables such as stacy abrams, eric holder, representatives karen bass, lucy mcbath, gregory meeks, and alexandria ocasio-cortez. go online and register. it's free. april 3rd to the 6th in new york city. >>> up next, what the college cheating scandal says about race. be right back. ♪ ♪ do you love me? ♪ ♪ i can really move ♪ ♪ do you love me? ♪ i'm in the groove ♪ now do you love me? ♪ do you love me now that i can dance? ♪ applebee's 3 course meal. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. and i don't add trup the years.s. but what i do count on... is boost® delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. boost® high protein. be up for life. that's where i feel normal. having an annuity tells me my retirement is protected. learn more at retire your risk dot org. to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it's best to m

that does not include oregon senator jeff merkley who announced he's not going to get into the race.here's in reporting that old grievances between the clinton and sanders worlds are bubbling up. politico reporting the former clinton camp is stewing over bernie sanders's 2020 campaign and is pointing to sander's flaws and vulnerabilities. i'm joined by a political analyst. it's great to see you on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> what's the deal? we thought clinton and sanders buried the hatchet. do you get a sense there is unrest or disturbances aimed at the sanders camp? >> i don't know there's stuff aimed at the sanders camp. i think what staffers are trying to articulate because we experienced what happened in 2016 and the devastating loss, is that there are a lot of vulnerabilities that we can identify because we did all the op on bernie sanders. a lot of that was not reported or at least thoroughly examined in the primary. there was 80 % of the coverage about bernie sanders was positive. and so i think that there is potentially a risk in not fully examining every single as

so phil, now i'm told jeff merkley has an event tomorrow.re's a reason we are thinking of listing instead only the democrats not running because it's going to be economically advantageous for our graphics department after a while. what do hickenlooper, inslee and merkley, to name three, bring to this race? what underserved market do they fill? >> first of all, brian, they come from states that have not had presidential contenders recently. washington state, oregon and colorado. i think more importantly they're going to be advocates for particular issues. in the case of inslee as you saw in his interview a couple hours ago on this network with rachel maddow, he cares hugely about climate change. and wants to make that the sole top issue on his agenda and will really try to use that spot on the debate stage probably to force that issue into the conversation. you know, hickenlooper's rung on his economic record and other aspects of his governorship in colorado. and merkley's running as a very progressive candidate. he's been one of the most pro

announce they weren't running, sherrod brown, hillary clinton, michael bloomberg, eric holder, jeff merkley. how does that change the dynamics of the race moving forward? >> well, there's no question that the race is crystalizing, it's taking shape really week by week. and i think this was a big week because had mayor bloomberg gotten into this democratic race, yes, he would have had an uphill climb, no question. largely because he's not seen necessarily by some activists in the party as a democrat. but, boy, had he gotten in, he would have been spending a lot of money and that would have impacted everything. particularly, as the race goes on. california has moved up its primary to just the month after iowa and new hampshire. so had bloomberg gotten in, he would have had an impact on the race. since he's going to be on the outside still trying to influence the dialogue, that is significant. i thinker is r er isherrod brow biggest development of this week. i traveled around with him when he was doing an exploratory tour in iowa and he was visiting the counties that president trump won that b

. >> you heard it right, senator jeff merkley of oregon opting out of a 2020 presidential nomination. avoiding what could have been a bid against some more famous names in the democratic field. it was a week when a few others announced they're not running. michael bloomberg, former mayor of new york city. eric holder, former u.s. attorney general and senator sherrod brown of ohio. the oregon senator says he will now focus on his senate re-election campaign and continue to fight the great crisis facing america. senator merkley, welcome to "politics nation." i want to get into an issue that you are in florida about today. but let me ask you, now that you've opted out of the race, what kind of candidate do you think the democratic party needs to beat donald trump in 2020? >> last year when i was traveling all over the country, helping people run for office and asking about their concerns, really what came from that was commentary on three big crises we face. and one is a democracy crisis. it's gerrymandering, it's voter suppression, which has been used to keep minority communities from v

last hour did say he will not run for president, much more definitively, that's oregon senator jeff merkleyl not be a candidate for president, instead he will run for reelection not senate. he said he believes there are democrats already in the presidential race who can tackle the nation's big challenges. >>> the winner of the $1.5 billion mega millions jackpot back in october has finally come forward to claim their prize. but the south carolina resident wants to remain anonymous. this is the largest single winner mega millions jackpot. this is a billion they won, not mega millions. the winner opted for a one-time payment of nearly $878 million. i feel like they're being ripped off. they won 1.5. >> that's a lot that they're giving up. by the way, i'm changing my name to anonymous. >> if you can get jackpot. >>> president trump and his fact challenge cpac speech have made for some comedy opportunities. here are your late night laughs. >> trump again speaking and speaking and speaking. he talked for two hours and two minutes making it the longest presidential oration in american history, whi

and jeff merkley, another crime bill yes vote last time, and new york mayor michael bloomberg.evision interview she was not running for president again, and the latest senator sherrod brown from ohio announced he would rather stay in the senate. which brings us to joe biden, the former vice president of the united states, the ride or die be bestie of barack obama is reported to be seriously considering making his third run for president. the challenge is joe biden comes from that law and order school of democratic politics. what you're going to find is the kind of dialogue on crime that used to be the way that you became the nominee. whether it's the way he oversaw the clearance thomas hearings and his treatment of anita hill or the way he wrote and defended the 1994 crime bill, all of that is going to sound very different when you hear it played again today. for joe biden, the upside is that he would enter the race as the front runner if he gets in. full stop, he was the vice president. everybody knows him, but the risk is the replay. today "the washington post" published part

this is jeff merkley out of oregon who was talking yesterday about whether he was -- whether he would make his intentions known. he says he plans to run for reelection to the senate. democratst there are speaking about challenges we face. in the video, he denounced the climate crisis and saying that we are in a battle for the soul of our nation. our noa, california on line. go ahead. this is carol. caller: ok, i am 60 years old. people shouldain be vaccinated. others should not. a flu vaccine. teat.me very add, verify i came to find out -- very fatigued. i came to find out i have an immune compromised symptom -- system. i found out shockingly that they are still putting mercury in the vaccines. basically very nonproductive. said, you, my doctor had a very were spot a very bad response to the vaccine -- a very bad response to the vaccine. he had my medical history and new was the vaccine. -- and knew it was the vaccine. ks toearched and got lin call the government. when i hear about the government not knowing, i get very upset. i got a link to the cdc and said this is the vaccine i had

jeff merkley said barr was hand picked. he decide nod obstruction. shocker. mind thorough investigation, two years, millions of taxpayer dollars. rod rosenstein was a part of this as well. brian: there was a conference call 3:00 saturday. so they all got on the same page with this. ainsley: yeah. brian: i believe every attorney general is hand picked by the president so it shouldn't have been a surprise. rod rosenstein to have him there was brilliant because he has been loved by the left because he seems to be the one who launched this whole thing and promised to wear a wimplet meanwhile rush limbaugh says this is going to be tough now. how county democrats possibly say we are going to impeach this president? >> this is the absolute most severe political scandal that has happened in my lifetime and maybe in the nation's history. a dossier that was fake. it was made up. it was never corroborated. it was never validated. and it was used as one of the highest secret courts in this country to get warrants that were renewed four times to spy on donald trump and re

senator jeff merkley of oregon has just announced he will not enter the democrat beiic primarr 2020.l run for the senate saying he plans to double down on his efforts. he can only run for one office at a time and has chosen to run for senate. and john hickenlooper has non announced he's running for president. we'll talk about it much more with senator doug jones of alabama. he joins our conversation next on "morning joe." >>> that is why alexandria ocasio-cortez has introduced the green new deal. they want to take your pickup truck, they want to rebuild your home, they want to take away your hamburgers. this is what stalin dreamt about but never achieved. n dreamt abot but never achieved otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla r

name stauers out there -- stars out there, so that makes it harder sherrod brown or jeff networkly who both inside -- merkley do it. a lot of the operatives have been sucked up by other campaigns. but the other one is what you get to, which is we have an ascendant wing of the democratic party that's highly progressoff, very, very -- progressive, very, very intolerant of those in the middle, and i think some of these candidates like michael bloomberg understood that their views on wall street, on the idea that capitalism is a good thing, on the idea that maybe you can't have medicare for all, it's too expensive, those are just not very popular and would make a run very hard right now. charles: and, of of course, gillian, with the brown, senator brown not getting in, folks are wondering who could win back the blue collar vote, because that was his angle, right? the ohio game, he went to iowa recently. is there someone like that that you think right now in the current -- >> in the current lineup? charles: yeah. >> i mean, i think they really do have a problem here because you'ved had new green deal democrats, a

merkley. ( darya ) happening today.... san francisco mayor london breed is announcing the city's new public defender. the appointment comes after the death of long time public defender jeff adachi. kron 4's sara stinson is joining us live from city hall. i'm live at city hall where we're waiting for mayor london breed to announce who she will appoint as the new public defender.the person who will replace the late and longtime jeff adachi who suddenly died last month.adachi was 59 years old and in his fifth term as public defender.when mayor breed found out about his death she said san francisco has lost a dedicated public servant and our communities have lost a champion.everyone in the san francisco public defenders office were shocked to hear about his death, which is still under investigation - but foul play is not suspected at this time.breed hasn't given any hints to us about who she will pick to replace adachi before the november fifth election, but some think she could pick chief deputy public defender matt gonzalez. the 53-year-old is best known for his work defending the undocumented immigrant accused of shooting and killing kate steinle who was walking on the sa

merkley. ( james ) happening today.... san francisco mayor london breed is announcing the city's new public defender.( darya ) the appointment comes after the death of long time public defender jeff adachi. kron 4's sara stinson is joining us live from city hall. i'm live at city hall where we're waiting for mayor london breed to announce who she will appoint as the new public defender.the person who will replace the late and longtime jeff adachi who suddenly died last month.adachi was 59 years old and in his fifth term as public defender.when mayor breed found out about his death she said san francisco has lost a dedicated public servant and our communities have lost a champion.everyone in the san francisco public defenders office were shocked to hear about his death, which is still under investigation - but foul play is not suspected at this time.breed hasn't given any hints to us about who she will pick to replace adachi before the november fifth election, but some think she could pick chief deputy public defender matt gonzalez. the 53-year-old is best known for his work defending the undocumented immigrant accused of shooting and killing kate steinle who was walking on the sa

in addition, we should acknowledge that senators ed markey and jeff merkley have long led bills to bring about comprehensive climate action. we need to get all the good ideas we can out on the table. and we need the republicans to come with ideas of their own. just this week, republican senator lamar alexander of tennessee proposed a "manhattan project for clean energy," reviving an idea he pushed a decade ago, which would increase funding for energy research. this is promising. so let's bring all the ideas to the table and take action on climate. taking decisive action is good for our health, our environment, and our economy. america can either follow or lead on climate change. democrats think we should lead. >> the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. >> asked not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country. >> and the people who knocked these buildings down. book,pan's new was the the presidents, ranking the best and worst chief executives remise insight into the lives of the 44 american presidents and historians gathered by interviews with noted histor