and so it was announced that peter baker would be the new jerusalem bureau chief. you moved there and then what happened? how did you have to cover trump? well, thank you guys for coming day. delighted to be here. that you panel doing this with us. pamela has been a great colleague both at the book review and now on the op ed page. i read everything she writes and i think you should do. we go to jerusalem. we were going to be jerusalem. susan was finishing up her stint as editor of politico, and she was going to join our son and me after election in 2016. and we settled in. we redid the apartment. it looked we were getting ready to have a fun time as foreign correspondent. it was an interesting time as foreign correspondent. and then the election happened and with so many people, the election kind of changed for us. susan can probably recite by memory, but she sent me a text message on election night saying, one, trump is going to win. two, they're going to ask you to, come back and they're right. well, that's right we like to think donald trump for two things in o

my colleague peter baker and not my colleague susan glasser, but spouses and coauthors. the book we're going to talk about the divider. this book was not supposed to happen because neither of you was supposed to cover trump. all right. i remember at the new york times, the there's an internal newsletter that goes around that used to be a heart ahead of the times to announce moves within times. and i remember when the announcement came out that peter baker was to be the new jerusalem bureau chief for the new york times, which is a spot that is, you know, lightly watched who was going to have that exciting and somewhat difficult job. and so it was announced that peter baker would be the new jerusalem bureau chief. you moved there and then what happened? how did you have to cover trump? well, thank you guys for coming day. delighted to be here. that you panel doing this with us. pamela has been a great colleague both at the book review and now on the op ed page. i read everything she writes and i think you should do. we go to jerusalem. we were going to be jerusalem. susan

. >>> joining me now is msnbc political analyst, peter baker thanks for being here.tart with desantis in israel how do you think he's doing so far in this world tour that he's on >> look, you know a governor like desantis has to show that he can play on the international stage, at least the additional theory of presidential politics, you often see a candidate without the foreign policy experience make this trip. barack obama did it. other candidates did it in order to sort of demonstrate they're bonafide it doesn't matter too much you'll hear about this trip for the months to come on the campaign trail when you hear the candidates say, well, when i was in japan, when i was in israel to convey that he is a serious person and they can trust the power to be commander in chief it doesn't really have that much impact beyond that a box to check, i think. >> the culture wars he has been waging in florida. they have been on the extreme end of things. the war he has been waging with disney appears to be fighting back you had nikki haley coming to south carolina we're not woke

. >>> joining us now is peter baker, "new york times" chief white house correspondent and nbc news political analyst. peter, always a pleasure to see you. ukraine's military says it shot down 21 of the 23 cruise missiles launched overnight, but earlier this month we learned from those leaked classified pentagon documents that the u.s. fears ukraine could run out of air defense missiles by may. we're talking about the next couple of days. what would it mean if they do run out? >> yeah, that would be a bad thing for ukraine because they have been very successful at controlling the air space of -- around them. a lot of people expected russia to be much more able to dominate the air space basically over ukraine and in fact the defenses they used to shoot down the missile has been remarkably effective. you see what happens when they don't manage to do that. the scenes of devastation, destruction this morning, show you need to shoot down every single one and to run out of the missiles in may as was projected in the leaked documents is a major challenge for the ukraine army and also the united stat

peter baker, the chief white house correspondent for the ne york times, road, for more tha two centuries, presidents have been held on a pedestal, eve the ones swab in scandal declared immune from prosecution while in office an effectively, even afterward. no longer. that taboo has been broken and it is true these events have no precedent in the history of our country. it's an enormous, enormous dea that's happening now i don't want to undersell this but there's something abou that framing, which is not jus peter baker -- 's it's widely shared -- that i find a little alarmin and misleading it's this idea that this is th moment that we jumped off th map into the abyss that moment actually happene when that guy, donald trump, was elected president of the united states. that guy, donald trump, president -- a man who clearly had a histor of lawlessness and demagoguery a guy who just, to pick on thing at random in his campaign, issued a call to bend more tha a billion people from this country based on their fat alone. one of the most flatly offensive assault on america values have ever seen -

let's bring in lisa -- nbc legal analyst, along wit peter baker, chief white house correspondent with the new yor times, and an nbc politica analyst. he is also the coauthor of the divider, a trump in the whit house. as i welcome you both, i guess that is going to make me start with, you peter. you spent time interviewin trump at mar-a-lago for that book what do you think is on hi mind this afternoon as he' getting closer to this lon trip home to interact with the justice system how will he approach the nex couple days? >> well, look, i think a coupl things one, of, course is all the indications from mar-a-lago. you, know lashing out at everyone for how this happened he's very mad about th prosecutor, and all that you, know the other thing we have to keep in mind is what we'll see the next couple days the trump show he loves been at the center of this spotlight he will make the most of this. he has already put out a statement indicating his schedule, it was a campaign, ship how is gonna go north what he's gonna go, they're al that kind of thing he's now announce, rightfully, that - th

i'm joined by nbc white house correspondent, mike memoli, peter baker is chief white house correspondentw york times" and an msnbc political analyst. all three of us familiar with the white house running a little behind we don't even have a shot up from the rose garden we're keeping an eye on it right now. we have seen the president in the rose garden already this week, and both times, mike, the focus has been on executive actions he's taking to keep the focus on priorities like child care or the environment. is this just a little glimpse of what's to come when he's officially running again >> well, chris, they don't call it a rose garden strategy for nothing, right, so we're going to hear the president today on the eve of earth day talking about what he considers some of his important accomplishments while in office. some of the climate provisions of the inflation reduction act he's also going to be taking executive actions to create the office of environmental justice. this is an important concept for this president who has put racial equity at the forefront of his agenda, in recogniti

ryan riley, peter baker, gle gardner, thank you all for making us smarter tonight. and for being with me instea of watching the nfl, draft which i'm sure my own family's coming up, ron desantis test his presidential ambitions not traveling across the country not in florida, but headin overseas while facin challenges here at home. simone sanders townsend and -- are here on all of it. and later, in an interview tha you must see, the parents of the gunman who killed five people at a bank in louisville just a few weeks ago, they break their silence. what are they calling for? stricter gun laws. the 11th hour just getting underway on a thursday night and i promise that you need to see that interview but with upwork, there's highly skilled talent from all over the globe. right at your fingertips. ♪ this is how we work now ♪ the chase ink business premier card is made for people like sam who make...? ...everyday products... ...designed smarter. like a smart coffee grinder - that orders fresh beans for you. oh, genius! for more breakthroughs like that... ...i need a breakth

in describing the book, new york times chief white house correspondent peter baker said, quote, mr. smith does for ford what david mccullough did for harry truman. smith offers a thoughtful, textured reveal of an often overlooked and underappreciated president. now another publishing news the 45th president is set to publish his latest book. it's entitled letters to trump, and the book is being released through winning team publishing. and in the washington times, brian darling took a look at the book, writing that quote, the letters to and from mr. trump provides a good view of a man before he became the subject of daily media attacks. the letters from past decades show mr. trump's depth and breadth. the letters also show that as a private citizen, mr. trump was popular among many who denounced him when he became a candidate and then president. and finally, publishers weekly has for 25 years sponsored a book store of the year award. this year, the finalists are the edmonds bookshop and edmonds, washington. harvey's tales in geneva, illinois. in tara bank books in dallas. main stree

by susan glasser and peter baker. well, we have that in stock. i will tell you that they they sell well, initially, but they do have a shelf life. and so they get a lot of attention. there is i sense a bit of a of a fatigue with many trump books. i think many readers want to get over it, want to take a look at new things, explore new topics. and so while we put those books on our shelves, i will tell you that after a few weeks, they tend to interest be tends to dissipate. so, congressman israel, if i came in and wanted to read catcher in the rye, j.d. salinger or pg woodhouse, are those classics available as well? my my favorite section. peter is behind me. banned books. my second favorite section are our classics. and i will tell you, they sell very well. people, i think they're returning to great literature and meaningful literature and literature that makes a point and not necessarily a quick 20 books. so we have a very robust bay of shelves that offer those classics and we keep it intentionally cluttered. i love the look of it. it's not the b

this is peter baker with a quote from met romney. i believe his conduct makes him unfit for office, i believe the new york prosecutor has stretched to reach criminal felony charges to fit a political agenda. david, let's hear from you. caller: how are you this evening? good to talk to you, can you hear me? ok ok great. first of all, i wanted to say i am a united states army combat veteran. the first thing i have to say is this -- our country is in a downhill spiral, going nowhere, fast. we have a more on in the white house, that is 80 years old -- a moron in the white house that is 80 years old. when he clenches his fist it is because he is feeling the diaper. if you like him, that is your right as an american. but people should not be persecuting trump because of his political beliefs or affiliations, just because he is the front runner. because everybody -- i had a cousin murdered in georgia over the election. it was an election theft. they did steal the election, there is proof it was done. it's crickets. i heard callers say the j

my colleague peter baker aot

my colleague peter baker and not my colleague susan glasser, but spouses and coautho

peter baker, of the new york times, writes this quote, the larger story is of country heading down aoad it has never travel before. one fraught with profoun consequences for the health of the world's oldest democracy joining me now, democratic new york congressman ritchie torres congressman, this has not ever happened in the u.s. but we've seen these types of things i other countries, in italy, i israel do you see this as a huge test for our democracy? >> well, the fundamental difference between a dictatorship and a democracy i that a democracy should be capable of holding its leadership accountable in court of law i mean, donald trump sees hi self as a king who is above th law and who can do whatever he wishes with impunity and he's finally facin accountability we're sending a powerful message to the world that no one is above the law, not even a former president that in the united states of america, there is no king or queen, or the only king or queen is the majesty of th law. >> when you say we are sending a message, who is we >> the american legal system american democracy, that'

as new york times as peter baker points out, for more than two centuries, presidents have been held onn ones swatch i scandal, declared immune for prosecution while an office, and effectively even afterwards. joining me now history professor ruth ben-ghiat. she is the author o strongmen, mussolini to th president. so, ruth, republicans are claiming tha the indictment of a former president makes us look like a banana republic. and those are their words, they're not mine. but that's not really the case is it? >>. no. and it is true tha trump is the first president t be indicted. but it just goe to show that trump is different kind of presiden than anyone of either part before him. as i have been saying since 2017, he ha autocratic not democratic goals, and his character and hi contentious agenda. and one of the things we see is that al authoritarians, whethe convicted or not, are corrupt. and trump has been living fo this day in the sense that wha they all do is even where ther are still candidates, they start training the press - sorry, they start training the public against the press p

/south korea alliance because it is based on shared values like freedom peter baker, your thoughts onwhether there's any impact with the state dinner >> you'll see president yoon arrive at the white house this morning around 10:00 a.m., having a bilateral meeting followed by a joint pres conference and state dinner tonight. they'll make sure nobody sees any cracks in the alliance they have issues to talk about, how to guarantee south korean security in the face of continued north korean threat. i think you'll see them play down any impact from this leak at this point. >> i agree with peter. i think the bigger issue is going to be south korean insecurity it's a combination of north korean's relentless build up of nuclear forces and missile forces and second of all the threat at the end of the trump administration to pull the u.s. forces still in south korea, to pull them out if south korea didn't spend more on defense and give what the trump administration wanted on trade since then the south koreans are looking for what's called a strategic reassurance. i think the centerpiece of this

. >> andrew, let me ask you about something that peter baker brought up last week about what sort of precedent this might set and whether you're going to have other d.a.s in other states who are -- who have a bone to pick with the former president bring charges against him. the example he used was maybe a d.a. in texas or arizona, bringing charges against president biden when he's out of office saying he didn't adequately protect the borders do you think that that sort of thing could happen after this? i know we're still yet to see the details of the indictment, but we do have a broad understanding of what we believe them to be >> this is the argument that is made that this is sort of selective prosecution and that this is going to turn our country into a so-called banana republic people think not holding someone to account is what would turn our country into a banana republic if they commit crimes and i think the concern that this opens the floodgates to states and other d.a.s doing this with other presidents, one, there is no evidence that that would happen but let's just take that

there's a big book and william leahy the big peter baker's book on james baker on jesus staff and i began to hear this. that's a manly job from manly man working from manly president and aren't all these guys great because there's such men like linebackers protecting a quarterback or like bouncers throwing a drunk son of a bar this damage. is then our view of edith because she has to be a woman. she has to be just first lady that she stepped in in the in the breach of a terrible tragedy and kept wilson's presidency going at least for a year. i think if she was a man she'd be admired for like you saying to she had been thomas woodrow wilson jr. that probably be great books about her right now. maybe we can sunday get past that idea that a chief of staff is a manly thing and we see it as a position of helping the president my last slide, please. this is a famous picture. i've always seen it but and when historians write critically about her that she was this lady macbeth behind the throne kind of telling the drooling woodrow wilson what to do. this is in her memoir. she was proud of this pi

i think peter baker has it right in the way he's talking about. trump is flourishing this morning on the front page of the new york times, he says the ex president is at home in the indictments glare. you know that this has always been to some degree of the core of trump's appeal that the establishment hates him that they're out to get him that he sort of. you know that he's transgressive and stands for people who feel really alienated from the establishment. and so, yeah, i mean, i think this is some ways back to basics back to him coming down the golden staircase and saying things that are incredibly offensive. look what he's fund raised. yeah i mean, i saw and i think it's you know, i do think there's a second question of is there anybody who says now i like him more? i don't know, but in terms of just keeping the faith with the people who really fell in love with him in the first place who are already on all his email list and clicking to whatever he's asking them to click forward to give him money. i mean, it's a bit that's obviously working,

a manhattan gran jury joining me now, nbc news presidential historian thank you for being here peter bakerd j trump was elected to the white house i 2016 so many unimaginable event have shock the world that it i easy to lose sight of ho astonishing this particula moment really is michael, do you agree with that? >> i agree and i also say that the best way to look at this i is our political influence legal system correcting itself i don't think the founders, we can read the constitution, i think there is anything in the constitution that says that ex presidents should never be indicted yet, 1974, richard nixon, just as you were saying, he lef office leon toward keith's specia prosecutor, and particularly his young lawyers, they want t indict nixon they had plenty of reason to instead, gerald ford gave nixo a pardon saying the countr could never dancing president. 1987, ronald reagan, it coul be fairly argued and was at th time, maybe broke a law having to do with getting money to th contras, which the congress ha passed an amendment expressl for bidding. howard baker who was reagan' chief o

peter baker and michael shear write for "the new york times," quote, no commander in chief is, in more been eclipsed in the public eye by the leader he succeeded the way mr. biden has at times now, with the first criminal prosecution of a former president in american history, it will be that much harder to command the national conversation yet, it is a contrast that mr. biden's team hopes will eventually benefit him to the extent that the remainder of mr. biden's term is a split screen between the 45th and the 46th presidents. white house officials are willing to live with less airtime if it means their president is seen to be focusing on manufacturing health care and climate change, while the other one is seen focusing on pretrial motions, hostile witnesses and records of hush money paid to a porn star. they do offer this warning, however. anti-chaos may be appealing to voters exhausted by trumpian turmoil, but it has not historically been a ratings draw jen, i think this is right i think the biden white house has a lot of opportunities here. like, while all this has been going on, he

devine and peter schweizer, that will do it for me rethink his symmetry watching we will see you next time. >> welcome to the "wall street journal at large" i am james freeman emperor gerry baker. history has been made in america this week and probably not something we can look back on with pride manhattan democratic district attorney has recycle the case rejected by other prosecutors in may donald trump indicted on thursday the first former u.s. president to face terminal charges the specific allegations from da alvin bragg aren't public yet but the case is likely an attempt to turn a dubious misdemeanor case of allegedly false record-keeping into a federal crime like claiming money to buy the silence of an alleged mistress constitutes campaign spending. trump is expected to turn himself in early next week though he denied any wrongdoing for the implications are buried and terrible for the country it's not clear if democrat to support the case want to see trump on trial because they want him to be the republican presidential nominee again or because they don't this is a big question for 2024 will criminal charges drive voters away from trump will bring them into his corner. w