the steve scalise defense here is ignorance. a series of statements since the revelations came out, he had no idea of the racist and anti-semitic affiliations of this group he was speaking to. the david duke connection didn't pop for him as a meaningful thing when agreeing to speak to this group. he didn't have enough staff or the google for some reason even though google had already been around for foryears at that point. when all this happened it was not like david duke was hide hg white, white, white light under a bushel. in 1989 as they klan leader he won a seat in the louisiana house of representatives from 1989 to 1993. in 1990 he ran for u.s. senate. he got 44% of the vote in a u.s. senate race as a former klan leader. he ran for governor in louisiana. a klan guy and very nearly won. second in the run-off. david duke doing so well in louisiana didn't just get a ton of louisiana attention. it got all sorts of national republican figures involved in louisiana politics. national republicans who had nothing to do with the sta

scalise was serving as a louisiana state representative at the time.news was first reported last month by law student lamar white junior, on the website cenlamar.com. scalise told the new orleans times-picayune he does not recall the conference and -- "didn't know who all of these groups were for anyone to suggest i was involved with a group like that is insulting and ludicrous." scalise did apologize for his speech saying -- "it was a mistake i regret, and i emphatically oppose the divisive racial and religious views groups like these hold." on monday, white house press secretary josh earnest said it's up to scalise's gop colleagues to decide if he faces consequences. >> it is the responsibility of individual members to decide who they want to elect as a leader of their conference. and surly, who does elected leaders are says a lot about to the conferences and what their priorities and values are, and they're going to have to answer for themselves whether or not elevating somebody who describes himself as david duke without the baggage reinforces the

scalise was in state politics at the time. he did not know from the name of the group what it respected. she says this is what i remember about the first time i met steve scalise nearly 20 years ago. he told me he was like david duke without the baggage. i didn't ask the question molly, we flip, what is the statute of limitations on stupidity or someone who may have had views or associated with people back then thinking may be opportunistic the politically smart thing to do. can you forgiven to are that if you say i've changed my mind or i wasn't quite sure? >> ed is right it looks like john boehners that dealt with this rather effectively, rather swiftly, rather decisively. boehner and the other members of leadership took scalise at his word nothing else would come tout reinforce this, this would be a single incident and he could put it behind him and so far thathas not been a drip of other revelations, there's not been anything else to reinforce this idea, but republicans like you say know that they have a problem with being

mcdonnell goes to the slammer, and david duke defends steve scalise. have a nice day, republicans, and let's play "hardball." ♪ ♪ >> good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. put this day, january 6, 2015 down as a bad day for republicans. a top governor who was on mitt romney's short list for vice president is sent to prison today. 25 members of congress, all republicans vote to dump john boehner from the speakership. a stunning rebuke for the history books. and john lewis demands that boehner's number three man apologize for hanging out with the neo-nazi crowd. no, it was not a good day for the republican party. we have it all tonight wrapped up as one big whoopee cushion for a political party that keeps getting dragged back in by the tea party. a party that says it can govern, but has a top governor heading to the pen. i was reading your column today. i think you got it right. but let's talk about this republican party today. 25 people, this has never, ever happened -- 25 members of the republican party in the congress today voted against boeh

national committee chair slammed congressman scalise today.te, as the new congress begins, nothing discredits republican claims of outreach and bringing people together more than their decision to keep steve scalise at the top tier of the elected leadership of their caucus. anyone living in this century should have known better than to attend and speak at a white supremacist event. by 2002 when scalise spoke to that group, david duke was a known entity in this country. not just in louisiana. i covered that race when he ran for governor. but nationwide. the hateful views he has espoused were widely covered in print and political ads. this stuff was out there. just take a look. >> there's plenty of other places in this country that i could live maybe with some negros that are integrationists. but what are we talking about. >> i don't want to live with negroes. >> the jewish people have been a blight. i mean as a whole, not every jew, and they probably deserve to go to the ash bin of history. >> you are quoted as saying america is being invaded b

not specifically by steve scalise but by other elected officials.hat type of relationship exists on an ongoing relationship between this duke hate group and other elected officials. i don't think we have all the facts, perhaps. and that's why i've reserved judgment. i want to have a conversation not only with steve scalise but also with the house majority leadership. and they have not historically in the last three years been open to having what i would call face-to-face dialogue with civil rights leaders and others around policy differences. and i think that that should happen and that's going to have to happen. i'm asking for it to happen. not that the dialogue is going to change anything but if we want to get 2015 off on the right foot and if we want to ensure that this is a moment to learn from then there's got to be that kind of dialogue. david duke is a despicable figure. >> but he's somebody who didn't get run out of louisiana politics all together. >> he got run to jail. let's say none of these reports on david duke indicate that he was conv

i mean he is just going after ska leeszcalise scalise. >> steve scalise has made his bed, but he can't lie in it because his friends need the white sheets. david duke is very good at getting his name in the press. david duke is a guy who takes a lot of money from racists, so much money from racists that is hard to tell where david duke's racism begins and the grifter hood ends. this is a man who went to jail for federal tax fraud. that's his pedigree. he's never going to mount a serious challenge against steve scalise. he is not going to -- the gop's problem is they kept steve scalise. the democrats have not called for his ouster because he compared himself to david duke. it can only help the democrats. i don't see david duke doing him any real harm. >> exactly. in some strange way this helps scalise because it makes him look like a moderate compared to david duke. the conservative thing is they don't need any kind of this conversation. david duke brings nothing to the conservative movement does he? >> no. david duke sounds like a jilted lover who is angry that scalise has denied the r

john lewis called on scalise to apologize. and there's even pushback from within his own party with politico quoting that scalise may be quote, toxic in some gop circles. so on day one of the new congress, the gop is on the defensive. and president obama is throwing down the gauntlet. today the white house said it would veto the first bill the gop senate is planning to pass the keystone pipeline. and the president called on congress to work with him. i'm confident that there are going to be areas where we disagree and there will be some battles, but i'm also confident that there are enormous areas of potential agreement that would deliver to the american people. and we just have to make sure that we focus on those areas where we can make significant progress together. >> but in 2015 can speaker boehner work with the president? even if he can't even count on republicans to work with him? joining me now is msnbc political correspondent kasie hunt and political strategist angela rye. thank you both for being here. >> thank you, r

. >> overall, though, it is true, but the scalise story has been handled well. of course liberal media outlets are going to jump all over it but if you put aside the predictable responses of the left and right media, i would say the scalise story has been put in contempt. people are not saying he is a racist, that he agreed with what the group was doing, and they put it in the context of how much damage will it do? how much did he know at the time? this is an embarrassment if republicans but they were lucky it came during christmas when not a lot of people were paying attention. the cover has been covered relatively fairly. >> what is mildly surprising is you expect conservative comators to say this happened 12 years ago why dredge it up? but you had people saying not only scalise but speaker boehner should resign. >> hannity believes if the waffles are evercrooked, speaker boehner should resign. it doesn't take a lot to get to that point to see boehner go. the media mishandling of the story was an interesting story. blogers say scalise spoke to david duke and h

a blogger says scalise spoke. scalise eventually said i'm sorry, i didn't know.ey say he didn't talk to that group at all. he talked to a grew that was meeting in the same place that had a guy and it wasn't that group. >> and even david toouk duke stayed in an interview he's not sure. >> and so the story just at the moment the feeding frenzy was about to rip scalise from limb to limb, there was an emily latelle moment like, oh, never mind. >> dwr didn't scalise say that? >> because there's more to it. >> the reason he's waffling on that, to bring up waffles again, is the press did its story. the forum to get moving information because reporters start thinking. and new media comes into play balk you can dig up old blog posts. we find in the past scalise has walked a very fine line of trying to appeal to voters and there are a lot of them in louisiana. so he's trying to walk that fine line. that's what you see here with his speaking to this group and association with some of the people involved in this. >> i think it's interesting that journalists who cover him say

his quote if scalise is going to be crucified, if republican want to throw steve scalise to the woods then a lot of them better be looking over his shoulders and he add he wasn't afraid to release a list of names of politicians he's connected to. he's saying there's more steve scalises out there. >> wouldn't it be funny if david vitter was on that list trying to survive all the other things. a lot of this is about optics and theater. let's be honest the republican party particularly in louisiana and the conservative district that he serves in this is part of who you reach out to. there are people who are on -- these white people on the fringe, they do vote. these are people being appealed to. again, i make this point he spoke to this group and there's a big backlash as there should be but there are all the other appeals made to the voters. you have to wonder where's the line it becomes unacceptable to do these things and where is the line -- >> where is it morally if somebody is on a david duke mailing list or supporter list. if somebody is willing to put their name behind somebody wh

scalise reportedly described himself as david duke without the baggage. be up to republicans to decide what they says about their conference. >> there's a broader context here. the president today sitting down not with the new republican leaders in congress. he's planning to do that next tuesday, but instead sitting down with governors of both parties suggesting he can go around congress, talking about more executive action also issuing today two veto threats over the keystone pipeline and also over potential changes to his health care law. so what we're seeing is a president both with that rhetoric from josh earnest and the actions from the president on veto threats and the like, executive action in the days ahead is that a president who has talked about cooperating with this republican congress is now actually acting in a very confrontational way because he's dealing with a whole new political dynamic on the hill. >> speaking of the late robert byrd of west virginia democrats seem to have forgotten his past because byrd was a former high level member of

assuming scalise survives this.oaden his political base a little bit and broaden in terms of how he represents the state of louisiana. that move was interesting to me. do you think steve scalise might emerge from this changed from some way when congressman richmond vouches for him? >> i think scalise himself understands that politics are different on the national level. but, you know, the relationship between him and richmond is not extraordinary at all. scalise is a nice guy first of all. secondly, this is louisiana and black or white, republican or democrat you work with the colleagues that you have or you have constant gridlock. they have scalise and richmond have a working relationship for a long time. like me and rachel maddow point out we don't agree with pat buchanan but he is a nice guy who we have gotten along with over the years. at the same time scalise is very much trusted by the right wing republicans in congress. and john boehner needs that. and that's why he was elected in this position in the first p

steve scalise won his house seat in a special election in may of 2008.ed on and passed a resolution apologizing for slavery, something we know steve scalise was opposed to but we don't know how he voted on that resolution because it passed by voice vote no individual representative vote was actually recorded. we asked steve scalise how he voted but he hasn't responded to our request. we do know that when he was first asked to vote on apology for slavery, he said why are you asking me to apologize for something i didn't do and had no part of? i'm not going to apologize for what somebody else did. he was then a member of the louisiana legislature. it was 1996 and the louisiana legislature was considering a resolution "to acknowledge the role of the state of louisiana and the people of the state in the institution of slavery to offer an apology to african-american citizens of louisiana for such role and to pledge a united effort to assure that all citizens enjoy the full blessings of liberty." steve scalise was a member of a committee considering that resol

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get off scalise's back.t: jody has this point __ the next two years, we will find out if the tea party is, or isn't, the problem in the republican party. the "new york times" talking about the nation's private coffer in chief. the president has spent over 1000 hours on the golf course. this story talking about obama's little_known but improving game. next is david from pontiac, michigan. caller: good morning. i am really disappointed that the republicans are taking over the house and senate. i do not look forward to any more insanity. and the lack of cooperation with the present. i want to go on record __ the president is not arrogant. he is very classy. he is a good presidents. he just has a group about people you have to work with. host: many of you weighing in on our facebook page. we are asking whether or not the republicans can lead in the 114 congress. technology has changed, but one thing has remained a constant __ your calls and comments on "washington journal". it was on the state 20 years ago that

scalise delivered those remarks, kenny night gave $1,000 to scalise's congressional campaign.t gives the date of the donation as may 1st, 2008. now knight is the same man who claims he arranged for scalise in 2002 to address a neighborhood group not the euro conference in the same hotel where the the eu are, o conference was taking place. despite his denials that he was a part of the group, the new orleans times reported on thursday that documents filed with the louisiana secretary of state office list him as treasurer of the national organization for european american rights in 2000. so this one feels different to me. i don't think anyone buys influence with a thousand dollars. i don't think that happens. but i've been close to enough local campaigns that you have to be on the phone. oh, well you're my guy. you're going to have my interest at heart. and that feels very different than whether or not you talk to a group. >> well it depends on whether or not that is -- and this is one of those things there's no way for us to know one way or the other. if they were actively solic

the white house came out strong today on scalise. this is the triumphant gop takeover day after tomorrow. is this what the gop wanted the day before they take over congress in this whole big spirit of this is their triumphant walk into washington? >> well, i think what the white house has made clear and what the president has made clear is that there's going to be no 85ication, no compromise. we're not going backwards on health care. we're not stepping in the wrong direction. if they want to work with the president on moving the country forward, he's prepared to work with them. because, you know he has not been someone who's been shy about sitting down with republicans. the problem has been they have not been willing to compromise and to work together in the interest of the country. so we've had a period of time where they've just been fighting him. now with the control of the house and the senate they have an opportunity to show the country where they really stand. now, if their idea is to take millions of americans and take away th

one, steve scalise apologized.s i'm looking at this story and how it played out by all reports credible for something he didn't do one, this story was tipped off by robert reed campaign manager for guilder read who ran against him when jindal moved on to the governorship. two, i'm looking at the euro workshop flier here, the picture put out by vetted conference was two hours in full disclosure, i stayed at a number of hotels back at that time, i wasn't there for the conference, but it's a well-known landmark as you come into new orleans and i just like the round building. >> the fact when he said he spoke because he apologized -- >> he was in a community meeting. and even by own records and kenny knight tied to david -- >> that's -- >> it was two hours after his community meeting -- >> here's my problem. i'm having a hard time believing -- and this is my take, that he didn't know this was a david duke's organization. >> they were in the hotel. i went through the hotel rates. they had a convention there. call it tha

can ill afford the scalise problem. i have a lot of questions and who better to ask about scalise's appearance than david duke himself. so, 2002, did steve scalise speak to the group you founded? >> frankly i'm not sure. i was in russia at the time doing research for my dissertation, i since got a ph.d., and i was in moscow in fact, almost every day, i did a telephone hook-up. by the way, we have to make something really clear here. they say former klan leader or whatever. this was 37 years ago in my life. okay. and -- >> but true. admittedly over a long time period but true. >> it's also true that robert bird was in the klan but a lot of people were friends of robert berg, democrats and republicans. it's really a biased situation. because i denounce -- first i was never violent but i denounce even then violence. i left it because i didn't want to be associated with that kind of taint. i have never supported white supremism yet i read about it. this wasn't a hate group, in fact, the european american unity and rights or

scalise doesn't have enemies yet. if there was an agenda to get rid of him, this could have been used as an excuse. >> it could have. i don't think he's over it yet. we will see what happens with leadership votes. he has to be the whip, he has to have relationships within his caucus. if you look back, there's just no credible way that anyone in louisiana politics did not know what david duke represented. we showed the "meet the press" famous "meet the press" with -- >> a couple of them with duke. >> tim russert questioning david duke in 1999, two years, three years before this happened. he was running for congress. he was in a runoff a decade earlier for governor. >> before i move on, you matt you wrote this, five ways you know you you are speaking to white supremacist. it was founded by david duke. banners that say white group. the name of the group. the hotel hosting the event is ashamed. and no one there cares about his tax stand, which is what scalise claimed. you don't buy the story? >> i don't. i was having fun

scalise spoke to the group. duke says he may have. republican leaders are behind scalise. john boehner calls him a man of high integrity andter saying more than a decade ago, representative scalise made anticipate ir error in judgment. the only african-american member of louisiana delegation is defending him. >> i don't view steve as having racial challenges at all. i think that he is just a hard working public servant that will go talk to anybody ate. whether he agrees with their social believes or not. >> some conservatives particularly the anti-boehner voices, are skeptical of how this has been handled and see a double standard believing if he were a real tea partier, he wouldn't be in his job. eric eric son, how does somebody show up at a david duke organized event in 2002 and claim ignorance. mark levine, if he was a tea party member of congress, boehner and his cheer leaders would have forced his resignation by now. they are renewing a call for baner to step down. trent lot was forced to resign his post when at strom thur man's birthday he praised the senator who ran

scalise reportedly described himself as david duke without the baggage.blicans to decide what that says about their conference. >>> joining us now from new orleans is david duke. first of all, i understand that you were not at the conference where congressman scalise spoke is. that correct? >> that is correct. actually at the time i was in moscow in the russian archives doing research for this book the skeerlt behind communism. and by the way my speech at the conference, which was done by a telephone hookup was actually about how the iraq war would be a catastrophic war for america and only help the enemies of america and put americans in harms way. that is what it was about. i was never a white supremacist. i am not a white supremacist. the european rights group was a charted civil organization and in the louisiana legislature, i sponsored a bill that forbid racial discrimination and the programs called affirmative action. >> now back to congressman scalise. because he is in the eye of the tiger. you were not there were you aware he was go to speak to yo

scalise, nobody asked him to step down. you explain to african-americans anybody of good conscience and good will, how the party who had the opportunity to do good work on criminal justice wraps around a guy who speaks to a group like this? >> i would start a conversation with people who know him best. the congressional black caucus who said very clearly, knowing, knowing scalise for more than 12 years said that he doesn't have a racist bone in his body. for me, that was good enough. the fact of the matter is if we are going to make a pave the path going forward we are going to do it together. i remember back in the days when elected members of the senate were democrats. let us not put in place the fact that somehow the republican party or the democratic party has the strongest position on the issue of race. we know for sure is that the issues of flaws are issues of people. it's a human condition not a republican condition or a democrat condition, it's a human condition. so, i was very surprised and interested to see the re

steve scalise is not an idiot.'m pointing all three of those things out. >> no one knows anything under misapprehension of what david duke was. it was, by all accounts, a bad decision to go to that conference by the standard of what he's trying to do and raise his profile in the state at that point of time. perhaps he saw it was a risk worth taking. >> perhaps he saw the state rep repealing affirmative action programs. stricter public housing guidelines. but those all become particularly the 1990s when the affirmative action wars really heat up. those become mainstream planks of republican party politics. >> you know, some of what he said, although a less extreme version of it, when you watch him, he's fighting over welfare and what is happening with welfare recipients. and that evolved into a centrist position. and so he's leading the edge of the kind of political discourse that takes the whole country in a certain direction. >> exactly. >> but not single handedly. >> no. absolutely. but he is's an opportunist. he

. >> well, we heard about steve sko scalise who is part of the leadership team.from louisiana. he's been under fire over the last week or so for comments he made a dozen years ago at an event that was associated with european nationalists, white supremacists, that sort of thing. the david duke part of the conservative wing. and today taking really an opportunity to bring this back into focus. debby wasserman schultz who represents florida put out a new statement challenging scalise for his position within gop leadership as the whip. and in part her statement reads as the new congress begins nothing discredit republican claims of outreach and bringing people together more than their decision to keep steve scalise at the top tier of the elected leadership of their caucus. the continued defense of scalise by speaker boehner and other members of the house gop show they are divisive as ever. this is a way for debby wasserman schultz shine a light on the issue. top challenge the choice of steve scalise who has been backed by many fellow republicans and idea he would st

scalise said the speech is a mistake he regrets and party leaders have backed him. incoming members of republican party rank and file are also packing scalise including utah's mia love, the first black republican woman elected to congress. >> this was 12 years ago. it's interesting it's coming up now. i believe he should remain in leadership. there's one quality he has that i think is very important in leadership that's humility. he's shown that in this case and apologized. i think we need to move on and get the work of the american people done. >> joining me now is kelly o'donnell. obviously an african-american republican woman standing by stay lease in this. does she lend him some credibility where boehner and other white males perhaps could not. >> she's an important voice. she's the first prime ministerafrican-american republican woman elected to congress. she's a new voice. for her to lend her voice is helpful. she's not a part of the establishment. she doesn't have. long preexisting relationships with people here. at the same time because scalise and everyone

why are you so eager to talk about scalise the republican whip?> i do not know that i am eager to talk about it -- >> i could tell from the gleam in your eyes you were not shying away from the topic. >> ultimately, it is the responsibility of the republicans in the house of representatives to decide who they want to serve in their leadership. that is true. with mr. scalise, that does raise questions. that is true of whoever they would choose. they have to tell the american public what their priorities are, what they stand for, and what it is they represent. it does say something about the house republicans that they have elected somebody who reportedly described himself -- >> you know what they are saying about you around washington? >> i can only imagine. >> you are tommy peter without the baggage. >> [laughter] >> you're being very garrulous about the house leadership election. there was some controversy about john boehner. you had so much to say about the other matter. while you let us know what you think about what went on today whether it str

of scalise's allies and his aides in the last couple of days you feel because he's expressed regret event in 2002 and about his appearance they believe he will be able to move on and they think scalise because he's number three, he's not number one or number two, he's not going to be a total distraction for the party and they think because he got out early and expressed that -- issued that statement he'll be okay. >> greta, do you think he's a distraction. >> i think he's a distraction, but this is a huge missed opportunity for the republican party. the republican party, if they wanted to send a message, i don't think it's fair to congressman scalise but associate with david duke is grossly unwise. there's no secret who david duke is. i realized this 12 years ago. he says he was there. some people say he wasn't there. i don't know what that is. if you want to send a message to the american people, republicans and democrats, this would have been the opportunity to say, he should have stepped asid whether it's fair or not and send a message that, you know, we're not going to have this

scalise, it will be very interesting to see what happens. the strongest things he has going for him right now is his file. the rank and file seems to be okay with his apology. saying, look, i was talking about the issue of taxes. i'm an affable guy. i was hitting the trail. it was 12 years ago. i'm sorry. it was a mistake. he also has the support of john boehner and also an african-american from louisiana saying steve scalise does not have a racist bone in his body. with the white house coming out hard against him yesterday, saying is this someone who's representative, perhaps emblematic of someone that should be in leadership that can speak for the country? if that sticks and you're starting to see house democrats calling on him to resign if there are some fractures within the house republican conference perhaps one of the more northeastern/midwestern members saying, you know what we're not comfortable with this guy, then there might be a problem. where he stands right now, scalise does look secure. one last thing i'll throw in there. what

scalise described himself as david duke without the baggage.p to republicans to decide what that says. >>> joining us now is david duke. first of all, i understand you were not at the conference where congressman scalise spoke. there is correct. at the time i was in moscow in the russian archives doing research for this book, the secret behind communism. and my speech at the conference, which was done by a telephone hookup was actually about how the iraq war would be a catastrophic war for america and only help the enemies of america and put americans in harms's way. i said there were no weapons of mass destruction. i was never a white supremacist. i in the louisiana legislature sponsored a bill that forbid racial discrimination and these programs called affirmtive action. >> all right. you were not there you were in moscow doing something else. were you aware he was going speak to your group? >> i heard about that. but i tell you frankly, and i know your next question is was he there. i can't be sure he was there. >> you don't know if he actua

house majority whip, steve scalise of louisiana. representative marlin stutzman of indiana. representative daniel webster of florida. congressman brad wenstrup of ohio. congressman bruce westerman of arkansas.

but this is the liability with steve scalise. you nailed it on the head. every time one of the members says something like this the tie will always go there. so right now, he looks good. he should be fine. but every time this happens, he'll be the at forefront, joy. >> indeed. we need a new godwin's law that every time on the hill -- >> in congress you should not want to do that. a bad decision. >> and now congressman webber has apologized for the tweet. that is an update that we got via my magical producers. thank you, luke. >> thank you. >>> and in washington, the national transportation safety board is investigating an electrical malfunction that led to a metro station being filled with smoke. it happened at the beginning of the rush hour. one woman was killed and dozens were sent to area hospitals. tom costello has more on the investigation. >> hi, joy. good day to you. for most part the metro system has been functioning normally although with some delays here and there. in all, 84 people taken to area hospitals, three in critical condition yesterday a