steve king has 111,000.carried many republicans to victories in primaries, just in the midterms. so republicans don't want to cross him. they feel comfortable crossing steve king now. and they're sort of making up in their own minds and their own hearts, they're making up for their silence with trump by speaking out against steve king. they're exercising all of the shame they feel about what they've tolerated with trump and about how quiet they've been by speaking out way too late on steve king. >> so it's not about what's right, it's about power and fear? >> well, they're doing the right -- >> and guilt. >> they're doing the right thing now, but it would have been the right thing to condemn steve king a year ago, two years ago, three years ago. so why now -- >> or 16 years ago when he started. >> go ahead. >> if i can follow up on that, frank is right to a degree that republicans running in the primary for president, not only wanted the favor of steve king, they needed it. i worked for the last three winner

>> he believes in steve king. he honors steve king. he emulates steve king. he exalts steve king.n steve king says in his height of racism, donald trump actually believes that and will repeat it from time to time. so i don't know -- i can't call on the president. that's another matter, but i do call on the members of the u.s. house of representatives as where steve king actually serves as a member to repudiate, to regurgitate, to indeed censure steve king. his comments should not be given a moment of consideration by this u.s. congress p. from charlotte, north carolina, to charlottesville, west virginia, to the u.s. congress, there's a pattern of racism that has gone way too far in this nation. >> all right. well, i appreciate your time, congressman rush. and of course, steve king even voted -- censuring steve king himself would be quite different. >> a major contradiction of the whole thing. >> absolutely. >> and it meant so little that steve king could so move forward. >> all right. thank you so much. congressman rush, i appreciate your time. >>> next, breaking news, democratic

yesterday "the des moines register" editorial board wrote, "steve king should resign. ost even the potential to effectively represent his constituents." the sioux city journal who has previously endorsed king wrote, "it's time for steve king to go." here is what steve king said in a radio interview yesterday when asked if he would resign. >> you have no committees left. let me ask you this question, are you going to resign? >> no. no chance at all. i'll go out of this place dead before that happens. and the lord will have to make that decision. >> here's what senate republican leader mitch mcconnell said when asked about steve king and president trump. >> you and also senator ernst have condemned representative king for his comments. i'm wondering why haven't you also condemned the president for the many insensitive comments, racially tinged comments that he's made? >> look, it's been my practice for the last couple of years not to make sort of random observations about the president's tweeting and other things. >> the one thing the house of representatives is now unite

steve king's comments are deplorable. they deserve to be called out loudly and disrespected and if you don't do that and you're in a place of public trust affiliated with him, you are deplorable. you need to say something and more importantly do something to confirm that this is not what your party is about. now the big question is where is the president? he spends most of his time commenting on what bothers him. he's compromised here, isn't he? why? because he is what king claims to be a nationalist. they both say they're the same thing. he has said similar things and embracing king as some kind of ally in white supremacy and to be honest, he agrees with king about immigrants and migrants and he got a lot of the stuff he's selling you now from steve king early on in the thing. what's the difference? it's all going to do the same thing. demoralize and demean a group of people. the silence tells the story. the president is the head of that party. the head of the gop and one of his own is saying ugly things and he is saying

but, you know, i've been watching steve king for ten years. this is not a new thing for steve king. he's been saying this stuff forever. he was trump before trump was trump. i mean i remember the comment about how illegal, undocumented aliens, you know, all had cavs the size of cantaloupes. >> carrying drugs. >> this has been going on a very long time. i don't mean to be a cynic, and i don't want to leave the impression here that i believe the republican conference or that republicans are inherently racist. but the only difference between what happened to steve king today and 50 other episodes like this is they just got their heads handed to them in an election in november. so, again, i don't want to be cynical, and i'm glad they finally stepped up and said we're not going to tolerate it, but what took them so long? >> yeah. i'm glad you said heads handed to them, because i know what usually goes with that, so i appreciate you doing that. listen, cnn has some new reporting that trump's lawyers rejected mueller's request in recent weeks for an in person interview with the president.

even to somebody like steve king, he borrowed -- donald trump borrowed from steve king a lot of languageteve king use with his constituents there in iowa. so it's a problem that's much bigger, i think, than steve king. you see in that editorial that tim scott obviously talking about steve king there but also essentially saying without saying that anybody who uses this kind of language, it's a problem, and shame on the gop for being silent. >> yeah. >> you know, and the thing is tim scott had been silent in some ways, and certainly much of the gop had been silent around the birtherism claims that were so popular in the gop, and of course donald trump picked up on those as well. >> yeah. you wanted to respond to the tim scott op-ed, okay, charlie. let's let you do it now. he condemned king in the "washington post," and he writes in part, some in our party wonder why republicans are constantly accused of racism. it is because of our own silence when things like this are said. how big of a problem, honestly, is this in your party? >> well, it's -- i think it's a bigger problem than anybody w

>> steve king? congressman steve king. >> i haven't been following it.lly haven't been following it. >> well, you know, trump also didn't know david duke, he didn't know about white supremacists. he always says that. he certainly knows about steve king's reputation. as a matter of fact, one of the things that steve king says is that he helped lead trump down the road of supporting a wall. he has been -- >> well, trump has bragged about raising more money for steve king than anyone else, which is a pretty big thing to brag about and not know what he's saying. >> well, there gryou go. so he of course knows what steve king has said. he knows who he is. he knows what he represents. and frankly, i think that part of steve king being so emboldened now is because of the atmosphere that has been created by president trump. >> you know, you mentioned david duke. and obviously, trump today saying that hep doesn't know the steve king story, which obviously, anybody who watches cable news or is on twitter knows it and nobody watches those two things more than this p

there are sort of steve king -- there's like a steve king a valid racist explosions every six months or so and then we get a little version of this but this is not the first and probably won't be the last. >> it seems like there's a little more momentum this time but i personally haven't asked if they would denounce king and they refuse to do so. >> you have been one of the reporters going to members of congress, to the republican congressional committee when he's running for reelection saying put your money where your mouth is. >> i don't get a response. i mean before the elections, did denounce king but only after a poll showed that king might actually lose. of course he didn't. >> which is why he's still there. >> you know, it's also notable to me that this is a -- you said his policy -- this someone whose policy views are a seamless garment of our -- to use a phrase from the catholic church. but you have his views of the superiority of what he calls western civilization and his defense of literally the term white supremacist and those views have taken over the republican party. i

iowa congressman steve king who just won a ninth term this november.o's made his fair share of controversial comments over the years. but it was this quote of his to "the new york times" last week that set people off. king said, "white nationalists, white supremacists, western civilization, how did that language become offensive?" king's comments don't seem to bother the president whose affinity for king goes back years. 2014, speaking to reporters before a private fund-raiser trump touted king as a special guy, a smart person with really the right views on almost everything. their ideologies are so insync trump said, we don't have to compare notes. wow. joining us now, former democratic congresswoman donna edwards. donna,? >> wow. it's hard to know what to say. i think you're right. it's very tough to find a distinction between steve king and donald trump. and why republicans are coming out now, and frankly, i think that the disapproval that they've just passed against steve king is not enough. if the republican party wants to remove this cold sore, t

he should denounce steve king.emember i believe it was after charlottesville when david duke applauded him. was it >>> maybe i'm con flflating two >> jake tapper. >> that's right. two separate times it was asked do you know david duke? and he said i don't know who david duke is. >> he did know david duke. and then after charlottesville, he was applauded by white supremacists. you would think that a president would want to shake that out and say no, no, that's not what i believe. steve king, you know, expel him. >> mitch mcconnell said there's no room in the party for this. there's no room at the top. it should be said from the bully pulpit. >> remembering why donald trump is in public life in the first place. it's not because of the apprentice. it's because for two years he spent spreading a racist lie. this is a feature. not a bug. this is why he's popular. not inspite of his racism but because of it. >> i don't think donald trump is out courting the racist vote. >> i will use this again, andrew gillam used the li

do you think steve king -- is there a place for steve king considering his rhetoric? ms. cheney: i agree with leader mcconnell. i think he should find another line of work. we've been very clear. i think it was very significant and serious step to remove him from committees. and i think you've seen now repeated this wasn't the first time but his language questioning whether or not the notion of white supremacy is offensive is absolutely abhorrent, it's racist. we don't support it or agree with it. as i said i think he should fine another line of work. reporter: would you support his -- reporter: last congressman censored was charlie rangel. that was from an ethics violation. now the r.n.c. is calling on speaker pelosi to take action against those democrats with ties with -- now, again, this is over a very offensive speech. are we going down the road of a censuring members of congress of being tied to very offensive people at this point? what are your thoughts on that essentially? mr. mccarthy: i think it should be very clear to the american public when there was an indivi

he saw the reaction steve king was getting with comments like these, with the scare tactics about africans with ebola entering the country illegally, the scenarios king was throwing out there and the way some conservatives was responding to it. not too much later, when donald trump's rallies got away with him, he said i'm going to build a wall and mexico is going to pay for it. again, a nationalist message twinned with making people of color, mexicans pay for the wall. it was a direct line. >> bob, tim scott, the only african-american senator wrote in the "washington post" about steve king's latest comments. they wonder why republicans are accused of racism. is it because of our silence when things like this are said? they did denounce the comments, some of them did. does there need to be more done to make the point? when i was hearing what you said, what you are saying is, this is not okay. i don't want to have people confuse a deeply red district with because it's red it's racist. that's what you were worried about. that is what can happen if other republicans don't speak out. >> without

something would have recommended it by now, be like, "if you liked charlottesville, you'll love steve king." ( laughter ) but as damning as king's comments sound to most people, he's claiming that it's not what he said. it's just how we heard it. >> "the new york times" is suggesting that i'm an advocate for white nationalism and white supremacy. i want to make one thing abundantly clear: i reject those labels and the evil ideology that they define. >> trevor: okay, so steve king went from saying those terms are not offensive to then rejecting them and calling them evil. i haven't seen a turnaround that drastic since the movie "titanic." remember where the iceberg started off as the good guy, and then out of nowhere just started killing everybody? i was like, "what the hell, iceberg?" so as it stands, steve king said a thing that's really racist, but he claims that he isn't racist at all. so which is it? is he racist or not? well, i think this sounds like a job for trevor noah: racism detective. ( cheers and applause ) >> trevor: oh, hello. it's still me, trevor noah, racism detective. you

what's happening here goes well beyond steve king.represents the further devolution of political debate in this country. tim scott, senator from here in south carolina, i think was eloquent in his condemnation of steve's remarks. the bigger question is what romney raised. romney said his comments aren't appropriate for polite company. are you kidding me? what's interesting about that is where is the outrage when donald trump says crazy things or racist things? where is the outrage when maxine waters says, let's go after the kids of cabinet members. where is the outrage when a recently elected senator from mississippi says put me on the front row of the lynching mob. what you can't have in politics is selective outrage. we say we are outraged at this but we'll turn a blind eye to all this other. what i find a little bit wanting, if you will, is romney's comments in light of his quietness with the exception of the recent op-ed on trump. a lot of other people in congress have given trump a complete blank slate, no, we're not going to com

do you think steve king, is there a place for steve king in the congress considering his rhetoric? >> i agree with leader mcconnell, actually. i think he should find another line of work. i think we have been very clear. i think it was very significant and serious step to remove him from committees, and i think that you have seen now repeated, this wasn't the first time, but his language questioning whether or not the notion of white supremacy is offensive is absolutely abhorrent, it's racist. we do not support it or agree with it. and as i said, i think he should find another line of work. >> would you support his primary challengers? >> yes. >> the last member of congress censured was charlie rangel. >> that was after an ethics violation. >> that was after an ethics violation. now the rnc is calling on leader pelosi to take action against those democrats with ties to louis farrakhan. this is over a very offensive speech. are we going down the road of censuring members of congress over being tied to very offensive people at this point? what are your thoughts on that? >> i think it

steve king. it was a surprise today. mccarthy, but in fairness, members of your party, decided to take away committee assignments from steve king. do you agree with the move? >> absolutely. mr. king has become ineffective. without committee assignments, he can't do work in congress. it's not the first time that he has said things that the party just cringes at and says what in the world. >> it's the first time you have done anything about it, though. >> well, you know, perhaps we could have addressed it in a more aggressive manner in the past, but i'm glad we're doing it now. >> should he be censured? >> i wish he would re-sign. he can't do the work. he's lost the faith of his comrades. for the good of the party and the american people. it's time for us to make a change. >> it's impressive to the audience to hear a member of the same party come forward and criticize one of their own and the conversation we were just having, the president said, i haven't really been following it. as you and i know he's probably watching u

and then the steve king think. -- steve king thing.eard things coming out of the democrat party that makes me want to get sick. woman you had on here with npr with the barr deal, she sounds like she is a democrat hack from the start. i have listened to npr a little bit. they are all one-sided on everything that they do. host: reed is next from union, washington. the republican line. caller: i agree with the last caller. i watch the program every day and get a lot of value out of washington journal. there is a lot of identity politics that comes from the left that is so far out of bounds. it is so saturated that it is hard to get to the issues that we need to talk about. an interesting mathematical statistic about this country is that if you look this up on the internet, when the nation was founded in terms of the constitution being found -- being signed, the population was 96% white people from europe. the remaining 4% unfortunately were slaves. then there were naturalized native americans. we have gone from 96% white to a proportion w

shouldn't have said it. >> steve king is -- >> should denounce steve king.was after charlottesville which david duke applauded him. of it david duke? >> yep. >> and people asked the president, do you know david duke, maybe i'm conflating -- >> jake tapper. >> -- that is right, two separate times, it was asked do you know who dave duke is, i don't know who david duke, and he did know him. >> because he made comments about him at the past. >> and after charlottesville, he was applauded by white supremacists and you would think that the president would want to shake it out and say, no, this is not what i believe. >> mitch mcconnell said no room in the party for this, for any type of ism, it should be said from the bully pulpit. >> we are remembering why donald trump is in public life in the first place. it's not because of "apprentice," it's because of two years he spread a racist lie about the first african-american president of the united states. making up that barack obama was not born in the united states. that is why donald trump became a political figure.

i'm having a serious conversation with congressman steve king on his future and role in this republican now cnn political commentator, a republican strategist. doug, thank you, as always. >> thank you. >> the president said he's not following the king story despite the fact that the republican minority leader is meeting with king today and is taking this seriously. do you find the president's answer credible? >> i think he knows about it. obviously he has a lot on his plate. we know that donald trump may go in the wrong direction on that and not help the situation at all. >> let's be fair. the president has a lot on his plate but weighs going after jeff baseos a little bit. he was tweeting about a lot of stuff this weekend but no comment from the president of the united states on a sitting republican congressman endorsing white nationalism. i mean, as a republican, how does that make you feel? >> well, it's a terrible situation. and one of the things that we know, look at charlottesville, when donald trump wades into these waters, it's not a force of good. i would say it's a positive st

somehow, steve king again yesterday seemed to be the tipping point. now, you know, he's lost some of his committee positions. >> all of them. >> all of them. so what will happen to him? does he stay in congress? >> the thing to look at, to what extent he will get financing or party support for any bid for re-election. you are seeing lawmakers, we've seen mitt romney come out and saying he should resign. a couple of things caught my attention. president trump, you're right. president trump was asked about this yesterday, at least yesterday, brushed off the question, said, i don't know, i haven't really been paying attention to that. there will be continued pressure on him to speak more forcefully about this. racism is notoriously or racial tension, this broad range of issues is very hard to poll. since charlottesville we know a couple of things. one, democrats overwhelmingly believe the republican party has a race problem. and, two, overwhelmingly, americans from both parties, and who are independents as well say white supremacy and white nationalism a

president, what about steve king's remarks? >> who? >> steve king.i really haven't been following it. >> come on. we know that's not true. he has been following this. and the terrible part is, he's been following in king's footsteps. trump shares beliefs with king, doesn't he? i hate to say it, but it's true. king even defended himself by saying, wait a minute, you know what i am? i'm a nationalist, the same stained term our president uses for himself. laced with bigotry and false preference. what is new is that not-so-subtle encouragement of people who believe this bigoted b.s. allowing them to get mouthy again. our leaders have traditionally, in the modern era, at least, like bush, shouted down bigotry. let haters know there are not some good people among them. that there is not a "both sides" kind of blame on these issues. that the different are not to be demonized. this country is people by those who rarely look alike, but believe as one that we will all be treated the same. that's our national religion, the laws that guarantee our equality. e pl

steve king we have to deal with more in the show. i don't understand why the president hasn't said more. it seems like a no brainer until you get into their history together. we'll dee with that. on the russia probe, i can't blame people for cherry picking things that matter. there's been so much of it. so i'm going to help you. when it comes to what the president has done to trigger suspicion and more, this isn't about lining him up against president obama and one thing he has said. we have the product of our best efforts to take you through, next. you're made of trillions of cells. they work together doing important stuff. the hitch? like you, your cells get hungry. feed them... with centrum® micronutrients. restoring your awesome... daily. feed your cells with centrum® micronutrients today. -jamie, this is your house? -i know, it's not much, but it's home. right, kids? -kids? -papa, papa! -[ laughs ] -you didn't tell me your friends were coming. -oh, yeah. -this one is tiny like a child. -yeah, she is. oh, but seriously, it's good

and firmly decide to reject racism in all forms including standing up to donald trump who like steve kingas made a career of racist and outlandish statements that divide our country. >> i'm proud of the fact that kevin mccarthy and house republicans to the politically difficult thing and stripped mister king of his committee assignments, that is the most harsh punishment you can possibly do in the house. it is up to the voters in iowa to decide whether or not mister king continues to represent them but i was sent them to washington dc and to not be on judiciary and the other two committees, important to iowa, they took it into their own hands and the democrats in this particular instance let republicans police their own and when democrats step out of line they better do the same thing kevin mccarthy and the republicans it because they did do the right thing. >> steve king pushing back saying it was taken out of context, he doesn't agree with mccarthy did but i want to read his statement tonight explaining in this hour-long conversation with the new york times, he said we discussed the wor

in either way when steve king and the wink and the nod is he's not against steve king?n't disagree with things that steve king is saying. the real challenge in the republican party is you don't want steve king to be in your casa cortez. there are other things they want to talk about in 2020 and this year. they don't want steve king to become the face of the party. donald trump is bad enough. but you don't want that sort of additional problem. really, you know, his flirting with white nationalism and comments, they're not only dangerous to sort of american public discourse, but they're an insult to the large number of republicans that don't feel that way. >> we didn't say what he said, white nationalists, western civilization, how did that language become offensive and then suzanne, he pushed back on and implied that the times is trying to make him look bad but you never denied the quote. he said i'm a nationalist. he is trying to say, you know, just don't pay attention to the word white. >> you don't need to make steve king look bad because not just on this occasion, he

he said that voters should go and fire steve king now. said he has no intention of voting for donald trump again. he said he's a life-long republican. and i want to pay specific attention to that point because donald trump and mike pence, they stood alongside steve king, along with the likes of the senators here. chuck grassley, joanie ernst and kim reynolds. the republican party in the state has long stood by steve king. i've spent more time here than anywhere else and steve king has long been a staple in the state because the republican party has known he brings in specific republican voters. and yet who has not spoken out against steve king's latest comments? mike pence and donald trump. mike pence called him just this last fall a man of icntegrity, man of principle. there is silence. that's something the republican party should pay attention to because of voters like laverne. >> i sincerely appreciate it. i love getting out of this newsroom and for you talking to the american people. >>> still to come -- more oufr top stories. the pre

anything to human civilization and among other things and the other second question i have is why steve king and why haven't they condemned donald trump who has also made some racist remarks particularly after the charlottesville as we know branding all immigrants from mexico rapists are criminals. he's seen kings an easy target donald trump so tough target they went after steve king or frey to donald trump guys amy to start with you know we go to c.n.n. when's the shutdown going to end. oh boy larry i don't know any better that you do or bill or even the rest of washington lindsey graham the senator from south carolina has said that he thinks the sides are dug in he's trying to bring together a bipartisan group to fund the government for three weeks on the promise that there will be discussion about funding the border wall and finding some sort of compromise but it seems like both sides think that they're winning this thing i don't think that they are i don't see how this ends other than through compromise which has even been suggested by the washington post editorial page five point seven

republican steve king won't be serving on any committees this congress.. the house of representatives solidly voting 424 to 1..for a resolution of disapproval of white supremacy and white nationalism after king made racist comments to the new york times..sen. mitch mcconnell, (r) senate majority leader: "i haven't been following every utterance of congressman king but i certainly followed this one and i think the house republican conference did the right thing."king even voted for the resolution.rep. steve king (r) iowa: "this resolution at the house of representative once again rejects white nationalism and white supremacy and hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory to the values that define the people the united states. i agree with that language i've said." the only congressman that didn't vote for it was democratic bobby rush of illinois..saying he thought the resolution didn't go far enough.there is now growing pressure from both republicans and democrats for king to resign.sen. mitt catching bad drivers... a look at where our state

and why donald trump has not turned on steve king. (mom vo) it's easy to shrink into your own little world. especially these days. (dad) i think it's here. (mom vo) especially at this age. (big sister) where are we going? (mom vo) it's a big, beautiful world out there. (little sister) woah... (big sister) wow. see that?

as you know, steve king, not just somebody who has said things like this over and over and over againlitical life, but also somebody who has been functionality treated as a king maker in iowa, by a number of these -- ted cruz among them, obviously, who was very involved. >> seeking his blessing during the campaign. >> i do think there has to be a reevaluation here. i will say, the universal condemnation of this remark does stand out. perhaps this is -- a lot of people pointed out this is a poor record. it was said, this is why people accuse the republican party of being racist, essentially, when we stand silent when things like this happen. again, far from the first time king has made remarks like this. >> let's pull it up. graphic after graphic of things you can show that steve king said related to dreamers, the infamous size of cantaloupes. take a scereen shot and look at it later. the border fence, the comparison to livestock and an electrified wire to the fencing. to your point, kasie, it is repetitive at this point. why is this time different? >> this, i think, was very explic ex

steve king is like i'm a nationalist.laying with linguistics is this way to sort of mainstream this idea of white nationalism. when steve king says i'm a nationalist, it's like r kelly saying i like kids. we know what you're talking about, right? you're not following anyone at this point. and i think it's important for anybody who is concerned about the health of this democracy, let alone people who live in iowa, has to recognize that white nationalists are basically terrorist sympathizers. the only way you can get rid of all the black and brown and tan people in this country is to treat them with violence, to refuse to give them an opportunity to participate in the american experiment. so anyone who says, well, i don't really remember what steve said or maybe it's bad now or ben shapiro coming out and saying, well, this crosses a line. you've been letting him and people like him cross a line in the party for years and now you have to view it as a national security issue, not just a political damage issue. >> but i wonder

i don't think that steve king needs to be in congress.epublicans should ask him to resign, by i think in the meantime, the talk he could possibly be censored, i would be very supportive of that. he should have been censored a long time ago when the republicans had the gavel, they should have censored him. this is not new for this man. this is a terrible person, a terrible human being. he is a white supremist, racist, period. >> thank you, congressman veasey. thank you for coming on. >> thank you, s.e. >>> i want to turn to the author of "white like me." i want to have a different conversation with you, tim. >> sure. >>> steve king asked the question, i wanted to have you on in particular to answer it, so the question was, white nationalist, white supremist, western civilization, how did that language become offensive? answer that. >> it's offensive it goes against at least the stated principles of the united states, though as a country we have never lived up to them. we certainly had a receipt ricks, so that's number one. they certainly o

and why donald trump has not turned on steve king.

the call is raising for steve king to resign. the des moines register says he should step down. ng was quoted defending white supremacy and is being kicked off his committees as a result. then there was the house vote that condemned white nationalism. in a new interview now king is defiant. he says he's not going anywhere. >> from this day forward now the heat dials down because they got the resolution done. it's behind us. and what are they going to do next? after they get done asking me to resign and figuring out that's not going to happen, and it's not going to happen. >> does he survive it? >> no. i don't think so. this isn't anything new. i think we should have gotten rid of him a long time ago. i'm glad we're finally doing something now. i'll say this quickly. i'm reminded by something adam smith wrote. he wrote, and i quote, we have no immediate experience of what other men feel. we can form no idea in the manner they're affected unless we ourselves are in a like situation. he's essentially saying if i don't view you as an equal, i cannot be empathetic to how my behavior c

steve king is.nd what steve king said, reportedly, was highly racial. >> your senate majority leader schumer had to put the kibosh on an anti-bds bill, because he knew the number of democrats that would vote against protesting this bds movement against israel. schumer did that! he killed a vote on the antihfas bill. >> i don't know the motivations of what schumer did, so i can't back it up. but you've got to call it fair straight down the line. if you're sitting next to farrakhan and playing up his politics, you're a problem. >> i agree. >> that's somebody who's looking at an exclusivity of who's good and who's bad and it's wrong, just how we call out about steve king. paul begala, thank you very much. niger ennis, appreciate you both. >>> there's someone who might know exactly where the president's head is on all of this. anthony scaramucci. we got lucky. had him lined up for tonight. i didn't know this news was going to come. so we'll talk about this "new york times" report. we'll talk about steve

i'm no fan of steve king.t amount to racism. >> martha: go through these -- as you said there are two sides to the story. as you say, you are no fan of steve king, this is been going on for a long time. kevin mccarthy said he just heard this, and for the first time. he has a history of same things that are controversial. as journalist covering the story, that is what you can say. you can say that some of these comments have been viewed as racist and lay it out there and let people look at what he said decide what they think. when a newspaper says that, so everybody can see this. steve king racist remarks and divisive actions a timeline. >> you put your finger right on this. the best thing to do is to quote what he said accurately and with the people of united states who have no taste for racism make up their own mind. if an opinion commentator comes along, like even myself and wants to say that, that is his or her business. to distract your journalist to fling around for a term like that with it is absolutely

decide that they will reject racism in all forms including standing up to donald trump, who like steve kinge a career of racist and outlandish statements divider country. jason? >> i'm proud of the fact that a kevin mccarthy and the house republicans did the politically difficult thing and they stripped mr. king affairs committee assignments. that is about the most harsh punishment you can possibly do in the house. it is up to the voters in iowa to decide whether or not he continues to represent them. but he is who i was sent to washington, d.c., and to not be on judiciary and the other two committees, it's very important to iowa. they had the political guts. they took it into their own hands and the democrats i think are best in this particular instance to let republicans release their own and when the democrats step out of line for better do the same type of thing that kevin mccarthy and the republicans did because i think they did do the right thing. >> shannon: steve king pushing back tonight saying that basically it was taken out of context. he understands what mccarthy had to do. he d

steve king has a little bit of a point today. he's like you know who i am.e been here for 60 years. why all the sudden did you turn on me? >> it's like a charlottesville moment. you can be racist in policies, racist in the things you say about yourfulo americans and human beings. but you just can't say i'm a racist and he said why isn't it so bad to be a white nationalist? what's wrong with western civilization? i thought it was the best. that is it the only him to republican party will actually give you some sort of censure. not literally. but in terms of broader meaning of the word, it's like charlottesville. it really is. in fact the house resolution that was passed was basically saying we condemn white supremacy again and what it was harping back to was in charlottesville. you should be able to be held accountable for your racist policies and actions without just saying i'm a racist. >> as someone who worked for the republicans when they were in the majority staff, government oversight, there's -- am i wrong that inthe republicans had a majority of the h

repeatedly about the john mueller probe. >>> comments concerning white supremacywh made by congressman steve kingking voted in support of the measure.

there are sort of steve king, like steve king racist explosions every six months or so.nd then we get a little version of this. but this is not the first and probably won't be the last. >> we've seen this news cycle before where people get enraged then nothing happens. it seems like there's a little more momentum this time. but i personally over the last year have asked multiple republican congress people and our nrcc if they would denounce king and they just kind of refused to do so. >> what do they do? you have been one of the reporters going to members of congress, to the republican congressional committee saying put your money where your mouth is. what do you think of that? >> right. most of the, i just don't get a response. and i mean, the before the election, steve did denounce king, but only after a poll emerged showing that king might actually lose. of course he didn't. >> which is why he's still there. >> exactly. >> you know it's also note to believe me this is a totally, you said that his policy, this is someone whose policy views are kind of seamless garm et.