Transcripts For MSNBCW First Look 20191203

Relationship. If you would have listened to president obama, we would be in a World War Three right now. So we will see what happens. Hey, look, we are more powerful militarily than we ever have been, and i will tell you, when i took over the United States military, when i became commander in chief, our military was depleted, our military was in trouble, you know that better than anybody, we had old planes, we had old everything, we didnt have ammunition, now we have the most powerful military weve ever had and were by far the most powerful country in the world. And hopefully we dont have to use it. But if we do, well use it. If we have, to well do it. But my relationship with king jom unis really good. But that doesnt mean he wont abide by the agreement. You have to understand, you have to go a little bit to the First Agreement that we signed, it said he will denujz, thats what he said, i hope he lives up to the agreement but we will find out. And now we are in the meantime working with south korea because it is burden sharing and were spending a tremendous amount of money to protect south korea and we think it is fair that they pay substantially more. Last year, i asked them to pay more. They agreed. Nobody knows this. Ill say it now. I think for the first time. But they agreed to pay approximately 500 million a year more for protection. It is 500 million. Now we only had a month or two before the budget ended so they said no, no, no theyre very Good Business people, you see how they do on trade, but they agreed it pay almost 500 million a year more. That got them up to a billion. Close to a billion. Thats a lot of money. I did that with a number of phone calls and meeting. Now were negotiating with them to pay more because the United States is paying a lot of money to protect south korea and we think it is fair that they pay us, and pay more. We have a very Good Relationship. But we think it is fair that they pay more. Im not sure if everybody knows, did you know about the 500 million that they agreed to pay more . Will you tell us more about it . I met with them, six, seven months ago, maybe a little bit longer than that and i said youre in the paying enough, its not pair, they were paying 500, they were paying less than 500 million a year and it cost us billions and i said it is not fair, we do a great job, we have 32,000 soldiers there, it cost us many times what youre paying and you have to pay up and they said, again, in a very good way, very fine negotiations, and they were very close to being at the end of their budget, and we agreed to 500 million, almost, around 500 million, and that got them up to close to a billion from 500 million, or less than 500 million. Which has been that number for many, many years. Decades. And i got 500 million more a year. So it is 500 million a year, it is a lot of money. Still substantially less than it costs. So now were at the negotiation for them to pay more. And they can do that. Because theyre a very rich country. You didnt know about that, did you . Do you believe i dont get the story. Is it in the American National security interest to have the troop zblshs it is debated. I could go either way. Chi make arguments both ways. I think this. If were going to do it, i think it is a burden share, more fairly. It is not fair for the United States to defend many countries, not only that country, but many country, and theyre rich countries, i can tell you, theres five other countries that i had the same conversations with. You know, saudi arabia, we moved more troops there. And they are paying us billions of dollars. You never heard of that before. You never heard of that in your whole life. We moved troops, so we pay nothing. And people took advantage and the world took advantage of us. But we do, we have a Good Relationship with saudi arabia but they needed help, they were attacked and as you just saw, we just moved a contingent of troops and theyre paying us billions of dollars. And theyre happy to do so. The problem is, nobody ever asks them to do it. Until i came along. Nobody ever asked, obama didnt ask, bush didnt ask, clinton didnt ask, nobody asked. But they said to me, but nobody has ever asked us to do this. I said i know, but im asking. And theyre paying us. They already sent us billions of dollars. It is already in the bank. So thats right, theyre happy to do it. But we never had a president that would ask. And it is not right. So and we have many other countries that were doing the same thing. Wealthy countries. Now in some cases we have countries that we have helped that they dont have money, theyre poor, and there is tremendous trauma, theres tremendous problems and things going on that shouldnt be going on and thats a different situation. But we have wealthy countries. Ive asked japan, i said, to Prime Minister abe, a friend of mine, shinzo, you have to help us out here, we are paying a lot of money, youre a wealthy nation and were paying for your military essentially and you have to help us out. And they do a lot, they will do a lot, but they were never asked. Sir, do you have a comment i think it is a very important point. You understand. It is a point nobody publicly really knows about. I dont talk about it. But it is the first time ive talked about it publicly. But no, south korea is paying us almost 500 million more. And were starting a negotiation for billions of dollars. And the king of saudi arabia that you just referenced, did you relate that to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. We had that discussion, we had that three times, and you know their position, you know my position, too, its brought up. But you know, i also brought up, and ill bring it up right now, the fact that iran is killing perhaps thousands and thousands of people, right now, as we speak, thats why they cut off the internet, so they cut off the internet, so people cant see whats going on. But thousands of people are being killed in iran right now. And frankly, i dont know, how you get in there, i dont know how you do your business, but the press ought to get in there and see what is going on because the word is that thousands of people are being killed in iran that are protesting. Youre hearing that too. Not just small numbers which are bad, big numbers, which are really bad, and really big numbers. Mr. President , is there anything to do about iran, is there anything more that you can do, that the United States can do . Well, id rather not say right now. But i think it is a terrible thing. And i think the world has to be watching. But many people are being killed, youre hearing that, too. Many, many people are being killed in iran right now. For protesting. For the mere fact that theyre protesting. Its a terrible thing. The u. S. Diplomats in the u. K. Youre talking about the woman who had the accident with the young man on the motorcycle . Yes. Well, you know, i had his parents up and theyre lovely people, and ive spoken to the woman who worked for the government, who has diplomatic immunity, and were talking about it. With the trade deal, do you think you will be able to get it by the end of the year . Is that your goal . The china trade deal is dependent on one thing, do i want to do it, because were doing very well, and we could do even better with a flick of a pen and china is paying for it and china is having the worst year by far than theyve had in 57 years. So we will see what happens. But were doing very well right now. And i gave the farmers, as you know 28 billion, and had a lot left over. The farmers were targeted by china. I gave them 28 billion over a twoyear period. And that got them whole. That was everything that they could, i gave them forecast the tariffs that china bade us and i had billions left over. Many billions left over. So due really have a deadline . I have no deadline, no. In some ways i think it is better to wait until after the election, if you want to know the truth. I think in some ways, it is better to wait until after the election with china. But im not going to say that. I just think that. I just tell you, in some ways, i like the idea of waiting, until after the election, for the china deal. But they want to make a deal now, and well see whether or not the deal is going to be right. Its got to be right. Look, china has been ripping off the United States for many, many years. Again, because of leadership. A lack of leadership. Or it wasnt their thing. It is like i told you about, the military, and the kind of money were taking in, and you know, every one of these countries, these are rich country, im talking to, they would always say, but nobody has ever asked us to do that, like therefore, why should we do it now, and i said, well, they havent, because they were foolish, but i am, and thats where we are, and thats why, with saudi arabia, with south korea, with so many other countries, theyre paying a lot of money to the United States, that they werent paying and they will be paying a lot more. Mr. President thats a big story, right . Thats a big story. I dont know how you can make that a bad one, but youll figure a way, right . [ inaudible question ] i know nothing about the gentleman, really, know nothing about him. With the dialogue i think nato should always be in tie l in, dialogue with russia. I think we could have a very Good Relationship with russia. I dont have any problem at all with the secretary general speaking with russia. I think it is a very important thing to do. And the importance of having dialogue with russia, russia is our biggest neighbor. Russia, we will aspire for a better relationship with russia. But to do that, based on what we call, we have to be strong, we have to provide incredible defense, combined with dialogue. For us, it is defense and dialogue and thats exactly what we are doing. Especially when it comes to arms control. We need to avoid an arms race. We need to avoid a nuclear cold war. A new arms race is dangerous. It is expensive. And therefore, talking about russia has violated the peace ban, the thing is to respond in a unified way. We all agree that russia was in violation. We supported the u. S. Decision, because a treaty will not work if it is not respected by both side, and we see together, in europe, the u. S. , and the rest of the neighbor allies, as to how to spon. We will respond in a coordinated way together. We will respond in a defensive way. And we have to make sure that we provide the Critical Materials in defense, and also with more talk with russia. Arms control is something i know that the president today focused on. We have seen progress. With russia. And also, in one way, we have to find ways to work with china. Because in the future china has to be a part of the arms control efforts. And i have to say this. Russia wants to make a deal on arms control. And i would say they werent living up to it. It was an obsolete deal anyway but they werent living up to it. Russia wants to make a deal. Two weeks ago, russia wants to make a deal very much on arms control, and nuclear, and thats smart, and so do we, and we think it would be a good thing, and we will also certainly bring in, as you know, china, and we may bring them in later, or we may bring them in now, but russia wants to do something, badly, and so do we. It would be a great thing to do. Mr. President , do you [ inaudible question ] with who . Prince andrew. No, i dont know prince andrew. But thats a tough story. It is a very tough story. I dont know him, no. Okay, anybody else . Thank you. So well see you again. Interesting, right . Thanks, guys. A lot of money. A lot of money. All right. There you go. 52 minutes and it seemed like the president wanted to keep going there, but the reporters ran out of questions. They ran out of steam. Good morning, everybody. That was the president , live in london there, alongside the nato secretary general gence stoltenberg, tuesday, december 3rd, im yasmin vossoughian, alongside phillip mena, the president covering a wide swath of subject matter and issues from impeachment, they were basically calling it a hoax, and also reiterates, that he believes the democrats are unpatriotic. Covered pompeo. He was asked whether or not pompeo would run for senator in kansas and he says if in fact the seat is up for grabs he will sit down and have a serious conversation with his secretary of state. And talked about turkey and france. A whole list of them. Over a dozen topics. Whether or not he will get involved in the brexit discussions. Any involvement. He says he wants to stay out of u. K. Politics for now. But he did take a moment to mention that he did predict it would be a yes vote as far as brexit is concerned but besides that, not much to comment while ehes here and we will see if he sticks to that. And we will see what happens there. We want to brins in hans nichols, standing by patiently throughout the last 52 minutes or so, as we listened to the president and jens staltenberg, mostly the president though i think we can all agree on and he specifically spoke and responded to a question about french president Emanuel Ma Crone which i thought it was quite interesting and stayed ton for quite some time, in response to the comments by emanuel macron about nato and he recently said that nato was suffering a brain death, because of the lack of leadership and coordination from the United States. So the president clearly seized upon those comments as an opportunity to attack a man, emanuel macron, that he is going to be meeting with, in a little less than four hours. Guys, there was so much in, this i dont know if we call it a press conference, a bilateral, it is basically the stay tuned presidency. The president at numerous occasions said well see, well see. Lets just follow the sun and go geographically, here in the u. K. , he studiously avoided getting himself involved in this election that will happen in just a few day, he was given an opportunity to take shots at jeremy corbyn, he didnt. I think most of the news was in france where he went after emanuel macron, even suggested that france needs nato needs more than anything else, an ugly suggestion about the past world wars of the previous century. And the United States and a total hoax. Nothing new there but you did see the president seize upon this idea that some democrats in vulnerable seats dont want impeachment. There is not a lot of data out there. But the president is clearly interested to see how those democrats handle the impeachment in their recess, back in their districts. And then moving on to china, the president just suggested that we night not have a trade deal with china by the end of this year. Well see what markets are doing. I think if we were to, the financial network, we would have the dow up or the ftse or whatever market is trailg trading and see if there is any reaction there, but clearly, that is the president pouring cold water on a trade deal with china. I thought the north korea section was fascinating because he not only talked about how he has a Good Relationship with kim jongun, he revived his old insult. He said thats why i call him little rocket man. And thats important, that he is willing to go back to that sort of of insulting aggressive language. Now he also pulled it back, talking about his Good Relationship, but at the same time, guys, he talked about how strong the u. S. Military is and what they can do there. And as we keep following the sun into syria, this is the first time that the president is really acknowledged that you need to stay in syria, not just for the oil, but to fight isis, if they pop back up, because before his rhetoric was always been the caliphate is 100 destroyed. Lets listen to what he had to say about macron because they are going to be meeting here in about three and a half, four hours. President macrons criticism about nato saying that it is brain dead who said that . President macron. And turkey responded by saying that he was brain dead. Which is interesting. Now, nato serves a great purpose. It got to be unfair for the United States, because the United States is paying a disproportionate amount. And i heard that president macron said that nato is brain dead. I think that is very insulting to a lot of different forces including a man who does a very good job at running nato. At several points in there, guy, he went back to try to pick a fight with france. It is clear that france is going to be the president s villain on this. It is going to be the person, macron is going to be the person he wants to seek the conflict with, he is clearly signaling that, thats his telegraph, he also revived this idea of a tax on french wine in response to a tax that they have on tech companies. He has this ambiguous relationship, the president does, with the tech company, facebook, google, twitter and mentioned it himself, he also hinted, and this is also somewhat new, that there could be additional taxes on airbus. So not just going after french wines, but airbus, and almost mocking macron for the state of frances economy, talking about the yellow vest protest movement. That meeting with macron if it happen, it is scheduled to happen, we will see if it does, there that meeting will be fascinating. And with so much else, the president kept saying well see. Thats my response to nato. Thats what i will toss back to every host on my time here. Well see. And on tof the issues with france and another big issue, before he stepped in london, was getting all of the other nato members to pull their weight. That is something that he seemingly accomplished. What else do you think the president is trying to get accomplished in these two days now . Well, he may want to rebalance nato a little bit. There is a hint of that, right . I mean he wants more countries to pay more. He went after germany a little bit. But not to the same extent as he went against france. And you know, this is supposed to be a victory lap. This is supposed to be about the president how they got 130 billion more nato countries toward their defense budgets. You saw staltenberg do that. And you saw the president stay on message to some extent that nato is in a stronger position now and his attacks have been inverted, when he started coming to the summits he questioned the very validity of nato and didnt want to articulate his support for article five, and now accusing other countries not being sufficiently pronato, it is a remarkable shift. And the common foe being the ussr, russia and suggested there may not be a foe anymore and there is an idea in nato circles that nato should be more of a Counterterrorism Force to fight isis, to fight extremists across the globe and as i mentioned that, i realized there is one country that i neglected to mention in the president s tour around the world in the press conference and that is iran. He talked about the protests there. And he talked about, and inflated the number a little bit, saying thousands of deaths. Now lets be clear. Because the media restrictions, we dont have a good count on the death. There and the president may have better intel than we do but the rorns ive seen, and i know you follow this closely as well is in the hundreds but the president really trying to draw attention to what is happening in iran, but again, this is, he did a global tour, it was like we got a lot from the president , ill just go back to the time, my line for this summit is well see, guys. Thats exactly right, hans. Thats what ive been seeing and the people ive been peeking , to on the ground as well, hundreds not thousands. And a tense situation in iran and he certainly made a turn there because the question was about saudi arabia and if in front he confronted mbs about the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi and he made a turn on that and avoided that and made the turn to iran. Hans nyle korks thank yous a always. Thank you. Appreciate it. Still ahead, the latest on the impeachment push. House democrats are expected to lay out their findings after weeks of public hearings. But republicans have put out their own report, arguing the president did nothing wrong. Plus congressman Duncan Hunter called the criminal case against him a witch hunt. But now, the california lawmaker is set to plead guilty. Well have those stories and a check on the weather when we come right back. A lot will happen in your life. Wrinkles just wont. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repairs dermproven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. Neutrogena® doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. burke at farmers insurance, weve seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. Even a threering fender bender. clown 1 sorry about that. clown 2 apologies. clown 1 . Didnt mean it. clown 3 whoops. stilts sorry clowns were sorry scary hey, were sorry [man screams] [scary screams] burke quite the circus. But we covered it. At farmers, we know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum some things are too important to do yourself. Get customized security with 24 7 monitoring from xfinity home. Awarded the best professionally installed system by cnet. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Call, click or visit a store today. I think it is very unpatriotic of the democrats to put on a performance where they do that. I do. I think its a bad thing for our country. Impeachment wasnt supposed to be used that way. All you have to do is read the transcripts. You will see there is absolutely nothing done wrong. They had legal scholars looking at the transcripts and they said they were absolutely perfect. Two of the call, two of them, were absolutely perfect calls and i think it is a very bad thing for our country. Does cast a cloud . Well, then if it does, then the democrats have done a great disservice to the country, which they have. That was the president criticizing democrats impeachment push, just moments ago, today, as the House Intelligence Committee is expected to vote on the impeachment report. Members of the House Intelligence Committee can now review the impeachment report and the intel chairman adam schiff says it will be released to the public at some point today. If the Committee Votes to adopt the report, it will then be sent to the Judiciary Committee. At the same time, chairman schiff also told msnbc last night that the panels investigation of the president doesnt stop after tonights vote. Thats not the end of our investigation. So even while the judiciary does its work, we will continue investigating, were continuing to issue subpoenas, were continuing to learn new information. That work goes on. Meanwhile House Republicans are hitting back with their own minority report arguing that democrats had failed to establish that President Trump committed any impeachable offenses. A copy of the 123page report says this, quote, despite their best efforts, the evidence gathered during the democrats partisan and onesided impeachment inquiry does not support that President Trump pressured ukraine to investigate his political rival to benefit the president in the 2020 president ial election. The evidence does not establish any impeachable offense. House intel chair adam schiff hit back at the gops report writing in part, this, tellingly, the minority dismisses this as just part of the president s outside the beltway thinking, it is more accurately, outside the law and constitution and a violation of his oath of office. Joining us now from washington, Senior Writer at roll cal, niels lesniewski. Good to see you this morning. We want to turn back now to what is on the schedule for the impeachment inquiry today. All of this of course happening while the president , as we just saw, is overseas, meeting with nato, along with many of, many countries leaders overseas. Run us through what we can expect today. And especially follow that up with the cloud that the president is dealing with overseas with regards to impeachment. Of course, it is good to be back with you, i think that the key point today is going to be the 6 00 p. M. Meeting of the House Intelligence Committee, presumably were going to see a party line vote, i dont know how many procedural high jinx or how much debate there will be about the contents of the report, before the Committee Votes. But again, with the president in london, theres going to be sort of an odd time of response, right . Where were here in the 5 00 in the morning hour, on the east coast, and we just wrapped up a president ial News Conference of sorts. So were kind of in this sort of odd 24hour news cycle because if something comes out from the House Intelligence Committee late this evening, it may be the middle of the night where the president and most of his senior advisers are. What do you make of the republican rebuttal to the impeachment inquiry report . We heard the president already praising it . Well, i think that the key here as well is going to be how many of the actual articles of impeachment that the House Democrats actually come up with, are on sort of the substance of the allegations regarding pressure placed on the ukrainian president and other ukrainian officials, versus how much of it is sort of process crimes, right . So how much of this is obstruction of justice. Chairman schiff and presumably chairman nadler and others arguing that there were issues about witnesses not made available, democrats not made available, versus how much of it is the underlying substance. Niels lesniewski, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Good seeing you. Still ahead the Justice Department Inspector General is expected to release a longawaited report about the fbis russia probe which we just heard the president commenting on. There is new findings that the bill barr is disputing the latest findings. And President Trump misquotes remarks from the president of ukraine. We will show you what both leaders had to say coming up next. Leaders had to say coming up next before we talk about taxsmart investing, whats new . Audreys expecting. Twins wed be closer to the twins. Change in plans. At fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. [woman] with my shark, i deep clean messes like this, this, and even this. But i dont have to clean this, because the selfcleaning brush roll removes hair while i clean. [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans now cleans itself. Hbut Mike Bloomberg became thele clasguy whoho mdid good. After building a business that created thousands of jobs he took charge of a city still reeling from 9 11 a threeterm mayor who helped bring it back from the ashes bringing jobs and thousands of Affordable Housing units with it. After witnessing the terrible toll of gun violence. He helped create a movement to protect families across america. And stood up to the coal lobby and this administration to protect this planet from climate change. And now, hes taking on. Him. To rebuild a country and restore faith in the dream that defines us. Where the wealthy will pay more in taxes and the middle class get their fair share. Everyone without Health Insurance can get it and everyone who likes theirs keep it. And where jobs wont just help you get by, but get ahead. And on all those things Mike Blomberg intends to make good. Jobs creator. Leader. Problem solver. Mike bloomberg for president. Im Mike Bloomberg and i approve this message. The best of pressure cooking and air frying now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The ninja foodi Pressure Cooker, the Pressure Cooker that crisps. So why treat your mouth any differently . Listerine® completes the job by preventing plaque, early gum disease, and killing up to 99. 9 of germs. Try listerine®. Need Stocking Stuffers . Try listerine® ready tabs™. Welcome back, everybody. Im yasmin vossoughian. Attorney general william barr has reportedly told associates he disagrees with the Justice Departments were general on one of the key findings in his anticipated report. According to the Washington Post, barr has not been agreeing with michael horowitzs conclusion that the fbi had appropriate grounds to launch the investigation into the Trump Campaign back in 2016. According to people familiar with the matter, the Inspector General report is currently being finalized and will be released next week. The ax. G. Has faced criticism n the past for publicly defending the president and for giving off the appearance of not being completely impartial. It is not clear how barr will react publicly but it is Standard Practice for every Inspector General report to include a written response from the department. In response to the Washington Post article, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department released a statement, saying in part this. The Inspector Generals investigation is a credit to the department of justice. Rather than speculating, people should read the report for themselves, next week, watch the Inspector Generals testimony, before the senate josh josh ry committee and draw their own conclusions. The House Judiciary Committee has released a list of witnesses slated to testify on the grounds of congressional impeachment and democrats call on noah feldman, a harvard law professor, pamela karlan, from the university of stanford and Michael Gerhardt from the university of north carolina. And republicans will call on jonathan churly, a law professor at George Washington university were the four constitutional scholars will testify at the panels first impeachment hearing. One of president s latest defenses against impeachment is misquoting ukraine president s remarks. The ukrainian president came out and said very strongly that President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong. That should be case over. All you have to do is look at the words of the ukrainian president , that he just issued. And you know it is a hoax. And he reiterated this yet again in london, just about 30 minutes or so ago, but ukraines president did not say that President Trump quote did absolutely nothing wrong. That is not what he said. In the Time Magazine interview President Trump is referring, to president zelensky was asked if there was a connection between trumps decision to block military aid to ukraine and the two investigations sought by President Trump and his allies. Zelensky denied a quid pro quo but he criticized trump for freezing military aid, saying this. Were at war. If youre our strategic partner, then you cant go blocking anything for us. I think thats just about fairness. And two associates of Rudy Giuliani are likely to be hit with more charges in addition to the ones they are already facing. For allegedly funneling foreign money to u. S. Political candidates. The disclosure was made during a Court Hearing in new york related to the case of lev parnas and igor fruman, the duo was arrested last month for violating Campaign Finance laws and pleaded not guilty. And giuliani acknowledged that parnas and fruman aassisted in his effort to dig up dirt on the bidens. Prosecutors seized thousands of files and data and dozens of cell phones from parnas and fruman and two other Giuliani Associates charged in the case. A prosecutor told the court monday that parnas has not provided the passwords to his phones, despite numerous requests. And the fbi is using its technology to try and unlock the phones. California congressman Duncan Hunter is expected to plead guilty today in san diego to misusing Campaign Funds. It was a criminal case that he once called a witch hunt. In an interview, the republican lawmaker announced he will plead guilty to one count of misusing Campaign Funds, saying he is responsible for not properly monitoring the money. The prosecutors had charged hunter and his wife, saying they had converted and stole more than a quarter of a million in Campaign Funds for their own personal use, including trips to hawaii and School Tuition for their children. Hunters wife pleaded guilty to conspiring to misusing campaign funs back in june and was expected to testify against her husband at his trial which was scheduled for january 22. In the interview, hunter added his only hope, that the judge does not sentence his wife because quote, i think my kids need a mom at home. Still ahead, the president and his campaign hit back at michael bloomberg, at Bloomberg News for alleged bias. Plus joe biden targets Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, while dismissing the need for Barack Obamas endorsement. Well have the latest headlines from the campaign trail and a check of the winter storm in the northeast. Your first look at morning joe is back in a moment. Everybody needs somebody Everybody Needs somebody to love someone to love someone to love i got a little message for you. When you have that somebody, hold on to them, give them all your love. Wherever they are i need you, you, you i need you, you, you i need you, you, you i need you, you, you vo the flock blindly flying south for the winter. They never stray from their predetermined path. But this season, a more thrilling journey is calling. Defy the laws of human nature. At the season of audi sales event. Im a verizon engineer, and im part of the Team Building the most powerful 5g experience for america. Its 5g ultra wideband for massive capacity and ultrafast speeds. Almost 2 gigs here in minneapolis. Thats 25 times faster than todays network in new york city. So people from midtown manhattan to downtown denver can experience what our 5g can deliver. woman and if verizon 5g can deliver performance like this in these places. Its pretty crazy. Just imagine what it can do for you. The best of pressure cooking and air frying now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The ninja foodi Pressure Cooker, the Pressure Cooker that crisps. Welcome back, everybody. We want to get right to the winter storm hitting the nth east. A state of emergency in effect for parts of new york, and boston, has closed off Public Schools for today, bill karins is back with us, still snowing in parts of the country right now. It is like seven days on this storm. And we got hit hard last night. And delivered. Got nailed. In new york, it finally stopped snowing. Snow totals three Straight Days on and off. And this is about 45 minutes due west of albany, new york. 28 inches of snow. And albany, new york city, 19 inches of snow. The sixth biggest snowstorm on record, back to the 1800s. Hartford connecticut, the airport reporting 14 inches of snow. And boston is at three inches. Still a little bit more during the morning today. And new york city and central park, only about an inch. Not a huge or deal in the city. So as far as what we have left, 34 Million People in winter headlines. In the winter storm warnings, or advisories, the spine of the appalachians is still snowing and the heaviest snow is over areas of eastern connecticut, rhode island, and eastern mass, and now the heavy snow is starting to push up into areas of maine, thats where we will have the worst Road Conditions out there today, as we go throughout even the afternoon, of i95, from portland to augusta to bangor maine. And albany new york, it looks like youre done. Hartford, almost done. Just some snow showers. The heaviest snows from providence through areas of the east portions of heading out to the cape here, from boston. And so a little bit of rain mixed out of there, nantucket and portsmouth and northward, the snow is starting to fill in from portland to the coast. This is the additional snowfall forecast. Maybe another two, three inches in boston. And the heavier snow during the day. And maine will get nailed and a possibility of six to eight inches in a few spots, as far as like the other issues, once the cold air starts wrapping in behind this, we start the lake effect snow, erie to buffalo, to syracuse, to watertown, getting some snow, too. This will be the end of it today. But it is a snow day for sure. Central new york just got nailed, about one to two pete in most of the region. A lot of folks digging out while kids are playing around them. 28 inches. Thank you, bill. Two and a half feet. Joe biden says he doesnt need president obamas backing in the election. It is not needed even if he is one of the last Democratic Candidates standing. When asked about a political report that obama said that former, the former Vice President quote doesnt really have it when it comes to connecting with voters biden replied quote, he may have said that, and if it is true, and he said it, theres truth to it. At the same time, biden also challenged the notion, telling Bloomberg News that he was the one during the successful campaigns who was september to key states such as pennsylvania, and colorado, to energize voters. Biden also dished about his fellow 2020 democratic opponents, scoffing at the notion that senator Elizabeth Warren is building enthusiasm, and accusing mayor Pete Buttigieg of stealing his health care plan. So speaking of mayor pete, the Pete Buttigieg is releasing the first statewide ad in South Carolina today. The 30 second spot titled welcome pete, as a 2 million ad buy to connect buttigieg to a racially diverse state. You dont have to shake your head and you dont have to worry about iowas hungry and you fed me, i was a stranger and you welcomed me. When i say weve got a unified leader of the people, it doesnt mean pretending that were all the same. It means unifying around issues from wages and family leave, to gun violence, and immigration. So amidst the scrutiny of over his low polling number, with black voters, buttigieg reiterated his hope to Better Connect to those in the early primary state. I know a lot of africanamerican voters have felt not only, kicked around the by Republican Party but sometimes taken by granted by the Democratic Party that knows how to come to church just before an election but doesnt always come back and engage the community when it is most needed. And so i know that as somebody who is new on the scene, i got to earn that trust. The Trump Campaign has announced they will no longer issue press president ials for his Campaign Events to Bloomberg News. Continuing to investigate trump. But not Mike Bloomberg or other democratic hopefuls. Last week the editor in chief of Bloomberg News released a statement saying the organization would quote continue our tradition of not investigating mike and we would extend the same policy to his rivals in the democratic primaries. For the moment we will continue to investigate the trump administration. If mike is chosen as the democratic president ial candidate, and donald trump emerges as the republican one, we will reassess how we do that. President trump in the past has revoked the Washington Post and politico and buzz feed and cnn. In the past. It has been called troubling and wrong and trump took to twitter himself saying, mini Mike Bloomberg has instructed his third rate News Organization not to investigate him or any democrat, but to go after President Trump only. It is not okay. Bloomberg news pushed back saying that the organization has treated trump fairly and in an unbiased way. A new front in President Trumps trade war, targeting not oe only france at todays key nato meeting but also south america. Were back in a moment. N a momet in one week. A lot will happen in your life. Wrinkles just wont. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repairs dermproven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. Making wrinkles look so last week. Rapid wrinkle repair® pair with retinol oil for 2x the wrinkle fighting power. Neutrogena® welcome back. Ahead of his meeting with nato allies President Trump has expanded the trade war by including france, brazil and argentina. Good morning. Talk to us about the potential of tariffs here. Well, weve got an escalation in trade on multiple fronts coming together over the last 48 hours or so. So yesterday President Trump surprised markets first and foremost with this announcement that he will reimpose tariffs on steel and aluminum from brazil and argentina. Youll remember that these were originally announced around National Security grounds and concerns on that front. And now this comes after President Trump has remarked on the countrys massive devaluation of their currencies citing this as the key problem and how its hurt u. S. Farmers. Thats not the only escalation that weve seen. President trump and the administration has also said separate that i they will slap tariffs on up to 100 of 2. 4 billi 2. 4 billion worth of french goods. This ranges from champagne to handbags to cheese and all kinds of other products. This is after france, of course, has moved to impose Digital Services tax that would harm u. S. Tech companies. So a clear escalation intentions between the u. S. And france. And just moments ago, we heard President Trump speaking in london ahead of the nato meeting saying that if a tax is going to be imposed, its going to be america that does it, it should not be france. So raising tension theres between france and the u. S. Weve seep a stock market selloff in the wake of these comments and other comments from President Trump ahead of that meeting. Thats on the trade front. On a lighter note i want to bring you news thats going to be important for those of you who love french fries. We could be facing a french fry short able shortage in the u. S. . What . Im sorry, could we get the breaking news up for a moment. The banner. Maybe i should have started with this because this is something that could have an Immediate Impact on your lives over there in the is in the wake of cold temperatures and the impact of hurricane dorian. Its damaged potato crops in the u. S. And canada and we could see potato output drop more than 6 this year. So if you are a fry lover, i would say get your fries now while you can. I eat every Single Person in the world. I question you if you are not a fry lover. I question you. Me too. You have to look at someone a little sideways whos not into that. Thank you, julianna. Coming up next, everybody, jim vander high vandehei has a look at that mornings one big thing. And the house intel Committee Votes to accepted its report to the Judiciary Committee for articles of impeachment. Meanwhile, the democrats debate on whether to wind articles of impeachment to include findings from the mueller report. Morning joe is just moments away. Mueller repo. Rt morning joe is just moments away. [farmers bell] burke at farmers insurance, weve seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. Even a threering fender bender. clown 1 sorry about that. clown 2 apologies. clown 1 . Didnt mean it. clown 3 whoops. stilts sorry clowns were sorry scary hey, were sorry [man screams] [scary screams] burke quite the circus. But we covered it. At farmers, we know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum hbut Mike Bloomberg became thele clasguy whoho mdid good. After building a business that created thousands of jobs he took charge of a city still reeling from 9 11 a threeterm mayor who helped bring it back from the ashes bringing jobs and thousands of Affordable Housing units with it. After witnessing the terrible toll of gun violence. He helped create a movement to protect families across america. And stood up to the coal lobby and this administration to protect this planet from climate change. And now, hes taking on. Him. To rebuild a country and restore faith in the dream that defines us. Where the wealthy will pay more in taxes and the middle class get their fair share. Everyone without Health Insurance can get it and everyone who likes theirs keep it. And where jobs wont just help you get by, but get ahead. And on all those things Mike Blomberg intends to make good. Jobs creator. Leader. Problem solver. Mike bloomberg for president. Im Mike Bloomberg and i approve this message. Announcer axios one big thing is sponsored by bp. Welcome back, everybody. Joining us from washington with a look at axios a. M. Cofounder and ceo of axios, jim vandehei. Good morning to you. Good morning. Talk to us about axios one big thing today. Were look at the republican impeachment spin machine. While all of us are sort of watching these hearings looking at any new reporting, new evidence of that comes out, republicans have already made up their mind, right . Theyve all are the put out their prebuttal before theres anything to rebut. You have them throwing more and more money into impeachment ads which gets the base more fired up which then gives the base giving more money back to trump or trumpaffiliated organizations which they pumped into even more impeachment ads. So thats one of the reasons you see republicans solidifying around trump on impeachment and why republicans see this as a base motivator. They dont see it as a risk at all to their majority in the house. They dont see it as a risk to trump. And its why youre probably not going to see a single republican break in the house and you might not see any republicans break in the senate. Jim, we earlier mentioned about mayor Pete Buttigieg and his new ad buy in the racially diverse state of South Carolina. What is axio reporting about how the rest of the democratic field is trying to appeal to black voters . Theres two things that concern democrats. One, if you good back to 2016 it was the first time that you saw a decrease among africanamerican voters. They feel they have to reverse that. And theres a big break down between men and women. So you see democrats increasingly focusing on africanamerican men. You see this with Pete Buttigieg, booker, you see it with others trying to figure out, one, how do they make sure they can crank up voter turnout among African Americans in places like South Carolina, but making sure that turnout works for democrats. For buttigieg himself, his problem is hes had a hell of a time attracting support. In a lot of polls hes at zero among African Americans. You cant do much worse than that. Theres no way he can win the nomination if he cannot penetrate minority markets. He has to be able to appeal to more than white democrats or he will hit a ceiling and hit it fast and knows that. Thank you so much for joining us and well be reading axios a. M. In just a little while. All right. That does it for us on this tuesday morning. Morning joe starts right now. We arent here to talk about impeachment or the president of the United States. Were here to talk about i have a rule of codels when we traffic abroad we dont talk about the president in a negative way. I think its very unpatriotic of the democrats to put on a performance when they do that. I do. I think its a bad thing for our country. Impeachment wasnt supposed to be used that way. All you have to do is read the transcripts, youll there was absolutely nothing done wrong. They had legal scholars look at the transcripts the other day and they say these are absolutely perfect. Trump is right when he uses the word those concept, those calls that we made, two of them, were absolutely perfect calls. And i think its a very bad thing for our country. Does it cast a cloud . Well, if it does, then the democrats have done a very great disservice to the country, which they have. Wow. There you see the House Speaker abiding by the waters edge r e opting not to talk politics while overseas in spain. President in london, not so much. Mika, i mean, we just we cant let that go without the president just, once again, acted like a clown on the international stage. First of all this is just in the past hour. Just in the past hour. And, of course, this is the same president who used the crosses