Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20181012

Great with all of them. Instead, we are here to offer Partnership Based on shared interests and values. They spend 40 million, 50 million. To pursue a Better Future for all of us. Am i supposed to dislike him . I like him very much. President trump there with his take on americas values, saudi arabias values and what he values. The apparent murder of a Washington Post journalist by agents at the saudi kingdom is bringing into focus the president s troubling financial entanglements and perhaps even his indifference to human rights or even humanity. Welcome to morning joe on this friday. Along with joe, willie and me, we have Eugene Robinson, kaddy kay, Jeremy Peters and rick stengel. Were going to spend time this morning digging into the disappearance of Jamaal Khashoggi and President Trumps embrace of saudi arabia. Congress wants answers from the country. The president wants their money. Plus another 500 point drop and the dow jones is around the same level it was when the gop tax bill was signed into law. Whats behind the drop and where is the bottom . Meanwhile, it will take years for parts of florida, the Florida Panhandle specifically, for recovery in the wake of Hurricane Michael. And weve got the countdown clock to next months midterms. 25 days and running. Republicans are abandoning vulnerable lawmakers in a bid to keep control of the house. Also, kanye west visits the west wing, putting on a performance for donald trump and everyone else distracted from those four hugely important stories that we just mentioned. The white house doesnt seem to mind one bit. So, joe, im going to send it to you to pram tframe the morning and perhaps hone in on those republicans cutting their losses for the midterms. What do you think . Well, they are. Weve been seeing a couple of polls that have come out over the past few days in the aftermath of the kavanaugh hearings. That certainly gave a bump to republicans. At least this week. But three weeks to go, those are going to level out and i suspect change and well have competitive races in all of the key races. Those 10, 11 races weve been following for some time. But in the house, gop officials in washington, d. C. Are already considering the house in real danger. Theyre committing acts of triage. Theyre cutting some people off. Theyre going into other safer districts that they never thought that they would have to the put money in to try to save congressmen and Congress Women that should be safe by now and its the democrats who are now on the offensive in other red places and starting to try to pick up seats that nobody imagined they could have picked up even six months ago. Willie, of course to the back drop of all of this, is this khashoggis story . It couldnt have come at a worse time for donald trump. You have rand paul talking about the need to cut off all military fund to go saudi arabia, Lindsey Graham, others being outspoken and the news coming out, that at the end of the day, donald trump is willing to trade u. S. Foreign policy and American Values for cold, hard cash at his hotels, at his resorts. We heard stories that other people abandoned trumps properties, but the saudis are still reliable customers. And theres donald trump during the campaign saying, i love them. They gave me 40 million, 50 million dollars. Its just like don jr. Saying we love the russians, we get most of our money from them. To me, the most striking comment came from the president in the oval office when he talked about khashoggi and we heard the president , is he actually a citizen . He is a legal resident, by the way. But his defense for not wanting to act on this now was that 110 billion arms deal and the president of the United States talking about a man who has credibly been act ducted and murder, what am i going to do, give up the deal so china can get the money or russia can get the money . It all comes down to money with them but we are talking about a Washington Post reporter who is a legal resident in the United States state of virginia. And the reports are, and theyre still just reports, but most people believe, mika, that he was lured to the embassy on a plot that the leader of saudi arabia knew about, mbs, and then he was killed and he was dismembered and Donald Trumps response . Hey, we get a lot of money from them. He wasnt a citizen. Those are Donald Trumps values and one more thing for voters to think about as they go to the polls this fall. Saudi sheikhs, their cash and their oil trumps American Values. Good luck with that. There is new reporting on the Washington Post disappearance of Jamaal Khashoggi. He walked into the saudi arabia consulate on october 2nd and hasnt been seen since. According to the post, the turkish government has told u. S. Officials that it has audio and video recordings that prove khashoggi was interrogated, tortured, murdered w, and dismembered. The post reports that turkish officials are hesitant to release those recordings. Saudi arabia claims khashoggi left the consulate soon after entering and denies a role in his disappearance. As willie mentioned, in an interview yesterday, President Trump expressed concern that khashoggi may have been killed at the consulate, but went on to praise u. S. Relations with saudi arabia as, quote, excellent, and insisted that any consequences for the disappearance of the u. S. Based journalist would not be economic. There are certainly other ways to address this situation. But i will tell you right now, up front, theyre spending 110 billion purchasing military equipment and other things. If we dont sell it to them, theyll say, well, thank you very much, well buy it from russia or thank you very much, well buy it from china. There are other things we can do. Lets find out what the promise is first, okay . Do you oppose sanctions . I oppose i would not be in favor of stopping a country from spending 110 billion, which is an alltime record. First i want to find out what happened. And were looking. And, again, this took place in turkey and to the best of our knowledge, khashoggi is not a United States citizen. Is that right . Permanent resident. Permanent resident. We dont like it, john, and we dont like it even a little bit. But as to whether or not we should stop 110 billion from being spent in this country knowing they have to four or five alternatives, two very good alternatives, that would not be acceptable to me. For what its worth, the Washington Post notes that the president s claim about saudi arabia making 110 billion in arms purchases which he has been making since the spring of 2017 is false. The post notes that most of the publicly announced items from the summit in 2017 had been previously announced by the Obama Administration and there appear to be few in any signed contracts. Rather, many of the announcements were mem rorandum of intent. They conclude the 110 billion figure is not real and unlikely to come to fruition and even if it did, it represents sales far into the future. Joe. Another lie, of course, but were used to that. And, you know, gene robinson, were even used to donald trump selling out america and undermining americas values and selling out his soul and hiS Administrations soul for cold, hard cash. Just like with Vladimir Putin, and he defends him because don jr. Said thats where they get a lot of their money from russia. Here, its about money for donald trump, too. Hes willing to hock American Values, although a Washington Post columnist, one of your colleagues, to be chopped up and he said were not going to do anything about that. And this, sadly, its not shocking because this is who donald trump is to his core. That was a grotesque performance yesterday in the white house. Sxhesitly equating on the one. Hand this awful, unspeakable thing happened and they did it. On the other hand, gee, they give us a lot of money. What hes really thinking is they give me a lot of money. They spend a lot of money at his hotels. Hes looking toward the day when at some point hes no longer president and he certainly hopes to cash in to an even greater extent on this relationship. Somebody else to be mentioned in this whole thing which is Jared Kushner who has led the administration in establishing this very close, unquestioning relationship with mohammed solomon going all in on the saudis as our new best buddies in the middle east who have the right solutions to that the entractble problem. The administration has gotten nothing out of it. They were supposed to get all these better relationships with israel. They havent gotten that. They havent gotten any sort of peace dividend. But, gene, you dont understand. Gene, its not amateur hour. They werent looking for that in the first place. Youre right, joe. Youre right. No, theyre looking for funding for their projects. Exactly. Whether its trump hotels, whether its kushner properties, whether its trump properties. Yeah. We have said this from the beginning. Donald trump did not expect to be elected president. He is using his position to leverage it as much as he can to make as much cash. Gene, thats why. Its not amateur hour. They dont give a about how much mope america gets. They give a about how much money trump gets and how much kushner gets. And the saudis, great customers. And theyre getting that payoff. And later for the country. Later for human rights. What was done to Jamaal Khashoggi is just its just unbelievable its certainly cast appall over our offices and made me very sad for this country. Very sad for the country. Kaddy kay, it raises some questions that we have to answer and that is with Something Like this, known as widespread as it was reportedly known throughout the Intel Community, what did donald trump know about the mbs plot . When did he know it . What did Jared Kushner know about the m bs plot . When did he know it . What did the dni know about the m bs plot . What did they do about it . When did they know it . Who did they tell at the white house, the fbi, cia . All of these intel agencies, what did they know and when did they inform the white house that an american resident who is applying for a green card who is a columnist at the Washington Post was being set up and they had a legal duty, based on a 2015 law, to warn him . Those questions have to be answered, dont they . Yes. And the president has not answered them. The president S Administration had these intercepts. The president initially said he knew nothing about it. That seems implausible given that this was widely distributed amongst all of those bits of Intelligence Services that deal with saudi arabia, certainly to the National Security team in the white house, as well. And did they have a duty to warn khashoggi . That is something of a gray area because its not clear that the u. S. Had shown that mohammed bin solomon was going to harm him. I do think this is about more than this man, more than freedom of the press. This is about what role america wants to have in the world right now. What kind of leadership america wants to have in the world. Is america a country that is working totally transactionally and has no interest in propagating human rights, democracy, rule of law. The role that america has had for the last 70 years and in many ways, this khashoggi case, obscure that it might seem is a real test on of what americas leadership is going to be in the world right now because other countries are watching. Other authoritarian countries are watching and theyre thinking if america can get away with this, if america is going to turn a blind eye to this behavior, we can act with immunity. So consider this, President Trumps tie toes saudi arabia go well beyond the oval office with his businesses having connection to the country and with leaders there as far back as the 90s. According to the Washington Post, trump and his companies conducted various deals with the saudi government and Business Executives with that country over the years. The post says one example includes 1991 when trump was nearly 900 billion in debt from failed casino projects and he sold his 281 foot yacht to the saudi princer for 20 million. The paper says years later they agreed to pay off trumps debt on the property. Saudi customers continued to be vital after trump won the presidency, including saudi lobbyists who spent 270,000 last year to reserve rooms at Trumps Hotels in washington. This year, Trumps Hotels in new york and chicago have reported uptickings. The president has not been shine about his affinity in saudi arabia bragging at a 2015 valley about his businesses with that country. Saudi arabia and i get along great with all of them. They buy apartments from me, they spend 40 million, 50 million. Am i supposed to dislike them . I like them very much. So there are a lot of cross currents with saudi arabia. You have jared working with mbs on middle east pa peace and creating a cozy relationship with him. Bob corker said something yesterday that kind of got buried. He said hes picked up as the chair of the Foreign Relations committee a, quote, sense of arrogance from saudi leaders and the way they deal with lawmakers as if to say all we have to do is go to donald trump. By the way, let me just say first, willie, is he the worst negotiator in history . He takes the biggest thing off the table before he even negotiates with the saudis with, which is the arms sales. Is that good negotiating . If youre a good negotiator, you say well have to look at our arms sales and can trump takes it off the table. He is a terrible grocerier. Negotiator. Theyre both princes. The problem is hes a very mixed bag. Yes, as he told me in that meeting, im going to let women drive. Im going to let people go to the cinema. But hes doing this indiscriminate bombing in yemen which is a humanitarian disaster. He brought all of his fellow princes to the ritz carlton without due process and extorted money from them. He doesnt understand how to operate in the modern world. Its good and bad. A more Traditional Administration would go, look, mbs, we like this, we dont like that. If you do more of this, you can have a better relationship with us. But with jared and trump, its if you spend with us, you can do anything about impunity. And the fact that they are not concerned about an american resident being killed in a consulate in saudi, theres a problem. U. S. Intelligence knows that the saudi government was out to get this the Washington Post columnist. What is he up to here . Well, if thats the case, and lets presume that it is, i think hes looking to not have culpability. What is the first job of the president of the United States . To protect american citizens and american residents. And he let everybody down. The fact that they may not have known in this advance and not warned the saudis, not called solomon, whats the use of having a personal relationship with someone if you dont say, hey, dude, you cant do this. And this personal relationship we have found is one sided. The saudis get whatever they have. All they have to do is flash a picture of donald trump up on a building when they come visit. There is a way to fix that. Defund the saudis. Donald trump cant sell them weapons unless the Congress Says he can sell them wednesday. And, again, this is another test of leadership for a president who has, time and time again, aligned himself with leaders across the country who do not represent, do not care for the moral values that america has long projected to the world from the philippines to russia to saudi arabia. Look at the types of people that President Trump has embraced. And this id like to say that im surprised by this, but given his history here, no, not at all. I spoke with a lot of people yesterday. You dont really have to look very far in washington to find people who do business with the saudis here. And theres this real sense of how small this was. Like how weak, the weakness that it projects to go after an enemy, a journalist and have him killed in this grotesque way. Like its an episode of the americans or something. But its really struck a nerve here in washington and i even heard one person who does business with the saudis say yesterday, you know, the next time i may just donate their next check to a charity because its so disgusting and beyond the pale whats. Happened here. Andrew ross sorkin said he wasnt going to be going to a riyadh conference. Its a very good move. Other american reporters should do that. I got a call from somebody who grew up in washington, d. C. , is as entrenched in washington, d. C. As anybody. And it was sort of like what David Ignatius was saying about the russians and the column last week talking about how bush league putins moves have been, how that, while tragic, they were so easily picked up by other Intel Services and it makes them look like fools. Mika, yesterday i had somebody who was, you know, raised in the diplomatic core, knows washington as well or better than anybody else and about 1 00 he calls me and he says, joe, what am i missing . I said what do you mean . He said ive here for over five decades. This is the stupidest thing ive ever heard. There has to be another layer to this story. How can anybody be so stupid, so bush league to do this and think they could get away with it . Well, you know, you know how they get away with it, mika . They have a guy, we have a president , who doesnt give a about what is in the best interest of this country and our values. He gave us about the bottom line. Its very interesting. Jeremy talked about three countries where weve turned the other way on American Values and diplomatic norms. He brought up the philippines, russia, saudi arabia. Guess what . Theres a trump tower in manila. Donald trump and ivanka always bragged about it. There were pictures all over the philippines, manila. So that explains the philippines. Nothing else would. Russia, youve got both of the boys saying they get most of their money or a lot of their money from russia. Donald trump sending Michael Cohen over to try to start a trump tower in russia. Its been an obsession with donald trump. Getting russian money has been an obsession with donald trump since the 1980s when he was suckered into shaking the hands of a Mikhail Gorbachev impersonator. Hes made a fool of himself time and time again. Now saudi arabia. Bragging. In 2015 to everybody wearing those caps that kanye west is wearing now that he makes 40 million, 50 million from the saudis. He loves the saudis. Of course. Its all about money and its not about american money. Its not about american jobs. Its not about helping out heartland america, helping them pay their bills, having enough money to send their kids to college. Its about donald trump and his billionaire family. His money. And how much money they can siphon from other countries. So hes willing to let a Washington Post journalist get killed and hacked up because he wants to make more money personally from the saudis. Welcome to Donald Trumps america. Yeah. The line that stays with me is he wasnt an american citizen, was he . Racist, isolationist, cruel, inhumane, with unamerican, all in one dog whistle. Its incredible where weve come here with this president. Still ahead on morning joe, President Trump suggests devin nunes should join the ranks of american heros to be honored with the medal of freedom. Oh, good god. Yes, that guy, devin nunes. Oh, good god. Its crazy. Maybe kanye, too. That honor is bestowed on those who make continue can bu contributions mika, i would not trust that guy operating my blender in my kitchen. No, not the this guy no. This guy is this buffoon has done more to try to expose how the fbi and the Justice Department do their jobs. Yeah. And with them begging him not to. And donald trump wants to reward somebody who is jurndz mining americas intel communities. Way to go, don. Theres new polling to pore over, just three weeks out from election day, including one democratic senator holding firm in a state that donald trump won in 2016. Well get straight to that. But first, lets go to bill karins with a check on the aftermath of Hurricane Michael. It was just as bad as we feared it would be once daylight came up. Mexico beach hooks like a giant tornado went through. Everything is a complete mess and disaster through the region. Like 75 of the homes are probably going to be uninhabitable. Hopefully they can rebuild this small town of about 1200 people. Its just heartbreaking to see what theyre going to go home to or at least explore once its safe to do so. This the storm brought about a foot of rain to North Carolina, half a Million People lost power, it ur poured rain last night and now heading into cape cod. That will be the end of michael and that name will be retired and well never have another Hurricane Michael again. Temperatures behind the storm are crash canning into the 40s so its a quick, humid forecast for yesterday and then the cool fall air is blowing into the northeast today. Be prepared, its jackets tonight. Then were dealing with heavy rain in the middle of the country and at the same time a snowstorm coming down for wyoming. Denver, 27 degrees. They have a home Football Game. Youll see pictures of that this weekend. And apologies to dallas ft. Worth into areas of arkansas, tennessee and kentucky. Sunday looks rainy for you, alsals also. Eastern seaboard, looking sunny weekend. Washington, d. C. , we leave you with a drying forecast. Fall air is moving in. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Cancer. Its very personal. At Cancer Treatment centers of america, we use diagnostic tools that help us better understand what drives each persons cancer. Like christine bray. After battling Ovarian Cancer for several years, her test results revealed a drug therapy that targeted her tumor. Today, christines metastatic cancer is in remission. Were not just fighting cancer. Were outsmarting it. Visit cancercenter. Com. Appointments available now. Hi, kids im carl and im a broker. Do you offer 4. 95 online equity trades . Great question. See, for a full Service Brokerage like ours, thats tough to do. Schwab does it. Next question. Do you offer a satisfaction guarantee . A what now . A satisfaction guarantee. Like schwab does. Man scoffing what are you teaching these kids . Ask your broker if they offer awardwinning full service and low costs, backed by a satisfaction guarantee. If you dont like their answer, ask again at schwab. All right. The New York Times reporting that House Republicans narrowing their sights in hope of keeping an even oneseat minority. And have begun to abandon incumbents who have fallen behind in polling. There are 20 races within four points that will determine the House Majority and clf will keep working to win them. But the math is daunting. Since republicans hold between 60 and 70 competitive districts that are being seriously contested and democrats only need to flip 23 to win control. The times writes in a tactical retreat, republican groups have withdrawn some or all funding from a few embattled incumbents, namely in suburbs where President Trump is unpopular including representatives kevin yoder of kansas, mike kaufman of colorado and mike buishop. On wednesday, they cut loose of Martha Mcsally who left to run for senate. Joining us now, National Political reporter from Axios Jonathan swan and National Political correspondent for nbc news and msnbc and author of the book the red and the blue, the 1990s and the birth of political tribalism. Steve kornacki, the rage is with us. So, joe, a lot of great guests to talk about what is going on with republicans. And here we are. Found a time of cross currents in american politics. And Steve Kornacki, it seems right now and i do mean right now because in a week the polls are sure to change. So right now, it seems to be a tale of two elections. Youve got the senate race thats have tightened up. Republicans have taken the lead in places like tennessee and texas comfortably. But then you had house members who didnt talk that much about kavanaugh in competitive districts because they were trying to win suburban voters over. There it seems like the gop is in retreat. How can you help us sort through these two different cross currents . Yeah. Basically, youre talking about two different americas, a senate terrain that is heavily leaning towards trump states. Those have become battleground states on the senate side. On the house side, in particular where republicans are looking at their financial commitment, you are talking about the suburban, more densely. Populated close to major cities types of districts and in a lot of cases, districts that voted for Hillary Clinton. I was just looking in the break here, just off the top of my head, you could run down a list of 12 seats that look like they are at best in dire straights for the house. Republicans need a net gain of 23 to pick up the chamber. In about two minutes of sitting here, metro areas around the country, i can get democrats more than halfway there in about two minutes. Where it gets more complicated with the house is and i think this is the key and this is going to end up deciding it, its the more hybrid districts. That is where it almost becomes a test of energy between the two sides and its the one thing republicans can hope for is that did kavanaugh somehow give them energy in that more trump portion of the district. Jonathan, this is something that weve been talking about since the day after donald trump was elected, everybody has, that the house of representatives was going to be vulnerable. You had 24, 25 seats that Hillary Clinton won where republicans were still in power. You had the redistricting in pennsylvania, that map has changed. A couple other maps were changed where suburban voters were given more power. In these very districts that democrats have to win, they probably got a little wind at their back. If you look at the polling of the suburban women, the very people they need to win over. Yes. And the challenge the white house has had all along is that President Trump has wanted to barn storm across the entire country. He has people on the outside who say, mr. President , people like corey lewandowski, you are the greatest campaigner the world has ever seen. Every campaigner needs you. You need to be everywhere. Trump obviously believes that. Some of these members dont want him anywhere near their districts and theyve quietly made that known to the white house. To the tension has been between trumps desires to be everywhere and the reality that his presence in a district can energize those people that you just described. Yes, he energizes the republican base, but he energizes the suburban women, the college graduates. We got a new poll or two in from wisconsin. Theres a state that donald trump won that Hillary Clinton didnt even visit back in 2016. You look at some of the numbers there. The democrats doing quite well. Tammy baldwin comfortably ahead. And then the Gubernatorial Race that scott walker has won. There, shes up by 14 points inspect and a Gubernatorial Race that scott walker has won three times already, if you look at the recall election, thats a big tenpoint lead. So you have these swing states. And i put virginia on that list, wisconsin, look at florida, indiana that barack obama won in 2008. I think you have races, nevada, even arizona, those races are going to go down to the wire for the most part. Tennessee, texas, maybe not. Maybe those are all over. But we still have seven, eight, nine, ten senate races that will be up for grabs until the very end, arent we . Absolutely. And you look in the midwest. If you want to talk about a senate race that is going to go down to the wire, missouri, Claire Mccaskill waiting to see if there is an effect from kavanaugh in that race. But, yeah, i think the thinking has shifted big time. About ten days ago about the potential effect of kavanaugh took hold, people were starting to tick up the democrats chances of getting not just the house, but the senate, and people were starting to think that was getting close to maybe a 40 chance of a shot for them. I think that has fallen down to 10 or so in the last week or so. But on the house side, it just continues to be. There are so many opportunities on the. Map for democrats and one of the things you find in so many of these midterm elections these days is that in the end, you mentioned all those races that are supposedly within a couple of points. They do tend to break one way. And if they do end up breaking in the democrats favor, that could be a big win for them. But i think republicans are looking at it right now and seeing a narrow, narrow chance of barely hanging on to the house, which is better than theyve been thinking for a while. Steve kornacki, i know you have a plane to catch. Thanks for being on. I want to return now to the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamaal Khashoggi. Jonathan swan, you had been talking with the saudi ambassador. Texting with him, actually, about certain issues. And then he went radio silent. Explain that exchange. So i received a text message on monday from prince khalid ben salman, hes the saudi brother in washington and younger brother of mbs. Its a younger message saying theyre very concerned about the well being of khashoggi, all the reports are wrong. I said thank you and then i said do you have footage of him leaving the consulate . And i didnt receive a response. Willie geist, this is, again, as the as the evidence builds up, everyone is looking to the United States of america to respond in kind to an attack not just on a wonderful human being and an incredibly talented writer, but a member of the press. A writer for the Washington Post. Yeah. And i would add to this conversation, mika, that as of today, treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin is still scheduled to attend that conference in riyadh. You have got to be kidding me. They may end up canceling. Well see. Rick, if this were the state department you worked for right now, what would be happening right now as the news came across of his disappearance . People would be thinking, look, they cant do this with impunity. What is the arsenal of what we can do . Is it sanctions . Is it not going to this conference . One of the things that this transactional nature that trump has with other countries, who has always distinguished us is that were not transactional. The chinese go in and they build a super highway and they say we dont care what your politics are. People want to deal with the United States, but we always go, look, mbs, you have to be more open. You have to let women drive. You have to let people go to the cinema. You cant do this bombing, you know, in yemenen. And people dont like that. But that is our Foreign Policy and has been since Woodrow Wilson was president. And i sure hope that the people at the state department and white house are saying, look, the saudis cant get away with doing Something Like this. It crosses a red line in all kinds of ways and there needs to be some kind of damage and reparations. Rick stengel, thank you very much. And Jonathan Swan, thank you, as well. Still ahead, polls earlier this week show just 31 women approve of the job President Trump is doing. So how do they feel about his handling of one of the biggest issues this midterm season . Were talking about health care and well go live to ohio to see what women voters think about that ahead on morning joe. Im ken jacobus, im the owner of good start packaging. We distribute environmentallyfriendly packaging for restaurants. And weve grown substantially. So i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. I earn unlimited 2 cash back on everything i buy. And last year, i earned 36,000 in cash back. Thats right, 36,000. Which i used to offer Health Insurance to my employees. My unlimited 2 cash back is more than just a perk, its our healthcare. Can i say it . Whats in your wallet . [ beep ] im not sure were going to get onto the moon. First man is what cinema was made for. Its a timely reminder of why we aim for the stars. First man. Rated pg13. Experience the moon in imax. Yeah, this is bob barnett in chicago. john foley i was there when bob barnett made the first commercial Wireless Phone call. We were both working on that First Network that would eventually become verizons. That call opened the door to the billions of mobile calls that weve all made since. Im proud i was part of that first call, and im proud that im here now as we build americas first and only 5g Ultra Wideband Network that will transform how we all live, once again. bob the first call that weve made on the cellular system. Kirn concerns about health care are one of the top issues in the midterms and it is no different in ohio. An important state to President Trumps reelection. Joining us now from lebanon, ohio, morgan ratford. Morgan, you spoke with voters about this. What did they say . Mika, we sure did. And were standing here in lebanon, ohio, and this is one of the reddest districts in the state. Its also where the president is coming to hold his rally tonight. When we go to cover these rallies, we heard a lot about his message, his personality and popularity. But we dont always hear specifics about his policies. And there is one policy voters here want addressed and that is health care. Admittedly a topic many of them say they didnt think about until it impacted them personally. Colleen bowman has a 14yearold daughter that recover from cancer. She has been work to go make sure her daughter is covered even though she has a preexisting condition. Theyre getting politically active for the very first time this mid in term Election Year and its all about this one issue. Health care. Take a listen. Just from a show of hands, how many of you would say health care is one of the most important issues to you in this election . All of you. My daughter was diagnosed with melanoma at 7, one year after the aca sorry. No, dont. And it was life changing what the aca did for us. Shes now cancer free. However, we now have to worry about that she will not be covered because of not having the protection of preexisting conditions. So this is a new concern. Yes. I will say the first thought that we i had after we went through all these tests was, thank god shes protected. Is it something you feel like you dont have any more . I feel like we are in serious jeopardy of having that slip away and i worry about it every single day. I lose sleep over it. Every single thing in my life right now is fight to go make sure that she keeps insurance. Not only will it affect her health care, it will affect her Financial Security for the rest of her life. How do you feel about Affordable Health care . I think its a necessity. I think there are things that need to be changed about it. But i think that in the way things are going right now, if nobody is willing to talk to to each other, we need some bipartisan conversation to get things going or were going to lose, you know, the preexisting conditions, everything, and nobody is going to be able to afford any sort of health care at the rate things are going right now. My mom was diagnosed with cancer in november. Now im going to meetings and appointments with her and watching them ask the doctor if theres cancer drugs that are on insurance. Theyre affordable. Right. So if you dont think its going to happen to you, it will. It will in some shape or form affect a family member. Were you all none of us were. They say its an all out fight until november. But they are not alone. 52 of americans at a recent nbc poll found that they would not likely vote for a candidate who wants to repeal or limit the Affordable Care act. Thank you very much. Jeremy peters, before we go to break your thoughts on this. What democrats have been trying to do for a long time is make this front and center in the midterm election. When donald trump is president of the United States its hard to get anything but him on center stage. This is a big worry. Democrats saw the key to saving a lot of these vulnerable seats, north dakota, florida, localized those races. Health care is a way of doing that. I think its a question of what else, though, is in voters minds, and if its a pocketbook issue as health care so often is, sure, it really can be. Jeremy peters, thank you very much. Still ahead President Trump has said he wont fire Jeff Sessions before the midterms. But that doesnt mean he isnt actively looking for his next attorney general. 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While deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles. Duo clean technology, corded and cordfree. The much anticipated launch between kanye and his majesty donald trump turned into so much more than just a lunch. Not only was this a crazy conversation for the white house, this was a conversation that would be held between hem wearing hospital bracelets. If youre building a floor, the constitution is the base of our industry, right, of our country, of our company. Would you build a trap door that if you mess up and something happened and you fall and you end up next to the una bomber. You have to remove that trap door. And i think the way the universe works is perfect. Yeah, thats the president of the United States. Ahead on morning joe well talk about yesterdays surreal scene with rapper kanye west in the oval office. Plus the turkish government has reportedly told u. S. Officials it has audio and video recordings to prove that the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the saudi consulate and President Trump chooses arab a authoritariani authoritarianism. This is strategic investing. Because your investments deserve the full story. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. But allstate helps you. With drivewise. Feedback that helps you drive safer. And that can lower your cost now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . Plaque psoriasis tremfya® is for adults with moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis. With tremfya®, you can get clearer. And stay clearer. In fact, most patients who saw 90 clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. Tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin, and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. Tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. 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In it an ogre made of cheese runs the country without knowing anything about how to do it. Its scary, funny and sad all at the same time. My favorite part was watching the republic crumble before our eyes. I like the part where the president ordered the assassination of Bashar Al Assad but then his generals ignored him. Dont read it before you go to bedtime youll get nightmares. Dont read it in the day because youll get daymares. The author of that book, bob woodward joins us now. Msnbc political analyst Eugene Robinson remains with us. Cnbc editoratlarge john harwood is at the table. And capitol hill correspondent and hose of kasie dc, kasie hunt. She has these great dog bowles. Kasie could be their sister. Thanks. Kasie, we need the rock, we need the rock tshirts with the tour dates on the back. Thats whats coming next. Bob woodward youve been so closely associated with the Washington Post, one of the most important journalistic institutions not only in this country but across the globe for so long now. I got to ask you this morning what are your thoughts about a colleague of yours, a man who contributed to the Washington Post, who lived in virginia, who was applying for a green card, who was a resident of the United States of america, possibly being lured in, when our Intel Community knew that this operation was being thought of and hatched by the leader of saudi arabia, and then possibly murdered and cut up and disposed of . Well, see, this is the risk that the Trump Presidency takes. They tried to do new things and theres kind of this policy okay sis in casino and they say w need a new relationship with saudi arabia but has not gone to cia that has rooms full of file cabinets that will tell you how ruthless the saudis are. So when you make a deal with the new crown prince you have to say some of the old rules apply and it looks like that did not happen here, and if you look across the board theres a policy casino every where in Foreign Relations, in domestic policy and Financial Decisions made. So every area, china, nafta, federal deficit, the definition of what conservatism is, they are trying new ideas, but in doing that its the new policy casino. You saw this up close and personal for the first year of the Trump Administration where at the head of that policy casino, at least as far as Foreign Policy goes not secretary of state Rex Tillerson but it was jared, Jared Kushner who had an especially close relationship and has an especially close relationship with kbs, spent the entire weekend there with kbs with him right before his crackdown on rivals inside of saudi arabia, and it was kbs on whom Jared Kushner really placed most of his hopes for this socalled break through middle east peace plan on this upandcoming reform reformer, nbs leading the way. Talk about that relationship. Well the target, and jared pushed this. Everyone was against it. Mcmaster, Rex Tillerson, even secretary of defense mattis. So they tried something new and, you know, to their credit they are experimenting, but its gone off the rails, it looks like in a very, very serious way. When you go to a casino you lose big. The tendency is to up the bet. Lets hope that doesnt happen here. Mika, the problem is, though keexcuse me one secon. I want to underline what bob just said. They are experimenting wildly and if you lose on those experiments, its not just the president s reputation that takes a hit, its the United States of americas reputation worldwide, and theyve had contempt from day one. Jared, donald trump have had contempt from day one from those experts at the cia or at the state department who have spent their entire life knowing that if you send enough permissive signals to saudis, they are going to do exactly what they did to a the Washington Post columnist. But you remember this. They were so contemple theous of experts, so contemple theous of people that bob was talking about in cia who has been studying the saudis for a generation. They always knew best. Their daddys gave them millions of dollars and they were able to do business that way. This is what results from it when you have contempt from the experts that have been doing this their entire life. In an interview yesterday President Trump expressed concern that khashoggi may have been killed during a visit to the saudi consulate in turkey. But went on to praise relation with saudi arabia as excellent and insisted any potential consequences for the disappearance of the u. S. Based journalist would not be economic. There are certainly other ways of handling there situation. But ill tell you upfront and right now and ill say it in front of senators, spending 110 billion purchasing military equipment and other things. If we dont sell it to them they will say thank you very much, well buy it from russia or thank you very much well buy it from china. There are other things we can do. Lets find out what the problem is, first, okay. I oppose i would not be in favor of stopping a country from spending 110 billion, which is an alltime record. First, i want to find out what happened and were looking. Again, this took place in turkey. And to the best of our knowledge, khashoggi is not a United States citizen, is that right . Permanent resident. Okay. We dont like it, john. We dont like pit. We dont like it even a little bit. But as to whether or not we should stop 110 billion from being spent in this country, knowing they have four or five alternatives, two very good alternatives, that would not be acceptable to me. As you hear the president use that 110 billion figure its worth pointing out the Washington Post and others noted the president s claim about saudi arabia making 110 billion in arms purchases which theyve been make being since the spring of 2017. Most of the publicly announced items from 2017 had been previously announced by the Obama Administration and there appear to be few if any signed contracts. Many announcements were memorandum of intent. Year and a half later 110 billion figure is not real and likely to come to fruition. Even if it did it represents sales far off into the future. John harwood, as you listen trumps tone, this comes down to a business deal for President Trump. As the Washington Post points out not really a business deal at the end of the day. Well, exactly. It shows what the president s values are, and i think joe was exactly right when he was describing the contempt that President Trump and jared and others have for experts. But lets be clear about what that amounts to. Jared kushner and donald trump dont know anything about Foreign Policy. They dont have a grasp of the purposes of american power, the ovals behind american power, and to reduce what were talking about to a financial transaction is kind of sick, to be honest. The United States government, as a force for good around the world, is a force for good to the extent that it projects its values. And this is a president who doesnt have empathy. Who is not concerned about abstract things like right and wrong. And, you know, protecting the values of the first amendment, for example. And were seeing it displayed in realtime. And the United States responds to this, obviously, sends a message to the world as to where we stand. Kasie hunt, can congress do and what are they doing . This is a moment to step up, democrat or republican to step up. They have done some things. Bob menendez put an informal hold sooi hold, its a complicated p procedural thing. This is part of why the president said this in front of senators, he might have a problem. Jeff flake made a speech. Yeah. Hes made a lot of speeches about a lot of issues. I said that dead pan and you got it. Were tired of the speeches. Were tired. Step up. Thats all. Will republicans step up . Thats always a major question. I do think, for as many times you asked me about that on this show, will republicans do anything about the president , we have handful of weeks before we may find out, depending how bad the elections are. Let me get to katty kay on this. Given the political dynamics with this president , i would think this would be an easy one, a member of the press . Yeah. He doesnt show much fondness fors of the press and calling them repeatedly enemies of the people that made saudis think they could get away with this. They feel they acted with impunity. I wonder if were in a situation what will change saudi arabia is not politicians or donald trump, its going to be corporations. And the speed which corporations and ceos are moving over this, we had uber pull out, virgin pull out, Richard Branson pulled out, cnn has pulled out of a current next week. They are making decisions very fast. All of these Companies Know their reputations can be destroyed by social media if people dont like what is happening in their relations with the saudis. You wish the politicians could move that fast. You wish the white house could learn the same kind of lesson. Right now the white house thinks they can tough it out. The story will die down. They can get back to business as usual and its being driven by Jared Kushner who has this close relationship with nbs, very reluctant to trump that relationship. The sales are not that big. Its much less than what the president is saying. You have to wonder what it is thats really driving this . Is it the president s own financial interests rather than the countrys . There has been an uncritical acceptance by thiS Administration, everything that he has done. Hes waging a war in yemen that is killing civilians by the scores and hundreds and thousands. He kidnapped the Prime Minister of lebanon and held him there for a while. Hes done all these outrageous things and thiS Administration just accepted it. So ill ask my colleague, bob woodward. Bob, do you have a sense is it the trump family and Kushner Familys kfinancial interest wih the gulf states . I dont have any evidence of that. But its important to always listen to what trump says. And hes saying this is about money and contracts. And if you go to the internal debates in the white house, which i spend some time on, trump always raises money. Its about the money, the u. S. Is spending for Forward Deployed troops in south korea, europe, the middle east, and he thinks somehow thats for those countries and its not part of our own security. And as a group, all the National Security people who are, its his team, they say no, no, thats the best money we could spend. Its a good thing. And trump will literally say were being played for suckers. Is what he understands in every context. But hes not out there trying to get money for the federal government. Its not the Trump Organization. This money is spent for good purposes, and when you get into a situation with somebody like nbs where look, the target is iran. Saudi arabia is real. Other countries working and obsessed with iran and they have some good reason to be concerned about that. But you dont make that compromise. And thats the mistake. And thats why i keep saying its a casino. And everything if you go into the trump casino and theres a blackjack table over here, theres a lets do this with the deficit. Lets go things that are a gamble, and theres a great book done in the Reagan Administration by larry barrett, the Time Magazine correspondent called gambling with history and we know reagan gambled with history. But when he did it, he did it in a much more cautious restrained way. When he went to berlin, reagan did and said about gorbachev, tear down this wall, he did not say, my Nuclear Button is bigger than yours. It was a values thing. Yes. But thats what trump said on north korea and theres this sense of risk. So, bob, its willie in new york. The republicans have not held back over the last couple of days. Senator bob corker who, of course, is the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee Said quote theres no question the saudis did this. No question in his mind. Hes seen intelligence. He says everything points to saudi arabia. I want would appear khashoggi is not alive. You had senator rand paul saying the president should immediately halt arms sales and military support to saudi arabia. So if its so clear to so many people, why did the president hedge the way he did yesterday, questioning whether or not khashoggi was a citizen. Saying hey we cant give up 110 billion arms deal over this. Whats he up to here . Well, its a gamble. And there are important policy considerations. But this has crossed a line that is unacceptable and theres a way and trump knows how to do this, talk tough. But the republicans, lets not kid ourselves, they will go out rhetorically and say oh, we got to do something. Trump has to do this or that, and, you know, lets wait a week. Nothing will happen. A thousand trees will give their lives, mika, for congressional records to be printed out with jeff flakes words on them. And the net effect is that those trees, those thousands of trees will have died in vain because he will just keep talking and never actually do anything that changes the arc of this twisted Foreign Policy. Hell look deeply concerned too, when hes saying it. Yes. And then go along and kowtow to whatever the president wants him to do. Im curious to see what bob corker does. He stepped up to the line. He wasnt going to vote for a tax bill that would increase a national debt. He voted for a tax bill that blew a hole in the national debt. This is yet another test. Well see if they fail this test as well. This is an easy one. Im not being glib when i say this. Think about how u. S. Foreign policy would be different today and im dead serious if donald trump had built properties in london, in paris, in berlin and the baltics instead of raising money from russia, saudi arabia, building a trump tower in manila and other places, in turkey, in other places where donald trump is making money, where autocrats rule. What a difference this would would make. As weve said from day one, if you want to understand why trump buckled, why he looked like a coward yesterday like he looked like a coward in helsinki. In the end it doesnt come down bad deals that the United States made in the past it comes down deals that donald trump want to make in the future when he leaves as a one term president and tries to cash in on the presidency. Okay. And john harwood thank you for being in. Before you go what do you think of the market drop and trump blaming it on the fed . The fed is doing precisely what donald trump said it should do when barack obama was president. He said that janet yellen and ben bernanke kept rates, low created a bubble in the stock market for political reasons. Okay. Everyone on the right has been arguing for years that the stance of the fed should be phased out. Now that that is happening and it is having an effect on the stock market, they dont like it. Its not again as with trump, theres nothing that is consistent and principled and ovals based. Its transactional in the immediate moment when hes operating in. So when some action might help president obama hes against it. When it might help him hes for i it. And thats what hes doing on the stock market. In a jay powell seems to be an independent type at the fed which, of course, the fed is supposed to be independent. And is going dont duct his business the way he wants to conduct it. Also john harwood, in light of the Kanye Oval Office disaster yesterday check out cnbc. Com your interview with john legend. Kanye comes up with that as well. Still ahead on morning joe, easy to pass off the lock her up chant as a punch line in a concert like rally, but President Trump said quite earnestly that Hillary Clinton quote should be in jail. Clinton tweeted back at the president and somehow were all still living in 2016. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. My name is elaine barber, and im a fiveyear cancer survivor. Surviving for five years is a big deal. I had so many people at ctca helping me find a way to go through the treatments. The reality of cancer is not everybody survives. At ctca, they have a huge celebrate life event. That was amazing, because the whole day was about all of the survivors. Im excited about my future. Visit cancercenter. Com to schedule an appointment now. And my brother ray and i started searching for answers. vo when its time to navigate inhome care, follow that bright star. Because brightstar care earns the same accreditation as the best hospitals. 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Maybe well call it the medal of freedom because we actually give him high awards for civilians. There is a medal of freedom. President trump in a phone interview with fox news yesterday suggesting congressman devon nunez deserves the medal of freedom for his bravery in pushing back against Robert Muellers russia probe. Joe, my dad got the medal of freedom. I dont see a parallel. Hes lost me yet again on this one. I love donald trump says hey we can call at any time medal of freedom. Maybe, i got another great idea. Why dont we get the best Baseball Players throughout history and put all of their records and plaques in one big building and well call it the hall of fame. Yeah. That would be cool. In this case, though, kasie hunt, you even have republicans in the senate who loathe devon nunez, republicans on the Intel Committee in the senate who look at him as a bumbling fool who is an embarrassment. Donald trump and maybe three or four members of the Freedom Caucus may be the only people who arent embarrassed of devon nunez when he walks by them in the hall. Wean people who used to be close to devon nunez, the house speaker. Now you speak to people in that circle and they wonder what has happened to devon nunez because he doesnt bear much resemblance to the guy they used to know, this california republican. He is one of the few people, and we talk a lot on this show how republicans talk behind closed doors about this president , how they wonder about the safety and future of this country and whats going on is crazy. Devon nunez is not one of those people. Hes a true believer that is convinced the deep state is out to get this president and hes dig ago round as deep as he can to expose it. Other republicans in congress havent done a lot to stop it, they have enabled it. Weve said it for some time thats going to be part of paul ryans legacy hes enabled the complete bipartisan the destruction of the concept of a bipartisan Intel Committee which has been issacrosanct on capito hill. But the Justice Department and fbi said the guy was working hard, working overtime to expose the Intel Communitys means and some of their sources wane that could endanger american intel assets. That is who donald trump is praising. Its been a frustration privately also to republicans. This isnt just democrats who were saying these things out loud about devon nunez. They are frustrated how hes handled intelligence. The line from donald trump is a throw away line and you dont want to get hung up on everything he says, but it is an ongoing cheapening of language and cheapening of honors we have in this question. I wish jack jacobs won the medal of honor, hell explain to the president what it means attorney that. We know russia meddled in the 2016 election. We do not know what kind of direct impact moscow had. One of our next guests is certain that russias interference was crucial to trumps win. Well dig into that. And a programming note, this weekend the upfranchise starts tomorrow at 8 00 a. M. Eastern and politicsnation with al sharpton is moving to a new time slot its expanding to two days aweek right here on msnbc. Thats must see tv. Oh, yeah. Back in a moment. [narrator] if you want serious cleaning with a cordfree vacuum, you need a shark. Because only sharks cordfree lineup has Duoclean Technology so you can deep clean carpets and give hard floors a polished look. And with two swappable batteries at maximum suction, our shark ion f80 gives you more run time than the dyson v10 absolute. And now shark takes cordfree beyond stick vacuums by introducing a full upright model. Shark ion cordfree vacuums available in stick and upright. By introducing a full upright model. Howdoing great dad r does this thing got . Looking good babe are you filming. At booking. Com, we cant guarantee youll be any good at that water jet thingy. But we can guarantee the best price on a hotel, like this one. Or any home, boat, treehouse, yurt, whatever. Get the best price on homes, hotels and so much more. Booking. Com, booking. Yeah discover. O. I like your card, but im absolutely not paying an annual fee. Discover has no annual fees. Really . Yeah. We just dont believe in them. Oh nice. You would not believe how long ive been rehearsing that. No annual fee on any card. Only from discover. This country when i fired comey. He was a bad guy with bad intentions. You know, the democrats hated comey more than any human being. He actually did Hillary Clinton a big favor because she should be in jail. But they should have taken her right off the campaign. But dehear big favor. If you look at it, when you think of it. There was collusion between hillary the democrats and russia, there was collusion. No question. There was a lot of collusion with them and russia. In response to trump accusing sorry. Sorry. Who is stupid enough to believe that. I just got to ask the question. Who is stupid enough to believe that . And, yes, the democrats did hate comey because ten days before the election he helped elect donald trump. The democrats did hate comey because even after he chose not to indict her, he indicted her politically with a once in a lifetime press conference from an fbi director. And there is no evidence that the democrats colluded with russia, never has been, never will be. So the question i ask again is who does donald trump believe in that audience is so stupid as to believe that . And why does he continue insulting people thats spent a lot of time going to his rallies. Hes making fools for them and i feel bad for them because hes such a snake oil salesman. Im glad you said that because i think hes using them as pawns and i feel terrible for what he is doing to these people who are so excited to come to his rally, to see the president of the United States and then he uses them like that. And makes them look stupid. In response to trump accusing her of collusion with russia, Hillary Clinton tweeted yesterday, seriously, you asked russia to hack me on National Television. Our next guest is author avenue book that concludes with reasonable certainty that russia, russian help was crucial to trumps win. Its entitled cyber war how Russian Hackers and trolls helped elect a president. What we cant, dont and do know. Professor of connection at the university of pennsylvania, Kathleen Hall jamison joins us now. Also with us staff writer for the atlantic, covering National Security and the intelligence Natasha Bertran and staff writer for the new yorker. Theres a new piece entitled was there a connection between a russia bank and the Trump Campaign. A lot of questions to get answered this morning and professor jamison, i would like to start with you. The conclusion that your book makes draws a little bit more of a direct line. How do you get there finally. I know its hard to answer on the air, but give it a try. Three ways. Troll, imposters, hacking on social media. And the possible influence of russia disinformation, james comeys decision on october 28th to let the public know that he would reopen the investigation. Changed the media agenda. Nicely done. Joe . Ing there. Natasha, if you take what donald trump said, then you look at Hillary Clintons tweet saying wait a second you asked the russians to hack me on National Television. Whats so remarkable is that was july 27th, 2016. Isnt it also true that that night is when the gru, when the Russian Military the arm of the Russian Military began trying to hack into Hillary Clintons emails . Coincidence . Thats what Robert Mueller laid out in one much his indictments earlier this year and it kind of seems like a random thing at the time for the president to say on National Television russia if youre listening i hope you can find these 30,000 missing emails. That did become an obsession for the campaign, finding these mysterious emails that clinton had either deleted or, you know, had somehow hidden away from public scrutiny and from scrutiny by investigators. Weve seen this kind of we revisited this over and over again. Members of the campaign at different points during the election were trying to find these emails. Whether it was, you know, members of like, for example, George Papadopoulos who was told about temp males in april of 2016, or other members of the campaign, for example, peter smith who we saw had a relationship with Michael Flynn dating back to 2015 right before Michael Flynn went to russia and met with the top russian officials. This was an ongoing theme during the campaign and fact that we saw the gru trying to hack into clintons emails on the very day that trump said russia if youre listening it almost seemed like a signal and Intelligence Experts told me at that moment trump was signalling to the russians it was okay for them to do that and giving them his permission to do that. So theres a new wrinkle to story as it pertains to the Trump Campaign. Your piece is entitled was there a connection between the russia bank and the Trump Campaign. What was the significance . Well, its not clear, but beginning in may 2016 for a four month period before the election theres a pattern of very behavior surrounding the trump computer server when a russian bank the Largest Private Bank in russia began to try hundreds and hundreds of times get in touch with the trump dns lookups. Very suggestive of pattern over the that four month period. Its not 100 clear, but i think i took the story as far as it go. I think somebody with subpoena power is required to get to the bottom of it. But its very unusual. Professor jamison, weve had lots of information on what the russians did and how they were behind things in cyber space. But we cant connect the influence of the russians actually swayed the election. Have produced cause and effect in your book. They were doing all of these things and you can measure the material difference it made in the final vote . Not with certainty. I can create a strong case it was probable. Enough tr oll content aligned with trumps objectives that reached enough people. 126 million reached with Facebook Content alone. That could have made the difference. The hacking is the strongest case. Changed the media agenda. After the access Hollywood Tape blunted the effect had the Podesta Emails leaked within an hour trump would have been out of the race. Imagine if Podesta Emails didnt leak . Trump might have been toast. This is a really important line of inquiry, and i read jane mayers piece in the new yorker and you get to intelligent of proof and i just wonder if its one much these occasions where you go to bed at night and theres no snow on the ground, you wake up in the morning and theres snow on the ground. You didnt see it snow, but it did. And you can say, yeah, it definitely snowed, but you dont have all that connective tissue. Is that what this is . This essentially is saying there are three different ways to get to the outcome. Trolls, haackers and disinformation from comey. Theres a very strong case the hacking could have done it. If comey was influenced that fact alone is Strong Enough to change the outcome. Explain to me about the this connection with a small town in pennsylvania, which i guess domain that was to the Trump Organization. I guess, and the Online Connections . Yes. I mean the computer server there was a computer server in a town in pennsylvania lids, where the trump server was. Where alpha bank begins to try to communicate with that server hundreds of times. So that i should say that the fbi visited there in october of 2016 and asked for all the records. Fbi has that information. I think that the fbi is here if were going find out what happened. Very dramatic moment when the trump server is shut down and thats essentially less 48 hours before the New York Times called alpha banks lobbyist in washington. A way to find out who shut down that server and a way to find out what the content of those communications were if, in fact, the bank was communicating with trump. Amish country. Absolutely gorgeous. Natasha, what are your thoughts . My colleague wrote a piece for slate back in october of 2016, october 31st, detailing these connections, and its interesting because after dexter published his piece in the new yorker last week he revisited kind of the trauma of writing about a connection between alpha bank server and the Trump Organization days before the election and how there was such a lack of imagination at the time about what the russians and Trump Campaign was actually capable of. About the extent of a possible conspiracy to influence the election that he was not taken seriously, the piece was overlooked. It was relentlessly criticized and now with dexters piece were learning two years after the fact we still dont have an explanation for why this was happening. We still dont have applausible reason for why these servers were communicating and that, i think, speaks volumes about how like frank said in his piece this week were living in suspended animation as we await the findings that mueller will come out with. But this is really important incremental coverage and you just have to keep at it and often theres not a big payoff, but if reporters like that piece is significant and you have to chip away at it. If we stop chipping away at it, we wont get to the big answer. Professor . Two different questions, did the russians affect the outcome and was there collusion. They should be separated. But its important to note that when you make the argument that says that there would have been collusion because of alignment, there didnt have to be alignmen between trump and the russians to create today linement because they have the targeting information that could simply follow the coverage which tells you which states to go to. As a result aligned. Willie . Decks the on a different topic you covered the war in afghanistan so closely for so long. Report on monday that 54 people had died in violence. Nobody noticed. A lot of headlines. I tweeted that with forever war title of your incredibly great book from 2008. Than 2400 americans have died there. 17 years after 9 11 we said it many times on this show, there were kids in diapers on 9 11 who would walk on patrol in afghanistan today. Is there an end in sight in that country, in that forever war . No. Think so, unfortunately. I mean its a tough situation right now. You got the government kabul and the american troops are largely there training the but the afghan government, you know, their writ extend much further than kabul city limits. Lost control of much of the side. Ry pulled out today that government i think would quickly and i its a really tough think there are no there are no simple answers there. Situation is not very right now. All right. Dexter, thank you very much. Kathleen hall jamison, thank you. The new book cyber war is out now. Natasha bertrand thank you. Back in 2017 saudi arabias leadership was purging political rivals of the crown prince, President Trump tweeted quote i have great confidence in the king and the crown prince of saudi arabia. They know exactly what they are doing. Soech those they are harshly treated have been milking their country for years. Well look at that through the lens of the purported murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the express order of the saudi leader. And moments going Steve Mnuchkin was asked on cnbc if he still planned to attend next months economic conference in riyadh. Currently as i understand it you are scheduled to go. But even as we speak you lead us elsewhere pulling out of the event. Are you still determined that you will attend at this point given that theres still, i think, no clarity as to what has happened to mr. Cash remember, the Washington Post journalist . Im finding im going. At this point if more information comes out and changes, we could look at that. But i am planning on going. Youre headed down the highway when the guy in front slams on his brakes out of nowhere. You do, too, but not in time. Hey, no big deal. Youve got a good record and Liberty Mutual wont hold a grudge by raising your rates over one mistake. You hear that, karen . Liberty mutual doesnt hold grudges. How mature of them. For drivers with accident forgiveness Liberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty discover. O. I like your card, but im absolutely not paying an annual fee. Discover has no annual fees. Really . Yeah. We just dont believe in them. Oh nice. You would not believe how long ive been rehearsing that. No annual fee on any card. Only from discover. When you rent from national. Its kind of like playing your own version of best ball. Because here, you can choose any car in the aisle, even if its a better car class than the one you reserved. So no matter what, youre guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] vo go national. Go like a pro. See what i did there . All right. So we had so much fun last night. Patty and i were up late. Latish. It was latish. Er with on stage from 6 00 to 9 00. I want to thank you for a great conversation. They were great. Totally packed. It was such a good venue. All those really wanting to know how they could increase their worth. We were talking about my rereleased issue of know your value. Weve gone way deeper on tips and strategy. There was a real hunger for it. Oh my gosh, you were great. You were a rockstar in walk. She walks in the room and the place explodes. Catty kay. I was walking about five steps in front of mika. This was great. Thank you so much we had fun. Dont miss the chance to attend the know your value work shop in san francisco. We have inspiring workshops with special guests. Many, many more who will arm you with the tools you need to grow your value and communicate it effectively. We need our voices now more than ever. And women of california specifically, if you are in california, now is your chance to enter the grow your value contest and pitch me why you deserve a 25,000 bonus. Pitch me in a minute or less. Do it on your phone, send it in. We will select a coach and three finalists who will select and coach three finalists on how to effectively communicate their value. They will showcase their skwils and compete on stage at the event. This is my favorite part of these daylong workshops, information on how to enter the grow your value contest. Farce tickets for the event can be found at knowyourvalue. Com. Thanks for being our partner. We love having you on board. Still ahead, new polling shows the senate might be just out of roach for democrats this november and in the house, republicans are fighting to keep their majority by abandoning some weaker gop incumbents. And Hurricane Michael has left parts of florida, the Florida Panhandle completely destroyed. Bill kierans will have that ahead, and President Trump says he doesnt like whats happened with Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. But what exactly is he doing to get answers . Bob woodward, before we go to break, final thoughts on that story. Dig. Keep working on it and explain. Its going to be a test for the republicans in congress, whether theyre going to say, you know, there has to be some change here. There has to be some investigation, some transparency. You know, but well see. The private sector is speaking out for sure, saying we will stop business. Not the treasury secretary at the moment. He still wants to go. Incredible. Whether good or bad, we have to see what happens. The question is, it always starts at the top in trump world. Is he going to actually say to people, lets get to the bottom of this . Explain it and act. If he doesnt, nothing. Bob woodward, thank you very much. And we will be right back. woman one year ago today mom started searching for her words. And my brother ray and i started searching for answers. vo when its time to navigate inhome care, follow that bright star. Because brightstar care earns the same accreditation as the best hospitals. And brightstar care means an rn will customize a plan that evolves with moms changing needs. woman because dad made us promise wed keep mom at home. vo call 8444brightstar for your free home Care Planning guide. If you have moderate to thsevere rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. Ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. Humira can help stop the clock. Prescribed for 15 years, humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Serious and sometimes fatal infections including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Help stop the clock on further irreversible joint damage. Talk to your rheumatologist. Right here. Right now. Humira. America is a sovereign nation and our First Priority is always the safety and security of our citizens. To the best of our knowledge, khashoggi is not a occupation citizen. We are not here to lecture. Its not our country. Its turkey and its not a citizen, as i understand it. We are not here to tell other people how to live. Saudi arabia and i get along great with all of them. Instead, we are here to offer partnership. They buy apartments from me. Based on shared interests and values. They spend 40 million, 50 million. To pursue a Better Future for all of us. Am i supposed to dislike them . I like them very much. President trump there with his take on americas values. Saudi arabias values and what he values. The apparent murder of a Washington Post journalist by agents of the saudi kingdom is bringing into focus the president s troubling financial entanglements, perhaps even his indifference to human rights or even humanity. Welcome to morning joe other on this friday, okay 12th, along with joe, womanly and me, we have Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and associate editor to the Washington Post Eugene Robinson, washington anchor for bbc world news america, catty kay and Public Diplomacy former secretary of state rick sting him. We will dig into the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi and President Trumps embrace of saudi arabia. Congress wants answers from the country. The president wants their money. Plus another 500 point drop in the Dow Jones Industrials is around the same as the gop tax bill was signed into law. Whats behind the drop and wheres the bottom . Meanwhile, it will take years for parts of florida the panhandle specifically to recover in the wake of michael. What we are hearing about the long road back and we bought the countdown clock running until next months midterms. 25 days and counting. Republicans are cutting key districts, abandoning vulnerable lawmakers in a bid to keep control of the house. Also, kanye west visits the west wing, putting on a performance for donald trump and even else Storm Tracker 2000 fareed those four hugely important stories that we just mentioned. The white house doesnt seem to mind one bit, so, gentleman, a lot to digeftd this morning. I will send it to you to frame the morning for us, perhaps hone in on that New York Times story on republicans cutting their losses in certain races for the midterms. What do you think . Well, they are. We have been seeing a couple of polls that have come out over the last few days in the aftermath of the kavanaugh hearings. That certainly gave a bump to republicans, at least this week. But theyre three weeks ago. Those will level out and i suspect change and well have competitive races in all of the key races, those ten, 11 races, we were polling for some time. But in the house, gop officials in washington, d. C. Are already considering the house in real danger. Theyre committing acts of triage. Theyre cutting some people off. Theyre going into other safer districts that they never thought theyd have to put mo inin to try to save congressmen and Congress Women that should be safe by now. And its the democrats who are now on the offensive going into states like North Carolina and other reliably red places and starting to try to pick up seats that nobody imagined they could have picked up even six months ago. And willie, of course, on the backdrop to all of this, is khashoggis story. It couldnt have come at a worse time. You have rand palm talking about cutting off funds and others being outspoken the news coming out, were not surprised at the end of the day donald trump is willing to trade u. S. Foreign policy and American Values for cold hard cash at his hotels and his resorts. We heard stories that other people have been abandoning some of trumps properties, but the saudis are still reliable customers, theres donald trump during the campaign saying i love him. They gave me 40 50 million. Its just like don jr. Back in 20092010 saying we love the russians, we get most of our money from them. For all the circus of kanye west in the oval office today, to me the most striking comment came from the president in the oval office when he talked about cash oak, is he an american citizen . He is an illegal resident, by the way. His defense for not wanting to act on this now anyway is that 110 billion arms deal. The president of the United States talking about a man who credibly has been accused of being abducted, murdered, dismembered, what am i going to do give up the 110 deal so russia can get the money, china gets the money . It all comes down to money with him. We are talking a Washington Post reporter a legal resident in the United States of america in virginia. Of course, the reports are, most people believe, mika, that he was lured to the embassy on a plot that the leader of saudi arabia knew about. Nbs. Then he was killed and dismembered and Donald Trumps response, hey, we get a lot of money from them. And he wasnt listening. So there are trumps values, not American Values. Those are Donald Trumps values. And one more thing for voters to think about as they go to the polls this fall. Saudi sheikhs, their cash and their oil, trumps American Values. There is the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. He walked into the Saudi Arabian consulate in turkey on october 2nd and hasnt been seen since. According to post, the turkish government has told u. S. Officials that it has audio and video recordings that prove khashoggi was interrogated, tortured, musherdered, and dismembered. They report that turkish officials are hesitant to release those recordings, due to the fears they could reveal how they spy on foreign entities. Nbc news has not been independently been able to confirm the reports. Saudi arabia claims he left soon after entering and denies a roam after his disappearance. As willie mentioned in an interview yesterday, President Trump expressed concern khashoggi may have been killed at a visit at the consulate but went on to praise u. S. Reejss with saudi arabia as quote relations with saudi arabia as quote excellent and any consequence of the disappearance of the u. S. Based journalist would not be economic. There are certainly other ways of handling the situation, but i will tell you up front right now and in front of senators, theyre spending 110 billion purchasing military equipment and other things. If we dont sell it to them, theyll say, well, thank you very much, well buy it from russia or thank you very much, well buy it from china. There are other things we can do. Lets find out what the problem is first. Okay. You mean sanctions . I oppose. I would not be in favor of stopping a country from spending 110 billion, with i is an all time record first i want to find out what happened. And were looking. Again, just to turkey and to the best of our knowledge, khashoggi is not a United States citizen, is that right . Or is that right . A permanent resident. All right. We dont look it, john. We dont leak it even a little bit. But as to whether or not we should stop 110 billion from being spent in this country, knowing they have four or five alternatives, two very good alternativetiv alternativetiv alternatives. That would not be acceptable to me. For what its worth the president notes the claim about saudi arabia making 110 billion in arms purchasing, which he has been making since the spring of 2017 is false. Post notes the items from 2017 had been previously announced by the Obama Administration and there appear to be few, if any, signed contracts, rather many of the announcements were memorandums of intent. A yearandahalf later they conclude the 110 billion figure is unreal and unlikely to come to fruition and even fp it did it represents sales far into the future. Joe. Another lie, of course. But were used to that. You know, gene robinson, were even used to donald trump selling out america and undermining americas values and selling out his soul and hiS Administrations soul for cold, hard cash. Here, hes talking its a smokescreen really where hes talking about. Its just like with Vladimir Putin. He defends Vladimir Putin and has since december of 2015 on this show. He did it because of the russians as done jr. Said, thats where they get don jr. Said thats where they get a lot of their money. Here its about money for donald trump, too. Hes willing to hock American Values. One of your colleagues to be chopped up and he said were not going to do anything about that. And this, sadly, its not shocking. Because this is who donald trump is to his core. That was a grotesque performance in the white house, yesterday and just explicitly claiming, oh, well, on the one hand, this awful, unspeakable thing happened and they did it on the other hand. And, gee, they give us a lot of money. What hes thinking is give me a lot of money. They spend a lot of money at his hotels. Hes looking towards the day when at some point hes no longer president and he certainly hopes to cash in to an even greater extent on this relationship. Something else ought to be mentioned in this whole thing which is Jared Kushner who has led the administration in establishing this very close, unquestioning relationship with Mohammed Bin Salman going all in on the saudis as our new best buddies in the middle east who have all the who have the right solutions to that intractable problem. Hes gone the administrations gotten nothing out of it. They were supposed to get all these bigger, better relationships with israel. They havent gotten that. They havent gotten any sort of peace dividend. Its an adventure hour in its not amateur hour. They werent looking for that in the first place. Well, are you right. Theyre looking no, theyre looking for funding for their projects. Whether exactly. Whether its Donald Trumps hotel. Whether its kushner properties. Whether its trump properties. We have said this from the beginning. I cant repeat this enough. Donald trump did not expect to be elected president. He is using his position to leverage it as much as he can to make as much cash. So, gene, thats why, its not amateur hour. They dont giveadamn about how much money america gets. They giveadamn about how much trump gets. How much the Kushner Family gets and the saudis, like the russians, great customers. And theyre getting that payoff. Theyre getting that payoff. Later for the country and later for human rights and unfortunately, what was done to Jamal Khashoggi is just, its just unbelievable. Its certainly can cast a paw over our offices and made me very sad. So the president s ties with saudi arabia extend well beyond the white house. Were going to look back at some of Donald Trumps big ticket financial deals in that part of the world. But first, here is bill karans with how florida is dealing with the aftermath of this weeks monstrous hurricane. Bill. Mika, we are trying to figure out what happened and whats been damaged and where people are. A lot of people are missing. In the last half hour, we got an update from virginia. Four additional fatalities from michael from flash flooding yesterday. That brings the death toll up to 11. When you see the pictures from mexico beach, florida, if anyone was in any of these structures when the storm went through that death toll will go higher in the days ahead. The community, parts of it just washed away. Many homes just, people will not be able to return to them remember theyll have to find somewhere else to live until they can either rebuild or head to somewhere else. Very sad, 1,200 people in the town where that happened. Michael is finally exiting. Fatalities in virginia, half a Million People without power from the storm in North Carolina. Now we still got heavy rain on i95. Behind it a cooler, drier air mass. Quickly we went from air conditioners to the heaters. Temperatures in the 40s in detroit today, same as pittsburgh. Highs cool in chicago the next lifethreatening weather situation likely taking place. North texas and oklahoma, especially saturday. A moderate risk for flash flooding. You have to watch that. On sunday, winter in colorado. Snowy and cold. Denver is expected twotofour inches of snow. Yeah, they have an nfl Football Game at home sunday an. You can najen wh imagine what t pictures will look like. The rain ended in new york city a couple hours ago. It has left its mark 48 hours after making landfall, it will be exiting southern new england this afternoon. You are watching morning joe. Well be right back. [narrator] its a difficult conversation, but an important one. How do you plan on taking care of your final expenses . A guaranteed whole Life Insurance policy from united of omaha Life Insurance company, a mutual of omaha company, will help. The expenses after someone dies, those that we incurred with my motherinlaw, it was expensive. [narrator] the united of omaha guaranteed whole life policy will provide your family with 2,000 to 25,000 in cash benefits to help cover funeral costs and other bills, starting at 21 cents a day. It would certainly make me feel better knowing that you dont have that additional pain to go through. jodi sniffling [narrator] acceptance is guaranteed for people aged 45 to 85. Coverage begins immediately, and most claims are paid within 24 hours. Dont go another day without coverage. Click or call for your free quote at the number on your screen. gentle, dramatic music we distributeus, im the owner environmentallyfriendly packaging for restaurants. And weve grown substantially. So i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. I earn unlimited 2 cash back on everything i buy. And last year, i earned 36,000 in cash back. Thats right, 36,000. Which i used to offer Health Insurance to my employees. My unlimited 2 cash back is more than just a perk, its our healthcare. Can i say it . Whats in your wallet . President trumps ties to saudi arabia go well beyond the oval office, with his businesses having connection to the country and with leaders there as far back as the 90s. According to Washington Post, trump and his companies conduct various deals with the saudi government and Business Executives over the years. The post says one example includes 1991 when trump was nearly 900 billion in debt from failed casino projects and sold his 281foot autoto blins talal for 20 million. Years later the prince bought a stake in trumps plaza hotel by agreeing to pay off debt on the company. Business from saudiconnected customers continue to be vital after trump won the presidency including saudi lobbyists who spent 200,000 last year to reserve rooms at trumps hotel in washington. The paper adds just this year, Trumps Hotels in new york and chicago have reported significant upticks in bookings from saudi visitors the president has not been shy about his affinity for saudi arabia, bragging at a 2015 rally about his businesses with that country. Sushi and i get along great with all of them. They buy 40 million, 50 million. Am i supposed to dislike them . I like them very much. A lot of cross currents on the relationship with saudi arabia, the arms sales the war in yemen. We havent talked about much yet. You have jared working on middle east peace and creating a kroez relationship. Bob corker said something yesterday that kind of got buried, hes picked up a sense of arrogance from saudi leaders in the way they deal with lawmakers as if to say, all we have to do is go to donald trump. By the way, let me just say first, really, is he the worst negotiator in history . He takes the biggest thing off the table before he even negotiates with the saudis which is the arms sales. Is that good negotiateing . If you are a good negotiator, you have to look at our arms sales and theyre the best arms dealer. No, trump takes it off the table. Hes a terrible negotiator. Secondly, as i think i mentioned, i met with Mohammed Bin Salman in riyadh at midnight for two hours in early 2016. Hes a very compelling figure. I understand why he and jared get along, theyre both princes. The saudis understand the soninlaw rises in american politics. That i can deal with that. But the problem is hes a very mixed back. Yes, as he told me in that meeting, im going to led people drive, let people go to the cine cinema, he is also doing this humanitarian disaster. He brought all of his princes to the ritz carlton and extorted money from them. He doesnt understand how to operate in the modern world. There is good and bad. More traditional American Administration would go, look, nbs. We like this. We dont like that. If you do more of this. You can have a better relationship with us. But with jared and trump, its completely an open door. If you are spending with us, you can do anything with impunity the fact that they are not outraged about an american president killed in a consulate is extraordinary, crosses the line. Why do you suspect he is playing dutch . We know they talked about abducting khashoggi. U. S. Intelligence knows if the saudi government was out to get this Washington Post columnist. What is he up to here . If thats the case, and presume it is, lets looking he is not wanting to have culpability. One of the first jobs is to protect american citizens and residents. He left everybody down the fact that they might have known this in advance and not warned the saudis, not called Mohammed Bin Salman. What itself the use of not having a personal relationship with someone and saying, hey, dude, you cant do this. This personal relationship is one sided. I mean, the saudis get whatever they want to get. All they have to do is flash a picture of donald trump up on a building when he comes to visit. Mbs is nice to Jared Kushner. They basically get 43 reign. There is a great way to fix that, isnt there . Defund the saudis. They got the checkbook. Donald trump cant tell e sell them weapons unless the Congress Says he can telesell them weapons. Again this is another test of leadership for a president who has time and time again aligned himself with leaders across the country who do not represent, do not care for the moral values america has long prompted from the world, from the phillipines to saudi arabia look at the type of people President Trump has embraced and id like to say im surprised by this, but given his history here, no, not at all. Coming up on morning joe, controlled congress will be decided in just over three weeks time. Thats an eternity in politics and Steve Kornacki gives us the lay of the land next on morning joe. I get it all the time. Have you lost weight . Of course i have ever since i started renting from national. Because national lets me lose the wait at the counter. And choose any car in the aisle. And i dont wait when i return, thanks to drop go. At national, i can lose the wait. And keep it off. Looking good, patrick. I know. vo go national. Go like a pro. To take care of yourself. 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Lets dig deeper into the New York Times reporting that we mentioned at the top of the show on House Republicans na narrowing their sights in hopes of keeping an even one seat majority and have begun to abandon gop candidates, including incumbents that have fallen behind substantially in ones races. A report says a memo from the congressional super pac fund circulated this week stating quote there are 20 races will be four points that will determine the House Majority and clf will keep working to do them. But the mast is daunting since republicans hold 60 or 70 seriously contested and democrats only need to flip 23 to win control. The times writes in a tactical retreat republican groups have withdrawn funding mainly in suburbs, where President Trump was unpopular, including representatives kevin odeer yoder and they have abandoned more than half a dozen seats, where republican lawmakers are not running for reelection. On wednesday they cut loose at the tucson arizona based seat of martha mechanical sally who left to run for senate. Joining us now, National Political reporter for axios, Jonathan Swan and National Political correspondent for nbc news and msnbc and author of the book the red and the blue, the 1990s and the birth of political tribalism. Steve kornacki, the rage is with us. So, joe, a lot of great guests to talk about whats going on with republicans. Here we are, less than a month out. A lot of cost currents in american politics and Steve Kornacki, it seems right now, i do mean right now because in a week, the polls are sure to change as we move further away from the kavanaugh hearings. Now it seems to be a tale of two elections. The republicans have taken the lead in places like tennessee and texas comfortably. Then have you the house races where you had ousz house members who didnt talk that much about kavanaugh in competitive districts because they were trying to win suburban voters over there. It seems like the gop is in retreat. How can you help us sort through these two different cross currents . Yeah, basically, what you are describing there are almost two different americas. You are talking senate terrain heavily tilted towards trump states, tennessee, texas. Trump won texas by nine points and those have become somewhat Battle Ground states on the senate side. On the house side, this is very interesting. You are talking about in particular when you get to these races where republicans are looking at their financial commitment. You are talking about the suburban, more densely populated close to major cities, types of districts. In a lot of cases districts that voted for Hillary Clinton. I was looking in the break here, just off the top of my head, i can run down a list of 12 seats like they are in best dire shape for republicans in the house. When you look at, democrats need a net gain of 23 to pick up the chamber if just you know in about two minutes of sitting here, looking at metro areas around the country, generally places where t did well in 16. I can get democrats more than halfway there in two minutes. Now, where it gets a little more complicated with the house, i think this is the key. This is what will end up deciding it. Its the more hybrid districts. That i have a suburban metro portion to them. They might have an exurban rural portion. Thats where it almost becomes a test of energy between the two sides. Its the one thing that republicans can hope for that kavanaugh somehow gave them energy in the trump portion of the district. Steve kornacki, thank you very much. Up next, we got another numbers guru for you. Joining us, nate cohn from the upshot of the New York Times. Hell answer the latest questions in nevadas Crucial Senate race. Morning joe is coming right back. Not long ago, ronda started here. And then, more jobs began to appear. These techs in a lab. This builder in a hardhat. The welders and electricians who do all of that. The diner staffed up cause they all needed lunch. Teachers. Doctors. Jobs grew a bunch. What started with one job spread all around. Because each job in energy creates many more in this town. Energy lives here. music throughout it looks as though it looks like rob porter and gary cohn were the sources, at least two of the sources for that book. How does that make you feel . I was very good to both of them. It could have been. A lot of people have said that, you know, gary cohn, i can tell stories about him like you wouldnt believe. Woi, donald trump yesterday with a threat against his former top check adviser gary cohn, cohn resign fareed the white house in march after clashing with the president over trade policy. Were back with casey hunt, Eugene Robinson and columnist for the daily beast market hal lo way and a nonpart san 501 c 4 dedicated to fighting Voter Suppression efforts and in new york domestic correspondent for the upshot at the New York Times nate cohn joins us, he covers elections, polling and demographics. Wow, market karlsson respond to that cohn threat. Some people it seems nikki haley got out totally unscathed. But most people, its not pretty. You know, trump is a little bit afraid of nikki haley. Yes. Definitely. The only woman hes a bit afraid of. Definitely very afraid of. When she said, im not confused. I think that made him even more fearful. I dont get confused. It shut that down. When she said when she was in her goodbye saying in the white house, she said, im going to be supporting this one and pointed at trump. Its like, bless your heart in the south. Shoes not supporting trump. It translates for the president. She dont like you, shes not going to support you. Shes really glad to be leaving. I hope we find out later that the timing was Christine Blasey ford and kavanaugh. That was a bridge too far for her. Yep, her timing was as good as it gets. Don, what do you think . You know, i think that there was this weird conspiracy their rer earlier in the week about this being Lindsey Graham going to the attorney general spot and ultimately Governor Haley being the new senator, maybe so. But i think the weirdest part of that with this speculation around d. C. For a couple of hours that ivanka would somehow be the new United Nations ambassador which i finds fundamentally odd. At this point in our history, there is nothing beyond what this program is doing. Let me help you out with. That he could do it. I promise you. Ivanka is planning no run for president f. You check her instagram. She always has american flacks around her. She goes to places like iowa, new hampshire, she seveneven do speeches at the podium with the president ial seal. People cant say she doesnt have aspirations. You can bring out that picture which youve shown many times of her tossing the baby in the air while the babies were being separated at the border. Thats a whole new level of foolishness. Willie. Up here in new york we have nate cohn, the guru from the New York Times. We were talking about your election dime that left checkpoint supporters in ptsd. They woke up in clear sweater moving in the direction they didnt want it to move. You have a live polling feature. What does that mean exactly . It means we are receiving and processing data in near real time. They come in respond ent by respondent. Theyre adjusted, methodologically. I think the Real Advantage of it is that it helps people understand polling better. After 2016 a lot of people were caught off guard they dont understand why the polls are wrong or that they work. We think this is probably about sort of educating the public on what goes on inside of them. Why they can be off and hopefully in front of the process. Refresh, refresh, refresh. Thats a look backedward too much. But we talked about the polk in 2016. Howd they get it so wrong, did they get it so wrong or were the margins right when you looked at the popular vote . I think i dont have all it looks good. You cant ask for too much more than. That i do think there was a particular challenge in the midwest in particular and White Working Class areas more generally where the poll tend across the board, obviously in our elect tractortrailer collet electoral or whether because undecided voters. Those are all in play. But i do think its fair to say there was a particular challenge that the polls didnt get quite right. So lets talk about some of the races where specifically you will be polling in a couple of weeks with this new live polling. Where will you be watching to see the trend of the night . We talked about on the senate side, places like nevada and tennessee and texas appears to be widening out a bill lit in ted cruz favor. What will you be watching . On the senate side im looking for a sign the races will go back to where it was a month ago. A lot of the red states are turning away from the democrats. They sort of have to win at least one of north dakota, texas or tennessee to sake i take the senate. Thats supposed if they win all these states where they are in trouble like missouri or nevada. And right now all of the three states i mentioned tennessee, texas and north dakota feel they are trending towards the democrats particularly since the kavanaugh hearing. In the house the democrats have already teaken. So the republicans need to they can the table in a long list of tossup neighborhoods a mix of suburban and rural areas. And the question to me is, are the democrats going to actually break through and win in those seats . Theyre really competitive in these races. They have a ton of candidates, they future a lot of districts into play. They dont need too many of them. They havent won any of them. Back in 2016 the polls were wrong. We knew what they said. They show clinton ahead in pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan. Anybody could look at them. Right now i cannot tell you that about this districts that clinton needs or rather that the democrats need. It means we dont have the data to say that. A reminder the democrats need 23 seats to flip the house. Gene robinson has a question. Gene. My question really is. I cant hear you. Go ahead, ill pass on the question. Nate is having trouble hearing you. Okay. Well, my question is really this election cycle you got the noise and whats really going on, so id like to hear from nate and from don cal lo way about Voter Suppression efforts and whats, weve had some very disturbing reports about voter purges going on in a couple of states that could really impact the results. First nate and then to don, i guess. I think Voter Suppression is the sort of thing that can decide sort of close raceles. I think its not the sort of thing that moves results by three or two points. You know, i remember in the Alabama Senate race last december, there was a lot of concern that Voter Suppression was going to cost the democrats that race. You know, in the end, rye moore was defeated. Dug jones became senator with historic black turnout. Thats not to say particularly in the most diverse areas i think if the election comes down to that, that would be a really troubling site for democrats, given the sheer number of seats theyve put in play. I want to emphasize, there is a distinction between whether Voter Suppression is good from our voter democracy. Everybody has a chance to vote. Whether or not they have an idea or not in terms that its easy to detect. Thats a different question for me. So thats a good point. So lets talk about where it actually will affect an outcome, potentially in georgia. Were doing everything to make sure that doesnt happen. First of all, brian kemp should have resigned from being secretary of state. Have you an inherent chief election officer of a state while residing over your own election for governor per se. Secondly, hes done this before. In 20 sfreevenlt he attempted to move 40,000 register voters from rolls and stacy abrams beat him last then. Certainly a compelling state interest in restricting the vote will defeat this exact match standard that hes proposed radio it now in which 53,000 georgia voters, 37,000, 70 of them being africanamericans are potentially purge fareed georgia rolls. So its a real problem. Its obviously very intense,al because of this historic turnout. The best way to beat georgia suppression is to come out and vote. Georgia has a record 6 Million People registered to vote this november. We got to get them all to make sure they are looking at the rolls. Again run by brian kevin. They have to make sure they on the rolls and get everybody to come out. That itself the way to beat Voter Suppression. Unfortunately it is very real and prescient particularly on leadership sometime. Twa are the values with the i. D. Laws and with newly administered kavanaugh, state i. D. Law. Is your group looking at that at all . Absolutely the main thing we are trying to do is fund actual yoke Election Protectionests so we can run through the tapes. Fund people, to fund rides to thele pos. Ran do. County, georgia, closed polling places, predominantly in averageen american pre sipths. What if big mamas or aunt . Ies dont have it to fund the counties. We are funding georgia and self other states this cycle. The legal challenges are different. Have you people like the lawyers for civil rights. We expect them to be successful, because there is no way secretary of state kim can meet this exact match this pernicious standard hes put into place. You have the naacp defend fund doing wonderful work. Coalition of lawyers just one a case to make the missouri voter i. D. Law, effectively nullifying my home state of missouri. Thats good news were funding people get after the actual per se road blocks between you and the ballot boxes on election day. Its a battle on all fronts, people who support Voter Suppression. You got People Like Us fundingests for Election Protection and you got the legal side as well. Your latest piece is entitled taylor, kanye and you write when the big political news of the week involves taylor swift and kanye west, were in serious trouble. Im trying to shake it off, but i cant. I dont mean to sound heartless, but we shouldnt have to pay the slightest attention to what these pop music megastars and President Trump. We Pay Attention to our economics is complete. Heaven help us. We can only help that doesnt ma, the end game and in the age of social media and walltowall cable news fame matters in 2016, trumps fame overcame such trifles as his ignorance, lack of experience and glaring unfitness for office. We are better off when celebrities model civic engagement. We are lost, however, if we take them seriously and i mean, jean and then margaret. I think everybody is a part of this to anic tent. Yeah. Were all guilty in our way. I didnt know how else to deal with you know taylor swift and kanye west except to make fun of the whole thing and to try to put it in some perspective, these are entertainers. Theyre geniuses. They have self promotion. They draw attention to that. Margaret and casey, this is the question. I think you can have a basic answer for. This everyone does. What the heck happened in the oval office with kanye west yesterday in. Its unfathomable that he was there. What happened . I know. I know. And the hat. You just watch it. You cannot parce it. Weve come down to swift v. West in this election. Her with her 112 million as you point out followers, versus west. And that, remember equal time laws under broadcasting. It seems to me that yesterday if we had to put the mexico beach florida devastation on half the screen and kanye west and donald trump on the other, it would tell you everything you need kne fallen. Exactly. I mean, gene, you know, your colleagues on the news side have a straight news story about this very topic, arguing that democrats are currently grappling with, if they want to run against donald trump in 2020 and beat him, what do they need . Well, maybe oprah is the only person that actually had only oprah can save us. Maybe the celebritys actually somebody we suddenly need, or the democrats need if they have hope of taking on trump. Kanye was going on and on and on. The only other time i saw trump looking like that was when sarah palin was introducing him back during the campaign and he wouldnt stop talking and he was, like, i dont know how to make her stop talking. Thank you so much to you both. Up next, if youve been to a pharmacy lately, youve probably seen signing encouraging flu shots and theres a good reason why. Last flu season was the deadliest in 40 years. Weve got two mds standing by with their doctors orders. And willie had to run over to the today show but we wanted to mention his interview this weekend on sunday today with the dude himself, jeff bridges. Oh, my gosh. Thats on sunday today with willie geist. And morning joe is coming right back. If you have psoriasis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not a cream. Its a pill that treats moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis differently. With otezla,75 clearer skin is achievable. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. The centers for Disease Control says roughly 80,000 people, 80,000 people, died from the flu and flurelated complications last year, the deadliest since 1976. Of that total, at least 181 children lost their lives from the disease. The cdc says that roughly 80 of those deaths occurred in children who had not been vaccinated. Joining us now, leading spine surgeon and founder of the Online Health newsletter thrive, dr. Dave campbell. And nbc news contributor dr. Natalie azar. Who should be immunized against the flu and why . Mika, good morning. Everybody thats six months old or older needs to be immunized this year and we need to look back to last year to understand why. Children are at great risk and of that 80 that were not immunized, many of those children were uninsured. There are plenty of free programs through the federal government, including medicaid and uninsured children who can access flu immunizations. We encourage everyone, 6 months and older, to be immunized. Natalie, looking at the numbers of children, especially last year, what happened . Could that have been prevented if they got flu shots . Well, look, i mean, unfortunately, as we know very well, the flu shot does not offer 100 protection. In a good year, its 40 to 60 . The problem is the manufacturing of the flu vaccine is a very imperfect process. The virus mutates during the machi manufacturing process and mutates again while its circulating. We cant always predict. The statistics are a little striking. That 80 of the children who died were not vaccinated but roughly half of those who also died were healthy. Thats a completely different conversation as to why that can happen. Its safe to say the flu shot does prevent the flu in a certain percentage of people. Were hoping for 40 to 60 effectiveness. But we also know it can decrease the severity of the illness and particularly prevent hospitalization from pneumonia which can be deadly. Okay so question for both of you. Dr. Dave, starting first, as to why were focusing on this, why were doing this segment. Put these numbers, these deaths that we saw last year, into context for us historically. What are we edging towards here . Theres a few things to consider. First, its the 100 Year Anniversary of the spanish flu. 1918. 500,000 americans died. Perhaps 100 million worldwide. That was during world war i. Far less people died in that war than of the flu. Then we go up to 2009, when we had another pandemic, again with the h1n1 virus, which was devastating worldwide. Here we are with the worst year yet in the last 40 years last year in the United States. So we all have to Pay Attention to the reality that these flus are rather unpredictable. And like dr. Azar said, they change throughout the flu season also. So we dont really know if this is going to be a good flu season or a bad one like last year. We should all prepare. And we should prepare those that we love, those that were around and we should use simple preventive measures also. Hand washing. Staying home if youre sick. Right. Dr. Azar, add to that the historical conquest. But also the flu shot may not be a sure thing but it can do a lot, right . I think to dr. Campbells point, you might want to think of it as a civic responsibility. A lot of Young Healthy people say ive never had the flu shot. Ive never had the flu. Theres no reason for me to get it. If you think about it more broadly, you prevent one less case of flu in a healthy person could lessen the transmission to people who are vulnerable. Certainly children under the age of 6 months. And a particularly Vulnerable Group is women who are pregnant. We just had a study out yesterday that shows the flu shot prevents hospitalization in 40 . Doctors, thank you both for being on the show this morning. Its time now for final thoughts. Did you both get your flu shot, gene . Im going to get mine today. I was supposed to get mine yesterday final thoughts, kacie hunt. My main question is what were we not paying attention to yesterday while we were all watching kanye west in the oval office because it does seem the president is a master of distraction and there are a whole lot of stories he doesnt want us to be covering. What we were watching was a president who doesnt care about the things that really are pressing in this country when he does Something Like that. Right, and im still focused on what seems to have happened to khashoggi, contributor to the Washington Post who seemed to have been murdered by saudi agents in turkey. Gruesome. And the administration is doing nothing. And along with the Washington Post and some major company, we will be following that every day. That does it for us this morning. Stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. Thanks, mika. Hi there, im stephanie ruhle. This morning, were starting with the trail of destruction. Search and rescue combing through the areas hit by Hurricane Michael. Disturbing new pictures of the devastation across the Florida Panhandle. Its devastating. I have nothing left except my two dogs. Thats it. A bombshell resignation