Transcripts For MSNBCW The Beat With Ari Melber 20190903

The gun safety battles including heat on mitch mcconnell. Neal katyal is here later. But our top story tonight is this new intensity in congressional opposition to trump, including developments in a probe that some democrats say could actually change the future of the trump presidency. Democrats in congress are now preparing for what will be their last major legislative session before all eyes turn, of course, to the 2020 race next year. And now i can tell you theyre outlining a new way they want to check President Trump. Now, the context here is something you know about, its something you know from your calendar. Summer is over. When democrats left for this summer recess, the members in their caucus calling for impeachment were in the minority. And now, they are the majority of the democratic caucus, which may explain why Congressional Democrats are pushing these newly aggressive probes into some admittedly familiar topics. Investigative hearings on hush money payments that donald trump made in 2016. Now, lets break it down as we try to do around here, really clearly. The knowledge of those payments, thats not new. The knowledge they were illegal, that isnt new either. Michael cohen famously went to jail for that months ago. Whats new is democrats saying they could actually reach an indictable crime by the president treating trump as a coconspirator. So what is new about that . Well, basically, the aggressiveness, by at least some House Democrats to zero in on what they call their criminal and what is in their view, impeachable acts, which can be publicly pinned on donald trump. Now, how do you pin something on trump when he has been obviously stonewalling so many of these probes . The news tonight here is democrats saying some of these crimes are effective lip different for any impeachmentstyle probe, because they involve evidence from before donald trump became president. That means no executive privilege claims can hide the underlying evidence or testimony to again, as im saying, pin this on the president. Democrats say these new hearings could come as soon as october. House judiciary chair nadler already saying theyve started formal impeachment proceedings. And this is the framework that Speaker Pelosi will have to address, will have to basically contend with as she returns to washington. With some constituents who have been demanding she and her party go further. I need you to lead for my Community Support an impeachment inquiry, one that is already going on. Its happening. Reporter with the Lifetime Achievement Award Ceremony is quickly interrupted with People Holding impeach now signs. Impeach now impeach now and i think we owe it to every american to find out what happened and make a judgment at the time. But it is an extremely high bar. It is now 134 democrats, as i mentioned, the majority of the caucus, that are onboard and want to get back to the impeachment business when Congress Comes back into session. Im joined now by joyce vance and dunkin lavin, and nancy erica smith, a leading civil rights lawyer, who represented a fox News Reporter who wanted to be released from an nda to report on this same story regarding the hush payments by donald trump to Stormy Daniels. Joyce, do you see anything new coming here in this strategy . I dont think it will be new, ari, but i think it might be fresh. The real question is who will hold this president who has been notoriously tough, accountable. It may be too little, too late. Thats what a lot of people think about this strategy. But by circumventing the white houses constant fullcourt press against subpoenas, by going back to preelection activity, where they can subpoena witnesses and acquire documents, the democrats may come up with a narrative that the American People will finally get to see in full and may find compelling. And duncan, sas you know, ths is a legalistic thing, but its not strictly legal, because were talking about Congress Acting in its capacity under the constitution to do what amounts to the indictment of a president when they decide to impeach, if they ever do. And this is something Speaker Pelosi has obviously, as i have mentioned, she is the key Decision Maker on that piece of it. For context, this is how she sounded before this week, before things hit the majority caucus, as were calling it. Take a look. Reporte if a majority of a caucus wants to go forward wan impeachment inquiry, would you go for it . Its not even close in our caucus. But eventually you know what, why are we speculating on hypotheticals . Duncan, hypothetical season is over. She does have this whether its wind at her back or pressure coming at her depending on how you put it, how does that affect, in your view, the balancing of whatever evidence democrats have if they want to go forward . Well, look, in addition to the political aspects of it, there are some legal aspects of it. And there is one new thing coming out of this, which is something that we wouldnt really know if the Associated Press and other press outlets wouldnt have gone ahead and get the unredistracted search warrants from the Michael Cohen search warrant. What we know now, what the cause of the Associated Press did is the Southern District of new york is not going to go forward with an investigation into anymore Campaign Finance violations. And the reason that thats significant is that we know other people were involved. Michael cohen did not act alone. In fact, the indictment itself charges a conspiracy. We know if we can put that together with Michael Cohens congressional testimony, that individual one, who is named in the indictment, is the president paymentsited states. That were routed through the Trump Organization were recharacterized as legal payments when in fact there was no retainer, there were no legal services. We know that these things happened and we know that other people were involved. And yet the Southern District of new york just dropped the inquiry in the middle of the night, in the dark. In fact, wasnt going to say a word to anybody until the Associated Press moved forward with its lawsuit for the search warrant. And so as a result of that, this has come to light. And frankly, the department of justice does not owe any answers to us about why they want to not charge somebody. But in cases where, of great significance, the department of justice has actually explained its decisions and why it doesnt want to charge people. Obviously, most famously, jim comey announcing why they werent going to charge Hillary Clinton with the email scandal, but in addition to that, more recently, the u. S. Attorney in Brooklyn Made an announcement about not charging daniel pantaleo, whos the officer who put eric garner in a choke hold. June kim, who was the acting District Attorney in the Southern District of new york, making an announcement in 2017 about not charging bill de blasio for Campaign Finance violations. So we know that in certain cases the department of justice will actually make an announcement about why they dont charge people. There hardly could be a case of more National Significance than this case, so there are honestly, i think a lot of people who are following the case closely are just left scratching their heads. And then theres a question about whether other people can fill that void. So the manhattan district let me bring in nancy whos shaking her head. Go ahead. I just think that its really important to fill in the void. Did the attorney, whos obviously very enamored with trump interfere with that investigation. And do the American People have a right to know the whole story . We know some of the evidence they have, because my client was subpoenaed and we turned over a lot of evidence about what trump knew, what about paying off a porn star, days before the election, in order to affect the election and i think its important that some of the people who had been subpoenaed to this hearing in front of congress are pecker, dylan howard, people who know about what they knew and what they were willing to pay off. Is this an Illegal Campaign contribution . The entire Fox News Organization is an illegal Trump Campaign contribution, in my view. But they chose to kill the story, days before the election. Thats going to come out in these hearings, and the American People should know that. Fox viewers should know that. Its really important right now for the truth to finally be told. Trump has lied about this so many times, and so frequently, that we cant just say, oh, well, he lies about everything, why should we talk about this, we should talk about it all. Every aspect of it needs to be brought to the American Public. Nancy, i will say in all seriousness, in fairness to fox news, they have a lot of opinion that may look like endorsing trump, but they have every right under the First Amendment to go forward and share that. I dont think that legally is a campaign contribution. I think youre speaking, though, to the narrower point of whether there were deals made that were explicitly benefitting the campaign, which is different. To give you a chance to follow up on that, any response you have to that, and then also were curious, will we hear from your client through this hearing, as well . Well, my client has briefed the committee. So i dont know whether shes going to be asked to appear yet or not. If an Organization Presents itself as a News Organization and then makes a decision not to run clearly Important News days before the election about the president , not only paying off a porn star to keep her quiet, but lying about it to the American People through the press, that to me is an Illegal Campaign contribution. Killing that story days before an election in order to mislead the American Public in favor of a candidate and my client will testify what was said to her about murdochs preferences when she was told that her story was being killed. And to this day, fox is telling us that she didnt have the story. Hopefully now the American Public will see what she had. Well, and thats very interesting. Joyce, i want to double this back to congress. A lot of people at home are watching saying, okay, weve heard about some of these problems. Why is this what congress and the democrats are coming back to here when they come back from recess, as the impeachment caucus grows . And part of it is the strange saga of Michael Cohen. And i really wonder what you think, now that weve taken it all in, it would be hard for people to understand at the beginning of this or if you saw this as a movie, how much ended up landing on mr. Cohens shoulders, including one of the longer sentences affiliated with the mueller probe. Of course, it was handed off to new york. When he basically, apparently, did a lot of what was asked of him, first to help trump, some of which he later confessed to illegally, and what was asked of him by the congress. For context, we put together for your analysis, joyce, what donald trump said. He basically said, to use a common phrase, you better ask somebody, you better ask Michael Cohen, and ultimately the congress did. Here was that condensed story. Did you know about the 130,000 payments to Stormy Daniels . No. Then why did Michael Cohen make it if there was no truth to the allegations. You would have to ask Michael Cohen. He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had had an affair. He was concerned with the effect that it had had on the campaign. He knew about everything. Joyce, what would you say to critics of this tragedy on the democratic side that after everything thats happened and many, many months after Michael Cohen did give his inperson testimony, theyre circling back to this stuff . Well, to be fair, Michael Cohen is a convicted felon. Convicted in part because of untruthful conduct. So no prosecutor and no Congressional Committee would rely solely on his testimony, to move forward. But that said, ari, its important to remember that federal prosecutors stood up in the courthouse in manhattan and essentially charged the president of the United States with being an unnamed, an unindicted coconspirator in Michael Cohens conduct. And we have still not heard that full story. What was the evidence that was based on, in fullness, what were they thinking about, and who else was involved . We know that there were members of the Trump Organization, at least one, who became cooperators for the government. We dont know the extent of that cooperation of what resulted from it. So i think for critics, who are talking about what is a political argument, that this comes to, or maybe a substance argument that its all been gone over in the past, there is still, as i started out by saying, Fresh Information that can be obtained here. The real question is whether congress will be able to obtain it when trump has successfully thrown up road blocks in so many areas. If they succeed, this could be compelling evidence of the president s criminality and the real question will be does the American Public care or is it all baked in at this point. Right. Is it overly baked in . And you lay it out there as you often do so clearly for us. A reminder that while donald trump has certainly been caught lying about and doing many, many obviously suspicious things, this is the one case, in one part of the country where the feds actually said, heres the evidence hes connected to a crime. That does make this case different than others. Well be watching. Joyce vance, duncan eleven, and nancy erica smith, thanks to each of you. We have a lot more in tonights show. Mike pence taking a foreign trip to trumps gulf club at your expense. And walmart taking a stance on gun violence. And how donald trump got fact checked on Hurricane Dorian by his own administration while he was golfing. And later, an update from bill karins with more about where this storm is headed. Im ari melber and youre watching the beat on msnbc. I watching the beat on msnbc creating the future. So, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. The United States Postal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. And now for their servicees to the community, we present limu emu doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] its an honor to tell you that Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. And now we need to get back to work. [ applause and band playing ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Now, theres skyrizi. I have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. 3 out of 4 people achieved. 90 clearer skin at 4 months. After just 2 doses. Skyrizi may increase your risk of infections. And lower your ability to fight them. Before treatment your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection. 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Treasury and put them in trumps pockets looks especially desperate tonight, because the golf club in question is a whopping 180 miles away from pences government meetings, which is a bit like getting a hotel in boston to go to a government meeting in new york. And all of this comes after trump lobbied for the g7 summit to use his struggling doral resort in florida for its next meeting. This is not normal. Its also not what donald trump promised in his, do you remember this, very First Press Conference as president elect when he claimed he would be handsoff management and his sons would take his businesses and run them professionally. My two sons, who are right here, don and eric, are going to be running the company. They are going to be running it in a very professional manner. Theyre not going to discuss it with me. These papers are just some of the many documents that ive signed turning over complete and total control. Now, tonight, the blowback on Donald Trumps latest efforts to subsidize his own companies is actually Strong Enough that Vice President mike pence is out on defense. The opportunity to stay at Trump National in doonbeg to accommodate the unique footprint that comes with our security detail and other personnel made it logical. That unique footprint, as were reporting to you tonight, includes 180 miles of footprint, and thats why this is obviously illogical, even kind of embarrassingly so. Pence doesnt have any better arguments, and hes not alone in what hes up to. Have you heard about this yet . Attorney general barr now plowing 30,000 into a lavish Holiday Party at Donald Trumps d. C. Hotel . And the career official who actually ran the Ethics Department during the Trump Administration earlier last year says all of this is sending signals that barrs loyalty is to trump and not to the country. We turn now to an ethics guru you may recognize, the one and only richard painter, former chief white house ethics attorney under the Republican Administration of george w. Bush. First of all, nice to have you back, sir. Thank you very much. Im thrilled to be back with you. Yes, sir. This is not normal. The arguments that mr. Pence is making dont pass any kind of test, as we just showed. And the things that mr. Barr is doing, while not, again, technically illegal, do appear to be basically blinking red ethics violations. How does this compare to anything you saw in your tenure in government and what should be done about it . Its outrageous and i think its illegal. I think the whole thing the illegal. Lets start with the Vice President s stay. The United States taxpayer is paying for that. The federal government is going to make a big outlay in order to promote the trump hotel. Trump will make money when secret Service Agents stay there. Also, the promotion bag. Our money is being used to promote his hotel. This is a violation of the domestic emoluments clause, which caps the president s compensation for his services at his compensations set by congress. He is not entitled to milk the taxpayer right, left, and center. And thats what hes doing here. This is illegal as well as immoral and illogical. Take a look at attorney general barr, hes well get to barr yeah . Ive got a slight tape delay, my fault. But i want to get to barr. Let me play for you a little more from what i do think a is an important test, which is that donald trump isnt only failing the ethics test, hes pofobviou failing the promises he made in his very First Press Conference as president elect when he had his money on his mind. Take a look. I could actually run my business. I could actually run my business and run government at the same time. I dont like the way that looks, but i would be able to do that, if i wanted to. I would be the only one that would be able to do that. You cant do that any other capacity. But as a president , i could run the Trump Organization, great, great company, and i could run the country. I would do a very good job, but i dont want to do that. Richard, your response to that, by todays facts . And what you wanted to get in about mr. Barr. Well, thats exactly what hes doing. Hes running the Trump Organization. Hes trying to make the Trump Organization richer and hes using his official position as president of the United States to do that. And he is enriching himself in violation of the constitution, which restricts his compensation. He has no right to do that with our money. Attorney general barr is using his own money, so its not a taxpayer issue, but theres a gift rule. Youre not allowed to give a gift to your superior in the government worth more than 10. You cant take your boss out to lunch unless the lunch costs less than ten bucks. Attorney general barr is going to spend 30,000 at trump hotel, having his socalled Holiday Party, where he invites his rich friends to schmooze people in the Trump Administration or whatever there is. Thats a 30,000 outlay and you can bet the profits on that are a lot more than 10 bucks. Thats going right in the back pocket of donald trump and thats a violation of the gift rules. And the attorney general of the United States is the highest ranking Law Enforcement officer in the United States. He should be ashamed of himself. He should resign for having even suggested that and donald trump shouldnt take the gift. Tough worse on some issues that are really out here wide open. I mean, brazenly wide open. Richard painter, always appreciate your perspective on the program, sir. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Well have you back. We have a lot more in this show, as i was mentioning when we came on the air tonight, including neal katyal coming up. But as promised, we have a brief update on the story that has of course consumed so many, this destruction wrought by Hurricane Dorian. New aerial footage youre looking at the abaco islands in the bahamas showing all of the problems, the water canvassing the entire island. The storm hovered over the island for several days. This is a category 2 at this point, mering the southeastern coast of florida. Before we move on to other topics in the show, as promised, an update from meteorologist bill karins with nbc news. Bill . Were watching the storm closely. Its still right on, about 80 miles off the east coast of florida. The heaviest bands are now rotating closer to the coast. And this will be the peak of the storm from areas of Volusia County southwards, palm bay, ft. Pierce and jupiter. Windy conditions, almost like a Tropical Storm is right on top of you, even though the hurricane is off the coast. As far as the wind speeds go, were at 110 miles per hour. Its a category 2, but if it goes up a tiny bit more, it would be a category 3. The perspective that it was at one time 185 makes it seem that much weaker. But this could do a lot of l damage if it was to move onshore up here in the carolinas. And that is the potential. And thats the next question. Hurricane center as it off the coast safely of georgia and off of florida. But that cone of uncertainty still includes charleston, georgetown, myrtle beach, wilmington, the Wrightsville Beach area, emerald isle, and then heading offshore as we go throughout the day on friday. And one of the things that well be watching, too, is how close does it get to areas like nova scot scotia, and we still have nantucket close to the storm, but that forecast has actually improved. And one of the things we watch is our computer model, one of the more accurate ones is our european computer model. In the new update out this afternoon, theres the heavy rain on the florida coast throughout the day tomorrow. Watch the center. Heres savannah and heres charleston. It gets up to this point as we get through wednesday night and thursday morning. Were like, wow, this is getting close to the coast. We need it to take that turn, it does. But its very close to areas around georgetown, myrtle beach, the grand stand and then it almost goes over the top of Wrightsville Beach and just off the coast here of hatteras. So ari, were not done with this storm just because its quote unquote weaker. Its still almost a major hurricane and everyone in north carolina, eastern portions of the state and south carolina, especially georgetown and myrtle beach, you need to be prepared. You could have a direct impact of a category 2 hurricane. And thats nothing to sneeze at. That would mean Power Outages for a week or two in some cases, flooding problems, storm surge, too. Were not done with this just because were in a little bit of a lull. Understood and words to live by, especially for those to becomes down in florida. Thank you, bill. There is, meanwhile, pressure on congress to act on gun safety measures. Neal katyal is back for opening arguments when were back in just 30 seconds. Ing arguments when were back in just 30 seconds. Very time. Our 18 year old was in an accident. Usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. All i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. If i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. Were the gomez family. Were the rivera family. Were the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. Get your Auto Insurance quote today. Lets start with a question. How do you know when any gun control pressure out there is working if the United States Senate Blocks most of the attempts to get congress to act . Well, tonight, heres a new sign of some shift. The largest retailer in the United States, walmart, pulling back on some gun sales and halting ammunition sales for assaultstyle rifles and handguns. And this store popular across the south and midwest is also drawing a line by banning its own customers from opening carrying when they shop inside walmart. The decision comes in the wake of two deadly shootings at Walmart Stores last month, including the shooting at the el paso store, which was one of the deadliest Mass Shootings in american history. This weekend, there was another shooting rampage, this time in west texas with seven people killed. All together, 53 people have died in just Mass Shootings in the United States in august alone. Walmarts decision is not only coming from the top, either. But after what we know from a lot of activism, including internal pressure from employees. My next guest works for walmart and last month he sent a petition to the companys ceo asking for a halt to all of those gun sales. He eventually got over 140,000 virgt signatures. Thomas marshall joins us now. Hi. Very happy to have you. Youve obviously been part of a wide group, a coordinated group thats had impact. What made you do this . What did you learn from it . What do you want to do next . Definitely. Especially after the recent tragedies in el paso and south haven, we as employees felt that we would no longer be willingly complicit in a company that was continuing to make profits off of firearms. So we really kind of got together in the office and decided to take a stand. And we are incredibly grateful and impressed at the direction that walmart is now going. We were very hopeful, but, you know, obviously, this is something that is difficult to change in this country. And we are really hoping that this sort of sets a paradigm and a precedent, really, to help curb this horrible trend of Mass Shootings and violence in this country. When you first started on this path, were you worried about your own job . Definitely. And we did face a little bit of retaliation. However, down the line, we really think that this renewed our faith in the company in a way. Hopefully well see continued change and continued advocacy, but were very much impressed by the direction that were currently going. Initially, we were very much i was completely willing to put my job on the line and most of us who were protesting were. There was a lot of pressure coming from on high not to speak out. But were incredibly glad that we did. And i feel very, you know, proud of having been able to speak out, as well. And finally, im wondering about this in the backdrop of debates that can be so black and white in america, especially with the role of corporations. We think about how theyre addressed on the campaign trail. What was important to you about not just doing local political or civic activism, but trying to get a company to weigh in. Obviously, walmart, what they do or dont do matters. Yes, and walmart is one of the largest retailers in the world and one of the largest firearms retailers in america. So were really hoping to take a stand within our sphere of influence. You know, as employees of this company, walmart is very receptive to the voice of every employee. And thats something that goes back to its founding with sam walton. So we were very much hopeful that they would take our opinions into consideration and really hear us out and were very glad that they did. The next step is, this is an ongoing problem in this country. Theres legislative action that can be done. But really, in our sphere of influence with the result, that is something that hasnt entered this national conversation, that people have to buy these weapons and ammunition from somewhere. Even as recently as the mass shooting in florida in the nightclub that killed 60 people, those bullets were bought at a walmart and now we no longer sell those bullets as of this morning. There are a lot Greater Cultural things that need to change in this country as well to hopefully curb this really horrible stem of violence and hatred. Thomas marshall, you have been working on this shall. I thi i think its a story thats going to affeinterest a lot of people. Thank you for coming on the b e beat. Now i want to turn to the depth of this on the legal side with friend of ours on this show. You may have noticed in this gun debate that when you ever talk about gun control, you have a lot of people talking about protecting the Second Amendment. Thats almost a backdrop, even when people want some change to the laws. Look, its very simple. There is nobody more proSecond Amendment than donald trump. I want to say it again. This is not in any way a violation of the Second Amendment. I believe in the Second Amendment. I dont want to take guns away from lawabidie ining citizens. No ones going to take my guns away. Im going to protect the Second Amendment. You may have noticed several democrats in that collection of policymaker reaction. So what does the Second Amendment mean within the gun control debate . Legally and factually, as promised, we turn to a friend and a constitutional expert, neal katyal, whos argued dozens of cases before the supreme court. And lets start with the english, sir. What is the Second Amendment. What does it prevent in this area . And what are people get wrong about it . Thank you, ari. The reason i wanted to talk about this after the horrific shootings in el paso and other places is that the Second Amendment is being used as this bogeyman. Obviously, its been around since the bill of rights, but a the language talks about a wellregulated militia, and really throughout 2008, the Second Amendment has been about the rights of states to form their own militias, not about the rights of individuals like you and me to hold a handgun. But in 2008, Justice Scalia says the Second Amendment gives an individual like you and me a right, but even Justice Scalia said, its a very limited right. The government can regular utili regulate it. So Justice Scalias amendment says you can have background checks and prevent the mentally ill from getting guns and felons from getting guns and domestic abusers from getting guns. All sorts of things like that. And also, he said, the type of guns can be restricted. So he said that the Second Amendment was about the guns that were in common use at the time. Thats his language. Common use at the time. What was in common use at the time . Things like muskets and the like in the hospit not grenade launchers and assault weapons and highcapacity cartridges and all the stuff that is creating murder and mayhem today. Thats the substantiative piece. Now i want to ask you about the rhetorical strategic piece, which you are quite an expert at. This is the opening arguments session. And while youre not an adviser, necessarily, to any particular gun control advocate, i wonder what you think in the public realm of the frequency with which gun control and gun safety advocates, democrats who have been more critical on this, revert to referencing the Second Amendment. Because do you think at a certain point, it almost reinforces the misperception that a lot of these are Second Amendment issues, when certainly when it comes to limiting, say, grenade launchers or weapons of war, as you say, theres not a lot of case law to suggest the Second Amendment is even relevant. Well, i actually like what the democrats are doing in the clips you showed, because theyre saying, look, i believe in the Second Amendment. I believe an individual can have a right to a gun, but that doesnt mean a gun that can produce mass murder and mayhem and it doesnt mean any individual. Someone whos mentally ill or Something Like that shouldnt have a gun nor should someone whos underage. And so there are any number of reasonable restrictions that can be imposed, totally consistent with the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment is being used as a bobogeyman to stop sensible gun reform. And the results are in the streets and theyre devastating and sad and this country has to do something about it. And im sick and tired of republicans hiding behind the Second Amendment. Well, you lay it out that way. And its something that we sadly deal with so much in the newsroom and americans deal sadly so much in their communities, in their stores, in their schools, in their churches, basically everywhere. So there is this slow accrual of what are we going to do about it, if people want to do something about it. So appreciate your primer on that. Before i lose you, i did want to ask you about another story that hasnt gotten as much attention, but a harvard student who said he was basically denied entry to the United States is now getting to campus. This is a palestinian student who basically says that he was questioned for hours at the boston airport last week, a border agent searching his phone and laptop, and the student now has told harvards newspaper which has given some life to the story, which after five hours they were called into a room and there was screaming. She said she found people posting political points of views that oppose the u. S. On this incoming students friends list, and there was basically an officers effort to cancel, initially, the students visa. This is one of those stories that goes to the way we live immigration now. What jumps out to you about it . So much jumps out. First of all, this is a conscious trump policy since june to say that you have to, if youre applying for a visa anywhere in the world, youve got to submit your entire social media profile. And what the Border Agents did here is, well, this student, he didnt do anything wrong or say anything wrong, but he had some friends on facebook or whatever that said some things that were hostile to the United States. And ari, i cant imagine something more pernicious and destructive than the idea that were not going to let people into this country, because were afraid of what their friends might say or think. Our entire country is built on the idea that we celebrate debate, we celebrate disagreement. What makes america so awesome is that we want these other people to come in with these ideas about america and to convince them that theyre wrong, have a debate. Hear them out and the like. But this is the encapsulation of Donald Trumps snowflake presidency. Hes afraid to have people who disagree or have friends who disagree. We dont even know that this student disagreed. And its getting out of control. And i think americans need to stand up for the proud traditions of, were not afraid to have a debate about whether america is great or not. Come to this country, well have that debate. Were not going to bar you because of your friends ideas. Its a very interesting story and one that may not have gotten enough attention yet. Neal katyal, thank you. And you can go to msnbc. Com openingarguments later tonight and get this segment later tonight as well as an archive of neals work. Still ahead after the break, donald trump making some bizarre and false statements about Hurricane Dorian, sewing confusion and earning a rare fact check from his own administration. And an update on a new fl h flashpoint in the immigration fight. President trumps plan to deport immigrants who may have been in the country undocumented. Who m the country undocumented grab some pens. Would shakespeare have chosen just some pens . Methinks tul pens would serve mlady well. Thanks. And a unicorn notebook get everything on your list. This weeks doorbuster 300sheet paper ream for 1; 1 in store or online from the advisors at office depot officemax. So you dont have to stash antacids here. Tc and take control of heartburn. Here. Or here. Kick your antacid habit with prilosec otc. One pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. Thats why with dell Small Business technology advisors. Youll get tailored product solutions, expert tech advice and oneonone partnership. Call an advisor today at 877buydell. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. President trump is struggling with the basics when it comes to Hurricane Dorian. While claiming to monitor the storm over the weekend, the president was also seen golfing repeatedly at his club in virginia. Then he set off a false alarm for alabama residents by incorrectly warning they would, quote, most likely be hit, harder than anticipated. This was more than a gaffe. It risk setting off a panic and derailing resources, which may be why within 20 minutes, the federal Governments National Weather Service rushed out this unusual correction of the president saying, we repeat, no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt across alabama. The president has not apologized or retracted this mistake. Now, these disasters are scary for many different reasons, but Donald Trumps critics say it is times like this that underscore the additional risk, the unknown risks of a president who is, quite frankly, uninterested in many parts of the job. And make false claims with lives on the line. Hurricanes are real world events. Treating them as backdrop can backfire and reality can undermine a politicians attacks on reality. Thats something that if you go back into the archives, President Trump found after hurricane katrina, when his spin about fema doing a great job at the time quickly gave way to reality. The people director ousted, the disaster undeniable. And then president bushs attempts to calm the nation with the flyover seen around the world, do you remember that photo . Well, it ultimately served to illustrate his very distance from reality. That president , unlike this one, later admitted it was a, quote, huge mistake. We turn to mark thompson, the host of the make it plain podcast. There are many aspects to this story and our colleagues have been covering whats happening on the ground and everyones praying for the best possible outcome, but what does it say in a world where donald trump continues to continue to define and redefine whats normal that he proactively, in baseball, it would be an error, right, he didnt need to weigh in. He did in a way that was so damaging that whoever at fema pressed send on that tweet might have been worried about their job, or at the National Weather service, but had to do it. Thanks for having me, ari. And everyone should be praying for all in the path of this including those in the bahamas that have been pounded for the past 24 hours. He is totally out of touch with reality. He has made a reputation for himself and has been enabled by just saying whatever comes to the top of his head. No regard for the irresponsibility of his statements. To mention a state being in the path of a hurricane, when, in fact, that state is not, youre absolutely right, would cause a great deal of panic. But hes not president ing. Hes not a real president. And one doesnt even have to be a president to decide not to be irresponsible. The National Weather service, of course, came out and corrected what was said. But, you know, i think you and i talked about this the last time we were here in this studio together. Sometimes the Mainstream Media will amplify what his opponents may do. Theres a lot of implication of joe bidens gaffes, but what about trumps . And this is one that was very dangerous and could have really impacted peoples lives. Yeah, and that comes against a backdrop where it all sort of the Washington Post has this reporting again about how donald trump views these situations. The mrnTrump Administration try to divert Disaster Relief funds to border enforcement, which of course has prompted an outcry. And then you look at the New York Times reporting on donald trump seeing this as kind of a time to be loud, but not be accurate. Mr. Trump awaited landfall by assuming the role of meteorologist in chief, adding weatherman style updates to a usual weekend routine of critiquing the performance of his cable news allies. I suppose the risk is that it all becomes mixed up in one soup and tuned out, rather than people who live in alabama, and this would matter regardless, but happens to be a state that went heavily for trump, people going, wow, i really wish he didnt set off a false alarm here. Thats not helpful. Well, i would hope the people of alabama and particularly the voters of alabama would take that tact, but i think that we all know from time to time, people excuse his behavior. And its just thats just trump being trump. Thats just what he does. But its not good for anyone. I also think, you know, its one thing for him to say it, but it also speaks to his lack of knowledge, even about history and geography. He may actually think alabama is directly on the east coast. I think we ought to consider that. You know, just as much, we also know this weekend, when he was asked about the 80th commemoration, 80th year commemoration of hirlttlers invasion of poland, he congratulated poland. So he says these things, i dont even if he knew what happened 80 years ago. Why would you thats not something that you congratulate. Yeah. So he clearly does not know anything about any of the topics that he talks about off the cuff. Well, and youre mark, youre putting your finger on it, as you often do. Were talking now about the intersection of ignorance and pride. Right. It didnt begin with trump. We have a history with the Knownothing Party that wrapped itself in knowing nothing. But of that now with people retweeting as if its all a game, you know, a random citizen in florida saying things that arent true. Trump saying things that arent true. And its not a game, and a hurricane, if ever there were an illustration from that, from this one and from past ones. Bart thompson, appreciate you coming on. Thank you. Well fit in a quick break and an important update to a story weve been covering here on msnbc on the president s plan to try to deport sick immigrants. 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Work in harmony. Ody. Like you, they get hungry. Feed them. With new centrum® multigummies® specially crafted for men and women 50 and over. So youre ready for anything. Centrum®. Feed your cells today. man hey. N banjo . Go home. woman banjo sorry, it wont happen again. Come on, lets go home. After 10 years, weve covered a lot of miles. Good thing i got a subaru. man looks like you got out again, huh, banjo. avo love is out there. Find it in a subaru crosstrek. Here, hello starts with hi mple. How can i help . A data plan for everyone. Everyone . Everyone. Lets send to everyone [ camera clicking ] wifi up there . Ahhh. Sure, why not . Howd he get out . a camera might figure it out. That was easy glad i could help. At xfinity, were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. So come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. We turn to an update now how even in this current political era, sometimes yes, facts still matter. The Trump Administration is formally walking back its much criticized plan to deport six immigrants who were supposed to receive lifesaving medical attention in the u. S. This was going to be something they did as a way to punish them for being here unlawfully. Now Officials Say they are reversing themselves and will consider applications for these people to stay inside the u. S. The reversal comes after an outcry from activists, and families. If they deny the program, that i need to go back to my country, i probably die. Because in my country, there is no treatment for cf. Doctors dont even whats the disease. The only ones who can help me are here in the United States. Those are the stakes for people, and they are inside this country. Other families have also sounded the alarm about all this. How could you tell families like this to just pick up and leave and basically as many people have said issue your child a death sentence . It was scarier than having a surgery, and it was very surprising, and i was bewildered. For samir to stay here, it keeps his life. If he were to leave he wouldnt have the specialized treatment he is currently having in the modernized Health Care Treatment that he is having here right now. Those are just some of the families that spoke with Chris Jansing here on msnbc. Now today we reached out to representatives for all of the families you heard from. They are cautiously optimistic. The big picture is a meaningful result for these individuals and a reminder that these facts and these stories matter. And for many, the facts are a matter of life and death. [beep] you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. And you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated. But youre not mad, because you have e trade which isnt complicated. Their tools make trading quicker and simpler. So you can take on the markets with confidence. Dont get mad. 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Im Steve Kornacki in for chris matthews. Hurricane dorian remains a dangerous category 2 storm, and it is gaining speed as it moves closer to the atlantic coast. The storm has already resulted in five deaths in the bahamas where new images show scenes of near total destruction. Tens of thousands of homes were also destroyed or damaged. And dorian is now moving dangerously close to the florida