>> well, if i might -- >> to make sure we are not making a mistake senator coops. >> it is my hope that if you are confirmed and we do make progress on bipartisan criminal justice reform that as attorney general you will carry out whatever legislative decisions might be made by this body. last let me say in my six years here in addition to not working on a number of bipartisan proposals on criminal justice reform you have repeatedly voted against congressional attempts to prohibit torture in the military on text or the interrogation context and to defend enhanced interrogation practices. are you clear now that our statutes prohibit torture and if the president were to rover yid that clear legal authority what actions would you take? >> on your previous question i would note the federal prison population has already dropped 10 or more percent and will drop
another 10,000 this year. what is happening now is reducing the federal population. this law only dealt with the federal prison population. and that represents the most serious offenders, our federal dea and u.s. attorneys are prosecuting more serious cases. with regard to the torture issues, i watched them for some time and have been concerned about what we should do about it. the bill that passed last time was a major step. i thought it was really not the right step. senator graham, i know, has been an opponent of torture steadfastly and supported a lot of different things, opposed it. it basically took -- what i was teaching the young soldiers at the army reserve unit as a lecturer as a teacher, the army field manual.
listening to democratic senator after democratic senator give speeches in praise of the rule of law. i am heartened by that i am encouraged by that. because for eight years it's been absent. for eight years, we've seen a department of justice consistently disregarding the rule of law. when eric holer's department of justice allowed illegal gun transactions, illegally sold guns to mexican gun traffickers as part of fast and furious, guns that were later used to murder border patrol agent brian terry, the democratic member of this committee were silent. when eric holder was found in contempt of congress for refusing to cooperate with congress's investigation into fast and furious, once again the democratic members this committee were silent. when the irs illegally targeted united states citizens for exercising the first amendment views for exercising their roles
in the political process, democratic members of this committee were silent. when the department of justice refused to fairly investigate the irs targeting citizens and indeed assign the investigation to a liberal partisan democratic who had given over $6,000 to president obama and democrats, democrats on this committee were silent. when numerous members of this committee called on the attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to ensure that justice was done on the irs case democrats on this committee were silent. when the justice department began using operation choke point to target law-abiding citizens that they disagreed with politically. >> you are a racist! you are ties in the kkk. you are -- [ inaudible ] black lives matter, black lives matter, black lives matter!
guantanamo terrorists without the notification of congress, the democrats on this committee were silent. that pattern has been dismaying for eight years but i take today as a moment of celebration. if once again this committee has a bipartisan commitment to rule of law, to following the law, that is a wonderful thing and it is consistent with the tradition of this committee, going back centuries. now if we were to play a game of tit for tat, if what was good for the goose were good for the gander then a republican attorney general should be equally partisan, should disregard the law, should advance political preferences favored by the republican party. senator sessions do you believe that would be appropriate for an torney general to do? >> no, i do no i believe you -- and i think we do have to be aware that when something like this is done and some of the things i'm familiar with enough to agree with you that i thought were improper, i do believe it has a corrosive effect on public confidence in
the constitutional republic of which we are sworn to uphold. >> i think you are exactly right. you and i are both alumni of the department of justice, and it has a long bipartisan tradition of staying outside of partisan politics, of simply and fairly enforcing the law. i will say right now if i believed that you would implement policies, even policies i agreed with, contrary to law. i would vote against your confirmation. the reason i'm so enthusiast enthusiastically supporting your confirmation is i have every degree of confidence you will follow the law faithfully and honestly. and this is the first and most important obligation of the attorney general. now, earlier in this hearing senator franken engaged you in a discussion that i think was intended to try to undermine your character and integrity. and in particular, senator franken suggested that you had
somehow misrepresented your record. it is unfortunate to see emembes of this body impugn the integrity of a senator with whom we have served for years. it is particularly unfortunate when that attack is not backed up by the facts. senator franken based his attack primarily on an op ed written by an attorney, gerald hebert. there is an irony in relying on mr. hebert, because as you know, 1996 mr. hebert testified then and attacked you then, making false charges against you. indeed i would note in the 1996 hearing two days later mr. hebert was forced to recant his testimony to say he had given false testimony to this committee and to say, i apologize to any inconvenience to this committee or mr.
theation and with non-criminal civil rights cases was to provide support for the civil rights division attorneys. i reviewed signed and cosigned briefs and others filed during my tenure. i provided assistance and guidance to the civil rights attorneys, had an open door policy with them and cooperated with them on these cases. for the cases described in 6, i supervised litigation and sign the pleading. that is consistent with the 1986 testimony that you provided help every step of the way; is that correct? >> i think, yes. >> there is no question you have been forthright with this committee and i would note that members of this committee don't have to search far and wide to know who jeff sessions is. we've known every day sitting at this bench alongside you. i want to shift to a different topic, and it's the topic i opened with which is the politicization of the department of justice. the office of legal counsel has a critical role of providing sound, legal and constitutional
advice both to the attorney general and the president. in the last eight years we have seen a highly politicized olc. an olc that has given politically convenient rulings whether on recess appointments, whether on executive amnesty. and early on, perhaps that was started by 2009 attorney general holder overruling olc concerning legislation trying to grant the district of columbia representation in congress. and it may well be that that sent a message to olc that its opinions were to be political and not legal in nature. tell me, senator session what will you do as attorney general to restore professionalism and fidelity of the law to the office of legal counsel. >> senator, i think any short-term political agenda gapes that come from the abuse of -- the law making processes and requirements of the department of justice just don't
make sense. it will always in the long run be more damaging than the short-term gain that one might have. the office of legal counsel, all of us who have served in the department know, is a bigtime position. you need a mature, smart, experienced person who understands this government, who understands the laws and is principled and consistent in their application of the laws. that will help the president. it will help the congress. it will help the american people. i do believe we need to work hard to have that, and i will do my best to ensure we do have it. >> one final question. in the last eight years the deputy of justice's slit for general office has also i believe been unfortunately political sized. it and it sustained a unprecedented number of losses before the united states supreme court. indeed, president obama's justice department won less than half of its total cases before the supreme court, which is the lowest presidential win rate
since harry truman. the average historically for the last 50 years has been about 70%. snum rouse of those cases were unanimous with indeed both obama supreme court appointees voting against the lawless positions of this justice department including their assertion that the government has the authority to supervise and direct the appointment and the hiring and firing of clergy in the church. what will you do as attorney general to ensure the integrity of the office of slitter general that it is faithful to the law and not advancing extreme political positions like the obama justice department did that have been rejected over and over again by the supreme court? >> i think the problem there is a desire to achieve a result sometimes that overrides the commitment to the law. in the long run, this country will be stronger if we adhere to the law even though somebody might be frustrated in the short-term of not achieving an agenda. the solicitor general should not
advocate to alter the meaning of words to advance an agenda. that is an abuse of office and i would try to seek to have a slit for general who is faithful to the constitution, serves under the constitution, does not feel that its that power to rise above it and make it say what it wants it to say. >> thank you senator sessions. >> we've been watching this hearing now since the morning hours. we want to get a quick accounting of what our correspondents have been able to learn, starting with kelly o'donnell who covers capitol hill for us and has been stationed outside the hearing room. kelly, what have you picked up? >> brian, this is of course the entrance to the kennedy caucus room where this hearing and many others in history have taken place. and i think what is particularly striking today is how you see republicans trying to prepare and protect jeff sessions in terms the criticism coming his way, and democrats who are working to elicit areas where they think there are weaknesses
in his testimony or discrepancies in his record or thing they can try to ship a light on because democrats don't have the numbers to block this confirmation but they want to expose -- -- forward barring any unforeseen circumstance. you really get a sense today of the mood here. as the first confirmation hearing, one with high stakes, a huge role, and nominee who does have some controversy in his past, the energy here in the russel senate office buildings with protesters, with international media here, and with all the people associated with staging a hearing like this, putting this on, it has been a day where you really get a sense that this is when congress can do its work with the nation paying attention. and these are real issues that are raw nerves for many americans.
and they are getting a hearing today. sessions has been put through a lot of practice. we could hear that in some of his responses where he knew that there might be some areas in his record or his past statements that needed to be fixed a bit. and some of the republicans have tried to give him a forum to answer the critic. and we've seen that unfold today. >> kelly o'donnell on the hill. to pete williams we go next. pete, the folks that haven't watched a hearing, a high-profile hearing like this for long time would be forgiven for forgetting that this is really a team sport. various members of both teams go up, take their turns, make their points, try to score some points. so it would be so unusual indeed for this committee to knock down, to reject a nominee for a cabinet job. >> correct. and i think what you are seeing here is exactly that a well coordinated evident here among
the democrats. all of them seem to be asking about a different facet of jeff sessions either of his time as the u.s. attorney and prosecutor in alabama and his time as a u.s. senator. and they are not repeating each other for the most part although there have been several questions here about for example, what if donald trump insists on trying to reimpose water boarding? would you advise him that that's against the law? sessions has said several times that he would. the question of voting rights has come up repeatedly today as well. senator sessions seemed to go out of his way although only with one sentence, to say that he believes civil rights are very important, specific voter rights. voter id has been a controversial issue, it's one that the justice department has been suing states over what they consider to be restrictive voter id laws. senator sessions said on the surface it did not appear to him
that state voter id laws actually suppress the minority vote. so elections have consequences. there are going to be many case ways in which in justice department under donald trump is different than under barack obama. i think today is an effort both to try to tease out his views that will be different but also to try to set some markers here and putting himself on the record on issues like civil rights and the voting rights act. >> we are starting a busy week. while we've been talking, up with of two other hearings have been going on. the nation's command structure and intelligence has been appearing over in front of senate intelligence. what has been gained or learned from that hearing? >> i don't know, brian, because i have been watching this one. but senator sessions was asked today about the intel committee report, which as you know donald trump has shown some skepticism about its conclusion.
and what mr. session said today is he has no reason to doubt the intelligence report about russian hacking. and he has seen no evidence to the contrary. nothing to indicate that the report is wrong. in other words, he's not exactly embraced it, but nothing -- we won't distance himself from night pete williams sharing with our viewers a fundamental truth. while watching one hearing we can't be expected to watch another at the same time. never been done as far as i know. pete, thank you very much. and thanks as always for your honesty. we're going to take a break in our coverage on the other side katie tur is here and standing by in our new york studios to take this hour the rest of the way. >> turns out that attorney general nominee jeff sessions and chuck schumer have a similar morning routine. >> do you work out in the gym with senator sessions? what does he do and what do you do. >> we are on the bikes next to each other oftentimes watching morning joe and making
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he is sitting before the senate intelligence committee for a hearing on russian hacking. this is his first time speaking publicly since the presidential election. first to session's nomination hearing which was mark bite repeated protests, the alabama senator sitting before that committee since roughly 9:30 this morning in a hearing that's expected to last two days. here's a quick recap of what we have heard so far. >> i abhor the klan and what it represents and its hateful etiology. i believe the proper thing for me to do would be to recuse myself from any questions involving those kind of investigations that involve secretary clinton. >> how do you feel about a foreign entity trying to interfere in our election? >> i think it's i go can't event. >> i'm not asking if you believe it influenced it just if you belief the report of our intelligence agencies? >> i have no reason to doubt that and have no evidence that
would indicate otherwise. i have no belief and do not support the idea in a muslims as a religious group should be denied admission to the united states. i do believe that if you continually go through a cycle of amnesty that you undermine the respect for the law and encourage more illegal immigration into america. >> down the hallway at the capitol fbi director james comey being asked what he knew about and when about reports russia hacked america's election. >> there is no doubt that the russians attacked intruded and took data from some of those systems. >> joining me now from the hill, casey hunt. and from the pentagon, hans nickels. casey, let's start with you. senator sessions was grilled on civil rights, women's rights, hate crimes, immigration, his ability to say no to donald trump. the muslim ban, torture, russian hacking, freedom of the press.
what so far has been the major headline? and is there anything in there that could potentially, if not derail his confirmation, then pose a hurdle? >> at this point katie i think the short answer is we haven't heard anything that stands out as something that's really going to be a sticking, tripping block for jeff sessions on his road to confirmation. now, that said, before we go through a couple of those other issues one thing that we did see some late focus on was senator al franken's line of questioning. what franken did was essentially press jeff sessions on his history fighting for civil rights. so jeff sessions, the trump transition team have worked very hard to highlight areas of his resume when he served as alabama attorney general and in other roles fighting on behalf of civil rights. essentially trying to push back against this narrative that emerged when sessions was denied that federal judgeship over
questions about remarks to colleagues that his colleagues said were racist. so that's been their kind of whole way of looking at this. what franken did was try to poke holes in that, asked sessions did you prosecute 20 or 30 cases about desegregation or was it really just a few? that was the one moment when we saw sessions struggle a little bit to answer questions. you heard senator ted cruz just before we started talking here focusing a little bit on that trying to give sessions some points of defense of course if you will, trying to say that yes he did work on those issues. but other than that, katie, i think a lot of the points that democrats have hit on through these hearings we expected. we expected the focus on the violence against women act. we expected the focus on race. of course some of those issues came up under questioning from republicans. lindsey graham pushing senator sessions on that russian hacking question. that was a potentially risky place for sessions to be.
he was questioned whether he does believe the fbi's assessments, other things like that. i think atmospherically the protests very much a central point of this and underscore kind of the public pressure around this nomination. but so far i'm not hearing anybody say that this hearing means that sessions is any less likely to be confirmed. >> what will be the democrats' strategy going forward? i know we've seen a number of protests in the hall trying to disrupt this hearing. but this is just the first of many confirmation hearings we are going to be getting this week. what is going to be the general strategy for the democrats? is this just a situation where they are going to be trying to question each nominee as a proxy to donald trump because they can't question him directly? >> in some cases, yes, that's true. session is particular because of his background on civil rights and because there are so many activists who are really focused on this nomination. and you saw that in the protests here today. i think you are going to see different strategies for other nominees. you are going to see probably an
ideological activist focus around people like tom price for health and human services. i think you will see a focus on russia and hacking with rex tillerson for example. i think each one is going to bring up a new set of questions. i think the nominees that republicans and the transition team are most concerned about and ones where democrats see most tune might be flying under the radar. one i want to highlight is the nominee fortressry secretary. he has to turn over his tax returns. there was a lot of money spent and that he made in a lot of ways that the democrats are going to question. the housing crisis for example. republicans don't think he is going to be as polished as rex tillerson might be tomorrow or as jeff sessions has been today. >> we have seen a number of protests in that room. interesting to point out that that is the same room as we've seen the watergate hearings. it's where clarence thomas had
his hearings. it's also the very first investigation they ever did in that room was 1912, the investigation into the sinking of the titanic. a little -- the more you know right there. let's turn to our pentagon correspondent who has been monitoring the other hearing that's going on on capitol hill right now. james comey in front of the senate intelligence committee. this is the first time we've seen the fbi director since the election. hans, talk to me about what we are hearing so far. he is there to testify about russianacking and he was asked very specifically if the fbi investigated any of president-elect donald trump's ties to russia. what was his answer on that? >> well, his challenge throughout this entire hearing is not to give too much away in terms of sources and methods. but listen to what he had to say actually about the forensics of what they know. >> our forensics folks would always prefer to get access to the original device or server that's involved. so it's the best evidence. >> were you given access to do the forensics on those servers?
>> we were not. we were -- a highly respected private company eventually got access and shared with us what they saw there. >> katie the main point, main takeaway from this hearing versus last week this senate select committee on intelligence seem much more partisan. we have seen a number of senators block and tackle for the president-elect essentially make his point that they don't necessarily think the hacking influence was dispositive on the election and we've seen democrats similarly looking to those panelists, looking to the fbi director, dni director clapper that russia clearly meddled and tried to influence the election. last week you had republicans, john mccain saying it was an act of war. this committee seems more partisan less impartial than the one last week. one final piece of information. we are watching both hearings hear.
you just saw senator sessions make the point that he does not think that enhanced interrogation, torture, isly. that is a clear departure from the alberto gonzalez point that you can always have some enhanced interrogation. >> that's a departure from what donald trump said on the campaign trail, that he believes water boarding is not torture and it is an effective form of interrogation. he since tried to walk that back a little or change his stance on it since he found out that james mattis his nominee for defense secretary didn't necessarily believe it. james, one other point. s in the first time we've seen james comey since the election. 11 days before the election he came out and revuved, if you will, the investigation into hillary clinton's e-mails. are we expecting to hear him address that in any way? are the democrats going the try to get him on record or have they already for how he -- whether he believes he might have unduly influenced the
election with that release? >> my kptation katie heading into this was that he was clearly going to be grilled on that i have not heard a question on that. i have pete williams to thank for this -- it's really hard to watch two hearing at once but i have not heard that. pete williams is a better reporter than me. let me offer that. and you don't need a second source on that. williams, better than nicholls. >> pete williams is great. hans nicholls, you are proven to be great as well. thank you for joining me. >> joining me now, cornell williams brooks and cedric richmond. mr. brooks, i want to start with you. senator sessions tried vehemently to say he was not a racist, to push back against this caricature of him that was painted in 1996 when he first went in front of the hearings to try to get a federal judgeship but was unsuccessful in that. has he said or done anything today that makes you feel like he has changed or he is somebody
that will be a defender of civil rights in this country, a defender of the causes of the naacp. >> no. i have not heard anything to suggest that he is fit to lead the department of justice. the fact of the matter is we are not -- our endeavor is not to -- nor is our burden to prove that he is a racist. but it is our burden as attested to by the record that he is not fit, nor is he inclined to protect american citizens from racial discrimination. so when you look at the record, going back to 1986 where you had federal officials testifying under oath as to racially offensive remarks -- when you look at those remarks, that behavior, and the conduct, the legislation, the record from then until now we find nothing that assures american citizens that they will be protected by senator sessions as attorney general of the united states. so when it comes to voter
suppression we have courts in the fifth circuit and the fourth circuit that have found voter id laws, voter suppressives and racial dim in aer to. in the state of alabama you have a voter id law. in his home statement he said not a mumbling word about that id law and has in fact suppressed support for voter id laws. we have 21 million americans whose right to the franchise is in peril, threatened by voter id laws. he has not made it clear that that would be a prosecutorial priority. so simply mouthing the words voter rights, as you mouth faith in voter fraud, which is a predicate for voter suppression does not offer us any assurance at all that he can lead the department of justice. so what we've seen today is some deference to senator sessions for his tenure, his time, his
collegiality in the senate as opposed to expressing confidence in his constitutional suitability to lead the department of justice. when we look at his record respect to criminal justice reform he stands for mandatory minimums in a country and at a moment when we have 2.3 million americans behind bars, 1 million fathers behind bars, 65 million plus americans with a criminal record and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of activists in the streets across our country who are standing against this era of mass incarceration. we draw no assurance from his record. when it comes to immigration rights, he stood against any and every form of comprehensive immigration reform in this country in the senate. and so if we are going to give him credit for his collegiality in the senate, we also have to give him accountability for his legislative record in the senate. make no mistake. >> stay with us mr. brook. congressman richmond i want to bring you in. you are part of the congressional black caucus. they held a news conference over
the course of the last few weeks and they have been voicing concerns about the session nominations. you yourself will be testifying against senator sessions on bhaft of the cbc tomorrow. what are you planning to say? and how are you planning to convince your fellow congressmen that maybe senator sessions is not the right choice for e.g.? >> i think that cornell laid out a very good description of the concerns that we have. the position of attorney general is a very serious position. tur top law enforcement officer in the kuchbl you will enforce civil rights. you will enforce voting rights. and senator session's records on voting rights is suspect at best. at worst, he is a participant in disenfranchising people and voting is the roots to the treef democracy. >> congressman -- >> those are the concerns we have. >> these are two different jobs. his job as a senator is not
necessarily the same as his job as -- if he gets confirmed as an attorney general. in one case he is trying to shape laws and advocating for laws or voting against laws. in another, he is slated to uphold the laws that already exist. are you not confident that he as a professional, he as a lawyer, as a civil servant, will be able to disassociate himself from his own personal viewpoints? and uphold the laws as they stand on the books? >> well, if you look at his record from when he was attorney general in alabama or you look at his complete body of work, part of the role of the attorney general of the united states is to make sure that policing and justice is done on a fair basis. he has already expressed his concern and his thoughts that consent decrees were intrusive. and if consent decrees are the department of justice's vehicles
to make sure that police departments across the country, new orleans, baltimore and others are under cop sent decrees to make sure that justice is done and justice is applied across the board. let's not talk about all the desegregation cases for education that are still out there. there are 30 education cases under consent decree to make sure that children from every zip code will be treated fairly in terms of quality access to a public education. and the attorney general of the united states has a responsibility to ensure those thing. his record, his words, i think demonstrate that he does not have the desire to do it and he wouldn't do it. in those roles of the department of justice are just as important as any of the other roles. >> congressman richmond, very quickly because i want to get mr. brooks' take on this as well. it looks like he will be confirmed. are you going to be able to work with him going forward? >> well, part of our duties is oversight.
and to make sure that the rules and the guidance of not only the deputy of justice but all of the departments are followed. and to that extent, we will never give up our right of oversight and our congressional responsibility to make sure that the department is running in that matter. but we are pushing for criminal justice reform. and senator sessions was an obstacle to criminal justice reform to the extent that he would see the light and all of the data and come along with criminal justice reform we will work with him. but i believe our role is going to be to make sure that the department of justice upholds its oath and it fights against discrimination based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and all of the other things. and i -- so far us, we are going to be in oversight mode making sure that the department does what it's supposed to do. >> mr. brooks, quickly, if you can, where does the naacp go from here? >> where do we go from here?
we double down in terms of our opposition. we have to be very clear about this. this is a perilous moment in american history where this nation is deeply divided by race, where the criminal justice system seems to represent injustice for so many people around the country. and so we are very clear, we have to hold senator sessions accountable for his lack of commitment to using consent decrees where we have police departments in ferguson to baltimore to cleveland where consent decrees are a vehicle through which we hold police departments accountable and we bring communities and police together. we have to take this nomination seriously. and it is not a foregone conclusion that he will be confirmed. make it clear. from 1789 until now, the senate has had the responsibility of not engaging in a political coronation, but in fact engaging in a democratic confirmation process in which they assess the
fitness of the attorney general nominee to be attorney general. and we are going to make the case until the last possible moment. we will register our concerns. we will register our discontent in terms of our views and opinions, our perspective under the constitution. not only will we articulate them with our mouths but also with our bodies in terms of civil disobedience. be clear, this process continues as we speak, and the naacp opposes this nomination as we see. >> we will see. one more dave hearings. thank you gentlemen. next up, new reaction from the trump transition about today's confirmation hearings as the president-elect himself prepares to hold his first news conference since his white house win. that is expected to happen tomorrow. stay with us.
president-elect of the united states. it's going to be his first news conference in more than 160 days, since mid-july. and it's happening just nine days before his inauguration. as of now, all signs point to it actually happening, too. joining me now from our washington newsroom, peter alexander. let's talk about this news conference -- before we get to the news conference let's first talk about how the transition team is reacting to senator session's testimony today. it's very clear that he was well prepared for this. are they feeling like he is well representing not only himself but donald trump's presidency? >> i think before we do this we need to put something that says spin alert on the bottom of the screen. they are not going to say they think he is getting crushed. they are going to say they are satisfied. i spoke with one of the persons who was hyped the scenes in the process of preparing. they say they couldn't be happier with this.
they say his performance has been excel.. they say he has been confounding all the car,tures the left wing group has been trying to sell over the last weeks. they insist that the democrats are struggling. the bottom line is another individual close to the transition told us he is presenting himself as compassionate, as level headed and as a constitutional thinker. they recognize that they are on home field advantage right now. it is a more than likely despite all the protest you have seen there that he will have sufficient support because obviously republicans have majority right how. >> spin alert indeed let's talk about tomorrow's news conference. he is expected to talk about his business dealings and the ways he is going to go forward by handing it over to his children. what else are we expecting to hear from mr. trump? what sort of topics could be covered? there is a myriad of them, right? >> i think you are exactly right. this is the first time he has held one of these news conferences in more than
160-something days right now. so reporters, you and i and others have obviously been gathering up our questions. there are a variety of top i. the best opportunity we've had to sort of pin him down on questions related to the intelligence report and other which come in the short he can changes when he comes down from his tower at trur tower on fifth avenue. >> the golden escalator. >> i trust will there will be questions about russia, especially the intelligence. has said russia is not the only perpetrator of these types of crimes. he refers to china and others. and others in his team has said too much focus has been put on russia. obviously questions in other places in that region, syria as well. obamacare going to be a significant conversation pooesz piece as well. >> also foreign to remind the audience last time he had a news conference during the dnc that's when he encouraged the russia to
find hillary clinton's memes. those notable. the "new york times" is saying he is going to be encouraging republicans to immediately repeal obamacare. he is saying that if it takes weeks it will be too long. but he also wants them to have a plan in place to replace it. that doesn't seem like that is likely to happen. is this just him using his bully pulpit to get them to move quickly -- more quickly than maybe congress normally does? >> here's the challenge here. here's in part what he said to the "new york times." he said we have to get to business. obamacare has been a catastrophic event. the challenge here is that his position is saying there should be an immediate repeal of obamacare. and then within a matter of two to three weeks perhaps a replacement put in place as the fact there is no replacement available right now. the vote on the process begin as early as this week in terms of repeeping right now. you have some republicans who want to see a repeal but they also want to have an immediate
replacement. we are concerned in the repeal happens too soon it could take a couple of years to have a replacement. i've been interviewing some at the freedom caucus and elsewhere, and they have admitted we don't have a plan. we have a lot of plans, paul ryan among others say they need time to develop the replace men plan. it's going to be difficult. >> let's continue on this track talking about donald trump's urging of congress to repeal obamacare. joining me now is political analyst robert costa. no one better has a direct line into the donald trump transition and to donald trump himself than you do, robert. now talk to me. how frustrated is he potentially going to be seeing that congress does not work as quickly as maybe he would expect them to? or maybe he is used to in his business dealings?
>> quite frustrated. the u.s. congress here at the capitol is by no means like the trump organization. things move at a glacial pace in congress. it is difficult to get rid of the obamacare because of all the different taxes and to make sure the insurance system doesn't collapse. while they want to get rid of the health care law as soon as possible the process could take not only weeks but months. >> as you are talking you should mention that senator sessions as you can see on our screen is still being grilled, if you will, on capitol hill. his hearing started at 9:30. it has been quite a long time. it is going to go through tomorrow. talk to me about how the transition is preparing not only senator session but the other nominees, if you will, for four cab -- for cabinet position. they are doing mock hearings. they are trying to get them prepared for a myriad of
questions from democrats, trying to find a way to make them as non-controversial as they possibly can be? >> that's exactly right, katie. senator sessions because he is a member of the club in congress s a member of the senate, he hasn't had as extensive preparations or concerns. of course he has gotten ready for these hearings but he is seen as someone who in spite of his report, quite conservative by all accounts, from both parties, he will be likely confirmed even as there are some protests from democrats. other nominees on the agenda, such as rex tillerson, the oil executive, former head of exxonmobil they are getting much more training. tillerson has been media savvy during his career. he has a large public profile as a major executive at a global corporation but it's different here at this stage. >> tomorrow we have donald trump's press conference. we also have news that jared kushner is going to be a senior
adviser, that's his daughter ivanka's husband. a ton of news coming out of the trump transition. there will continue to be i suspect in the days to come. stay with user, robert costa joining us from the hill. next, president obama's last address to the nation in just hours before donald trump becomes america's 45th commander in chief. this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira helping me go further. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira has been clinically studied for over 18 years. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure.
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confirmations of an attorney general in modern times. because usually you have got a president with long public service experience. you know where he stands on voting rights, civil rights, criminal justice. not donald trump. nor has he ever dealt with an attorney general before. so what you have seen is these senators trying to get sessions essentially to agree to certain precedents serving a president who delights in breaking traditions and precedents so they will have some assurance on what is going to happen. >> let's talk about president obama. he gives his final address tonight. going back home to chicago essentially trying to recapture a lib of that grant park feeling he had back in 2008 when he accepted the presidency. talk to me about what you expect to hear from him. and where will this rank in terms of presidential farewells? >> i think what we will hear is some prompting to people like me, historians, what we should think and write about barack obama in the future.
we had farewell addresses from truman and eisenhower and reagan. these were all people along the years. barack obama presumably has decades ahead in his career. presumably we'll hear him say this is what i think i have done and this is why it's relevant to the country in the future. >> we should also note that the hearing with fbi director james comey has now ended. stay here on mbz to watch complete coverage of president obama's final address. also complete coverage of all of the hearing news we're coming out of today. ahead of the president's speech you can watch all of these different shows on mbz and nbc. and lester holt of "nbc nightly news" with sit down with president obama exclusively. you can watch that conversation friday night on nbc. check your local listings. that does it for this hour of mbz live. kate snow picks thiks up right now. >> we have a lot to cover this
guests coming in and out of trump tower. it is like a second white house right now. >> it really is. it is a manhattan white house in waiting you might say. and donald trump just wrapped up a very important meeting with the japanese prime minister shinzo abe. who just wrapped up his own comments on that meeting just a short while ago here in mid town manhattan. they had a lot to talk about from trade to national security issues in asia. but keep in mind as you also mentioned donald trump has had a number of very interesting at any time lysing encounters throughout the day today. encounters that suggest he knows he has fence mending to do. a signal is being sent that the president elect just might be ready to put the scorched earth campaign behind him and perhaps engage in some healing. in addition to his meetings with foreign policy heavy weights like henry kissinger donald trump has been sitting down with his rivals and critics from the primaries.
nikki haley, under consideration for secretary of state. former texas governor rick perry. and ted cruz a contender for attorney general. have. >> donald trump right now isn't looking to figure out who supported him. who didn't. if you are the best person for that job, then he wants you as part of his team. >> i taught my two little ones that you don't push people around. >> hayley fought hard against trump announcing he reluctantly supported him in the general election. >> the best person on the policies and dealing with things like obamacare still is donald trump. that doesn't mean it is an easy vote. >> reporter: trump was just as brutal. >> donald trump's candidacy is a cancer on conservatism and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded. >> trump once said of perry he should be forced to take an iq test before being allowed to enter the debate. vice president electromike pence
was on capitol hill meeting with the nancy pelosi after flektsing some of the gop's new muscle in this selfie. >> [ inaudible ] >> reporter: but pence and the transition are vowing to clean up washington with now restrictions on lobbyists joining the administration. >> governor chris christie folks was unwlooefl. >> reporter: part of the criticism with chris christie is he had too many lobbyists on board leading trump loyalists to question what happened to drain the swamp. trump himself seemed resigned to working with the lobbyist he blasted on the campaign trail. >> you don't like it but your own transition team filled with lobbyists. >> only people you have down there. >> reporter: on saturday donald trump will be meeting with the governor of massachusetts, former governor of massachusetts, mitt romney, at trump's golf course in bed minster new jersey. a location where trump held debate prep over the summer
before the debates with hillary clinton. and as for the coming weeks we should point out after thanksgiving, trump aides are telling reporters they are going to be planning a "thank america" tour. and trump will go out and thank americans for supports hill. i also suspect he'll be talk about bringing the country together. they are not calling it a victory tour but a thank america tour. >> and jeremy diamond has been covering trump from day one of the campaign. he's "outfront" tonight. exhausted man and it is just beginning jeremy. the meeting just ended. this crucial meeting between first world leader for the president elect. this was a big moment for trump. >> reporter: it seems like -- but hopefully you can still here. prime minister abe just spoke here at the intercontinental barclay in new york following his meeting with donald trump. this is the first meeting that donald trump has had in person with a foreign head of state. and of course this is
significant because donald trump is ramping up his preparations to actually take over the duties of president of the united states. just this week he had his first presidential daily briefing which he has begun to receive now preparing him for the challenges ahead as president. and of course while he met with prime minister abe he has been meeting -- speaking of the phone rather with about 32 foreign heads of state. prime minister abe declined to offer details on what exactly was discussed in this meeting. but what he did say was it was a, quote, very candid discussion. and e got the sense he'll be able to establish a relationship of trust with donald trump as president of the united states. saying that of course is the bedrock of any alliance between the two countries, a very important alliance and all on the heels of donald trump during his campaign frequently criticizing japan saying they need to take on a bigger share of the burden for their defense costs. so of course a very candid meeting saying that perhaps they
aired certain grievances or discussions. but of course donald trump's campaign has yet to comment exactly on what that meeting was about. but prime minister abe saying no details but certainly emerging with a good feeling of confidence and trust. >> thank you very much jeremy. and source close to the japanese prime minister telling me today that issue about how much they are going to pay is crucial. they feel like they already pay plenty. we'll see. this is of course the beginning of a crucial relationship. "outfront" now patrick healey from the "new york times." jamie --. let's start with mitt romney. and i'm sorry my jaw is on the ground. but i'm going to show everybody why in a moment. would he really want a job in this administration? he's called trump a phony, con man and more. >> when i got the call about this p news today i was shocked.
this may be crazy or it may be one of the smartest things you have ever seen if it will work. here is what i know. mitt romney has told friends for a long time that he would still like to go back into government and serve and there was one job he wanted. and that was secretary of state. so clearly he's having this meeting because he's at least willing to listen to what donald trump has to say despite all of those things that he said. and i've been told by a source that the people on the transition say there is, from their perspective, a serious possibility that he would be offered state. but obviously the meeting hasn'ten happened. and one person is going to decide. >> and that is of course donald trump. kayleigh not only did mitt romney say extremely negative things about donald trump. trump returned the favor. les anyone has forgotten.
let me play it. >> here is what i know. donald trump is a phony, a fraud. >> but here is a disloyal guy. he's an elitist. >> his promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. >> a stone cold loser. >> not just a loser. a stone cold loser: but romney went in detail. this went on and on. he county for donald trump because he supports --. would trump actually pick mitt romney? >> i think donald trump is going to pick the best person for the job. and look, they exchanged some rather caustic barbs, there is no denying that. but it is very commendable that the president elect is bringing in people who are his adversaries. because what he realizes is at the end of the day it is not about who's personally offended by who said what. it is who is best for the american people. and donald trump wants the most qualified person, regardless of political bruises, he wants the best person for the job. >> and loyalty matters to him,
patrick. >> loyalty matters enormously and let's not get ahead of ourselves. donald trump has two goals. one is to -- the party was divided not so long ago. when you become president elect you can start uniting the party with the big people. people like nikki haley and mitt romney. people who did aoppose you. paul ryan. you can start bringing those people in. he wants everybody to at least be heading towards his side of the fence. so make peace. the thing is donald trump also is having people in to see who he hits it off with and who he doesn't. >> -- gut. >> a lot of thf is a gut reaction. but i remember talking to him at one point. during the campaign he liked the team of rivals idea that barack obama and hillary clinton had. you can find plenty of clips from 2008 where obama and clinton said lots of tough things. not quite as nasty -- you get that.
>> so i never thought i would agree with mitt romney about anything. but mitt romney was right. donald trump is a phony. he's a con man. he's a fraud. xenophobic, a racist and a bigot. and one reason the mormon church has rejected him. at one point -- >> somebody is going to be secretary of state. do you want it to be rudy giuliani or mitt romney -- who would you? >> what i want to say is i don't think we should normsz what's happening. which is that donald trump is not capable of the conducting foreign policy. he's not capable of about stringing together three or four sentences in thinking of an idea. to the point rudy giuliani is not qualified to be secretary at a time -- >>[chatter]. >> no no. i don't care who's secretary of state because actually the top the buck stop there is. and the problem is donald trump is not qualified to be president. he's not -- >> but he is president. okay? he is.
>> i'm just saying in terms of the policy about thinking about someone been able to conduct foreign policy it is a scary thought for all of america. >> i really wish you would adhere to the words of the president obama. use this -- >> -- bigot and a racist and i'm nopt going to normalize him. and my goal is to try to make donald trump a one-term president. and to delegitimatize him as every step. >> and mischaracterize him at every step too. >> barack obama said donald trump not an idea log, he's a pragmatist this past week. if donald trump can come to terms with a mitt romney who can bring in a very professional staff and they can make this work that is a pragmatic outcome. >> a major test. this meeting coming up. next the democrats new trump study guide. if you can't beat him, join him. and should muslim b's afraid of
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some democrats say that direction is actually moving towards the president elect donald trump. manu raju is "outfront." the democratic party reeling after donald trump's stunning victory. some senators warning their party it is time to cut deals with trump how do you think voters will react if your party starts to fight donald trump tooth and nail over almost every issue here. >> i think that is a big mistake and i don't think that's what we should be doing. donald trump said things i wholeheartedly agree. with he also said things i i didn't agree with. >> reporter: joe mansion issued this stern repuke to his party's out going leader harry reid. >> to me as the senator, that was embarrassing. like saying you have no respect at all for the people and the vote. >> refer reid's criticism that
doing the same thing over and over again and keep getting the same results. so time to move on i think. >> reporter: now erin it will be very difficult to stop nancy pelosi from being reelected as house democratic leader. she has a significant amount of support because of the millions of dollars she has raised and the work she's done to elect democrats. but one thing she can't ignore is the considerable angst that exists within her caucus about how to deal with donald trump. >> thank you very much. my panel is back with me. jonathan you heard bernie sanders. democratic senator john tester, to fight trump tooth and nail would be a big mistake. is he right? >> i think separating two things reflecting what bernie said. if things like internment camps come un. dividing people. misogyny. rolling back rights. we'll fight him tooth and nail. on the other hand bernz bernie
sanders and his campaign argued for a big infrastructure campaign. what will be really interesting is what commonalities on maybe on trade. donald trump made a big teal about the zast over nafta, which i agreed with. the tpp is probably dead in the lame duck e session. but will it come up again. and on that if he opposes the t.p.p. and other bad trade agreements -- >> on the issue of racism. -- as harsh as mitt romney. but last night he said it is wrong for democrats to accuse trump supporters of being racist. okay? it is a powerful thing for him to say. here is what he said.
>> there are a lot of democrats o who think anyone who voted for trump is a racist. there are a lot of people out there who think it. joe biden is telling those people to wake un. >> i this was that so important what he did. and it speaks to this really -- you know, we look at the map. and not only are we seeing different -- you know, hillary won this and donald trump won that. but there is a lack of understanding about what was behind so much of that. and the racism, when you go back and you look at the numbers, some people have a very loud voice but they are very small number of people and i think, you know, biden saying that,
president obama saying that, is critical over and over again. that is not to dismiss that a lot of people still feel unsettled or scared. my kids are in college. they have friends who are dreamers. who are worried about, you know, their parents. so you have to balance these things. you have to acknowledge the fear and those experiences but you have to keep the racism realistic. >> there is a powerful statement and reminded me just how quickly hillary clinton walked back that half of term supporters were -- deplorable. she knew almost instantly she stepped in it. but she still stepped it. and the reality is her campaign, they made a choice for wide swaths of americans in pennsylvania and michigan and wisconsin. they weren't going to talk to those people. and whether it was because they thought their intentions, we don't know -- you know, the people who aren't with us. and i think what joe biden was
trying to do was to say if the democratic party is going to be a big tent party we can't just be generalizing about americans. what they can do is hold -- >> -- democrats need to look to the republican party as the case study for what's happening in their own. >> we've been talk about the republican party that's split in half. doesn't know kwla's going to happen. now all of a sudden they have to figure that out. and bernie sanders lays out a democratic party in complete chaos -- >> my party, that is to say that the voters saying their leaders don't represent them adequately was happening all along in the democratic party and why we almost saw bernie sanders win the nomination and the dnc was stacked against him. more salt in the wounds and the democratic party has on its hands like the republican party had. an outsider coming in to take over the party. >> crump, i believe is a bigot
and racist. i think the way he promoted birtherism and attacked mexicans and all -- >> -- >> that is my second point. no. and i agree the vice president. many of those voters rejected the democratic party partly on economics. the reason i did not support hillary clinton. i thought bernie sanders would have a much better messenger and he would have won that campaign and defeated donald trump. >> some of donald trump's supporters were saying, going beyond what donald trump had said in terms of racist sex -- >> no question. >> -- painting, you know, the president elect's entire voter base with one broad brush is terrible politics. the thing for democrats to figure out right now. hillary clinton was a unique candidate. she appealed to the donor class and the multi millionaire class and also trying to appeal -- >>[chatter]. -- african american, women. but here is the thing. what joe biden is talk about and maybe bernie could have won
them. maybe joe biden could have won them. is a large pool of white middle class and working class american whose, you know -- who she didn't -- she could never figure way to broaden that message that did appeal to some african americans. >> -- you know, people didn't turn out -- >> and we saw that with women as well. all right. thanks to all and next a key trump supporter says world war ii internment camps so you would serve as the precedent for registry of immigrant. and florida governor rick scott met with donald trump and walked across town and he's "outfront" coming up. her words. and my brother ray and i started searching for answers. (vo) when it's time to navigate in-home 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 mom's changing needs. (woman) because dad made us promise we'd keep mom at home. (vo) call 844-4-brightstar for your free home care planning guide.
the muslim registry and a system to screen immigrants from high-risk countries related to terrorism. >> the man who says he's working on the trump's immigration plant chris kovak tells us yes there is a difference because it is based on the gee graphic location, not religion. but it is clear majority of the people in this database was muslim because it sijed out people from majority muslim country, was the exception of the north korea. those people were intensely scrutinized at the port of entry and tracked closely once they were in the u.s. such as having to check in with federal authorities about once a year on their whereabouts. kind of like entry on parole. kovak tells us the model the trump team is exploring is similar. he would not say which countries they believe fall into the high risk category but believe there were some majority muslim countries not on the list. the trump campaign released this statement in response. saying president elect trump has
not advocated for any registry or system that tracks individuals based on their religion. and to imply otherwise is completely false. but as we know erin, candidate trump did indeed advocate for a muslim registry saying that would be something he would implement. the statement saying president elect trump has not advocated for that. >> so there was a system as you mentioned after 9/11, that went all the way through part of president obama's tenure. and was then removed. and you are saying what they are looking at is something similar to that. was that system effective? >> well it depends on who you talk to. i spoke to one official a day who says the reality was it never proved to be useful. on the other hand those who supported it say a system like that could have potentially stopped the 9/11 hijackers because they would have been more closely tracked inside the u.s. the system was ended in 2011 because of complaints it led to racial profiling. as it stands now. people from high-risk countries
>> it would be just good management. what you have to do is good management procedures. and we can do that. >> [ inaudible ]. >> different places. >> he certainly suggested a muslim database. >> and he classified his comments down the lined and the fact of the matter is the mainstream media is hissing here is donald trump is looking for the most appropriate and most effective way to keep americans safe and i don't think that is being echoed by the mainstream media pushing on him to say oh you are this. you are that. he's trying to keep america safe. that's you do. that's me. that's kids everywhere. >> it is not necessarily effective that is the problem. not only does this run counter to our values but there is really not much values that such muslim registry or a specific muslim like country register would effectively prevent terrorism. president obama disbanded this
program. we haven't had any major terrorist attacks. and this becomes a recruiting tool for isis. it is almost like encouraging racial profiling of muslim people, which it effect is doing and that actually helps to encourage terrorist whose want to attack us who look at us as an enemy of the muslim world. >> how would you propose some tracking for people coming to this country who are coming from countries or areas of questionable -- you know, obviously conflict. how would you propose doing that? if we don't have a tracking system for the people coming in. he's not advocating to talk about people here in america under constitutional protection. >> those are the people who when you look at orlando, people who actually carried out some of these recent attacks. if you just look on a raw basis -- >> -- people who are american citizens who are home grown terrorists who are committing acts of terrorism and we don't necessarily isolate people and identify them based on lineal. there is no way to guarantee
ethnicity or nationality or religion --. to do so is a damaging step for america to take. and it damage ours credibility around the world. >> would you include 80-year-old christian women in the potential terrorist ring. we have to be somewhat intelligence and narrow it down. there are 1.6 million -- >> -- i presume he's talk about the indonesia. which has had its own issue but that would give them cover to say oh it's not just muslim majority issue. one of the issues ear is whether it's slippery slope. you start with a list and a list can be used for other things. to fox and the "new york times" you said the japanese internment camps could provide precedents for supporting registries. their existence could provide precedent for a registry of people. >> did you see the tape though? >> yes. >> we all saw it.
>> and i read disturb. >> at no point base i ever even mention it. i was actually talk about the immigration reform under carter when he did the iran thing and also under world war ii. megan brought it up and i was shocked. >> she brought it up and you did say to the "new york times" that it would be a precedent for a register. >> exactly. >> here is thing. i don't actually advocate for any of this. i didn't bring it up. i was shocked when megan brought it up. i clarified today this is something that is a huge black mark on our society and we would never want to do it again. but you have to say that supreme court decision upholding with never overturned. should we overturn it? we should take a look another it. >> you are saying we don't support it but we should -- >> you're backtracking and -- now you don't want to be seen as that person saying those things. but the reality is it is out there and that decision that you talked about. that decision in 1944, even
justice antonin scalia said it is one of the worst decisions ever made by the united states supreme court. we don't want to go back to that precedent. just because there is an example in history means that we have to go that direction. this is an example of the black people being enslaved. we don't have go back to that either. >> donald trump was asked about internments and asked to disavow them. to time magazine he said i would have to be there at the time to give you a proper answer. i certainly hate the con but i would have had to be there at the time to give you a direct answer. and --. >> what i'm doing is no different than what f.d.r. f.d.r.'s solution for german's italian, japanese many years ago. >> so you are for internment camps? you are praising f.d.r. you are praising the set up of internment camps for --
>> no i'm not. what he was doing with germans and japaneses and italians was a he had do it. look we are at war radical islam. >> you certainly aren't imposing internment camps. >> no not all. >> he keeps upbringing f.d.r. is this not a slippery slope right in that direction. >> every time someone said internment camps he said that no no. but he needs to stake a look at it. we band immigration. we scrutinized it. and registered people coming in from certain places. it is all in the best interest to protect america. and just like the media that went in frenzy today over that. doesn't understand. do you want to be safe or not. he's not trying to hurt anybody. he's just trying to keep americans safe. >> blab rb barack obama did this. even know -- >> >>[chatter]. -- >> and we should continue to have heightened vetting for people coming into the country but the reality is the president has determined the national
security apparatus has determined this is not an effective strategy in terms of fighting terrorism. and when donald trump talks about any type of registry, regardless whether it is religious specific he has a history of saying offensive words about muslims so doz going to be interpreted as ab attack on the muslim community and that is not good for america. that will encourage terrorism and that is not a healthy solution. >> he's not anti-muslim. >> tell that to the muslim people. >> -- he's in fear of the radical faction of the muslim community that's done harm to the americans and the people abroad. >> my next was just there with donald trump. rick scott of florida. he's "outfront" next and the deep-seated fears some have of president elect trump. >> this country is my home. i feel like it is not. i feel like i'm not welcome here anymore. the morning ritual around here. people rely on that first cup
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and cabinet picks. among those nikki haley and the jeb hence egg ling and the florida governor rick scott and jeff sessions. governor scott is "outfront." thanks, nice to see you in person. >> nice to see you. -- >> i know, it is something that you were an early believer. back in january you actually prized donald trump for capturing the frustration of many americans. he's your friend. you saw him today. has it sunk in for you yet that this happened? >> you know, it is pretty exciting now that i have somebody i can call. i know mike pence. i can call mike. reince priebus is totally different the last six years. i've been governor almost six years. so it is pretty exciting. i'm very optimistic that we're going to see big change. i ran -- my race in 22 was similar to donalds. i was a businessman and outsider and people elected me because
they wanted change in our state. i think that is why donald got elected. they want change nationally. somebody is going to help with jobs. a problem with epa or transportation, i can call somebody and get a solution. >> are you concerned at all that he's saying things like i'm going to keep parts of obamacare. he's going back, at least he seems so far son only core campaign promises. are those promises you want do see him go back on? >> those are things that are not the core part of obamacare. those are things at the end to get votes. >> the expensive parts of the obamacare. >> the real expensive parts, exchange. but look the preexisting condition. everybody understands that. allowing people to stay on their parent's policy, that makes some sense. but the cost is exchange, the mandates, the taxes. that is the real thing that has to be changed. we've got to reduce cost. that is a problem with healthcare. it is all cost. i was in the healthcare business and it a costs too much. the way you do that is you get
competition. buy the insurance they want. across state lines, things like that. >> you would support that. when you were with president elect donald trump today you tweeted out a couple of pictures. one was a selfie. what was it like inside the meeting? how much time did you get? is it one person? ? i know it is a big office. windows on both sides. is it just you and him? and then how long? >> i met with president elect trump and reince priebus and i was probably there for 40, 45 minutes. i've been there in the past. his office is not as big as you think. but what's exciting today is he's focused on rebuilding obamacare. he's focused on finding really good people to be in his cabinet. >> and is he open to picking people who have aid horrible things about him. >> i'm not sure. but here is what you think about. americans voted for change. this is going to be -- this is
the trump administration. they are going to get change. i think whoever he picks is going to be what he believes in. and so i think he's going to go out and try to find the best person/people. that's what he did in business. that was his success in business. e found good people. he'll do the same with this. >> and you obviously know a lot about healthcare. it is where you came from. you were mentioned as a possible cabinet hick there for hhs. is that even on the table for you? or are you now getting ready to go for the senate. >> i've been clear. i've got 781 days to go as governor. i want to finish my job as governor. it is what i ran on. a lot of opportunities to continue to improve the states. we've added a million jobs. way to want keep this going. and improve education and keep people safe. i want to finish this job. i want to help him. i'll do anything i can to help but i want to finish the job.
>> other than taking a cabinet position. >> not taking a the cabinet position. and next, melania trump in the town she grew up. we're going to take you there. and voters who are taking the election results deeply personally. >> it is hard as it is to have these krconversations now, it i important to -- i'm sorry. hey, jesse. who are you? i'm vern, the orange money retirement rabbit from voya. vern from voya? yep, vern from voya. why are you orange? that's a little weird. really? that's the weird part in this scenario? look, orange money represents the money you put away for retirement. save a little here and there, and over time, your money could multiply. see? ah, ok. so, why are you orange? funny.
see how voya can help you get organized at voya.com. [burke] hot dog. seen it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two.
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the holidays, so come try one before it ends. breaking news. anti-trump protests for a ninth day. president obama rejecting calls to reign them in. >> i would not advise people who feel strongly or are concerned about some of the issues that have been raised during the course of campaign, i wouldn't advise them to be silent. >> clinton's loss has been hard for her supporters. especially some of the women. kyung lah is "outfront." >> you ready to get moving? >> nothing in her liberal community in los angeles has changed since the week of the presidential election. yet everything has. >> as comforting as -- as our bubble is that we live in, it is hard as it is to have these
conversations now, it is important to -- i'm sorry. it is important start listening. >> why is this so personal for you? >> children matter to me. and our minorities matter to me. because they are my friends and my community. and i want to make sure this they are okay and they don't feel okay. they feel really scared. >> if 2016 was identity politics, women across social media feel theirs is under attack in clinton's loss. video messages from miley cyrus. >> please, please just treat people in love and treat people with compassion and treat people with respect. >> to ordinary voters. >> this country is my home. i feel like it is not. i feel like i'm not welcome here anymore. >> reporter: emotion is spilled onto the streets of los angeles. mothers carrying signs and children. students walking out of
classrooms at ucla. these students supported hillary clinton. >> reporter: when you say you have fear in you, what do you mean? >> well i'm a woman, i'm black, i'm muslim. and those three factors basically being a black muslim women in america today is very scary and trump being elected just further build on to my fears. >> i how can i go forward knowing that people are okay with someone coming out and bragging about sexual assault and still voting for that person? >> i've had to wake up to the reality that a lot of america is not like what los angeles is like. >> reporter: more than week on, west coast women are still learni learning about their new national reality. it just doesn't look like any reality they believed they were living. >> there is this underlying fear in everything. and it is really unsettling. it is really unsettling feeling.
>> reporter: that feeling is being driven by anxiety of the unknown. they see what trump is doing, that it appears that he's walking back on some of his most extreme policies but then these women say he appoints steve bannon which signals that president elect trump will probably be candidate trump in their perspective. and erin we also asked do you want to know the other 50%, do you want to reach out to them, understand them? the mother in that piece said yes, she has to so she can bring them under the tent. but the college students said they are not quite so sure. >> perhaps something that comes with age. thank you very much. and "outfront" next. from small town schoolgirl to the white house. we'll go to slovenia to trace melania trump's hometown roots
melania trump, neighbor, childhood friends in the late 1970s, exchanged notes. melania is now principal of the elementary school. he remembers melania as mature, well spoken. a peacemaker between mature fighting children. and someone from an early age who dreamed of leaving slovenia to pursue a career as fashion designer. professional photographer saw melania had potential in front of the camera. he approached her on streets of the capital in 1987 and asked her to model for him. he says she was a natural. >> the first time and the second time. >> reporter: peter -- hung out with melania as their modelling
career was taking off. they cruised the area on his blue transport. >> still original color. also original leather seat. yes and she was here. >> reporter: melania hasn't lived there since she left elementary school. but the morning after trump's victory the american flag flew here next to the slovanian and european flag. the town beaming with pride but also well aware of the campaign including what donald trump calls locker room talk and allegations of the sexual assault which he denied. >> for every woman are not some easy words to hear from her husband. >> reporter: she and melania went to high school together. that is melania on the right. >> what do you think of the man she chose to be her husband. >> it is her choice.
be pushback here. he spoke very favorably of exxonmobil ceo rex tillerson. >> rex will will be a fierce ade for america's interests around the world and has insights and talents necessary to help reverse years of foreign policy blunders and disasters. [cheering] you're winning with health care. we're winning on the border. we're winning with isis. because we are going to get isis out. we're going to win so much, you will go to paul ryan, you will go, mr. speaker, please, please, we can't stand winning this much. we can't take it. and he is going to come to see me and he will -- mr. president, the people in wisconsin are tired of winning so much. >> more on that today. start with team fox coverage, david lee miller at trump tower in new york. begin with fox news digital
much, right. >> gnaw -- nah. donald trump won 306 electoral votes. you need 270 to win. is it conceivably possible that 37 electors would be what we call faithless? it has happened in the past, that one or two or here there, faithless in protest, not voting the way the voters of the state have ordained. this is, remember a federal republic, not a direct demock estimate they have agency. now they face consequences at home. every state has a different law what the penalty for an elector who doesn't follow state laws are. but let's say you get that many electors, some brag, may be as many as 20 that would be faithless. let's say you got it all the way up to 37 that you need to push trump under 270. then the election goes to the house and trump wins it there anyway. this is all cockamamie. bill: "wall street journal" writes this. what should really distress americans that the losers are
day ahead including a meeting with some of silicon valley top executives. trump tower. good morning, david lee, who do they expect over there today? >> a long list of special guests, martha. in fact you might best be calling trump tower silicon valley north. a number of titans of tech will be arriving in the next few years. invitees include representatives from apple, amazon, google, microsoft and ibm. the priority item on the agenda is expected to jobs, and the special visas. bill: issued by the government that allow many foreign tech workers to hold positions here. the president-elect's chief strategist steve bannon in the past expressed concern there were too many silicon valley ceos that hail from south asia or asia. at least one company will be bringing some welcome news. ibm announced that it plans to hire 25,000 tech professionals in the u.s. one tech titan
conspicuously absent from the invitee list though, argue hably the president-elect's favorite tech company, twitter. they are not expected to be represented here today. in other news it is now official. mr. trump is going to nominate rick perry as the energy secretary. in announcement just a few hours ago this morning the transition team said the former texas governor helped his state prosper by developing energy programs as well as infrastructure. and fox news has learned now that mr. trump plans to nominate montana republican congressman ryan zinkte as secretary of the interior. he is a former navy s.e.a.l. he met with mr. trump earlier this week on monday. the president-elect though still apparently looking for his agriculture secretary nominee. growing speculation is mr. trump is eyeing north dakota democratic senator heidi heitkamp the job. if offered heitkamp might turn it down.
a special election would have to be held to replace her and likely to favor a republican. lastly, still no word on mr. trump's choice for secretary of veterans affairs. veterans groups are calling for mr. trump keep robert mcdonald in that position. he had the job now for about two years. and many veterans groups say that mcdonald, a republican, has implemented the types of reforms they would like to see and hope that he continues to hold that position. martha? martha: we will see. david lee, thank you. mr. trump's pick for secretary of state, rex tillerson, face as rough road to confirmation mostly because of his ties to russia. is this an advantage or disadvantage for him? this is first faceoff between the trump white house and senate republicans opposed to this. how will this go down? a packed show beginning a senator from tennessee bob corker who was up for that job, one of the people under consideration. the chairman of the senate
foreign relations committee. they're the people who will hold tillerson's confirmation hearing. he will be here in a few minutes. we look forward to that. we'll get thoughts from trump transition team spokesman jason miller. who will be here as they work on convincing skeptical republicans that tillerson is the man for the job. this is the first showdown likely to happen for one of these spots. bill: trump had merry christmas on the lecturn last night which was really nice touch. we added our own nice touch, martha. christmas trees. the poinsettias. martha: we love christmas spirit and love having this around. bill: we do too. merry christmas. could this be another record-breaker? market set to open in 20 minutes. dow looking for a major milestone. 20,000 today? maybe? maria bartiromo is here to talk about that live in a moment. martha: it dances around it but will it close above it, that is the question? it's a meltdown of humanity, the
images, video, the voices from aleppo will break your heart. we'll show you what is going on there as cease-fire unravels when we come back. >> the civilians are stuck in very small area that doesn't exceed two square kilometers with no safeguards, no. save aleppo. safe humanity.
bill: president-elect donald trump pushing ahead for his pick of secretary of state. exxonmobil ceo rex tillerson setting up potential showdown in the u.s. senate, including members of his own party who have concerns over ties to the russia leader vladmir putin. mr. trump heaping praise on his pick just last night in wisconsin. >> very excited about rex. you know rex is friendly with many of the leaders in the world that we don't alongwith. some people don't like that. they don't want to be friendly. i am doing the deal with rex because this is what it is all about, tennessee north bob corker chairing the senate foreign relations committee leading you're on the short list. why do you think he went in a different direction? >> look, as, as i said when president-elect trump called me on monday night rex tillerson is
someone known around the globe. he has run a huge operation. he knows these people personally. for what president trump wishes to do, i think rex tillerson was his best choice, i really do. so now he is moving into confirmation hearings. obviously bill, what people are going to want to know, rex under the hood, advising the president. it will be the president's foreign policy that is carried out but people will really want to press him what his views are of our relationship to russia, china. many of the people in the middle east and that's what these hearings are about. my guess is he will be very prepared. i just got a call from someone who will be handling his transition and, we'll have those hearings set. bill: you said in your answer there, for what mr. trump wants to do. what is that based on your understanding? >> well he's, look, let's face it, he will tell you himself. he is a prolific deal maker and
i think people are going to want to understand towards what end? you know we had, bill, 60 or 70 years of policy towards europe since world war ii where they have been whole, democratic and free. putin obviously is trying to upset. what he is doing in the baltics, eastern ukraine, crimea. how he helped destablize with many of the just efforts that have taken place in europe and just the refugee crisis itself. so which he has helped produce through what's happened in syria. so, people are going to want to understand that. and even though rex tillerson is a businessman had to do business with these people and to me that is very understandable, of course he did, and the fact that he nose these people to me is certainly a plus but i'm going to want to know, everyone else is, on the committee is going to want to understand. so what will he be advising the president as it relates to those
relationships, and the norms that we've had in place to keep us as an alliance in a very strong position. bill: okay you said a lot in your answer there and you know being friendly does not necessarily dictate a friendship. >> no. bill: as twisted as that statement may sound but you had your own colleagues, john mccain, lindsey graham, marco rubio especially, they already expressed mixed feelings. will rex tillerson be confirmed? >> so, i'm going to bet at the end of the day, again i have had conversations with him through the year, bill. this guy is a guy that exudes confidence, calm, strength, leadership. i assume, unless he is going to totally attempt to reorder the world as relates to our relationships, that he will be but again, it is not going to be your normal pro-forma deal. the last two secretaries of state were widely known, relative to their views.
rex tillerson highly respected comes to this as a clean slate where no one really understands what those views are. people are going to want to know. i mean, look, putin has not been a friend to the united states. putin has not been a friend to freedom and democracy and western values and cometics. i mean that is just not who he is, and people are going to want to know, and it's accelerated or amplified by the fact that president-elect trump has said some things relative to russia that, let's face it, very different than where we've been. that alone has sort of amplified people's concerns about secretary of state tillerson but my guess is at end of the day he is confirmed. bill: are there concerns that you have, then? let's -- that could be a deep hole, sir, and i think you understand that. >> yeah. so bill, i began this with
knowledge that i have tremendous respect for this person. so i began there that he is competent. he's done big things. he has been at the same place for 43 years. he is a great american, okay, he is. so i began there. but i do want to probe these things and i got to believe if gates and condoleeza rice and dick cheney and steve hadley and jim baker, all people that i respect, i got to believe if they're behind him, they know that his view of the world is similar to it theirs and you know, so there is some alignment here. i go into this -- as chairman, you know, it is going to be a neutral application of the process and, yeah, i've got some questions that i'd like to have answered. everyone else does too. my guess is he will perform well. bill: okay. last question, you will hold hearings on russia and so-called
ties to our past election. do you believe moscow tipped the election in donald trump's favor? >> i have no way of knowing and that is why we're going to have these briefings and hearings, maybe even go a lot deeper. no question it appears they have hacked, bill. sophisticated countries do things to gather intelligence. i mean it used to be almost done by, always done by human beings, human intelligence, we call humint. there are other ways of gathering intelligence and countries do this around the world so should we have our hair on fire that hacking took place? no. i mean that's what happens. but then the question is, i mean we you should protect against it, don't get me wrong. as i said on another program, bill, every time i make a phone call i assume somebody from another country is trying to
listen in on that, but what was it they were attempting to do? anytime that someone like putin, an autocrat, can really cause americans to have this discussion or other countries as the integrity of the electoral process, he's winning, he's winning. if he can discredit the integrity of what we do here in the voting process in electing folks, he is winning. and so we do need to get to the bottom of it and understand what it was he was attempting to do. the dni has one view. the cia has a different view. the fbi has a different view and so we as policymakers need to understand what exactly has occurred here. bill: senator, thank you for your time. bob corker out of tennessee in tennessee. >> thank you, bill. bill: thank you. 21 past. martha. martha: a lot there. so president-elect trump pledged to stop companies from sending jobs overseas. now a major tech company with big announcement today bringing workers back home.
we'll tell you who that is. plus he was welcomed into our home as the all-american dad. family and friends now remembering alan thicke after his shocking death at just 69 years old yesterday. we'll be right back. what makes this simple salad the best simple salad ever?
20,000 is that -- certainly it is within reach. is it sustainable is the question. >> we'll see what happens on inauguration. a lot of market watchers say, buy the market until at least donald trump gets in there but right now it is all on the expectation that earnings are going to get a real boost as a result of policies he is putting in place, rolling back regulations and lowering taxes. i remember when you and i both were on floor of new york stock exchange and we were celebrating 10,000. martha: 10,000. >> we're talking about dow 20,000. does 20,000 mean anything? not really. it is just a round number but at the same time it creates an excitement and creating an acknowledgement this is fundamental rally. this is not about noise. this is not about short selling or volume. this is about the fact that things are getting better and they are expected to get better. i told you earlier when we were talking the other day, one of analysts i spoke with expecting earnings to be up 20% as a result of corporate tax rate that pulled down to 15%. martha: yeah.
what's good for companies is not always good for jobs. we see an intense amount of automation, robotics going into a lot of these earnings numbers. ibm says 25,000 more jobs. she is part of the advisory committee to donald trump on jobs. they will all talk technology today, right? >> i think so. it is interesting with a little effort and with the messaging that donald trump has been putting out there, everybody gets into line. so here you have general my romiti going to trump tower today, before she gets there she announces she will create 25,000 jobs. i think it -- martha: after she gets in the door. put the offer right on the table. >> you make the right point. it is really skillsets out there. people have jobs openings, but can't find people that actually have skillsets required to fill those jobs. she send couraging donald trump to do more training when it comes to technology. that probably will come up today. martha: initially tech stocks sold off after trump was elected.
there was a bitter feeling that he was not favorable to that group, maybe to hardcore manufacturing and rust belt and those folks. how do you think it will go today. >> they were not favorable to him. entire election they were clearly in hillary clinton's camp. martha: wrote a big check. >> sketch bezos who owns "washington post." said they were folk to put 20 reporters on donald trump because they owe it to readers. they wouldn't put anymore reporters on hillary clinton. tech stocks traded down on the expectation. also because they were not expected to get favorable policies they have been getting under president obama. i want to be a fly in the wall on meeting. they definitely want to have h1b visas. they want cheap labor. hire people overseas give them less for jobs than they would. that is not going to fly for donald trump. martha: apple, for example that would be huge and one of the things that we see, everybody goes in there, seems to come out
saying, oh what a great guy. he has great plans. so he is very charming ability to win people over. we'll see how long it lasts. always the question. maria, thank you very much. good stuff. good to see you. bill: from a local campus to you at home. a professor in a major school banning words illegal immigrant. what is behind all of that? the choice for secretary of state getting a mix of praise and caution from congress. you heard from senator bob corker a moment ago. is there a showdown in the offing? what does trump team think about all this? jason miller is on deck live after this. >> i believe we're in the process of putting together one of the great cabinets. certainly a cabinet with the highest i.q. that anybody has ever, i mean these -- [cheering] these are seriously great people. you don't let anything keep you sidelined.
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of state, rex tillerson, is too cozy with vladmir putin and that should be automatic disqualifier for the job. that is preview of what we get for the confirmation process that lies ahead. senate foreign relations committee will hold a confirmation hearing. chairman bob corker with us a moment ago, here is what he said about tillerson's hearing. >> putin has not been a friend to the united states. putin has not been a friend to freedom and democracy, and western values and competition. i mean that is just not who he is and people are going to want to flow. it's accelerated, or amplified by the fact that president-elect trump has said some things relative to russia that, let's face it, it is very different than where we've been and that alone has sort of amplified people's concerns. martha: so what does the trump team have to say about this? jason miller, communications
director for the trump transition team. good to see you this morning. >> good morning. >> bottom line for rex tillerson does he believe russia is our friend or our enemy? >> he believes we don't have to come in on day one saying countries are enemy, whether we need to work together to defeat radical islamic terrorism. i had opportunity to speak with him at length and get to know him a little bit. this guy is a world class negotiator. he has gone in and negotiated toughest deals. he has relationships with finance ministers and business leaders all around the world. he worked in almost every theater of this entire planet. when the president-elect met with him, blown away at initial meeting. president-elect thought that mr. tillerson was one of the most impressive people he met through the entire process. he realizes we need someone to advocate for us on world stage. rex tillerson is that person. martha: got it. when you think about the other people they talk to though, bob corcoran included, also mitt romney, mitt romney said russia is the biggest threat to world peace and to our country.
and bob cork hears said similar things. he said in that sound bite that he questions where mr. trump comes down on russia. so the basic fundamental question is, does the trump administration believe that vladmir putin is a man of violence who has been behind the slaughtering of hundreds of thousands of people in syria? that he has relationship with iran that is questionable? is that in line with what the trump administration will believe? >> you're respectfully speaking looking at it through the wrong lens. i think we should be looking at where there are ways to work with other countries to achieve common goals. now does this mean russia is our great ally. not saying that. does it mean they're an enemy from day one? we don't need to walk in on day one immediately start crossing off countries saying they're enemies. martha: but you have to acknowledge the acts that have taken place as a starting point. you know the things that i'm bringing up, jason, are just because, this is what is going brought up by john mccain.
this is what you guys will hear at senate confirmation hearing from graham, rubio, mccain in the larger process when it gets to a full senate vote, when it gets through committee. these are questions he will have to answer. >> what we'll see rex tillerson is someone who stood up to vladmir putin and said no. he is someone to -- martha: how did he do that? >> in the process of negotiations with specific deals as he was rep ending exxonmobil. obviously mr. tillerson will represent american citizens. bottom line how do we get good results for our country? rex tillerson is someone done that if you ask people around the world what is the reputation of rex tillerson? what do people know him for? he is tough negotiator. i think this is one of the things that the president-elect was really attracted to about rex tillerson. he can go and do that. in a league that -- martha: i think that is understood. he is obvious hely someone who has a lot of respect out there. when you have condoleeza rice and bob gates and people of that ilk believing in him. >> jim baker, dick cheney. martha: he knows a lot about
russia. but the question in this hearing process everyone understands that as the ceo you have completely different responsibilities. people want to see those deals get done. but as representative of the united states you want to have a good feel whether or not he believes that at its root, putin is somebody who we should or can possibly deal with. somebody who has been very close to assad. someone who has been very close to iran. is that somebody we can negotiate or deal with? >> well, again the thing that i would say number one thing we need our secretary of state doing advocating for the president-elect's america first foreign policy. mr. trump won with overwhelming number of electoral delegates, biggest number for republican since 1988. people are buying into this america-first foreign policy will we send reps out -- martha: the question be that america first include alliance with russia, something maybe romney and corker sat down in the same meetings were not going along with?
>> we need to look at different ways to to work with -- we talk about defeating isis, countries acting in good faith want to defeat isis we should look to do that. that is absolutely silly to cross it off the table? absolutely not. will we stand up and be firm? we've seen it from the president-elect and seen it from some of his picks, people like rex tillerson. to cross people off we can't work with them to defeat someone like isis -- talk about overall geopolitical stability of region on the middle east. we're not in this by ourselves. there are a lot of other players. if we can't sit down to have a conversation we're not going anywhere. martha: people point to reagan and gorbachev what they were able to accomplish. gorbachev and putin very, very different people. he obviously needs to have his moment in front of he have one because america doesn't know rex tillerson and you guys have talked to him. so he will get his chance to you know, be presented on the world stage. people will hear from him self. that is very important part. >> very impressive person. so one who run one of the
world's largest companies, over 70,000 employees. he is literally worked in every region of the world. we talk about southeast asia and south america. understands the middle east and security issues. very impressive person. i think people will be really impressed when they start to really get to know rex tillerson. martha: everybody looks forward to that opportunity. thank you very much, jason. good to have you with us today. >> thanks, martha. ♪ >> what you did do night took rile courage, mike. i admire you. >> thanks. >> you sleep on it. >> good night, dad. >> good night, mike. >> thanks, dad. >> oh! [applause] bill: a lot of us waking up to the sad news a legacy of love and laughter for alan thicke. the veteran actor died yesterday.
at age of 69. apparently a heart attack. his tv career spanned five decades. stints as writer and composer and late night host. he was best known of course for playing the dad on the 1980s sit come growing payne. thicke's costar kirk cameron right writings on instagram friday, i spent monday through friday for seven important years with alan thicke as my tv dad. i am shocked at his death. he was kind and loving man. joy anna kearns played his wife. we change ad life-changing friendship. he is survived by his three sons and wife town y the world saying good-bye to actor alan thicke, gone too soon age of 89 years old. martha: 69. bill: 69. very talented. touched a lot of lives here and
about everywhere. martha: what a shock. playing basketball with his 19-year-old son. had a heart attack. he is so beloved. our hearts go out to him and his family as well. in the meantime we will talk about the fact that democrats are sounding the alarm over the alleged russian interference in the presidential election. harry reid saying it is just as bad as 9/11. really? we'll talk about that, fair and balanced debate when we come right back. . see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to know that... ...i won't stop until i find what works. discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. proven to help the majority of people find clear or almost clear skin. 8 out of 10 people saw 75% skin clearance at 3 months. while the majority saw 90% clearance. do not use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting, you should be tested for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections
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george w. bush, jessica tarlov, senior political analyst for shown consulting. 9/11. watergate. i don't know, what else do you want to put in that category? pearl harbor, take your pick on the hyperbole. >> good thing harry reid is old news. will not be in washington. he is not going to be governing. this is another attempt by democrats to delegitimatize the fair and free election of trump trump. russians were not the cause of donald trump being elected. it was incompetence of hillary clinton. bill: jessica, you want to take that on? >> okay. well there is a lot there. first of all i would like to say -- bill: start with harry reid. do you believe this is as bad as 9/11? >> obviously not. 9/11 in category all its own. hyperbole hurts our cause. i disagree this is democrats doing that. harry reid is only one opinion saying about that elijah
cummings, adam schiff, this investigation is bipartisan into what the russians are doing, if they're in our system. not because i think the election outcome is going to change, it is not. we need to know if they were some way tampering. we need to know how much information we have just like china and north korea. a lot of people want our stuff. bill: perhaps i may rewind and remind all of this from two months ago. the commander-in-chief said the following. >> there is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even, you could even rig america's elections. and so i would advise mr. trump to stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes. bill: funny how things -- >> yeah. what a difference an election makes. but one thing is for sure, we have a cyber problem in america. we are not as diligent as we should be. as a matter of fact, the experts have told us that cyber attacks
in america are more threatening now than a nuclear attack. we're not doing the kind of job we should be doing but we shouldn't be using this election as an excuse. bill: what is the proper way to manage that, brad? >> what we need to do, need in the confirmation hearings of defense officials and intel officials pin them down on what donald trump's position is going to be and policy on cybersecurity. that is the ultimate threat to america, whether it comes from russia or anybody else. but let's not use this election as an excuse. because that's not the real root of our problems in america. it is our national grid. our national defense. >> i don't disagree with brad. we were talking in the green room about leon panetta's speech he gave the intrepid four years ago he said next warfare front will be cyber. our grid could go. what if all heating in america suddenly goes out during the winter? we have no capability to fix something like that. but in terms of what is going on with the election, this is not just something democrats are
concerned b. john mccain, lindsey graham, richard burr. there will be hearings in house and senate of this and can accept the results of election still be concerned and talk about this and talk about the election way russians infiltrated our systems. we know that is possible. we need to be concerned that donald trump's attitude towards the russians and rex tillerson. bill: they're trying to make this whole thing look like it is not legitimate? >> the election, mandate question. bill: many, many republicans are already, you can't use this as a dog whistle. >> that's right. bill: to make it seem as if our democracy is on, is falling apart because of it. >> i think it is very dangerous. hillary clinton lost because of 80,000 vote in three key states. there were mistakes that were made didn't have to do with russians. spend your time in michigan, not in arizona. you win that way if you're a democrat. i think that is what we should be focusing on and refurbishing
party in 2018 and 2020, we have great prospects to win seats. bill: irony, podesta, he was hacked and fell with this phishing ex-pa dills. forwarded email so one of his staff. this is legitimate email. john needs to change his password immediately and apparently he did or they did and the result was a wide open door. >> check your auto correct all the time. bill: brad, that is rich with irony. last word. >> no question that our systems are you will vulnerable to russians and others but let's not use the election as the dog whistle. we have bigger fish to fry, that is our national security. that is what we should be concentrating on. that is with we should have hearings on, not the result. election. >> thanks a lot bill. yes, i'll remember. bill: i'm sure you will. cool. martha, what is next? martha: the word police are out in force on the campus of usc. controversy on campus. the professor who tries to ban a certain phrase from being used
by students when they write their final exams. what's that about? we'll be explaining right in a moment.
good to see you this morning. how does she the professor get away with this? doesn't every student have the right to put whatever words they want in their essay on their final exam? >> well, absolutely they corks but of course that is always at the, there are always at mercy of a professor this kind of situation. that is the danger of having so many progressive in teaching positions students, whether they're conservative, moderate, lean liberal but want to talk about things truthfully, when they can't talk about them with the proper language to describe them, that is when you get this sort of situation. martha: when students push back in these sorts of situations, for instance, if someone were to say well, i believe these individuals broke the law and that makes them illegal immigrants, they would probably not get a good grade i'm assuming or get points off for using a phrase that wasn't supposed to be used? >> presumably not. that is so much of a problem in this day and age with political correctness, with professors using their power over students, demanding that they not use terms like illegal immigrant.
this is the sort of thing we see every day at leadership institute of campus reform. this is scary. this is how you get into the situation with fahrenheit 451. you can't talk about things properly. we don't do it for any category of crime. we don't call drug dealers, undocumented pharmacists. we ought to talk about people illegally living in this country illegal immigrants. martha: there is pushback on students on campuses who voted for donald trump, berated by fellow students and ostracized by fellow students. is there any indication what you study and look at all the time in this country this election is going to change any of the sort of things that we're seeing in this email? >> i think to a certain point but it will be from the students point of view. these are tenured radicals you've had in universities for years, if not multiple decades. i don't think you are going to see a tremendous shift on part of the professors. the pushback is going to come from students who will no longer be afraid to speak their mind because we have now entered the
i think, in a lot of regards, post-political correctness era. students are many about being less and less afraid to say no, this is wrong, this is illegal immigration, not whatever. euphemistic term you want me to use. this is what it is. this is what we'll call it. we'll see what happens next four to eight years on this. martha: i'm sure you will. you have given students a voice and a bit of a platform to stick up for their freedom of speech. thank you very much, sterling. we'll see you next time. >> absolutely. thank you. bill: president-elect trump apparently considering key democrats for some remaining positions not yet determined. what is his position based on? we'll examine in a moment. could one or both of these democrats be tagged next? more coming up on that top of the hour here on "america's newsroom."
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eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus had less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis had both. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. i'm still going for my best. and for eliquis. ask your doctor about eliquis. martha: to kick things off donald trump playing the game within the game trying to woo
democrats into his administration but is it about more than people he has his eye on for the cabinet? come on over to america's newsroom. eric: how are you doing? martha: great. bill: looking like a game of chess as president-elect trump stocks his cabinet and his leadership team. two democrats have surfaced in their talks, north dakota senator heidi heidi camp, joe mention, both hold seats in red states that would be at risk if they step down to serve in the administration. martha: thank you, ed henry live in washington, some pressure on both mention and height camp to turn 9 the offer they are getting from the trump administration. >> senate democrats are scrambling in the building behind me behind the scenes to make sure neither of these
democrats wind up in the trump cabinet. joe mention swan west virginia, a republican leaning state even though he is a democrat, state carried by donald trump and he was up for secretary of energy, he did not get it, rick perry being nominated instead. but heightcamp also from a red state is up for secretary of agriculture, that had not been announced by donald trump in the mix for that, someone behind closed doors to talk to trump and the point is is it good to reach across the aisle, have a democrat or two in the cabinet to show you are bipartisan but this is truly, the reason senate democrats are scrambling, they are worried if she says yes and becomes agriculture secretary that makes it hard for democrats to keep that seat in democratic hands, likely to go republican and donald trump not just getting an agriculture secretary
but another republican vote in the senate for his nomination, his agenda like tax cuts and that is why this is multidimensional chess, not just about cabinet picks. martha: you have to wonder what the democrats are able to offer these two senators that is more enticing than a spot in the president's cabinet. >> reporter: it could be a committee post like the appropriations committee which oversees all federal spending, a seat on the finance committee which oversees all tax policies, that is very powerful also, putting together what is going to be the new version of obamacare, healthcare, could be something like that or leadership post, all kinds of things. here is something else to watch as we put together a list of all the democrats up for election in 2018 in the senate and in state carried by donald trump. the point is these are 10 democrats who could be very vulnerable because in some cases, michigan for example,
donald trump barely won that state. it was a surprise. there were other states where he carried it big like west virginia. estate like florida will be interesting for bill nelson who is up for reelection. who else is on this list? heidi height camp from north dakota. that is part of her calculation as well which is if i don't take this cabinet post and i listen to the democrats pressuring me to tell president know, i might face a really hard reelection battle and lose my seat anyway in north dakota. martha: thank you, good to see you. with more on this is senior editor of the "national review" and fox news contributor, thanks for coming in today. what do you make of that? >> brilliant and important for the trump campaign to take some democratic senators off the table. there margin in the senate is really narrow.
we saw this with the tillerson nomination but you have 52 republican senators everybody gets to pretend i am the crucial 51st vote giving everybody leverage was the more you can pass that lead to the republicans the more the white house has leverage over senators rather than senators having leverage over the white house but we do see this every administration where they try, there is a tradition of picking someone from the other party for one cabinet position. i also think this isn't just about cabinet picks. it is not entirely just about senators. it is about the image of the parties. one of the reasons why a lot of conservative democrat switched over and became republicans under reagan was the images of the party changed and we are seeing that again right now so you are seeing someone like joe mention, his state is essentially a republican state. is a popular lagging behind the trend conservative democrat. martha: a lot of people thought he might cross over. >> like jim jeffers had done.
so the image the republican party is now the home of politicians like joe mention or heitkamp is terrible for the democrats, they are having an identity crisis, we are just blue state lobbyists from san francisco and new york, they can start hemorrhaging all of their blue-collar -- martha: someone from west virginia and north dakota in the heartland. when president obama tried to get judd gregg to come into his cabinet and greg said yes, former senator from new hampshire getting a feel for what the economic plan was. i can't back this, can't do it, and left. it is tough to do but perhaps admirable to ring these people in and crafty politically. >> something i forgot about was in this moment everyone is accusing the other side of being paranoid the reason greg's nomination got killed was democrats were terrified a republican might be in charge of the census and that would steal
the election. the idea that this is something new to this moment is not quite right. martha: good to see you. bill: we are watching to see who walks through that door next. it will be a who's who of technology leaders from companies including amazon and apple, microsoft and google, facebook and tesla, big hitters in that crowd. big corporate names from general motors, jpmorgan, disney, walmart, pepsi, boeing, general electric. last night in wisconsin paul ryan patched up months of bad blood taking the stage with mister trump, very interesting rally. the latest stop on his thank you tour where mister trump focus on putting americans back to work, here is part of that. >> my administration will be focused on three very important words.
jobs, jobs, jobs. it is time to help get americans off of welfare and back into the labor market. rebuilding this country with american hands with american workers. my administration will follow two simple rules. by american and hire american. from now on it is going to be america first. america first. bill: mister trump defending his choice for state department, rex tillerson and he will nominate rick perry for secretary of energy. several reports out today saying mister trump is expected to choose montana republican ryan zinc read to be interior secretary, he has a background as a navy seal and more. all this petrus that is pieces on the portraits are filling in day by day. martha: he called paul ryan and joe in yes last night. if he doesn't agree with me he will be in trouble, we are going to build a wall, paul. we will see how that goes.
great buddies on that stage. bill: change is for now. fox news alert. but five your syrian cease-fire collapsing in the last holdout in that country may be lost to syrian forces. bombs raining down, remaining rebel held areas of eastern aleppo just one day after a deal brokered by russia and turkey would have allowed trapped civilians and rebels to evacuate. john huddy is watching this live. good day. >> syrian president bashar al-assad said the cease-fire was meant to, quote, save the terrorists and block forces from getting into the rest of eastern aleppo and taking control of all of aleppo but a cease-fire is the aim of that, to get thousands of residents out and pay of the way, open the way for
bashar al-assad's forces to get in. now there is the finger pointing back and forth about who is to blame for the failed cease-fire. it was brokered by turkey and russia, announced last night and fell apart this morning when it resumed and an estimated 50,000 civilians remained trapped in a small pocket of eastern aleppo, rebel controlled arrows and opposed to shuttle out about 15,000 people and 4000 rebel fighters and their families were stopped or turned around so you have these people that are basically stuck on the eastern edges of the eastern part of the city, a deadly claim -- game of politics as the story continues. martha: new questions on democrats putting pressure on the electoral college to change their votes which they do on december 19th. is there an attempt to subvert
our elect oral outcome? not talking about russia. we will debate that fair and balanced coming up. bill: will rex tillerson be confirmed as secretary of state, remaining to be convinced. senator rand paul might be one of them. mister trump from last night again in wisconsin. >> rex is friendly with many of the leaders in the world we don't get along with and some people don't like that. they don't want him -- that is why i'm doing the deal with rex because i like what this is all about.
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howard dean. good to have both of you here today. basically these electors wanted an intelligence briefing so they could learn more about the russian hacking into the election. here is a quote from the editorial in the journal that says john podesta released his statement that we support that issue. hours after 10 members of the electoral college send a letter to the director of the the and i seeking information at 4 different -- interference to judge if mister trump was, quote, fit to serve. there are a couple issues in that statement. what do you think about this effort? >> it is absurd, a part of democrats to continue to not surrender. there are 538 people picked by american voters to cast their votes and so far the way this works is they go on next monday
to the state capital in 50 states plus the district of columbia and cast a vote directed by the public in each state am a very clear that trump has had a big victory there and there is no defection. the idea that you will take 538 people and give them a national security briefing over the weekend, something that is an absurd challenge at this point makes no sense to me and it is purely partisan crybaby as far as i'm concerned. martha: what do you think? >> i don't think there is going to be a chance of anything like this happening. they don't get security clearances, but the bigger reason is only one republican elector has signed a letter asking for this briefing. they have a right to ask for the briefing but i don't think it is going to happen and nothing like this ever gathers any steam unless the winning party, donald trump's party actually starts to
see people, those electors make the call. nancy pelosi's daughter -- martha: sorry to interrupt. everyone feels it will not change the outcome of the election but the fact that john podesta is leaning into the saying we support this, it is similar to what we saw from the hillary camp in the recount. everyone knew that was not going to go anywhere as well but the clinton camp came out and ted we support it, we are open to you guys doing this. why not take the high road at this point? >> we need republican electors to ask for this and i don't see how john podesta or the clinton campaign leaning in helps to have that happen so i don't think -- i agree with ed, this is not something that will go very far. it is a separate question from should bipartisan committees in congress look into what the
russians were doing? that, i think is legitimate and the electors have the right to ask this. i just don't think, every democratic elector can ask for this even if they got the briefing or thought there was something there, doesn't change anything if republican electors all vote the way they are supposed to. martha: the hysteria over foreign cyberattacks is interesting in the journal touches on this given the point where this is, liberated during the obama years but the president never held any national government accountable even when officials fingered the russians this summer for hacks of the dnc mister obama did nothing but wag a finger. >> we had 58 election since 1789. every four years we have an election, someone wins, someone loses, some president are great, some are okay, that is part of the process is the electoral process was set up, we are not a
democracy, we are republic, guided by the voters who have spoken in these states that at the end of the day, mrs. clinton and her team ought to simply say election is over, thanks for those who voted for us, she wants a voice in american politics again she can, but she's not an elected official. martha: we are concerned about hacking and everyone should be on a broader level, that should be a bipartisan effort and can't come and go at the women's of elections you win or don't win. >> that is all true but the other side is the electoral college as the founders set it up as a deliberative body. they are allowed to make a decision within the realm of the top two or three candidates who should win this thing. they have a right to ask for the briefing. i just don't think it is going to change anything or they are going to get it. if this electoral college is not a deliberative body than let's get rid of the electors, not talking about getting rid of the electoral college but let's get
rid of the electors. >> you and i both know, you have been around the game a long time. the electors are picked just like nancy pelosi. political people who are picked by the candidates and pledged to vote how voters direct them. we have been in a lot of agreement. martha: good to have you both, see you next time. bill: members of the media going nuclear over russia, phrases like national emergency, calls to throw out the election. is it just over the top? howard kurtz will cover the coverage in a moment. martha: a heartbreaking situation unfolding in syria, many are just waking up to what is going on and it is being called a meltdown of humanity. >> everyone who can hear me we are here exposed to a genocide. this may be my last video.
more than 15,000 civilians who rebelled against the dictator assad are dying under bombings.
process into question. howard kurtz is going to be very busy, host of media buzz. what is your sense about the russian hearings? why don't we start there and ask the following question? how serious, how legitimate is that particular question? >> all the questions surrounding russia demand serious journalistic scrutiny. you have a new president who wants to have warmer relations with moscow, the whole cyberhacking disaster which although the media helped turn it into a partisan slugfest is basically an assault on our democracy, the new secretary of state rex tillerson is a friend of letter book, sanctions imposed after the russian incursion of ukraine, will those be lifted? that is serious business. martha: is there a media freak out? it strikes me this is the only thing people are writing about.
>> at the very least it seems to be a joy they heart freak out. forgive me if i don't take my foreign-policy from joy behar. a liberal comedian who cannot stand donald trump. last week she was saying the president-elect suffers from mental illness, now she is saying do we have to wait until we're living under the hammer and sickle? it led in unfunny directions but she is one example of a lot of journalists who in the media establishment who don't like the president-elect's new approach. there is a sort of hard-line default position that you have in the mccain lindsey graham wing of the gop among some democrats and among many in the media who are looking askance at the fact that donald trump said openly during the campaign he doesn't see why russia has to be our comparison. bill: trump is a different man, he took on the cia this past
weekend but the more it is written about, the more it is talked about do you find in your experience they drag the american public with them along with the story? or not? >> an interesting question. i think the american public has next feelings. a lot of concern about russia and its aggressive posture on the world stage. at the same time, trump made no secret of this, we got along better with russia maybe russia could help us in other areas of the world like syria and the middle east, foreign-policy experts are wary of that approach but it does seem to me that i think trump went a little too far in being dismissive of the cia on the leaks, cyberhacking and stuff about the election. he took it is trying to undermine his legitimacy as president but i don't think anybody seriously thinks that hacking, terrible as it was was responsible for donald trump winning the election. he won it fair and square but talking about these are the same
people who brought the don hussein's wmd, he said himself at odds with the intelligence community but at the same time this is probably the most important foreign policy issue. with everything else trump is going to do things differently. anybody gets used to that the public better get used to it. bill: a data point we will remember. thank you so much. covering the coverage, thanks. martha: donald trump said repealing obamacare is job number one when he gets to the white house, democrats think it will not happen. who is right? >> will republican support the choice for secretary of state. we will talk to senator rand paul about that and more next. >> majority leader mitch mcconnell and so many more and people are looking at this resume and honestly they have never seen a resume like this
before.
>> rex will be a fierce advocate for america's interests around the world and has the insights to help, years of foreign policy blunders and disasters. >> the outline for a fight in the senate taking place with president-elect trump defending his choice for secretary of state. many democrats will oppose rex to listen and some republicans raising questions about his connections to vladimir putin in russia. senator rand paul serves in homeland security foreign relations committee, how are you doing? good morning and thank you for coming back. >> in the end yes. there will be some questions. hearings are good. we are supposed to give advice and consent and there will be hearings and we talk a lot about
this. it is unfair to prejudge mister tillerson and think because he had good relations in making deals around the world that that somehow makes him an unfit candidate. it may be the opposite. having good relations with world leaders and being able to negotiate with them is what you want in your chief diplomat. bill: did marco rubio go too far? he had concerns about the nominee. >> people prejudged he got an award from russia, therefore his chief interest would be russia. i presume his chief interest will be america and i wouldn't prejudge someone's patriotism or support of america by saying they have divided interests. when he worked for his company his first interest was making money and that is his job. you are by bob bound to make money for your company but making deals that are good. interesting thing about the business world is and you make a deal with another country or another individual both parties have to believe they made a good
deal, both parties gained the transaction, diplomacy is the same way. if you are negotiating the end of a war both sides have to save face with even the losing party has to feel this is the best outcome to make this deal. negotiation is real hard and we shouldn't prejudge tillerson before we hear more from him. bill: is he confirmed or not? >> likely yes. bill: nancy pelosi thinks i don't think they, republicans, will repeal the affordable care act meaning obamacare. is she right or not? >> she is dead wrong. we will repeal obamacare, we promised the american people, if we do nothing, it is unraveling before our eyes, it isn't working, isn't helping the people intended to help. if you were poor in america the price of your insurance is
rising, obamacare has high deductibles. it isn't working for anyone in the country. more choices, more competition and lower prices. >> it is not a political position but economic reality. >> economic reality is the government doesn't do a good job beating the mail, you don't have a profit motive, and they get government has much of healthcare as we can it replace with the marketplace. competition and lower prices. >> you are going to be busy. tell our audience about new
congress. and get through. >> the number one thing president trump could do and republican congress could do is repeal regulations that are killing jobs. president obama made this by executive order and regulatory order, president trump can undo it on day one. we can repeal by law with a simple majority and sends to president trump's desk. these job killing regulations once they are gone allow the economy to be growing again. taxes on businesses and individuals, american companies are leaving and going abroad because taxes are lower. if we fix that more companies will stay here and more jobs will be created. bill: regulations one and taxes one a. your relationship with him was rather curious during the primary campaign. how would you characterize it now? >> we had our moments but i have
thick skin. i don't agree with president-elect on everything but when i do i am happy to be supportive. i try to be a happy warrior even with president obama. i didn't agree with 90% of what he was for but the 10% i did agree with him on i was happy to say publicly, criminal justice reform, other things i agree with president obama on. i will do the same with trump but i agree more with president trump then president obama. bill: when you are walking down the street and someone talk to any restaurant and say how is this going to work out, how do you phrase what you believe president trump will be as commander-in-chief? >> very optimistic particularly on foreign-policy. he is now saying he doesn't want to build nations overseas but rebuild our country here. i agree completely with that. he doesn't believe in regime change, he thinks the iraq or was a mistake, a lot of things i agree with president trump on and on those i will be as helpful as i can. bill: that is a long way from
des moines, iowa. rand paul from kentucky to washington dc, thank you. >> federal authority is wrapping up their investigation into the deadly warehouse fire that killed 36 people in california. fire officials admitting they never inspected the ship as the building was no despite police and city officials receiving several complaints. national correspondent william lodging us with more on this continuing investigation. >> building inspectors dropped the ball by never thwarting those complaints to the fire department especially the fire department is not even required to inspect commercial buildings unless there is a change in use. the landlord never told the city she converted the warehouse to an illegal apartment building the city never inspected. ironically there was a fire station 500 feet away.
firefighters and city councilman admit the city new people were living there illegally but looked the other way. >> we have no record of 131531st avenue being inspected, nor do we have any records of them applying for a special permit, change of occupancy, any tenant improvements. >> many called for the mayor and others like the fire chief to resign but none so far. >> in terms of the cause is there any new information how that started? >> the atf ruled out arson and faulty refrigerator. the focus is on overloaded electrical circuit. 2010 it's hench a hole in the wall of the neighboring building and were sucking power through a single extension cord that may have shorted and caused a fire. the da is investigating the owner and building manager for
their liability. >> we will work diligently. we will be methodical and thorough in bringing this case to justice. >> reporter: the landlord owned several buildings according to chronicle, she showed up with a monthly check with the managers say they told her about bad wiring, she refused to fix it, potential charges from murder to involuntary manslaughter. bill: we will hear about that story for a long time. the world getting a glint of the situation, grim situation in syria through civilian tweets and videos from inside the war zone. it is heartbreaking. how did we get five years down the road in a brutal civil war? >> a red line for us is we start saying a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around being mobilized, that would change my calculus.
bill: abortions after 20 weeks illegal in ohio, john k-6 signing off the band. ohio the 16th state to limit abortions after 20 weeks, lawmakers in congress expected to push for similar bill next year. john k-6 vetoed a so-called heartbeat bill which would have banned abortions after six weeks into pregnancy. >> to everyone who can hear me we are here exposed to a genocide in the city of aleppo. this may the my last video is more than 50,000 civilians who rebelled against the dictator assad are threatened with execution or dying in the bombing. >> stand with aleppo. >> impassioned pleas for help from syria making their way to social media, the latest attempt
at a cease-fire has unraveled, the bombing continues to hammer the rebel held areas where there are anywhere from 50 to 100,000 civilians who are still stuck in the eastern part of aleppo. no way to verify independently these videos or eights, you can see them across the internet but they appear to match up with some of the situations in terms of what we are hearing, a young girl said to be trapped in the war-torn city has been well known. life tweet from an account she shares with her mother, just one of those today from the mother of this 7-year-old girl. dear world, there is intense bombing right now. why are you silent? fear is killing me, retired air force lieutenant general tom mcinerney, military analyst, joins us now. what a tragedy this has been. >> the worst in the 21st century, any person watching the
news would agree. it is an absolute disaster. the russians, iranians, the turks have taken advantage of the situation between our governments, caretaker government going on right now, so that is what has happened. they made decisive moves. >> i want to play the soundbite from hillary clinton who was secretary of state, watch this. >> president obama called on assad to step aside and announced the strongest set of sanctions to the syrian government. for the sake of the syrian people the time has come for him to step aside and lead the transition to syrians themselves. martha: that was four years ago.
>> they left it to the syrians themselves and the russian the year and a half ago, entered the fight, the president locked them and they are play a dominant role. we have focused in all fairness re-occupying western iraq, mosul and working against syria, rocco, where isis is. they worked against the rebels and is human tragedy, the greatest in the 21st century so far. how is the trump administration going to fix it. martha: there are hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed and millions displaced, the ripple across europe that has been untenable, the silence inom
this administration, what people answer for, in the years to come in terms of why they were not able to do more to support moderate rebels at the point it might have made it difference was the man being considered for the next job as secretary of state, rex tillerson. your thoughts on whether he is the right person to step into these shoes. >> this may be a perfect storm. rex patty: has global knowledge of all world leaders, they know him. he is going to work with the russians, their key into it as well as iranians and other middle eastern leaders. it is an extremely difficult position to be put in right away. i am encouraged that president-elect trump selected the right person to solve this complex problem and it is complex. it won't go back together.
we envisioned it 9 years ago the way the world was in the middle east. that world won't go back together but russia is involved with it, the shia crescent swept across the whole saudi arabian peninsula, from to run into aleppo, in damascus, that road is the road the lines of communication the iranians, the danger this administration left, the shia crescent across the arabian peninsula, very dangerous, we cannot let that continue. >> and alliance between putin and assad and it will be a tall
order to realign allegiances, big job and i see you believe rex tillerson is after the job. thank you very much for weighing in. >> generally coming up, quick preview. >> a big meeting at trump tower with the biggest names in pics for trump's cabinet. there has been so much critics are making of the middle of friendship. we will speak to another american, get the story from him and meet an adorable toddler. he did come face-to-face with the lion address for the location. we won't talk to the toddler. >> we are seeing the prosecution's case against bill cosby, and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004.
with the pretrial movement, revealing about this.
will they be able to testify? the defense is turning its argument, prosecution completed his argument. there has been a lot more plain than yesterday, turned into a shouting match inside the courtroom, got pretty ugly and there. gloria allrate is defending 10 of 13 women accusing bill cosby, 13 of the 50 or more that made accusations since the case was brought up. i said how critical are these 13 women to this case? she told me this is very important. bringing them into this trial makes it more than that he said she said argument which gives the prosecution a lot more leverage and could mean a victory in this case. is the most important hearing we have seen. bill cosby 79 years old walking into court today arriving a little before 9:00 looking healthier, was asked how are you, he said i'm fine, thank you, charged with giving andrea constance quaaludes at his home
in 2004 and having sex with her, considered him a mentor. they stopped -- tried to stop something that happened last week, there was a motion to allow recordings of bill cosby's deposition from the civil trial in 2040, those statements bill cosby made a going to be allowed in this case. >> outside the courthouse in montgomery county. >> titans of business and technology. it is tech day. entertainment day yesterday but today is tech day. they will be with president-elect as he finishes filling in his cabinet posts. the latest pics straight ahead.
. . . . . >> when i started 15 months ago, i told my first crowd in wisconsin that we are going to come back here some day and we
by the kremlin, an important point as well in the way donald trump painted his relationship with intelligence agencies in this country vis-a-vis how it could be taken overseas. right now is the start of the 1:00 p.m. hour here in the east. imagine the role of this man right now. this is a live picture in front of the senate foreign relations committee, and that is the ceo of exxonmobil, a multinational company so large, while it's said they can't change the weather, they can forecast it. they have their own weather bureau, a sprawling organization of 70,000 employees. rex tillerson is the nominee to be our next secretary of state, a job offer that came to him. it's been said in the public domain in part because of his relationship with russia, because of his relationship with
vladimir putin. imagine all of this in light of the news conference we just witnessed, in light of what donald trump said and didn't say about russia and putin, in light of what donald trump said about u.s. intelligence agencies, here is a part of what we just witnessed this last hour. >> the democratic national committee was totally open to be hacked. they did a very poor job. they could have had hacking defense. president putin and russia put out a statement today that this fake news indeed fake news. they said it totally never happened. now somebody would say oh, of course he's going to say that. i respected the fact that he said that. if he did have something they would have released it and glad to release it. if putin likes donald trump, guess what, folks? that's called an asset, not a liability. do you honestly believe that hillary would be tougher on putin than me? i think it was disgraceful,
disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out. i think it's a disgrace. and i say that and i say that, and that's something that nazi germany would have done and did do. i have no deals. i have no loans, and i have no dealings. we could make deals in russia very easily if. we wanted to. i just don't want to because i think that would be a conflict. >> kristen welker was inside the room. she is now outside trump tower, on what can be a perilous stretch of fifth avenue in new york. andrea mitchell in the equally perilous confines of the u.s. senate in washington, standing by to talk to us. kristen, i'm still going through the quotes on, what, 15 to 20 topics from that news conference. what couldn't we see from our vantage point, watching on television that perhaps would assist our understanding of what
a high wire act and high tension event this was? >> reporter: well two things, brian. one, of course, this is the first news conference he's had in 168 days. so you had reporters, we're always trying to get our questions in. but the number of questions, the range of questions i think was so expansive because there was souclost time to make up for, and i think that that contributed to some of the tension that you saw unfold there, and then of course you had these developments overnight, this reporting on russia that the president-elect dismissed outright, and that caused him to again attack his intelligence communities right off of the top. and i guess i would make one more point, brian, there are a lot of questions that went unanswered on his intelligence community. does he trust them? does he trust his intelligence officials? i tried to pin him down on that at the very end of the news conference and he sort of dodged
exchange that he had with cnn's jim acosta, when he attacked cnn for their reporting, and jim said, let me at least get a question in, and he wouldn't allow it. that's really extraordinary, brian. i've been to a number of news conferences and you've been to a number of presidential news conferences and never really seen that type of tension before. again i would just underscore, this is the first news conference he's had since july so there's a lot of questions we didn't get to, like isis, like israel and the middle east, so it all set the stage for fireworks. >> kristen welker thanks and thanks to the mta for parking a bus behind you during our conversation. andrea mitchell is one of the people who has us beat in terms of our combined attendance at presidential news conference. andrea, i just can't ask you in enough ways to sum up, if this isn't a president-elect at war with the intelligence community, such a vital arm of government
when you're a president, the intelligence community which is both vendor and client, to overseas countries, to private organizations, i don't want to see what war is, but try to sum up what the impact, the concussion this is going to cause in washington. >> well, concussion's a great word because there are concussion bombs. this is a concussion bomb. brian, he compared the intelligence community pretty directly on twitter and at his news conference used the same analogy to nazi germany. you're talking about men and women, thousands and thousands of them here and overseas who are often covert, and even those who are not have to make considerable sacrifices in their lives, not for great amounts of money. many of them have died. their stars are on the wall at langley. they've been expanded in the last 15 years since 9/11, big
expansion perhaps too much bureaucracy, that could be addressed. lot of critics internally and externally think that that is the real focus that he should be looking at once he gets into office but to raise that question, to talk about these leaks i think a lot of people, including myself last night on thir with you, questioned why there was that addendum of what most likely is unverified information that was attached to the classified intelligence brief. so those are the kinds of questions that you can ask but to compare them to nazi, germany, that is really escalating this war. this was the first grudging acknowledgment that russia was behind the hacking but again in the next sentence he compared it to the office of personnel management hacking 22 million people by china. well that did happen two years ago, there was a lot of attention. i was on the air a lot on "nightly news" and msnbc on the "today" show, we covered that story. the difference between what
russia did and what china does, what north korea does, what we do, our country to, you know, foreign countries, allies and adversaries alike, i've covered stories of us hacking the french and the japanese over commercial contracts, and whether airbus and boeing get contracts. all these kinds of things happen every day. the difference here in the russian hacking which was the consensus agreement of 17 agencies, it was weaponized. it was drnted. drnted under order by our own exclusive reporting by vladimir putin and confirmed by the report that was released to wikileaks, whether wikileaks was winning or not winning, wikileaks distributed it and distributed this harmful information, a lot of which could have had an impact on voting and donald trump kept refers to wikileaks during the campaign. he did it again today, in fact. look at the horrible things that john podesta said from wikileaks
about hillary clinton, his characterization, not mine. the point is he keeps pointing to wikileaks the conveyor of stolen information hacked by russia and leaked during the campaign and this is the offense which may even be a criminal offense in some regards. we don't know what's been investigated. there have been hints of an investigation. so it's just amazing, and he's going to have to rely, i heard chuck todd say he has to rely on the same intelligence agencies and their career people. doesn't matter who is at the head. it's a big superliner to turn around. you're going to have to rely on the analysis of those men and women. it takes a long time to train them. you're not going to have them all, you know, leaving immediately. if north korea is close to launching an icbm that can hold a nuclear weapon and reach the continental united states, he has to not only persuade the american people but our allies about the veracity of that intelligence and what he is doing now arguably is destroying the credibility of american
intelligence at home and abroad. >> that's a serious and important point you make there at the end. the only place you're going to learn abou the moves north korea is makings the very same intelligence agencies that were in for such a drubbing today. in our studio here we have ali velshi, we have katy tur, we also have standing by a guy who has been so patient with us, steve clemmons, editor at large for "the atlantic." steve, where to begin? what was your lead story from that event? >> i think the lead story is two things, is that as you were showing earlier the rex tillerson exchange with the members of the senate foreign relations committee, many people say the intelligence was seemingly soft on some of the issues. i was struck by how hard he was in comparison to donald trump, so the taking of crimea was a taking.
he criticized the obama administration for not putting in enough defensive weapons and not putting in enough support. it was a sort of hard edged assessment, and that it was highly unlikely, he said, that the united states would become friends with russia, and that just stands out as an obvious contrast with the tilt and tone of donald trump even with the kinds of things saying maybe we won't be friends with vladimir putin and others, but donald trump continues to sort of largely publicly hug that vladimir putin and hold that out, so i've got a divide with a press conference going on at the same time as the senate hearing between the likely secretary of state, potential secretary of state and the president-elect, and that stood out. the other thing that's gotten almost no attention was that he nominated and talked about david shulke, veterans affairs obama appointee. he will be the first obama appointee if confirmed in the trump cabinet. that may not compare to all the other news out there but that is
interesting. >> indeed. he's an d., and you're right, he will be a holdover from adstration t administration. also a very tough job to fill among all the cabinet agencies, but steve, imagine this. what you're talking about, the way donald trump treated and handled all things russian, from putin to russia in general, this was all in the context of a news conference that was designed in part to quash and criticize what they saw as scurrilous reporting tying donald trump to russia. >> i think what david ignatius said before is that the hostility really between the intelligence agencies and donald trump didn't get much help from this exchange. there's an opportunity with this call that donald trump has made for the first 90 days he'll get a report from the dni, the director of national
intelligence, and the cia that strengthens our hand in the hacking arena, but broadly when you look at it, donald trump thus far goes to extraordinary lengths not to put russia on the spot, and that has put him at odds with a lot, not just the intelligence community, but a lot of national, republican national security stalwarts, and if there was going to be a break between the legislative department and the executive over something big, it's over these issue, and his dedication to kind of continuing really this crisis, not between democrats and republicans, but between republicans and republicans is i don't know what to call it. it's impressive, donald trump's willingness to continue to kind of run on that edge where his own credibility is going to be held in doubt by many of the top intelligence people in the country, but also the lindsey grahams, john mccains, marco rubios and many other that will matter to him on a whole variety of key executive decisions in the world.
>> steve, finally, as someone to whom the printed word is so important, fake news. someone spent months making fake news a thing, an entity, fairly vibrant entity and now it's a bucket into which stories one doesn't like can be thrown. >> reminds me of the old days the founding of the republic. bill sapphire wrote a clever his oshlg torqual novel called "scandal mongers." he talked about the early pamphleteeres who invented stories that defamed leading figures and they'd fight the pages out there. i'm reminded of that era in american history we've come back into that as well. it's important we in journalism maintain critical distance and objectivity in what we do and find a way to present that as the alternative to this raif of fake news that seems to be
proliferating on both sides, if there is, are two wils it's there. >> this era may test us all. steve thank you very much. always a pleasure to hear from you and talk to you. we're going to whipsaw a bit into the hearing room that had our attention yesterday. senator jeff sessions of alabama nominated to become the nation's top law enforcement official, the next attorney general. we're going to hear some extraordinary remarks here, congressman lewis from georgia, is about to speak in opposition of senator sessions, and senator booker from new jersey. the importance of this, a senator speaking in opposition to a fellow sitting senator. there are only 100 people in that community. it is a very, very small world indeed, but this is part of the opposition lined up against senator sessions to be attorney
general. we'll listen in, in the hearing room. >> -- like caucus. welcome to the committee, congressman richmond. finally we will hear from mr. william smith. mr. smith worked for senator sessions as the first african-american general counsel on the senate judiciary committee. he has known senator sessions for 20 years and we know him because that service as a staffperson here as well. welcome to all of you, and we'll start with senator booker. >> thank you, airmangrassley. i want to thank senator leahy as well, as well as the distinguished members of this committee. i know it is exceptional for a senator to testify against another senator nominated for a cabinet position and i appreciate the opportunity you've given me today. i've worked closely with many of you on this panel on both sides of the dais, on matters related to criminal squlus reform and you know just how deeply
motivated i am by the many issues our next attorney general will heavily influence, especially the crisis of mass incarceration. i know that some of my many colleagues are unhappy that i am breaking with senate protradition to testify on the nomination of one of my colleagues, but i believe like perhaps all of my colleagues in the senate that, in the choice between standing with senate norms or standing up for what my conscience tells me is best for our country, i will always choose conscience and country. senator sessions and i have consistently disagreed on the issues, he and i have always exercised a collegiality and a mutual respect between us. perhaps the best example of this is the legislation we cosponsored to award the congressional gold medal to those foot soldiers who marched at selma, one of the foot soldiers is sitting next to me now. this was a blessing and an honor
to me, because in 2015, a retired judge who was white told me that it was those brave marchers on the edmund pettis bridge who inspired him as a young lawyer in the 1960s to seek justice for all in new jersey and begin representing black families looking to integrate white neighborhoods, black families who were turned away and denied housing. one of the families was mine. i am literally sitting here because of people, marchers in alabama, and volunteer lawyers in new jersey, who saw it as their affirmative duty to pursue justice, to fight discrimination, to stand up for those who are marginalized. but the march for justice in our country still continues. it is still urgent. i know also though of the urgency for law and order. i imagine that no sitting senator has lived in the last 20 years in higher crime
neighborhoods than i have. i have seen unimaginable violence on american streets. i know the tremendous courage of law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every single day to fight crime in america. i want an attorney general who is committed to supporting law enforcement and securing law and order, but that is not enough. america was founded heralding not law and order, but justice for all, and critical to that is equal justice under the law. law and order without justice is unobtainable. they are inextricably tied together. if there is no justice, there is no peace. the alabama state troopers on the edmund pettis bridge were seeking law and order. the marchers were seeking justice, and ultimately a greater peace. one of the victories of the
modern civil rights movement was the 1957 civil rights act, which in effect made be the attorney general not only the chief law enforcement officer of the united states, but also vested in that office the responsibility to pursue civil rights and equal protection for all of america. senator sessions has not demonstrated a commitment to a central requisite of the job, to aggressively pursue the congressional mandate of civil rights, equal rights, and justice for all of our citizens. in fact, at numerous times in his career he's demonstrated a hostility towards these convictions, and has worked to frustrate attempts to advance these ideals. if confirmed senator sessions will be required to pursue justice for women but his record indicates that he won't. he will be expected to defend the ecall rights of gay, lesbian
and transgender americans but his record indicates that he won't. he will be expected to defend voting rights butis recd indicates he won't. he will be expected to defend the rights of immigrants and affirm their human dignity but the record indicates that he won't. his record indicates thated aattorney general he would object to the growing national bipartisan movement towards criminal justice reform. his record indicates we cannot count on him to support state and national efforts towards bringing justice to the justice system, and people on both sides of the aisle who readily admit that the justice system as it stands now, is biased against the poor, against drug addict n addiction, against mentally ill and against people of color. his record indicates that at a time that even the fbi director is speaking out against explicit racial bias in policing and the
urgent need to address it, the last two attorney generals have taken steps to fix our broken criminal justice system as a time when the justice department he would lead has uncovered systemic abuses in police departments all over the united states, including ferguson, including newark, senator sessions would not continue to lead this urgently needed change. the next attorney general must bring hope and heal iing to thi country and this demands a more courageous empathy than senator sessions' record demonstrates. it demands an understanding that patriotism is love of country and love of country demands that we love all of our citizens, even the most marginalized, the most disadvantaged, the most degraded, and the most unfortunate. challenges of race in america cannot be addressed if we refuse to confront them.
persistent biases cannot be defended unless we combat them. the arc of the moral universe does not just naturally curve towards justice. we must bend it. if someone to be attorney general, they must be willing to continue the hallowed tradition in our country of fighting for justice for all, for equal justice, for civil rights. america needs an attorney general who is resolute and determined to bend the arc. senator sessions' record does not speak to that desire, intention or will. with all at stake in our nation now, with the need for healing and love i pray my colleagues will join me in opposing his nomination. mr. chairman i'd like to submit my testimony to the record and thank you for your opportunity to testify and finally i'd like to acknowledge which was not done that sitting behind me are proud members of the united
states congress and the congressional black caucus. thank you, sir. >> and you shouldn't have had to recognize them. i should have done that, i'm sorry. >> thank you, sir. >> because i knew they were here. mr. huntley? >>. >> good afternoon. >> you got to push the button. >> i see, thank you. i'll start over briefly. >> you might pull the mike a little closer, get as close as you can. >> good afternoon. that's much better. my name is willie huntley and i'm an attorney located in mobile, alabama. i'm a solo practitioner and i have been practicing law for over 30 years. i'm a graduate of auburn university, where i attended college on a football scholarship. i graduated from auburn in 1980, and i attended cumberland law school after that. i finished cumberland law school in 1984.
after i finished law school i started a federal clerkship with a federal judge in montgomery, alabama. after i completed that process, i began a tour with the,ed aan assistant district attorney in macon county, alabama. i was there from 1985 to 1987. then my life changed. i got a phone call one day and my secretary comes in the office, and she says, jeff sessions is on the phone. and i'm sitting there wondering why is jeff sessions calling me? i was wellware of the allegations that had happened in his bid to become a federal judge, which made me wonder why he was calling me. i answered the phone and i find out that jeff sessions wants me to become an assistant united states attorney in the southern district of alabama. this presented an ideal situation, so i decided to take advantage of that and the first time i actually met him was at a
dinner in montgomery. that dinner was supposed to last probably an hour, hour and a half. we ended up meeting for about three hours. during that time period, we discussed a number of topics, football, religion, politics, family, we talked about all those things, and during the course of that meeting with him, i got the feeling more and more and more that the allegations that had been spread through the press weren't true. i also was contemplating whether i should make this move, because i thought if i go to mobile, i don't know anybody there. i have no family there, and what if this man turns out to be exactly how he's been portrayed? fortunately, it didn't turn out like that. i was at the u.s. attorney's office from 1987 to 1991. he assigned me the general criminal trial cases.
he also assigned me to civil rights cases, and i would supervise all the civil rights cases that came through the office. during this time period, i can recall where we successfully prosecuted a police officer that was charged with excessive use force. unfortunately, i made a decision to leave the.s. attorney's office in 1991. that decision wasn't based on anything that had happened to me during my time period in the u.s. attorney's office. during that time period, jeff gave me advice, counsel. he provided a great deal of support in everything that i did. one thing in particular that he did was my second child was born, and there was a knock on the door that morning and through the door walks jeff sessions. after i left the u.s. attorney's office, jeff became the attorney
general of alabama. he asked me to join his staff at this time, but i declined to join his staff. however, he made me a special assistant attorney general and he put me in charge of handling defense cases for the state of alabama. also during this time period, jeff became charged with violating the state of alabama ethics act. it involved a company by the name of tyco. jeff sessions could have hired any lawyer he wanted to, to represent him in that matter. jeff decided to hire me in that particular case. we had that case and during the course of it, it was probably the longest hearing that had ever been held before the state ethics commission. at that point, jeff was fully exonerated of all the charges involving the state ethics act. one of the things that i can say about jeff is that he has always been the same person that i have
known. he's always been available for me, and always been there when i needed him. at no point in the time that i've known jeff has he demonstrated any racial insensitivity, and i see my time is rapidly winding down and i would just like to say that, in my, jeff sessions will enforce and follow the laws of the united states even-handedly, equally and with justice for all. jeff sessions will adhere to the justice department motto "quid pro domina sequitor" it means for the lady justice, jeff will protect and defend the rights of all people. thank you for this opportunity. >> thank you. now we'll hear from congressman john lewis. >> chairman grassley, senator leahy, and members of the
committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. millions of americans are encouraged by our country's efforts to create a more inclusive democracy during the last 50 years, what some of us call the beloved community, a community at peace with itself. they are not a minority, a clear majority of americans say they want this to be a fair, just and open nation. they are afraid that this country is headed in the wrong direction. they are concerned leaders reject decades of progress and want to return to the dark past and the power of the law will use to deny the freedoms protected by the constitution.
the bill of rights and its msnbcs, these are the voices i represent today. we can pretend that the law is blind. we can pretend that it is even-handed but if we are honest ourselves we know we are called upon daily by the people we represent to help them deal with unfairness and how the law is written and enforced. those two are committed to equal justice, in our society, wonder whether senator sessions calls nor law and order will mean today what it went in alabama when i was coming up back then. the rule of use we use it violate the human and civil rights are the poor, the d
dispossessed, people of color. i was born in rural alabama, not very far from where senator sessions was raised. there was no way to escape or deny the chokehold of discrimination and racial hate that surrounded us. i saw the signs that said "white waiting, colored waiting." i saw the signs that said white men, colored men, white women, colored women. i tasted the bitter fruits of segregation and racial discrimination. segregation was the law of the land, the order of society in the deep south. any black person who did not cross the street when a white person was walking down the same sidewalk who did not move to the back of the bus, who drank from a whitewater fountain, who
looked at a white person directly in their eyes could be arrested and taken to jail. the forces of law and order in alabama were so strong that to take a stand against this injustice we had to be willing to sacrifice our lives for our cause, often the only way we could demonstrate that a law on the books violated a higher law, was by challenging that law. by putting our bodies on the line and showing the world the unholy price we had to pay for dignity and respect. it took massive well-organized nonviolent dissent for the voting rights act to become law. it required criticism of in this great nation and its laws to
move toward a greater sense of equality in america. we had to sit in. we had to stand in. we had to march. and that's why more than 50 years ago a group of unarmed citizen citizens, plaqblack and white, gather on march 7, 1965, in a peaceful nonviolent fashion to walk from selma to montgomery, alabama, to dramatize to the nation and to the world that we wanted to register to vote, wanting to become participants in a democratic process. we were beaten. tear gas, left bloody, some of us unconscious. some of us had concussions. some of u almost died on that
bridge. but the congress responded, president lyndon johnson responded, and the congress passed the voting rights act and it was signed into law on august 6, 1965. we have come a distance. we've made progress, but we're not there yet. there are forces that want to take us back to another place. we don't want to go back. we want to go forward. as the late a. randolph the dean for the march on washington in 1963 often said, "maybe our forefathers and our foremothers all came to this great land in different ships. well we're all in the same boat now." it doesn't matter how senator sessions may smile, how friendly he may be, how he may speak to you. but we need someone who is going to stand up, speak up and speak
out for the people that need help, for people who have been discriminated fence and gainst, doesn't matter black, white, latino american, native american, asian-american, whether they are straight or gay, muslim, christian or jews. we all live in the same house, the american house. we need someone as attorney general who is going to look out for all of us and not just for some of us. i ran out of time. thank you for giving me a chance to testify. >> thank you, congressman lewis. now i go to mr. sorroyer. >> chairman, senators of the committee it's an honor for me to be here and i thank you for your time. my namis jesse sorroyer jr. i've been in law enforcement since 1976 to 2016.
i've served in local police departments for 11 years, served in the united states marshal service for 8 1/2 years, served in the attorney general's office for 20 1/2 years. i first met jeff sessions when he was u.s. trt he were to in the southern district of alabama. jeff was prosecuted at that time by the name of henry hayes. jeff prosecuted that person for the abduction and murder of a black teenager. following jeff's election as attorney general i had the privilege to serve with him and his administration as his chief investigator. the beginning of jeff's tenure as attorney general presented senator sessions with challenges that included budget crisis, and one-third reduction of staff. things that jeff did when we came with the budget crisis and the reduction of staff, there were several people in the
office that had to seek other jobs elsewhere. there was a black investigator in the office that came and had less than a year left before he was eligible to retire. jeff sessions allowed that to take place. he didn't have to do that. he did not have to do that at all, because of the situation that we were in. jeff sessions retained me. he did not have to do that. but he did. following the election, you know, we were charged with the responsibilities of a lot of crimes and the expectations of the attorney general was charged with the responsibilities of working various cases which included white collar crimes, public disruption, voter fraud and criminal investigations. as i reflect on our work there was never a time when any of these cases was investigated with any political agenda or motive. the utmost respect and zeg sbeg
rit w integrity was exercised for all individuals involved. jeff sessions decisions as attorney general earned him a reputation and respect among his colleagues in appreciation for his willingness to do what was right. when jeff sessions got to the u.s. senate, as attorney general, he had argued to uphold the conviction and sentence of klaansman henry hayes for the murder of michael donnell. when jeff sessions became u.s. senator, he helped me with an appointment for u.s. state marshal for the district of alabama. he didn't have to do that but he did. i have known jeff sessions for 20 years. he's a good and decent man. he believes in law and order for all the people, all the people in alabama, because of his colleagues and all surrounded him, the things that he's done
for the law enforcement community and citizens of alabama is great. it's without any questions as to whether or not he would be fit to serve this country as the united states attorney general. now, i did not learn these things from a political press conference or any website where i read about it. i know jeff sessions as the man, the man that i know is a decent and honest and respectful man that will put all of his life into public service. he's done that. when we talk about the criminal justice system, you know, we enforce the laws, and we do it because we have a love for the laws. jeff sessi loves the people that do the enforcement side of it. he respects the citizens, deserves a good and honest person that's going to give all he has to make sure that everyone is treated equally and fairly under the law.
but his decency as a man, and his honesty as a man speak for itself. he is the type of individual that i support for the united states attorney general's office, because of my reputation and his history with me as a person, and the things that i've seen over the years in jeff sessions. it's hard being a public servant. i was in law and been in law enforcement for 40 years. it's a tough job. we don't violate the laws. we don't get out there and do things that would cause ourselves to be brought into the system, and i'm not saying everybody is the same. but i believe that he'll take hold of the justice system, justice department and he'll be fair, he will be honest and he'll do the same thing for every person with honesty and respect for all of us. my time is up. and thank you for listening. >> thank you, mr. sorroyer. now congressman richmond. congressman richmond?
wait just a minute, congressman. >> human beings who are innocent -- >> let me thank thechairman and ranking member for allowing me to testify. >> i would ask to you hold. you won't lose any time. >> stop torturing people! >> proceed, congressman. >> let me thank the chairman and ranking member for allowing me to testify. the senate's duty to provide advice and consent to presidential nominees is a fundamental component of american democracy. i know you do not take this responsibility lightly.
before i jump into my substantive testimony i want to address two timely issues. first i want to express my concerns about being made to testify at the very end of the witness panels. to have a senator, a house member and a living civil rights legend testify at the end of all of this is the equivalent of being made to go to the back of the bus. it say petty strategy and the record should reflect my c consternation at the process that brought us here. my record on equality speaks for itself and i don't mind being last but to have a living legend like john lewis handled in such a fashion is beyond the pale and the message sent by this process is duly noted by me and the 49 members of the congressional black caucus and the 78 million americans we represent and the over 17 african-americans that
we represent. further on the issue of senator sessions' record of prosecuting the marion three, stemming from a complaint filed by african-americans, i say the following. history is replete with efforts by those empowered to legitimize their acts of suppression and intimidation of black voters by recruiting other blacks to assist in bringing trumped up charges against law-abiding citizens who are engaged in perfectly legitimate voter education and empowerment activities. those tactics were effectively used gns former congressmen robert smalls, and hundreds if not thousands of black office holders and landholders in our post-reconstruction era, and they were used several years ago against mr. and mrs. alfred turner who was discussed by this committee yesterday. the declaration of independence set forth the idea of universal equality that rests at the heart of our democracy, but it is the
14th amendment of our constitution and its equal protection clause that has helped bring us closer to fulfilling that foundational principle and bringing us closer to a more perfect union. all cabinet officials have a responsibility to protect the interest of all of the american people, but there's no office for which the duty to apply the law equally is greater than that of the attorney general. in my capacity as chairman of the congressional black caucus, i urge you to reject senator sessions' nomination. throughout our nation's history, attorney generals have used the resources of the federal government to vindicate the right of the most vulnerable in society. after the civil war, the first attorney general to lead the doj prosecuted the kkk for its widespread use of violence aimed at suppressing the black vote. this facilitated massive black voting turnout in 187 for the
first time in our nation's history, former slaves were aforred the opportunity to participate in the democratic process. simply put, senator sessions has advanced an agenda that will do great harm to african-american citizens and communities. for this reason the cbc believes senator sessions should be disqualified. he has demonstrated a total disregard for the equal application of justice and protection of the law as it applies to african-americans and false short on so many issues. jeff sessions supports a system of mass incarceration that is disproporgtately targeted of acap american sit stenographcit devastated african-american communities. he opposed common sense bipartisan criminal justice reform, and jeff sessions cannot be relied upon to enforce the voting rights act. in his decade's long career in public life, senator sessions has proven himself unfit to serve in the role as attorney
general. and i would not have the opportunity to testify today if it were not for men like john lewis who was beaten within an inch of his life in his pursuit for the right to vote for african-americans. it's a shame he must sit here and he will litigate this 50 years later. we sit here as the prodigy of men and women who were bought, sold, enslaved, raped, tortured, beaten and lynched. black people were bought as chattel and considered three-fifths of a human being. we've been able to endure and largely overcome that history thanks in part to brave men and women, both democrat and republican, who sat where you sit and cast often difficult votes for free tom and equality. these senators fought opinion and even their own party to do what was right? i come before you today asking you to do the same. now you all must face a choice.
be cougeous or complicit. if you vote for session session you take possession of everything he may do or not do in office. he has no track record of fighting for justice for minorities despite the characterization you've heard from others today. he and his supporters have told you he is a champion for civil rights and equality. characterization and revisionist histories are not the same things as facts. he is on the record on numerous issues. i have provided just a few examples today. let's think about this logically. if he were in fact a champion for civil rights, wouldn't the civil rights community support his nomination instead of speaking with one voice in near unanimous opposition? in closing, each and every senator who casts a vote to confirm senator sessions will be permanently marked as a coconspirator in an effort to move this country backwards towards a darker period in our shared history. so i ask you all, where do you
stand? it is clear from senator sessions' record where he stands, where you stand with him and allow history to judge you for doing so. i implore you all to weigh these questions properly as you prepare to cast what will be one of the most consequential votes in your time as a united states senator. res ipsa loquitor, a legal term which means the thing speaks for itself. senator sessions' record speaks for itself and i would urge you not to confirm senator sessions as attorney general of the united states, and thank you, mr. chairman, for allowing me to go over. >> thank you, congressman richmond. now i call on mr. smith. >> chairman grassley, members of the committee, i ask my written statement be made part of the record. >> it will be and that's true of senator booker and anybody else that didn't get their entire statement put in the record, it will be in the record, yes. >> it's an honor for me to support senator sessions to be the next attorney general of the united states of america.
he will do an outstanding job. the american people had an opportunity to witness yesterday through his testimony a brilliant legal mind, a man of the highest character, and great integrity. let me briefly address this legal mind. as a staffer your job is to be more prepared than the member. senator sessions made this difficult. when he didn't speak on the topic i would hand him another note on another topic. timely he decided to speak and he did as he did in his testimony yesterday, he crushed it. senator sessions was not ignoring my notes. he was systematically thinking about how to put all the notes together in one speech. a number of my colleagues i told them blank sheet of paper and told him to make me look good,
and that's what he did. senator sessions spent yesterday proving to the american people that he understands the law, will disperburse it equally and made a bunch of staffers look good. lot has been said about senator session' character. we've seen people who have never met senator sessions claim to know him, know his heart. we've seen members of this body and members of the house of representatives just now who has worked with senator sessions and praised him for his work and now turn to attack him. this should not be. the reason we did not see a lot of this yesterday, during the hearing, is because the members of this committee know senator sessions. you know he's a strong conservative but you also know he's fair and honest. if you disagree because of his political views let's have a conversation about that but let's do it on the facts, not on 30 years of old innuendos and allegations that have been disproven. there's something very consistent about praising senator sessions for for aiding
african-american communities and working on crack and powder cocaine legislation and then criticizing him because it takes a different political view on another matter like immigration. enforcing immigration laws is want out of the mainstream. on the panel that testified before this one, through personal attack after personal attack after personal attack, i doubt any one of those individuals attacking senator sessions outside of yesterday has spent 30 minutes in the same room with him. that's 30 minutes in the same room, not 30 minutes talking to him. i doubt any of them have spent 30 minutes or ten minutes talking to senator sessions. this process should not be about -- this process should be about facts, not about political aspirations. every allegation and witness from 30 years ago has been discredited. members in the media should move on. senator sessions testified yesterday that he would enforce the laws whether he agreed with them or not. that's the role of the attorney
general. not to embrace every point of view in the shifting political winds. if you come before jeff sessions, you will get equal justice and you will respect the outcome even if you lose. how do i know this? i know it because i know jeff sessions. i'm not testifying as someone who just met him yesterday. i know his family. i've dined at his house. we've eaten johnny rockets burgers together. i've traveled across the state of alabama with jeff sessions. i've watched him order a heath blizzard at dairy queen, quote, heavy on the heath. i've watched him prepare for hearings. i debated him on legislative matters. i've written speeches for him. i've made speeches on his behalf. i've been in every political situation with him. senator sessions is unquestionably qualified for the job, for which he's been nominated. he's a good christian sxhan a good family man. he's a man who's dedicated his
life to public service. in the course of that he's absolutely fault for disenfranchised. not only did he fight for citizen reform, he accomplished it. he fought for civil rights. he prosecuted members of the klu klux klan. and he fought for all americans, regardless of the color of their skin or beliefs. this is the way it should be. after 20 years of knowing senator sessions, i have not seen the slightest evidence of racism because it does not exist. i know a racist when i see one, and i've seen more than one. but jeff sessions is not one. senator sessions has served with distinction throughout his career as united states attorney, as attorney general for alabama, and as a member of this body. the legal profession is better for his service. this body is better for his service. and this country at the end of his term will be better for his service. and every season, jeff sessions
has been measured, courteo and kind. he has treated me and everyone respectfully and fairly. not showing favoritism at any point. this is the kind of attorney general our nation needs. a mraud his selection. i look forward to his swift confirmation. thank you, war eagle. >> the record will stay open until tuesday. i thank all of you for your testimony and the hearing is adjourned. >> there you heard it from chairman grassley after an emotional series of speakers. and it was the congressman from louisiana who asked the very basic question, and that was, why this panel was going dead last in the hearings. our justice correspondent, pete williams, has been riding this news day and yesterday along with us. pete, we've been whip-sawed between the donald trump news
conference, the rex tillerson confirmation hearings, remembering all the while that this, the confirmation of jeff sessions for attorney general goes on. how are we to fit in what we just saw against the overall records so far with the sessions hearing? >> well, this is day two of these hearings. they all follow the same pattern. you get the nominee on the first day and then people for and against the nominee the second day. you've just heard a little bit of that. this morning we had speaking in favor of senator sessions, former attorney general, former deputy attorney general, member of the commission on human rights, the president of the fraternal order of police, opposing him we had the president of the naacp, advocates for rape victims, of former dreamer, someone who came here illegally under age and became an army veteran and u.s. citizen. this afternoon this somewhat unusual panel, all african-americans, all given the
opportunity basically to speak without the members asking them any questions. whereas, there were questions of the panel this morning. the committee chairman, charles grassley, said this is something he and the ranking democrat dianne feinstein worked out in order to give, in essence, a platform to those folks who wanted to talk about senator sessions this afternoon, but were not in the sort of pro and con interest group area. but passionate statement from cory booker, who became the first u.s. senator. we checked with senate historian's office on this. he is the first u.s. senator to ever testimony against the nomination of a fellow senator. but what he said this morning is that he had to choose between his conscience and his country and the senate norms. basically, the message from the civil rights community here has been that senator sessions both in his time as the federal prosecutor, a state attorney general and a senator, has not
shown the commitment to aggressively pursuing civil rights that they want to see in an attorney general. he has said yesterday, he spent a lot of time saying he would enforce laws, even though he disagrees with, but what you just heard from this panel of civil rights people is that they want to see an attorney general nominee, somebody who doesn't merely show a tolerance for those laws but somebody who would aggressively enforce them. nonetheless, i don't think that this passionate testimony this afternoon is going to change the outcome. it does appear that senator sessions, it comesown to a matter of simple arithmetic. the republicans have et votes. they need to get him confirmed. we have not seen any signs that opponents of senator sessions have peeled away a sufficient number to deny him the confirmation. as for timing, brian, my guess is the democrats will do what they can do in these situations. normally they could go -- first of all, the committee can't consider the nomination until
there's a president to nominate him. so, this is all doing their homework in advance. they can't vote on the nomination until donald trump is inaugurated and formally sends it up to the senate. then the democrats have the option of asking for ten extra days. they may well do that. if that's the schedule, we may see a vote on senator sessions maybe early -- the first full week in february. >> pete williams, our justice correspondent, thanks. our viewers might have noticed our other guest standing by to talk to us. that's the former chairman of the republican party, michael steele. michael, where do you stand on the sessions nomination? >> i'm in support of it, number one. i find -- i found the hearing process to be largely pretty good. i think jeff sessions has handled this very well. he articulated his failure in the past to really appreciate
another seems to open. enter, "the new york times" front page story of a secret plan by trump associates said to be backed by kremlin about the armed conflict with russian allied forces within its own borders. in other words, while the fbi's investigating an alleged back channel during the election between russia and the trump campaign, there may be another previously undisclosed back channel between russia and known trump associates. but before we dive into "the times" report, a little context. throughout the entire russia controversy, the president has repeatedly denied having any russian business ties. >> i own nothing in russia. i have no loans in russia. i don't have any deals in russia. russia is fake news. >> russia is fake news. but that's a relatively recent claim. in 2008, for instance, donald trump jr. told an interviewer, "russians make up a pretty
disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets, say in dubai and certainly with our project in soho. we see a lot of money pouring in from russia." trump was involved in a lawsuit dealing with russia and kazakhstan. before the russia controversy, donald trump claimed to have close business ties to russia and a personal relationship with vladimir putin. >> have you had any dealings with the russians? >> well, i've done a lot of business with the russians. >> they are comys, you know that? >> they are smart and tough and they are not looking so dumb right now, are they? >> i do have a relationship and i can tell you he's very interested in what we're doing here today. he's probably interested in what you and i are saying today. >> insuransince he never releas tax returns, it's hard to know what ties, if any, he has with the russians. and associates of the president were working on a back channel
author of "trump nation: the art of being the donald." i read this article five times. wait, what? sater was a figure i was familiar with primarily from your reporting. who is this guy? >> felix sater came to the united states from russia with his family, settled down in new york and proceeded to get in a lot of trouble. he did prison time for assaulting someone with the stem of a margarita glass. in 1990s, he was involved in stock schemes with organized crime members in the new york area and then he falls in with a real estate group who has offices one floor below donald trump's offices. >> and there's no question as to whether he was involved in the
soho trump deal? >> no. he was a primary player in it along with another, tedric irif. trump put no money into it, which is typical from many of those deals during that period. he was a little tight for cash. he essentially lent his name to the project, they gave him a piece of the action. i think he got 16% of the trump soho. he put his name on it but he was the minority partner and these guys funded it and built it. >> sater also has russian connections. he's of russian birth but grew up here but apparently is someone who maintains business relationships there. took the trump kids over to moscow at one point? >> he joined ivanka and don jr. in moscow in february 2006. the primary partner of his at bay mark was a former soviet official. so there's multiple russian connections here. i think what's important to remember here, trump for all
everything he did in russia, never got anything built there. the most he got done was a beauty pageant. it's unlikely that you're going to see humongous financial relationships between trump and russia but i don't think that's the troubling element of it. the troubling element is he's opened the door to russia using him or playing him as a pawn around very serious issues. he's invited the russias to hack hillary clinton's campaign. we now know that a number of federal agencies are looking at the trump campaign around improper communications with the russians including michael cohen, the broker of this new -- go ahead. >> well, to me, part of it is, let's just throw out everything having to do with the ongoing smoke billowing out of the sort of trump/russia story and just focus on the idea of felix sater and michael cohen, a business
associate with mafia ties through some back channels unspecified. >> and the third member of the trio has claimed that he's got corruption evidence against poroshenko, the ukrainian leader, and has openly said that he's got putin's backing or high aides of putin have supported his position. why the three of them are suddenly put together a plan like this -- >> it makes you think what the heck else are people talking about and meeting about if these three guys are getting together for a ukraine peace deal. >> and why do they have this kind of proximity to donald trump. michael cohen was the trump lawyer. he left in january. he now appears to have this almost like clark clifford role, an adviser to the president on sensitive issues. if he's a gatekeeper, people like felix sater from getting into the president's orbit.
>> i think that's probably a good piece of advice from tim o'brien if you're watching, mr. president. >> thank you. joining me now is a reporter for "the washington post." how did -- according to your reporting, roselyn -- and the white house is basically saying there's no paper on this, that they have a record of the national security council, it's fake news, et cetera. what does your reporting suggest about how the heck this even started to come together? >> it's a little bit of a mystery. felix sater says he's an akwat tans of this u krar general lawmaker and he brought the plan to michael cohen. i spoke with michael cohen just today who described a phone call from his old friend felix who had he known from the trump organization and said complete me for coffee and there was this
ukrainian parliamentarian and his peace plan. >> right. and so this peace plan, which the ukrainian parliamentary says has the tasset or explicit -- to stop russian-backed forces within ukraine's bders using military force and a low level of separatist agitation, right? >> right. it would call for an end to russian hostilities and also have a referendum on the future of crimea, which is the portion that russia seized in 2014. apparently the referendum would offer two choices. one would lease crimea to russia for 50 years and the other would lease crimea to russia for 100 years. in either instance, they would get crimea, which is a top priority of the russians. >> wait a second. wait a second. the peace deal, one of the
pieces of the peace deal is a referendum to the people of crimea about whether they want to be leased to russia for 50 or 100 years? >> that's correct. and it should be noted that the kremlin feels so strongly about crimea that when asked about this today they also dismissed this because they said how could we lease something that is ours? how could we lease something that is ours? so their belief is that crimea is part of russia. >> here's the other question. my other understanding about the contours of this is there's different rounds of sanctionses that have been posed on russia but the strongest and the most buy-in for are the ones in response to the seizure of crimea. those would be lifted under this plan, right? >> well, it's a little unclear if the plan itself called for the lifting of sanctions. of course, if there were peace in ukraine, an organic ukrainian accepted peace deal, there would no longer be a need for sanctions. and so the idea is that a peace
plan would lead to the end of hostilities and the lifting of sanctions. >> rosalind, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. i'm joined by robby mook, hillary clinton's campaign manager. you talked about the russians and invited criticism for it because whatever your feelings are, there's a sense in which it felt off topic given what was at stake. i'm sort of curious how you think about that in retrospect given the news that we have now. >> it's frustrating, chris. a lot of the topics we brought up, including felix sater and the fact that there are financial connections between the trump campaign and that there were conversations going on between the trump campaign and russia, it's frustrating that that didn't get covered. i think what matters now is the future and i think what's hard to grasp in general about this
entire situation is that it just feels like fiction. it's so strange. you know, these shady characters, the idea that there's financial connections, secret meetings going on and i think it's very easy, because it's so strange, because it's so bizarre to cast it aside. what we're asking for now is for everybody to take this very seriously. we're looking at a situation where a foreign government, a, broke into the dnc and tried to influence the election and now, b, that potentially with money, they are trying to influence the affairs of our government and foreign policy and the idea that now a plan was able to get directly to the president bypassing our entire diplomatic and national security apparatus is really alarming. that's why we need an independent bipartisan commission to look into this and i'm just calling on every american. let's put aside republican or democrat. every american needs to demand that we see donald trump's taxes
and that we get to the bottom of what happened here. >> but you and i both know -- i had understand your calling for every american. obviously the prism for all of this is deeply partisan. it's deeply shot through with the sort of tribal affiliations of american politics and people's trust and belief. is there any reason to suppose that, say, the republican party has any interest in actually getting to the bottom of this? >> they do. i really believe that they do. and i think lindsey graham, john mccain and others have surfaced this issue. it was the democrats that putin went after today. it could be the republicans tomorrow. and i think republicans should be particularly afraid as we approach these midterm elections. the russians can do to them what they did to hillary. and so to see this as partisan in any way is looking at this in such a short-term mindset that's really scary. and what i'm particularly afraid of is that the network that the russians have built, be it the
financial ties to donald trump or this network of fake twitter accounts and media outlets that they've set up, that they will permeate our political and process and dialogue so deeply -- >> let me just stop you right there. because that seems to be part of the problem about this sort of -- the category we're creating here. so at one end of the spectrum you have what appears to be criminal intrusion into an e-mail server. right? and the other is, there's fake twitter accounts. so there's a big spectrum in terms of how objectionable and influential those things are and it seems like they get rolled up into the same category. >> but i think, chris, we need to see this as a singular effort on the part of putin to influence america, to influence our dialogue and decision making. look at the radical change we've seen since donald trump took office. we're now discussing whether to take away sanctions from russia.
we've now got back channelling for pro-putin peace deals in the ukraine. i mean, this is a totally different situation than we had just a month ago. you know, the head of the national security council, the national security adviser was someone who bid on the payroll of rt, a russian propaganda arm. i mean, it's incredible when you step back and think about it. and i think at the crux of this is the fact that -- i actually want to take a little issue with what was said earlier. i don't think it's the donald trump is invested in russia. i think it's russia is invested in donald trump. that's why he doesn't want to show the taxes and that's why he's so afraid to upset the russians. i don't think donald trump has somehow become a russian disciple. i think he has deep financial issues at stake. >> that is obviously an accusation or an allegation that of course we cannot in any way verify and there's one way
essentially we could definitively rule it out. robby mook, thanks for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you, chris. coming up, reassuring iraqis know we are not reinvading the country to take their oil. that's next. plus, congress members on recess meet the resistance. ahead, the latest explosion of town hall protests this weekend and one republican member who isn't backing down from his constituents. >> i don't want to here a canned answer. yes or no, can you say yes or no if you -- with every click...call...punch... and paycheck... you've earned your medicare. it was a deal that was made long ago, and aarp believes it should be honored. thankfully, president trump does too. "i am going to protect and save your social security
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>> as you know doubt know by now, there was no incident in sweden as the president claimed during that saturday rally. the governor of sweden had to point that out. the embassy asking the u.s. state department to explain. president trump later clarified saying his comments were in reference to a fox news segment he had been watching which was inflammatory meanwhile, including the united states commitment to the european union and in abu dhabi, the secretary of defense was forced to clean out the president's prior musings about going back in and taking iraq's oil. >> so we should have kept the oil. but okay. maybe you'll have another chance. but the fact is, should have kept the oil. >> all of us in america have paid for our gas and oil all
along and i'm sure that we will continue to do so in the future. we're not in iraq to seize anybody's oil. >> joining me now, elliott cohen, former counselor at the state department under condoleezza rice. perhaps you can tell by that, a republican, a conservative, also a never trumper. mr. cohen, essential is it to have foreign policy pretend that the president's pronouncements don't exist or to have various members of his cabinet explicitly rebutting them all the time? >> well, it's not tenable. there are a number of problems. if people get used to the idea that you can't believe a word that he says, there are real consequences to that. the other problem that you've got, an awful lot of the effort
now of his national security team, secretary mattis, secretary tillerson and so on, is devoted to cleaning up messes. and when you're cleaning up messes, you're not able to take the initiative of taking a wide range of issues that we're facing in the years ahead. >> you said this, which i keep thinking about this quote. i've been in this town for 26 years. i've never seen anything like this, referring to the president. i don't think this is a mentally healthy president. what did you mean by that? >> if you look at dsm-iv and dsm-v, if you look at narcissistic personality disorder, the psychologists and psychiatrists don't like to do remote diagnoses, you can't go through it and not say check, check, check. i think the president is a narcissist. that doesn't mean that he's unable to function but it is very, very troubling. it means he has trouble with empathy. it means he interprets everything absolutely personally, it means he's
susceptible to flattery. it's in many ways disabling from the conduct of effective certainly foreign policy, probably domestic policy as well. now, what i will say, he's appointed some capable people and the question is whether they be able to contain him. but even if they do that, you know, we still need more. it is a dangerous world out there. >> yeah, the containment, i thought of h.r. mcmaster, the individual who has just been named active officer, active duty officer who has been named to replace michael flynn. from people i've talked to respect him a tremendous amount. he wrote a fascinating book about the war and why they weren't able to tell the president the truth, which seems germain in this context. but how much can you expect if everyone is trying to figure out what the latest tweet is? >> i agree with that.
h.r. mcmaster is a wonderful officer. he's a terrific commander. he's a sober scholar. above all, he's a man of complete integrity. i wish him an enormous amount of luck because he's going to need it. he has a three-fold problem. he has to deal with his boss who is a deeply erratic guy. secondly -- and i think people need to focus on this -- there's sort of a parallel national security council staff under steve bannon and that really is not tolerable. and then the third thing is actually the substantive problems of the world. we can be so absorbed with our own internal fighting that we're not going to tackle the problems out there for us. >> yeah. the north korean regime, al nusra, probably don't care about the tweets of the president but they have bigger fish to fry but ultimately those are going to be crises that could land on america's doorstep. >> absolutely. and you know, the tweets do
matter. people do pay attention to what a president says and they will act. >> eliot cohen, thank you for your time. appreciate it. people take to the streets to protest the trump agenda but some republican lawmakers don't want to hear it, literally. they are avoiding their constituents. more on that after this quick break. ing. what do you mean? i just got this baby to get around the plant floor. right, but now ge technology monitors every machine. yeah, it brings massive amounts of information right to you. so you don't need that. well, it makes me look young and uh..."with it." time to move on. oh i'll move on... right into the future. ...backwards. you're going backwards. the future's all around us! not just on your little tablet, my friend. scalpel. i have no idea what i'm doing. i'm just a tv doctor. i never went to college. (scream) i don't do blood. but now, thanks to cigna, i can do more than just look the part. is that a foot? we are the tv doctors of america.
and we're partnering with cigna to help save lives. by getting you to a real doctor for an annual check-up. so go, know, and take control of your health. doctor poses. cigntogether, all the way. across the country on this presidents' day, thousands of people in at least 25 cities participated in not my presidents' day rallies. it was the latest example of the sort of constant street protests that have become visceral
resistance during his first month in office. many thought to take their thoughts to congress at town hall meetings but there's a catch. many republicans are simply refusing to face their constituents. in the first two months of the last congress, republicans held 222 in-person town hall events. current congress, 88 events which we should note 35 are by a single brave number of congress. republicans who have held town halls have gotten an earful. jason chaffetz faced chants of "do your job." not long after mike kaufman was caught sneaking out the back door of an event early while more than 100 people waited to talk to him. today, representative jim jordan planned to hold two public events, neither of which were billed as a town hall. constituents brought the town hall to him, forcing jordan to take questions at what was supposed to be a sleepy presidents' day event at the
one-time home of president warren oren. >> town hall now! town hall now! >> attendees have been organized by the town hall project which keep track of where and when town halls are being held. on saturday, hundreds showed up to town hall hosted by new york republican tom reed whose events normally just bring out a handful of people. >> i'd like to know why you want to get rid of the epa. >> madison, let me look you in the eye. i do not support removing and repealing the epa. >> progress. this was a scene in south carolina where representative mark sanford spoke to constituents for more than three hours, one of the few willing to face his constituents head on. we'll ask him why after this break. ...it's a supercomputer.
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>> you learn a lot. it was a smfull smorgosborg. it was an exhaustive list. probably the health care, if i could pick one single issue, that got talked about more than any other issue, it would be health care. >> it's interesting in that clip there and i think a lot of the focus at these town halls has been health care. things like getting rid of lifetime caps, getting rid of the ban on pre-existing conditions, right, and you saw that guy asking about it. and the worry is, what are you, the republicans in congress, going to do that is going to get rid of obamacare but keep the stuff that's popular and is that even feasible? what is your answer to that? >> i couldn't hear all the clip that played, but i think i was
saying you've already won, which i would stand by. i think if you looked at the reality of the political heat that's been generated, there's been overwhelming support. i mean, for instance, the plan that senator paul and i have introduced keeps young people on their plan until the age of 26 and it covers pre-existing conditions. we had four meeting in the republican conference this last week on the issue of health care and i think there is a broad consensus that in some form or fashion pre-existing conditions is going to be covered. so i think to your point, a number of the popular elements are going to be kept in. the problem will be to pay for it. >> the problem is from an actualary perspective. those folks are very expensive. a small percentage of the very sick make up the vast majority of costs in any kind of system. >> sure. >> how do you preserve these sort of popular reforms and get
rid of the other stuff, you know, while adhering to some of your kind of principles and preceps? >> what i would say, for instance, on the plan that we've introduced, we tackle pre-existing conditions but we do it in a different way as the affordable air a affordable care act. you can go to the doctor this evening and be diagnosed with cancer and then you can go tomorrow morning to sign up for insurance. that undermines every single matt particulmat math mat particular mathematic -- >> the whole idea of the mandate is to prevent that from happening as much as it would
without it. the idea is to get everyone in the pool for precisely the reason you're specifying. >> correct. but the reality, if we bow know, that hasn't happened. so the question is what do we do to make sure that it does. we take a market approach, which might be different than your approach or some of the viewers. what we say is, one, it was during the wage and price of world war ii, employment and health care became linked. and that really need not be the case. one insurance going where they do. so what we do is take a couple bites at the apple and say, wait, if your insurance goes with you, might we not approach the issue of pre-existing conditions a bit differently and give you a two-year phase-in. after that, you have to have continuous coverage. we do some things to make it more affordable. we do some things to make sure your insurance goes with you. and the problem right now that i think the affordable care act has been contending with, young
people have not enrolled as they expected and we still have an affordability issue with regard to employment linkage. >> the big question with republicans, i remember covering the first affordable care act. >> right. >> and a huge problem for democrats was the sort of status quo bias. folks are scared about something new and uncertain when it comes to health care. you guys are on the opposite side of that status quo bias. can you look constituents in the eye and across the bell curve of the different kinds of ways people might be affected by the system, look them in the eye and say you're going to be better off, you're going to have coverage if you have it now? >> i hate the issue of political guarantees because they are ripped apart so quickly. >> the answer to that is no right? >> the answer is we don't know with precision what we believe is mathematical. in south carolina, our premiums
increased from 29%. we've gone from three providers down to one. so it's something -- you can either sit on the sidelines and say let it fail of its owe volition, leave it alone which politically would be the easier thing to do or say, here are some other remedies. and i think what's going to happen, the two ideas are going to get melded and you'll have a bit of obamacare and you're going to have a bit more in the way of free market. >> what i thought was interesting is where that line is being pushed, particularly when you talk about the victories that folks have won. it's indicative of the direction of the way things are moving. representative sanford, thank you for your time tonight. come back any time. >> my pleasure. thanks. coming up, as the opposition against president trump does it come at the expense of finding middle ground between the polarized portions of our electorate? plus, tonight's thing 1 and thing 2 right after this break. yeah, so mom's got this cold.
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thing 1 tonight, a story out of texas of hunters who called 911 saying they were attacked by, quote, illegals, during which one man was shot in the arm and another in an abdomen. a gofund me page stated they were involved in a shootout with some illegals when the illegals tried to steal an rv with walker still inside. aided by a facebook page by this guy, texas agricultural commissioner sid miller speaking at a rally a man who trump considered for a cabinet position and posted a photo of one of the hunters saying "the aliens were ambushing the rv that walker and his wife. he was shot while trying to protect his borders." pretty dramatic stuff. an important update to this story you're going to want to stick around for. i'll give you a hint. two guys shot each other and made up the whole story.
that's thing it in 60 seconds.
two hunters claimed immigrants shot their rv. one thing didn't check out. the whole idea that they were ambushed by illegal immigrants crossing the border. >> by the looks of it right now, we think -- we believe that during the shooting when all of the commotion and confusion going on, we believe michael shot walker and walker had shot edwin. >> here's how investigators believe the shooting happened. walker claims he thought illegals were inside the rv but edwin and his wife were in intenting to kidnapping them. that's when edwin fired a round inside the rv missing walker. walker immediately ran inside his cabin to grab his gun and to get backup from michael. >> okay. so just to distill that down to its essence, basically, two
hunters just shot at each other, following a month-long investigation, they have been indicted by the grand jury for one charge each of using deadly conduct by discharging firearms, a third degree felony. as for commissioner sid miller, who posted the story on facebook as justification for trump's border wall, it seems a group of hunters shooting each other in texas doesn't prove his point. miller's post has disappeared. anything meant to stand needs a stable foundation. a body without proper foot support can mean pain. the dr. scholl's kiosk maps your feet and recommends
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he was back in florida on saturday inside an airport hangar speaking to supporters that had all of the makings of a campaign rally. the white house even called it a campaign rally for america. after telling the washington force last week that air force one will not be used as a prop at a political rally, there was air force one as a prop at a political rally. in terms of public opinion, the basic underlying structure of the campaign has never ended. since taking office, the president's job approval in the average of polls has been remarkably stable, hovered around 44%, which again makes sense since the president only received about 46% of the vote. and though the polling average of his approval is remarkably consistent, the president also has the worst job approval rating at this point, meaning mid-february, than any other president since dwight eisenhower which is when gallup started measuring these things. but here is the thing. among republicans, trump's
approval rating of 88% is higher thanes historical average that presidents have received from their own party at this point in their administrations. so the question becomes, for those opposed to trump, how much should they mobilize and organize the people who already don't like trump and how much should they convert on those who support them? we'll talk about that, next. when you have allergies,
and i'm here to support the lgbt community. i am here for every american who feels scared for this administration. let's just put it this way. >> that's one of the thoughtses thousands of people who opposed the president today. sabrina writes, "if political action is meant to persuade people that mr. trump is bad for the country, then this would be a place to start. yet many seemingly persuadable conservatives say that liberals." joining me is the reporter who wrote that piece. sabrina, this piece was all over the place this weekend. it got a lot of people very angry. i guess my question to you is, the folks that you interviewed, how persuadable are they? i sort of have the sinking suspicion that no matter what
liberals did, they wouldn't be happy about it. >> so, the fellow in california and the fellow in south carolina, they were both -- you know, the california guy said, look, you know, if there's something that, say, for example, if trump ditches the health care law and suddenly there are 18 million people without health insurance, i'd be really mad at trump and i wouldn't support him after that. that would make me really change my mind about this guy and his presidency. we are in a really, really, really polarized time and everybody is kind of, you know, in their sort of team colors camp, if you will. but i do think that these people were not flag-waving supporters at all. in fact, they kept saying, you keep saying to me i'm a trump supporter. i voted for the guy. that doesn't mean that i support him. that doesn't mean that i'm going to kind of check my brain at the door and not care about any of the policies that he's doing.
>> i've seen versions -- erin, i've seen, you're doing it wrong, you're going to make them more angry, you're not sufficiently solicitis of these folks. >> a lot of the reaction is to the headline, but what i really think is an interesting question and the follow-up is, are trump supporters supporting trump? they are complete lie myopic. i.c.e. raids are breaking up families. they are worried whether they can put bumper stickers on their car when rivers are to be poisoned. i don't think people on the left have sympathy for a guy whose
feelings are being hurt because he can't wear a hat on a tinder date. >> sabrina, there's a deeper question about the degree to which persuasion is the point here, right? which gets to the strtural question here. is it actually the job of folks who are mobilizing right now? should they be thinking about persuading that sort of persuadable group of voters or is the nature of polarization such that the lesson that we've all learned in some sense is from the tea party, from cpac and from donald trump himself, mobilize those that support you. >> you know, the only thing i was trying to lay out in that piece was there is an equal and opposite reaction on the other side. >> right. >> i'm not saying no one should be protesting. i'm not saying -- i'm not making any value judgment on what the strategy is. i'm just saying i'm seeing this really strongly among these people who really aren't, you know, inclined to embrace zsh
can i jump in for a quick second? >> sure. >> hillary clinton won the popular vote by 3 million votes. those who spoke in the piece are from california, south carolina and new york. there's something to be said about persuading people who are persuadable. as chris said, this is about activation and getting those who didn't show up to vote to actually get up to protest, which is what they were doing. >> what i thought was interesting is so much of the political thing that is happening is my enemy is my enemy kind of thing. i don't like him but i hate the people that hate him more than i hate him, which is kind of the way we end up doing our political reasoning and in some ways you watch that web spin out in all kinds of directions in this current political environment, which is like the
feeling that conservatives have about trump. they hate liberals more than they are ever going to hate donald trump. >> i feel like they have this -- again, this is, you know, among moderates, they feel that there's this kind of contempt that is kind of flowing in their general direction and that that is through social media and through everything that is happening everywhere, online and, you know, to a certain extent with the protests and sort of political action not online but i think that there's a lot of polarization, liberals say conservatives, conservatives hate liberals. all i was saying was, you know, these folks who aren't necessarily -- they are not flag wavers for trump and, you know, we do need a middle ground. we need a middle space. we need moderates. this is like -- i don't know. it's for the political operatives to decide whether --
exhibiting the kind of profound indifference to the racial contours of the jeff session nomination that i wouldn't have expected from somebody as savvy as mitch mcconnell. if they did that on purpose to be racially provocative, to stir you racial currents here, i think that's scary and gross. if they did it accidentally, i think it's political malpractice. but i think they've just turned this issue and elizabeth warren and the jeff sessions nomination into a much hotter, more hotly contested and sort of scarier thing that it's been up until now. >> it was remarkable. do you think it changes any votes? that's my last question. >> i don't know. we've seen a lot of republicans say they were willing to support jeff sessions, joe mancion.
>> an extraordinary legal battle over the fate of the travel ban. >> a three-judge panel is considering an argument on whether to keep a hold on the order. >> is there any reason for to us think there's a real risk? >> the president determined that there was a real risk. >> i can't believe we're having to fight in a court system to protect the safety of our nation. >> it seems like trump's real rage is he just found out there were two other branches of government. >> some things are law. some things are common sense. this is common sense. >> the roll-out was disastrous. >> i should have delayed it a bit. >> everybody is talking and dealing, a lot of bad people are thinking about let's go in right now. >> have you urged the president not to make false claims? >> i'm not going to speak for the president. he can speak for himself and
>> the -- yes. >> don't count the pause. this is as clear a power clash as you'll hear in court. trump's lawyers telling the judge this is basically none of their business. they do have some law on their side. but one of the questions in this case is whether the government is conducting religious discrimination, which is unconstitutional. the judge asked if this is a religious ban would the court doors be open, could someone have standing for that? the question drew a concession from lawyers that there are court cases, a 1972 case called mandel that would open the court's doors. >> if the order said muslims cannot be admitted, would anybody have standing to challenge that? >> i think mandel and din give a route to make a constitutional challenge if there were such an order. >> then the judges pushed further saying the muslim ban
policy statement -- >> trump's lawyer backed down in his answer. >> well, those are in the record. >> the record is of course the foundation for arguments in this case. the judges are basically pushing trump's lawyers to accept the reality that one of their own advisers, a former prosecutor, said this all grew out of a muslim ban. now, on the other hand, to be fair, the white house has stressed giuliani went rogue and they say the order isn't a muslim ban. then the hearing moved from the government's legal powers to its powers of reasoning. this is where the legal and political debate meet because we're going to hear a lot about why president trump picked those seven countries to ban. tonight a lower court judge citing that in court when trump's d.o.j. lawyers couldn't justify the threat of immigrants from those seven countries. >> the district court asks the representative of the department of justice, you know, you're in the department of justice, how
many federal offenses have we being committed by people who came in with visas from these countries? and the ultimate of the answer is there haven't been any. >> that's true. here was the trump lawyer's answer in court on friday. >> your honor, i don't have that information. >> i don't have that information. but that information is available. there have been no deadly attacks by immigrants from any of the seven countries. the judges didn't bring up that moment to give the laura hard time. the legal reason to cite that moment is because courts may review whether a government decision is rational. this is considered a pretty easy review usually. the government basically needs a rational reason for doing something, almost any reason will do. but the government can't offer a bad reason for no reason, which
could be irrational. and after two weeks the trump team is still struggling to offer that rationale. it cites homeland security but no other deadly terrorist attackers, again, are from the seven countries. and tonight trump's lawyers cited a federal law about vetting for mostly european travelers to explain those seven countries. that may be a tough legal argument, though, because that law had nothing to do with native immigrants traveling from those countries. it was a law that gave extra vetting to european travelers who passed through the seven countries. you can think about it like this. if a british tourist stopped in libya, then the u.s. would give him extra vetting on his way to the united states. that was a security measure applied to the british tourist, not to libyan native immigrants.
bottom line, this was a list of countries that were deemed dangerous to visit, not necessarily dangerous for sending their native citizens as immigrant terrorists to the u.s. now outside the courtroom it may be an effective political tactic for trum top say he got this list of countries from congress and the obama administration, even if it was for a european waiver program, not for banning immigrants. but, for example, inside the courtroom some judges are already probing whether this law is, yes, rational. the government does have huge immigration powers but tonight some judges may further probe whether he is using those big powers rationally. joining me now is bob ferguson, attorney general for the state of washington in his first interview since that hearing tonight. what did you think of the judges' questioning? do you think you will win this
next round? >> thanks for having me on, ari. really appreciate it. yes, i said from the beginning when i filed this complaint on behalf of the state of washington that i was confident we would prevail. we prevailed at the if the district court level and i'm confident we'll prevail here as well. >> when you think about the debate over the seven countries, do you think the judges will dig in deep to look at how the visa waiver program has worked or should they state out of that because even if these seven countries weren't well pick, you can concede the president would suspend immigration from all of saudi arabia on september 12th. >> i'm glad you played in your clip in one one of the lawyers asked the justice department are you saying that the president's actions are unreviewable and after that long pause, the answer was yes.
i think the ninth circuit court of appeals is going to see it the same way. >> your lawyer did have a pretty good day but he did have a rough patch on all of global muslims who aren't affected by this. take a listen. >> do you have any information as to what percentage or what proportion of the adherence to islam worldwide are citizens or residents of those countries? my quick pencilling suggests it's something less than 15%. >> i have not done that math, your honor. >> if the vast majority of the world's muslims are unaffected by this, how does your case credibly state this targets muslims? >> the part that you did not air was noah's answer, which he eventually got to, in looking at whether there's a motivating factor that's discriminatory. it doesn't mean the action has to discriminate against everybody within a particular class, as long as you're discriminating against a group.
we think in this case the evidence is clear from president trump's own word and the judges hammered on that as you pointed out later in the oral argument. >> bob ferguson, thanks for being here. >> you run an organization that has handled many such cases, including challenging the war making power in detention cases. we met many years ago when i worked ccr. there is an argument that this is the heart of presidential power. >> it is the heart of presidential power. think think what's clear particularly when we talk about the discrimination question, i think the attorney general is right in their view that you
don't have to discriminate perfectly, you don't have to discriminate against everyone. for example, if the president came up with some law that said we are going to discriminate against black people in three states in the united states, that doesn't cover everybody in the united states, but it doesn't mean it not discrimination. so i think there's a plausible and a very good solid argument that they're making that it doesn't have to be perfect discrimination in order for it to be unconstitutional and problematic. >> there are so many different lines of attack here, which is common, because lawyers like to put everything on the menu for a judge. putting your litigation hat on, which do you think are most likely to get the ban permanently struck down? >> i think there a range of question. i think there's an equal protection argument with respect to discrimination. i think the first amendment with respect to religion i think is also strong. there are a lot of -- there are state court arguments, state constitutional arguments, a lot of stuff that's in there. i think the strongest piece is
that president trump and his folks said pretty clearly that they wanted to create a ban. they actually wanted to create a ban before he was the president-elect, before he was the nominee. he's been talking about this before he even had access to a lot of the intelligence stuff. i think it's fair for the court to be able to look behind what his claims are now, particularly when you have an administration that doesn't seem to be so happy to tell the truth all the time and that they fudge the facts. i think it's actually not only within the court's power but i think it's prudent to look behind some of those. >> that was one of the roughest parts in these arguments tonight. at one point the d.o.j. was struggling, basically, to provide some of the basic type of record evidence, just the basic facts and precedent that you'd want to provide a judicial and they said back to the judge, well, this is going really fast. the judge pointed out it's going fast because the trump administration asked for this emergency hearing.
>> yes, your honor. these proceedings have been moving quite fast and we're doing the best we can. >> you're saying the proceedings are moving fast but you appealed to us before you continued in the district court to develop the record. so why should we be hearing this now if it sounds like you're trying to say you're going to present other evidence later? >> in your view has there been some subpar lawyering here because the administration has mott put its best foot forward to defend this in court? >> i think it's ad hoc lawyering in the sense that they are making this up as it goes along. the order was issued so rashly and so badly and without any good roll-out, everybody is scrambling to figure out what the legal arguments are. there's one point i think the judge made which was really interesting when he was asking -- one of the judges was asking the questions about isn't true for these seven countries, that congress's response to them was to vet people more in these
seven countries and is there anything wrong with that, is there a changed circumstance? the judge is saying if it ain't broke, why is president trump trying to fix it? and of course the government lawyer couldn't possibly do that. >> what again goes to part of where the justice department does not want to be, which is the innards of this rule. that's why they started with don't even look under the hood. the question is whether the appeals court or supreme court wants to second guess immigration to that degree. thanks for being here, vince warren. >> thanks for having me. >> we have more on the breaking news rachel and i were discussing, elizabeth warren being formally rebuked by republicans on the senate floor for a floor speech where, among other things, she was quote, coretta scott king. there are over 47 million ford vehicles out here. that has everything to do with the people in here.
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after president trump ordered that raid in yemen which killed some yemeni civilians, the yemeni government is saying it can will ban the u.s. from ground operations. we have more on that next. we have a question about your brokerage fees. fees? what did you have in mind? i don't know. $6.95 per trade? uhhh- and i was wondering if your brokerage offers some sort of guarantee?
guarantee? where we can get our fees and commissions back if we're not happy. so can you offer me what schwab is offering? what's with all the questions? ask your broker if they're offering $6.95 online equity trades and a satisfaction guarantee. if you don't like their answer, ask again at schwab. dude. your crunching's scaring the fish. dude. they're just jealous. new kellogg's raisin bran crunch with crunchy clusters and the taste of apples and strawberries. (excited) i got one! (jokingly) guess we're having cereal for dinner. new kellogg's raisin bran crunch apple strawberry president trump is obviously an unusual client. while the justice department is defending the ban, he suggested any ruling against his order would make the federal judiciary
responsible for any terror attacks on u.s. soil. and in a meeting with the national sheriff's association today. and in a bizarre exchange, a sheriff was complaining about civil asset forfeiture. and then president trump basically said he would get involved with a threat of payback. he didn't even know who the legislator was yet. take a listen. >> on asset forfeiture, we got a state senator in texas that was talking about introducing legislation to require conviction before we could receive that forfeiture money. >> can you believe that? >> i told him the cartel would build a monument to him in mexico -- >> who is the state senator? want to difficult me his name? we'll destroy his career.
>> joining me now is jeremy bash, former chief of staff to leon panetta. any comment on what i just saw, the president's approach to the federal judge and the federal judiciary's oversight of these issues, which you've dealt with on the national security side. >> the president likes to attacks institutions, he's attacked free press, downgraded the role of national intelligence and joint chiefs. it's an effort when his policy goes forward, he's not constrained by facts, people who are experts in their field. it's dangerous for policy making and i think it's dangerous for national security. >> when you look at the security side, i wonder what your observations are having listened to that hearing. there are certainly times where your old cleagues at the cia or pentagon would say keep the
judges out, we respect them but we would prefer to do our own business and the cia often when it comes to areas where the rest of the government is held to account, they have some exception, some of them well earned, some of them logical. what is your view of the balance you heard in that courtroom today? >> i think the president does deserve some deference in matters of national security. but in this case, the threat was hyped. supposedly there's some secret information or intelligence that would justify an emergency situation like this, that the president should come forward and tell us why we should close our borders to seven countries. >> as i was reporting, there has not been a security-based argument. there was an argument of federal
law dealt with visas -- even that is not about the security threat. do you know of one? >> no, i don't. i've been trying to find one and i think we've all been hunting about the rhetoric about the muslim ban. we can't come up with it. the viewers should look at an important filing made in the ninth circuit that was signed by four people who ran the cia, general mike hayden, john mclaughlin, a career cia analyst, mike morel, also a career national security professional and analyst and leon panetta, my old boss who ran the cia and the pentagon, four men who basically argued there is no reason to protect the country in this way.
there's a reason to protect the country from terrorism, you do it in a focused way, following leads and following specific threat streams. that's how we have prevented another 9/11 in the past 15, 16 years. you don't do it through these blanket bans. and there's no real reason from a national security perspective to do it in this way. and worse, ari, this is what came out in their filing, it would hand isis a major victory, so it could make our country less safe. >> jeremy bash, as always, appreciate your expertise. >> coming up, more on the breaking news. the dramatic turn of events with republicans formally rebuking elizabeth warren and she was quoting coretta scott king. when that pain makes simple errands simply unbearable...
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a disgrace to the department of justice. >> i think that may have been senator [ inaudible ] who said that. although i would be glad to repeat it in my own words. so quoting senator kennedy, calling them nominee sessions a disgrace is a violation of senate rules? it was certainly not in 1986. >> in the opinion of the chair it is. >> so let me understand then -- >> the senator is warned. >> that is certainly an unusual event on the senate floor and one that has some differing precedent, which we will get to. to show you what happened, senator warren interrupted again, this time by senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. >> mr. president -- >> the majority leader. >> the senator has impugned the
motives and conduct of our colleague from alabama as warned about the the chair, said senator warren has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of rights of -- >> mr. president? i'm surprised that the words of coretta scott king are not suitable for debate in the united states senate. i ask leave of the senate to continue my remarks. >> is there an objection? >> i object. >> the objection is heard. >> mr. president, i appeal the ruling of the chair and i suggest the absence of a quorum. >> the clerk will call the roll.
>> then in a vote of 49-43, the senate held the vote on that underlying issue. the result being to silence senator warren. now, moments ago she spoke out on this. this was her first interview or really public statement of any kind off what again was very unusual on the senate floor. this is an unusual circumstance in the sense that you have the conduct of a senator about remarks of another senator who is also, obviously, up for confirmation. so there's more than one thing going on. here's how she explained it in this new interview with rachel maddow. >> reading that letter out loud, according to mitch mcconnell, impugned senator sessions and therefore i got gavelled and was forced to sit down and i am not allowed to speak on the floor of the senate. i'm not allowed to speak so long as the topic is senator jeff sessions. >> wow. >> i've been red carded on senator sessions. >> for more on this developing news, i'm joined by joan walsh
and jonathan walter. joan? >> it's unbelievable. i mean, to see her being told to sit down is almost painful. the idea that a senator is above criticism, when you nominate a senator for a cabinet position, his colleagues can criticize him is kind of elitist. and he didn't just silence elizabeth warren, he silenced coretta scott king. and jeff sessions was not a senator when these comments were made about him. they're comments that came in the unfortunate senate nomination for judgeship where he was rejected by a republican senate. so the idea that these words that moved a republican majority senate in 1986 are now not fit to be spoken. and she wasn't just prohibited from continuing that statement, she's prohibited from making any
statement through the rest of the debate on sessions. i just didn't know that was possible. >> i just think it's profoundly stupid of mitch mcconnell. i mean, what has he done? he's shone a light on the objections to jeff sessions as essentially a racist, that coretta scott king, who is still a revered figure in this country brought up now the attention of the nation or people who are interested in politics is riveted on this. to use a cliche, the optics are horrendous, as they have been for the trump administration so far. it's almost like the disease of bad optics is contagious and now it's moved to capitol hill where they are doing things that defy political common sense and normally mitch mcconnell, what everyone thinks of him is a smart operator. this was a dumb thing for him to do. >> and to your point, they have
the votes on those of these. the only thing left is a debate on the senate floor, which is not exactly the roughest or toughest opposition tactic. it is literally words in a public debate that then move on to a vote. we'll put up on the screen for folks and most people don't care much about rule 19 but it says no senator in debate shall directly or indirectly by any form of words imcompute to another senator to or other senator any conduct or motive unbecoming a senator. the core of the rule is to try to protect a little bit of comity and good faith between senators. it is not obviously at a basic level confirmation process where their conduct will be assessed on their senator. a lot of unusual things tonight. thech say, quote, senate
republicans have regularly flaunted rule xix in the past, this is a clear case of selective enforcement. only senator warren accurately quoting from mlk's widow provoked republicans to action, joan. >> i'm not a lawyer, i'm not a scholar of the senate, but it clear that is intended to keep certain boundaries around debate and i can understand it. it's not intended to be use in a situation like this. an impartial president, an impartial senate would have looked at this as two senators having a debate. i think he should be voted down because of his racial past and voting rights past first and foremost. i'm not aware of a single republican in danger of voting against him. i wish i could say it was different. are you, john? >> no. and think back to a couple of
years when ted cruz and rand paul were going at it. so for them to choose this occasion to shine a light on it in this way is perplexing. we would not be talking about this. it's not as if the attention of the world was riveted on the senate floor tonight. this was the last stages of something that's a done deal, sessions is going to get confirmed -- >> and the underlying issue is of course the questions that did dog then prosecutor sessions when he was up for the federal judgeship, which is there were accusations made on the record, some under oath, that he had made a lot of racially incendiary comments, that he was basically having difficulty with black colleagues within the prosecutor's office.
now, in fairness, there was a strenuous rebuttal of that at the time and they continue to rebut that. that is something that is up for debate. i wonder how do you talk about any of that fairly, right, without raising the prospect of impugning him as a nominee, whether you were on the attack or defense, you're going to be discussing that alleged conduct. >> of course. and when you're talking about confirming somebody for a position that is this important, to say that, oh, this big chunk of his record, what denied him to be a federal judge in the past, that's off limits because now he's protected by being in the club. you almost think that mcconnell wants to polarize this a little bit, wants to rally the trump folks who are behind sessions so that he has some really adamant supporters when he goes into that job at the justice department. >> jonathan, thank you for joining us. joan stays.
we do have new polling here about what americans think of donald trump's presidency and whether the honeymoon is over. but grandma, we use charmin ultra soft
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known as confusing. >> is how president trump described it two days ago. >> i think it was very smooth. it stopped 109 people out of thousands of travelers and all we did was vet them more carefully. >> it is early on for this administration and voters tend to give new administrations something of a honeymoon period. we checked today and it looks like that is not happening. 51% of americans disapprove of how president trump is handling his job. gallup tracking shows 54% disapprove while 42% approve. it took 922 days for president obama's approval rating to 42% in gallup. donald trump has been in office 19 days.
what reportedly bothered president trump most about this snl sketch? the answer coming up. my belly pain and constipation?
they keep telling me "drink more water." "exercise more." i know that. "try laxatives..." i know. believe me. it's like i've. tried. everything! my chronic constipation keeps coming back. i know that. tell me something i don't know. (vo) linzess works differently from laxatives. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation, or chronic constipation. it can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements that are easier to pass. do not give linzess to children under 6 and it should not be given to children 6 to 17. it may harm them. don't take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away.
other side effects include gas, stomach-area pain and swelling. talk to your doctor about managing your symptoms proactively with linzess. >> question -- president trump was most bothered by which part of this snl skit? >> i want to talk about the travel ban -- >> it's not a ban. >> pardon? >> it's not a ban. you said ban. >> you just said ban. >> i'm using your words. he's quoting you, it's your words. he's using your words when you use the words and he uses them back, it's circular using of the word and that's from you.
>> the problem is that is what the briefings, it's what they feel like sometimes. but the answer to our quiz for you tonight, according to politico, quote, more than being lampooned as a press secretary who makes up facts, it was spicer's portrayal by a woman that was most problematic in the president's eyes according to sources close to him and the unflattering send-up by a female comedian was not considered helpful for spicer's longevity in the grueling high-profile job. in the article, trump doesn't like his people to look weak added a top trump donor. the internet decided who snl should enlist in its next potential takedown of trump world, we're hearing rosie o'donnell playing potentially steve bannon. turns out rosie herself already weighing in tweeting "available -- if called, i will serve." and there's three exclamation points and in hollywood that
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about potential conflicts of interest within the trump white house. in is all part of a $150 million libel sued filed by first lady melania trump, going after the "daily mail" over an article they have retracted. mr. trump's role as first lady is not explicitly mentioned but refers to an opportunity to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product cart grist, each of which could have garnered multi-million dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which he is one of the most photographed women in the world. i will start from a criticism here of richard painor. he says there's never been a first lady of the u.s. who insinuated she intended to make a lot of money because of the once in a lifetime opportunity of being first lady. since we're talking lawsuits,
we'll give you the rebuttal. catherine charles harder, melania trump's attorney and a top, well-known attorney in these libel cases and says the is no intention of the first lady of using her position for profit. >> it sounds like she should read her own brief. i don't know how her own attorney can argue within the span of 24 hours that she either wants to capitalize on her new found fame and profile and doesn't want to. >> some of them is second nature to them.
there's nothing wrong if you don't want a career in public service. jay-z said i'm not a businessman, i'm a business, man. nothing wrong with that. we have a country that rewards that. seems the problem is the transition, out of private gain to public service. >> she's in the white house, she is the first lady. i just can't believe that the lawyer would undercut his own real argument for damages here. i also find it hard to believe, ari, that this allegation, which we don't even dignify by repeating was widespread enough to actually cost her opportunities. so i think it's terrible -- i mean, this is kind of an inconsistent argument. i think it's terrible for her to be looking for those opportunities but i also find it hard to believe that this, which
did not circulate that widely, people found the charges radioactive could be blamed for costing her millions in opportunities, even if she decided it was appropriate for her to pursue them. >> and mrs. trump has a very strong case on the underlying issue. the question is whether it worth that many millions, the lawyers tend to do some inflation. they've applied for trademarks for make america great, keep america great, which show a nexus of the political to make money. you don't need to make money to get votes. >> that's why we've talked about the importance of having then donald trump, now president trump, there's a reason we don't want people in public service to be putting themselves in
position to directly benefit from that service, at least in a financial sense. >> thank you both for joining me tonight. >> that does it for "the last word." you can e-mail me at ari at msnbc.com. "the last hour" with brian williams is live starting now. "the 11th hour" begins now. good evening. once again from our headquarters here in new york, this early and continuing battle between the
and lockheed loves him. intel building a $7 billion plant in arizona that they took off the shelf during the obama years. so, yeah, lots to talk about. >> thanks to hugh and our guests. >> that was the scene from a town hall earlier tonight with arkansas senator tom cotton. the mood is indicative of what we're seeing at town halls across the country.
we have news tonight from this new administration's continued whiplash pattern of radical changes in course. tonight the justice department, which is now led by attorney general jeff sessions announced that they are reversing the obama administration policy on the rights of transgender students in american schools. we have known that the white house intended to roll back lgbt rights. we thought they might first take aim at kids. we've been waiting all day for the official notice. here it is.
very high turnout election. it was an unusually long ballot in montana this year, because they had a bunch of stuff to vote on in the state, but all in all, usually the statewide cost of running a statewide election in montana is about $2 million. this past november it was about $3 million. and the counties in montana were really not happy about that extra expense. there's no magic pile of money that comes in from the federal government or even from the state government that pays for the cost of administering elections in montana. it's the county, local taxpayers, local budgets have to foot the bill, no matter what they cost, and this last election they just had, you know, through nobody's fault, just through a series of circumstances it was 50% more expensive than any election they'd had before and a lot of counties didn't have money in the budge tote pay for the extra expense. and that was already a real cause of financial consternation in that state before montana's one congressman, ryan zinke got nominated by the new administration to leave congress and instead go join the president's cabinet.
ryan zinke, montana's only member of congress, he's also the new nominee to be secretary of the interior. now he hasn't been confirmed yet, democrats have managed to slow down most of the cabinet coirmation process, although we're going to report later on tonight that one of the cabinet nominees republicans were able to rush through they may be having second thoughts about him, some buyers remorse on one they were able to get done but ryan zinke is still on ice. there's been some concern over him getting disciplined during his navy career for falsifying travel records so he'd get reimbursed for travel he shouldn't have been reimbursed for, some controversy around that, aside from that though it is still broadly expected that he's going to get confirmed. he is going to get the job. maybe it will happen sometime in march they'll confirm him? whenever they confirm him, at that point that will start the process of montana holding a special election to replace him. montana will need to elect a new member of congress to replace
ryan zinke and in terms of how that's going to go, well, you know at first glance montana is a very red state. trump won there in november by a lot, by like 20 points. republicans have won every presidential election in montana all the way back to 1992. but the state is more complicated than that, even just when it comes to statewide races. montana has a democratic u.s. senator, john tustor. they've got a democratic congress, steve bullock, and montana is one of those places where, in political terms it sort of looks like somebody hit that state with jumper cables since the election results came this for example is what it looked like, look at this, january 30th at the state capitol in helena, montana. look at this, there have been more than a handful of instances since the election where the republicans in washington tried to go ahead with something, but then they had to change their mind and take it back when the public blowback was so strong they couldn't handle it.
the first day of the first congress when the republicans tried to gut the congressional ethics office, remember they had to take that one pack beuse of the blowback and remember them demanding the names of all the scientists who had ever worked on climate change at the energy department, but they had to reverse those things. they've this to face blowback and take those things back. another big flat-out reversal from the republicans in washington was a plan to sell off more than 3 million makers of public land, tens of thousands of the acres they wanted to sell off were in montana, and this was the reaction in montana to republicans trying to sell that land off. it was a pretty big reaction, and when republicans in the house saw this big reaction in montana, and in other states like that, they did back off. they changed their mind.
they dropped that bill to sell off public lands, but for a taste what have it was like in montana when that was still pending this is montana's governor steve bullock speaking at the state capitol january 30th. watch how it goes here. you'll see why republicans didn't want to be up against this particularly in states all over the mountain west. >> thank you for coming out from all corners of our state today. thanks for what you're doing today, and every day to keep our public lands in public hands. [ cheers and applause ] i see folks from sanders county, i see sportsmen, and sportswomen, i see ranchers, i see veterans, i see big fishers and fly fishers, i see grandparents, i see the next generation, i even see some of my former high school teachers here. [ cheers and applause ] and you know what's great? every one of us own these public lands. [ cheers and applause ]
the 30 million acres in montana, and the beauty is, we don't need permission to go on them, do we? >> no! >> these lands are our heritage. these lands are our birthright. these lands are one of our great equalizers the size of our checkbook doesn't matter to access our blue ribbon streams, our rivers and hunt in some of the finest places around the world, because we all own them. >> montana govern steve bullock. that day more than 1,000 people piled into the montana state capitol to protest the republican plan to sell off over 3 million acres of public land,
including tens of thousands of acres in montana. and republicans backed off. they changed their minds about that in washington. but that footage from montana, i remember seeing that the day that that happened january 30th and being like oh, whoa, montana it turns out it wasn't just that one issue. the day after the presidential inauguration we know that was that huge women's march in washington, we know there were protests around the country, even around the world that day, sister marches, right? even knowing that, i was still taken aback to learn that the number of people who turned out that day in montana for the montana women's march at their state capitol the number of people who turned out was 10,000. what? there are only a million people
in the whole state, 10,000 people came out and protested at their state capitol that day. i mentioned that montana has a democratic u.s. senator in john tester and also have a republican senator steve daines. since the election steve daines is finding when he comes home his airport greetings from his constituents are not what they used to be. to we have that footage? >> you work for us! you work for us! you work for us! you work for us! you work for us! you work for us! you work for us! >> senator steve dainesgreeted t used to be greeted at the airport in montana. like many members of congress and senators around the country, senator daines has refused to do town halls and that included lots of protesters turning up at steve daines' constituents offices at home in montana, his constituents wanting to meet with him, he is so far saying no. yesterday he was due to speak to state legislators at the capitol, when his constituents found out he was going to do that they turned up in great numbers, several hundred people were waiting outside the capitol to try to engage with him, when he turned up. seeing that, steve daines canceled his appearance at the legislature. he postponed it. he did turn up at the state capitol a day late, he turned up today. he still would not meet with any of his constituents who wanted to meet with him, would not agree to a town hall. he did speak at a press conference, sponsored by a conserative interest group but as he did so his constituents would not leave him alone. they were holding up signs, they were saying "you work for us" they were asking him for a meeting, this one woman over the course -- you see there on the right side there, one woman holding up a sign that quotes adele "hello from the other side, i must have called a thousand times." randomly the guy in yellow there, a guy in a chicken suit now who follows steve daines around everywhere he goes. we only have this little bit of footage. he's not even wearing the chicken head, standing there flapping his chicken arms no matter where steve daines goes because steve daines won't meet with his constitch wepts. montana civic life is different than what it used to be because of the outcome of this election, because of the way people are reacting around the country to this president and here's one super interesting, super practical consequence of that, that may have national implications and it has just come to pass today in montana. one of the consequences around the country of this huge reaction we're seeing to the trump potcy, reinvigoration, there's a lot of attention paid to the individual elections here lean it, that are what otherwise look like one-offs, strays, in terms of electoral politics around the country. so for example this saturday, this weekend there's a state senate race in delaware that wouldn't usually make national news but that state senate race will determine which party controls the delaware state senate. so the democratic candidate in that race has been getting support from like former vice president joe biden and democratic leaning groups around the country. another republican incumbent congressmawhis leang the house to join the trump cabinet is tom price in georgia.
his district only went for donald trump by 1.5 points. there's a huge amount of democratic interest nationwide in trying to make that seat a democratic pickup when they've got that special election for that seat in april. we profiled the it's of the liberal coast website to support a candidate named john ossoff. they've raised nearly $1 million on behalf of john ossoff in that race. the first polling in the georgia race puts john ossoff not just ahead of the democrats but the giant field including the multitudeness of republicans running for that seat as well. in montana, there'sing if to be another one of those special elections. like i said montana only has one member of congress, a congressional district special election in montana is a statewide election, because that's the congressional district. depending on when ryan zinke
gets confirmed to the cabinet, it's likely that the race to replace him in congress will be, i don't know, may? june? early june? i don't know. here's the thing though. across that state, the county clerks and elections administrators, the people who actually run elections county by county across that state, those clerks have started squawking. they have started raising the alarm about the cost of that election, because remember, montana just had the most expensive statewide election they have ever had this past november. counties hadn't budgeted extra money for it. it was 50% me expensive than they thought it would be, 50% more than any election.
there wasn't extra money to pay for that, they are way in the hole in terms of what they spent on elections and unexpectedly they have to run another statewide special election to fill this congressional seat. where is the money coming from to do that? the counties have to cough up that money. they don't have that money. the county clerks have an idea, they've been lobbying for it statewide and writing op-eds and testifying is at the legislature. their idea is this in montana when there are school board elections, local elections, they're run without the expense of opening up the polling places, run instead by mail, montana is a huge state with not that many people in it. running an election by mail just makes economic sense in a state where the people are that spread out. and montana elections administrators have a lot of experience of running elections by mail because of it. why not do the congressional election as well, just mail everybody a ballot? here's the tea time county clerk and recorder making the case, "as representative zinke's pending appointment looms over montana, election administrators across the state see mounting costs for an unbudgeted election. election administrators have a solution to save the taxpayers money, we are proposing a bill to conduct the congressional special election by mail. conducting the election by mail would conservatively save taxpayers statewide between half a million and three-quarters of a million dollars." another county clerk making the
case in her local paper "mail ballot elections are safe and cost effective in an effort to minimize costs for ryan zinke's condwregsal seat election administrators across the state see holding a mail bat lot election as a solution. this is a technocratic thing. this is a practical noncontroversial thing, a solution only designed to save money. it's being put forward as a good government option by the people who actually have to run that part of the government. trying to save taxpayers money. until today, because of that, this proposal had bipartisan support, and then that bipartisan support clamscollapse today because the chair of the republican party in montana sent out this. "the emergency chairmans report on the negative impact on republican candidates due to mail ballot elections." even though this was a republican bill that was sponsored by a republican in the house and a republican in the senate, the republican party chairman has now come out in an
emergency action come out against it and told montana republicans they have to stand against this, because if montana votes by mail, too many people might vote. "all mail ballots give the democrats an inherent advantage. vote-by-mail is designed to increase participation rates of lower propensity voters. democrats in montana perform better than republican candidates among lower propensity voters. i know my position will not be popular with many fiscally conservative republicans or the sponsors of this bill. they may be well intended but this bill could be the death of our effort to make montana a reliably republican state." if it's too easy to vote the democrats might win. there are not that many of these special election, these one-off elections this year, but each one ofhem is going to be interesting, both in terms of their consequences as, you know,
consequences clock consequences but they're also going to be interesting, each of them as a potential sort of check of the country's temperature. we're going through these very strong changes in washington, and in response to what's going on in washington. there's a very strong movement in this country that is responding negatively to this new president, and montana is one of those states in the country right now where, if we take the temperature we might find it is at a fever pitch, at least it looks like the temperature may have changed a lot in response to what happened in the presidential election. you know after donald trump won the presidency in montana by 20 points, republicans in that state shouldn't have to worry about the exact logistics of how the next congressional election
would be administered in their state. they shouldn't be lobbying to purposely waste hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to try to tilt the playing field against democrats and make it harder to vote. even the initial republican sponsor of the vote-by-mail bill she's a republican. she says she doesn't get it. "personally i'd rather get beat in an election with a good turnout than win in an election with low turnout." but apparently her party is not with her on that, even in red state montana her party appears to be scared about holding onto ryan zinke's congressional seat, scared to the point they're trying to make it harder to vote on purpose when it comes time for that next election. no one knows your ford better than ford. and ford service. right now, get the works! a synthetic blend oil change, tire rotation, brake inspection and more -- for $29.95 or less. ♪ [dramatic ♪ ic begins] ready! charge! charge! (in chinese) charge! let your reign begin.
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was greeted by a whole lot of his constituents who would really like him to meet with them, would really like him to hold a town hall meeting with the constituents. they intercepted him at the airport, he wouldn't answer their questions. they held their own town hall outside the state house yesterday when senator daines was originally scheduled to visit the state house, when he heard about his constituents waiting for him there at the last minute he canceled his visit. they held a town hall meeting without him. his constituents did find him at this conservative press conference including the listless guy in the yellow chicken suit. this is the climate in montana right now, as a brand new strange controversy has sprung up around the election they're going to need to hold in that state to fill the seat of montana's lone member of congre, ryan zin is expected to soon jo donald trump's cabinet, two republicans in the state legislature sponsored a bill to make the special election to replace ryan zinke a mail in your ballot election. it's much cheaper that way. the elections administrators in
the state were begging to do it that way and republicans put forward a bill to do the election that way, everybody vote by mail. now today, rrr, u-turn. the chair of the montana republican party has put out an emergency report saying that bill must be blocked. the election can't be by mail because if the election is run by mail-in ballot, too many people will vote, and then republicans will lose that seat, and now that bill, even though it's sponsored by republicans now it is in jeopardy. what's going to happen here? and what does this mean about montana and what does this mean about the country? joining us now is montana's democratic governor steve bullock. governor, thank you very much for being here. it's really nice to have you here. >> it's great to be with you tonight, rachel, for sure. >> have i summarized what's going on right with this bill? am i right that this was a republican sponsored bill in the house and the senate but right now we don't know what's going
to happen? >> well that's what's fairly shocking, to have the republican party chair, who is also a sitting legislator, brazenly acknowledge that he wants to spend more taxpayer dollars with the hope of getting fewer voters? i mean that's not only wrong for montana, it's wrong for the country. we need to be figuring out ways to encourage people to vote, certainly not take away their voting franchise. >> i was trying to follow the history of this proposal and i read all these on-eds and looked at the testimony from the county clerks and administrators, people who run these elections around the state, and it doesn't seem like it was offered as a partisan thing. it doesn't seem like it was offered as even a propos to try to increase voter turnout in the ate. seems like the county, like we're out ofonday, the november election was really expensive. we'd like to do this, it's cheaper, and we've got experience with it. it feels like it became partisan when it just started as a technocratic fiscally conservative thing. >> well, and that's right, because at the end of the day, it's republicans carrying it,
clerks and recorders who are on the front lines each and every day are saying we ought to do it this way, our county organizations are saying let's save $750,000, and let's try to do everything we can to get more people voting. from the perspective of, you know, my job as a governor is to represent democrats, republicans, all montanans and i don't care where your stay is on that as long as we can get more people voting it's good for democracy, good for our elections and it will save taxpayers dollars. >> governor, obviously if ryan zinke is confirmed to the senate that will be a landmark moment for montana, the first montanan in a cabinet position at least as far as i know. it will create a statewide opening because he's the lone congressional representative for your state. >> yes. >> when you take the temperature of where people are at in your state, i saw that tape of you speaking before more than 1,000 montanans in the state capitol to save public lands.
the footage of 10,000 people turning out for the women's march at the state capitol. i've seen the way people are hounding senator steve daines and trying to get him to talk to them. what is your assessment where the state is right now and how montana is reacting to this president? obviously donald trump did very well on november 8th in montana. >> yes, recognizing what donald trump took montana by about 20 points even though there are more television ads run in the state of montana than any other state for a governor's race, i won by 4 1/2 so i think montanans look at where are the values of foekds and who is going to take our state and represent our state the best in washington, d.c. you played that clip. i truly believe public lands are one of our great equalizers. i think public education is one of our great equalizers and the neat thing on election day every
montanan is exactly equal so the right to vote and access to the polls is one of those great equalizers, too, and we sure shouldn't be spending more money to try to get fewer people voting. >> montana governor steve bullock, you have a way with a turn of phrase, governor. it's good to have you here. keep us apprised on how this goes. it's taken some weird, sharp turns in the last couple of days. we'll be interested to see how this turns out, sir. >> sure will do so, rachel. we've got much more ahead tonight. please stay with us. is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. the microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn countless points of data into insights that transform their business and will enhance the game for players and fans. the microsoft cloud turns information into insight.
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so much unrealized potential. this american carnage stops right here and stops right now. >> "this american carnage" for many americans that's an understandably terrifying phrase, right, coming from the leader of the free world but for a very specific group of awesome americans, the phrase "american carnage" means something else. it means metal! the 2010 american carnage tour headlined by mega death and testament and anthraxx and slayer, and on inauguration day when i told the history of the american carnage tour and how weird it was of so that metal tour echoed in a presidential inaugural address at one point i called the bass player and lead singer of slayer tim arraya. his name is tom araya. actually in the segment i called him both tom and tim, because i miss, like typoed it in my testament and anthraxx and slayer, and on inauguration day when i told the history of the american carnage tour and how weird it was of so that metal tour echoed in a presidential inaugural address at one point i called the bass player and lead
singer of slayer tim arraya. his name is tom araya. actually in the segment i called him both tom and tim, because i miss, like typoed it in my notes. nothing less metal an slipping and falling on a typo and thereby inventing a new diminutive timmy nickname for a metal god like tom arraya. i felt so bad, i have felt bad for more than a month but tonight, perhaps an opportunity for a reprieve, because tonight right after the show at 10:00 p.m. eastern we are going back to american carnage. tonight is our special on "trump: the first month." i'm cohosting with brian williams and chris matthews and all the other members from msnbc, right after our show here but tonight i'm going to get american carnage right. i've got my american carnage tour t-shirt.
i've got slayer lyrics tattooed on the inside of my eyeballs. tonight i get a second chance to get at least the metal part of this right. stay with us. i'm seriously going to wear this shirt during the coverage. liberty mutual stood with me when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. liberty did what? yeah, with liberty mutual all i needed to do to get an estimate was snap a photo of the damage and voila! voila! (sigh) i wish my insurance company had that... wait! hold it... hold it boys... there's supposed to be three of you... where's your brother? where's your brother? hey, where's charlie? charlie?!
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"tell ron hickman that 287g tears families apart." ron hick mapp was the sheriff of harris county, houston, it's 4.5 million people. we're talking about montana earlier in the show. harris county alone has four times the population of all of montana. the decision facing sheriff hickman last june with the protests in the streets was whether his department would renew or end an agreement that he had made with the federal government, under that oddly named 287g. the idea behind 287g is that counties can sign a contract with the feds that allows the federal government to basically deputize local law enforcement to turn local police, local sheriffs into federal
immigration enforcement officers. the policy has evolved over time, but the lasting criticism of it is that it hurts local law enforcement efforts. it makes immigrant communities afraid to call the police, even when they need help. if you're the victim of a crime, you need to be able to call police, even if you are undocumented. if the police are going to deport you for calling up and reporting that you got mugged, that's a problem for your local community. it's great for muggers, but it's bad for everybody else. and so a thousand people came out from across the county to show support at that march in houston to be part of that call for reform to tell sheriff hickman in harris county that they didn't want him to renew that program that had local cops deputized to be immigration agents. in part because of that 287g company harris county is responsible for more deportations than any other county in the entire country. now about a week after those protests last june, sheriff hickman made his decision. he decided he was going to renew that agreement with the federal government, his local officers would keep doing that federal immigration enforcement work.
but then you know, as it happens, sheriff hickman came up for re-election in november, and in addition to organizing those street protests, those same activists behind those protests had been very busy working on, among other things, registering latino voters in harris county. conveniently for those efforts there was a nice stark dividing line between the incumbent sheriff hickman and his opponent, a man named ed gonzalez. sheriff hickman was for that federal agreement that turned local cops into immigration enforcers. ed gonzalez said if he was elected he would end it. there are 254 counties in the great state of texas, out of those 254 only 27 went blue on election night, but harris county, the big one, harris county was one of those blue counties and harris county didn't just vote top of the
ticket for hillary clinton they elected a new sheriff, ousted the incumbent. >> our decision 2016 coverage with some surprising results in the race for harris county sheriff, as we showed you right before the break the latest numbers have democratic challenger ed gonzalez ahead of ron hickman with 52%, with 53% of the vote now. bill spencer joins us live in the heights. bill? >> reporter: yes, bill, and the candidate just took the stage a few minutes ago along with his lovely wife melissa and he did accept winning the sheriff's race, he acknowledged himself as the new sheriff. the new sheriff in town. in fact -- >> a new sheriff in town, in fact. that thing we always say applies literally here. elections do have consequences. sheriff hickman lost and harris county ed gonzalez became the new sheriff in town. interestingly that didn't stop the local activists.
they continued to rally and march and organize even after ed gonzalez was elected. every week people would march to the city council and jail to put pressure on the new sheriff to get rid of 287g and today he kept his promise. today sheriff gonzalez in harris county announced he would scrap that program. >> i decided to opt out of the voluntary 287g, the department will no longer be serving as front line immigration officers as they've been deputized to do under this program. >> the new sheriff reviewed the program and decided to opt out a day after the trump administration released new homeland security memos outlining plans for aggressively implementing anti-immigrant policies in the trump era, including plans to revive that 287g program. sheriff gonzalez's decision may not have been a political one but it definitely sends a message around the country at a time when the trump administration is saying they want to put rocket boosters on 287g, the top laenforcement
agent in one of the most populous counties america, a county responsible for more deportations than any other county in the country they say no, we're out, we're not going to do it. joining us is harris county sheriff ed gonzalez. sheriff, thank you very much for joining us tonight. i appreciate your time, sir. >> hi, rachel, honor to be with you. >> i was expressing a moment ago there that some of the concerns about this program making local law enforcement into federal immigration enforcement authorities, effectively it is a problem for local law enforcement. it made people in immigrant communities reluctant understandably to call 911, to call when they needed help. was that, in fact, happening in harris count why i? was that part of your decision-making process? >> it was part of the decision-making process. over the course of last year,
through the election and here in my first month and a half, i've noticed that there's been a lot of fear and concern in the community. i could feel that. i could see that and obviously with everything that's going on at the national level, it really concerns me to see that kind of fear happening in communities. to me it leads to more mistrust of police at a time when we need to be growing more trust, more collaboration with communities to solve local crimes. >> i've read the way you addressed this in the past. i hear the way you're speaking about it now. it's clear you don't see this as a political crusade of any kind. this is a question of resources and priorities and practicalities. it does have political resonance though nationwide. are you worried about losing funding as a result? are you worried about texas
state governnt coming after you in some way? are you worried about the federal government coming afte you in some way and trying to reduce your resources or make life hard for you in other ways because of this decision? >> i'm not worried about that. in my mind, this has been the correct decision to do at the end of the day. i'm going to focus on what's best for the men and women of the harris county sheriff's office as well as what i can do each day to make sure the resident of harris county are safe. it's under my purview considering this say voluntary program and up until recently we've been an outlier, the only county sheriff's office to be under this program for many, many years and even now out of 254 counties, 251 have been able to operate out it. i think it was time to end this program. >> sheriff, since you made this announcement today obviously this was part of your campaign in november and people may have known this is coming. what's the reaction today, now that you've made the announcement? >> i think overall we've received very positive comments and i think people understand the need for us to focus on local priorities. i basically run what's considered the largest mental state hospital, if you will, by the number of inmates that i have. i have a huge jailover crowding issue, our jail is understaffed. we need more patrol cars for our deputies.
these are issues that we need to be focusing on to make sure we're keeping our local communities safe and that's my priority each and every day. to me this say common sense approach making sure we can redirect the costs we were investing into this program, this voluntary program spending over $675,000 staffing it. we can now redeploy those resources to fight local public safety issues. >> harris county sheriff ed gonzalez of texas, thank you very much for your time tonight, sir. keep us apprised, stay in touch with us as this change happens in your county and in your state. we'd be interested to see how this works out for you sir, thank you. >> sure will, thank you. we'll be right back. stay with us. and know-how to help keep your ford running strong. 35,000 specialists all across america. no one knows your ford better than ford. and ford service. right now, get the works! a synthetic blend oil change, tire rotation, brake ipection and more -- for $29.95 or less.
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we have news tonight from this new administration's continued whiplash pattern of radical changes in course. tonight the justice department, which is now led by attorney general jeff sessions announced that they are reversing the obama administration policy on the rights of transgender students in american schools. we have known that the white house intended to roll back lgbt rights. we thought they might first take aim at kids. we've been waiting all day for the official notice. here it is. the justice department tonight notifying the u.s. supreme court that they're withdrawing the transgender protections that had been issued by president obama. but they're also telling schools, quote, this withdrawal of these guidance documents does noleave students without protections from discrimination, bullying or harassment. the department of education's
office for civil rights will continue its duty under law to hear claims of discrimination and will explore every appropriate opportunity to protect all students to encourage civility in our classrooms. how exactly the new administration intends to secure safety and a stability by uprooting the policy that protects transgender kids' rights, that's for history to say. but as of tonight, everybody who told you that the trump administration wouldn't be terrible on lgbt issues, at least they'll be okay on that. as of tonight now you know those people were all full of it.
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this was the line at senator tom cotton's town hall tonight in arkansas. people still lining up to ask a question an hour and 15 minutes after he started. and that's after he moved the venue of this thing i think five separate times. obviously people were still able to find him at the end of the day. we also just got in this video tonight from branchburg, new jersey. hundreds of people apparently not able to get inside a packed town hall meeting with leonard lance. this week for congress presents kind of a devil's choice for lawmakers. do you show up and face your constituents who are lining up with really hard questions and unfriendly feedback, or do you run? republican senator deb fisher of nebraska, do you run? >> here she comes. >> deb, when are you going to hold a town hall? hey, deb, meet with us!
hey, deb, meet with us! hey, deb, meet with us! hey, deb, meet with us! hey, deb, meet with us! hey, deb, meet with us! hey, deb, meet with us! >> senator deb fisher of nebraska doing her best to slip out of a closed door meeting that she held with a local business group in her district last night. i like how the security guard is no, not that car. this car over here, turn around. smile and wave. do not meet with your kintz, whatever you do. people have been trying every which way to track down their member of congress and their senators. this is like a lost puppy ad that ran today in the palm beach
post newspaper. quote, lost, united states senator. he may respond to the title senator marco rubio, though his constituents have been unable to verify whether this is still the case as they have been unable to contact him in recent weeks. in huntington beach, california, republican congressman dana rohrabacher's constituents say they've been trying for weeks to get ahold of him or anyone at his office. they have tried lobbying his staff through tint come outside his office. they have tried pushg letters under the door that they will not open. one lone vietnam war veteran tried to walk into the office alone to please schedule a meeting. he was run out of the place by two uniformed police officers who kicked him out. yesterday, dana rohrabacher's
constituents tried again to get his attention. they're sort of down to the bottom of the barrel in tactics. this time they spelled out his name on the beach with their bodies. "where's dana?" maybe that one will work. in pennsylvania, senator pat toomey's constituents decided to hold a town hall without him since he wouldn't agree to meet with them. they did hold a place for him, though. they asked their questions to an empty suit they put on stage just hanging from a hanger. here is another interesting one out of new jersey, though. one that may have just made some news. in new jersey, constituents of congressman rodney freedlinghighsen. every friday his constituents have been showing up at his district offices to please meet with them. his answer consistently has been no, no, no, i won't meet with you. that's why it was surprising to see the congressman tweet this. great questions and comments during my telephone town hall meeting last night. thousands of constituents on the line. i'm listening. people were what telephone town hall? as far as we can tell there was no warning, no advanced notice that the congressman would be holding a town hall by telephone or otherwise. apparently it was an invitation only event. the whole thing was so low-key it didn't even register in the
local new jersey press except for one reporter who found out about it at the last minute and managed to listen, in and good thing too. because when congress members do have to listen to people in their district, even under duress, even then sometimes they say something important. >> i think actually the congressman made have made some news with some of the things he said in his response to constituents. >> like what? >> like that he -- that any funding for a wall on the mexican border would be stopped by his committee. he has no intention of funding that. >> house appropriations coittee chairm reportedly telling constituents last night at his telephone town hall that he has no intention of funding a wall on the mexican border. that's one thing if you're an average schmoe. that's national news if you're head of the national appropriations committee. if the head of the appropriations committee won't fund the wall, that means the wall won't be funded, not unless you believe that bullpucky about
mexico paying for it. nobody fell for that, right? we reached out to the congressman's office tonight for clarification on this point. also to see if we can get audio or transcript of the town hall. we haven't yet gotten our hands on audio or a transcript, but we did get a statement interest the congressman denying that reporting and saying any request for funds by the president will be reviewed in due course by his committee. okay. but we'd still like to know what you said to your constituents last night. if anybody else was on the line for the last-minute town hall with the congressman, anybody has the audio, or hey, no matter where you are, if you have shareable stuff from town halls in your town, please send to it me. www.sendittorachel.com. e-mail it to me rachel@nbc.com. let's find out who is making news. i'm about to run to another studio and join brian williams
thinking isn't a guns situation. >> when "all in" starts right now. >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. one week after we learned robert mueller had brought indictments against two top trump officials, announced a guilty plea for a third, all eyes on a former high-ranking official in the trump administration itself, michael flynn. a man who spent 24 days in the white house as the president's national security adviser. nbc news exclusively reporting that shmueler now has enough evidence to file charges in the investigation into flynn and his son michael flynn jr., according to multiple sources familiar with mueller's investigation. to be clear nbc news is not reporting who might be charged, only that there is sufficient evidence to file charges in that investigation. three sources tell nbc news that investigators plan to soon speak with multiple witnesses to gather more information about flynn's lobbying work, including whether he laundered money or lied to federal agents about his
overseas contacts. that news comes as the two former trump campaign aides facing indictments -- that would be paul manafort and his deputy rick gates -- were back in court today. the federal judge ruling they must remain under house arrest with her movements tracked by gps as they continue to negotiate a possible bail package. the president weighed in on manafort in combination with sinclair broadcast group. >> the reputation i felt was good. i had him for a short period of time. he was only in there for a finite period of time. but, you know, i feel badly for him. i always found him to be a really nice person. >> were mueller to file an obstruction of justice charge against the president, it would likely be flynn at the center of it. former fbi director james comey says the president pressured him to drop the investigation into flynn over flynn's conversations with the russian ambassador during the presidential transition. remember, flynn denied discussing u.s. sanctions against russia with the ambassador during several
exchanges, including, according to "the washington post," during an interview with the fbi. but intercepted communications reportedly contradicted flynn's account. now comey says he refused to drop the flynn investigation. shortly afterwards, trump fired him. which led to mueller being named special counsel. >> do you think he would ever consider trying to have mueller removed? or have you pledged to just stay out of that? >> well, i hope he is treating everything fairly. and if he is, i'm going to be very happy. because when you talk about innocent, i'm truly not involved in any form of collusion with russia, believe me. >> after the presidential campaign last year was over, flynn, just like the now indicted paul manafort, retroactively went on to register as a foreign agent. during a period when he was attending secret intelligence briefings with then candidate trump, flynn was being paid more than half a million dollars to lobby on behalf of the turkish government. even had the audacity to write a pro turkish government op-ed in
which he called recep tayyip erdogan chief antagonist, a muslim cleric living in exile in pennsylvania who erdogan blames for last year's failed coup. a senior law enforcement official tells nbc news's ken dilanian that in the weeks after trump was inaugurated, they were asked to extradite guillen. it's not clear whether the request came from flynn. i'm joined by the national security reporter who has been doing some amazing report thong story. let's start with that we learn head got half a million dollars to represent turkish interests through an intermediary. do you actually think about expediting fethullah gulen which is a key goal of erdogan. what do you know of this extradition that would have happened after flynn was actually in the u.s. government? >> just the very, very basics, chris, just what we said in the story, which is that the fbi was asked during the trump administration while mike flynn was the national security
adviser to take another look at this. and they had no reason to reexamine it because they had already looked at it during the obama administration and had no evidence to fulfill turkey's extradition request for fethullah gulen who lives in the poconos and is like public enemy number one for turkey. mike flynn at one point in the wake of the turkish coup actually gave a public statement saying the turkish coup could be a good thing. and then he completely 180 changed when he began being paid on behalf we now know by the government of turkey. and he published that op-ed on election day, which basically had turkish government talking points. it wasn't even disguised. a lot of people look at that and said obviously mike flynn didn't think he us going to win the election. because why would he publish that on election day? that's one of the really important things about this story is we are now saying that mike flynn's conduct as national security adviser is under scrutiny by robert mueller in connection with this gulen
arrangement. >> be a little clear there and then we'll move on to the reporting about sufficient evidence. because to impact that the key there is this is an unregistered foreign agent that is established to represent turkish interests writes a op-ed. and there is some question about whether that overlapped while he was in the white house. we don't know. i'm not saying that's the case. but it seems to me that that's a road investigators are looking at. >> that is absolutely at issue according to our sources is what official acts mike flynn took that seemed to align with his financial interests in terms of orchestrating the extradition of gulen to turkey. >> which, i should noted a big deal. and as law professor steve vladeck pointed out, if the case were to be proven a felony. let's talk about the idea sufficient charges in the flynn investigation. explain that reporting a little bit for us. >> yeah, chris. and we're not trying to be cute here. obviously both of these men, mike flynn, the former national security investigators and his son appear to be in serious
criminal jeopardy. we just don't have the precision of sourcing. we're not saying charges are eminent against both men. what we're saying is mueller has the evidence sufficient to file charges. charges could come. charges may not come if they are negotiating a cooperation arrangement. >> right. >> if they reach a deal to cooperate, we may not see charges, chris. >> all right. ken dilanian, thanks for being with me. former federal prosecutor renato mariotti, a frequent guest on the show. let's talk about flynn jr. and the behavior of flynn and flynn jr. this is flynn jr. who was -- it's not just that he is his father's shoefnlt was a partner in their business enterprise. he was his adviser. he was originally going to be brought in to get security clearance as a staffer to his father, national security adviser. him this morning, flynn jr., the sjw route, the disappointment on your faces when i don't go to jail will be worth all your harassment. i believe that was yesterday.
he also retweeted something accusing robert mueller of having conspired with hamas. what do you make of this as behavior from someone currently under investigation with possible criminal exposure? >> it's unbelievable. it's something i have not seen before in my experience as federal prosecutor. not only in my cases, but observing other cases. typically when people are facing a federal indictment, they're crapping their pants so to speak. they're very concerned. it is a big deal. it's a scary thing. usually you are not trying to upset the prosecutor. you're usually trying to see if you can convince them not to indict. so this sort of thumbing your nose at the prosecution, it tells me that either these people are extremely foolish or they are angling for a pardon in some way. >> or maybe they think they're totally innocent, and the government has nothing on them. >> you know, that's really hard to believe. i'm sorry. i don't really believe that. i think that, you know, they've got smart lawyers. michael flynn seems like to me he's had a very intelligent
lawyer, i mean, the father does. i think that they're very soberly explaining this to their client. if not, they're not doing their jobs. mueller and his team have amassed significant evidence. if this reporting is accurate, which i presume it is with all the sourcing, they're telling people either flynn or these lobbyists that they're potentially trying to get to cooperate, that they essentially have the goods on flynn. they're going to be pursuing indictments. >> we should note, it jumped out to me that there are two things that reporting indicates flynn has done, which is lie to federal investigators when they asked him -- when the fick first questioned him about the conversations he had with kislyak about sanctions. and also didn't register as a foreign agent. >> right. >> both of which are, you know -- that's what george papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying, and not registering as a foreign agent is one of the things that manafort is being indicted for. >> and the second one, not registering as a foreign agent is a very straight forward thing for a prosecutor to prove. that's the sort of charge
prosecutors love. because either you register order you didn't. it's the sort of thing, maybe there is some way in which flynn could say i wasn't really a foreign agent. but if that's something that mueller can prove. >> when you go and retroactively register, it hurts your case. >> either you did or you didn't. things that require intent or the intent to defraud, that can be complicated or corrupt intent we've talked about on the show before. something like this is a fairly straight forward thing. how does mike flynn intend to beat that charge? it's hard to see. >> one of the dynamics that is at issue here is the idea of pardons. because the person at the center of this is the president of the united states who has this incredible power under the article 2 of the constitution to pardon. federal crimes. and the signals being sent back and forth, i want you to listen to what he said about manafort and get your reaction to it in this most recent interview. take a listen. >> what was it that convinced you he had to be let go? >> well, i think we found out something about he may be
involved with certain nations. and i don't even know exactly what it was in particular. but there was a point at which we just felt paul would be better off. because we don't want to have any potential conflicts. and if there was a conflict, i don't want to be involved any conflicts, even though it was -- i could have kept him longer, i don't think anybody would have complained. but we don't want to have any potential conflicts of interest at all. >> no potential conflicts of interest. >> it's kind of weird, right? it's not at all what we've seen from this president so far. we had the head of the ethics walter shaub leave because he was so concerned about the conflicts in the administration there doesn't seem to be much interest in clearing that up. in fact i think his assets have not yet been moved to really a blind trust like they should be. so that's hard to believe. you know, i think a lot of the things we're hearing from the president right now are hard to believe. he has been going around saying he is not under investigation. which anybody with two eyes can see that he is. i mean, if his lawyers are telling him that he is not under investigation, they're
committing malpractice. >> one thing i would just remind people of, the original sin here that started all this was that phone call between flynn and the ambassador that they lied about. if they hadn't -- that got the ball rolling. so there is something at the beginning of this, it's useful to come back to remember where flynn was. renato mariotti, it's great to have you here in new york city tonight. >> thank you very much. >> joining me now conservative "washington post" columnist jennifer rubin and independent presidential candidate evan mcmullin. and jennifer, it's striking to me that the american first campaign appears to have had a number of high level officials who were essentially secret foreign agents. >> yeah. it's very peculiar. and most of them are connected to russia, which is even more peculiar. you know, if you talk to people who have been on presidential campaigns -- democrats, republicans, they have never seen anything like this. there weren't people communicating with the russian government during the bush campaigns or during any other campaign. and then you have on top of that
the financial web that entails jared kushner, entails trump's son, entails trump himself. now we learn that wilbur mills has a connection. so it's a lot of coincidences, if that's what it is. but we've never, i would suggest, had either a campaign or certainly an administration that was this intertwined with a hostile power after an election in which that hostile power intervened on their behalf. and that just stinks to high heaven. >> well, and that -- that pertains to russia, which is sort of true to the bulk. but evan, one of the things that is interesting to me here, because i think it sets a -- it gives you a sense of the general atmosphere around this campaign is the turkey part of it, right? there is no reason to believe that turkey did anything like russia did in the campaign and intervened. but here you've got a guy who is one of the senior advisers to the presidential candidate of one of the major parties. and on election day, he is using that opportunity to write an op-ed on behalf of essentially
his foreign client. it's hard to conceive of that in another presidential campaign setting, or am i wrong? >> no, you're absolutely right, chris. what you have here is an example of how much leadership really matters, both good and bad. and when you have a presidential candidate who sets the tone in the way president trump did, not releasing his tax returns, encouraging russia to interfere in our elections, then the signal is received by especially his team. and indeed it was. and not only, by the way, that signal received by his team, it's also received by interlocutors around the world, foreign governments, especially authoritarian or dictatorships that people are for sale in washington, at least in that campaign and potentially in the administration in the case that president trump won, which he of course did. so it's a signal that goes out far and wide. and it sells out country out, our integrity, our interests. most importantly, the
sovereignty of the american people to choose their own leaders and have them serve in their interests and their interests alone and have them be accountable to them, the people. that's what is for sale now under this administration. >> not only, that jennifer, i am reminded of the fact that a central campaign theme was that hillary clinton was essentially a foreign agent, that she essentially had outsourced american interests to whoever had given cash to the clinton foundation or something like that. and meanwhile we've got paul manafort. these are guys who are at the very, very top of this campaign, which was small campaign and not that many people. you've got two people at the very top who are functioning literally cashing checks on behalf of representing the interests of foreign governments. >> and that tells us a few things. first of all, it reminds us that they had no competent people on that campaign, and very few people in the administration. because he was toxic. most of the foreign policy professionals on the right or the center right really were writing letters, correctly as it turns out, saying he is unfit to
serve. so he didn't have quality people. second problem you had is apparently no one was vetd. it was well-known that paul manafort represented all kinds of horrible people, dictators, authoritarians, thugs. so did trump not know than? was there any vetting process? and third, there is a question as to how much they knew about flynn during the transition period. >> yep. >> were they told? did they know? did they not know? who exactly was told? and that also involves the vice president and governor christie. >> evan, there has been some interesting speculate of polling recently in the wake of the mueller indictment that reflects actually awareness of what happened with manafort's indictments relatively high. people who think the president committed a crime is quite high. it's interesting because people thought well, this is not really mine. polling has changed a bit. i wonder how central you think this is, at least for republicans or conservatives that you know, how central is
their understanding of this story to their evaluation of the president? >> well, i would say among republicans, it's still -- it's still the case that most republicans are supporting the president. i mean, you see that i think 64% of americans are now saying that they believe the russia investigation is important and that i think there may have been a serious wrongdoing there. but then there is 32% that are in the camp that say no, we don't think it's that important, and it shouldn't be investigated. my hunch is that that 32% is also 32% that supports president trump. these are probably people who are consuming conservative media that is not just conservative media, but conservative media that has really become trump media. it's less conservative. it's just trump media. and so they're receiving a steady diet of lies and misinformation about the importance of this and about the progress of the investigation
and they're receiving disinformation about the alleged wrongdoing of trump's political opponents. it's very hard. those people will still skeptical. i think what happens, though, in moderate districts that are held by republicans, it's a problem there. and it's a problem for republicans there. they're going have a hard time i think increasingly. >> yeah. >> holding on to those seats. and those seats are the majority makers. so at a certain point, first republican leadership will say hey, wait a second, we have a problem. i don't think they're going to be able to dig out of it for 2018. but you're still going to have members from deep red districts who have -- are supported by constituents who are unfortunately being misled by other outlets. and that's going to present an ongoing challenge, i think. >> all right, jennifer rubin and evan mcmullin, thanks to you both. >> thank you. next, the trump's latest surprise disclosure on russian ties. new revelations that a top member of the trump administration has shared business interests with the family of vladimir putin.
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if you're keeping track of trump associates who have got undisclosed connections to russia, you can add commerce secretary wilbur ross to the list tonight. thanks to the leak from the paradise papers which are making a splash around the world. we now ross retains to this day an interest in a shipping company that makes millions of dollars a year from a russian energy company whose owners include vladimir putin's son-in-law. and nbc news found that ross, quote, failed to clearly disclose those interests when he was being confirmed for his cabinet position. in a statement, the commerce department said that wilbur ross recuses himself as secretary from any matter regarding transoceanic shipping, which would seem like something maybe the commerce secretary should not be eare cuesed from. in an interview with cnbc today, ross denied there was anything
wrong. >> there is not anything wrong at all. it's just an example of the press trying to find anything they can however remote or silly to attack the president and somehow link him to russia. this is nonsense. >> however, the "new york times" pointed out, quote, while several trump campaign and business associates have come under scrutiny, until now no business connections have been reported between senior administration officials and members of mr. putin's family or inner circle. ross does share something in common with those previously discovered ties. we only seem to learn about these connections once the people in trump's orbit have already been found out. only then does the administration come clean. congressman eric swalwell of california on the house intelligence committee is conducting one of several vexes into russian election interference and potential trump campaign ties. congressman, secretary ross says it's nonsense, that this is essentially you're look -- the press is looking for these connections and manufacturing them no matter how tenuous. what do you say to that? >> good evening, chris.
what's nonsense is he was asked about his business connections to russia by the senate and did not disclose these business ties to putin's family. and, you know, just add him to the growing list of people on donald trump's team or in his family or from his businesses who had prior business or personal or political relationships with russia. and they all failed to disclose it. >> i should list those. "the washington post" did a really good job of sort of running those down. >> do you have an hour? >> well, i'll do a quick version. we have paul manafort. we have michael cohen. we have donald trump jr., carter page. we have jared kushner, michael flynn, george papadopoulos, jd gordon, who is in that infamous meeting we've all seen pictures of, and jeff sessions. that is the nine people who had some kind of connections that they did not disclose or they denied that later came to light. and now you have wilbur ross as well. senator richard blumenthal has
called for ross' resignation or an ig investigation. do you agree with either of those calls? >> yes. absolutely i do. i also think he should be a part of our investigation. as a side note, chris, this week incidentally, you can't make this up, we're debating tax legislation that would make it even easier for businesses as the tax policy center says to offshore their profits and use shell companies like this, making it harder for us to expose these types of relationships. >> there is also some -- we got -- some of the transcript back from carter page's marathon session with your investigators. i don't know if it was in front of actual members or committee staff. i want to read first what he said. i want to play what he said to me about denying any official meetings or meeting with any officials when he was in russia. take a listen. >> again, i had no meetings, no serious discussions with anyone high up or at any official
capacity. >> let me ask you this. >> it's just kind of man on the street, you know. circumstances that true? >> no, false. completely false. >> i can't believe he lied to me. >> i know. i know. chris, this was a member in an interview. and we were able to corroborate a number of allegations in the dossier. so he in july 2016 met with the deputy prime minister of russia. he met with officials from gas prom and rosneft, energy businesses in russia. sam clovis asked carter page to sign an nda. and a few months later he told sam clovis he was going to moscow. he did not tell him not to go. when he got back, he briefed sam clovis, as well as a number of other officials on the campaign about his trip to russia. >> what you make of carter page? >> you know, carter page is another team member who was eager to use his relationships
with the russians to help the trump team. and he even was asking the trump campaign what he should say when he was over there in russia. and just like george papadopoulos, he was trying to arrange a meeting between donald trump and vladimir putin. now this is a theme that we've seen throughout the campaign team. not just papadopoulos. remember, felix seder back in december 2016 is telling michael cohen if we can get donald trump and putin together, we can engineer this and make our boy president there is a theme of trying to get dirt on hillary clinton, trying to connect donald trump and putin. and of course failing to disclose it to anyone. >> there is a reporting today saying there is a bit of a split in the diplomatic corps about the president's upcoming meeting on the side lanes of a summit with vladimir putin. they're scheduled to meet face-to-face. obviously there are some who feel that obviously this is a nation that we have a lot of different issues with. we have to talk to them. there is others who feel that it will send the wrong signal. do you have a strong feeling on that? >> i have a very strong feeling
on this, chris. what have we gotten out of this relationship with russia? they have received all the benefits. until the president wants to speak straight with vladimir putin and tell him we know what you did, you're going to pay a price for it. and until you stop -- because i don't think they have stopped -- we're not going to welcome you at the stable of responsible nations. >> all right. congressman eric swalwell, thanks for your time. >> my pleasure. next, the horrifying attack on the texas church that killed 26 people. and the president's very telling reaction, after this quick break. parents aren't perfect, but then they make us kraft mac & cheese and everything's good again. more!
i love you, droolius caesar, but sometimes you stink. febreze car vent clip cleans away odors for up to 30 days. because the things you love can stink. yesterday a gunman identified as devin patrick kelley used a gun to murder 26 people at the first baptist church in sutherland springs, texas. at least a dozen of the victims that he murdered with that gun were children, and the deceased ranged in age from 18 months to
77 years old. people that were worshipping on a sunday. the mass shooting comes just one month after what was the largest mass shooting in modern american history, and that was when a lone gunman used multiple firearms, apparently all legally acquired to shoot and kill 58 people and wound more than 500 people who were taking in a concert. and so horrifyingly, here we are again. president trump in japan today on the first leg of his five-nation tour of asia said that the massacre that occurred in texas is not a gun issue. >> i think that mental health is your problem here. this was a very -- based on preliminary reports, very deranged individual. a lot of problems over a long period of time. well have a lot of mental health problems in our country, as do other countries. but this isn't a guns situation. i mean, we could go into it. but it's a little bit soon to go
into it. this is a mental health problem at the highest level. it's a very, very sad event. these are great people, and a very, very sad event. but that's the way i view it. >> in the wake of mass atrocities, the president appears to have two modes. if the assailant is muslim, the president hardly waits until the bodies are counted to politicize and to criticize and to hector and to blame. and if the assailant is not, well, then, nothing, or something like that. compare his rhetoric this morning to his reaction to last week's violence in new york. >> we need quick justice and we need strong justice, much quicker and much stronger than we have right now. because what we have right now is a joke and it's a laughingstock. >> mr. president, do you want the assailant from new york sent to gitmo? mr. president? >> i would certainly consider that, yes.
i would certainly consider that. send him to gitmo. i would certainly consider that, yes. >> senator kirsten gillibrand of new york joins me next. wakey! wakey! rise and shine! oh my gosh! how are you? well watch this. i pop that in there. press brew. that's it. so rich. i love it. that's why you should be a keurig man! full-bodied. are you sure you're describing the coffee and not me? even if you're trying your best. a daily struggle, along with diet and exercise, once-daily toujeo may help you control your blood sugar. get into a daily groove. ♪let's groove tonight. ♪share the spice of life. ♪baby slice it right. from the makers of lantus, toujeo provides blood sugar-lowering activity for 24 hours and beyond, proven blood sugar control all day and all night, and significant a1c reduction. toujeo is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. it contains 3 times as much insulin in 1 milliliter as standard insulin.
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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ wow! nice outfit. when i grow up, i'm going to mars. we're working on that. some people know how far they want to go. a personalized financial strategy can help you get them there. see how access to j.p. morgan investment expertise can help you. chase. make more of what's yours. earlier today senator ted cruz of texas described the church shooting as an act of evil and gave what has become by now a well rehearsed response by republicans when candidate about gun safety policy. >> we don't need politics right now. you know, i would note in new york we saw a terror attack just
this week with a truck. evil is evil is evil, and will use the weaponry that is available. >> joining me now senator kirsten gillibrand of new york. senator, your colleague ted cruz was down in sutherland today. he was quite passionate that democrats and others shouldn't be politicizing this, angry that people would be invoking guns or talking about guns in the wake of this mass shooting. what's your response to that? >> well, i think he is wrong. our heartbreaks keep breaking over and over and over again. we cannot keep allowing this to be the new normal. and i think it is outrageous that congress has done nothing, has done nothing over the months and months that we've seen gun violence, you know, terrible, unbelievable, heinous crimes being committed, and literally done nothing. >> what do you say to people who are watching this who just feel defeated and despondent on this issue there is the ritualization of it, the ritualization of the reaction to it, the
ritualization to the backlash to the reaction. people feel like politics are just not functional, right? there is nothing that can be done. what do you say to someone who is feeling that way right now? >> well, i hope they speak out. because nothing ever changes in washington unless regular people speak out and demand action. i think this whole country should be crying out for common sense gun reform. the reality is that you don't need another disaster like this to happen to know what has to be done. we should be banning assault weapons. and these military-style magazine clips. we should be banning the kinds of guns that are being used in these crimes. we have to snake sure we have universal background checks. we have to make sure we have an anti-trafficking statute. these are the kinds of things we should be doing regardless of today's news. it's something that i cannot believe the congress has failed to do anything. in the five largest mass shootings in our nation's history, three have happened in the last 17 months. >> why could you think that is? what is your understanding as a
legislator, as someone who has to think about solving policy problems? what is your understanding of that? >> i can't tell you, chris. i don't know. i just know that congress is doing nothing. because they lack the courage to take on the nra. they simply lack the courage to stand up and say this is about our communities. this is about safety. this is about what's important to us as a nation, and that we are not going to be beholden to an industry that puts profits first. and that's what we are up against. too many members of congress do not have the courage to stand up and say no. >> you represent -- you came up in politics in an area of the state of new york, the state you now represent where there are a lot of gun owners and where the nra is quite powerful. i wonder what your relationship is to them as an organization and to gun owners as a constituency? >> well, you can have the second amendment and you can protect hunters' rights. but what i would urge all americans to understand is that is not where the american people are today. they want to make sure we end this kind of gun violence. and you ask nra members, you ask
citizens across this country, overwhelmingly they support this kind of common sense gun reform. and just as advice to someone who doesn't necessarily see the issue this way you just need to talk to someone who lost a family member to gun violence. you just have to open your heart for a minute and feel for a second what it is like when someone is taken away from you because of gun violence. when you meet a mom whose child was killed in a park in brooklyn who is 4 years old you, have you to do something. it is time past. it is not about hunting rights. this is not about the second amendment. this is how do we keep our communities safe? and all of us should be fighting for it together and demanding these members of congress to do something. >> while i have you here, i want to ask you about a distinct but in some ways related issue as we learn about the shooter's relationship to domestic violence, violence against women, a common thread we have to say in many of these mass shootings, committed almost without exception by men. the sort of daunting awareness about sexual harassment and sexual predation that we've seen sweeping across a variety of
places. the ap reporting capitol hill in particular. and something that you've talked about i think quite honestly and talked about sort of trying to approach legislatively the environment that you yourself work in congress. >> well, right now congress doesn't have a good set of policies either. and what we've seen, chris, over the last several months, whether it's hollywood, whether it's news media, whether it's the nfl, whether it's college campuses, whether it's the u.s. military, we do not have transparency and accountability for sexual harassment or sexual violence. and we need to speak out and do better. i think the me too campaign is one of the most powerful campaigns we've had because it's giving men and women the courage to tell their stories so people can understand this is pervasive. and it is prevalent. we have to do something about sexual assault, sexual violence and sexual harassment in society in all places. i'm working to make a bill that congress does a lot better than it does today.
>> the policies that we can follow up on at some point are sort of opaque. senator kirsten gillibrand, thank you for taking time. >> my pleasure. thank you. still ahead, what we now know about how senator rand paul ended up with five broken ribs after a dispute with his neighbor. that story coming up. plus, tonight's thing 1, thing 2 starts next. what powers the digital world. communication. that's why a cutting edge university counts on centurylink to keep their global campus connected. and why a pro football team chose us to deliver
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senator rand paul is recuperating at his home in bowling green, kentucky tonight after sustaining serious injuries on friday. it looks like he will not be in the senate for an extended period of time. on his facebook page, he gave a somewhat vague explanation of what happened. kelly and i appreciate the overwhelming support after friday's unfortunate event. thank you for your thoughts and prayers. the unfortunate event in question is that while paul was riding his mower at his home wearing sound-muting earmuffs, mr. paul's next-door neighbor, mr. boucher, came on to mr. paul's property and tackled him from behind, knocking him to the ground, which according to the senator's chief of staff resulted in five broken ribs and bruises to his lungs. boucher was initially charged with fourth degree assault, released saturday on a $7500
bond. but given the extent of paul's injury, prosecutors are reportedly considering upgrading the charges. meanwhile, the fbi is now involved as an assault on a member of congress is a federal crime. what possibly could cause boucher to attack rand paul, sitting u.s. senator, a man he has lived next door to for 17 years? a statement, boucher's attorney said, quote, it has absolutely nothing to do with either his politics or political agendas. it was a very regrettable dispute between two neighbors over a matter that most people would regard as trivial. "the new york times" jonathan martin reports that two kentuckians tell me rand's neighborhood fracas stemmed from a dispute over some sort of planting or flora issues around the properties. one big question now is how long paul's recovery might take, and whether five cracked rib others a flora issue might affect the outcome of, say, a tax reform. meanwhile, in virginia, there is is a vote tomorrow. the big question there can the trump playbook work on a
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so we know how to cover almost almoanything.hing even a swing set standoff. and we covered it, july first, twenty-fifteen. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ on the eve of perhaps the most significant election since donald trump won the white house, the democratic party heads into tomorrow's governor's race in virginia facing many of the same challenges they did facing donald trump on election day last year. according to the latest polling average, ralph northam holds a thin lead over ed gillespie. going into this race, the expectation on paper is that this should be a win for
democrats. the president has a 35% approval rating there and gillespie previously ran for u.s. senate in virginia in 2014, losing to incumbent senator mark warner. by running a campaign in which he's managed to weaponize immigration and challenging his democratic opponents on things like confederate monuments, gillespie has, according to steve bannon, closed an enthusiasm gap by rallying around the trump agenda. if that's the case, democrats better be very, very worried. tom perez is the chair of the democratic national committee. i guess, tom, a lot of people watched gillespie run this race and white identity politics and the monuments and the question
is, what has the democratic party figured out in the year since donald trump was elected about how to successfully counter that message? >> it's all about getting out there and talking to people, chris. we made a massive investment in organizing. we've got to be talking to people in every zip code and that's exactly what we're doing and what we're hearing is very simple. i want to keep my health care because i have a relative who's opioid addicted. i want to make sure public education works for everyone. i want to continue the progress that tear rry mcauliffe has brot to this state and i want a america that we can be proud of. that's what i'm hearing day in and day out. i put 700 miles on the car just this weekend. that's what i'm hearing and why i feel very, very good because the energy is everywhere. >> you know, you talk about competing in every zip code and there's been a big investment in democratic challengers.
a lot more than in years past. but in everything you're ticking off there sounds a lot like what the clinton campaign ran on and i wonder if you feel there's an enthusiasm issue that the democratic party facing in getting its voters out in an off-year election like this. >> well, we always have to make sure that we're turning people out in these off-year cycles. and you mentioned something a couple of minutes ago, a couple of seconds ago, chris, that i think is so important. i think it's not a secret weapon but i think it's an enormous weapon in this race and that is the number 88. there are 88 democrats running for the house of delegates. now, in an ordinary cycle, if you go back the last four or five cycles here in virginia, there's been 40 or 45 democrats that have won. to put it differently, we have seeded half or more of the house of delegates. no opposition. and not only do we have 88
democrats running and i have spoken to almost all of them, all of the challengers, they're spectacular and they are out there. there's a candidate down in roanoke whose fiance was tragically murdered in an incident she was a local broadcast journalist and a disgruntled employee came in and shot her on the air. it was just a horrific incident. >> remember it. >> her fiance is running and he's running a spirited race. we're poised to elect the first two latinos in the state of commonwealth of virginia to the house of delegates. and i'll tell you, the energy that is generated and i was out with elizabeth guzman who is running here in northern virginia and you have the dnc and we're all in. with that sort of energy, it's a secret weapon. >> i want to ask you about
something you just said, when you talk about seeding or not running anyone in half the house delegate races. this year there was this real effort to be competitive everywhere and it dovetails with the critique of the party that is in it donna brazile's book and which is essentially that the party institution was bankrupt financially, that it was not doing the things it should, it wasn't doing the things like helping to field candidates in every race and it was essentially busted out. is that an accurate characterization of the dnc that you inherited basically less than a year ago? >> well, the old dnc was about electing a president every four years. the new dnc is about electing democrats up and down the ticket from the school board to the oval office. we're all about making sure we take off year out of the elects lexicon of the democratic party.
we made voter contact via phones, texts and other social media with another 500,000 people. we have to do that because today's school board member is tomorrow's mayor, is a decade from nows president. we're doing it now. >> i want to talk about the messaging stakes for tomorrow. gillespie barely dealt a primary against corey stewart. corey stewart ran hard on preserving monuments to the confederacy. gillespie has adopted that. kneeling during the national anthem, sent out mailers about that. what message has said that if that message works in defeating democrats tomorrow? >>. >> well, that message isn't going to work. phil murphy is going to win going away and we'll make history with the first
a olds and possibly explosives will be going live to pot some in just a second also on the program fresh pressure on the trumpet ministration is federal investigators challenge another senior official this time it's former national security advisor michael flynn he's pleaded guilty to lying to the f.b.i. about his conversations with russian officials. and the countdown to next year's soccer world cup in russia has begun officials making the group stage draw in moscow we'll find out who's playing who and what that means for the favorite. hello and welcome my name is christopher spring it thanks for joining us german police have secured and destroyed a package in the city of pottstown near the end they say contained nails and a powdery substance it's unclear whether it was whether it was part of an explosive
and was there really. a threat to the city of potsdam all was just somebody trying to scare off the population linda many thanks for that lynn affair echo reporting there from potsdam. turning to the u.s. now donald trump's former national security advisor michael flynn has pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the f.b.i. that's after he was charged as part of a wide ranging investigation into the trumpet ministration over its relationship with russia prosecutors say flynn lied about his conversations with russian officials in the wake of trump's election victory last year. he was one of donald trump's earliest and most vocal supporters no mike flames facing a u.s. court accused of lying to the f.b.i. . that's what flynn said about hillary clinton in campaign rallies last summer in shooting with trump
a chorus of chants against the a point right here you're exactly right there is nothing wrong with that. if i did attend a tenth of what she did i would be in jail today despite the americans of his links to vladimir putin flown remained close to the presidential outsider. and went on to be rewarded with a senior cabinet position in the white house. only to be forced out after twenty four days when it's a marriage he had lied to the vice president might about meetings with the russian ambassador baer is u.s. media says inconsistency in his account of those meetings given to f.b.i. agents are the basis for today's charges the white house has distanced itself from fled. further comment and i think we're this is not even the president wants to talk about him. being flamed on the receiving end now as he left court
having pled guilty to us media report that he's prepared to testify that the call to contact russia came from the heart of his old friend trump campaign. ok let's talk to our washington correspondent kasten fung. flynn who's being investigated for a wide range of allegations but has only been charged with a single count of making false statements to the f.b.i. what does this tell us about how closely he may be cooperating with this investigation. well what seems clear by now is that michael flynn has struck a deal with a special prosecutor appointed by the department of justice and is now effectively a witness for that special prosecutor in this ongoing investigation and it's interesting this context that during the police hearing at the courthouse here in washington the presiding judge said that flynn had agreed to provide substantial
assistance for prosecution of another person and also we know that prosecutors say that michael flynn when he talked to the russian ambassador was directed by members of the trump transition team after the election court documents say that flynn called a senior transition official who was with other members of the team or traumas mylar resorts and to discuss what if anything to communicate to the russian ambassador about the u.s. sanctions so this seems to be the direction that. is now going and there are several level media reports in the u.s. indicating that donald trump's son in law jared cushion one of his special advisers now played a significant role in contacts between flynn and russian officials one of the implications of that. when in fact
a number of media outlets have even said that jericho was indeed that senior transition team official who director michael flynn when he contacted the russian ambassador of course so far this is based on unnamed sources but if it is true it could mean that there is trouble ahead for jared cushion or who is not only the president's son in law but also one of his most senior most important closest advisers there has been some speculation for weeks now whether the cushion on might be on the way out it's quite interesting that we've heard for some time now partly that is said to be because his investment company his his real estate development company seems to be in some kind of trouble but it's also because his advice to the president has not always been that sound is of course charged with a number of very important things like remodelling the u.s.
bureaucracy relations with china and even peace in the middle east but once again his advice has not always been very sound reportedly he was one of the people who told donald trump that firing james cole needed an f.b.i. director would have been popular and of course it turned out that that is not the case ok constant many thanks for that custom phenomena in washington. now dutch prosecutors say the for both me and croat general who dramatically took his own life in the hague this week died of cyanide poisoning probably drank what he said were was poisoned moments after his guilty verdict for war crimes was up held shocks court officials called for medical help but he died a short while later the autopsy showed he had consumed potassium cyanide which triggered a heart attack. turning to sports now it's been a day of anticipation for soccer fans around the world but the wait is now over the
draw for the group stage of next year's world cup in russia is complete all thirty two teams now know who they'll be facing next summer the draw was conducted inside the kremlin in moscow a glitzy affair as ever petri musical and don't performances before getting down to the business of making the draw russia drawing first in group a along with egypt your boy and their opponents in the opening match saudi arabia. let's take a look at a couple of the other groups for you defending champions germany handed a tricky draw in group f. they'll be taking on mexico in the opening match before facing sweden and form a semifinalist south korea one of the toughest groups is likely to be group b. where reigning european champions portugal face next door neighbors spain and then morocco and top ranked asian side iran. ok yen expect from d.w. sports is here to give us a little bit of analysis about all of this so we're just looking at group b.
there is that the toughest one you think yannick i think it's one of the toughest but i mean every world cup fans media are like looking for the toughest group the group of death as they call it this world cup it doesn't seem like it's their group is a tough one as well as germany's group group if i think you said tricky i think that's an apt word to describe it mexico are a good team even though they were defeated four one by germany early this year then you have swayed and who of course knocked out italy in the playoffs and in korea who have faltered a bit in recent years but they were so a finalist back in two thousand and two so they have pedigree always a very hardworking team indefinitely and which teams will be happy with the draw shall we say i would have to say england england have to be the happiest team out of every one of the world cup i think they got drawn with belgium who are tough to name but then the other two are tunisia and panama and i think everyone can see who the top two teams in that group are belgium an england shirt for through you never know with england you never know it. as well what about russia their friends
probably feeling quite confident yeah i think so i think it could have been a lot worse for russia but with their group of saudi arabia egypt in oregon where they have a big chance of going through in the top two they should be confident and they should expect the host nation to go through into the knockout stages ok well that be good for the tournament of course let me ask you to put your reputation. on the fence if you want to looking at the draw who do you think is going to make the running i mean could could germany become only the second time in history to successfully defend a world title i think they have the group to go through the knockouts that's the first first step and they have the players to do it but that historical fact it's just very tough for a team to defend their total i think the pick for me has to brazil has to be brazil they have a fairly ok group that they can get through and they're in. i think them want to take food making it to the farm life they've had an incredibly strong record in qualification and in recent matches i think it's forty one goes in one thousand
thinking more than welcome to conflict zone thank you it's two years since the back seat referendum two years in which the government has failed to come up with an agreed position in the cabinet and what kind of bracks that they want to show themselves and well i think want to be seen is that bracks is undoubtedly extremely complex certainly but bench members of parliament like me would like to see more clarity on the future trading relationship between the u.k. and the e.u. progress has been made on some things to be fair to both sides but clearly there's a lot left to negotiate and agree in the remaining months ahead i mean they've been negotiating and fighting with themselves they have been talking to brussels much and that's that's the shambolic aspect of it is so just that it's difficult it's just that they can't agree on what they want which is pretty shameful isn't it this is the future of this country in the future of this country's economy hinges on what kind of bracks the u.k. gets what they think they're more responsible attitude from the prime minister and the government wouldn't you well i think as you just said this is incredibly
lobby groups have come up now and said large companies are queuing up to shift work or investment out of the u.k. and this is huge implications for british jobs. why didn't you back them up well we have in terms of the last few months there have been discussions in parliament on customs arrangements i had a debate with a colleague from another select committee of that cooper who's the chair of the home affairs select committee back in april and there have obviously been concerns about companies in the company to raise a loss. in parts and absolutely dismayed them you so it's just a difficult subject absolutely dismayed that this is being mishandled on daily basis now in the us and the reaction from the government from the government minister is to shut up back the prime minister very quiet absolutely i think. i was extremely concerned to hear the reaction from two senior government ministers about
the way in which they said that businesses should not be raising their concerns absolutely needs to hear from business and one of the issues over the last couple of years has been that actually it's been the business lobby groups way to the concerns not businesses themselves and actually there's no substitute for hearing from the voice of business directly the decisions that they're having to make on the shop floor that going to affect. the future financial security of workers was so important to the ministers in your party think this is a minute state where you can hush up critical voices where a public servant like a minister tells business what it can say when it counts or had some personalized back in east germany listen to this what i think. your party is this country and you know i look i think i think i do think those ministers worse speaking for the majority of the conservative party the conservative party is a pro enterprise pro business party the party didn't associate itself from what they said they did what i'm on the prime minister didn't do so souter said i'm not
a minister so i'm not a minister you're not i was but i'm not i'm not here as i say i'm making it very clear what i think of those comments which i think are inexcusable because actually it is businesses that employ hundreds of thousands of people across this country who export and import goods and who we should be very mindful of the impact of the final negotiations on what's going to happen how this country is going to continue to work for them and more importantly for their employees who rely on those businesses large and small for their financial livelihood we saw the foreign secretary morris johnson who is reported to have told us that when he was asked about business concerns i can use the word just so if business for you problem is johnson. i think that mr johnson if he said that of course it's anecdotal remark is remotely uncalled for by the foreign secretary who has himself talked about want
to get a global britain who has asked britain's amber season concerts around the world to be a short window for the britain is great campaign i think if he said that this is appropriate way for a minister who's holding one of the great offices of state why just i'm just i just made it very clear that i think his remarks are deeply disappointing comes at the end of a long list of remarks have been deeply disappointed that i'm sure the prime minister don't stream me mindful of that not my it was enough to send tally well to be sacked look who the prime minister has in her cap and it is a high spirit from personal experience very much a matter of urgency and so go to museums a living yes well shouldn't you have an opinion on this you know i'm not going to your family for throwing through. what exactly exactly so i don't see why you tiptoeing around this particular issue because at the end of the day the issue is not about personalities it's. were competent job has not been very clear before
that actually this breaks it debate it's far more important than talking about one minister or one personality you know we shouldn't be endlessly debating this minister or that most of this these negotiations are incredibly important both for the future of the united kingdom but also i would argue for businesses and others within the e.u. and we've got to get that right in the midst. of this continually on a daily basis and she either doesn't have the ability the strength or the guts to do anything about that is a matter the prime minister is running the cabinet and she's running the government a chance or running the country and as a member of parliament my role there is to represent my constituents and to scrutinise the work of the government to point out where i think things are going wrong i'm not going to get in this is going to maintain well i read something deeply pathetic isn't there about a prime minister who can't control her own ministers well that's a matter of you have to raise with the prime minister directly for me i'm going to court you and your debts are not in those i don't you scrutinize the people who are
in the government. i'm not going to get into debating endlessly certain personalities who love the fact they're being talked about this is more important for my constituents their financial livelihood and job security will depend on getting the right deal not only because you will notice important most evil of those persons is the holding the country to ransom as they clearly are why i'm not sure how the breaks across and i'm not what i'm leaning in the wrong way you so well as a threat to democracy but you won't talk about them. well you have clear you have your clear red line there wasn't you about this interview so far with an awful lot of time talking about one particular personality not talking about the issues. well that is because we talk about the issues at stake in the backseat negotiations what is the future of the trading relationship how is london as a global financial center going to be regulated after it goes in which drives obviously have to use has been the answer to i mean isn't the problem the un the
government seem to believe there's a kind of so the mythical third way available somewhere between the hardline reps deers and the die hard remain there's a third way where britain gets to keep some of the good things that have from the e.u. membership doesn't have to silly things like rules what i think is a big o'shea ssion and that both sides actually are in the process of negotiating what that future relationship is going to like i'd like to see more progress i'd like to see more detail i'd like to know what that means for my constituents and as chair of the treasury select committee on particular concerns obviously to know what that means for financial services companies too so those are the questions that need to be debated and they will be i think in the coming weeks we've got the june summit the cabinet have an away day we're waiting for a white paper how many are way to it is going to go well i. think with them well there was an illusion there was some movement in the way they held earlier on this year but as i say these are incredibly complex negotiations and parliament m.p.'s
will have a say on these right way through about to start debating next month the customs and trade bills both of which we very important as a say for the financial security of of millions of people in this country you said in april the premise the stated objective was to have fiction this trade and then peace should be able to tease out the best way to achieve this in a calm and rational way the problem with that is that frictionless trade has already been toned down by the if the u.k. continues to insist on leaving the single market in the gaza. you know i'm not accepting free movement so it's a nonstarter isn't it this friction is. well i think it's not so hard to understand it's going to be difficult to achieve undoubtedly with all the other parts exactly as you said relating obviously to free movement and the desire for something for my party to want to negotiate our own trade deals but the point is actually and i think i said in that debate as well that the debate was a it was a debate of the government's own making because these issues haven't been debated because there wasn't
a clear and agreed cabinet position i think actually is an awful lot of discussion to be had about the details of customs and potentially single market access. membership for people to understand i think what the e.u. is looking for is a clear ask from the u.k. government and i'm going to be expected that they would have it well that we hope will be covered in the white paper the government is due to publish in a couple of weeks but why not listen to them when they say that you cannot have sector by sector deals without accepting the guns of e.u. conditions the yukos turned i mean if you listen to ivan rodgers who was britain's former ambassador to the you he'd been told repeatedly over many years that that is not on offer mrs merkel and others will not agree to scepter all deals in the over the single market or the customs union so it's a nonstarter keeps on being pushed or something because expectations that some people keep on the she get along i think that actually that is a very valid point which is actually understanding what you where where the
negotiations have got to and that's what we're waiting for in parliament is an update now we have been told at the weekend in response to the announcements by air bus and others that negotiations are going well well you know i hope the pardon will have options to be updated on those negotiations very soon probably offer some of the prime minister will come to parliament and make a statement next monday afternoon in contrast to the lack of decision making from the british cabinet brussels has been crystal clear hasn't it the last december michel barnier. sat down with the full authority of the twenty seven other countries mrs maker and even get a cabinet to agree but he's got twenty seven countries and he said british red lines are leaving the european court of justice and ruling a free movement meant that the only option left available was a free trade agreement similar to the one on the got in twenty sixty one try taking him at his word that's it that's all they're offering sadly i'm not in charge of
the negotiations on the u.k.'s side and of course what people say publicly as i know when i was either you budget minister and what they say privately in brussels can be two different things are not part of the private negotiations but what you have done you've advanced the so-called mutual recognition model that would maintain cross border trade in financial services in january you suggested throwing down the gauntlet to the negotiators so we could say to them that we don't buy their arguments about financial services not being in the free trade agreement the canadian agreement has some provisions on services the only problem with that is that you rejected that idea out of her a month before you said it couldn't have been clearer could you there's no place for financial services he said there's not a single trade agreement that is open to financial services doesn't exist and yet in march in the communique from the e.u. council there is a little paragraph that opens the way to financial services been part of a free trade agreement you've got twenty seven countries who have to he speaks on
the whole thing yes and that's why it's very easy so i don't know march the march communique from the summit and that's something that i know that financial services companies both in london and the u.k. but also their european counterparts have been discussing it's something that we in the treasury select committee have quizzed both the bank of england and the financial conduct or forty about and i think this model certainly is worth exploring further obvious at the moment financial services regulations in the to the u.k. and the transaction is obviously absolutely. aligned and so i think it's definitely worth asking the question or what if anything and of course there's also this issue about global regulatory standards as well so many of the companies both in london and on the e.u. continent will not be following just our own regulations and you characters they'll be following global regulations well there's a lot of work to be done there so the first i'm assuming you want britain to create a new customs union or partnership or range went with the you because turkey
managed to get one but turkey frequently has ten mile long queues at its borders with bug area and rather than being a magic wand having this. customs agreement it doesn't get rid of export declarations invoices insurance certificate transport permits for each e.u. country that they have to pass through there's nothing great about having a customs union with the is there what the point actually is how do you change customs customs or arrangement or partnership or whatever it was because which something that was anticipated in our party manifesto last year but also the other point is that along with government went to rome yes that's right and as we know we saw the election result which obviously has made things far more complicated for the government and it's a self-inflicted wound well there's no point of it i mean we are we are there's no point in revisiting history there's no dance in the country for a further general election what their arguments for from i know from standing on doorsteps in my constituency is for the u.k.
government to proceed with the negotiations and then that with the best possible deal so that's why all these things should be very much explored the modelling is in trying to get a solution that kate's both remain as and brick city years britain seems to be reduced to putting forward ideas that are pretty much unworkable is that really the best your party can do well i think that all options have to be on the table until there was an objective well i think the understanding is understanding of the why things are rejected now the fact that referendum has been hugely divisive in the. this country i do think one of the mistakes made early on was not trying to acknowledge that whilst the leave campaign of one sixteen million people forty eight percent of those who voted had not voted for that so in trying to bring people together to explain that we would be leaving but we would do it in a way that was not going to damage completely unnecessarily people's own livelihoods and our economy that's what we're sort of catching up to now that's right specks we debated both in parliament and in cabinet in the next few weeks you
said in april that the position of the problem ministers should not know in any way be under threat and that's the reason shown the kind of leadership labor m.p.'s can only dream about. frankly that's fundamentally at odds with the reality isn't it i mean just look at the opinion but the public aren't buying that line fifty four percent believe the tories are ineffective this is the latest poll commissioned by prospect magazine fifty two percent have you fundamentally divided and less than a third believe that you always put britain first in your priorities ineffective divided and failing to put britain first not much of america load is it from the public well as i say this as i know frank conversations on that's the scene is incredibly complicated nobody is calling out there for a change of government or a change of leadership of the conservative party or no of course everybody has a nose or people have these because actually what people want in this country is a stable government to get on with the bracks it negotiations that only they want
to have. been doing that well they don't have an effective government doing it i think i'm going to get agree with it so well that the cabinet obviously have to come up very quickly with an agreed position on these issues do they bring that to do and well the bracks referendum was just two years ago the negotiations the e.u. as we know started just a year ago after the general election and what i was saying there actually was a say there's no other type within my party or within the wider populace for a change of leadership and i think if you going to compare to reason a's leadership to jeremy corbin's you'll see on the issue of as with many other things on the labor side an even more divided party than we are but i'm not a part of that it really helps here the point is that actually what people want as i say is the best bricks that deal for the united kingdom and they don't feel they have a chance of getting it particularly the people who murder in this country as you said before the people who blow in millions of people who have to put consumer
goods in the shops who have to keep the factories working these are the people who have lost faith in your party you knew good well i think what they're saying at the moment is there's undoubtedly much frustration with how things are. panning out and in terms of the process of the unico she is i think what people are most complaining about this is when i talk to them is the lack of certainty it's very difficult moment to plan for for much given the uncertainty surrounding the process that's why i think the next few weeks are absolutely critical the summit the cabinet away day the white paper that's going to be published and then the debate in parliament do you trust the prime minister called the last november to say tone deaf ear what i was mentioning earlier about an article that had been written i suspect not by her but by her advisers who if you could you know you got to interrupt well i'm sure she i'm sure she absolutely would but it wasn't in terms of going to try and said just a moment ago about healing divisions in the country after the bracks referendum i
think some of that particular article did not do that if you were going to trust yes or do i want i mean this is the leader who denied just before last year's election that a social policy of james when everyone else in the country including all ministers knew that it had i mean look what happened a few days ago to the world respected former attorney general dominic grieve at the height of the recent political frenzy over the bricks of bill after much argument in the goshi ation he settled with the prime minister on the text of the agreement only to find next morning the text of change you know you didn't settle with a promise or text me so i was no no no i'd be very surprised he has said that because i was in the meeting as were many other members of parliament with the prime minister when that was being discussed he made it very clear that there were three parts or a new great to wording she could be started searching through and i wanted to go back over that was that was it that was a text of the table by by by government and i don't think. you're
a story person surance that the text would be discussed and that is exactly what happened but yes i think that theresa may wants there to be a deal i think she wants to get the best possible deal for the country and to try to get over as many divisions as possible. i don't see anybody else in government or in our parliament who would be able to offer anything at this stage that would be worth destabilizing the government for in changing any kind of leadership out what points will you put the country's interests above those of your party and say this is enough i don't have faith in the leadership of this country i mean everyone wrote your self-appointed role is to scrutinise us going on you're not happy with what's going on the country is not happy with what's going on at some point you have to say as a representative in parliament enough is enough go potentially that's what i do have to do but i also know what point will you do that i'm not going to sit here i think it's impossible what one thing i have learnt
a lot more principle i think over the course of the last two years with with bracks it in my previous professional career i've learned that actually setting artificial deadlines and it is a mistake because actually what's happening these are complicated set of negotiations on many many different issues actually the end of the day as an elected representative my red line is in relation to what's best for my constituents turns around here well i think the next two weeks are absolutely critical in terms of shaping the future relationship between the u.k. and the e.u. looking back over the last two years you were part of david cameron's cabinet which approved this referendum why did none of you ever asked the kinds of basic questions that people are grappling with know what if what if we lose the referendum what is the party splits what if europe applies the rules what about the northern ireland border why we're none of these questions. thought about before her and well i can't say they weren't there were thought about. well partly because of
the many of us campaigned in order to remain and it's difficult if you're campaigning for one thing to gaze into the crystal ball and answer every question that's going to come up i deeply regret the result but the result is we in this country over see how they fare democratic vote difficult very difficult for people to accept but i think it is the right thing to do to balance those two now which is to say yes we are going to leave the european union but we're not going to do it in a way that is damaging if we consider back to the past a read if the vote from two years ago actually i think what happens is the attention is not given so that future relationship between the two parties which is very important what is what is extraordinary looking back is that david cameron the prime minister that you served actually acknowledged during the referendum campaign that the no vote risked what he called destroying britain's economy and diminishing its standing in the world literally destroying the u.k. economy that was a war but he still went ahead and gamble with the future in the prosperity of tens
of millions of people without any preparation for the cunt of destruction that he warned about how could you the cabinet how could he have been so careless with the fate of so many millions of britons well i think it's important to understand the context in which the referendum arose there were and there still are many many millions of people in this country who were unhappy about the relationship with the you with our membership and they wanted to leave that become a defining what you took the top usually with the voters it was a top issue in the conservative party was with the voters well it became it was rising up if you remember all the everyone talking about to start is with us every want to let you out of it and fed up with the air with my party banging on about how this was all done to clear the air in your party no it was undone to clear the air even though to some. something from it in that the election look i didn't regret or somebody here can paint vigorously for remained i regret very much the
decision that was taken but it is impossible to run for him you know well i regret very much vision taken to leave the european union and that was that was the vote but holding the referendum was done for the better it was an issue that kept coming up time and time again on elections on doorsteps and it was something where people are they just have not had a job which they were not really able to push that he wanted to clean our and what i think it wasn't was it were carrying out in the country absolutely it was an issue that people were mentioning more and more on doorsteps in the midlands constituencies like mine and elsewhere and it was an issue which was coming to the exclusion of all other issues but obviously i very much regret the fact that it was the not the remaining campaign that won there were in the middle of these complexities now and we've got to make sure that parliament steps up to the plate scrutinize the deal holds the government to account and also gets the best possible deal that builds the best possible future relationship with the e.u. thank you bob good to have you on conflicts and thank you
thank you thank you. thank us to egypt. to in a to him . i'm going to.
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