Vows not to dilute, dither or delay that legislation. The white house focuses today on immigration as President Biden prepares to sign a series of executive actions, including Assembly Task force to reunite families separated at the border during the Trump Administration. Welcome to tuesday, its Groundhog Day, the longest Groundhog Day any of us have ever experienced, isnt it, anyway, it jen psaki will hold her briefing the house Impeachment Managers have filed their pretrial brief this morning as well. Well get to both of those in a moment. The Daily Briefing comes after President Biden met with ten of the most moderately minded Senate Republicans, not necessarily an ideology but perhaps in tone last night at the white house. The that meeting they proposed a covid relief deal that they probably knew biden could not support and biden probably knew they wouldnt be able to stay united on that anyway. Case in point, its not every day you see Mitch Mcconnell publicly renouncing or praising Republican House members of the house of representatives. Last night he did both. He called out the Beliefs Marge Retailor Green has become the avatar for, denouncing them as loony lies and conspiracy theories. He defended the number three House Republican leadership liz cheney who has come under fire from her caucus for voting to impeach donald trump. Mcconnell called cheney a leader with convictions and the durj courage. Heres the problem. Ask yourself, how many republicans right now elected would be willing to publicly sign on to those kinds of statements . Especially after trump has signalled his embrace of greene and his rejection of cheney. Right now rank and file republicans with their words, deeds and actions have made it clear that it is donald trump that is the closest thing they have to a leader in this party, despite his incitement of a siege on the capitol that threatened their lives and attempted to upend this constitutional democracy. So what does that mean for the actual leaders of the Republican Party right now . The ones who hold those titles, like Mitch Mcconnell and Kevin Mccarthy. We dont know for sure and they dont seem to know either. Both of them have the same goal of winning back power in 2022 but theyre going about it in fundamentally different ways. Mccarthy is embracing trump, mcconnell, particularly after the Georgia Senate runoffs, not so much. Joining me from the white house is nbcs chief White House Correspondent kristen welker, and from capitol hill leigh ann caldwell. Kristen, lets start with covid relief and the talks biden has had back to back, the ten republicans and then today with the Senate Democratic caucus. Whats been the message . Is there are they are we officially in a moment where we can say theyre negotiating with republicans . Or are they just talking . Reporter i think theyre talking, chuck, with the intention to keep talking. I am told these talks are going to continue right through the moment that this legislation is passed because its my sense that the white house is just not going to back off of its 1. 9 trillion proposal. And speaking to officials here just moments ago they reenforced what we have heard from President Biden from the start which is that he got to that number because he believes thats whats necessary to get the vaccine rollout to where it needs to be, to get the aid that state and local governments need, and to get those direct checks to americans. Now, again, just to put this into context, republicans with whom the president met yesterday here at the white house are proposing something thats less than a third of his overall package. The white house just doesnt think that it gets there, gets to what the American People need. Having said that, though, chuck, i think youre going to hear a lot more about reconciliation today, that is that maneuver that would allow democrats to move forward with a simple majority and without republican support but i think what you are going to sesa an all Hands On Deck Push to try to get some republicans to support the final piece of legislation that is passed even if its not through 60 votes, even if they have to use that measure of reconciliation, chuck. You know, kristen, did does the white house have an idea of those ten republicans, you know, they came together on a deal that i assume that the tenth republican wasdo they kno are comfortable at a trillion or, you know, is this a case where the coalition among those republicans is extraordinarily fragile . It is extraordinarily fragile, chuck, and look at the fact that there were ten republicans with whom President Biden met yesterday, and Republican Leadership is not a part of this effort . And so i think youre right about that. And there might be some areas of negotiation around the margins. For example, theyre not that far off when it comes to those direct payments. 1,400, thats what the white house is proposing versus a thousand, thats what Senate Republicans are proposing, is there an area for them to meet in the middle there, potentially, but theres so many other key sticking points, chuck, and thats where that Coalition Gets very fragile and again meeting here at the white house without Republican Senate leadership, chuck. Right, yeah, those ten republicans have a much weaker hand than they realize, much weaker hand since theres no room for error, no member of leadership, and no garn teen mike rounds, todd young, the political pressure they could feel in their home states. It is understandable if democrats are skeptical they can go all the way with these ten republicans. Kristen welker, at the white house. Thank you. Let me move to leigh ann caldwell. I want to shift gears away from the covid debate, and more of whats going on between mcconnell and mccarthy. And i guess its this. Did Mitch Mcconnell throw a wrench into Kevin Mccarthys plans for this week . Or did he provide him cover for what Kevin Mccarthy would like to do this week . Reporter thats an interesting take, chuck. Im not totally sure. What we know is it is a dramatic contrast between what Mitch Mcconnell has said about the dynamics of the Republican Party and what Kevin Mccarthy has said as well. I think that mcconnell is trying to, of course, win back the majority in 2022 and hes worried about the path that House Republicans continue to go down understanding that that is a threat to the Senate Majority for republicans moving forward. But i dont even know that all Senate Republicans are on the same page as mcconnell. I spoke to senator rick scott of florida who is the new chairman of the Republican Campaign committee, and i asked him about Marjorie Taylor greene and if someone like her is problematic for his goal of winning back the majority and he dodged on the question. He said what she said about parkland, was untrue. But he said the issues of 2022 are going or the issue the campaign on 2022 is going to be about the issues. He wouldnt comment specifically on if people like her should be part of the party, and one thing thats notable among House Republicans, of course they have different districts and different dynamics, but theres a ground swell of people a couple weeks ago who wanted to oust liz cheney from her Conference Share position and the stunning silence you hear from House Republicans on what they should do with Marjorie Taylor greene is a really loud signal to, you know, republicans and democrats and the rest of the country. Leigh ann i want to enforce that point. What mcconnell said about liz cheney, and what Kevin Mccarthy said about liz cheney, look, i support her, but i also have concerns. I do think she has a lot of questions she has to answer to the conference. Are we really seeing, is Kevin Mccarthy going to punish liz cheney and not Marjorie Taylor greene . I dont personally see how he does that now but he has been absolutely silent on Marjorie Taylor greene. Weve heard from we finally confirmed at the very end of last week on a late friday night that he was actually going to sit down and meet with her. They havent detailed when that meeting is going to take place. What his message is going to be. And hes getting a lot of pressure from democrats to remove her from those committees. The democrats are moving forward, perhaps, with this resolution on the floor to do that. But what theyre telling us, democratic sources, is that is a way to put pressure on mccarthy to act on his own. We know the number two democrat steny hoyer smoke with mccarthy about getting her off of those two committees but mccarthy hasnt said anything publicly, he hasnt admonished and he hasnt said hes going to punish her in any way, chuck. Shes not going down without a fight. If you have donald trump on speed dial, and you regurgitate what trump told you and he doesnt counter it, since hes not on twitter, she looks like she has trumps proxy. Its an interesting spot for Kevin Mccarthy. Leigh ann caldwell on capitol hill, thank you. Lets turn to someone familiar with the House Republican caucus, former Virginia Republican congressman denver riggleman, and i say former at this point because i dont know if youre a former congressman or a former republican. But right now hes the chief strategist at the Network Contagion institute. Good to see you again. I know where you fall on this. You have been very clear eyed about this qanon nonsense. But you know this House Republican conference. Would you rather be liz cheney or marge rooe taylor green. As far as votes, id rather be Marjorie Taylor greene. Theres an old saying if youre stupid, youre stupid like a fox. And shes become very famous by pushing this bit of nonsense. And i say bit of nonsense as an understatement. She is sort of the verbal equivalent of getting famous through a sex tape. Shell say anything and do anything to get any type of press coverage. When you see even lately, as soon as recent as December Of 2020 she was defending qanon after a Business Insider article. Im not quite sure, at what point that we have more people starting to speak up but it comes to one thing, i dont know if anybodys mentioned this, but ill mention it to you, i think its polling. Youre seeing the differences between mcconnell and mccarthy is based stop the steal messaging is playing with the base. And Marjorie Taylor greene is playing with the base a lot better than liz cheney. So youre basically outlining that the Incentive Structures are broken here, or at least on the opposite side, Mitch Mcconnell has to win 50 races, plus one, or 51, statewide races, and so that means theres some suburban communities youve got to win, he is in one place. Kevin mccarthy might only have to win about ten districts that voted for joe biden to become speaker of the house. So what youre saying is the Incentive Structure is basically all on the side of who can more successfully run a base first strategy. Fund raising, polling, messaging. If you win on stop the steal or Election Integrity messaging or protrump messaging, if youre completely political. Im taking morals out of the equation, because you do know where i stand. I find it ridiculous to think this way, the gop could pick up seats in 2022, especially with the enthusiasm youll have on stop the steal messaging, only two years away, or less, campaigning starts now. Thats how the house of representatives work. When you look at the conference, what do they need to get liz out, 140 votes, whether theyre 211 there, they might come close, i dont think theyre going to do it. But right now with the Impeachment Articles using liz cheneys statement today, thats not going to help her. Im close to liz cheney. She suns, she has courage to do this. But Marjorie Taylor greene, its an ambivalent outcome after this conference meeting, whether it has to do with Marjorie Taylor greene or liz cheney. You are one of the republicans that understand very well how the trump world has taken hold of the state party apparatus. And these Congressional District apparatuses and the Committee Member elections that maybe a lot of people didnt Pay Attention to, in the suburbs, but, boy, theyve taken over. Theyve taken over these State Parties and its gone from, youve got the qanon, the false Flag Business and the oregon Republican Party, the qanon leader, the hawaii republican leader who was a qanon person, the bizarreness of the arizona Republican Party, what happened in your Congressional District and we saw the whole corey stuart mess. Is this the core cancer. Yes, its a rot. I talked to people leaving the party and theyre well im still a conservative, but theres no way i can stay in the party. Theres not that many, chuck, theres more people attracted than away. Moths are drawn to a flame. If you gave somebody a choice, all afternoon you can go to a library or a circus. People are going to watch the elephant playing a trumpet. Thats the way it is. Like i was talking about earlier, getting famous by pushing to the edges of the fringes seems to be the way of doing things, the issue you have, and what ive been begging people to look at, if its just information and propaganda, and we cant have a a Policy Discussion, we are doomed when it comes to getting anything done that crosses the aisle. Its very difficult. Listen, i just went to a store the other day, and you know what they had taped to it, you cannot enter unless youre wearing a mask, it said you cannot enter if youre wearing a mask. That was the difference in a store i went to here in central virginia. This is not going away. Looking at the data, the chatter, i think youre seeing a quiet rage out there on the gop side in some districts. Would you blame joe biden, though, for not wanting to for believing if he sits here and tries to negotiate across the aisle that i look at todd young, jerry moran, and mike rounds, theyre solid, i think theyre have good intentions but they come from states that are probably going to punish them if they even vote once or twice with joe biden. How do democrats negotiate with republicans across the aisle . Thats probably the best ploy, chuck, they cant vote yes on this or theyre going to get tossed out. They cant do it. And thats the issue that you have completely i can me and you, chuck, could have a Policy Discussion on the Executive Orders i disagree with, you know i lean right, Everybody Knows that, but i dont lean stupid. If you look at the politics of this, i dont see why joe biden wouldnt negotiate. Its not because policy might be good, it might be bad, its because the districts are polling that way. Kevins not stupid. Hes seeing that completely political. Hes seeing there might be more enthusiasm for stop the steal messaging than bipartisan governance messaging. Denver riggleman, you were talking adam kinzinger. Hes trying to reform the party within. You saw it as a new third party. You going to won third party for governor this year . After the anger ive seen in the people running and what theyre saying its hard not to. Again, i said this before, my wife would tackle me from the adjoining room, youd see violence on this end of the camera. Ive got a lot of decisions to make with the family. Its difficult to sit and watch this from the outside and seeing what adams going through, do i stay and go back and run as a republican from the inside, i dont know, i just dont know. Silence is not golden in this case. No, it is not. Say what it is. Denver riggleman, former congressman from virginia, thanks for coming on. The winter storm slamming the northeast is causing problems in the fight against coronavirus, a bunch of V