Transcripts For MSNBC Weekends With Alex Witt : vimarsana.c

Transcripts For MSNBC Weekends With Alex Witt



dismantling every system in place to address this with humanity and compassion. and new warnings from health officials as more states look to ease covid restrictions. this morning, dr. anthony fauci is saying, not so fast. >> even though the decline was steep, we absolutely need to avoid the urge to say, oh, everything is going great, which it is going in the right direction, but once you declare victory, that metaphor that people say, if you're going for a touchdown, don't spike the ball on the five-yard lane, wait until you get into the end zone. >> it all comes as u.s. vaccine efforts are picking up steam. yesterday the weekly average was brought to 2.5 million vaccines per day. joining me right now is white house principal deputy press secretary, karine jean-pierre, which is the most beautiful name in the world, we'll take it from there. the president is hitting the road to promote the details of the american rescue plan. does he feel he need to sell this more than he did in prime time and in the rose garden as well this week? karine, can you hear me? >> i sure can, alex. >> do you need me to repeat the question? >> if you can, alex, good to see you, thank you so much. >> i'm so glad to have you. look, the president is hitting the road, he's got this big legislative victory under his belt. he sold it to the american public in prime time, he sold it to the american public in the rose garden, yet he's got to get out and sell it some more. what's he going to say that he hasn't already said? >> so here's the thing, alex. look, the president came into the white house with two clear goals. the first goal was to mount this vaccination program, to make sure people here in this country were able to get those doses in arms that he talks about every time he can when he talks about getting vaccinated and the importance of getting back to normal, that's a big piece of it. the second part is wanting to pass and making sure we pass the american rescue plan which we saw signed into law this week. and, you know, this is a critical moment. this is a moment where we have to make sure that the american people know what's in this plan, they understand what's in this plan. it has the $1,400 checks in this plan that's going to go to 85% of families, making sure that the 11 million people who lost their jobs this past year, who are living in poverty, get them out of poverty. it's going to cut child poverty by half. and so there's so many things in this bill that meets the moment that we are in, that he's going to hit the road as well with the vice president, the first lady, the second gentleman, respectively, they're going to criss-cross this country and talk about the plan, talk about how we're going to implement this plan, talk about the funding that's in this plan, the resources that's in the plan that's going to move forward even further with getting people vaccinated, getting those mobile units out there, making sure those shots are getting into arms, making sure there are vaccinators. his first prime time speech last week was talking about how we can start getting back to normal. there's some work we have to do, right? we're looking at fourth of july and being able to, for people who are vaccinated, to sit with their families at home and enjoy that fourth of july holiday. so this is what he's going to go out to do. this is the work that we're really working towards. already this last couple of days, people have been seeing that $1,400 hit their bank accounts and through direct deposits. so there's a lot to communicate with the american people. and he wants to do that himself as well. >> i want to get to fourth of july, that timeline, in just a moment. but the fact is there are these $1,400 checks. is that really what americans truly care about? because you are getting mixed messages depending on what side of the aisle you're on. you've got senator barrasso who says this bill is only 9% devoted to covid and the rest of it is however he wants to say that. then you have nancy pelosi saying it's about 90% devoted to covid relief. where does the truth lie? do americans really care? because they're getting these checks to help them directly. >> you know, alex, that's such a great question. the truth lies with the american people. poll after poll after poll, alex, that we have seen in the past month or so, shows strong bipartisan support for this piece of legislation, the american rescue plan, that is now law. and we saw overwhelming support even from republicans. we saw polls, like 59% of republicans supporting this piece of legislation. so you have democrats, you have independents, you have republicans who say they want that $1,400 check because they have been hurt so badly by this past year, the pandemic, and this economic crisis. and so that's who we're listening to. and, you know, alex, the thing is, the people who are not supporting this, the republicans who are not supporting it, are the republicans on the hill. so they're going to have to go back to their constituents, they're going to have to go into their district, go into their states, and explains why they voted against not putting $1,400 in people's pockets who need it the most, not voting for a piece of legislation that helps small businesses, who really felt the brunt of this virus, of this pandemic, not voting for a piece of legislation that cut child poverty in half. that is on them, to try to explain to their own constituents why they didn't do this. >> hey, you know what, i need having explained to me is why people like the elected u.s. senator from mississippi, roger wicker, who goes and votes against this, then gets out on twitter touting all the benefits for his constituents, hey, folks, here's the stuff you're going to get. that needs explaining to me. but that's a different conversation. let's get to july 4th, an ambitious timeline the president gave, putting a big circle on that day on the calendar, he says he hopes americans can celebrate the day around their barbecues. americans will likely remember that target goal, it's an easy one to remember. will the president be ready to take the blame if the fourth of july comes and we're not having family barbecues? >> here's the thing, when he spoke in his prime time address he also made a couple of announcements. one is, by may 1 all americans will be eligible to get the vaccination. that's really critical because that timeline has been accelerated to what the president had said just a couple of weeks ago. so by may 1, that may 1 deadline, people will be able to go out there and get vaccinated, which, you know, helps with the fourth of july kind of deadline as well. we all have to do our part. the president's going to do his part. we've increased the doses that's gone into states, we're working really closely with governors and state and local officials to make sure people are getting vaccinated, making sure that we have those vaccination centers, making sure we have those mobile units, making sure we have vaccinators. we've been doing the work for the past 50 plus days. he says this all the time, he said it in his address, please, please, please, you know, wear the mask, continue to wear the mask and get vaccinated, do the social distancing. so it's going to take all of us, alex, to get to that fourth of july. the president has been doing the work, we see the numbers, we see the data, we see people, more and more people getting vaccinated. so now with this american rescue plan, we have the resources to continue with that push of the vaccination program. and also so many other things that this plan, that this plan that's now law will bring forget, including, which i had not mentioned, opening up schools safely, which is going to be so critical. >> oh, huge. >> so many families. >> can you imagine, the families who have had to teach their kids at home and oversee all that to exclusion of other things they need to do, also make money. let me ask you about the filibuster. and the fact that president biden, with his vast experience in congress, knows the pros and cons of being in the majority and the minority, right? and he's said thus far he does not support the filibuster. yet there are many democrats who feel the only way that anything will be accomplished in the senate will be to get rid of the filibuster. do you know where the president stands? is he evolving on this at all? >> no, he's still very much where he has been for the past several, several years, which is, you know, keeping the filibuster. look, he really wants to continue to work with congress, members of congress, continue to have those conversations on important things that we need to move forward with, with the american people. he's going to do that. he wants to work bipartisanly. in his core, that is what he wants to do. he brought the good faith forward in meeting with senators, republican senators, and having, when it came to the american rescue plan, he's going to continue to do that. there are so many issues that have bipartisan support out there. when you think about infrastructure and so many other matters that the american people care about. so he's going to continue to have those conversations, talk to members of congress like he has been doing for the past several weeks. >> let me ask you, in fact, queued up after you is peter baker from "the washington post," who tweeted that at this point in office, biden so far has given zero press conferences. how do you respond to him? is there anything behind no news conferences yet? >> it's coming. i think jen psaki has talked about it in her press briefing. he will be doing a press conference that will happen. but i do want to add, alex, this is a president, when he's doing an event and reporters shout questions at him, he answers them. he's answered, gosh, close to 40 if not more than 40 questions that have been shouted at him by reporters. so he is having those conversations. a press conference for sure is coming. he believes in communicating with the american people, making sure that he's talking to reporters as well. and so that is coming. honestly, alex, his focus was on the pandemic, his focus was on this economic crisis we were dealing with, and passing this american rescue plan which was so critical and key. and now he's going to go out there and talk about the implementation on the help is here tour. >> let me apologize to peter baker, i implied he was from "the washington post," he is from "the new york times," both venerable papers, don't get mad at me, peter. on the southern border, should we take the deployment of fema as some sort of tacit acknowledgement that the president is facing an obstacle there? >> we have a challenge at the border, alex, we've acknowledged that, we've said that. honestly, alex, when you look at the past four years, the cruel, inhumane way that the last administration moved forward with immigration, it did not enhance our security at all. and so now we're in a situation where, you know, this president and the administration, they want to make sure that we move forward with a humane immigration system that's also lawful. and so that is what we are working towards. that's what we're trying to do. we're talking about, you were asking me about the filibuster and what's next. look, immigration is something that is bipartisan. he put forth a piece of immigration legislation not too long ago, the first week of his administration, when he was in the first couple of days in the white house. so he wants to move forward on that as well. and that is how we're really going to start solving the problem on the border. >> let me ask you one more time -- one more question, i know you're awfully business and have to go. i want to talk about new york governor andrew cuomo. there is a growing number of new york democratic lawmakers calling on him to resign amid the sexual misconduct allegations. there's been no word from either president biden or vice president harris on this. is there a point when either of them will weigh in? >> you know, the president and the vice president believe that every woman who comes forward should be listened to, should be heard, should be able to tell their story, and that is something that they strongly believe in. and here's the thing, we are in new york right now, we know that the new york attorney general letitia james is putting forth an independent investigation with full subpoena power. and we believe that should move forward. and so once again, every woman that comes forward, i believe six have come forward now, they should be heard, they should be listened to and they should be respected. that's what the president believes, that's what the vice president believes. >> okay. karine jean-pierre, good chunk of time with you, thank you. >> good to see you, my friend. joining me right now, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times," peter baker, thank you for not ditching me out. i was like, peter's not going to be happy. >> i could never be mad at you, i promise. cies. >> i appreciate that. you heard karine jean-pierre, white house press secretary, she talked about the challenges at the border. the biden administration has shied away from calling it a crisis but do you think they're treating it as such behind the scenes? >> they don't want to call it a crisis because they obviously have priorities, they're trying to find credit for the covid relief package they just passed, a big deal obviously for any new president coming in. this is a challenge for any white house, is, you know, you have your agenda, you have the things you want to focus on, and then you have the things that are forced onto your agenda, like the border situation down there. i think that, you know, they wanted to be able to say we're cutting a break from the harsh way that trump handled immigration but they don't want to say we're responsible then for more people coming over in some ways or for any kind of situation that would give ammunition to trump and his supporters who believe that biden isn't tough enough on immigration. so they would just as soon find other ways to talk about it. so, you know, it's one of these situations where they're not going to be able to avoid talking about it because it is a serious situation. but, you know, i don't think you'll see them volunteering it. >> so just yesterday, the biden administration announced fema will head to the border to try to head off the influx of minors. but it comes timing-wise days before house republicans are also arriving at the border to get a firsthand look at the situation. obviously the gop is trying to make this a political issue. but what do you make of both of these things? >> well, look, i think the republicans are going to make a political issue of it. it's a wedge issue that has been successful for them in their view over the last four years under trump, you know, attacking democrats for being weak on the borders. what president biden has tried to say is no, we can guard our borders but do it in a humane way, we can do it in a way that doesn't separate children from their families the way it was done under the previous administration. but, you know, that's an issue that he's not -- he would rather talk about the legislation he wants to put forward, in which he has proposed a pathway to citizenship or at least pathway to staying here for many millions of people who have been in the country illegally but worked hard and paid their taxes. he doesn't want to talk about a border that looks like something might be happening that he can't control, because that only fuels the opposition. >> what about the biden administration preparing to go on the national tour promoting the covid relief bill? why do you think they need to sell it when polls show most americans are already on board? i'm curious what the strategy is. i've heard it reported, peter, perhaps it was even from you, that there were lessons learned post-aca bill passage by the obama administration that the biden administration is saying, those maybe were some mistakes, we're going to do it right this time. what is that less on? lesson? >> yeah, exactly. president obama's team from 12 years ago believed they didn't do enough to claim credit for, to sell both the american health care plan, the obamacare plan, as well as the stimulus package, $800 billion, roughly, that was passed three weeks after they took office. president obama will tell you, i just thought if i did the work, that would speak for itself. his aides and those now in the biden white house will say, no, that's not the way politics works, you need to get out there, make sure the public knows they got something as a result of this effort by the new president. now, you're right, it does have strong support right now, strong bipartisan support, a lot of republican supporters as well as democrats. certainly when checks show up at people's doorsteps, they're going to appreciate that too. that doesn't mean you want to let that go without, you know, making sure that people understand that it was this president who did it and without any republican support, they would like very hard to hammer the republicans who refused to support it across the board. >> okay. one more point here, as i mentioned with karine, you tweeted yesterday at this point in office trump had given five news conferences, obama had given two, george w. bush three, and clinton five, biden has given so far zero. does it matter that president biden has yet to hold a formal press conference? is this just a republican talking point? you heard karine saying he's answered a lot of questions tossed at him. he leaves the podium, gets maybe halfway through the room and stops and answers a question. >> yeah, he does. sometimes the answers are interesting and illuminating, sometimes they're not. sometimes they're just throwaway lines or a kiss-off kind of, you know, things to say in order to laugh it off. they're not a sustained -- not the same thing as a sustained news conference where you stand up there for 30 or 40 minutes and answer a series of questions that can be tough and difficult to answer and can be followed up on by reporters who have a chance to examine what the president is saying at greater depth. now, it's not the biggest deal in the world. obviously white house reporters care about this more than many people. but this is a president who came to office saying he was going to get back to normal. these numbers that "the washington post" put in this article were interesting because that suggested, at least on this one small areas, it's not back to normal yet. there is a value to a president having press conferences. eisenhower used to do it regularly, he said it was a useful thing for him, not just to communicate his message to the public and not just because it's accountability for a president which is i think important in a democracy, but it's an action-forcing event in the white house, because if you know you're going to get quizzed about this or that, you make sure your ducks in a row and make should you you get updates on a situation. eisenhower thought there was a value to a president in do you go press conferences, it's not just a gift to reporters or the public. >> this from a guy who always comes prepared for our interviews. as karine jean-pierre pointed out, she said they're coming, and i'm guessing there are. thank you so much. ahead, we got a glimpse today on whether republicans will rebuke senator ron johnson for his remarks about black lives matter protesters. you probably know how that one ends. and the governor of new york. is anyone defending him? my next guest might be able to explain why the silence is speaking louder than words. e is speaking louder than wdsor for as little as $25 a month. and the best part, it's powered by verizon. but it gets crazier. bring a friend every m

Related Keywords

Money , Virus , Vaccines , Advertising , Payoff , Nancy Pelosi , 9 , 1 , President , Administration , Crisis , U S , Response , Surge , Mexico Border , Record , Left , Liberal , One , Challenge , Democrats , Donald Trump , Unaccompanied Children Making That Dangerous Trek To America , No Doubt , Jake , Didn T , Humanity , Consequence , Door , Flow , Four , Place , States , Saying , Covid , Health Officials , Restrictions , System , Dr , Compassion , Warnings , Anthony Fauci , Everything , Steep , Decline , Direction , People , Victory , Don T Spike , Vaccine Efforts , Ball , Lane , End Zone , Steam , Metaphor , Five , Jean Pierre , White House , Karine , Average , 2 5 Million , Rescue Plan , Road , World , Details , Name , Prime Time , Rose Garden , Question , Alex , Every Little Thing , Public , More , He Hasn T , Belt , Country , Arms , Vaccination Program , Goal , Doses , Goals , Two , Piece , Part , Importance , To Settle American Rescue Plan , Checks , Law , 1400 , 400 , Things , Families , Bill , Child Poverty , Poverty , Half , Jobs , 85 , 11 Million , Vice President , First Lady , Second Gentleman , Criss Cross , Plan , Resources , Shots , Funding , Units , Work , Fourth Of July , Vaccinators , To , Speech , Home , Lot , Timeline , Bank Accounts , Deposits , Hit , Asian Americans , Fact , Barrasso , Side , Messages , Aisle , Truth , Rest , Covid Relief , 90 , Legislation , Poll , Support , The American , House Republicans , Polls , Independents , We Saw , 59 , It , Pandemic , The Thing , This , Constituents , District , Pockets , The Hill , Most , Brunt , Businesses , U S Senator , Roger Wicker , Mississippi , Conversation , Votes , Benefits , Folks , Twitter , Stuff , Calendar , Circle , 4 , July 4th , Target Goal , Blame , Barbecues , Family Barbecues , Couple , Vaccination , Address , Announcements , May 1 , Kind , Which , New York State , Officials , Governors , Vaccination Centers , Mobile Units , 50 , All Of Us , Mask , Numbers , Data , Social Distancing , Push , Schools , Kids , Biden Or , Experience , Filibuster , Congress , Minority , Majority , Being , Exclusion , Pros And Cons , Way , Attacking Democrats , Anything , Senate , Conversations ,

© 2025 Vimarsana