Transcripts For MSNBCW Katy 20240703

Underscored by new reporting from nbc news on how he single handedly blocked a bipartisan piece of legislation that would have tightened the rules around foreign influence and lobbying in washington. But perhaps more pressingly for the democrats is what Senator Menendez will do to the party as a whole in next years election. The democrats have been working for years to paint republicans as the ones tolerant of corruption, the ones who have locked the other way at wrong doing, the ones who are okay with their standard bearer being someone under indictment. The comparison of course is not apples to apples, but here is how Democratic Rep Dean Phillips of minnesota put it, saying, quote, if we aspire to be a party recognized for its Prioritization Of Ethics and the restoration of faith in government, we must collectively condemn and seek the resignation or removal of anyone whose Behavior Results in a federal indictment period. Joining us now, nbc news investigative Correspondent Tom Winter who was outside the courthouse for us. Nbc news justice and intelligence correspondent ken dilanian with that bipartisan piece of legislation that was blocked. Nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vitali with everything thats happening on the hill, and criminal defense attorney, and nbc news legal analyst, danny cevallos. Tom, walk us through menendezs arraignment today. Reporter very standard, he was about 10 feet in front of me, dark pinstripe suit, navy tie, sitting in the same defense rows a his wife who has also been charged in this case as you know. Basically the judge going through all the standard kind of provisions and parameters of what she would do. It was menendezs attorney, not menendez himself that entered his plea of not guilty. That happens sometimes. Thats allowed by the court. And then the bail package was pretty much already agreed to by both sides, and that was the same for all the other defendants that have been charged in this case, and appeared today. So no big surprises there. Menendez didnt really say anything. Here at court we asked him in the courtroom, a couple of us reporters, asked if he wanted to say anything. He didnt care to elaborate. Really only his public statements were made, basically statement or speech that he gave earlier this week in new jersey as well as a question from our colleague, ryan nobles. Thats all weve heard from the senator. As far as whats next, well be back or at least his legal team will be back in Court Next Week to talk about next steps leading up to trial, and then well have to see how this plays out. Very much an Ongoing Investigation underlining that. Reporting from our colleague Jonathan Dienst that there is now a Counter Intelligence investigation here trying to determine whether or not menendezs wife was in fact, kind of coopted by egyptian intelligence. Definitely had a role in some of the discussions over a contract thats alleged in some wrong doing thats alleged in this particular case as well as the statements that the senator made about the u. S. s presence in egypt according to the indictment, so that is very much underway. We know the u. S. Attorney said this investigation remains ongoing. Well have to see if there will be further charges. Theres no Tax Violations that are charged here. No financial crimes that are charged here. Based on what we saw from the indictment, i dont think its a long walk at all to ask questions and wonder if the charges should be coming, given the fact that the cash found in pockets, gold bars, typically things you would not report, considered portable wealth and something that the irs might take a look into to see whether or not that was reported accurately and could there be tax charges tied to that. Lets talk about whats happening on the hill. Four more senators today. 30 senators totally. You have a number of House Members as well. Heres jamal bowman, heres what he said aboutenendez. Its a horrible look for first and foremost. A bad lk for democrats. Also a bad look for congress, and a bad lor elected ofcials across the country. The almost general consensus for people who do not consistently engage in our democracy is that politics is corrupt. Politicians dont care about us. We vote them in office, and they do nothing for us. Thats the sentiment that we have been hearing a lot from lawmakers. Youre painting us all with a bad brush here and we dont want you to be a part of this. Notably, senator schumer, the majority leader has not called for menendezs resignation. Do we expect anything might change with that . And when is he going to further address this . One of the big inflection points, katy, is probably going to come tomorrow. We expect that Senator Menendez will address his Democratic Caucus colleagues at a lunch. Thats exactly what the majority leader Chuck Schumer told reporters just in the last few minutes here. During a Weekly Press Conference he was of course asked about the fact that all of those faces that you just put up on the screen, 30 members, more than half of Senate Democrats have called for their colleague to resign here in the wake of this indictment. In large part for all of the reasons that Congressman Bowman listed. The fact that this paints all over elected officials with the same brush of possible corruption. Schumer for his part is leaving this to menendez, saying that he thinks this alleged behavior fell short of the high bar that is expected for the ethics of a senator. But not going so far as to echo the calls from over half of his caucus to have menendez resign, and look, schumer is someone who has known bob menendez for many many years. They have served in this building as two members from the tristate area for many many terms now. Schumer, of course, the top democrat in the senate, but menendez, the head of a very powerful Foreign Relations committee. Of course hes relinquished that gavel for the moment, which is what he said the last time he was facing these kinds of investigations, but it is an open question at this point about if the pressure in this building will ever get to a point that menendez feels he has to resign. I will say yesterday as reporters chased him and asked him where his head was at on resignation, he seemed very intense and doubled down on the idea in his words that hes innocent. Why would he resign . Clearly being defiant, even in the face of more names adding their voice to the chorus that he should no longer serve in the building. He said hes going to beat the charges and will remain a senator afterwards. Ken, a lot of this has to do with his relationship with egypt, which makes this bipartisan piece of legislation that he single handedly blocked so interesting. Walk us through the basics on the egypt relationship and what happened with this legislation. The indictment accuses Senator Menendez of corrupting the senate Foreign Relations committee and his power to hold or Grant Military Aid To Egypt in exchange for bribes, and what we learned is that back in december 2020, there was a bipartisan push to strengthen the Foreign Agent registrations act. Thats the law that governs foreign influence. But its rarely enforced. It was widely felt theres a need for an update, particularly after the Russian Election interference scandal and the widespread understanding theres Chinese Foreign influence campaigns, trying to influence washington. So republicans and democrats got together on a bill that they wanted to move forward. Now, sometimes in the senate to get things on the floor, you need unanimous consent. And so senator grassley asked for unanimous consent, and he was prepared for the big to go forward for a vote. It had the support of mark warner, ranking democrat. Bob menendez stood up and blocked it. What he said at the time was he was blocking it because he thought the reforms should be better thought through. He agreed it needed to be strengthened. The bottom line is he blocked it, it wasnt past, and now we know that what the indictment says is right during that time, he was engaged in an elicit relationship with an egyptian american businessman. He was meeg with Egyptian Government officials allegedly providing them information. That businessman referred in Text Messages with an egyptian general to the senator as our man. So thats the kind of thing that really gets the attention of fbi Counter Intelligence investigators and raises questions about why he blocked the legislation. Lets play what he said on the floor about legislation. I agree with the senator that the past few years have demonstrated that changes are sorely needed. But they also demonstrate that the statute may need more than a few tweaks. Before we have determined exactly what the most needed reforms are, it seems shortsighted to provide additional Enforcement Fools before we have figured out what the regime should look like. So, danny, Senator Menendez, again, that was him talking about that piece of legislation that he blocked which would have made it harder for foreign influence in washington and lobbying. He does seem confident that hes going to be able to beat these charges. Hes sort of beaten these charges of corruption before. It was a hung jury. So not quite the same. Why does he think that he can do it . Is this case open and shut . Youre a defense attorney. Tell me what youd be argue sglg arguing. These are tough cases. There are two reasons he feels comfort, number one, a Supreme Court case from 2016 called mcdonald. Mcdonald narrowed the definition of an official act. Its one of the key elements in extortion and bribery cases that allegedly he received cash or other gifts and in return, the quid pro quo, he did some official act. And its true the Supreme Court narrowed the definition of what an official act is. In that case, they said, look, just setting up meetings and making phone calls thats something someone in cardiology might do. Thats something that doesnt meet the standards. At the time, in 2016, a lot of people including me thought this would hinder the federal governments hindrance the cases. Its not a good reason to feel confident. Reason number two, as you said, menendez has beaten these charges before, and dont get me wrong by any measure in federal court, menendez beating this case before was a resounding win, but keep in mind, he wasnt ever actually acquitted. The case was dismissed and some of the charges were thrown by the court. That gives you an idea that in federal court, is ugh to even get acquitted of these charges even when you have a complete victory like menendez did. His prior victory is a statistical anomaly. The vast majority of the time in Corruption Cases youre going to lose. Theyre easy to prove. You prove he has the cash and gifts and everything else, prove the official acts, let the jury draw the inference, and i think theyre tough to defend. I know its a speaking indictment. We have come to know what that means. There was a lot of detail in this indictment. Did anything in Parr Stand Out . Is it just the fact that he had gold bars that raises the red flag for you . The Southern District of new york is aware of the commandments of mcdonald. One of the cases was menendezs own. Presumably he knows the case law as well as anyone. You can see from this indictment that the Southern District knows what they have to allege, and they allege plenty of meetings and phone calls, which by themselves may not be enough. But they allege a lot more than that. If these allegations are true, this is not a close call on extortion and bribery. It is a pretty compelling case. Keep in mind what im loonging for for an extortion or bribery case is the gifts. They have alleged that, and the official acts. Weve talked about them today. They have to tie them together. They dont have to prove he carried out the act. Its just the gifts plus the agreement, even if he never kau carries out the act. Is there more they havent revealed that prosecutors have in their back pocket, and do you expect more charges . I expect theres a possibility of more charges. Specifically what jumped out at me as i was reading the charge, where the Foreign Agent relation charges. Now, the government may say, look, just as ken reported, these are sort of a gray area. Theyre not brought very often. The government wants a lay up. They dont want acquittals. Maybe theyre going with the charges they believe they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Theyre leaving that out knowing that menendez has the rare history of being a federal Criminal Defendant who has beaten extortion, bribery and related corruption charges. Danny cevallos, ken dilanian, tom winter, ali vitali, thank you very much. Coming up next, what exactly will happen if the government shuts down over the weekend. Do go anywhere. What youre going to feel when the lights go out. A new york judge has ruled that donald trump is a cheat. What that means for control over his name sake company and buildings like trump tower. And uaw leadership say they do not support him, but what about its members. Were back in 60 seconds. T its. Were back in 60 seconds the choice facing Congress Pretty straightforward. We can take the Standard Approach and fund the government for six weeks at the current rate of operations or we can shut the government down in exchange for a zero meaningful progress on policy. Shutting down the government isnt an effective way to make a point. Keeping it open is the only way to make a difference on the most important issues we are facing. Mcconnell speaking to Kevin Mccarthy. Congress the rest of today, tomorrow, friday, and all of saturday to pass a budget or at the very least a budget extension. That is four days. 81 hours to be exact before the government shuts down at midnight on saturday, and yet key House Republicans dont seem to be in a rush to figure it out joining us now is nbc News Business and data reporter brian cheung with what will happen if the government shuts down. And nbc news capitol hill correspondent, ali vitali. Are we any closer today than yesterday . Reporter at the commercial break, you said dont go anywhere. Im not going to be able to go anywhere for a while. We saw mccarthy be able to move on to four specific Spending Bills that are supposed to be a down payment of goodwill to hard liners within his conference who want to see bigger Spending Cuts and who may not want to vote for a continuing resolution. For mccarthys part, his plan at this point is to do that down payment of goodwill and move on to a continuing resolution that would effectively allow him to punt the ball for 30 or 45 days. And buy himself time to get it together on the appropriation spending packages. Thats a big order. There are several people who will never vote for a cr. That puts mccarthy in the tough position of having to potentially have his job being vacated looming over all of this, or he may have to look across the aisle or building to what the senate is trying to do, pass their own version of a continuing resolution. That has thorns in it as well. It includes things like ukraine aid, which is a nonstarter with several members of the House Republican conference. Each of the roads the leaders try to go down have substantial road blocks at the end of them. Its why theres not a ton of optimism that a shutdown can be avoided. Most aft leaders in the building, some republicans fine with a Government Shutdown. Senate republicans are in tandem with House Democrats saying a shutdown is in no ones interest. Mcconnell coming for Kevin Mccarthy trying to stress the fact that this is a political loser for him. It just may not matter. Brian, when the government shuts down, if the government shuts down at midnight. What happens . Lets talk about the economic impact. For that we have to look to the 2019 Government Shutdown, the last time this happened. At that time, 300,000 federal workers were furloughed and the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the government lost 11 billion, 3 billion which was permanently lost. Then theres the concern about what we see at the airport. Even the tsa, for example, even at the irs, there was some worker no shows because even those that werent furloughed had to work without pay. Some aid im not going to bother showing up for work. Markets went up 10 during the 35 days that it lasted. We look at the individual impact of some of these communities. Of course the biggest area where this is going to impact things is in the d. C. Belt area. 500,000 federal workers in the area do work for the government. The work force employed by the government as a percentage of the overall employees. 51 in d. C. 4 and 5 to virginia and maryland. D. C. Says it lost 47 million in revenue in 2019, and other states outside of the beltway that are impacted, take a look at hawaii. The Work Force Employee by the federal government. 5. 3 . 7 in honolulu. Tourism is a big deal. 16 cancelled their trip and alaska, same thing, fair banks, 9 employed by the federal government. The department of interior, a major employer in the state. West virginia, 3. 4 statewide. Parkersburg rgs vienna, four Veterans Affairs hospitals in the state. These are the major states that could be impacted if the government shuts down later this week. Real people, real lives. This matters. Its not just politics. It really does affect people. The other thing thats happening, and this is not a budget issue, but it is also a budget issue, just not a dire one or it is a dire one. Just not wrapped up in this current argument is that its the end of the month of the pandemic era funding for child care. What was that and what will happen when it expires . This was part of the American Rescue plan, and we covered it at the time, the way to help the floundering Child Care System in the u. S. At least have foundation for support financially. Those benefits are now set to expire, and look, it comes at a time when moms are finally rebounding to their prepandemic work force rates. Thats a good thing. You and i know when moms dont have child care, generally that means they have to scale back or pull out of the work force in order to sacrifice that paid labor for the unpaid labor of being at home. This is an age old issue and a reminder that even though this isnt directly at play in this larger spending battle when youre constantly fighting crises here on capitol hill, it makes actual proactive legislating really hard or basically possible. So on this one, the fact that they are looking elsewhere means they cant put forward on continuing to expand this, and this could have dire consequences for a child Care Industry that is so essential and also so starved for resources already. If you cant put your kids in child care, you cant do anything else. Its not like you can go to work with your toddler or newborn. It doesnt work that way. In this country. It is extremely important. Ali vitali, brian cheung, thank you very much. Coming up, what Union Workers told us they think of Donald Trumps trip to michigan to speak to a nonunion shop. Is he helping or hurting his chances in that state in 2024 . First up, a judge pierces the legend and rules Donald Trumps business was built largely on fraud. Will he now lose trump tower . Will he now lose trump tower s . Get back in there and freshen instantly with febreze air mist. Febrezes Fine Mist Floats longer in the air to fight even your toughest odors. So long stinky smells and hello amazing freshness. Febreze air mist. Your Shipping Manager left to find themself. leaving you lost. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. Indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. Visit indeed. Com hire all toooo youuuuu sean matci wish for the amazingion. 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With golo, ive not only kept off the weight but im happier, im healthier, and i have a new lease on life. Golo is the only thing that will let you lose weight and keep it off. Who loses 138 pounds in nine months . I did golos a Lifestyle Change and you make the change and it stays off. soft music . Back in 2016 when i would ask people on the Campaign Trail why they thought donald trump would be good at the job of president when he had no experience in government, almost universally they would say it was because he was a good businessman. He knows how to hire, they said, he knows how to delegate. Look at his empire, the planes, we can see it, we watched the apprentice, it is fair to say that a very big reason that donald trump got to the white house is because of the legend he built around himself. And while that legend hasnt exactly held water, the reporting has been out there for years, the truth has never really eaten into his support. Is that going to change now . Last night, a new york judge effectively branded him a cheat. A new york judge did this. Ruling a large part of Donald Trumps empire is fraudulent. Built on a lie. Joining us now, New York Times Investigative Reporter suzanne craig. Thank you for being with us. I know you were in the courtroom for a lot of these arguments and the judge was not happy with Donald Trumps lawyers. The Summary Judgment yesterday, i think a lot of people were surprised that he took it a step further than just not throwing the case, but saying, no, this is fraudulent. What donald trump did his business dealings, lying about his assets and worth, lying about the Square Footage of his residence in trump tower is not okay. Its a lie, and you cant do that. What does it mean for him to have made that ruling yesterday, and what happens after this . Why are they still going to trial on monday . You know, your intro was perfect because i think a lot about the campaign in 2016 and how he campaigned on this, and this was his qualification to be president , was this great empire that he built. I have been chronicling trumps finances for a while now, and you know, when you go back, you look even in 1976, he was saying he was worth 200 million. He had appropriated his fathers wealth and said that was his, and that year on his tax returns, he made about 25,000, this was an old story that has come back to the forefront. He has been doing this for decades, and devtating to him. We thought, you know, i was in the court last week. I didhi that this fraud, or at least sf it would be adjudicated at trial in the civil trial starting monday, but the judge essentially said that part of the case is over. Its going to be a bench trial. The judge will be the only one hearing it, and he said i made a decision on that, that this was fraudulent. And the repercussions for the trump organization, were not going to know the full extent for some time, first because were still trying to figure out exactly what the judgment means and secondly, it will come up to appeals. The big thing is immediately a receiver is going to be put over a number of his operations so hes no longer in control of them. They will continue to operate but he will not have and his sons will not have Management Control over them. Can i focus on that for a second, what happens to trump tower, what happens to the properties here in new york, et cetera . Putting in this intermediary to run the businesses because theyre not allowed to do so, at least for the moment, does that mean in the future hes going to have to sell these buildings or just place another company in charge of them . I think whats happening, and were still trying to fully understand it, but a receiver, what happens is somebodys put over top of it, and this will happen and play out both through the appeals. We still havent gone through trial. We dont know what the financial penalty will be. It could be up to 250 million. In the period we wait for appeals and wait to find out what the amount is, its in the benefit of New York State, of New York State taxpayers that those properties continue to perform. And a receiver will come over and make sure that is happening because eventually what could happen is the properties that are involved in the receivership may have to be sold to pay that penalty that will come. And, i dont know, they dont want them transferred out of his control, and they dont want to have them run into the ground, and i want to even just clarify with trump tower. People think he owns trump tower. He owns the commercial space. Thats the asset there. A very good point. Theyre going to trial on monday, and i know this is confusing. There was a Summary Judgment. He ruled theres fraud. Still going to trial on monday, basically to figure out how much he owes. And Letitia James wants 250 million. There are other outstanding things that will be heard at trial, but the main thing is how much the Dollar Amount is. I often think in these cases, when you hear a murder trial or any sort of trial where theres a big number, you can say somebodys going to face 20 or 30 or life in jail, they often get five years. This case, were looking at 50, it could get whittled down. Im not seeing given the Summary Judgment where he was found liable on the fraud that were going from 250 to 10 million, i think its going to be closer to the higher end. 250, by the way, is what tim obrien estimated that donald trump is worth in total, not billions but 250 million. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. This, i think, confused a lot of people yesterday, and i appreciate you straightening it out. Thank you very much. Thanks. Coming up next, Donald Trumps polling among union voters in michigan is on the rise. Does that change when he trashed Union Leadership and speaks to nonUnion Workers there today . Remember, michigan is a state that could decide the election. And whats the catch, how did the writers get so much of what they were asking for . Aski . I got the cabin for three days. Its gonna be sweet what . Im 12 hours short. Have a fun weekend. Unnecessary action hero unnecessary. Was that necessary . No. Neither is a blown weekend. With paycom, employees do their own payroll so you can fix problems before they become problems. Hmm get paycom and make the unnecessary, unnecessary. See you down the line. If your moderate to severe Crohns Disease or Ulcerative Colitis symptoms are stopping you in your tracks. Choose stelara® from the start. And move toward relief after the first dose. 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Those with weakened Immune Systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. The most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. I chose arexvy. Rsv . Make it arexvy. If it takes trump to come and support us as well for the big three to come to the table, so be it. Like we need as much support as we can. Just send your support. Thats it. Thats all im asking. Well, some striking members of the United Auto Workers say they will hear donald trump out when he delivers his speech tonight to workers in michigan. The uaw president is making it clear that he will not. Shawn fain slammed donald trump as the exact type of millionaire the union is fighting against, saying, quote, his visit is pathetic irony because unlike the current president who walked the picket line yesterday, the former president will be speaking to workers in a nonunion shop tonight. Joining us now from clinton township, michigan, where donald trump will be, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. Heres a question, i mean, in michigan in 2016, Union Workers went for donald trump. Workers went for donald trump. Its part of the reason why we won. In 2020, they went for joe biden. The Union Leadership is very much against donald trump. Do you feel that theres the same sort of split in your conversations today . Obviously thats what Donald Trumps going for. Reporter yeah, and ill let you just listen to a few of the voters and workers that are on strike that we talked to, and lets talk about it on the backside, take a listen. I would like to hear him, you know, talk about, you know, lets get a deal done. Unless hes giving free places for his hotel in vegas, i could care less. Taking attention from what hes trying to do. You cant bad mouth, and come back and say, okay, then, i want your guys support. Im not dogging on any president , but im just saying, a lot of things you say in the past will come back and haunt you. I think he just wants to show his face and say that, hey, im here for you guys, too, and you know, im sure that will make some people happy, but whatever, i wont be here for it. Reporter the interesting dynamic of this, katy, to your question is on the picket line as we were walking along and talking to workers, there is difference of opinion about who is the best, you know, Commander In Chief to oversee, you know, a Mass Expansion of manufacturing, including how to manufacture in the united states. Joe biden and donald trump, and that is where Donald Trumps bravado has led to a great deal of support. I mean, his record is definitely questionable during his four years of his administration. About 45,000 Auto Manufacturing Jobs were added around the u. S. From the time he took office to the month before the pandemic, but there was no major shift to manufacturing to the midwest. There were several plants that shut down. A few others that opened up here, and so for donald trump and joe biden, this is really where theres that distinction of Pro Union Versus pro worker that comes into play, and it will be up to joe biden to lay out to these workers that under the Trump Administration, the National Labor relations board, as well as the Department Of Labor under the Trump Administration was more favorable to employers than they were to workers seeking to unionize, which is frankly the reality at play here. That isnt going to keep donald trump from coming in here and making claims that joe biden is attempting to move their jobs overseas and they need him to keep manufacturing in the pid midwest prevalent. Joining us is john nichols, you have been covering unions and Union Workers forever. How do you see the split, how fine is the line between between pro union and pro worker . Theres a line there. Its something to be conscious of. Most manufacturers are not unionized. They are much smaller than they once were. Its important to understand that historically, there was a substantial portion of Union Membership that voted republican. It wasnt in the past that they were all democrats. Many of those Reagan Democrats of the 1980s were Union Members, so its always a question of proportions here. And in 2016, its important to remember that, yes, trump narrowly won michigan. He lost it pretty badly in 2020, but if you go back to 16 and you look at the primaries, trump won his primary in michigan quite easily, and Bernie Sanders won the democratic primary in something of a surprise quite easily. So when democrats are taking strong stance in favor of unions, i think it makes it much easier for the union and for Union Members to go to the democratic side, and so what biden did yesterday on tuesday was really important because he had it showed solidarity. It put him on that picket line. It also gave the union, if it does ultimately endorse biden, and thats not guaranteed but if it ultimately endorses biden, it gives them a lot more to work with than if biden hasnt showed up biden is doing more than Hillary Clinton in 16 or biden in 20 to help shore up what a union might do to shore up support for members on its behalf. The support for unions is skyrocketing in the last years. Its supportive of the wga, which ended its labor dispute. Amazon warehouses unionizing, starbucks unionizing, the ups workers got a ton more money and avoided a strike. Clearly the momentum is on the side of the Union Workers, but you have donald trump going out there and saying the Union Leadership and uaw is going to harm the workers, that they are going to sink them, the companies are going to move the plants to the south or move them overseas, and now hes speaking to a nonunion shop. I wonder w if the ground has changed. Has the ground shifted to where being proworker is not going to get you the worker vote. You have to be pro union given the tide in the country. I think you nailed it. I think thats exactly what were talking about here. Four years ago unions were popular. Right . Their numbers were going up. But it wasnt anything like where were at right now. It isnt just that unions are popular now. Strikes are popular. In fact, if you like at the polling from gallup. You had a 67 support for unions, when they asked about a uaw strike against the big three, it ended up being 75 support for the strike, so people are actually more supportive of strikes than they are at a baseline for unions. What that means is that unions that go out and fight, that hit the picket line, that actually make demands are in touch with something about where the American People are at. And so then you get this distinction between trump and biden. Biden goes and joins the picket line. Trump goes to a nonunion plant. I think that distinction is going to have far more resonance in 2024 than the past. You see Ceos Making Hundreds Of Times what the workers are making, building duplicate yachts that are 30 feet longer than the one they currently have. People think its not exactly fair. John nichols, thank you so much for joining us. Well see how this plays out. Just a few minutes ago. The president was in San Francisco addressing a meeting of science and technology, and then addressed the Government Shutdown, potential for it, and heres what he said. The American People need our republican friends in the House Of Representatives to do their job. Fund the government. We got a lot to discuss, so lets get this meeting started. Id rather hear from you than me, thank you. Do you think the Government Shutdown is inevitable at this point . I dont think anything is inevitable in politics. What the end of the Writers Strike means for you, the consumer, theres talk about streamers merging and prices being hiked. D prices being hiked. Your brain is an amazing thing. But as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. Thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. The secret is an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. 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The wga called the deal extraordinary, and by all accounts that seems to be true. So, how did the writers get so much of what they were asking for . And is there a catch . Joining us now is matthew bellamy. Lets go through what the writers were able to get. They got, in my opinion, the most important thing is the got a bonus for shows that are high performing on streaming services, meaning they are watched by more than 20 of a streaming services subscribers. That was not something that the studios had even offeredrior to the may 1st deadline. They got increased wages, which we all expected. They got foreign and domestic residual increases. And they got protections against ai. Ai cannot be used to generate materials that would undercut writers in any way. And the only one they compromised on was the studios can use scripts to train ai models for the next three years. But the writers reserve the write to challenge that in the next deal. So, overall, i think they did get a number of big gains here. They also made gains on the writers room. There are a minimum number of writers that need to be hired for tv shows depending on the number of episodes for those shows. Theres some caveats. But that was something most people didnt think that the writers would end up getting, and they did. So, they got a lot. As i hear about what they got and how extraordinary the deal was and how they won, i keep thinking to myself, whats the catch . Whats the catch here . Well, i would temp they are a little bit. The writers are sort of cheering each other on on social media. They do have a lot to cheer about. But there is wiggle room here. You have to compare what was offered to them versus what they got, because a lot of these gains were offered to them, especially the wages that theyre getting, the increases in wages. Thats very similar to what the Directors Guild got, and they didnt have to go on strike for five months to get them. And a number of these things are sort of theyre increases, yes, but theyre not that much above and beyond what was offered to them, especially when we look back to august when the studios put a counterproposal in front of them. So, when you take the fact this was a 5 billion loss to the economy of california, plus all the hardship that everyone in the business endured over these past five months, you kind of have to balance that. Okay. But on the deal points itself, youve got to say they made some big gains here. Does this mean some of those increases in wages, et cetera, are going to be passed on to the consumer . And could we potentially see some of these streamers consolidate in the future, some join hands, some of the lesser streamers . Well, the consolidation of the business was happening before the strike, and its probably going to happen after the strike. And im not sure that this strike is going to be the reason that the streaming industry consolidates around a few players. The interesting thing can be to see what the increased cost of producing content, thanks to this deal, means about the amount of content that is produced, because if its higher cost to make it, perhaps the studios will start making fewer shows and fewer movies. Were already seeing a retrenchment thanks to the Bubble Bursting in peak tv, and a lot of these companies kind of taking a step back and saying do we need to be making 600 scripted shows . Thats what the number was in 2022. Maybe not. Maybe we can get by with less. And if these shows are going to cost more because of this settlement of the Writers Strike, maybe theyll make less content. You couldnt possibly watch 600 shows in a year. You old have to glue yourself to the television. Im all for fewer shows, better content, Higher Quality content. Matt, thanks. Appreciate it. Coming up, why did north korea expel travis king, that u. S. Soldier who ran across the dmz . Dmz . The power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Home of the xfinity 10g network. U. S. Soldier travis king who appeared to defect to north korea this summer is back in american custody after the regime expelled him. Right now hes on a flight to the u. S. And is expected to land in san antonio overnight. Pentagon correspondent Courtney Kube joins us. I dont often hear of the north korean regime of expelling anybody. What do we know . Thats been the big question is why did north korea decide to allow sweden to come in, pick up travis king, take him across the boarder into china, and then the u. S. Was able to pick him up and take him into south korea. We have no idea. Ive asked a number of officials including people who have been closely watching this or involved in this entire process. They dont know the answer either. What we do know is that the u. S. Military flew to china near the border with north korea, picked him up, and flew him on a Military Aircraft Heading to san antonio to brook army medical center. We heard from the head of the joint chiefs, outgoing, mark milley, speaking with lester holt. Well, general, can you tell us details of how travis king was released and turned over to u. S. Custody . Details, no, but i can tell you that right now he is in the in u. S. Officials hands in china and making his way back to the united states. The important thing, of course, is hes safe. Hell be reunited with his family. Were there negotiations you can tell us about that led up to this . Obviously, theres negotiations through various parties. We certainly appreciate the efforts of all those involved. Its not my place to go over all the details of how that happened. So, at brook army medical hell be offered a reintegration training, going through his mental and physical health. Again, you dont often hear of north korea expelling anybody. Cube kook, thank you. Catch lester holts interview with general milley tonight on nbc nightly news. That does its for me today. Deadline white house starts right now. Hi, there, everyone. Its 4 00 in new york. You hear that . The sound of Donald Trumps Business Empire imploding. A ruling b