Transcripts For MSNBCW Deadline White House 20200414 : vimar

MSNBCW Deadline White House April 14, 2020

Hi, everyone. Its 4 00 in the east with coronavirus now killing more than 1,000 americans a die, well over half a million cases confirmed in the u. S. And the much needed measures to flatten the curve leaving more than 16 Million People across the country suddenly jobless. How to reopen our economy are con suling state and local leaders. Enter donald trump, in a press conference last night shifted the conversation away from thousands of lives at stake and back what it appears to be his number one priority, himself. Challenging the meaningful steps now being taken by nearly a dozen of governors on the east and west coast, to reopen the business. Trump asserted he and he alone has the total authority to reopen the country whether the states are ready or not. Rest assured that a claim that any student of the constitution can confirm for you is false and the condemnations from the governors is swift and ongoing. Donald trumps delusions of kinglike authority invited a rebuke from new York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The only way this situation gets worse is if the president creates a constitutional crisis. If he says to me, i declare it open and thats a Public Health risk or its reckless with the welfare of the people of my state i will oppose it and then well have a constitutional crisis. Where states tell the federal government were not going to follow your order. It would be terrible for this country. It would be terrible for this president. So, i just hope he he gets control of what he was saying last night and he doesnt go down that road. Donald trump is a devoted viewer of morning joe, those comments by the governor made this morning and following them, donald trump signaled today that hell make a decision in conjunction with the nations governors after all when it comes to reopening the country. He didnt backtrack on the false premise that the authority rests solely in his hands and leaning into his role as president ial folly just for a little bit Governor Cuomo also this morning took aim at the president s grievancefilled breeflgs. Governors should not watch that. Theres no value in it. It would be its infuriating and ig nornnorant of the facts. Its frightening. Frightening. This is the last place we should be this crazy politics, this absurd positioning when were talking about life and death. And we really have the toughest governmental problem we ever faced right new in front of us and we have to deal with this absurdity. Cuomo responding to the full picture of Donald Trumps press conference debacle yesterday that extended well beyond the alarming inpreation to make some of the worst headlines of this president. Locked in a dayslong with media over a series of investigative reports with his failure to respond to warnings from inside his own. What did you do with the time that you bought . You know what we did. The month of february theres a gap. What do you do when you have no chase you had cases in february. Excuse me. You reported it. Zero cases. Zero deaths on january 17 zblth january. The entire month of february i said in january. You had a complete gap what did your administration in the month of february a lot. In fact, well give you a list. Look, look, you know youre a fake, you know that, your whole network the way you cover it is fake. A lot. Maybe its classified. Hiding in that safe. That performance, though, described as Ashley Parker in the Washington Post as one of the clearest exclamation as the me president. In the middle of this deadly pandemic, that shows no obvious signs of abating the president made clear that the paramount concern for trump is trump his selfimage. Trump has always had a mememe ethos, ununcanny ability to inshert himself into the center of just about any situation. But mondays Coronavirus Briefing offered a particularly stark contrast seeming unable to grasp the magnitude of the crisis. The president s delusions of his own authority and the governors clapback is where we start today with some of our favorite reporters and friends. Jonathan lemiere is back. Jeremy bash is here. You were offering an articulate harvard law version of the flaw in the president s take on his authority. Its been about, i dont know, ten more hours and the governors are pushing back aggressively. They formed these regional coalitions and the president has eliminated himself as a factor. Where do you see this outrageous allegation and the response today from the nations governors. First, basic government 101, the government can ban a particular activity, they can close a particular private sector activity, they cant require a business to open. Theres no way particularly for the federal government to dictate to the private to open. Second, just as a matter of federalism and basic constitutional law, donald trump up there saying, i take no responsibility yet i have total absolute authority. Its basically what you would expect a child king to say. No responsibility, total absolute authority and of course, under our constitution, nicolle, we dont have kings, we dont have monarchs, we dispense with that in that revolutionary war and through our constitutional history the Supreme Court has said it over and over again the president s power is not limitless, its high with respect to national security. But were not talking about national security, were talking about a form of economics security and health security. In that domain thatis is not th president s sole call. He seemed to suggest to a reporter that he would have papers drawn up on that. Basically, backing up his legal argument, theres a history of donald trump seeking legal justification for the things he wants to do whether its firing mueller, something he asked his white House Counsel to do. Firing Jeff Sessions something he wanted to do and something he ultimately did the day after the midterms. Chiefs of staff, i think hes on his fourth or fifth, brought in a propaganda artist in her own kayleigh mcenany. Theyre trying to make his statements sort of true, is that alone dangerous . Nicolle, i can recall hearing from people who served with donald trump or with him in the oval office in the early months of his presidency, id say the first two years, they said, it shocked them to the core, he said he directed them to pursue policies that violated federal law and when they told him, sir, you cant do this, we cant do this, he said do it anyway and as a result you saw cabinet secretaries and i wont name names, of course we could specific cabinet secretaries, Senior Administration officials, swept aside, pushed out, fired, fired by tweet, and fundament fundamentally was, he was being told no, and he did it anyway. Johnathan, this seems where this scandal have arrived. Thousands have died and donald trump is debating what the definition of absolute authority is in a Briefing Room with a maniacal focus on the press. You see Ashley Parker talking about imaginary enemies. The president s dpras. On reality, maybe not being 100 . Think about the millions of americans, nicolle, who tuned into that briefing yesterday. Looking for reassurance, looking for updates. Americans who are have lost their jobs, americans who have lost a loved one, those who are panicked and mourning. Instead of that none of that was offered. Instead it was an airing of president s grievances. Lot of defenseness. Pushing back against a number of stories over the last few days. Outlined all the steps, warning signs they missed, administration missed ignored in january and february the president of course doesnt take too kindly to sort of criticism. It was capped off by taxpayerfunded video attacking members of the media because thats what the president s focus was. He scores points with the base when he goes after the press. But thats of course not where the president s focus should be and were seeing now with this split with the governors, were also seeing as much as he claims to have authority to this point hes put the onus on the state houses to handle this crisis. To come up with medical equipment, to come up with masks, to come up with ventilators and tests. And thats up until now we see him refusing accept any responsibility and only blame others. Hes gone from scapegoat to scapegoat to scapegoat. The ap has an interview with anthony fauci, he acknowledged publicly, essentially spending two hours plus whatever travel to the white house for those coronavirus daily briefings is not the best use of his time. Talk about that. Youre absolutely right, nicolle. My colleagues at the associate pressed sat down and he said he finds these briefings grueling. Its part of his job to deliver facts to the American People. He wants to continue to do that. These briefings are going an hour, hour and a half, theyre grueling. This is a man whose time he says could be used in a much better fashion. He should be working, he should be working on Safety Measures to try and protect the american public. Instead hes made to sit there in president s die tribe. Trying to clarify his comments, make good with the president and not face his wrath that some of these measures should have been in place sooner. Another thing dr. Fauci said, the white house announce will the formation of new counsel to look into restarting the nations economy, dr. Fauci, when asked about the target date of may 1st said in his estimation that was far, far too early and rather premature. Doctor, the debate about whether to open the country and when gets locked in a divide that doesnt actually exists anywhere except in the president s head and on conservative media, but i think every Single Person of every single age group, if youre a child you want to go back to school. If youre a parent, you want your kids back in school. How did we get here where we are having this debate about when and whether to go back . Totally divorce from science and totally divorce most americans want to keep everyone healthy. Thats why theyre home. How do we bring science and facts back into debate that frankly trump and his allies have contaminated . Yeah, youre right, nicolle. We actually all want the same thing. Wed all love to go back to the way things were. We dont want have a Healthcare System where people have to wait in line at the e. R. For nine, ten hours waiting to be seen. Or when theres potential rationing of ventilators, none of us want that. And youre right, too, about the importance of science and data and informing our decisions. All this talk about a time line we have it backwards. We shouldnt be talking about whats the exact date that we should be quote, unquote reopening things. We should be talking about, what are the metrics that have to be in place . What are the capabilities we have to develop . This isnt static. This isnt looking at a weather map. What we do know is absolutely essential to influencing what that time line is going to be and so the faster we can ramp up testing the better we can support our Healthcare System, the more we can develop these Public Health infrastructure to do the Contact Tracing and quarantining we need. Our conversation really needs to start with the metrics and capabilities and then move to time line. Thats what well get to the science and databased approach. Its so interesting because the sort of the keys to opening up what donald trump views as his kingdom, which is a flourishing economy which we actually all want, no Party Affiliation the keys are the kind of testing that hes resisted, the kind of testing thats not available. If you want a company to open, promise a supply of testing and those Companies Might start to contemplate it. How do you, doctor, how do you make a factdriven decision to start to take kinds of baby steps that dr. Fauci seems open to at the times of the metrics would suggest its wise . The problem is that we just dont have data to be making those decisions right now. And thats why were taking this blunt approach. Right, were locking down society. And were imposing restrictions on everyone. What we eventually want to go get, people who are infected with covid19. We can isolate them, identify their contacts, quarantine their contacts basically box in that infection. We can take an individual approach rather than the whole society approach. We have to have the Public Health infrastructure to do that kind of widespread test and the Healthcare System in place to treat everyone who needs it. Were nowhere near these capabilities. If President Trump wants us to get back to normal and reopening up the economy, he should be focused on developing these capabilities and informing the American People in these press conferences where we are and the progress of getting there. Jonathan lemier and jeremy bash, thank you. When we come back, president obama goes allin for joe biden, new reporting reveals the extent of obamas role in accelerating the end of the democratic primary contest between joe biden and Bernie Sanders. Also ahead, well speak with one of the First Americans to contract coronavirus whos still testing positive more than a month after her recovery and remembering some of the victims of the coronavirus pandemic. All those stories still coming up. Up philadelphia. Schmear perfection. [female vo] restaurants are facing a crisis. And theyre counting on your takeout and delivery orders to make it through. Grubhub. Together we can help save the restaurants we love. Shbecause xfinity mobilehen ygives you more flexible data. You can choose to share data between lines, mix with unlimited, or switch it up at any time. All on the most reliable wireless network. Which means you can save money without compromising on coverage. Get more flexible data, the most reliable network, and more savings. Plus, get 200 off when you buy an eligible phone. Thats simple, easy, awesome. Go to xfinitymobile. Com today. So why not do what youve been dreaming of . Youve got the power, weve got the tools. Make a website with godaddy and put what you want out there. Choose joe to be one my Vice President was one of the best decision decisions i ever made. Joe has the character and experience to guide us through one of our darkest times and heal us through a long recovery. Major moment in the 2020 president ial race. President barack obama endorsing joe biden today. 12minutelong video. As much as it was designed to articulate his support for joe biden who was his number two, his message was also as importantly an overture to the progressive wing of the democratic party, reminding everyone whats at stake. The other side has a massive war chest, the other side has a Propaganda Network with little regard for the truth. On the other hand, pandemics have a way of cutting through a lot of noise and spin. To remind us of what is real and what is important. This crisis has reminded us that Government Matters. Its remind ed us that Good Government matters. Facts and science matter. That the rule of law matters. That having leaders who are informed and honest and seek to bring people together rather than drive them apart, those kind of leaders matter. In other words, elections matter. Wow. Joining our conversation, former democratic senator Claire Mccaskill. And Michael Steele. Michael steele, that could have been the substance of a convention speech. Facts matter. Elections matter. That seems to be the right thing to say and the right way to win and defeat donald trump. Well, not to take away from the seriousness of the moment were in obviously with the coronavirus and the deaths and concerns americans have, we also have at the same time a president ial campaign which is now fullthrottling going on. This is game on. This is a turning point because i have said for a while, from the democratic side, even republicans, that president obamas been wanting to get into this thing for a while and he has a lot more to say not just on behalf of joe biden but i think on behalf of the presidency a whole which will be a very interesting position for him to take, i think, so this was a clear shot out the gate. Hes ready. Hes engaged. I think it lifts joe, it positions joes voice now as the voice of opposition to the handling of this epidemic by this administration and to the concerns that a lot of americans see and hear on a daily basis for at least two hours from the current commander in chief. Claire, president obama and Michelle Obama are two of the most respected figures the world over, but perhaps their influence with one Bernie Sanders is one of the greatest displays of sort of quiet influence in our modern political moment. Its no small thing that Bernie Sanders is out and this democratic primary contest is over, is it . Its been a remarkable week, we have been distracted by the antics and the lack of leadership in the oval office, or as you like to say the Office Without corners. Its been remarkable first that bernie got out, secondly that there was clearly affection and friendship between bernie and biden when bernie announces his endorsement and following up today with a remarkable video that is such a contrast to what everyone saw from the podium in the white house Briefing Room just yesterday evening. So, and i do think that that barack obama was really smart about this. He knew that biden needed to do this on his own and biden wanted to do it on his own and he did. But through the whole process, barack obama kept the lines of communication open not just with joe biden but with the other candidates and importantly in recent weeks with Bernie Sanders and he listened to bernie. He didnt call bernie to tell him what to do. He didnt call

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