Transcripts For MSNBCW Kasie DC 20190922

And later thousands of democrats descend on a story to iowa cattle call. The pact shrinks as the stakes get higher for cory booker. It is another weekend with so much to get to. The president just wrapped up an event with australias Prime Minister in ohio. The president essentially campaigned with indias Prime Minister in houston, texas. The two World Leaders walked hand in hand in front of tens of thousands. Were going to get to that in just a moment. My interview with senator ben cardin is also coming up in a few minutes as complicated ties from allies with ukraine to india to israel to saudi arabia to, did i misrepresentatiention more complicated. Also tonight democrats begin to separate themselves from Elizabeth Warren in health care and new polling gives some insights on how voters feel about medicare for all. And former president of planned parenthood Cecil Richards joins me from detroit as workers continue to strike in michigan. But first in spite of everything that has happened, it is rare to see a moment as remarkable as this one. All right. Apologizes. That was actually the wrong one. A moment as remarkable as this one. Watch. Uh, okay, sorry about that, guys. Control room, if youre listening to me, please, if you dont mind, that is not the right one. Hopefully itll be this one. Ladies and gentlemen, go look at what the press has been covering up on you. Can you imagine this is a Company Called rosemount seneca. Whitey bulgers nephew 1. 5 billion coming from china from our Vice President . That doesnt shock you . Let me stop you for a second. How much more have we deteriorated . We are throwing a lot of names that people dont know about. Im not sure if you followed all those dots there. We will try to connect those for you. We are also going to hear from the president of ukraine on american soil this coming wednesday. Maybe then we will get more clarity about what President Trump actually told him in that infamous phone call on july 25th. Why foreign aid appears to have been delayed to ukraine and the extent to which the president called for an investigation no a political rival and his family from a foreign ally. Today the president sought to shift this to president joe biden. Im not looking to hurt him with respect to his son. Joes got a lot of problems. Hes got enough problems without that. But as far as what he said was a terrible thing. What i said was perfect. It was a really great conversation. It was a perfect conversation. It was an absolutely perfect conversation. That call was perfect. It was friendly, was warm. It was a great conversation. There was a very, very fine conversation. By the way the conversation was absolutely perfect, absolutely appropriate. That mustve been one hell of a conversation. With that id like to welcome in my panel for a conversation, with me reuters correspondent jeff mason and ken dilanian. And msnbc news digital senior White House Reporter shannon. Great to have all of you. Lets kick off this conversation, jeff, with the president today making this fullthroated defense of that conversation. You got World Leaders coming to new york here in the u. S. Some of them already touring the u. S. With the president as we saw in texas. But youve got the u. N. With all these issues. But is the president focused on that or is he really enjoying being in this political fight right now that is consuming washington . Well, number one, one of the leaders that you mentioned he will be meeting later next week is president zelensky from ukraine. Sort of raised our eyebrows when they announced that as one of them. Clearly, i dont know if hes enjoying the controversy but hes not shying away from it. And that will certainly be in focus when he meets with him here at the u. N. Put the timeline for us. Did they announce that bilateral meeting before this story broke or after this story broke . After. So they definitely want to have that meeting take place regardless of whether or not this is consuming washington. Shannon, youve written pretty much the book about how the president likes to handles these types of crises. Walk us through how weve seen this week play out between the defense that Rudy Giuliani gave to the president now coming out and essentially admitting that he did have that phone call where he did discuss joe biden. Yeah. And as someone whos spent two years covering the russia investigation, i feel like im watching a rerun here. Today he even threw in the element of spying suggesting that an american spy was spying on the president sort of like he suggested the Obama Administration had tapped his wires in the trump tower in the russia investigation. So were seeing the pattern of him initially denying or saying that even if he did what is being alleged, he did nothing wrong. So here today he seems to be confirming that he did bring up the issue of biden and some sort of corruption in ukraine in his conversation with the ukrainian president but saying that theres nothing wrong with that, just like saying a trump tower meeting between the russians and his son, that was nothing wrong with that, that was just standard procedure. But then he shifts to the subplot. In this case the bidens and this allegation he keeps bringing up that the bidens had some sort of a corrupt action going on in ukraine. Very similar to the investigators subplot in this rogue Justice Department theme that he tried to emphasize during the russia investigation. Then of course there is this discrediting. He was trying to discredit bob muellers investigation. He was trying to discredit congressional investigators and here he is trying to discredit the whistleblower. He said the whistleblower is someone whos partisan. Well, the president does not presumably know who this whistleblower is. He shouldnt under the statue. So therefore how does he know this person is partisan . We are seeing this play out. I think we could possibly see a perception to the public from this too where they get confused and throw up their hands and dont really know what to believe. So let me pick up on step two of that stepbystop process that you outlined where the president was essentially putting up unsubstantiated speculation on his twitter feed that an american spy may have been spying on him. As shannon mentioned, we dont know and the president should not know the identity of who that whistleblower is. Here is what he said earlier today. Listen to me. [ inaudible question ] i assume many people are on the lines. I know that before i make the call. Intelligence agencies, everybody listening. All right. So the white house has so far declined to actually put out a transcript of the call. That has become an essential part in all of this. Let me just ask you really quickly about the role Rudy Giuliani has been playing in all this because theres some confusion as to whether or not the state department was aware or was informed of what he was doing. And its important to emphasize Rudy Giuliani holds no official capacity in the u. S. Government. He is the president s personal attorney. Yeah. Well, my understanding is that Rudy Giuliani went there to meet with ukrainian officials to try and get them to investigate Hillary Clinton involvement with the ukraine during the 2016 elections and Rudy Giuliani has now said, too, biden, and any corruption involving the biden family. Giuliani has said he was doing that in his own personal capacity. But obviously he represents the president of the United States. So you can imagine how ukrainian officials could take having the president s personal lawyer come to them with this directive. And to the question about whether the state department knew about this, whether they were officially notified or not, you can assume that u. S. Officials on the ground would have been aware of this visit. People collecting intelligence, even people processing who is coming in and out of the country. So they probably did get wind of this and were informed about it in some way or another. Because thats not the type of thing that will go unnoticed by u. S. Diplomats. Lets cross over and bring msnbcs investigative ken delaney. The general scope of what it is that Rudy Giuliani the President Trump were alleging when it came to joe bidens son hunter and what they wanted the Ukrainian Government to do here. Reporter well, its not 100 clear, aymon. And Rudy Giuliani is aalleging so many things that its sometimes hard to follow him in these interviews. But the core issue with hunter biden and joe biden is a legitimate one which is at the time when joe biden was the Vice President and was running point on ukraine policy for the Obama Administration, it started back in 2014, hunter biden took an extremely lucrative job with the Ukrainian Gas Company owned by an oligarch. There is reporting in the wall street journal tonight that he was being paid 50,000 a month. And questions were raised at the time ethics experts said that that was inappropriate. But theres been no allegation of illegality. There just simply arent any rules as we know from the trump family from the relatives of a Vice President and president of their business practice. Theyre not covered by the ethics rules. But Rudy Giuliani is making a specific allegation which doesnt appear to hold up which is there was a point when the United States wanted to remove a particular prosecutor in ukraine because he wasnt doing his job. Jill biden went over there and gave a speech and bragged about how he essentially strongarmed the government into removing this prosecutor. And at some point in the past this prosecutor had made noises about investigating the company that hunter biden worked for. So the trump team is saying thats a horrible conflict of interest. None of that appears to hold up. So instead of just letting the normal questions, the media was going to scrutinize hunter biden inevitably as joe bidens candidacy progressed. And that would have been a story. But trump is adding fuel to it with these bizarre claims that, aymon, do not hold up. Ken delaney, thank you for staying up late in london helping us make sense of the story. Moments ago i spoke with senator ben cardin of maryland who sits on the Senate Foreign relations committee. Here is our conversation. Senator cardin, thank you so much for joining me this evening. Let me begin with President Trump who said he would consider releasing a transcript of his call with the ukrainian president amid this whistleblower report. Do you think it is necessary for him in this situation to do so . I think it would be very helpful to have complete transparency here. We do need to know exactly what was said because its very serious. Whats been reported is that he made a request to the president of ukraine to carry out President Trumps political agenda against Vice President biden, compromising our National Security by threatening ukraine with the loss of foreign aid. Thats a very serious accusation. I think the best way to clarify it, is to get not just a transcript. I hope we have the tape of that conversation. And let me, sir, play you this sound byte of secretary of state mike pompeo speaking about the whistleblower situation. Watch this. I 40 epthat we will. I hope that if Vice President engaged in behavior that was inappropriate, i hope the American People will come to learn that. Weve seen no evidence of that yet. And not have our elections interfered with. And if thats what took place there, if there was that kind of activity engaged in by Vice President biden, we need to know. Sir, what do you make of that response to the defense coming out from the white house and a number of republicans, some of them your colleagues in the senate that we should really be concerned about former Vice President bidens behavior in relation to ukraine and as they are describing it, election interference here in the u. S. Well, here again, you see the president and his team trying to distract from the need to take a look at what President Trump did in regards to the president of ukraine in threatening to cut off foreign assistance to helping him politically. So hes going back to a 2015 matter in which the international community, the United States, congress all wanted to get rid of this prosecutor because he was part of the corruption in ukraine and was affecting our unity to hold sanctions against russia because of the problems in ukraine. So that was thoroughly looked into. There was nothing improper about that. And the president s using it now simply to distract from us reviewing what he did now in his request to the president of ukraine. I referenced some of your colleagues in the senate in terms of their response to republicans. At least we are seeing a full range of reactions from republicans to the ukraine whistleblower scandal. Let me start with senator mitt romney. He tweeted out if the president asked or pressured ukraines president to investigate his political rival either directly or through his personal attorney, would be troubling in the extreme. Critical for the facts to come out. Most responses though fell somewhere on the spectrum between reserved concern, and it was the deep state. Watch. I dont know the context. I dont know what was said. Look, it is not appropriate for any candidate for federal office, certainly including a sitting president , to ask for assistance from a foreign country. Thats not appropriate. But i dont know that thats what happened here. It looks to me like another deep state attack. I mean another bureaucratic attack on the president. We have seen this over and over and over in this administration from Anonymous Sources deep inside the bureaucracy. What would you say to republicans who are suggesting that this is a deep state attack against the president . Well, if i understand correctly, the president has acknowledged that this came up in the conversation with the president of ukraine. And we know his personal lawyer is already acknowledged that he talked to ukrainian officials about investigating Vice President biden. So there is plenty of information here that contact was made. I think its absolutely critical to find out whether the president was seeking help from a foreign leader in our Domestic Campaign and whether he used the power of his office to try to influence that judgment. Thats a pretty serious accusation. Lets find out the facts. Let me switch gears, sir, and get your thoughts on some of the other big Foreign Policy issues facing. Announcing that his administration has approved deploying troops to saudi arabia in addition to some Additional Air Defense Systems and capabilities. Do you think this is the right move . Are we on the right path in terms of either escalating or e deescalating the situation . Well, lets be clear. The circumstances between iran and the United States could not be more dangerous. There is a very clear chance there could be a miscalculation by either the United States or iran. And if that leads to military action thats not in our National Security interest. Diplomacy is the only way were going to be able to resolve this. And we need our traditional partners on our side against iran. The problem is when the president withdrew from the nuclear agreement, he isolated america rather than iran. Irans the bad guy. But weve been isolated diplomatically because of the president s action were withdrawing from the iran nuclear agreement. And finally sir, senior Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell saying that he will support 250 million in additional Election Security. What do you make of the timing of this announcement . Does it go far enough to protecting the integrity of our Elections Come 2020 . My first question is why is he waiting so long. Weve been trying to get an Election Security bill on the floor for a long time, bipartisan bills, to protect our election system, to help our local election boards, and to provide the infrastructure so we can protect against the attempts of russia or any other country to interfere in our election. We shouldve acted way before this. We knew three years ago that russia was active. We knew that they were going to be active in this election. Now all of a sudden we are starting to get close to the election. We shouldve had a lot more a lot earlier. All right. My thanks to senator ben cardin. A lot more to come tonight. We are going to continue this conversation with congressman harley ruda in the case that the president may have crossed the line in this latest chapter. And later im going to talk to Cecil Richards and the head of one of the countrys biggest unions. Plus, cory booker puts his mouth where his money is. The senator has to raise a lot of cash quickly if he has any hopes of staying in the 2020 race. Kasie dc back after this. You wouldnt accept an incomplete job from anyone else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase sensimist. Nothing stronger. Nothing gentler. Nothing lasts longer. 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If these industrial plants had technology that captured carbon like trees we could help lower emissions. Carbon capture is Important Technology and experts agree. Thats why were working on ways to improve it. So plants. Can be a little more. Like plants. Juul record. They took 12. 8 billion from big tobacco. Juul marketed mango, mint, and menthol flavors, addicting kids to nicotine. Five million kids now using ecigarettes. The fda said juul ignored the law with Misleading Health claims. Now juul is pushing prop c, to overturn san franciscos ecigarette protections. Say no to juul, no to big tobacco, no to prop c. On friday House Speaker nancy pelosi told mpr that she has not changed her mind on pursuing impeachment against President Trump. She did say though that she belie believes congress should pass new laws so that sitting president s can in fact be indicted. If, quote, the administration persists in blocking this whistleblower from disclosing to congress a serious possible breach of constitutional duties by the president , they will be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness which will take us into a whole new stage of investigation. And heres house intel chairman adam schiff. I have been very reluctant to go down the path of impeachment. But if the president is essentially withholding military aid at the same time that he is trying to browbeat a foreign leader into doing something illicit that is providing dirt on his opponent during a president ial campaign, then that may be the only remedy that is coequal to the evil that conduct represents. I have spoken with a number of my colleagues over the last week. And this seems different in kind. And we may very well have crossed the rubicon here. Joining the discussion two of californias democratic congressmen. Also with me former Communications Director for the Nrcc Matt Gorman and former adviser to Hillary Clinton and obama. Great to have all of you with us for this conversation. Congressman, let me begin with you. It sounds like there may have been a bit of a shift this morning in the way that the Democratic Caucus is discussing impeachment. What was your read on congressman schiffs response and Speaker Pelosis comments . There has been a shift. And i think congressman schiff in particular talking about impeachment is a big deal. I mean, if these allegations are true, its a clear abuse of the president s office. He is basically soliciting explicitly foreign leader to tarnish a political rival. Here is what makes a different. This is forward looking. This is something that hes trying to do for the 2020 election. We are no longer relitigating the past. Thats why i think many democrats, even those who were reluctant about impeachment are now much more concerned. Your thoughts as well on where we are going here with both chairman schiffs comments as well as Speaker Pelosis. I agree that this continues to rise up because we have not seen an administration this corrupt in our lifetimes and for generations before. And as this continues to build, as we see one activity after another with clear signs of corruption, you are going to see more and more people within the Democratic Caucus come to the side of an impeachment inquiry. But the real concern here is when are we going to see republicans have a spine and do whats right and abide the constitutional oath that they took . And im curious to get your thoughts what is this weeks news change about all this. Because both of you, congress men, you were ahead of some of your colleagues as to are we entering a new chapter specifically with what weve seen this week . What does it actually change . I think you will see more democrats get on board with the need to take action against this administration. You know, i have the honor of serving on the Oversight Committee with row under the chairmanship of elijah cummings, truly a fabulous man with great integrity and leadership. We have been stymied relentlessly by this administration in every effort to interview witnesses and receive documents. Were accustomed to administrations slowwalking information. But this is the first time weve ever seen an administration completely stonewall our constitutionally valid request for witnesses and information. Let me put up on this screen a treat from your colleague alexandria ocasiocortez. And she is saying that at this point the bigger National Security scandal isnt the president s lawbreak behavior. It is the Democratic Partys refusal to impeach him for it. Do you believe that the Democratic Party members of Congress Speaker pelosi and others have been slow to take what others have alleged in terms of illegal wrongdoings by this president seriously to the point of impeachment . We are taking action. Chairman nadler has started an impeachment proceeding. That will proceed expeditiously. And i expect that they will refer something to the house. But the speaker needs to make sure that we get 218 votes. And i agree with congressman ruda. The republicans need to start speaking out. I am glad that senator romney finally said something. But why isnt he out there and other republicans out there protecting american sovereignty . Where are their voices . Let me get your thoughts. You know, if you were advising members of congress, what would you be advising them to do this week, given everything that has unfolded . Well, the issue at hand really is we are looking at the possibility that the president used foreign assistance money to extort a foreign leader essentially into helping his campaign by getting dirt on a person. Joe biden who is currently 14 points ahead of him. Its not just some random person. Its a person who beats him in every poll. So i think you see what Speaker Pelosi and congressman that we are taking this seriously. We are in an impeachment inquiry and that the full weight of the house of representatives should be trying to get the whistleblowers testimony, trying to get the transcript, and being part of an impeachment inquiry should allow congress to do that. And i would echo what the congressman said, which is we are in a world where only democrats are asked these questions, and it strikes me as odd that mitch mcconnell, senators, Republican House members, republican senators should be asked every day why they think it is okay for the president to be engaged in likely criminal behavior from the oval office. And let me get your thoughts on all this. Some of the republican members of congress and others have been defending the president including the secretary of state mike pompeo. Which a lot of, you know, questions surrounding whether or not that even makes sense. But rate for us how the republicans have in fact been responding to this. And, point blank, this would not be happening if joe biden was not in the race. Well, i think a couple things. I think there are you are going to see more republicans in the coming days, call for more investigations, call for a bigger look at this. But i also think the republican side is somewhat cautious because i can tell you how many times we sat at this table and said the story is going to change things. This will be the end of the line in a certain respect. The president disclosed classified information to Russian Diplomats in the oval office and we tend to not even mention it right now. So i think that the republicans are going to be more cautious, see if more evidence comes out, see if theres more of a push for a transcript which im not sure there will be. But youre right on the democratic side the paradigm has really shifted certainly adam schiffs comments this morning were further than anyone he has said before. But what im more interested in is folks from trump districts that were vulnerable members this time in 2018 that won in 2018. If they come out towards impeachment, i think thats going to tell us a lot where this is headed in the house. As someone who covers the white house you have a better sense than perhaps any of us here. Do you get a sense that the president relishes an impeachment fight . Is he trying to draw the democrats into making that mistake . Because when you hear of his rhetoric about impeachment, it almost sounds like he wants to have that debate as a referendum going into 2020. I think there are two sides of his thinking based on what he has said to us. He is very insulted by the entire russia investigation. He thinks its a witch hunt. He think hes been robbed of his time of his presidency. On the other hand he sees the real political calculus in the fact that an impeachment kw irry could backfire on the democrats. He sees some potential political benefits from that happening. And do you feel like im sorry, did you want to weigh in . I just want to say i totally understand the politics of these debates and we go back and forth on the politics. But if we are facing a situation in which the president is extorting a foreign country to help him in his election, im sympathetic to all members of congress. But i think we have to put politics aside and protect the constitution from lawbreak. And i imagine the country if we make the case clearly that the president is breaking the law, which he seems to have done, we will get the transcript, we will get the information. But if it is the case, i think the American People who already think the president , who already oppose the president will continue to oppose him perhaps even more strongly. Let me switch gears for a moment. I want to get your thoughts if i can about the visit of the indian Prime Minister to texas meeting with President Trump in this Campaign Style rally that took place earlier today. Let me just play you this sound byte. Watch this. His name is familiar to every person on the planet. [ cheers and applause ] his name comes up in almost every conversation in the world on global politics. Congressman, im curious to get your thoughts on so many levels about this given the fact that he is a controversial figure in his own right, but more importantly this Campaign Style rally that is taking place at a time that india and pakistan facing off over the issue of kashmir, two Nuclear Armed countries. Is it appropriate for the United States to be seen right now with the Prime Minister of india, possibly even seen as taking sides while this dispute takes place . Let me say this. My parents were immigrants in the 1970s from india. My grandfather has spent four years in jail with gandhi fighting for independence. And its the gandhian philosophy of pluralism. Of respect for fellow human beings, of dialogue and peace that define the values of the indian community. Thats why 80 voted for Hillary Clinton. So the president is just misinformed if he thinks showing up at this ratty is going to help him with the indianamerican vote. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us this evening. And coming up, it was a festive steakflipping good time as democrats descended upon iowa saturday. And the race is heating up as new polls show Elizabeth Warren on the rise. And home insurance. So why not bundle them with esurance and save up to 10 . Which you can spend on things you really want to buy, like. Well, i dont know what youd wanna buy because im just a guy on your tv. Esurance. Its surprisingly painless. W. That keep us active every day. Like you, your cells get hungry. Feed them. With centrum® multigummies. 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A new poll shows senator Elizabeth Warren overtaking joe biden in iowa for the first time in this race. Warrens support among democrats in the state is now at 22 , just ahead of bidens 20 . Since her lead is within the polls margin of error, the two are essentially side. And warrens status as an emerging frontrunner means that comments like this arent getting more scrutiny. Candidates like Pete Buttigieg and joe biden are drawing sharp contrasts between the senators Health Care Plans and their own plans. Watch. Senator warren is known for being straightforward and was extremely evasive when asked that question. And weve seen that repeatedly. And i think its puzzling that when Everybody Knows the answer to that question of whether her plan and senator sanders plan will raise middleclass taxes is yes. Why wouldnt you just say so and then explain why you think thats the better plan forward. Our plan does create a way for everybody to be covered and i think thats what most americans want. So if youre willing to pay, and i respect you, if youre willing to pay the extra taxes and you think you get much more for that, then thats good. But lets at least acknowledge that its good afternoon cost a lot of money and shes going to raise peoples taxes doing it. And what are we going to do in the middle of a recession if we end up there . Neera, i want to get your reaction to, a, the newest poll coming out of iowa. Are you at all surprised that Elizabeth Warren is climbing to the top of the pack, and to what do you attribute that to . Im not really surprised because actually over the last several months shes been moving up steadily. She hasnt moved up in a surge. Shes really just moved up steadily over several months. I attribute it to shes running a very good campaign. Shes actually done a fantastic job in reaching out to all elements of the party. If you see the iowa poll, she gets a good share of hillary voters and a good share of sanders voters. So she comes from the Progressive Side but shes reached out to the entire party. I will say one thing which is that 80 of voters are still, you know, could likely go to somebody else. A lot of people are still looking around. Even if they have a first choice, it doesnt mean they cant go to a second or third pretty soon. Do you know at what point generally in a race they begin to break for a candidate one way or another . Our experience in 2007 was it really started happening in november and december. People really started solidifying their choices. And, matt, let me get your thoughts on this. That sound byte from joe biden and mayor Pete Buttigieg. Clearly for the first time going after in a critical way some of her proposals. What does that signify for you and what kind of window of opportunity does this present for some of those candidates . If im joe biden if i look at the cross tabs what, im concerned about is the fact that when you combine the first and second choices, elizabeth war n warrens. When you go in caucus if youre the candidate you support doesnt get 15 of the vote you need to shift your support to somebody else and it goes on and on until somebody wins that. So thats a scary proposition when we look in the polls. Look, were at week three of the nfl season right now, and nbc is about to do the show tonight. The day after the super bowl is the iowa caucus. So there is a long time between now and then. But youre right. I think Amy Klobuchar recently talked about this phenomenon when you attack somebody like Elizabeth Warren for having policies that are too liberal essentially for the democratic primary, you come off as a scold. I think she called it her mom answer. I think mayor pete mightve thread the needle pretty well to call her out for these proposals that are outlandish but do it in a way that you dont sound essentially like a mom. We got a note that we didnt pay you to make that plug for nfl. Thank you both very much for joining us this evening. When we return, my conversation with Cecil Richards, former president of planned parenthood and mark kay henry, president of the Services Employee international as they try to engage voter interest ahead of the 2020 elections. Great riches will find you when Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Wow. Thanks, zoltar. How can i ever repay you . Maybe you could free zoltar . Thanks, lady. Taxi only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. You wanna see something thatamazing . Ing. Go to hilton instead of a travel site and youll experience a whole new range of emotions like. The relaxing feeling of knowing youre getting the best price. 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The number one recommended brand in north america. No matter when you retire, your income doesnt have to. See how lincoln can help ensure you still have income every month of your retirement, guaranteed, at lincolnfinancial. Com. It was one week ago tonight the United Auto Workers walked out on General Motors. Among the thousands of Union Members taking to the streets in protests today were two 2020 contenders. Former Vice President joe biden making a stop at Fairfax Assembly in kansas city, and senator Elizabeth Warren joining the picket line in detroit, michigan. Also in detroit today the activist group super majority. They are also talking to women across the u. S. To see what issues are driving them to the polls as part of their efforts to mobilize women voters ahead of the 2020 election. Two of the organizers of that event joining me now cofounder of super majority Cecil Richards. She is also the former president of planned parenthood. And mary kay henry, president of the Service Employees international union. Great to have both of you with us this evening. Cecil, let me begin with you because you are an estate that played a huge role back in deciding the 2016 election. Im curious to get your thoughts on what you are hearing from the women voters that youve been talking to and what are the issues that are most important to them for 2020 . Well, its really exciting to be back in detroit where we had hundreds of women today gathered together to talk about what its going to take to turn out women a year from now. And of course what we know about michigan is that in 2018 i think there were 700,000 more women voted than in the previous midterm election. They elected a woman governor, you know, secretary of state, increased their percentage in the house and in the congress. And women in michigan are really on fire. And thats why super majority and a super Majority Education Fund just did a bus stop here to help train and build community because i really think that women in michigan know that there is so much more that they can do. A million unregistered women in the state alone. That could make the difference. And are there a core set of issues that are kind of rising to the top among women voters that youre seeing in 2020 compared to the general voting population . Well, its interesting, and mary kay and i have been talking about this that actually if you looked at the news or followed the media, you would think that this country is so divide. But when you talk to women they are in massive agreement they want access to Affordable Health care, they want to be paid the same at their job. They want to be paid equally. They want the right to make their own decisions about their bodies. These are issues that are animating women. There is a profound sense that this federal government obviously is trying to take away rights. And theyre recognizing that when we actually come together across issues, across geography, across generation, that women are an unstoppable force. They were 53 of the electorate in this last election in 2018. I think they will be again in 2020. And im curious to get your thoughts, cecil as well, because you have outlined the importance of women in terms of how and what they did back in 2016, in the midterms and what theyre going to do in 2020. And weve seen a Record Number of women running for president this time around. But really so far only Elizabeth Warren is really kind of breaking through to that top tier. I am curious to get your thoughts as to why we are not seeing some of the other women candidates who have been in this race from the very beginning even those that may have dropped out earlier like senator kristen gillibrand. Why are they not breaking through in that top tier, do you think . I actually think its amazing to have six women running for president in a very, very competitive primary. Obviously theres more men that are in the lower ranks than are women. I think senator Kamala Harris is doing an amazing job, senator warren and senator klobuchar. The important thing is were actually now having a different vision in america of what a president might look like. Thats exciting for women everywhere. Mary kay, one of the crucial voting blocs in all of this, and certainly in 2020, Union Workers, thousands of whom are out on the picket line this week in the General Motors strike. In fact the Associated Press was writing today how the strike is putting President Trump and the gop in a little bit of a bind saying backing the union would undermine trumps message that labor does not advocate for its workers. Siding with gm would call into question his promises question his promises to defend workers and would risk getting blamed for economic woes in a rust belt state that he needs to win in order to win reelection. Im curious to get your thoughts on this. How do you see this playing out in terms of where the union stands and where the politicians stand . Cecilia and i got a chance to walk with the strikers this morning and theyre very concerned having to pay high deductibles in health care and equally concerned about their job security because of the closing of plants that have been announced. And so just like women everywhere, we heard later at the hall from nursing homeworkers and janitors and fast food workers, people want to be able to work hard for a living and lead a decent life and thats true for women of all races, all ages, and it was incredibly exciting to be in the hall today and have union women join with women from high schools that are organizing, dems doing Voter Registration here in michigan, elected officials. It was incredibly invigorating for the members of our union that joined the supermajority today. Given, mary kay, how important this strike is for the country in terms of what those workers are trying to fight for and achieve, are you surprised in terms of the lack thereof of president ial candidates joining your cause on the picket lines . We had two Democratic Candidates on opposite ends of the spectrum. Im curious to see how you think the Union Workers see an alliance from those candidates. Elizabeth warren came today to the hamtramic line. I wasnt there when she arrived. More president ial candidates have expressed support. What were seeing across this country is that people see this as a make or break moment for the values that the supermajority stands for, that we ought to be able to live safe in our neighborhoods and workplaces, that we want a government that represents all of us, that we want women of color at the center of deciding because were not going to allow this moment for women to have white women leave women of color behind. We want to put women of color at the center. I saw that today on the picket line at the uaw. I walked with two black women, one that had been four years, one that had been there less than a year. What they care about is being able to provide for their families and most importantly they twoont create a life where their children can be safe and aspire to fulfill their dreams. Cecilia, is there anything being done or said by the Democratic Candidates at this stage of the race that is giving you a moment of pause or concern about what theyre saying, how theyre saying it, that perhaps needs to be recalibrated . I think what im saying i credit it to having so many women running for president and what women are saying around the country, were on a super bus to tour. What were hearing from women is they want a voice at the table and want to make sure that the issues they care about are not partisan issues, affordable child care, taking care of their parents, not trade off having to take care of their family and working, minimum wage workers wanting a raise that they havent had, twothirds of which are women. Were really excited on the supermajority tour that so many candidates are coming and listening to women. Women havent been heard, havent been at the table for a long time and they feel like this is their opportunity. We hope they get a seat at that table, cecile richards, mary kay henry, thank you. Cakasie dc. Cakasie dc the most powerful 5g experience for america. Thats why the nfl chose verizon. Because they need the massive capacity of 5g with ultra wideband, so more screaming, streaming, posting fans. Can experience 5g all at once. This is happening in 13 stadiums all across the country. Now if verizon 5g can do this for the nfl. Imagine what it can do for you. A lot more to come on kasie dc. Former white House Counsel for Barack Obama Bob bauer joins the conversation. Later, Elizabeth Warren is pulling some of the biggest crowds. Ali vitale joins me with new analysis about what we can and cant tell by candidates crowd size. Dont go anywhere. Were back after this. T go anyw. Were back after this. These days, were all stressed. honk i hear you sister. 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Yeah. Good luck, everybody. Rising tensions between irsban the u. S. New sanctions on iran central bank. Tightening the pressure the administration has applied. The temperature couldnt be hotter between the United States and iran. Do you believe there should be a military response to what just happened . Were looking for a diplomatic resolution to this. The military option is always on the table. It would be disastrous if we got into a fighting war in iran. You said of the attack, quote, it was an act of war. No reasonable person who. It wasnt iran. Its nuts on its face to make an assumption this was an attack by the houthis. President trump pressed the president of ukraine. Eight times. Eight times. Eight times. To investigate the son of former Vice President joe biden. Were you aware that the president had pressed solinski to investigate the bidens . I was not on the call. I wasnt on the call. I wasnt on the call. Im not aware. I think that would be a terrible precedent. That was a private conversation between World Leaders. Rudy giuliani is publicly calling for an investigation by the Ukrainian Government into joe biden. This is going to get bigger and bigger. George soros. Whitey bulgurs nephew. I dont know the relevance of Rudy Giuliani. He isnt part of this administration. Is this an Impeachable Offense . We may have to move forward with that extraordinary remedy. Welcome back to the second hour of kasie dc. Im ayman mohyeldin. President trump reportedly asked the president of ukraine to investigate joe bidens son, hunter. And earlier today the president seemed to confirm that he did, in fact, talk about the bidens during that call. The conversation i had was largely congratulatory, was largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place, was largely the fact that we dont want our people, like Vice President bideen and his son, creating to the corruption already in the ukraine. The president and his inner circle have never sounded quite so unapologetic, well, except for this time. Russia, if youre listening, i hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. All right. And this time. Theres nothing wrong with taking information from russians. Also this time. Your campaign russia, china, someone else offers you information should they accept it or call the fbi . I think maybe you do both. I think you might want to listen. Theres nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country, norway, we have information on your opponent. Oh, i thichink i would want to r it. The takeaway, the president s posture on his conversation with the ukrainian leader shouldnt come as a surprise. The question now, will we ever know the full story of what happened and what, if any, repercussions might the president face . The push by trump and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to influence the newly elected ukrainian leader reveals a president convinced of his own invinceability, willing and eager to yield the vast powers of United States to taint a political foe and confident that no one could hold him back. Two of our reporters join me now. When the president came out and essentially confirmed about what your paper and others reported about the phone call with the ukrainian president . It was heartening to have the president confirm the reporting, there are other times he denied the reporting that turned out to be true. That was a plus. I also think that the president s admission about what he saw in that phone call kind of puts us on a nice, level footing now where we can all start discussing the facts, which are was the president pressuring a president to do something in a foreign leader in order to get something from him, which was a personal benefit . Was he using a government, was he using his office with an official Government Act or inducement to get something for himself personally, which was help for his reelection . To that point lets focus on that phone call that you brought up. That will be central to all of this. You reported its a broader set of facts included in the whistleblower complaint that became, as weve been saying, a huge point of contention this week between both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, members of congress. What are the next steps here for congress when it comes to this complaint . I mean, theres so much process that people are debating back and forth. Should the law require that the whistleblower complaint go to congress . Its obvious that thats what the statute calls for, and the white house and the department of justice have weighed in and told mr. Maguire, acting director of National Intelligence, hold up. Weve got some legal reasons why you cant share this with congress. Now its congress turn. Are you going to demand it, ask more about the statute in its proprietary or ask about the whistleblowers information . Sources on this call said they didnt believe that the president offered any sort of quid pro quo for information into the bidens. Talk about that piece of story and the timeline of events surrounding a u. S. Aid package that is essentially raising eyebrows in terms of what may have been promised and what was maybe delivered . Right. Thats one of the key concerns for democratic lawmakers, was there a quid pro quo here . Our sources are telling us in this july phone call with president salinski of ukraine that President Trump did not say in any way investigate the bidens and well release this 250 million in military and intelligence aid that had been held up for months but this is a key question that democrats are looking at and thats one reason were call seeing adam schiff and others calling for that and why they want to see the whistle dms blower complaint. Its unclear whether well see either of those emerge publicly any time soon. As weve been talking on air and the president just tweeted out, i assume in reference to the reporting youve been doing as well. Let me get your thoughts on this for a moment. I want to try to understand in what capacity Rudy Giuliani here, dustin, was involved. Because hes representing the president. There were reports as to whether or not the state department knew about this. At the same time, you have to wonder why the president s personal attorney is there in ukraine to convey this message if it was, in fact, an official in an official capacity that the president of the United States wanted to direct this directive, if you will, from the Ukrainian Government. This is absolutely another key question that is not totally clear. What we do know is that mr. Giuliani was being rather public past several months saying there is something involved in ukraine and hunters affiliation with the energy company, serving on the board of directors. Theres a Corruption Case that needs to be pursued there. Theres these parallel conversations that appear to be occurring between the president , you newly elected president of yuhh crane and his lawyer. Let me get back to you in a minute. Sleepy joe biden on the other hand forced a tough prosecutor out from investigating his sons company by threat of not giving big dollars to ukraine. Help us understand the contours of what it is that the president , his republican allies are alleging that joe biden and his son have committed. As you probably know, back in 2015, two different news organizations wrote stories extensively about this point, which was that hunter biden was on the board of a Ukrainian Natural Gas Company at the same time his father was sort of the Vice President and running herd on this matter of ukrainian relations. The allegation is that Vice President biden was applying pressure to get rid of a prosecutor looking into his sons role. And there is actually a reference to the Vice President biden at the time saying to his son, i hope you know what youre doing over there. Lets put that aside for a second, if you dont mind, ayman. Something dust said i want to come back to. Its fuzzy right now whether or not the president was offering to release this aid in exchange for the investigation. The timeline that the whistleblower has focused on as far as we can tell is a critical timeline, which is july 25th the president makes the phone call. July 26th ambassador from the state department goes to meet with one of the ukrainian president s aides and president s and Rudy Giuliani, arranged by the state Department Ambassador sits down with the szenski aide and said we could help you out but we need this investigation. Those are the alleged acts that are part of this timeline that the whistleblower was concerned about. Im sure youll continue your incredible reporting and shed light on all of it. Former white House Counsel during the Obama Administration, bill bauer. Good to have you with us. Thank you. He is also a supporter of Vice President joe biden. If i may, whats been reported about the president s conversation with the ukrainian president turns out to be true if, in fact, it is that. Has he, in your mind, committed a crime here . If so, what specifically is that crime . Some would like to argue the law didnt discuss bribery. Let me go beyond that. Theres not a commentator on the facts that, for example, carol laid out, and there are more facts to be laid out. That he the responsibility of a congress. Not a scholar or commentateer in the know that would believe for a minute its not an impeach. Defense for the president of the United States to sacrifice National Security interest of the American People to his political personal gain. Weve seen this happen, by the way, only one more time im aware of in American History when Richard Nixon conspired with the south vietnamese government to so that they wouldnt break successfully and help his opponent in 1968. Had that been known after he took office, he would have most certainly been subject to an impeachment proceeding. This is really a serious question. This is a sub version of the Constitutional Order with a president preoccupied with his reelection prospects, bringing pressure to bear on a Foreign Government to fabricate claims to be used for a political purpose against one of his leading opponents. And some could argue a crime, bribery statutes involved. Lets focus on the sub version of the Constitutional Order that needs to be addressed here. Let me play for you this sound bite. Yesterday the Vice President said he has never spoken to his son about his overseas business dealings. I want to play you that sound followed by reaction from the president as well as steve mnuchin. Watch. Mr. Vice president , how many times have you ever spoken to your son about his overseas business dealings . Ive never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings. Give me a break. He already said he spoke to his son now yesterday he said very firmly. Who wouldnt speak to your son . Of course you spoke to your son. The bigger story here is really what went on with biden and his son . He came out over the weekend and said he never spoke to his son. Yet the facts are his son said they had spoken. And to that point, sir, hunter biden did, in fact, tell the new yorker this summer he recalled speaking to his father about his business in ukraine at least once. Was that, sir, in your opinion, that blanket denial from the Vice President and a mistake . Could it come back and haunt him . Its not even close to a mistake. Lets be clear, its absolutely correct. Every single news organization, the wall street journal, washington post, new york times, any number of them that have looked into this have found that the president and his hench people are alleging is not simply unsubstantiated or something for which theres no evidence. Its absolutely false. The Vice President , according to public reports and his son has said is that theres a wall between them, that he was no way consulted about his sons business interest and his son felt it was not appropriate for him to discuss. We can get detracked and distracted. Secretary of treasury and secretary of state holding positions that typically have been accepted to be nonpartisan, to be conducted above the political fray did what so many around donald trump have done. They threw their hat with them in an attempt to justify behavior that simply is unacceptable and indefensible. Secretary of state and secretary of treasury became his political spokespeople. Thats completely consistent with what the president has tried to do here, put the office to his use in political goals. Why are we discussing Rudy Giuliani . He told a reporter that he was worried his epitaph might read he lied for donald trump. He said he probably wouldnt care because he would be dead at the time. Lets move away from this nonsense and focus on whats going on here. There are avenues for congress to obtain the relevant facts. They need the transcript of the phone call that the president is refusing to provide. They need the whistleblower complaint that the administration is stonewalling and refusing to provide to the congress. They need to use it to develop the fact s so that the American People know what happened here. As you bring up the issue of a constitutional process story, more and more attempts to try to get to the facts of anything to do with this president are constantly being stone walled. Im curious to get your thoughts, what are the constitutional processes in order for members of congress and the American Public to get, in fact, that whistleblower complaint or get to the facts of why the president disagrees with the Inspector General that this is a credible and urgent concern . Yes. You just stated the correct point here, the Inspector General found credible an expression of urgent concern that apparently the president was involved in behavior that constituted a serious or flagrant problem or abuse under the whistleblower protection statute. The statute provides and there will be legal arguments about this for the director of National Intelligence to provide the ig report to congress or for the ig to speak to congress directly about it. But the administration is not going to permit that to happen. What it is left for congress to do is to exercise its authority sitting as a congress with all the power to inquire into Impeachable Offenses to demand this information and it will eventually get it if it persists in that nand. Seems to be not only where democrats in congress were going today but senator toomey and romney, there may be increasingly bipartisan awareness that at long last this has gone too far without an adequate explanation of the facts. Of course, the acting director of National Intelligence will be on capitol hill this weekend to testify. Well see if that sheds any light on all of this controversy. Bob bauer, thank you very much. Pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. A lot more to get to when we return. Well go live to a Pete Buttigieg rally in iowa with a new interview as his poll numbers slip in that state and Elizabeth Warrens rise. Weve seen warren draw the biggest crowd for the democratic primary so far. Ali vitale brings us new analysis of what we can and cant tell from a candidates event. Cant tell from a candida event. Nice. But, uh. Whats up with your. Partner . Not again. Limu thats your reflection. Only pay for what you need. Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty run with us. On a john deere 1 series tractor. Because changing your attachments. Whether its for this job. This job. Or even this job. Should be as easy as. What about this . Changing your plans. Nothing runs like a deere™. Yeah. Run with us. Search john deere 1 series for more. Get your 1 series for just 99 dollars a month at your john deere dealer. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance, hmm. Exactly. So you only pay for what you need. Nice. But, uh. Whats up with your. Partner . Not again. Limu thats your reflection. Only pay for what you need. Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty juul record. They took 12. 8 billion from big tobacco. Juul marketed mango, mint, and menthol flavors, addicting kids to nicotine. Five million kids now using ecigarettes. The fda said juul ignored the law with Misleading Health claims. Now juul is pushing prop c, to overturn san franciscos ecigarette protections. Say no to juul, no to big tobacco, no to prop c. Go where my baby lives b[ growl ]olle s good boy. Hey. Hey. You must be stevens phone. Know whos on your network and control who shouldnt be with xfinity xfi. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Welcome back, everyone. It is a dead heat in iowa according to the des moines register. Within the polls marnl of error, meaning Elizabeth Warren and biden are essentially tied at this point in the race. Our own nbc news wall street journal poll show that 17 of voters have become more confident with joe biden. Former adviser to mitt romney and amy chen, vice chair of the new york state Democratic Party Christine Quinn and in washington, nbc news political reporter ali vitale and in waterloo, iowa, political reporter josh letterman. Let me begin with you out in field. You caught up with mayor pete a short while ago today in the midst of all of his craziness there in the bus tour across iowa. What did he tell you . Reporter yeah, ayman. Pete buttigieg looking straight past that iowa poll with his numbers slipping down to 9 , telling us that he feels confident that hes in fourth place, which means he is a competitor here in iowa. Now that his campaign is opening up close to two dozen offices here in iowa really doing a lot of ontheground organizing. He expects that those numbers are start to climb up and reflect the enthusiasm we see at his rallies here in iowa and elsewhere. Butt generally has also been taking a lot of shots at President Trump on Foreign Policy today, on everything from ukraine in the situation with joe biden to that rally that the president has been holding with the Prime Minister of india and Pete Buttigieg also criticizing the president on the saudi arabia situation, those strikes against the aramco facilities. Listen to what he said when i asked him whether President Trump deserves any credit for the fact that so far he hasnt struck iran. Pretty low bar to give the president credit for not starting a war. Although thats certainly better than starting a war. Matter of fact, he decided to launch a war and changed his mind in the last minute and called off the orders. This isnt a way to run the most powerful military and most powerful country in the world. Ayman, Pete Buttigieg taking reporters along for a fourday bus tour of iowa. He is trying to hit up as many parts of the state as possible, trying to see as many voters in person so he can try to get those poll numbers up to a place where people will really take him seriously as we get closer and closer to the caucus. Josh lederman live in iowa. Thank you. Lets open it up to the panel and do a quick round across the table. Is mayor pete in trouble when you look at the polls where we are in the race and how hes doing so far is this. Hes not in trouble. He doesnt need to win iowa. If you have someone the mayor of south bend, politically unknown until six months ago, if hes able to compete and finish in that top layer in iowa, i think thats a win for him. What is the top layer . How do you define it . Top three, thats been the case in primary campaigns. One of the top three tickets, hes in good shape Going Forward. I think thats right and hes putting on emphasis in new hampshire, but then comes South Carolina. So that could be a setback. But Pete Buttigieg also has been a fundraising machine. So well see those numbers. He can outlast the first three and stay competitive. He can do what bernie did in 2016, stay in the race much longer . He can. When you look at warren and sanders, sanders support is not going anywhere. It will be there. It may not be as strong as it was in 2016, but his people are loyal and those will be delegates that will have to be poe tepgsly moved to another column. Look where mayor pete is, compared to, say, cory booker. Right. That goes to the money as well. Cory is begging people to donate 1. 3 or 1. 4, whatever it is, in the six or seven days that are left. Mayor pete has a great sum of money others would love to have. I thmpg he can come out of iowa even fourth and still be solid because there arent High Expectations there. I think South Carolina raises another problem with him because hes struggling with the Africanamerican Community and how he handled the recent shooting there and his town hall did not help him. Thats an area where will he have to spend money and do some better field organizing than he has done to date. Let me switch gears and talk about policy specifics. Your former boss, mitt romney, has been very critical of this president on many fronts, but lets pick up on that sound bite where mayor pete says its a very low bar when you credit the president for not taking us to war. So many are saying a military response is appropriate and this president saying thats the easy option. Donald trump has long been a noninterventionist. People forget this about him. Because of the rhetoric, because of the tweeting, the intention is to see him as somebody with an offensive posture. He has been on the side of the Republican Party that is not consistent with where the elizabeth cheneys and others are. In that sense he has exposed a natural rift within republican circles on Foreign Policy questions. Hes very popular with republicans but there is a fissure within republican circles that shouldnt be ignored. As were talking about this, i want to grapple with the democratic field thats still so large people are looking at crowd size as an indicator on where the candidate stands. Ali vitale has that. Reporter nothing shows enthusiasm quite like a crowd. I just think its a sign that people are ready for change in washington. And thats what im seeing in these crowds, people who are all in. Reporter perhaps no one cares about crowd size more than the president of the United States himself. One thing we know, we get the biggest crowds by far. Reporter something that signaled something was going on with the gop field. We have these incredible crowds. Something is happening thats amazing. Reporter especially in contrast with the presumed frontrunner at the time. Please clap. Reporter trump is not the first person to translate crowd size into something real. Then candidate barack obama drew thousa thousands to then rival Hillary Clinton. Reporter drawing 27,000 to that same park in 2015 but lost the nomination. Same question as Elizabeth Warren rallied her biggest event yet. Does crowd size matter . Even though biden is polling higher than basically all other candidates right now, like warren have a lot more Energy Behind them. For years ago, bernie had bigger crowds and hillary still managed to win the primary, is that all that matters . I thiching it shows excitement. Reporter can they be misleading . Mitt romneys crowd in february 2012 before clinching the nomination three months later and drawing tens of thousands by october. Im going to help the American People get good jobs and a bright future. Reporter this year, Kamala Harris launch attracted a big, diverse crowd but her polling has been up and down. Sanders and warrens crowds have been dwarfing those meant to be, joe biden, who skew more intimate, which his Campaign Says is by design. Im trying to go around from town to town. Reporter while the democratic field is a packed one, not all candidates events are. What really matters is how people vote in the voting box, you know. Sometimes they can show up at rallies, sometimes they cant. Reporter with with votie in still months away, were left to wonder, where do the candidates really stand and what does this b roll mean . Ayman, thats the question ive been thinking about all week since i was with Elizabeth Warren in new york monday night. Really the thing im looking at is there is a way to quantify this in our latest poll, nbc wall street journal poll. Elizabeth warren has the edge over her opponents in terms of where the voters enthusiasm lies. Its easy when youre standing in a crowd. You and i both know this from being in the field, its easy to feel something is happening. I find it more helpful and this is how we should look at it over the course of the next few months. What does the trend look like . Elizabeth warren and Bernie Sanders have had bigger than usual crowds. Thats the way i tend to look at polls. Lets look at the trend, not just the oneoff crowd size. What does all the b roll tell us . Clearly you have riled up democrats who want to beat trump. It sounds like the title of an album what does the b roll mean . Exactly. When we come back, the president confirms he did, in fact, discuss Vice President joe biden with the president of ukraine. Is this the moment when republicans in washington will, in fact, draw a line in the sand . Act, draw a line in the sand geico makes it easy to get help when i need it. With licensed agents available 247, its not just easy. Its havingjeromebettis onyourflagfootballteam easy. 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Weve seen the president attack a political rival, joe biden, while standing in front of the coast guard. One of the most respected journalists in america dan foltz wrats not for the first time, President Trump has revealed the fragility of this countrys democratic system. Three years into his presidency, the evidence of a weakened system is all around. It has happened in plain sight. Youre saying they need to narrow it about the constitution and the Inspector General. Explain to us your theminking. Joe biden, ukraine and phone calls, its a lot. It becomes a lot of noise. You have he said, he said and rudy said something else. Go forward from there, the biggest problem the scariest thing to me is as american, not politically, but as an american, is that donald trump prevented the whistleblower from Going Forward to the house intel committee. That is frightening, especially since it was based on his own attorney generals recommendation, citing that it was a matter of urgency. That is where they should keep hammering, because thats what donald trump is afraid of. And if you listen to him today, he even started to question the whistleblower. We know thats what he does to his rivals. Thats not really a whistleblower because he doesnt want him to have protections. This irks him. The fact that he could turn it on to joe biden thats where he wants everything to do. Democrat being blew it on impeachment six months ago when the Mueller Report came out. They should go forward with their head down, getting their work and making this the issue. To that point doupg the Biden Campaign want this is story to go away . Oh, yeah. Weve seen democrats like adam schiff and nancy pelosi sayisay ing this could be a whole different story on impeachment. Theyre not joe biden. They want this to go away. Anywhere where your credibility, your sons credibility and Foreign Affairs who said what to whom . Thats not a good story. Ukraine, Vice President biden and his son did nothing wrong in my opinion, theyre explaining. When youre explaining, youre not winning. Now, i understand from Congress Member schiff and Nancy Pelosis perspective, this could be a glorious new day. It needs to be reiterated on a political sense. Democrats have hung their hat on the great unveiling, hike geraldo when he went into hoffas grave, whoevers it was. Lets not do that again. It was bad for geraldo. It didnt work out in the Mueller Report. It may not work out again. To that point, mitt romney we should emphasize, not just the democrats who want this. Mitt romney wants to get to the bottom of this. He said its completely unacceptable if you have a president trying to influence a foreign country. He wants to get the facts to come out. Are we going to see republicans draw the line in the sand on this issue . I dont think so. Senator romney, obviously, is one of the few people of principle left in washington, unfortunately in many ways. Republicans, its the same die nam he can. Weve seen this story before. We dont expect the dynamic to change. So long as the president remains popular with the republican base, so long as he can provide criticism that could potentially devastate ones political career you wont see many republicans come out and say much more than weve got to give the whistleblowers more protection. And the primary deadline passes. Where the republicans are, theres no sand. Theres no stick to draw a line. That is all gone. The spine has been removed surgery surgically except mitt romney, but he hasnt been a poe file in courage either. Those days are temporarily gone. Well have to leave it at that for the moment. As conflict comes to a head in the middle east, well talk about that right after this. L tk about that right after this. 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Ambassador holiday if, i can, this morning you had secretary of state mike pompeo, who has been saying all along, the iranians have done this. This is an act of war. How do you assess the president s response to this so far . If you want a prudent response where we dont jump into a military action, youre pleased. But you dont have a strategy behind it, but sort of looking long term about where we want to land with iran. What youre seeing in the immediate is a lot of speculation about who did this. Obviously, iran is involved in some way, shape or form, the distance of the drones. It clearly speaks to iran. I think well need a lot more evidence to figure out is the u. S. Going to respond militarily or are they symbolically adding these troops to defer a future attack . Do you believe the u. S. Has an obligation to release in whatever declassified way it has that iran was behind this attack, given the fact that theres a lot of speculation that iran would do something this brazen to be directly linked back to it. Presenting evidence to the united nations, one has to be very cautious about the intelligence, but yes, in a very firmly tie iran to this act, whether theres tangible evidence in terms of tra sxwrektryes, computer chips and so forth. We have to be very concern of that. Our credibility is on the line. Ambassador, a lot of people may be watching this, saying you have the saudis and United Arab Emirates buying air Defense Systems and yet they werent able to prevent this attack. Now that the president is saying were going to beef up those systems and send troops to the area. Is that in your eyes, sir, the right approach . I think sending additional troops to the region is probably the minimum that the president can do to try to reassure particularly the saudis and emirates that we are going to remain committed to their defense. But i think its important to understand that the nature of these attacks is something thats different and its not something that either the United States or our friends and partners in the region have really been prepared to confront anymore. So we are looking at an entirely new kind of threat and one that will be very difficult to defeat Going Forward. Its almost ambassador feierstein notable who will not be at the u. N. General assembly, president of china, russia, israeli Prime Minister netanyahu not coming given the fact that theyre going through their political crises of trying to form a government. How do you think the relationship stands today after the years weve seen that country led by Benjamin Netanyahu . Of course its very unclear whats going to happen in the negotiations to form a new government. The results, you pointed out, were very close. It does appear that benny gantz will get the first opportunity to try to form a government. How teit ends up, it will be ve difficult for both sides to get to number 61 in terms of a coalition. Regardless of outcome, youll have a government of israel still interested in maintaining a close relationship. If it is benny gantz as the Prime Minister, you might expect that Going Forward. Theyll try to do more than weve seen over the last few years to balance their relations with both sides of the political divide here in the United States, improve the relationship with the democrats in congress as well as maintain a close relationship with President Trump. Ambassador, as i mentioned a lot of note rabble people will not be present at this weeks u. N. Assembly. Is that a reflection at all of our leadership position in the world . I dont think its a reflection of our leadership position. A lot of people have challenges at home that arent coming and a lot of issues that require pressing attention. I do think that this would be an opportunity for the United States if we did have some forwardlooking policies and some ideas that would get people around, cooperating on iran, for example, other issues. Its an opportunity. But im not sure were going to seize it at this forum. I think were going to focus on thing things like religious freedom, cyber security, a number of other issues that might be considered second tier in a typical un ga. I think that the iranians have made it very clear that theyre not interested in speaking to President Trump. I think that theyve decided that they want to challenge and defeat the United States. They dont want to negotiate with the United States at this point. All right. Well have to wait and see what comes out of this week besides the gridlock and traffic. More kasie dc after this. 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See how lincolns Insurance Solutions can help protect your family, your business and everyone who counts on you, at lincolnfinancial. Com floods for many years in texas, and they have had hurricanes for many years in texas. I think one of the big differences is we really have it down to a science now. In the last three and a half years weve done something nobody else has done. Nobody has reacted to hurricanes and flooding like the Trump Administration. That was President Trump today when asked to respond to those who blame the flooding on Climate Change. The storm dropped more than 40 inches of rain in texas this week alone. Five People Killed in that flooding. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people across the world spend friday chanting with signs dep manding climate action. Rarely, if ever, has the modern movement witnessed a Youth Movement so wide spanning across societies rich and poor. The flooding and the Climate Change protest came on the same week that trump revoked californias emissions standards which is something the state has been allowed to do to fight bad air quality in los angeles. The state of california, along with 22 other states have now filed a lawsuit to push back against the white house. This latest feud between california and the Trump Administration comes weeks after the Justice Department announced it was launching an antitrust investigation into lawmakers to hold them to stricter emissions standards than those proposed at the federal level. When we return, what to watch out for in the week ahead. Limu emu doug and now for their service to the community, we present limu emu doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] its an honor to tell you that Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. And now we need to get back to work. [ applause and band playing ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. 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Before we go, lets talk about what you are watching the week ahead. Im going to start with you. We get some big Economic News this week on how fast the economy is growing, consumer confidence, things important to watch for as we head to 2020. I think we will see team trump really go after the whistleblower status. You think they will push hard on that. Yeah. I think they will push hard on it. Christine . Im excited to see the Climate Change Movement Grow at the un this week with the meetings and summit on Climate Change issues there. Im sad the president wont be there and im hoping we see sidebar conversations about the irish problems as it relates to brexit. Im concerned about that if its not handled in accordance with the good friday agreements. Certainly something on the back of everyones mind. For me i will be looking forward to see what sean spicer does on his second appearance of dancing with the stars. No, joking aside, i think i want to see in anything comes out of were back here next week from 7 00 to 9 00 p. M. Eastern. Up next, Richard Engel gives up an in depth look of the most brutal terror group in history. Watch the rise and fall of isis. For now, good night from new york. T from new york they came out of the desert promising death and destruction to all those who oppose them. They established a talitaliban ruled over millions of people. Isis is a death cult. Its a death cult. We are the victorious group. And now the caliphate is destroyed. Their leader has sworn to fight on