Eve in go. Onward. Todays the day. Carpe diem. Tylenol® 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. The first is fast. The second lasts all day. We give you your day back. What you do with it isp to you. Tylenol®. Campaign managers arent supposed to forcefully throw reporters to the ground. Except, she never went to the
ground. She never even came close. She never even flinched. She didnt you know, if somebody grabs you, even one of the guys, even the bikers, if somebody grabs even a biker or punches you a little bit, whoa, right . I mean, the toughest guy . The toughest woman. Look at her face. Its zero. Theyre going destroy a mans life . I told him, i said you should never settlie this case. You should go all the way. Theyve really hurt a very good person and it would be very easy for me to discard people. I dont discard people. I stay with people. Thats why i stay with this country. Thats why i stay with a lot of people in are treated unfairly and thats run one of the reasons im the frontrunner by a lot. So it goes. Good morning. Wow. Its wednesday, march 30. Welcome to morning joe. With us on set here in washington once again we have senior Political Editor and White House Correspondent for the Huffington Post sam stein. Hello. President and ceo of politico, jim vandehei. Msnbc political analyst and former chairman of the Republican National committee, Michael Steele. Political commentator for abc news and npr cokie roberts. And in new york, willie geist along with msnbc anchor and Political CorrespondentSteve Kornacki. Great group this morning. Great group. A lot to get through. Willie geist, not a whole lot to talk to other than, of course, the arrest of a Campaign Manager for the frontrunner, a federal judge saying that more discovery can be opened up in Hillary Clintons email investigation. Again, three republican candidates, all three saying they would never support each other. [ laughter ] in a zillion years its holy cow. Is it april . The dog days of march, my man. Dog days of march. As of today, joe, were officially one year and one week into this president ial campaign. Ted cruz announced march 23 of last year and we still have hom months to go . A long road ahead of us. 800. Last night at the cnn town hall event, all three of the candidates said that pledge we signed in the fall . Forget it, out the window. Donald trump last night talking about the three most important roles of the federal government included health care and education. That coming from a republican president ial candidate. This place is up for grabs. Fascinating. Willie, that is facinating and being critical of scott walker for not raising taxes and cutting education and cutting taxes when he should have raised tax which is goes to what conservatives and saying and mika and i have been saying for some time, donald trump is not only a conservative, hes not really a mainstream republican. This is a guy whos been at least a moderate democrat his entire life and is completely reshaping the ideological boundaries of the republican
party. And he did it again last night on the question of abortion, too. He said look, i like to change my mind sometimes, people change their mind. He went to the issue of abortion and said when i talked about abortion back then i was a businessman, i didnt think anybody was listening, i didnt think it mattered what i said but now im strongly pro life. So hes kind of all over the place on this stuff. Yes, he is. And as you mentioned, it appears now all three republican candidates are backing away from their initial pledge to support the partys eventual nominee. Remember the hand raising incident . Here they are in the town hall last night. Take a look. Essentially youre saying its in the balance. Youre kind of waiting to see . Well, i would say that that would be a good way to describe it. I have to see what happens. If the nominee is somebody that i think is really hurting the country and dividing the country, i cant stand behind them. We have a ways to go. Lets see how to this all folds out. So far is it fair to say that you believe donald trump looks like he would harm the country
if he was the nominee . That will be up to the voters. I wont get into that. Thats too much below the belt. Im not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and attacks my family. I think that is going beyond the line. So i have to follow up. If donald trump is the gop nominee, would you support him . Let me tell you my solution to that [ laughter ] donald is not going to be the gop nominee. Were going to beat him. [ cheers and applause ] i will assume by you not saying you will support him that the answer is you would not support him. I gave you my answer. I think nominating donald trump would be an absolute train wreck. When i was pressing senator cruz on it, it sounded like he was saying hed have a hard time supporting somebody who went after his wife. He doesnt have to support me. Im not asking for his support. I want the peoples support. [ applause ] do you continue to pledge whoever the republican nominee is . No, i dont anymore. You dont no. No, well see who it is . You dont promise to support
the republican nominee . He was saying the same thing. Let me tell you, he doesnt have to support me. I have tremendous support right now from the people. Cokie, you kind of laughed. He doesnt have to support me. Its donald trump. And, again, this is what politicians dont understand. Everybody else wont answer the question, wont answer the question and theyre wondering why people are supporting this guy despite all the offensive things all the things that offend us and offend new york and washington, its because he answers the question i dont need the support and secondly im not going to be supporting him. And what youre saying is what the voters coming out of the polls say. He tells it like it is. Hasnt played the dumb game. But really the Republican Party is in trouble here. Oh, my gosh. Cokie, can you recall a time when it was ever any party was ever this fractured when you had three people, three finalists saying no, we will not support each other . They certainly have not been
that open about it. We saw in 64 the republicans getting at each others throats in the goldwater nomination but this is this business of saying we wont support the nominee is unique. I want to go back to something you said. I dont think we should overlook it. You referenced the ideological boundaries of the gop and how thats being reshaped by donald trump. I think this is a seminal moment from a substantive issue perspective of how the party reaffirms its commitments to to the things it always espoused. You have someone who is the frontrunner bushing those boundaries on taxes, on trade, on a lot of the things the gop has held very firm on, yet you have this surge within the party looking past those limits that we wont raise taxes. It came into education with dwight eisenhower. Certainly the federal government has been in health care with medicare and the expansion of medicare under gorge bush so i think the Republican Party has been in that place, it just hasnt talked about it. Yeah, but not while theyre running. Michael, what if i told you a year ago that the guy that was going to be in first place forget the circus sideshow stuff would be pushing for more money for education even if you have to tax for it, pushing for a lot more infrastructure, a lot more transportation send in, universal health care, going against free trade and also talking about taxing the rich. I would say he would not be the leading nominee for gop. Youd say he wouldnt be at 1 . Welcome to 2016. But i think were missing something here. Donald trump, not just that hes unorthodox as a conservative, which he is. Well, hes not a
conservative. Or as a republican, whatever you want to say, its that hes shift organize asymmetrical, whatever you want to call it. So while he wants to protect the federal governments role in education, for instance, not so long ago he called for abolishing the department of education, those two things can not coexist. Thats the federal governments role in education on one hand and then he wants to abolish it on the other. So its tough to pin down what he believes. Well, i have a zinger back for the Huffington Post. Not long ago you had him in the entertainment section. I know but i thought we had moved beyond that, mika. You and i said we were done with that. Well, because things change. Go ahead. Stipulating that donald trump is totally inconsistent on his policies, the one things he consistent and you talked about this yesterday morning where i think theres a huge disconnect between the coast and whats happening with the Republican Party in the country and that is if you think about the base,
disenfranchised white americans who feel like the country they knew is slipping away from them and they feel like they dont have a safety net, then you understand, okay, i get why hes saying this about entitlements, i get why hes saying a robust presence for the federal government in education. But whaurp jut you were just describing is an oldfashioned conservative southern democrat. Someone who was for all kinds of Government Programs that helped poor people but my parents in the depression, in the deep south. And a lot of other people in the deep south and you again, you look at all of these thing he says hes supporting, it is what some conservatives in the deep south at least supported before. Again, go back whats the statistic we need to focus on in understanding trumps voters . Its what weve been quoting for
five years from jeffrey saks. Real wages for white men in america have been on the decline since 1973. Not 1993, since 1973. Some cokies exactly right, jims exactly right. Sams exactly right. [ laughter ] that when hes talking about we need more transportation, that needs more jobs. We need money for education. We need universal health care, thats the safety net. These workingclass republicans and democrats are supporting that. And it also gets to where were going now this next story and why the reaction, i think, is going to be different than what people in the media think. Well start with this, though. Last night ted cruz tried to explain why hes only recently decided to get so tough on donald trump. Back in december you tweeted the establishments only hope, trump and me in a cage match, sorry to disappoint, donald trump is terrific. That was after he already made fun of Carly Fiorinas face, that was after hed gone after
megyn kelly. At this point in december, did you believe donald trump was terrific . I knew the media was engaged in a love fest, giving donald trump 2 billion in free media. Sounds like you were engaged in a love fest. How many hours of free media does cnn and fox and every other station, you let him call in and for a year weve asked you for interviews everyday and youve declined every time on my program. Ive been inviting donald trump for several days to make this a debate. I cant. Lets just stop right there. Amen to Anderson Cooper because you know what . All of the candidates that whine about people are letting donald trump call in free media. The free media. Its available to them, too, but they obviously arent smart enough to be able to handle it. So ted cruz whines about secnn d fox letting donald trump call in and yet ted cruz, as anderson
cooper said we offered it to you everyday. As we offer it to any major candidate that wants to call in and talk to us. Our fine lines, as they say our phone lines are open now and you can call in right now. Willie geist, the seventh caller gets a free date with you. [ laughter ] but willie, seriously, this is what we heard. We have the same people that im just going to say it, bitch and whine about never being donald trump is on too much, we invite them everyday, its a standing offer everybody and nobody calls in but donald trump. And it goes for both sides, by the way, democrats and republicans. Weve said the same thing because we get those complaints on the air, we get them off the air privately that you give too much time to donald trump. Weve got three hours every morning, the door is open. I think to andersons original question, though, it gets to that thing where Lindsey Graham is now backing ted cruz after he said he was poison or being shot. It gets to that thing about Chris Christie or ben carson backing donald trump. Americans watch this political
process and they say this is completely disingenuous. You have politicians rallying behind people they thought were the worst thing in the world and why . Why ted cruz . Why did you say donald trump was terrific . We know you didnt mean that. Its part of the reason donald trump is doing well. Hes perceived, at least publicly, as being a guy who cuts through all that. A guy who doesnt play any of those games so i think there was more than a kernel of truth in andersons question and ted cruz had a tough time answering it. Also in that town hall, donald trump defending his Campaign ManagerCorey Lewandowski and disputed the allegations made by the reporter against him. She said she went to the ground or something to the effect she almost went to the ground, she was in pain, she went to the ground. When she found out there was a Security Camera and they had her on tape, suddenly that story changed. That trus not true. She said she was knocked off balance but remained standing. You mind if i read you her statement . She says, Michelle Fields who,
by the way, shes not a byaby. In her own words i was jolted backwards. She wasnt. Someone grabbed me tightly by the armed a yanked me down. She wasnt yanked down. She didnt even have any expression. If somebody in this audience gets whacked or hurt, including me, you get hurt, you go wow, theres no emotion. Wait a minute i almost fell to the ground. I almost fell to the ground, she didnt almost fall to the ground. He got in her way by the way, she was grabbing me. Am i supposed to press charges against her . Anderson, my arm is just killing me. Its never been the same. You suggested you might. Excuse me. I didnt suggest. Yeah, you did. I tweeted. A tweet is a suggestion. I asked, should i press charges. Are you going to . I dont know, maybe i should, right. I didnt suggest, i tweeted. Trump spent much of the day yesterday defending his Campaign ManagerCorey Lewandowski after he was arrested for allegedly grabbing the arm of former
breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, i believe it was for assault, not grabbing the arm. Lewandowski is facing a criminal charge for battery or unwanted touching, a mi misdemeanor. The actions happened after trumps Election Night conference on march 8 as trump was exiting the ballroom when fields approached trump with a question. Following the incident, fields said . A statement
the Surveillance Video showed neither got the incident exactly right. First, here is an audiotape taken at the time of the incident. And so here is the closed circuit video released yesterday by the police. Take a look. So you can see lewandowski turn following i guess the
reporter there in yellow and you see him passing by her and that wheres the alleged touching took place where she was almost thrown to the ground. Lewandowski turned himself in yesterday morning to police and was released. His lawyers insist he is absolutely innocent. Cokie, doesnt exactly look like chicago 1968. No, it doesnt. Doesnt look like dan rather being roughed up on the floor. I was at chicago, 1968. Were looking at these tapes like theyre the Zapruder Films and you think about what happened to dan rather and other people its nothing like that. On the other hand, nobody should be pulling a reporter away especially Campaign Managers. And, you know, she is a young woman and it was probably frightening for her, i will give her that. But it was not a major incident. I think we can say that. Well, hold on. The Campaign Manager just flat out lied about it. Well, thats true. Just flat out lied about it. He did grab her, whether you think it was tough or not. He did grab her then took to twitter and said he never met her. Thats a lie, a demonstrable lie and it could have been solved if he said sorry, i didnt realize i touched you that hard. Thats the thing. Forget Political Correctness, im with donald trump, were too politically correct, were too soft as a country. Ill stipulate that. But he clearly grabbed her. Its not the right thing to do, say youre sorry. Does he deserve to be charged . I dont think so. But a simple apology. I feel like both sides didnt tell the truth. And what donald trump is doing now is despicable, pure victim blaming. I get it, the incident wasnt that radical, right . But to say a pen could have been a bomb is absurd. You say its not that radical, cokie says its not that much. But if you have been following reporters on twitter you literally would have thought
that there were Police Batons and she was beat on the ground. Does not excuse the victim blaming. No, it does not excuse victim blaming. It does point to something they have been saying for some time and that is the press hates donald trump so much that even in a story like this, which deserves covering, even a story like this, there is absolutely no perspective. Except for breitbart which fired her. They didnt stand by her story so she felt she had to quit and half the people there quit because they refused to stand by the reporters. So at least there was some consequence here. Big consequence for Corey Lewandowski. Lets go to Boynton Beach and talk to a florida criminal defense attorney who practices in. Pierre office jupiter. My question for you is, im a member of the florida bar, i
spent a good bit of time courthouses for four to five years. Ill just ask you this way, are you surprised that charges were filed for the episode that you saw on tape . Im very surprised that they were filed. This is a