Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Ali Velshi 20180308 :

Sprint. The former Campaign Manager Cory Lewandowski was seen leaving a hearing in front of the House Intel Committee and special Counsel Robert Mueller investigation is heating up. Hes now gathering evidence that a secret meeting in the seychelles before the inauguration was meant to establish a back channel between the Incoming Administration and the kremlin. Okay. To walk us through all of this, joining me now is white house nbc news correspondent kelly odonnell. Kelly, lets start with the announcement were supposed to be hearing, we think something is happening at the white house. And we just played the comments from the president earlier which seemed all over the map. What do you think is happening. Reporter there is so much buildup on this. It is going on for a week and the president and his sort of showmanlike style tweeted about it and talked about today and we know that at 3 30 there is a scheduled event for the president to sign some proclamations to kick the tariff into motion. He is referring to a certain section of the law with respect to trade that allows him to impose tariffs using national and Economic Security as a basis. And so our understanding from the sources that weve talked to is that the president will keep the tariffs on aluminum and steel that hes been talk about over last several days. But hes also tried to interject the word of the day flexibility. Allowing certain nations, canada and mexico namely, to be able to be exempt from this because we are going through negotiations over nafta simultaneously. So some room there. And we understand that there may be some flexibility for other nations who can make their case. So it sounds like there is an opening here for friendly nations, or certain circumstances to affect what the president has said but he also gets to make his argument that he is fighting for the American Worker despite the very strong opposition from many in his own party who think that tariffs actually end up hurting other businesses and other workers. So this has been an up and down kind of backwards and spinning around week here on this issue. Yep. Reporter and at 3 30 well get the formal part of what is kicking off. Then well have clarity and discuss whether it is good or bad. Thank you very much. Well stay close to you. Kelly oconnell at the white house. And now to the russia investigation. It continues to plow full steam ahead as we know that Robert Mueller got a United Arab Emirates adviser about a 2017 meeting in the seychelles, a tiny island nation off the coast of africa. That meeting involved black water founder eric prince and george nader and the prince muhammed and a russian fund manager connected to putin. Now that weve explained who was at the meeting, lets tell why this matters. A month before this meeting in december of 2016, Jared Kushner along with Incoming National security adviser Michael Flynn met with Sergei Kislyak in trump tower, according to intercept, he reported back to moscow that kushner suggested setting up a back channel for communications with russia and proposed using russian facilities in washington, d. C. To prevent surveillance by u. S. Intelligence. That is just weird. Now nearly two weeks later, kushner met with a russian banker, this gentleman mere, also in trump tower. Now gorkov runs vbv, a Financial Institution described by some as a kremlin piggy bank and close ties to putin. The white house claimed the meeting was strictly diplomatic which would make sense given Jared Kushners new responsibilities. But the bank told the Washington Post that the meeting was over business with the Kushner Companies. So we wanted to ask our own questions about this and nbcs keir simmons caught up with gorkov last summer and he was less than forthcoming. The subject of in tense scrutiny because of your meeting with Donald Trumps soninlaw Jared Kushner. We are not i dont have any session about that. We have a but there is confusion about what happened. Sorry. Were you talking about business or policy . No comment, please. No comment, please. That is about as clear as mud. Now a few days after that meeting, another meeting at trump tower, this one with flynn and kushner and Campaign Chair steve bannon. They met with this guy sh the uae crown prince. He did not inform the Obama Administration that he was visiting the country. That is a highly unusual move for a foreign leader. The crown prince, this is where it is good. The crown prince invited eric prince to the seychelles and she suggested that he talk to the russian fund manager with links to the putin government. And they met at a bar in the seychelles sh the two had a drink and he talked about that meeting with Stephanie Ruhle and me back in december. I was on a business meeting back in january in the seychelles, i had gone to see some guys from the middle east that ive done business with before and they said there is this russian guy weve done business with in the past and you should meet him so i met him in a bar, chatted for about 20 or 30 minutes and that was that. He said Nothing Happened there. They they were no longer in contact but according to the reporting by the Washington Post, u. S. And european and arab Officials Say erik prince was there as an unofficial surrogate for trump and asked to have that meeting with a russia and to keep Media Attention away from it in the seychelles. Devlin barrett uncovered this. It is mindboggling and it is hard to keep track of but this is interesting because a bunch of meetings with people all over the world has now got some connecting tissue thanks in large part to your reporting on this. What do we think this is all about . What do we think was really happening in this meeting where eric prince decided to fly to the seychelles that he had nothing to do with. Right. What were being told is that investigators increasingly believe this meeting was a kind of feeler conversation, almost like a first day if you will, to see if is this the kind of back channel that would work for us. For the two sides. And now to be clear, as youve said, prince adamantly deny this is and said that is not why he was there, but what were told is that nader has given evidence to Robert Mueller and mueller has other evidence that contradicts those claims by prince. So the bottom line here is that somebody is telling the truth and somebody is not telling the truth because they have contradictory stories. In the end, do we know more about what the goal was in setting up a back channel with russia. It seems highly extraordinary that that would be happening. If you are a member of an Incoming Administration you are going to have as a direct of a channels you can have with russia. We cant get our heads around why there would be an attempt to set up a back channel . Well, weve been told a few things. One, that generally there was a goal of improving the u. S. Russia relationship and for reasons not clear, the Incoming Trump administration didnt trust the state department to accomplish that in some way. Or they wanted you know, an extra layer of it or an extra effort on that point. The other thing that were told is that some of the conversations surrounded the notion of could an improved u. S. Russia relationship in some ways isolate iran more in the middle east. That seems to be one of the goals of some of the people attending these meetings. But again to keep in mind, based on what weve been told, the people are coming to this meeting with different agendas. And there are some overarching goals but within the group, individuals will have their own goals as well. Which could be the explanation for the june meeting at trump tower, people could come with different agendas and it is whether or not they come to some meeting of the minds and something nefarious ends up happening and were not there yet. All right. This idea of a back channel with russia was reportedly first floated by the president s soninlaw and Senior Adviser Jared Kushner. Now we know that Robert Mueller is also simultaneously looking into kushners finances and that of his family business, Kushner Companies. This is relevant and ill tell you why in a second. I want to bring in sheila cohart and the auj aujer of black edge. And this is added complexity but it may not be related but Jared Kushner had a side hustle going on while working for the white house and that is his Company Requires financing for the property interest. So there is a there is speculation that he was doing both at the same time. He might have been doing Administration Work and at the same time trying to figure out whether there were friendlies who would loan him big amount of money his company needed. There are vulnerability points in his business and hes retained a significant ownership stake in the Kushner Companies even though he divested his amendment duties to his family members, it the not in a blind trust and they dont believe there is blind separation. It is similar to the trump administration. They are different but the ethics conflicts are similar the more we learn about jared, we see his problems are similar to the father in law. And basically the Kushner Company owns this building, 666 fifth avenue in financial distress and purchased in 2007 at the brink of the financial crisis and top of the market. And there is a billion dollar plus mortgage with payments coming due and when you have an asset like that, that is in trouble, you start to have to go down the line to try and find investors citi bank is not looking to you have to go to less desirable partners and that led the company to speak with foreigners, including in saudi arabia and including in china. Which wouldnt on the face of it be a problem. It starts to be a problem when you are looking at saudi arabia and youre looking at the emirates and then other things are also happening. Hanging out with the Saudi Crown Prince and then they start a conflict with qatar. It now you dont want to be made to wonder whether Jared Kushner is working in the countrys best interest or his propertys best interest. Well if that is the definition of a conflict of interest. He has two competing interests he has to worry about and lets remember the moment a few months ago when an bang was in talked to help bail out the kushners on this building. So what happens since then, the talks fell apart. The Chinese Government has seized that company and indicted the chairman of the company. So is that the kind of entity we want putting money into a company that is owned by a top adviser in the white house. This is the definition of a conflict of interest. Let me you ask this, while you are right in terms of the reporting around here not having a final conclusion to it, there are already youre reporting has already drawn lines that people hadnt drawn before. At this point, whatever ends up being true, do the conflicts start to outweigh the benefits of having Jared Kushner around in the white house because now every meeting he takes, somebody wonders whether he has some side deal going on. Look, ive talked to lawyers who and this goes back to i would say spring and summer of last year, im spoken to lawyers with significant white house experience who think that kushner has been in a very challenging and difficult space legally and politically in the white house for many months now. His people deny that adamantly and say that basically everything is fine. Hes an easy target. But hes not in any danger or trouble. I think what is clear is the investigation keeps touching on things that involve Jared Kushner. Right. A lot of these things and the investigation in the white house. Yeah. And so i think that is a very fraught situation for him and frankly for the white house too. As the president continues to lose close advisers, maybe his position is yet safer. Sheila, at some point if Jared Kushner needed to go around the world and meet people to finance his properties, being the soninlaw of the president of the United States would probably be enough. Stephanie ruhle likes to say, these just keep on being unforced errors. Why does he do this . Well of course, so these things could have been avoided. He could have chosen not to become the tip of the spear. Dont take the job. Dont get involved in the big negotiations. Or take some portfolio that wouldnt overlap with your property. Does he need to meet with bankers that potentially going to lend money to his Family Company in which he owns a stake . He could have easily avoided some of the problems and he didnt. So either that means they dont care or they are involved in trying to do something else. And that is what we dont know yet. Sheila thank you. A staff writer and devlin barrier. Thank you for your reporting. It sounds like the House Intelligence Committee will be busy after meeting with Cory Lewandowski for three hours, adam schiff, the top democrat dropped the name of another person he would like to bring before the committee. In terms of the investigation going forward, there are any number of witnesses that are very relevant that have not come before the committee. Those that had a role for example in writing the speech that President Trump gave prior to the trump tower meet where he promised he would be revealing things about hillary clinton, steve miller had a role in his speech writing and hes not been brought before the committee. Okay. Steven miller. Keep that on your agenda. He went on to say there are others who are believed to have known about the trump tower meeting prior to it taking place who have asked to meet with the House Intelligence Committee but have not yet done so. There is another scandal rocking the administration back home. The domestic scandal facing this white house involves allegations of an extramarital affair and hush money and a secret restraining order but it is real legal and potential implications. So come with me and lets follow the money on this discussion. This all revolves around the alleged relationship between then businessman and reality tv star donald trump and adult film actress Stormy Daniels. These two allegedly engaged in an affair in 2006, shortly after Melania Trump gave birth to the son barron and nbc news that the president s personal lawyer Michael Cohen obtained a restraining order in arbitration telling daniels that is not her real name but she could face legal penalties if she speaks about the relationship. The washington journal reports that on october 27th, 2016, days before the election, cohen sent a 130,000 check payment to daniels, the payment was so big that it was flagged as suspicious by cohens bank, first republican. Cohen insists this money came out of his personal funds and refused to discuss a reason for the payment. So that is where this stands. Legally this guy paid her 130,000 and he has no apparent reason for having done so. After trumps electoral victory,victory, go cohen head he was not reimbursed raising suspicion about the payment. And watch dogs suggest even if the payment was entirely made by cohen, it could still fall under Campaign Finance laws. If trump wants to protect his reputation, it would have been made in 2011 when daniels told in touch magazine about the afwaa the affair. It is not about a porn star, it is 130,000 before the president ial election and puts that square if the realm of a politically motivated effort. Whatever you think the payoff is for, White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabeesanders acknowledged the news yesterday. The president has addressed these directly and made very well clear that none of these allegations are true. This case is already been won in arbitration and anything beyond that, i would refer you to the president s outside counsel. But this arbitration ruling isnt necessarily a win. It only imposes a temporary restraining order on daniels which could be litigated further. Sanders comments had credence to the reporting but her characterization of that ruling is misleading to say the least. Following that story for us is nbc National Security reporter julie ainsley. Julia, where are we on this right now . It is a he said, she said. But the bottom line is daniels lawyer has done something that will require a response. That is right. And weve learned a lot more about this whole situation just in the last 24 hours. Especially when Sarah Huckabeesanders made those comments and we were able to see this new lawsuit from Stormy Daniels, that is not her real name, saying Campaign Manager<\/a> Cory Lewandowski<\/a> was seen leaving a hearing in front of the House Intel Committee<\/a> and special Counsel Robert Mueller<\/a> investigation is heating up. Hes now gathering evidence that a secret meeting in the seychelles before the inauguration was meant to establish a back channel between the Incoming Administration<\/a> and the kremlin. Okay. To walk us through all of this, joining me now is white house nbc news correspondent kelly odonnell. Kelly, lets start with the announcement were supposed to be hearing, we think something is happening at the white house. And we just played the comments from the president earlier which seemed all over the map. What do you think is happening. Reporter there is so much buildup on this. It is going on for a week and the president and his sort of showmanlike style tweeted about it and talked about today and we know that at 3 30 there is a scheduled event for the president to sign some proclamations to kick the tariff into motion. He is referring to a certain section of the law with respect to trade that allows him to impose tariffs using national and Economic Security<\/a> as a basis. And so our understanding from the sources that weve talked to is that the president will keep the tariffs on aluminum and steel that hes been talk about over last several days. But hes also tried to interject the word of the day flexibility. Allowing certain nations, canada and mexico namely, to be able to be exempt from this because we are going through negotiations over nafta simultaneously. So some room there. And we understand that there may be some flexibility for other nations who can make their case. So it sounds like there is an opening here for friendly nations, or certain circumstances to affect what the president has said but he also gets to make his argument that he is fighting for the American Worker<\/a> despite the very strong opposition from many in his own party who think that tariffs actually end up hurting other businesses and other workers. So this has been an up and down kind of backwards and spinning around week here on this issue. Yep. Reporter and at 3 30 well get the formal part of what is kicking off. Then well have clarity and discuss whether it is good or bad. Thank you very much. Well stay close to you. Kelly oconnell at the white house. And now to the russia investigation. It continues to plow full steam ahead as we know that Robert Mueller<\/a> got a United Arab Emirates<\/a> adviser about a 2017 meeting in the seychelles, a tiny island nation off the coast of africa. That meeting involved black water founder eric prince and george nader and the prince muhammed and a russian fund manager connected to putin. Now that weve explained who was at the meeting, lets tell why this matters. A month before this meeting in december of 2016, Jared Kushner<\/a> along with Incoming National<\/a> security adviser Michael Flynn<\/a> met with Sergei Kislyak<\/a> in trump tower, according to intercept, he reported back to moscow that kushner suggested setting up a back channel for communications with russia and proposed using russian facilities in washington, d. C. To prevent surveillance by u. S. Intelligence. That is just weird. Now nearly two weeks later, kushner met with a russian banker, this gentleman mere, also in trump tower. Now gorkov runs vbv, a Financial Institution<\/a> described by some as a kremlin piggy bank and close ties to putin. The white house claimed the meeting was strictly diplomatic which would make sense given Jared Kushner<\/a>s new responsibilities. But the bank told the Washington Post<\/a> that the meeting was over business with the Kushner Companies<\/a>. So we wanted to ask our own questions about this and nbcs keir simmons caught up with gorkov last summer and he was less than forthcoming. The subject of in tense scrutiny because of your meeting with Donald Trumps<\/a> soninlaw Jared Kushner<\/a>. We are not i dont have any session about that. We have a but there is confusion about what happened. Sorry. Were you talking about business or policy . No comment, please. No comment, please. That is about as clear as mud. Now a few days after that meeting, another meeting at trump tower, this one with flynn and kushner and Campaign Chair<\/a> steve bannon. They met with this guy sh the uae crown prince. He did not inform the Obama Administration<\/a> that he was visiting the country. That is a highly unusual move for a foreign leader. The crown prince, this is where it is good. The crown prince invited eric prince to the seychelles and she suggested that he talk to the russian fund manager with links to the putin government. And they met at a bar in the seychelles sh the two had a drink and he talked about that meeting with Stephanie Ruhle<\/a> and me back in december. I was on a business meeting back in january in the seychelles, i had gone to see some guys from the middle east that ive done business with before and they said there is this russian guy weve done business with in the past and you should meet him so i met him in a bar, chatted for about 20 or 30 minutes and that was that. He said Nothing Happened<\/a> there. They they were no longer in contact but according to the reporting by the Washington Post<\/a>, u. S. And european and arab Officials Say<\/a> erik prince was there as an unofficial surrogate for trump and asked to have that meeting with a russia and to keep Media Attention<\/a> away from it in the seychelles. Devlin barrett uncovered this. It is mindboggling and it is hard to keep track of but this is interesting because a bunch of meetings with people all over the world has now got some connecting tissue thanks in large part to your reporting on this. What do we think this is all about . What do we think was really happening in this meeting where eric prince decided to fly to the seychelles that he had nothing to do with. Right. What were being told is that investigators increasingly believe this meeting was a kind of feeler conversation, almost like a first day if you will, to see if is this the kind of back channel that would work for us. For the two sides. And now to be clear, as youve said, prince adamantly deny this is and said that is not why he was there, but what were told is that nader has given evidence to Robert Mueller<\/a> and mueller has other evidence that contradicts those claims by prince. So the bottom line here is that somebody is telling the truth and somebody is not telling the truth because they have contradictory stories. In the end, do we know more about what the goal was in setting up a back channel with russia. It seems highly extraordinary that that would be happening. If you are a member of an Incoming Administration<\/a> you are going to have as a direct of a channels you can have with russia. We cant get our heads around why there would be an attempt to set up a back channel . Well, weve been told a few things. One, that generally there was a goal of improving the u. S. Russia relationship and for reasons not clear, the Incoming Trump<\/a> administration didnt trust the state department to accomplish that in some way. Or they wanted you know, an extra layer of it or an extra effort on that point. The other thing that were told is that some of the conversations surrounded the notion of could an improved u. S. Russia relationship in some ways isolate iran more in the middle east. That seems to be one of the goals of some of the people attending these meetings. But again to keep in mind, based on what weve been told, the people are coming to this meeting with different agendas. And there are some overarching goals but within the group, individuals will have their own goals as well. Which could be the explanation for the june meeting at trump tower, people could come with different agendas and it is whether or not they come to some meeting of the minds and something nefarious ends up happening and were not there yet. All right. This idea of a back channel with russia was reportedly first floated by the president s soninlaw and Senior Adviser<\/a> Jared Kushner<\/a>. Now we know that Robert Mueller<\/a> is also simultaneously looking into kushners finances and that of his family business, Kushner Companies<\/a>. This is relevant and ill tell you why in a second. I want to bring in sheila cohart and the auj aujer of black edge. And this is added complexity but it may not be related but Jared Kushner<\/a> had a side hustle going on while working for the white house and that is his Company Requires<\/a> financing for the property interest. So there is a there is speculation that he was doing both at the same time. He might have been doing Administration Work<\/a> and at the same time trying to figure out whether there were friendlies who would loan him big amount of money his company needed. There are vulnerability points in his business and hes retained a significant ownership stake in the Kushner Companies<\/a> even though he divested his amendment duties to his family members, it the not in a blind trust and they dont believe there is blind separation. It is similar to the trump administration. They are different but the ethics conflicts are similar the more we learn about jared, we see his problems are similar to the father in law. And basically the Kushner Company<\/a> owns this building, 666 fifth avenue in financial distress and purchased in 2007 at the brink of the financial crisis and top of the market. And there is a billion dollar plus mortgage with payments coming due and when you have an asset like that, that is in trouble, you start to have to go down the line to try and find investors citi bank is not looking to you have to go to less desirable partners and that led the company to speak with foreigners, including in saudi arabia and including in china. Which wouldnt on the face of it be a problem. It starts to be a problem when you are looking at saudi arabia and youre looking at the emirates and then other things are also happening. Hanging out with the Saudi Crown Prince<\/a> and then they start a conflict with qatar. It now you dont want to be made to wonder whether Jared Kushner<\/a> is working in the countrys best interest or his propertys best interest. Well if that is the definition of a conflict of interest. He has two competing interests he has to worry about and lets remember the moment a few months ago when an bang was in talked to help bail out the kushners on this building. So what happens since then, the talks fell apart. The Chinese Government<\/a> has seized that company and indicted the chairman of the company. So is that the kind of entity we want putting money into a company that is owned by a top adviser in the white house. This is the definition of a conflict of interest. Let me you ask this, while you are right in terms of the reporting around here not having a final conclusion to it, there are already youre reporting has already drawn lines that people hadnt drawn before. At this point, whatever ends up being true, do the conflicts start to outweigh the benefits of having Jared Kushner<\/a> around in the white house because now every meeting he takes, somebody wonders whether he has some side deal going on. Look, ive talked to lawyers who and this goes back to i would say spring and summer of last year, im spoken to lawyers with significant white house experience who think that kushner has been in a very challenging and difficult space legally and politically in the white house for many months now. His people deny that adamantly and say that basically everything is fine. Hes an easy target. But hes not in any danger or trouble. I think what is clear is the investigation keeps touching on things that involve Jared Kushner<\/a>. Right. A lot of these things and the investigation in the white house. Yeah. And so i think that is a very fraught situation for him and frankly for the white house too. As the president continues to lose close advisers, maybe his position is yet safer. Sheila, at some point if Jared Kushner<\/a> needed to go around the world and meet people to finance his properties, being the soninlaw of the president of the United States<\/a> would probably be enough. Stephanie ruhle likes to say, these just keep on being unforced errors. Why does he do this . Well of course, so these things could have been avoided. He could have chosen not to become the tip of the spear. Dont take the job. Dont get involved in the big negotiations. Or take some portfolio that wouldnt overlap with your property. Does he need to meet with bankers that potentially going to lend money to his Family Company<\/a> in which he owns a stake . He could have easily avoided some of the problems and he didnt. So either that means they dont care or they are involved in trying to do something else. And that is what we dont know yet. Sheila thank you. A staff writer and devlin barrier. Thank you for your reporting. It sounds like the House Intelligence Committee<\/a> will be busy after meeting with Cory Lewandowski<\/a> for three hours, adam schiff, the top democrat dropped the name of another person he would like to bring before the committee. In terms of the investigation going forward, there are any number of witnesses that are very relevant that have not come before the committee. Those that had a role for example in writing the speech that President Trump<\/a> gave prior to the trump tower meet where he promised he would be revealing things about hillary clinton, steve miller had a role in his speech writing and hes not been brought before the committee. Okay. Steven miller. Keep that on your agenda. He went on to say there are others who are believed to have known about the trump tower meeting prior to it taking place who have asked to meet with the House Intelligence Committee<\/a> but have not yet done so. There is another scandal rocking the administration back home. The domestic scandal facing this white house involves allegations of an extramarital affair and hush money and a secret restraining order but it is real legal and potential implications. So come with me and lets follow the money on this discussion. This all revolves around the alleged relationship between then businessman and reality tv star donald trump and adult film actress Stormy Daniels<\/a>. These two allegedly engaged in an affair in 2006, shortly after Melania Trump<\/a> gave birth to the son barron and nbc news that the president s personal lawyer Michael Cohen<\/a> obtained a restraining order in arbitration telling daniels that is not her real name but she could face legal penalties if she speaks about the relationship. The washington journal reports that on october 27th, 2016, days before the election, cohen sent a 130,000 check payment to daniels, the payment was so big that it was flagged as suspicious by cohens bank, first republican. Cohen insists this money came out of his personal funds and refused to discuss a reason for the payment. So that is where this stands. Legally this guy paid her 130,000 and he has no apparent reason for having done so. After trumps electoral victory,victory, go cohen head he was not reimbursed raising suspicion about the payment. And watch dogs suggest even if the payment was entirely made by cohen, it could still fall under Campaign Finance<\/a> laws. If trump wants to protect his reputation, it would have been made in 2011 when daniels told in touch magazine about the afwaa the affair. It is not about a porn star, it is 130,000 before the president ial election and puts that square if the realm of a politically motivated effort. Whatever you think the payoff is for, White House Press<\/a> secretary Sarah Huckabeesanders<\/a> acknowledged the news yesterday. The president has addressed these directly and made very well clear that none of these allegations are true. This case is already been won in arbitration and anything beyond that, i would refer you to the president s outside counsel. But this arbitration ruling isnt necessarily a win. It only imposes a temporary restraining order on daniels which could be litigated further. Sanders comments had credence to the reporting but her characterization of that ruling is misleading to say the least. Following that story for us is nbc National Security<\/a> reporter julie ainsley. Julia, where are we on this right now . It is a he said, she said. But the bottom line is daniels lawyer has done something that will require a response. That is right. And weve learned a lot more about this whole situation just in the last 24 hours. Especially when Sarah Huckabeesanders<\/a> made those comments and we were able to see this new lawsuit from Stormy Daniels<\/a>, that is not her real name, saying Michael Cohen<\/a> is not honoring the agreement. And she pointed out and it is spelled out clearly in a 28page lawsuit filed in california, donald trump did not actually sign this nondisclosure agreement. That doesnt necessarily matter in the state of california, because they say that as long as the parties are honoring the agreement, it is okay if they didnt all sign it. But daniels rightly points out that cohen has been going around talking about this, complaining that he didnt get reimbursed for the payment and so he has not been honoring the nondisclosure piece of this. If hes talking about it, why cant she. And if she talks about it, then this white house is really looking at some political damage. She could come out with videos, text messages, emails and details of this ints matt relationship as she called it in the lawsuit. At this point the president is in a tough place. He didnt want to sign this in the first place because he wouldnt want to put his name on all of the details that shes laying out about what happened between 2006 and 2007 but if he doesnt sign it, and Stormy Daniels<\/a> wins this, then he can be looking at a whole onslaught of material that he definitely would not want out there. And there are a whole lot of people who couldnt care less about a porn star and an extramarital affair who are interested in 130,000 being exchanged 12 days before an election because that would violate at least one federal law if not two. So well continue to follow this. Julia, thank you very much. Julia ainsley, National Security<\/a> and justice reporting. Well three weeks after the deadly shooting in parkland, florida, state lawmakers have passed new gun control and School Safety<\/a> rules for the first time in more than 20 years. The question now is whether governor rick scott is going to sign them into law but first he wants to meet with victims families. The governor said that is happening in tallahassee tomorrow. The florida house, which is controlled by republicans, voted 6750 in favor of the bill yesterday. Scott, who is a republican, is against one provision that would arm some school employees. The legislation raises the minimum purchase age to 21 for rifles and imposes a threeday waiting period. It bans bump stocks, providing more funding for School Security<\/a> and expanding Mental Health<\/a>, but it does not, however, ban assault weapons. The Florida Governor<\/a> has 15 days to sign or veto the bill or it becomes law without his signature. And President Trump<\/a> in all of the discussion about guns has suggested that School Shootings<\/a> might have something to do with violent video games. In the last hour he is holding a closed door meeting with representatives of video game makers and some of the harshest critics. President trump said last month that violence in video games is shaping young peoples thoughts. Game makers disagree. Joining me now is jen mcclain from the International Game<\/a> developers association. Jen, thanks for being with us. Thanks for having me. I dont know if i want to get into a big discussion about whether games are too violent. That is a whole Different School<\/a> of thought. But the video games out there that people are critical of in terms of violence and the Comfort Level<\/a> that it creates with players, are the same video games that anybody around the world can play. Is that correct . That is absolutely true. So the issue about i guess the issue comes down to do we have more instances of are video games somehow driving people to commit crimes in america more than they would be in canada or germany or australia or the u. K. . So there is two things to consider here. First is you just said, we play exactly the same games that the rest of the world plays. There is no science to support a causal relationship between video games and gun violence. But there is the common sense element. If video games caused gun violence, why arent they causing gun violence in the rest of the world . The thing that sets the United States<\/a> apart is our access to firearms. Not the games we play or the media we consume. What part do you want to play in this discussion regardless . I think it is it is all distraction. When were talking about other important things, video games may be one of them, Mental Health<\/a> is one of them. But it does allow the president and the nra not to talk about guns. That said you are in the discussion now. What role can you play in saying, all right, is there anything that these video games do that we can deal with that doesnt contribute to the situation . Yeah. This is clearly a distraction. But it is an opportunity for us to educate parents about game ratings. When you go to buy a video game, it is very clearly rated. So that parents know exactly what kind of content is in the game, and parents can make the right choice for their children about what kind of games they want their kids to play. It is also a great opportunity for us to educate the rest of the country on who gamers are. The facts are that more women over 35 play video games than boys 18 and under. The stereo type of gamers being disaffected boys and their parents basement just isnt true. Does that apply to the most violent of games. Is it mostly women . No. That is not true for ba i think that is what were talking about. I dont know that were talking about video games in general. I think were talking about a specific sub set of video games and you would agree with anybody that might warrant a look. So those video games make up only 11 of all of the games sold in the United States<\/a>. When we talk about video games and this is one of the big problems, when we have conversations without nuance, you end up with people like the nra saying that video games are bad. That video games are corrupt. When actually video games are a form of free speech and art protected by the First Amendment<\/a> and by the brown v. Ema Supreme Court<\/a> decision. Where Justice Scalia<\/a> acknowledged there is no research that supports a causal link between video games and gun violence. Right. And let me just read from that ruling where it said psychological studies purporting to show a connection between exposure to video games and harm on children do not prove that it causes minors to act aggressively. That is the late Justice Scalia<\/a>. He is not saying there is no harm, but just dont draw the line between violent video games and shootings violent behavior. That is exactly why the video Game Industry<\/a> has voluntarily adopted a Rating System<\/a> so anyone who clhooses to play a video game or parents who choose to buy for their children know exactly what their kids are playing. Do you know when it comes to kids and people who game are not kids. But when it comes to kids, do we have adequate controls that i would imagine many kids buy their own video games. Does this matter if you are young and the parents arent buying you the video game. Major retailers adhere very strictly to the video game Rating System<\/a>. In fact, if you try and buy an mrated game at a retailer like game stop or best buy, you will be carded. Ive been carded trying to buy an unrated video game and im clearly not younger than 17. Jen, thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Jen mcclain, the executive director of the International Game<\/a> developer association. I want to go to Kelly Oconnell<\/a> at the white house. We have breaking news on the announcement of the tariffs. Kelly, what do we know . Reporter in a few minutes the president will sign the proclamations to outline his intentions to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum and more about the timing and the plan for what flexibility will exist. We know that canada and mexico will be exempted. That is important because there are negotiations ongoing about nafta. And to try to avoid upsetting that apple cart, they have a pass to be removed from this tariff imposing on steel sold into the United States<\/a> and aluminum as well. So part of what well be looking for is how the president frames this. He will talk about there are economic and National Security<\/a> implications that are within his power to impose these tariffs. And so what we have seen is from the original comment of the president one week ago where it was presented as a blanket imposition of tariffs, now we are seeing a flexibility that the president has embraced on his comments today on casebycase basis. What we are looking for in a few minutes when the event begins is more about the timing. When this goes into affect and how long these tariffs are likely to be imposed. So a lot of repercussions still to come but were learning from sources outside of the white house briefed on those plans a bit more of those details with a big focus on canada and mexico. Well stay close to you. Because well bet more information over the next few minutes. Thank you. Kelly oconnell covering this in the white house. This is a very big deal. President trump said his tariffs are about National Security<\/a> and supporting steel and aluminum workers. This is interesting because a week ago it was about china and then it was about canada and mexico. So the reasoning for this keeps changing. But for the president , this concept of National Security<\/a> or the the promise of jobs for people in the industry was a Key Campaign Promise<\/a> to workers in those industries and labor groups are happy about the fact that he keeps that he appears to be keeping this promise. I have richard trumpka, president of the afl cio, the Largest Organization<\/a> of labor unions in the United States<\/a> with 12. 5 million members. Richard, good to see you again. Thanks for having me on. Tell me your thoughts about this. In all of the politics swirling around the decision, what do you make of this for unionized steel and aluminum workers . Look, weve been advocating for the use of tariffs to make sure that cheaters stop cheating for over a decade right now. Right now we have 435 tariffs that have been imposed on products around the world. We need to protect our industry from cheating. That is what these tariffs are do. Were excited about it and we think it is good for the country but we think it is good for the industry. Do we think everybody is cheating. Because when the president first brought this up, and this National Security<\/a> thing is interesting and worthy of discussion, but that wasnt what he brought this up about. He brought this up about china cheating. And yet, he then went and imposed tariffs on all sorts of other kurntz. It was going to be canada and mexico. A lot of your members, afl cio are involved in the 50 Different Industries<\/a> that consume steel and who might be hurt by this. So how does a guy like you balance this because it protects Steel Workers<\/a> or not protect beer or auto workers or others who consume steel. So how do you weigh weigh that. And first of all, when you enforce our laws and create a flat Playing Field<\/a>, everybody is protected in every industry. Not every steel producer isnt cheating. Canada and mexico isnt cheating. So we need to do this surgically. Find out those that are cheating and use this to stop the cheating. In 2014 president obama imposed steel tariffs on Nine Countries<\/a>. They range from 10 to 118 . They had an effect. George bush did that. George bush ii, w. Did that and while they were overturned by the world trade organization, one thing was for certain, while they were in effect, steel mills did open. And now woof lost 52,000 steel jobs since the year 2000. When you are talking these are middle class producing jobs. So in your mind is it china or a lot of countries that are cheating when it comes to the dumping of steel or ability to sell it at lower prices than america are produce steel or aluminum. It is a lot of Different Countries<\/a> and it is china going through Different Countries<\/a>. China sends their steel to other countries who then send it to us. And theyve cheated. So it is a number of countries, it needs to be done surgically. You look at who is cheating, whether they are a first, second or secondary cheeater and use te tariff to stop the cheating so everybody has a flat Playing Field<\/a>. If we have a flat Playing Field<\/a> and we lose, then we lose. But we shouldnt lose because they are cheating and dumping and getting subsidies to the disadvantage of the american industry and the American Worker<\/a>. How do you and were keeping an eye on the announcement that the president will make so i may have to interrupt you. But how do you measure dumping or cheating when another country with lower wages can produce something. And im not saying this is what it happening. But there are ins stabs instances where another country not cheating, dumping it at lower than cost but could produce something at lower price than American Work<\/a> he workers can because we dont want American Products<\/a> cheaper because we do not. How do you figure that line . That is why wall streets hair is on fire. They closed down plants in the United States<\/a> and they move them to a foreign country and then they send them back. They make big profits. They make bigger profits when that country that sends the product back is cheating. That is why theyre hair is on fire right now. It wasnt on fire when we protected pharmaceuticals, were protecting pharmaceuticals right now in this country with tariffs. What do you is you try to say, are they playing by the rules . Are they and that is an important and sophisticated conversation. Like mexico that weve been having for years. Like mexico, ari. We wait one second, please. Mexico lowers wages improperly because they dont enforce their laws. They have these blacklisting contracts in place, they are called protectionist contract that prohibits a worker from having wages raised. That is a violation of the trade agreement and we do nothing about it. Again these are all solid arguments. And probably should be had in a fairly sophisticated way, you off the top of your tongue can name if i give you a random country you tell me what you think they are doing that is not competitive for the u. S. Worker. The white house is approaching to this did seem ham fisted. Well it could have been more surgical and should have been more surgical but i do a applaud this administration to levy tariffs to stop the cheating. We need to target it and it is targeted at those cheating but we have to do something. Because keeping it as it is and letting them cheat doesnt benefit any workers in their country or this country. The only people that it benefits is the investor class and me make more money. And were looking at a picture of people assembling in the white house. The president is not there. You have Steve Mnuchin<\/a> and wilber ross and people standing by. Richard, i guess the and it looks like we have some steel and aluminum workers. There. Richard, part of the issue is the promise that free trade would raise gdp growth is true. That it would raise corporation profitability is true and it would raise wages and create manufacturing jobs is not true. So the average it is not true. That is correct. So we just hadnt it is not that free trade hasnt worked, we havent shared our wealth with the worker. Well, it is worked very, we vehicle for the t very well fp 1 but not for workers on either side of the country. Weve closed down 50,000 plants. They didnt go away. They went places where they could reduce wages. And what you are seeing is workers not being protected and not getting a fair share of the wealth that we produce. Look, tariffs arent going to create a trade war, ari. There has been a war on workers for three or four decades. Agree with you on that. This gives us a chance to fight back. Okay. Stand by for a second, richard. I want to bring in philip levy in because he mentioned the tariffs put into place under the george w. Bush administration. Philip was a former senior trade economist in that administration. Hes ape senior fellow on the Global Economy<\/a> at the Chicago Council<\/a> for global affairs. Philip, richard makes a very, very good point about wages and that sort of lack of competitiveness. That is not the crux of the white house argument today. Theyve now, after calling it blaming it on china and canada and mexico is now talking about National Security<\/a>. It is just hard to keep track of why the white house is doing this. You are right, it is hard to keep track but very important that we do. I would emphasize, this is not about cheating. This is not about breaking the rules. We have those rules. We do those investigations. But there is a procedure to them. It is going to goes to the International Trade<\/a> commission or the branch of the commerce department. That is not this. This is supposed to be tightly linked to u. S. National security. And do you believe that is true . I dont think theyve demonstrated the link to National Security<\/a>. In fact, i think weve had an expression from the secretary of defense expecting concern that the loose approach theyve taken threatens some of our alliances and you can argue that hurts our National Security<\/a>. Who gets hurt if this is hand fisted, done in a way that will not cause the mexicans and canadians to do something because were still in nafta negotiations and it sounds like well exempt mexico and canada from the tariffs, but to other alley alley allies clueing tinclud europeans who say were going to impose tariffs on Harley Davidson<\/a> and imports. Does somebody actually get hurt out of this. We dont know the details yet or which countries will be excluded. The president said nice things before australia. I dont know where other countries fit. But those who get hit by the tariffs, including the europeans, stand to be damaged and that is important because they are crucial allies, not just on National Security<\/a>, but even on economic matters. U. S. Trade rep light houser is planning to head to europe to talk about what do we do about china . It is hard to get someone to cooperate with you right after you slap them in the face. And including south korea because south korea is an important ally in our issues in north korea. Richard, let me ask you this is there anything on the top of your mind about industries where you have unionized members who might feel the pinch of it because the europeans or south koreans or someone else will impose counter veiling sanctions . Look, everybody has used sanctions. Every american politicians have said tariffs are legitimate use. Y you had Chuck Schumer<\/a> and Bernie Sanders<\/a> and paul ryan in their better way agenda and all of them. The e. U. Has tariffs. The indians have tariff. The chinese have tariff. I get it. You are right. And everybody has tariffs and everybody uses them. We need to have it as a legitimate tool. And for people to jump to say there is going to be a trade war when we have 435 other tariffs right now in place in the United States<\/a> that hasnt caused a trade war seems to me a bit dis disingenuous. But canada and mexico we ought to be talking about how we make i hear you. How to make this work better. And we have nafta and casta and if we imposed these tariffs you tell me you dont think they would have retaliated. They have tariffs on us on different things. We have tariffs on them. If it is improperly imposed, then they have a right to complain. If it is properly imposed, they dont have a right to complain. When obama imposed steel tariffs on Nine Countries<\/a> that went from 10 to 118 , nobody screamed trade war, trade war. They said theyre cheating. Lets fix it. Richard, stand by. And to the extent we can fix the cheating, we ought to be able to do it. Stand by. The president of the United States<\/a> has walked into the room. He is shaking hands with the workers and he takes the podium. Here is the president. Thank you very much, everybody. Im honored to be here with our incredible steel and aluminum workers. And you are truly the backbone of america. You know that. Very special people. Ive known you and people that are very closely related to you for a long time. You know that. I think it is probably the reason im here. So i want to thank you. I also want to thank secretary mnuchin and ambassador lighthizer and secretary ross, peter navarro, mike pence, our great vice president. Theyve worked so hard on getting this going and getting it done and people are starting to realize how important it is. We have to protect and build our steel and aluminum industries. While at the same time showing great flexibility and cooperation toward those that are really friends of ours. Both on a trade basis and a military basis. A strong steel and aluminum industry are vital to our National Security<\/a>. Absolutely vital. Steel is steel. You dont have steel, you dont have a country. Our industries have been targeted for years and years. Decades in fact. By unfair Foreign Trade<\/a> practices, leading to the shuttered plants and mills. The laying off of millions of workers and the des imation of entire communities. And that is going to stop. All right. Its going to stop. This is not merely an economic disaster, but it is a security disaster. We want to build our ships, we want to build our planes, we want to build our military equipment with steel and aluminum from our country. And now were finally taking action to correct this long overdue problem. It is a travesty. Today im defending americas National Security<\/a> by placing tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum. We will have a 25 tariff on foreign steel. And a 10 tariff on foreign aluminum. When the product comes across our borders. It is a process called dumping. And they dumped more than at any time on any nation anywhere in the world and it drove our plants and factories out of business. And we want a lot of steel coming into our country. But we want it to be fair and we want our work hes to be protected and our companies to be protected. By contrast we will not placefully new tax on product made in the u. S. There is no tax if anything is made in the usa. You dont want to pay tax. Bring your plan to the usa and there will be no tariff. And well benefit from the massive tax cuts in place. We have passed the largest tax cut plan in the countrys history and that has caused really tremendous success between that and regulation cutting and i think maybe regulation cutting every bit as much. And we have a long way to go on regulations. But weve already cut more than any president in history. Were urging all companies to buy american. This is what we want. Buy american. The action that im taking today follows a ninemonth investigation by the department of commerce, secretary ross, documenting a growing crisis in our steel and aluminum production that threatens the security of our nation. And also is bad for us economically and with jobs. The American Steel<\/a> aluminum industry has been ravaged by aggressive Foreign Trade<\/a> practices. It is really an assault on our country. It has been an assault. They know better than anybody. Other countries have added Production Capacity<\/a> that far exceeds demand. And flooded the world market with cheap metal that is subsidized by foreign governments, creating jobs for their country and taking away jobs from our country. Ive been talking about this for a long time. A lot longer than my political career. Ive been talking about this for many years. For example, it takes china about one month to produce as much steel as they produce in the United States<\/a> in an entire year. Because weve closed down so much capacity. Plants closed all over the United States<\/a> and some plants i see massive plants from 40 years ago and they are working in a Little Corner<\/a> of the building. Were going to get those billings open and again and producing again and this is the great thing for our country. An this is only the first stop. Aluminum imports now account for more than 90 of the primary american demand. Over the last two decades nearly twothirds of american raw Steel Companies<\/a> have gone out of business. More than onethird of the steel jobs have disappeared. Six primary aluminum smelters, which is a big deal, have permanently shut down since just 2012. The actions were taking today are not a matter of choice, theyre a matter of necessity for our security. Were already seeing the National Security<\/a> benefits of this order. Yesterday, in anticipation that wed be here today, u. S. Steel announced its reopening a mill in illinois, a big one and recalling 500 workers immediately. That is going on all over the country. And by the way, it went on with solar panels, which we did three months ago, and washing machines, where they were dumping washing machines all over our country. And now they are expanding plants to make washing machines. We put the tax on you were here. A skilled Trained Work Force<\/a> in steel is a crucial element of americas National Security<\/a> and must be protected. After the signing of this proclamation, centrally aluminum in kentucky, century is a Great Company<\/a> will invest over a hundred Million Dollars<\/a> to invest in an idle military grade high quality aluminum production which is critically important to our National Security<\/a>. That is 150,000 additional tons of aluminum and think of it this is a closed plant and now they are doing 150,000 tons. Production and an additional 300 workers and ultimately many more hired in the great state of kentucky. A package of sometimes 90,000 per workers. Our greatest president s all understood from washington to lincoln to jackson, to teddy roosevelt, that america must have a strong vibrant and independent manufacturing base. It has to have it. President mckinley who felt very strongly about this, the country was very successful. We actually operated out of cash flow, if you can believe it. The protective tariff policy of the republicans, he said, has made the lives of masses of our countrymen sweeter and brighter and brighter and brighter. It is the best for our citizenship and our civilization and it opens up the higher and better destiny for our people. Many politicians lamented the decline of our once proud industries and many countries denounced global excess capacity. And but no one took action. All of our politicians, they saw what was happening to our country ive seen it for 25 years ive been talking about it. Talked about japan and china. But the politicians never did anything about it. But now they are. Our factories were left to rot and to rust. All over the place. Thriving communities turned into ghost towns. You guys know that, right . Not any longer. The workers who poured their souls into building this great nation were betrayed. But that bee betrayal is now over. I am delivering on a promise i made during the campaign and ive been making it for a good part of my life, if i ever did this, i never really thought i would. I said, lets run for president. And look at what happened. And part of the reason it happened is you. And my message. Having to do with you. And other messages also. Security, military, the wall, the border. A lot of good messages. But this is one of the most important. My most important job is to keep American People<\/a> safe. And as know, we just had approved a 700 billion military budget, the largest ever. 716 billion next year. That means not only safety but it means jobs. It also means the use of steel from our country. But at the if the same goals can be accomplished by other means, america will remain open to modifying or removing the tariffs for individual nations as long as we can agree on a way to ensure that theyre products no longer threaten our security. So ive put ambassador lighthizer, a great gentleman, in charge of negotiating with countries that seek an alternative to the steel and aluminum tariffs. The fact is weve been treating really weve been treat sod badly over t treedated over the years by countries and by our politicians and by our president s, by people that represented us that didnt frankly know what they were doing. And we lose 800 billion a year on trade. Every year, 800 billion. It is been going on for a long time. 300 billion, 400 billion, 500 billion. Got up to 600 billion. And it keeps going. But it is going to start changing. Has to change. Were negotiating now with china. Were in the midst of a big negotiation. I dont know that anything will come of it. They have been very helpful, president xi i have Great Respect<\/a> for. A lot of respect. But i dont know that anything will come of that. But were going to cut down the the deficits one way or the other. We have a deficit with china of at least 500 billion. And when you add intellectual property, it is much higher than that. That is a year. At the same time, due to the unique nature of our relationship with canada and mexico, were negotiating right now nafta, and were going to hold off the tariff on those two countries to see whether or not were able to make the deal on nafta, National Security<\/a>, very important aspect of that deal. And if were making the deal on nafta, this will figure into the deal and we wont have the tariffs on canada or mexico. If we dont make the deal on nafta, and if we terminate nafta because theyre unable to make a deal thats fair for our workers and fair for our farmers we love our farmers and fair for our manufacturers, then were going to terminate nafta and well start all over again, or well just do it a different way, but well terminate nafta. And that will be it. But i have a feeling were going make a deal on nafta. Ive been saying it for a long time. We either make a deal or we terminate. And if we do, there wont be any tariffs on canada and there wont be any tariffs on mexico. One other thing. Some of the countries that were dealing with are great partners, great military allies and were going to be looking at that very strongly. The tariffs dont go effective for at least another 15 days. And were going to see who is treating us fairly, who is not treating us fairly. Part of that is going to be military. Who is paying the bills, who is not paying the bills. We subsidize many rich countries with our military. They pay not 100 cents on the dollar, in some cases not 50 cents on the dollar and theyre massively wealthy countries so we have to stop that and that will enter into the equation also. Very interesting, i saw a tweet, just came in from elon musk who is using our wonderful space facilities and did a great job three weeks ago. He said, for example, an american car going to china pays 25 import duty, but a chinese car coming to the United States<\/a> only pays 2. 5 , a ten dgs fold difference. So, an american car going to china, think of that, pays 25 import duty. So, we send our car over there, pay 25 . They send their car over here, 2. 5 . Thats from elan. But Everybody Knows<\/a> it. Theyve known if for years, they never did anything about it. Its got to change. Were going to be doing a reciprocal tax program at some point so that if china is going to charge us 25 or if india is going to charge us 75 and we charge them nothing, theyre at 50 or theyre at 75 or theyre at 25, were going to be at those same numbers. Its reciprocal, called a mirror tax. They charge us 50, we charge them 50. Right now theyll charge us 50, we charge them nothing. Doesnt work. So, thats called a reciprocal tax or mirror took. Were going to be doing a lot of that. Its the first year, we really set the stage. A lot of it had to do with structurally we had to go through certain procedures in order to get to this point. But now were at this point. American companies have not been treated fairly, and some american companies, frankly, have taken advantage of it and gone to other countries and developed in mexico, massive automobile plants, taking our jobs away and taking our companies down to mexico to make the cars and then they send them right across the border. Without tax, without anything. So, we lose the jobs, they make the cars, they get all the benefits, then they sell the cars back into the United States<\/a>. So, were changing things and were going to have a lot of great relationships. I think companies are going to be very happy in the end. I think that countries are going to be very happy. Were going to show great flexibility. And, again, many of the countries that treat us the worst on trade and on military are our allies, as they like to call them. So, we just want fairness. We just want fairness. We want everything to be reciprocal. And i think in the end, were going to have a lot of great jobs. Were going to have a lot of Great Companies<\/a> all coming back into our country. You see it the other day, chrysler announced theyre leaving mexico, theyre coming back into michigan with a big plant. You havent seen that in a long time, folks. You havent seen that in a long time. So, because i sort of grew up with this group of people, i know a lot about the Steel Industry<\/a> and i know a lot about the aluminum industry. Were going to bring them back. I thought maybe a few of you might like to say a couple of words, and theres only about 25 Million People<\/a> watching so dont worry about it. Do you want to Say Something<\/a> . Come on up. How are you . Please. My name is dusty stevens. I work at hallsville, kentucky. Right now were running at 40 capacity. Two years ago we shut down 60 of the capacity when we had a downturn in the market. My father worked in the industry and worked at that plant for 40 years, so this hits home for all of us at hallsville. By these tariffs going into place, this gives us the ability to come back to 100 capacity, investing over 100 million into our plant, and over 300 some odd jobs will be brought back to the communities. So, id like to say thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [ applause ] come on over. The one thing also, the quality of our steel is really much higher. Its of a much better quality, which especially for certain things is very, very important. Please. Thank you, mr. President. Hello, everybody, my name is scott sarge, president of local 2227. Id like to tell you about a story about my father during the 80s. He lost his job due to imports coming into this country, and i just want to tell you what that does to a man with six kids is devastating. So, i never forgot that, looking into his eyes in my household what that does to a family. You hear about it, but when youre actually involved in it, it it impacts you. It will never leave you. So, with that being said, for herman sarge, your story didnt end. And for all the people that i represent at my union, i never want to see it happen again for these worksers and these folks. I appreciate the opportunity and im very humbled with this. So, its very important to us. So, i never want to see it happen again. And i say that from sincerely from my heart. And i thank you for the opportunity for what you do. Herman . Herman sarge, yes, sir. Your father herman is looking down. Hes very proud of you right now. Hes still alive. [ laughter ] then hes even more proud of you. Then hes even more proud. Anybody else . Please, come on up. Lets arm wrestle. How are you doing . My name is ron davis, ste. Just wanted to say in 2009, my plant supplied a majority of the armor for the humvs and auto vehicles in theater. All the plants in our country are going to become idle in september. At one time our plant had 71 members. Were going to be down to 71. These tariffs definitely have an impact. Maybe not for our plant but the other plants out there. Appreciate what youre doing. Thank you very much. Thank you. [ applause ] anybody else . Anybody else . Youre okay . Youre just going to accept great jobs, right . Youre going to be very happy. Youre going to see things changing very rapidly. So, its really my honor to start this process. Its going to be a very fair process. Its going to be very fair to other countries, especially those that treat us well. And we look forward to it. And we look forward to having lots of mills opening up, lots of plants opening up, both steel and aluminum, and other things. Well be doing other things, very positive things. But you are great people. Would you like to take a picture in the oval office . I assume youve been many times in the oval office. Come on, lets go and do that. Lets go and do that. Yes, ill do. Lets go into the oval office. Were going to sign this. Well go into the oval office and have a picture. Okay. [ applause ] here you go. [ applause ] about time, right . Youve been waiting for a long time. Yes, sir. Here you go. Lets pass it around. Thank you, sir. [ applause ] whats that . Pass them around. Mike, get up here. Come on up. Mike, come on up. Lets go take a picture nft oval office, okay . Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. [ applause ] hi, everyone. Its 4 00 in new york. Donald trump making protectionism great again. Raising fear of a trade war, announcing tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum. Making good on a promise at an event that just hours ago was unclear what even happened. Washington post bureau chief phil rucker watching","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia803100.us.archive.org\/21\/items\/MSNBCW_20180308_200000_MSNBC_Live_With_Ali_Velshi\/MSNBCW_20180308_200000_MSNBC_Live_With_Ali_Velshi.thumbs\/MSNBCW_20180308_200000_MSNBC_Live_With_Ali_Velshi_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240617T12:35:10+00:00"}