Young voters with chris hayes or me in the middle. And it is about Climate Change, sponsored by Georgetown University where we are now. Msnbc is a media partner and the environmental news website, our daily planet which we consult a lot for our environmental news. So far we heard from four democratic president ial candidates, colorado senator michael bennet, entrepreneur andrew yang, mary and williamson and bernie sanders. Here are a few highlights. It is not an issue on a list of 14 issues. Were talking about the future of the planet. So youve got to put it at the very, very top. Theres a proverb says the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, second best time is now. We should have been doing this work 20 years ago, but the second best time is now. What we cant ever do again is lose an economic argument to a climate denier, which is what happened the last time. There should never be another climate denier in the white house. I am really curious to know how you plan to balance pragmatism with big, bold plans such as the green new deal. To me, they are hand in glove, you know. I dont think you can call yourself progressive if you cant actually make progress. If something goes wrong with nuclear energy, i dont think people have really stopped to take in the horror. See, we need an integrative politics, we need to go beyond hard data and just thinking about the facts. I want you to think about this with your hearts. Something goes wrong there, what are we even talking about . How can we even consider it . We know that if you are the president of the United States, will you lead by example, order an electric president ial vehicle . Yes, i will, and ill go even better. The entire white house motor pool will be electric. All right. Were about to hear from a fifth candidate, former maryland congressman john delaney. Later we hear from ohio congressman tim ryan and julian castro. Tomorrow, were going to talk with four Democratic Candidates, new jersey senator cory booker, montana governor steve bullock, south bend mayor pete buttigieg, and tom steyer, activist. There are five pictures. I am going to hear from one of the republicans challenging President Trump for the gop nomination, former governor bill weld. I want to be clear. We invited everybody thats running for president to join us, including President Trump, if he wanted to, and if he wishes to change his minds, we will accommodate him in the schedule. Bill weld, republican, did accept our invitation. Governor, thank you for being with us. Thank you, ali, always a pleasure. You are the only republican here. Two messages really, youre going to talk to a nation, but initially you may be talking to republicans who at the moment have the highest concentration of people who dont think this is as serious an issue as others do. Let me say one thing about plans that are rolled out, democratic plans. The problem is they tend to measure input, how much money are we spending, a trillion here, a trillion there. What we should measure is outcomes. How are we going to get to the one outcome directed by the u. N. Framework which is no more than 1. 5 degrees sent grade increase in temperature over preindustrial levels by 2050. To do that, you have to put a price on carbon. It is an upstream price, it goes on at the well bore, at the mine shaft, at the loading dock. So it is borne by the emitters of carbon who are creating the problem in the first place. They can decide after that how much carbon they want to emit, so it may float, but thats what you do. That would enable you to abolish the gas tax, diesel tax, and to devote hundreds of billions of dollars to giving relief, payroll tax relief to lower income americans. I purposely put in there something for republicans and democrats, this puppy has to pass congress. You were a governor at a time when the issue of Climate Change wasnt actually as partisan as it has become. A lot of remarkable climate laws that we have and environmental regulations that we have were put in place by republicans. What happened, how did this become almost a partisan divide. Youre right, clean air act, water act, dick nixon. Roosevelt started the National Park system. It is trump thats the outlier. I say he is a republican in name only. He doesnt conserve anything, doesnt conserve taxpayer money, the environment, lives in a world of his own making inside his own head, and i agree with whoever said we can never have another climate denier in the white house. We have a certain percentage of americans, it is shrinking, who are climate deniers. Most of the conversation here at georgetown isnt about that, it is we accept this is an issue, how do we best deal with it. As a republican, youre going to face a few more of those than the Democratic Candidates are. Whats your argument, what happens . My argument, we have to believe in science, cant believe in mumbo jumbo. 90 of scientists believe that climate is accelerating in terms of temperature increases and human activity is contributing to it. And were going to know how much after we put the price on carbon and find out, you know, what the contributing factor is there for the increase in temperature before 2050. Were going to end up with a good conversation. We have a half hour chat with us like the other candidates and half hour with the georgetown students. We appreciate you taking part in this. My pleasure. Bill weld, a 2020 republican candidate. Back to chris jansing. Cant believe in mumbo jumbo. That sums it up. Well get back to you. We want to talk about the head of the House Intelligence Committee this afternoon thats drawing battle lines over the whistleblower complaint filed against the president. Committee members spent hours behind closed doors with the Intel CommunityInspector General. Michael atkinson. Democrats are clearly indignant they were not told about the complaint in the first place and that officials are still decline to reveal details about it at all. Chairman adam schiff suggesting a short time ago that this is a completely unprecedented effort to illegally withhold information from congress, efforts that could reach all the way to the white house. We cant get an answer because the department of justice and director of National Intelligence will not authorize the ig to tell us. And the Inspector General is doing his very best to be very careful that he follow the law. I believe that there is an effort to prevent this information getting to congress, and if the assertion is accurate that department of justice made and dni affirmed that this involves a privileged communication, then at one level or another, it likely involves the president or people around him. Now, atkinson, the Inspector General, is expected to brief the senate Intelligence Committee on this issue next week. And he wont be the only one. Acting director of National Intelligence has also agreed to testify in fronts of the house and senate Intelligence Committees next week. Heres what we know at this point and what we dont know. As the Washington Post reports, trumps interaction with a foreign leader included a promise that was regarded as so troubling, it prompted an official in the u. S. Intelligence community to file a formal whistleblower complaint with the Intel CommunityInspector General. Thats according to two former u. S. Officials. Nbc news reports it did involve a phone conversation that the president had, according to a former u. S. Intelligence official familiar with the matter. The complaint was filed with the Inspector General office on august 12th, before the current acting dni assumed his role. The post outlines notable events where trump interacted with foreign leaders that occurred within a couple months before the complaint was filed. On june 11 and august 9th, trump announced he got letters, beautiful letters from north Korean Leader kim jongun. Among the phone calls with foreign leaders, june 18th, he spoke with the chinese president , july 1st, phone call with emanuel macron with topics that included iran. July 31st, a call with president Vladimir Putin of russia. You might remember that was not disclosed by the white house but in russian media. Joining me, Nicholas Rasmussen who served in National Security positions, and also an msnbc National Security intelligence analyst. Let me start with what we just heard because i would say adam schiff was unhappy, he made some careful but explicit concerns known. What did you take away from what you heard . It seems, chris, theres a shift in the direction of where chairman schiff is directing his ire. When we saw the letter from chairman schiff to the acting director of National Intelligence, joe mcguire, he was upset, schiff was upset that mcguire wasnt providing information as requested. Now of course he broadened out concern to include the Justice Department and white house. And i think that tells you something as your setup indicated how complicated this case is becoming, and the problem is it is not like a normal whistleblower case, at least as reported. In a normal whistleblower case, an Intelligence Officer might be pointing to misconduct in the Intelligence Community, then it would fall to mcguire to report that as required by law to the Intelligence Committees. But if that Intelligence Officer, if as appears here is reporting misconduct or what he or she perceived was illegal behavior by someone outside the Intelligence Community and that didnt touch on intelligence issues, that puts mcguire in a difficult spot. Thats why we are where we are. And adam schiff acknowledged he is in a difficult spot. He put it, if it is possible for the subject of the complaint to essentially quash the complaint, then the system is broken. Understanding the complexities you talks about, and the fact that a president can declassify easily anything he wants to, right . Where does congress and the white house go from here . Congress has a range of oversight capabilities that go beyond chairman schiff and the Intelligence Community. They certainly hold the power of the purse, the power of the purse extends to conduct to Foreign Policy and to white house and National Security council operations. There are levers for congress to use to compel any administration, not just the Trump Administration, to be cooperative sharing information. Clearly this broadened into a conflict not just between the Intelligence Community and Intelligence Committees but more of a broader separation of powers, executive versus legislative branch situation, and that could lead us into a bit of a constitutional crisis. The president said in a series of tweets that this was ridiculous, it is fake news, it is made up. He said of course he knows when he calls a foreign leader there could be any number of people who are listening in from various u. S. Agencies, no one would think he is dumb enough to Say Something inappropriate. Having said that, this is unprecedented. Theres never been this kind of complaint against the president of the United States. When you heard it as someone on the inside much this this is just chairman schiff going after acting dni. I think in my own mind the benefit of the doubt should reside with the dni and Intelligence Community for trying to do the right thing. No such equivalent benefit of the doubt in my mind attaches to the white house or Justice Department because of course over the past couple years, we have seen quite a bit of behavior out of the white house and Justice Department that we believe theyre focused first and foremost protecting the president. Appreciate it. President trump did what his press team wouldnt do when the story broke. He responded. Joining me, nbc White House Correspondent kelly odonnell. He calls this essentially harassme harassment. Reporter and fake news. Things you expect him to do. Part of what makes this complicated, the president is responding when there are publicly big holes in key issues. The president s tweeted statement is a blanket explanation, he is aware when he is on the phone with foreign leaders there are likely many parties both in the United States and with the other country who are listening in, and he uses that as a means to say therefore, he would only do what is appropriate, acting in the best interest of the country as a way to say of course he would not do anything that would be improper. People can take that as they wish. Chris, as you know, part of why the president had such a difficult relationship with the Intelligence Community over his time in office is because he has come up to the line a number of times, even recentsly when he tweeted a photo of satellite imagery. The president can declassify things at will, so it is not a matter of law, still can make people uncomfortable in the Intelligence Community had those conversations with russian officials in 2017 in the oval office that raised the question whether he shared information that was of great importance to israel, that also caused concerns, even on the border yesterday, talking about the new border barrier fencing thats being built, made a reference to some electronics there, asked one of the officers present to explain it, the officer declined, saying might be better not to talk about the remarkable features. The president s own sense of this hey may be different than e in the Security Community feel comfortable with. That might explain part of this on the most basic level. The president defending himself. The biggest question, what is the underlying issue, chris . And thats obviously what the Intel Committee and other members of congress are hoping to get to. Meantime, want to ask you about growing tensions between the u. S. And iran. Mike pompeo blamed iran for the attack on the Worlds LargestOil Processing facility in saudi arabia, he called it an act of war. Then irans foreign minister today issued a warning of his own. What would be the consequence of american or saudi strike . All out war, making a serious statement, we dont want war, dont want to engage in military confrontation. We wont blink to defend our territory. Whats the administrations response to the Foreign Ministers recent comments . Reporter certainly the secretary of state is traveling in the region, says he is trying to build a coalition for a result that is peaceful and not in the military realm, although the president hasnt gone as far as secretary pompeo who also said the strike from iran against the Saudi Oil Facilities is an act of war, President Trump wouldnt go that far. And there is a bit of a difference between the president and the secretary of state, but also the president saying repeatedly that the u. S. Has the capability to respond decisively, using military power if necessary, but not wanting to go that far. At the same time, cooling off on the idea of having a one on one meeting with rowhani, president of iran, and so what weve seen is this dance of trying to exert force and power, to try to tamp down some of the expectations, trying to have a position of authority here, and at the same time trying to exert this notion of this can be worked out diplomatically, in light of the u. N. General assembly, visas granted, meetings to take place, what will happen next is unclear. The president said he would have more to say. We havent gotten specifics. Kelly, thank you for that. Up next, tropical depression imelda bringing catastrophic flooding to texas. The same area struck by harvey. 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