Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Craig Melvin 20190402

The most peculiar political strategy youve seen yet. On the issue of life or death urgency for millions of americans across the country, just days after his administration back to court effort to unravel obamacare, the president tweeted a replacement is coming. Dont expect it until after the 2020 election when he says republicans will hold the senate and win back the house. Thats when youre going to get your truly great healthcare. Moments ago outside the supreme court, we heard what Democratic Leaders think. Translation. They have no Healthcare Plan. Its the same old song theyve been singing. Theyre for repeal, they have no replace. Ive got a great team with me today. Hans nickels is at the white house. Rehema ellis is in West Virginia. David jolly and Washington Post opinion writer jennifer ruben. Hans, the big question here, whats the thinking inside the white house on this about why the president has put healthcare back on the table for 2020 . Reporter the thinking is that they need to come up with something to be for something and not just against it. What youre hearing officials talk about is potentially maybe perhaps there could be a plan that could be unveiled before the election. What the president s tweet said is the vote will be after the election. Lay aside the fact that House Democrats will be charge of the house of representativ house of representatives. Their line this morning seems to be comiif they have a plan, the not just ready to share it and or defend it. But it seems like a lot of scrambling here from officials trying to explain just what the president meant. The big question is here is are voters going to be okay with a plan based on principles and not things that could be laid out. I want to go to nbcs rehema ellis who is in West Virginia for us. This is a state with the highest number of people with preexisting conditions. I know you are at a huge Medical Clinic there talking to patients and to caregivers as well. What are you hearing from them about all of this . Reporter im in an examination room in the West Virginia health right clinic. Here they service about 27,500 patients every year. About 45 of them benefit from obamacare. I want to bring in margaret grassley, shes one of the focuses thats been benefitting from this. What would it mean if obamacare went away . It would be disastrous. My prescriptions each month are 800. The may recollehealthcare i get amazing. The quality is great here, but if you take obamacare away its not going just me, its going to affect thousands. Reporter we talk about the poor and people who are unemployed and underemployed, youre working and youre saying youre having a difficult time paying for your healthcare on your own . I had to quict. It was a god send. Reporter if you had an opportunity to talk to President Trump and people in washington, what would you say about this, is this a republican or democratic issue . Its healthcare, not politics. Its not about being republican or democrat or independent. Youve got to come together and get the Healthcare System in the United States right. Reporter you want people to hear you on that specifically . Yes. Reporter will it determine how you vote in 2020 . Absolutely. Reporter this clinic, they d do comprehensive healthcare. Eye care and dental care, which makes a big difference to thousands of people here. I want to bring in david and jennifer here to talk more about this. David you heard from rehemas interview it could be disastrous if healthcare is taken away from her. Healthcare for her is a godsend. Its not about politics. Politicians in this country need to get healthcare right. Everybody should have healthcare in this country. You heard it right there from voters. Someone who actually voted for President Trump. You know what it feels like to be a republican running a Congressional Campaign with healthcare at the forefront. How rattled do you think republicans are right now that are up for reelection in 2020 . Very. Listen, if donald trump thinks republicans can win back the house on healthcare hell be surprised. Its a losing issue for republicans. There are basically three constituencies in the wake of obamacare. Those who couldnt have gotten healthcare before. Those who achieved better affordability. It sounds like the person who was just interviewed fits into that constituency. Then there was a third contingent who lost coverage or a plan. In 2010, 2012, that constituency was strong but they have now adjusted to the dynamics of obamacare. And so that is why the constituencies that donald trump is speaking to is not enough to put republicans over the line. Hes being cavalier trying to kill it in the courts with no opportunity to replace it or improve it in a legislative environment thats divided between the two parties. Do you think this thing that the president has put out there, kind of enticing voters to hang on because he has a plan in the future, theres going to be a vote after the 2020 election. Do you think that could keep his core supporters and those swing supporters standing behind the president here . Look at the republicans track record. It took me getting to congress to realize it truly was a lie. There is no replacement plan. I offered the leadership three or four ideas to move those with preexisting condition to move to another plan. There is no plan. Republicans have lied to them with their healthcare promises. I want to remind everybody the promises already made by the president. Lets take a little quick trip down memory lane, shall we . Everybodys got to be covered. This is an unrepublican thing for me to say. Im going to take care of everybody. I dont care if it costs me votes or not. Are you going to make sure that people with preconditions are still covered . Yes. Theres going to be a period, if you repeal it, and before you replace it, when millions of people could lose well do it simultaneously. The Republican Party will soon be known as the party of hae healthcare. Its interesting to watch those. Could the Republican Party become the party that takes down healthcare, considering the fact that you have the president saying we have a plan for healthcare and then subsequently say we dont have plan for healthcare but hold on until after the elections. There are so many millions of people in this country that are losing healthcare as we just learned from rehema ellis. How do the republicans, especially those up for reelection like the Mitch Mcconnells and Susan Collins of the world recover from all this . If the democrats cant win an election based on this, they really should go into a different line of work. This is a layup for them. They dont even have to speculate. We know what happened. The president promised he had this fabulous Healthcare Plan in 2017. They tried a variety of things, all of them led to tens of millions of people losing insurance or paying more for insurance. It was used in part to justify a rollback in taxes for the rich. That went over like a lead balloon. They couldnt agree when they had the house, the senate, and the white house. They now dont have the house. And when they ran on this in 2018, they had to lie. They had to say that they werent opposed to preexisting conditions being left without protection, when in fact their plans would have repealed those protections. So they want to do that all over again in 2020 . The strategy really is mind bending. Understand that is going on right now. So any day, any week, any month in 2019 a court could say you know what . Obamacare, its gone. And what trump is saying is its not until 2021, two years after the election, after the new congress is sworn in, that i might come up with something terrific to replace it with. Thats two years without healthcare. Thats insane. Democrats are going to go to town on this. Rather than having to fight defensively in 2020 on medicare for all or expansion of existing entitlement programs, theyll be able to rerun the race they did in 2018 so successfully on a very simple principle, republicans want to take away your healthcare. They always want to cut medicare, which is insane. This is not about politics, this is about our lives and this is about our health. We need this. How do you make it not about politics in washington . I think so many of us have tired of this back and forth between republicans and democrats where they cant seem to agree on something that takes care of individual americans every single day. Youre right. Theres a very human story behind all of this. Im one of those who i initially on really some ideological grounds was opposed to the solutions of obamacare but i came to embrace the fact that under obamacare we do now have coverage for preexisting conditions. We have immediate access through the healthcare exchanges. This is where donald trump and the republicans are doing on the alt altar ideology. Theyre going to the courts that legitimately might kill it. Chief Justice Roberts may kill the law we know as obamacare with no means, no means, no legislative means to actually replace it. This is very different. They could kill it. I think for supporters of obamacare, the Affordable Care act, the needle needs to move up just a notch. This is dangerous. There are millions of people that are left without healthcare in this country and we dont want that to happen. Thank you so much. Jennifer, please stay with us. Just ahead, security check. House democrats demand answers on how white house aides and trump family members got access to americas secrets despite obvious flags in their background. Also border threat. President trump wants to close our southern border. Hear why the people who study this issue say you cant just close the door on the more than one billion dollars of goods that cross there every day. Mike bloomberg was out for 2020. A new report says he may want to get back in. Well be right back. Rt says he o get back in. Well be right back. On making it easy to get your windshield fixed. With safelite, you can see exactly when well be there. Saving you time for what you love most. Kids whoa kids vo safelite repair, safelite replace you know reliable support when you have it, and that dependability is what we want to give our customers. At comcast, its my job to constantly monitor our network. Prevent problems, and to help provide the most Reliable Service possible. My name is tanya, i work in the Network Operations center for comcast. We are working to make things simple, easy and awesome. Welcome back, everybody. Right now on capitol hill, we see democrats, live pictures, demanding answers from the white house about its security clearance process. This has been a big story weve been following for the last 24 hours or so. A live look at the House Oversight committee thats expected to decide today on whether to issue subpoenas to several people involved in the clearance process. A whistleblower has told the committees that the white house overro ov overrode the denials for ov. The whistleblower has agreed to appear but will not answer questions about specific individuals. The white house needs to understand that they cannot stonewall and stall this committee for months. And then offer us General Information about their policies. Not when such theres such serious allegations of a risk to National Security. So nbc news reported in january, officials rejected the top security clearance for the president s soninlaw and Senior Advisor Jared Kushner but were overruled by supervisors. Jeff, lets start with you on this one. What are we seeing and hearing in that room right now from both parties . Reporter we should start with this, in any other universe, in any other political era it would be hard to imagine than an issue like security clearances would become a partisan thing, given the view that people who are in any way compromised by their business transactions or personal conflicts that chose people should not have access to the nations most vital secrets. I just spetepped out, and what u hear from the democrats is that President Trump himself has violated the most basic standard by giving preferential treatment to people in his inner circle by giving them access to National Security clearances. What you hear from the republicans is democrats have cherry picked the testimony from this whistleblower and theyre using this to play political games. Heres what jim jordan, the Ranking Member of this committee had to say earlier. Were going to subpoena a guy who just sent us a letter saying hes willing to come here voluntarily. Ive been on this Committee Ten years, never seen anything like this. This lady was scared. Shes small in stature and shes already seen what is going on in the white house. She was scared to death. Reporter so carl klein, who led the White House Security office has now volunteered to speak before the committee. He says he will not speak to any specific security violations. Thats why you have the democrats on the committee threatening to issue subpoenas. One to get him to come to talk to him, but also to compel him to talk about the issues they want him to talk about. Any idea when carl klein could, a, appear, and what would happen . What changes can come from all this . Reporter theres no timeline, but Committee Members want to know the who and how. They want to know who are the other 25 people, the other 24 people on this list of people who were given security clearances over the objections of those longtime career officials. They, of course, want to know how it happened. How it was that klein and other officials intervened. All right. I want to go to you on this one, glen. An issue thats usually very bipartisan, which is top security clearance, getting security clearance and how you get security clearance has become a partisan issue, which is surprising to say the least. What happens here, glen, if the white house totally refused tod to c comply with the subpoenas . Then it moves into the courts to determine the enforceability of those congressional subpoenas. As you say, this should be a bipartisan issue. Who gets to hear about the countrys secrets and who gets to go overseas, interact with foreign officials on sensitive matters. You know, i can tell you, i went through multiple background investigations in my 30 plus years as a fed. First as an army j. A. G. , the department of defense did a thorough extensive background check of me when i was assigned to handle a espionage case. They went back to my Second School teacher. Hopefully not because i was acting up. They want to make sure that you are who you are. Almost more importantly, they want to make sure that you dont have any entanglements, financial, personal, criminal, particularly with foreign governments that could compromise you or could give the foreign governments that youre now dealing with a little bit of leverage that could impact the decisions you make on behalf of our country. So, you know, this is not small potatoes and it should be a bipartisan issue. When we were talking about the russia investigation, we talked a lot about comprimat. That was a word that the russians used. Damaging information they can have they can use for bribery purposes. Its information like that that could come up in a background check. Gaining those security clearances. Walk us through quickly as to why it is so important that they get the Accurate Information they need in order to gain these certain security clearances. Sure. I think weve all heard the clip played several times where don jr. Was almost boasting some years back about how much money came from the russians and moved through the trump organization. If youre not fully forthcoming with the government, with the career officials that are responsible for investigating ones background and determining whether theres anything in there that could be compromising, then those foreign governments can use that information to leverage you in ways that are perhaps very subtle. It can impact your Decision Making process. You know, Jared Kushner, if hes having these conversations with saudi arabia and russia, hes got financial entanglements, you know, that is something that, you know, the American People need to be confident in their government officials, that theyll be doing only the United States work and they wont be involved in making decisions based on personal gain or based on leverage. Im being told ive got to wrap on this. I got to and you this last question. If something tangible were to come out of this and if Jared Kushner were a subject of this, could he lose his security clearance all together . He could. If hes found to have intentionally lied i know its been told he had to update his questionnaire multiple times, if hes found to have lied on that that could subject him to a felony. Thank you both so much. Just ahead, were going to explain why joe bidens stumbled may open the door for mike bloomberg. We go to alaska with al roker to see how americans are dealing with the effects of Climate Change. Dealing with the effects of Climate Change want preventive screenings for things like stroke and Heart Disease . Well, if you dont have symptoms, doctors usually wont order them because, often, Insurance Companies wont pay for them. And thats unfortunate, as 4 out of 5 people who have a stroke, their first symptom is a stroke. And 80 percent of all strokes and Democratic Leaders<\/a> think. Translation. They have no Healthcare Plan<\/a>. Its the same old song theyve been singing. Theyre for repeal, they have no replace. Ive got a great team with me today. Hans nickels is at the white house. Rehema ellis is in West Virginia<\/a>. David jolly and Washington Post<\/a> opinion writer jennifer ruben. Hans, the big question here, whats the thinking inside the white house on this about why the president has put healthcare back on the table for 2020 . Reporter the thinking is that they need to come up with something to be for something and not just against it. What youre hearing officials talk about is potentially maybe perhaps there could be a plan that could be unveiled before the election. What the president s tweet said is the vote will be after the election. Lay aside the fact that House Democrats<\/a> will be charge of the house of representativ house of representatives. Their line this morning seems to be comiif they have a plan, the not just ready to share it and or defend it. But it seems like a lot of scrambling here from officials trying to explain just what the president meant. The big question is here is are voters going to be okay with a plan based on principles and not things that could be laid out. I want to go to nbcs rehema ellis who is in West Virginia<\/a> for us. This is a state with the highest number of people with preexisting conditions. I know you are at a huge Medical Clinic<\/a> there talking to patients and to caregivers as well. What are you hearing from them about all of this . Reporter im in an examination room in the West Virginia<\/a> health right clinic. Here they service about 27,500 patients every year. About 45 of them benefit from obamacare. I want to bring in margaret grassley, shes one of the focuses thats been benefitting from this. What would it mean if obamacare went away . It would be disastrous. My prescriptions each month are 800. The may recollehealthcare i get amazing. The quality is great here, but if you take obamacare away its not going just me, its going to affect thousands. Reporter we talk about the poor and people who are unemployed and underemployed, youre working and youre saying youre having a difficult time paying for your healthcare on your own . I had to quict. It was a god send. Reporter if you had an opportunity to talk to President Trump<\/a> and people in washington, what would you say about this, is this a republican or democratic issue . Its healthcare, not politics. Its not about being republican or democrat or independent. Youve got to come together and get the Healthcare System<\/a> in the United States<\/a> right. Reporter you want people to hear you on that specifically . Yes. Reporter will it determine how you vote in 2020 . Absolutely. Reporter this clinic, they d do comprehensive healthcare. Eye care and dental care, which makes a big difference to thousands of people here. I want to bring in david and jennifer here to talk more about this. David you heard from rehemas interview it could be disastrous if healthcare is taken away from her. Healthcare for her is a godsend. Its not about politics. Politicians in this country need to get healthcare right. Everybody should have healthcare in this country. You heard it right there from voters. Someone who actually voted for President Trump<\/a>. You know what it feels like to be a republican running a Congressional Campaign<\/a> with healthcare at the forefront. How rattled do you think republicans are right now that are up for reelection in 2020 . Very. Listen, if donald trump thinks republicans can win back the house on healthcare hell be surprised. Its a losing issue for republicans. There are basically three constituencies in the wake of obamacare. Those who couldnt have gotten healthcare before. Those who achieved better affordability. It sounds like the person who was just interviewed fits into that constituency. Then there was a third contingent who lost coverage or a plan. In 2010, 2012, that constituency was strong but they have now adjusted to the dynamics of obamacare. And so that is why the constituencies that donald trump is speaking to is not enough to put republicans over the line. Hes being cavalier trying to kill it in the courts with no opportunity to replace it or improve it in a legislative environment thats divided between the two parties. Do you think this thing that the president has put out there, kind of enticing voters to hang on because he has a plan in the future, theres going to be a vote after the 2020 election. Do you think that could keep his core supporters and those swing supporters standing behind the president here . Look at the republicans track record. It took me getting to congress to realize it truly was a lie. There is no replacement plan. I offered the leadership three or four ideas to move those with preexisting condition to move to another plan. There is no plan. Republicans have lied to them with their healthcare promises. I want to remind everybody the promises already made by the president. Lets take a little quick trip down memory lane, shall we . Everybodys got to be covered. This is an unrepublican thing for me to say. Im going to take care of everybody. I dont care if it costs me votes or not. Are you going to make sure that people with preconditions are still covered . Yes. Theres going to be a period, if you repeal it, and before you replace it, when millions of people could lose well do it simultaneously. The Republican Party<\/a> will soon be known as the party of hae healthcare. Its interesting to watch those. Could the Republican Party<\/a> become the party that takes down healthcare, considering the fact that you have the president saying we have a plan for healthcare and then subsequently say we dont have plan for healthcare but hold on until after the elections. There are so many millions of people in this country that are losing healthcare as we just learned from rehema ellis. How do the republicans, especially those up for reelection like the Mitch Mcconnells<\/a> and Susan Collins<\/a> of the world recover from all this . If the democrats cant win an election based on this, they really should go into a different line of work. This is a layup for them. They dont even have to speculate. We know what happened. The president promised he had this fabulous Healthcare Plan<\/a> in 2017. They tried a variety of things, all of them led to tens of millions of people losing insurance or paying more for insurance. It was used in part to justify a rollback in taxes for the rich. That went over like a lead balloon. They couldnt agree when they had the house, the senate, and the white house. They now dont have the house. And when they ran on this in 2018, they had to lie. They had to say that they werent opposed to preexisting conditions being left without protection, when in fact their plans would have repealed those protections. So they want to do that all over again in 2020 . The strategy really is mind bending. Understand that is going on right now. So any day, any week, any month in 2019 a court could say you know what . Obamacare, its gone. And what trump is saying is its not until 2021, two years after the election, after the new congress is sworn in, that i might come up with something terrific to replace it with. Thats two years without healthcare. Thats insane. Democrats are going to go to town on this. Rather than having to fight defensively in 2020 on medicare for all or expansion of existing entitlement programs, theyll be able to rerun the race they did in 2018 so successfully on a very simple principle, republicans want to take away your healthcare. They always want to cut medicare, which is insane. This is not about politics, this is about our lives and this is about our health. We need this. How do you make it not about politics in washington . I think so many of us have tired of this back and forth between republicans and democrats where they cant seem to agree on something that takes care of individual americans every single day. Youre right. Theres a very human story behind all of this. Im one of those who i initially on really some ideological grounds was opposed to the solutions of obamacare but i came to embrace the fact that under obamacare we do now have coverage for preexisting conditions. We have immediate access through the healthcare exchanges. This is where donald trump and the republicans are doing on the alt altar ideology. Theyre going to the courts that legitimately might kill it. Chief Justice Roberts<\/a> may kill the law we know as obamacare with no means, no means, no legislative means to actually replace it. This is very different. They could kill it. I think for supporters of obamacare, the Affordable Care<\/a> act, the needle needs to move up just a notch. This is dangerous. There are millions of people that are left without healthcare in this country and we dont want that to happen. Thank you so much. Jennifer, please stay with us. Just ahead, security check. House democrats demand answers on how white house aides and trump family members got access to americas secrets despite obvious flags in their background. Also border threat. President trump wants to close our southern border. Hear why the people who study this issue say you cant just close the door on the more than one billion dollars of goods that cross there every day. Mike bloomberg was out for 2020. A new report says he may want to get back in. Well be right back. Rt says he o get back in. Well be right back. On making it easy to get your windshield fixed. With safelite, you can see exactly when well be there. Saving you time for what you love most. Kids whoa kids vo safelite repair, safelite replace you know reliable support when you have it, and that dependability is what we want to give our customers. At comcast, its my job to constantly monitor our network. Prevent problems, and to help provide the most Reliable Service<\/a> possible. My name is tanya, i work in the Network Operations<\/a> center for comcast. We are working to make things simple, easy and awesome. Welcome back, everybody. Right now on capitol hill, we see democrats, live pictures, demanding answers from the white house about its security clearance process. This has been a big story weve been following for the last 24 hours or so. A live look at the House Oversight<\/a> committee thats expected to decide today on whether to issue subpoenas to several people involved in the clearance process. A whistleblower has told the committees that the white house overro ov overrode the denials for ov. The whistleblower has agreed to appear but will not answer questions about specific individuals. The white house needs to understand that they cannot stonewall and stall this committee for months. And then offer us General Information<\/a> about their policies. Not when such theres such serious allegations of a risk to National Security<\/a>. So nbc news reported in january, officials rejected the top security clearance for the president s soninlaw and Senior Advisor<\/a> Jared Kushner<\/a> but were overruled by supervisors. Jeff, lets start with you on this one. What are we seeing and hearing in that room right now from both parties . Reporter we should start with this, in any other universe, in any other political era it would be hard to imagine than an issue like security clearances would become a partisan thing, given the view that people who are in any way compromised by their business transactions or personal conflicts that chose people should not have access to the nations most vital secrets. I just spetepped out, and what u hear from the democrats is that President Trump<\/a> himself has violated the most basic standard by giving preferential treatment to people in his inner circle by giving them access to National Security<\/a> clearances. What you hear from the republicans is democrats have cherry picked the testimony from this whistleblower and theyre using this to play political games. Heres what jim jordan, the Ranking Member<\/a> of this committee had to say earlier. Were going to subpoena a guy who just sent us a letter saying hes willing to come here voluntarily. Ive been on this Committee Ten<\/a> years, never seen anything like this. This lady was scared. Shes small in stature and shes already seen what is going on in the white house. She was scared to death. Reporter so carl klein, who led the White House Security<\/a> office has now volunteered to speak before the committee. He says he will not speak to any specific security violations. Thats why you have the democrats on the committee threatening to issue subpoenas. One to get him to come to talk to him, but also to compel him to talk about the issues they want him to talk about. Any idea when carl klein could, a, appear, and what would happen . What changes can come from all this . Reporter theres no timeline, but Committee Members<\/a> want to know the who and how. They want to know who are the other 25 people, the other 24 people on this list of people who were given security clearances over the objections of those longtime career officials. They, of course, want to know how it happened. How it was that klein and other officials intervened. All right. I want to go to you on this one, glen. An issue thats usually very bipartisan, which is top security clearance, getting security clearance and how you get security clearance has become a partisan issue, which is surprising to say the least. What happens here, glen, if the white house totally refused tod to c comply with the subpoenas . Then it moves into the courts to determine the enforceability of those congressional subpoenas. As you say, this should be a bipartisan issue. Who gets to hear about the countrys secrets and who gets to go overseas, interact with foreign officials on sensitive matters. You know, i can tell you, i went through multiple background investigations in my 30 plus years as a fed. First as an army j. A. G. , the department of defense did a thorough extensive background check of me when i was assigned to handle a espionage case. They went back to my Second School<\/a> teacher. Hopefully not because i was acting up. They want to make sure that you are who you are. Almost more importantly, they want to make sure that you dont have any entanglements, financial, personal, criminal, particularly with foreign governments that could compromise you or could give the foreign governments that youre now dealing with a little bit of leverage that could impact the decisions you make on behalf of our country. So, you know, this is not small potatoes and it should be a bipartisan issue. When we were talking about the russia investigation, we talked a lot about comprimat. That was a word that the russians used. Damaging information they can have they can use for bribery purposes. Its information like that that could come up in a background check. Gaining those security clearances. Walk us through quickly as to why it is so important that they get the Accurate Information<\/a> they need in order to gain these certain security clearances. Sure. I think weve all heard the clip played several times where don jr. Was almost boasting some years back about how much money came from the russians and moved through the trump organization. If youre not fully forthcoming with the government, with the career officials that are responsible for investigating ones background and determining whether theres anything in there that could be compromising, then those foreign governments can use that information to leverage you in ways that are perhaps very subtle. It can impact your Decision Making<\/a> process. You know, Jared Kushner<\/a>, if hes having these conversations with saudi arabia and russia, hes got financial entanglements, you know, that is something that, you know, the American People<\/a> need to be confident in their government officials, that theyll be doing only the United States<\/a> work and they wont be involved in making decisions based on personal gain or based on leverage. Im being told ive got to wrap on this. I got to and you this last question. If something tangible were to come out of this and if Jared Kushner<\/a> were a subject of this, could he lose his security clearance all together . He could. If hes found to have intentionally lied i know its been told he had to update his questionnaire multiple times, if hes found to have lied on that that could subject him to a felony. Thank you both so much. Just ahead, were going to explain why joe bidens stumbled may open the door for mike bloomberg. We go to alaska with al roker to see how americans are dealing with the effects of Climate Change<\/a>. Dealing with the effects of Climate Change<\/a> want preventive screenings for things like stroke and Heart Disease<\/a> . Well, if you dont have symptoms, doctors usually wont order them because, often, Insurance Companies<\/a> wont pay for them. And thats unfortunate, as 4 out of 5 people who have a stroke, their first symptom is a stroke. And 80 percent of all strokes and Heart Disease<\/a> are preventable. Thats why life line screening has made preventive screening quick, easy and affordable. So you can take control of your own health. If youre over 40, call to schedule an appointment for five painless screenings that go beyond annual checkups. Life line screening uses Ultrasound Technology<\/a> to literally look inside your arteries for dangerous plaque that builds up as you age. And if you call us today, our screening package is only 149 an over 50 savings. But more importantly, we just might catch something before it really costs you. Life line screening. The power of prevention. Call now to learn more. Welcome back, everybody. Youre looking at live pictures of the Border Crossing<\/a> in el paso, texas. President trump is threatening to shutdown the southern border, that being part of it, as soon as next week. And if he decides to follow through, the effects could be felt almost instantly. The New York Times<\/a> reports that americans could see immediate and uncontrollable spikes in the cost of foods like bell peppers, tomatoes, cu cucumbers and avocadoes. It would take less than one week to disrupt auto production. Congressman mike levin is joining me. Thank you, very important subject matter to address. I want to start with this new reporting from the Washington Post<\/a>, congressman, that House Democrats<\/a> are considering a vote on trumps plan to close the border to ramp up pressure on republicans. What are you planning to do to stop this . Can you stop it . We have to acknowledge it would be catastrophic for border communities and really our entire country. I represent an area, san diego, san diego has 250 trillion a year related to cross border trade. As your graphics showed there, were talking about increases in Consumer Prices<\/a> overnight. This is something that should not be partisan. Democrats and republicans can both acknowledge the importance of our cross border relationships. This is something that would be, really, catastrophic. We have to do everything we can, whether its a vote or other actions to make sure that the publics away we cant just shut down the border. Ive been to the border. Many of us on the democratic side have been to the border. What i saw was to the extent its a crisis, its being exacerbated by this president s policies. We have to treat people with respect, not just throw a temper tantrum. It didnt work when we shut down the government, it didnt work when he declared a National Emergency<\/a> and it wont work if he shuts down the border. You work by trying to come up with solutions for the American People<\/a>. Following up with a long tradition of treating people from Different Countries<\/a> with humanity, decency and respect. You say this issue should not be a partisan one. Weve heard this for the entire hour, but they certainly are. Can you be sure your republican colleagues are not going to back up the president on this . I can only hope theyll take a look at the Economic Impact<\/a> such a measure would have on their districts, on their local you can only hope, but have you heard from your republican colleagues at all, that they support or dont support the president on closing the borders . Im going to try to have a reasonable thoughtful discussion with anyone who will listen about the Economic Impact<\/a> this measure would have. Again, it would be catastrophic and we absolutely cannot allow it to happen. We cant throw a temper tantrum. Weve got to try to fix the underlying issues. Thats the problem with taking all the resources away were sending to central america. Thats not going to solve the problem either. Thats going to make things worse. Lets get back to treating people with respect and decency. My grandparents on my moms side were mexican immigrants and they came here on the premise that we treat people with respect and decency. Thats got to be the driving force in our policy, not stoking fear and division. Congressman, the president is going to be visiting the u. S. mexico border on friday. What is he likely going to here from people . If he speaks as i did with people at customs and Border Protection<\/a> who are trying to solve the problem, then hes going to hear we need more personnel, we need more scanning technology. Thats what we, as House Democrats<\/a>, have agreed to do. In fact, thats what we did as part of the appropriations process. We want Smart Border Solutions<\/a> that actually work. We dont want to build a wall. We want to get to the problem, whether its the drugs that are coming in we want to make sure weve got that scanning technology. Whether its trying to treat Asylum Seekers<\/a> with respect and decency and dignity. You know, and a wall is not going to solve people who are begging for a better opportunity at a decent life, trying to flee from political persecution and violence. A wall is not going to stop that. Congressman, thank you so much. Good talking to you. So we have been talking a lot about what would happen if the president tries to close the border. But is that even possible . To help me break this down, im joined by a former dhs and tsa training specialist. Thanks for joining me on this, appreciate it. Can you close the entire u. S. mexico border . Does the president have the authority to do so . He has the authority to do so. The challenge for him is what that looks like economically, what that looks like for the northern triangle countries that immigrants are starting to move forward. But legally he can. Historically president s before him have done that. The immigration act of 1952 and 1965, the amendment gave him the authority to do that. We saw that with the partial visas we saw in 2017. Theres a possible plan to bar Passenger Vehicles<\/a> but not commercial trucks to avoid, you know, what i was talking about with regards to bell peppers and avocadoes and the imports that are coming into the country from south and central america, that sort of thing. How would that work . Could that be something the president could institute . Theres 700,000 workers that would be impacted economically. You have to look at the security element of it. If hes going to shut out commercial, hes going to hurt the business community. Hell get blowback there. Just like we saw with the government shutdown, right . We saw a blowback in the aviation community. Its just how much can he take. He has been teflon. We just talked about that in terms of things sticking to him and his base supports him. We cant get away from the fact theres not a humanitarian issue there. Yes, im so happy you bring this up. There is three variables. You have to look at the humanitarian issue, the safety and security issue and the Economic Impact<\/a>. My view is when you take all of those variables into place i think this is where the president and the administration could do better in terms of calculating that is were either going to pay for it and deal with it on our border, or were going to increase the humanitarian aid and what we can do and work with those northern triangle countries so that it doesnt end up here. Were going to pay one way or the other. Were not going to get the thing is we know this president well. Weve been watching him for two years now. Hes going to do whatever means is necessary to get something done on immigration. He believes it is a crisis and its going to be his number one campaign issue. It seems like healthcare is not going to work well for him. Does that worry you . No, it doesnt. What worries me is we do need mexicos help. We should not go into this alone. Will we get it . I think hes going to claim victory for whatever they offer. He cannot take a loss here. He cannot be 02 in 2019 with the border issue because hes risked a lot in the name of border security. Paul, i just got word that Sarah Sanders<\/a> is speaking outside the white house. We want to go there. [ inaudible question ] im not aware that he did, but what i can tell you is im not going to get into individual security clearances, but what the democrats are doing is playing a very dangerous and shameful game. Theyre asking for personal and private and confidential information from individuals they have no right to see and they putting people who do have a clearance at risk. Youre putting all three million peoples personal information at risk. Thats shameful theyre doing that. Weve worked with democrats, cooperated with them, weve showed them documents that have to do with the security clearance process. We went over to the hill and walked them through that. We invited those individuals and their staff to come to the white house and sit down with Administration Officials<\/a> and walk through that. Well continue to cooperate. They cant ask for information that they know they legally have no right to see. In instances where they did decide to override a denial that they override protocol. They would not explain why. Again, there is a process, were following up. Im not going to get into individual security clearances. We know we have you know we have a policy here at the white house not to discuss individual security clearances. Again, we are cooperating with democrats. Were walking them through what that process looks like. Were not going to exploit individuals and their personal information at the hands of democrats who want to play political gains. [ inaudible question ] is the white house concerned at all there are risks, real Economic Risks<\/a> with shutting down the border . Certainly we dont want to see this isnt our first choice. Our first choice would be for democrats to actually sit down with us and help fix a broken system to address the National Security<\/a> and humanitarian crisis that exists at our border. Were at a breaking point. They have left the president absolutely no choice. The president has spent the last two years helping build up this economy and helping create the boom we have. He certainly doesnt want to hurt that. At the same time, his number one job as the president is to protect life and to protect americans. Hes going to do that and hes going to make sure he makes choices, even on the hard days, because thats what he was elected to do in order to protect that. Democrats, theyre perfectly fine letting people having open borders and letting people come into communities whether we know who they are or not, whether we know they want to do good things or not. What theyre doing is exploiting the very most Vulnerable People<\/a> across the globe. Women and children. We know that a large percentage, up to 31 of women who make that journey is sexually assaulted. 60 or more are violently attacked. Thats awful. Why would we incentivize that type of process to continue to happen . The president wants to stop it. He wants to protect those individuals and he wants to protect americans. What is Sarah Sanders<\/a> at the white house addressing individual security clearances and the issues surourounding that. Attacking democrats with regards to those security clearances. You cant ask for information with regards to these security clearances. Its not lawful. So we heard that. She was also asked about Border Crossing<\/a>s and about closing the border, which i was speaking about. Paul, i want to bring you back into this conversation once again. She said the president has no choice but to do just that. She addressed the humanitarian issue as a reason why they should close the border. Cutting off aid makes this worse. Its difficult to see someone that would see a different angle of that conversation. So we can consider it getting worse until we work with the northern triangle countries and well see what happens. The story is still being written on this. Well be back talking about it. Does the president have a choice . Yes, he does. He does. We will exhaust resources that are already overextended and he cannot deploy u. S. Troops on national soil. Still to come, the race, democrats running for president raking in the big bucks. Senator Bernie Sanders<\/a> the latest to impress. How does that mesh with their anticorporate message . Es that anticorporate message if youre turning 65, you may be learning about medicare and supplemental insurance. Medicare is great, but it doesnt cover everything. Only about 80 of your part b medicare costs. A Medicare Supplement<\/a> Insurance Plan<\/a> may help cover some of the rest. Learn how an aarp Medicare Supplement<\/a> Insurance Plan<\/a>, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company<\/a> might be the right choice for you. A free decision guide is a great place to start. Call today to request yours. So what makes an aarp Medicare Supplement<\/a> plan unique . These are the only Medicare Supplement<\/a> plans endorsed by aarp because they meet aarps high standards of quality and service. Youre also getting the great features that any Medicare Supplement<\/a> plan provides. You may choose any doctor that accepts medicare patients. You can even visit a specialist. With this type of plan there are no networks or referrals needed. Also, a Medicare Supplement<\/a> plan. Goes with you when you travel anywhere in the u. S. Call today for a free guide. Welcome back. A man who changed parties to potentially run for president as a democrat, then changed his mind and said he, quote, wouldnt run may be ready to change his mind all over again. A new report says former new york mayor and billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg<\/a> is actually now still eyeing 2020. Quote, especially if former Vice President<\/a> joe biden winds up not getting in. Lets talk all about this. Joining me now, david, a good friend from the Clinton White<\/a> house. Is this report about bloomberg a sign that people may see joe biden as a weaker candidate now . Well, i dont think theres been any shortage of Democratic Candidates<\/a> getting into the race. I wonder if the candidacy of bloomberg is out of step with where the democrats are heading now. Every democrat feels that having a billionaire in the white house has not been good for ordinary americans. The counterargument from bloomberg has to be im a good billionaire, i promise. I think some of his history with policing issues in new york could come back to haunt him in a democratic primary. That having been said, the more the merrier. I think having a big primary served the Republican Party<\/a> well in the last cycle. I think it will serve us well in the same way. Were going to have the best candidate to take on President Trump<\/a> coming out of our primary. We talked a lot about healthcare at the beginning of the show and how republicans are going to deal with healthcare. We heard the president say he wants to make healthcare an integral message about 2020. Jennifer ruben said this is the democrats chance to have a layup with regards to healthcare. Its their moment, they have to run on healthcare. It has to be their number one issue. Do democrats have plan with regards to how theyre going to run on healthcare . Well, the president gave democrats quite a gift on the issue of healthcare. Theres no issue theyd rather talk about than obamacare and preexisting conditions. It was a winning issue for them in 2018 midterm elections. It worked poorly for republicans after their repeal and replace efforts. Republicans were taken aback and startled when the president decided to wade back into this fight. Democrats are divided, however, on what to do about healthcare. They are split on the issue of medicare for all, whether to go to a single payer system, whether to tweak the aca exchanges, maybe add a public option. Theres not consensus on that issue. Republicans were salivating on the prospect of running against single payer healthcare. As much oxygen that donald trump takes them theyre going to take it. Why have you i want to ask you about a new piece you wrote in bloomberg politics. You really drill into a big theme that we have heard so far with regards to 2020. Its that democratic hopefuls are competing on how to bust corporate power. We actually heard it take center stage just yesterday, which im sure you heard as well. They each spoke at the we the people forum in washington, d. C. Lets take a listen to that. When the question comes do we believe in corporations or do we believe in people, it is people every single time. We got to rewrite the rules in this economy. And that means more power in the hands of workers. This is about righting the rules of the game that favor labor. Labor is under attack. Where do these democratic hopefuls, where do they really stand . Theyre under pressure to come up with big transformative proposals to reduce corporate influences. It weve heard everything from ideas like breaking up Big Technology<\/a> companies from elizabeth warren. Almost Everyone Wants<\/a> to repeal Citizens United<\/a> and slap new rules on Campaign Finance<\/a> and lobbying. There are, you know, some candidates who want to flip the onus on from the Justice Department<\/a> to be able to stop big mergers to companies. Its a lot out there and it comes back to the bigger theme of how democrats want to reduce income inequality and deal with stagnant wages for many in the middle class. Thank you both so much. Appreciate it, guys. Next hour my colleague Andrea Mitchell<\/a> is going to interview washington governor jay inslee. Coming up, a new report on republicans plans to win back female voters. Why it suffers from the same problems previous plans did. Today, al roker reports from alaska. Hear how these americans are dealing with the effects of Climate Change<\/a>. Mericans are dealing with the effects of Climate Change<\/a>. But youre not, because you have e trade, whose tech isnt complicated. It helps you understand the risk and reward potential on an options trade. Dont get mad. Get e trade. Bookers book now and ask their boss later. [do you want breakfast or no . ] [definitely breakfast. ] be a booker at booking. Com how do you get skin happy aveeno\u00ae with prebiotic oat. It hydrates and softens skin. So it looks like this. And you feel like this. Aveeno\u00ae daily moisturizer get skin happy\u2122 welcome back. Before 2020 races really kick into full gear, republicans are hoping to do damage control in a real soft spot of their base. House republicans are quote, racing to combat accusations that the party is actually antiwoman. Back with me, Washington Post<\/a> opinion writer jennifer ruben. Good to talk to you once again on this. Politico is writing this. Republicans, however, made that challenge more difficult when they voted against a gender wage gap bill last week and announced opposition to legislation to reauthorize the violence against women act and it goes on. How do House Republicans<\/a> make end roads with a voting record like the one i just talked about . They dont. I think its fruitless to try to dress this up. Their agenda is not one that Many American<\/a> women like. The president is a walking talking example of what women dont like either in their private lives or public office. They have a huge problem. The gender gap was enormous in 2018. I suspect with trump on the ballot in 2020, it will be even worse. If there is a democrat either at the top of the ticket or the bottom who is a woman or even a man who is able to exploit this and talk to women in a way that appreciate, which is rationally, problem solving, addressing issues they care about, Republican Party<\/a> is in a huge amount of trouble. You mentioned the nras opposition to the violence against women act in your morning run down in the post. The nra has decided to score the vote on the violence against women act meaning it will keep track and publish how lawmakers vote in an effort to reward or defeat them in the election. We know that the nra does not like that Law Enforcement<\/a> would not be able to strip domestic abusers of their guns. How does that affect republican who is may have supported the violence against womens act . Lets understand what they are opposed to. They want someone who has been an abusive boyfriend who a complaint has been lodged to be able to still get weapons. Its hard to say it with a straight face because its so loony that not only women but anyone with a woman in their life would find this absurd. Its to their old traditional base, and i do mean old. It does not have the same political muscle it did postparkland shootings. They keep going back to the the wells. They reenforce the same problem and not interested in addressing problems that women care for. Couldnt this be a moment for republicans to use Health Care Plan<\/a>s. Plans that support Womens Health<\/a> care. It could be a lay up for them. Instead they will try to get rid of obama care in the courts and not have a replacement for two years. They cannot get out of their own way because thats who they are right now. Until defeat comes their way and theres some real soul searching in the republican peaarty, they will continue to do this. Donald trump and the republicans think they got elected because of these things. They got elected despite these things. They got elected on a populist message that would give people a all sorts of stuff. Thank you. Flooding coastlines, warming winter temperatures. Those are just some of the drastic effects Global Warming<\/a> has made the new normal for the people in alaska. A town of scientists called ground zero for Climate Change<\/a>. Al roker is talking to locals about how the changing climate is changing their daytoday routines. Here along the north slope, were talking about drastic changes to way of life thats gone on for thousands of years. Because of Climate Change<\/a>, warming ewarm ing earth here. The whale hunting season begins now. Its much more dangerous to go out on the ice because its so much thinner. Were talking in some places a quarter of the thickness it should be for this time of year. The march we just ended, record setter. Warmest march on record. Warmest since they have been keeping record. As we continue to watch these this big change in their climate, we are seeing their way of life change. For example, the perma frost. The very frozen layer of earth is warming. So much so the ice cellars where they keep their whale catch and keeps food on the table for the next year, its spoiling because the temperatures are warming. They are finding water in those ice cellars that are anywhere from 15 to 20 feet down under the earths surface. Were seeing big changes along the shoreline. A Thousands Miles<\/a> of north fa facing shore because of the open water. They are having storm surge come into their communities. The number of these northern communities are seeing the edge of earth right near the shoreline. Their homes could be falling into the ocean. Big changes. Big Climate Change<\/a>s. That means way of life that has existed here for thousands of years. Maybe changed permanently and that is something that nobody wants to see. That was great stuff. Thank you for that. Al roker looked a bit cold. That wraps up this hour of msnbc live. Andrea mitchell reports starts right now. Retreat. President trump backs off on health care after Republican Leaders<\/a> rebel at thought of taking on the democrats best issue without a plan of their own. This is the secret plan. They will not pass it until after the 2020 election. Translation. They have no Health Care Plan<\/a>. Coming up, senator tim kaine who does have a Health Care Plan<\/a> of his own. Father knows best. Did donald trump clear the way for widespread cheating on proper white house clearances well beyond just ivanka and jared. Ive been accused of all different types of things. All those things have turned out to be false. Weve had a lot of crazy accusations like we colluded with russia. Feeling the heat. 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