Altogether, the industry supports over 9 million jobs nationwide. These are jobs that natural gas is helping make happen, all while reducing americas emissions. Energy lives here. As you know, alongside the first public trump russia hearings in the house monday morning, in the Senate Monday morning will be the First Supreme Court nomination hearings for neil gorsuch. To get ready for those gorsuch hearings, sunday night 5 00 p. M. Eastern, a special look at go such and those hearings hosted by ari melbur. You should watch this. Hes sitting in for lawrence because he works too much. Thank you. Thank you for the plug. As for working too much, the old saying, look whos talking. I feel it. Thanks. Have a great weekend. Donald trump has doubled down on his unsubstantiated accusation that president obama
done in this office, in 50 days. Trump has done more in office the way a toddler helps out in the kitchen. Health Care Health Care for all health care for all its hard for most people to run away from their problems, because problems have a way of running with you. Thats what donald trump found today as he tried to run away from his domestic problems by focusing on foreign affairs. But that just put a global spotlight on trumps struggle to explain his baseless accusation that Obama Wiretapped him, a performance that has shown trump blustering, then nervous, now full of righteous blame as he pretends his accusation was from other people. Are there from time to time tweets that you regret in hindsight . Very seldom. We said nothing. All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. I didnt make an opinion on it, that was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on fox. And so you shouldnt be talking to me, you should be talking to fox. So trumps new defense of his discredited claim that is its not his claim. He didnt make an opinion on it, except then he did. Again, in the same presser, suggesting that the premise that the u. S. Surveilled him was still operative, just like he claims it surveilled Angela Merkel in 2013. As far as wiretapping, i guess by this past administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps. Perhaps. Thats actually not true. While it was revealed that the u. S. Did snoop on merkels cell phone for a time, there is, of
course, no evidence to support trumps claim that he was specifically targeting for wiretaps. All the latest news only reinforces that. Intel Committee Leaders in both parties rebutting trump. Today we can report nbc news documenting that trumps own Justice Department provided materials to those committees and they do not support trumps claims. Also the same doj confirming today that it had, quote, complied with those congressional requests for proof. Heres the bottom line right now. There are only two types of government sources on this story. Those who have rebutted trump completely, and those who havent spoken yet. The first category includes virtually everyone in a position to know, while the second category includes one man holding his rhetorical fire, fbi director james comey, who will testify before congress on monday, a hearing that may even overshadow President Trumps preferred monday headline, those hearings for his Supreme Courtnominee. The old theory was that all of this type of stuff, these trump tweets, were clever distractions, deft moves of political chess to avoid negative headlines. But this has become the negative headline. It doesnt look like political chess. It looks increasingly like a game of political Russian Roulette with trump taking reckless shots that can easily wound his own administration. The record shows thats what sean spicer thought when he tried to muzzle trump and shut down this story, that was two weeks ago, when he first responded to the wiretap tweet by telling reporters, neither the white house nor the president will comment further on the issue until congress looks into it. That statement proved inoperative because trump keeps commenting. And that ensures he keeps taking his problems with him wherever he goes. Joining me now is jonathan finer, former Chief Of Staff to Secretary Of State john kerry, a contributor to Foreign Policy magazine. Evan siegfried, author of gop gsp. Dared corn, Washington Bureau chief for mother jones, msnbc
political analyst. David, the record is voluminous. The record shows this claim of wiretap is false. Well, of course it does. And its also true that the Justice Department has no evidence that theres an easter bunny and theres no evidence that barack obama mugged donald trump in the streets of new york in 1987. He just says stuff. Sometimes it pops into his head, sometimes it comes from breitbart. Today it came from fox, from a guy he called a very talented legal mind who happens to be a 9 11 truther, andrew napolitano. And when trump gets caught head he says, well, it wasnt me. Im just the president here. You should go after fox. Hes essentially saying, they report, we repeat. Thats it. He doesnt feel that he has any
obligation to vet anything that he says or tweets, and you almost, you dont but you almost have to feel sorry for the sean spicers, kellyanne conways, who are people who know better but pretend they dont. Thats become part of their job is to pretend otherwise. The wiretapping story causing International Problems with sean spicer citing that debunked report claiming that britains Intelligence Services wiretapped him as well. Jonathan, unpack that for us. Yes. So look, i think that the president hit an unbelievably negative trifecta in his Press Availability with chancellor merkel today. One, he reopened the wound with the uk that his team had tried to clean up earlier in the morning by again asserting they had wiretapped him when we all know thats not the case. He also drag the chancellor and the German Government into this fray, which im sure was the last thing they wanted when theyre trying to build a relationship with the United States. We didnt book a body language expert, but she didnt look into it, didnt look like
she liked it. The third piece, in some ways the most troubling, he further drew down his own eroding credibility. Theres going to be a time the president faces a crisis thats not of his making and hell need credibility to go to allies and the country and say, trust me, this is what is happening and this is what we need to do. Hes undermining his ability to build that up trust. Take a listen to donald trump trying to say that this all comes back to whether or not he used scare quotes. When i say wiretap, those words were in quotes. That really covers. Because wiretapping is pretty oldfashioned stuff. That really covers fail lasurve and many other things. Nobody ever talks about the fact that it was in quotes. We have it before the committee and we will be submitting things before the committee very soon that hasnt been submitted as of yet. Its potentially a very serious situation. So all we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for
saying that on television. I didnt make an opinion on it. That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on fox. You see that msnbc fact check on each of those claims. These are falsehoods that he seems to think will still work with somebody . Theyll work with his base, who will buy anything he sells. But its not factually true. Every Single Organization that is said its not true. And its distracting. And the fact that the president of the United States has gone out and basically thrown said the buck stops somewhere over there, not with me, like harry truman said, is very disturbing. The president of the United States is also accidentally admitting that if anybody puts something in front of him, hes going to believe it. So if i tell him im the creator of ses street and hes now going to believe it. As republican, im very concerned by that. We have in one day, as jonathan mentioned, upset our closest ally, and one of the closest allies well need, especially in the fight on isis, as well as to
deal with the Refugee Crisis thats going on in syria. I dont understand how today was a productive day. And throwing somebody else under the bus and not taking personal responsibility and saying im sorry, i messed up, thats not president ial. And thats not something we need in a leader. David, there are larger politics on that. Evan brings up sesame street. This is like when they were always telling big burden snuffle lup does was around the corner, eventually big period didnt believe it. Theres a Credibility Analogy but i dont want to stretch it too far. I want you to listen to tom cole, republican, talking about what should happen next. Its all well and good to say, donald trump does this and his base likes it and thats the end of the story. Its not the end of the story. Hes a flue new president. Heres a republican saying what should be done. Frankly, unless you can produce some pretty compelling proof, i think the president , you know, president obama is owed an apology in that regard. Because if he didnt do it, we
shouldnt be reckless in accusations that he did. David . Well, thats at the very least. I dont think well ever see donald trump apologize for everything. He has said, he was asked during the campaign, have you ever gretted ything, have you ever had to apologize . And he said, eh, after 70 years, no. So there will be no apology. This is a fellow who can never concede really doing anything wrong from his bankruptcies to his lies. It doesnt matter. I do think jonathan finers point from early on is the deadon thing. Right now we have Rex Tillerson and others talking about going to war with north korea and jonathans right. One day the president will have to say, listen, we have intelligence saying this or that, and because of that we took military action. And how can you believe donald trump on anything . That intelligence could be something that he heard on alex jones radio show that morning. This is a guy who cant tell the difference between real facts, alternative facts, and things he
just makes up. I mean, look, i obviously agree with that and i think one of the big problems that we have right now is there are too few people with credibility on these issues who are speaking on behalf of the United States. That starts frankly with the Secretary Of State, Rex Tillerson, who thankfully has now started allowing briefings to be conducted from the state department. We didnt have any between roughly january 19th and march 6th. Hes finally started to answer some questions of his own in a Press Availability in asia. But what we need is policy statements. Speeches. Public diplomacy conducted by people other than the president and the Press Secretary who i dont think are the best face for america to the world right now on these issues. David, on the confirmation of all of this, in court, lawyers never want to ask a question they dont know the answer to. Because you end up looking really stupid. And here is donald trump out there not prepared and says, just go ask fox news. The folks at fox news he talks to all the time. His staff talks to them, he t k talks to tucker carlson. He could have checked this out, he clearly didnt. After saying that heres what happened. Shep smith. Fox news cannot confirm judge napolitanos commentary. Fox news kws of no evidence of any kind that the nowpresident of the United States was surveilled at any time in any way, full stop. Full stop, david. Well, you know. Kudos to shep smith and others at Fox Who Dont Want to be tarred by Donald Trumps lies. As much as others on the network have enabled him. And we can never forget, ari, i know you dont, that this was a guy who for three years ran around saying, i have evidence that the president wasnt born in hawaii i have my investigators you cant believe what theyre reporting to me, you cant believe the information im seeing, information that we never saw. That even didnt make to it newsm newsmax. So this is a fellow who again and again commits the same crime. We shouldnt be surprised. And its too bad that so many people have fallen for it. And now you see a lot of republicans, tom cole is an exception, who still try to apologize for this. Or at least pretend its not a very serious matter. David, i think you may have just coined a new standard. The not even newsmax will touch it standard for those who follow newsmax. Com. This isnt just on Foreign Policy, weve seen a pattern with the president since he took office where hell say or do something and make a promise he wont uphold. How is that going to help him negotiating with congress over passing legislation and trying to strong arm them into passing the Affordable Health care act thursday in the house when he goes back on his word . He did it last weekend with preet bharara. Blaming other people and saying, it was in scare quotes. I dont understand from the republicans ive spoken to on the hill, they are nervous, they dont think he can keep his word. You need to have that as a president of the United States. Absolutely. Jonathan finer, david corn, evan, thank you so much. Coming up, President Trumpsays the Health Care Bill, going grate great another republican senator saying its doa. Later, a look at the cost of brinksmanship in trumps Foreign Policy. Had. The classes, the friends, the independence. And since we planned for it, that student debt is the one experience, im glad shell miss when you have the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant. Ameriprise
politics, And Trumps Travel Ban . Im excited to tell you i am anchoring a twohour special on that confirmation fight on the eve of the hearings, sunday, 5 00 p. M. Eastern, joined by senators on the judiciary committee, leaders at naacp and planned parenthood, conservative legal scholars, a former clerk to judge gorsuch. Id like to tnk its the ultimate pregame for coirmation day. I hope you all will tune in. I hope youll keep it locked here on The Last Word. Next were reporting on that story, trump saying the Health Care Bill is all coming together, now a key republican senator saying he wont even vote for it. My belly pain and constipation . I could build a small city with all the overthecounter products ive used. Enough ive tried enough laxatives to cover the eastern seaboard. Ive climbed a Mount Everest of fiber. Probiotics . Enough avo if youve had enough, tell your doctor what youve tried and how long youve been at it. Linzess works differently from laxatives. Linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. It can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete Bowel Movements that are easier to pass. Do not give linzess to children under six, and it should not be given to children six to less than eighteen. It may harm them. Dont take linzess if you have a Bowel Blockage. Get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. The most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. If its severe stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. Other side effects include gas, stomacharea pain and swelling. Talk to your doctor about managing your symptoms proactively with linzess. President trump says he has
a third republican senator, this is big, dean heller of nevada, says he also will not vote for the bill. He told bloomberg news, i dont support the house bill in its current form. Joining us now is jared bernstein, former chief economist to Vice President biden and msnbc contributor, evan siegfried, author of gop gps. Jared, lets start with politics. I know you want to get deep into insurance rates and all that. But i do. You know this congress. On a scale of definitely passing to oh my god we have a problem, what does it mean when this early in the push theyre losing this many republicans . Much closer to we have a problem. But i wouldnt say that the likelihood that this gets out of the house is zero. You know, theres a chance that theyre going to be able to
muster votes. The hard part is that you just heard the hardright republican say this draconian bill, and i wont go into the numbers other than to say it unwinds the Coverage Benefits of Obamacare In Part by really gutting the medicaid program. Jared, its friday night, you keep that calculator in your pocket. Well, and transferring all of those hundreds of billions of benefits to rich people. So thats not farright enough for some of this caucus. Meanwhile theres moderates, many of whom have the Medicaid Expansion in their states, and theyre hard pressed to vote for a bill thats going to take 14 Million People off the rolls. But it could come out of the house. It could go over to the senate. Something very different could come out of the senate. And then youd have this collision in conference. And i have a hard time seeing what that produces. And evan, the politics here, of course, most senators in the repuicanarty are