A, quote, cancer to the Republican Party. Question is, will we see action against her in the house . And a key day in the second impeachment of donald trump. Today is the deadline for his formal response to the charge against him. Question is, whats his defense . Its way too early for this. Good morning and welcome to way too early, the show that has some fond memories of bayside high. Weve really missed you, screech. Im kasie hunt on this tuesday, february 2nd. Well start with the news. Its looking more and more likely that democrats will push through the Biden Administrations nearly 2 trillion Economic Relief package with or without republicans. The president met with a group of Senate Republicans for about two hours in the oval Office Yesterday to pitch their much smaller 600 billion package. But the message from the white house is that it doesnt meet the moment. Senator Susan Collins said the meeting was very productive and cordial, but when it comes to striking a compromise, the sides are far apart and the white house says the president is not going to delay the aid to try and win over republican support. Meanwhile, democrats on the hill have already started the process that would allow the bill to pass with only democratic votes. Yesterday, White House Press secretary jen psaki was asked exactly what the president would consider to be bipartisan. Would you consider a Bill Bipartisan if it doesnt have any republican support in congress but it has, you know, support among Republican Voters . Well, i think you touched on an interesting point, which is that 74 of the public, according to recent polls, supports this package. And the key opponents of this package. Democrats and republicans we just saw the republican governor of West Virginia come out earlier today and advocate for a big package. So, you know, when the president talks about unifying the country and bringing the country together, hes not suggesting that he is going to make one party out of the democratic and republican parties in congress, but he is meeting with republicans today, ten republicans who have sent this letter, because he feels they made a goodfaith effort to put the top lines of a proposal forward and he wants to have that engagement and encourages that sharing of ideas. And were going to get to more on the president s relief plan when Top White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein joins morning joe coming up later on this morning. And in the wake of mounting controversy, Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell is condemning congresswoman Marjorie Taylor greenes outlandish antics and claims. Mcconnell released a statement yesterday on the republican lawmaker from georgia. The statement reads, quote, looney lies and spiros theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country. Somebody who suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon On 9 11, that horrifying School Shootings were prestaged, and that the clintons crashed jfk jr. s airplane is not living in reality. This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American Families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party. Greene later responded via tweet. She wrote, the real cancer for the Republican Party is weak republicans who only know how to lose gracefully. This is why we are losing our country. Okay. Meanwhile, House Democrats are mounting an effort to strip congresswoman greene of her committee assignments. If Minority Leader Kevin Mccarthy doesnt do it first. A group of democrats introduced a resolution yesterday that would remove greene from the house education and Labor Committee and the house budget committee. Tomorrow, the rules committee is expected to meet to consider the resolution that is the first step in moving this to a vote on the house floor. A source tells nbc news that House Majority leader steny hoyer spoke to mccarthy, the Minority Leader, yesterday, and told him he needs to take action about, do something about congresswoman greene. Hoyer released a statement saying, quote, it is my hope and expectation that republicans will do the right thing and hold representative greene accountable, and we will not need to consider this resolution. But were prepared to do so, if necessary. Congressman greene hit back in another tweet yesterday, writing, quote, if democrats remove me from my committees, i can assure them that the precedent they are setting will be used extensively against members on their side once we regain the majority after the 2022 elections. And congresswoman greene is touting support from at least one person. You guessed it, former president donald trump. Greene boasted on saturday that she had spoken to trump over the phone and in an interview with one American News yesterday, she went a step further, saying that they would soon be meeting facetoface. Im excited to go visit him soon and continue to give him a call and talk to him frequently. Great news is, he supports me 100 , and ive always supported him. President trump is always here for the people and hes not going anywhere, so i look forward to joining him and what his future plans may be. Joining us now, cofounder of punch bowl news, jake sherman, an msnbc political contributor as well. Jake, good morning. It is always great to have you here. This is, of course, the week that mccarthys supposed to meet with greene to try and do something about this. Im curious what your take was on Mitch Mcconnells statement, the fact that he put it out at all the way he put it out, what he said. Is it intended as a signal to republicans across the capitol to actually do something, or is there Something Else going on here . Yeah, you know, kasie, ive been trying to figure this out. I mean, i have gotten we note in punch bowl this morning that, was this coordinated with mccarthy . We dont have any idea at this point whether it was coordinated with mccarthy. Neither side will answer that question. But this is incredibly rare, to see mcconnell weigh in on this kind of House Republican internal politics. He also weighed in on behalf of liz cheney, the House Republican conferencewoman who was under House Republican conference chairwoman who was under criticism for supporting Donald Trumps impeachment. So, put these two things together, kasie, Mitch Mcconnell is taking a more active role, so to speak, after four years of donald trump, a more active role in trying to right the Republican Party in his estimation, it seems. But incredibly rare here. And the real question to me is what will mccarthy do . Like, the behavior Margery Taylor green Marjorie Taylor greenes behavior is unacceptable to everybody, making antisemitic comments, saying jews have a laser in space to start fires is ridiculous. This is not the kind of behavior, the kind of rhetoric you would expect to hear from any sane human being, let alone a member of congress. So, what will mccarthy do here . I mean, that needs to be the question of the week, and thats what were looking out for early on this week. Well, and of course, the reality is, he and others didnt do very much to try and stop her from winning this seat back when they had a chance in the primary. They decided that being hands off was the best way to go there. You have to wonder if theyre reevaluating that decision. And of course, jake, all of this splintering in the Republican Party makes it in some ways harder for them to actually negotiate with democrats on this massive bipartisan bill thats coming down the pike. Some of the people that went to the white house yesterday have also denounced greene. They come from a different place entirely. Mitt romney, Susan Collins were at this meeting yesterday at the white house. What is your sense of what the administration wants to do here . And do you think its the same thing as what Chuck Schumer and democrats in Congress Want to do . Do you think that the Biden Administration is more interested in spending time getting these republicans on board than, say, schumer and Progressive Democrats that hes trying to keep happy . I think bidens trying to will the senate, kasie, to a period that you and i know its not in, right . I mean, these republicans are 1. 3 trillion apart from senate democrats. So, unless we believe that democrats are going to writ large, en masse, pair back their demands and decide that they are now for a 1 trillion deal, instead of a 2 trillion deal, i just dont see this happening. I think republicans are looking for a Palate Cleanser from the administration, and many of them want to try to legislate with biden early on while ground is still fertile, and i think thats what this is about. Well, we shall see. It seems like theyre moving as quickly as they can here, which in washington seems slow to everyone else, but you and i know that doing a bill like this in a month, month and a half is a pretty quick timetable. Punch bowl news jake sherman, thank you, as always, my friend, for being up early with us. We really appreciate it. Still ahead, Major League Baseball looks like it will get under way sooner rather than later after the Players Association rejected a proposal to delay the start of the season. Plus, were going to have the latest on that powerful winter storm that has covered the northeast in snow and mores on the way in certain areas. Meteorologist bill karins is going to have a look at the forecast when we come right back. Ome right back wanna build a Gaming Business that breaks the internet . That means working night and day. And delegating to an experienced live bookkeeper for peace of mind. Your books are all set. So you can finally give john some attention. Trusted experts. Guaranteed accurate books. Intuit quickbooks live. The calming scent of lavender by downy infusions calm. Laundry isnt done until its done with downy. If you have. Moderate to severe psoriasis,. Little things. Can become your big moment. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not a cream. Its a pill that treats Plaque Psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea,. Nausea or vomiting. 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The union did not make a counteroffer to the leagues plan, which would have pushed back the start of Spring Training from February 17th to march 22nd, delayed opening day from april 1st to the 28th, and cut eight games from each teams regularseason schedule. The mlb also proposed expanding the playoffs to include 14 teams, instead of 10, extending the Designated Hitter to the National League for a second straight season, and keep the experimental rules for seveninning doubleheaders and beginning extra innings with a runner on second base. In a statement, the Players Union said it did not make this decision lightly, adding, quote, we appreciate that significant challenges lie ahead and we look forward to promptly finalizing enhanced health and safety protocols that will help players and clubs meet these challenges. The league issued a Statement Last night, saying its instructing teams to report on time, writing in part, quote, our 2020 season taught us that when the nation faces crisis, the National Game is as important as ever, and there is Nothing Better than playing ball. We were able to complete a 2020 season through hurricane lean efforts and sacrifices made by our players, club staff, and mlb staff to protect one another. We will do so again together, as we work towards playing another safe and entertaining season in 2021. And in the first coronavirusrelated issue ahead of sundays super bowl, the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs have placed Wide Receiver Demarcus Robinson and backup Center Dan Kilgore on the reserve covid19 list due to close contact with an infected person. The players could still be activated for the big game against the tampa bay buccaneers, if they return negative tests on five straight days. We wish them health. Lets go now to the nba and last nights matchup between the Detroit Pistons and denver nuggets, which was postponed minutes before tipoff, because Contact Tracing left detroit without the leaguerequired eight available players for the game. It marks the 23rd Nba Contest postponed so far this season. Espn reports the pistons were watching pregame film when they learned the game would be postponed because one of their players returned a positive or inconclusive test. Sources tell the network that the team remained in denver to retest players before departing for Salt Lake City where theyre expected to face the utah jazz tomorrow. All right, time now for the weather and theres a lot of it. Lets get to meteorologist bill karins for a check on the forecast. Bill, looks like you got a lot of snow there, and there are some others up in the northeast who are still getting it this morning. Yeah, kasie, im sour this morning. I just heard the plows go by. Ive already done the end of my driveway three times. And you know, then the plow goes by again and just pushes more there. And its going to be one of those days. Yeah, 20 inches in my front yard. But heres the highest totals state by state. Mendham, new jersey, with 30 inches, about a half hour from me. Lords valley, 28, rye, new york, 22, danbury, connecticut, 19, and maryland, sabillasville, never even heard of them before 19 inches of snow. Top 20 alltime snowstorm for central park, 16. 8 inches. Hartford almost a foot. Philly had about half a foot. Were adding it up still in albany. Boston was too warm, mostly rain mixed in right along the coastal areas. Interior sections did a lot more. So, we still have temperatures in the 20s and low 30s. We still have areas of blue. Thats light snow out there through many regions, even around washington, d. C. , this morning and philadelphia. We could see an additional coating to an inch in the areas of white, and when we get to the blue and the pinks, thats the heavier snow. Thats mostly going to be confined to Northern New England and areas of maine during the day today. So were almost done with this storm, but we will see a lot of light snow and snow showers during the day today. The rest of the countrys looking pretty nice in the middle of the country. Look at denver today, almost 60 degrees and sunny skies. Beautiful in dallas, too. But that storm in the northwest is going to move across the country in the next couple days. And here we go, kasie. Our european Computer Model over the next seven days pinpointing areas of purple with the potential for heavy snow. That would be in the great lakes on thursday and the possibility of a noreastertype storm in new england as we go through super bowl sunday, especially sunday night into monday. Well have more details on that as we go throughout the week. Lets get done with this first one. Yeah, for real. Never a dull moment. Bill karins, thank you so much, my friend, and good luck shoveling your driveway yet again. Still ahead, with a senate trial looming, President Trump is facing a deadline to file his response to the impeachment charge. Were going to have the latest on his Defense Strategy coming up next. On his Defense Strategyg up next. This is what Community Looks like. Caring for each other, protecting each other. And as the Covid Vaccine rolls out, well be ready to administer it. At tmobile, we have a plan built just for customers 55 and up. Saving 50 vs. Other carriers well be ready to administer it. With 2 unlimited lines for less than 30 each. Call 1800tmobile or go to tmobile. Com 55. Want to brain better . Unlike ordinary Memory Supplements neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. Memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. 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Welcome back. With the Impeachment Trial just days away, Donald Trumps attorney, david schoen, previewed his argument in an interview last night with a trump media ally. Watch. This process is completely unconstitutional, and this is a very, very dangerous road to take with respect to the first amendment, putting at risk any passionate political speaker, which is really against everything we believe in, in this country, the foundation of the first amendment. But im going to tell you, i think its also the most illadvised legislative action that ive seen in my lifetime. It is tearing the country apart at a time when we dont need anything like that. I think President Biden missed a great opportunity to be a statesman and demanded that this thing be called off, frankly. This is the political weaponization of the impeachment process. And though trump reportedly wanted a defense based on the claim that the election was stolen from him through fraud, schoen told the Washington Post his client now supports this strategy to argue that the trial, itself, is unconstitutional and that his january 6th remarks were protected by the first amendment. Okay. And the gamestop market surge may have rounding the corner after the video games stock lost a third of its market value yesterday. This follows last weeks 400 surge and over 1600 jump in value that they saw in the month of january. Robinhood and other brokerage sites continued to limit buying of gamestop. Other names favored by The Reddit Group wall street bets yesterday to try and stave off major volatility. Some of these other shorted stocks express, cost, and Naked Brand Group also posted losses, while others, amc, genius brands, blackberry and nokia, still posted gains. Meanwhile, on capitol hill, chairman of the House Committee on financial services, congresswoman maxine waters, announced a virtual hearing on the gamestop situation thats going to be held february 19th. Should be an interesting day. And such a sad story. Dustin diamond, who is known for his role as the endearingly nerdy screech on the series Saved By The Bell i loved this show has died at the age of 44. Diamonds death comes weeks after it was announced that he had stage four hung cancer. And last week, his condition deteriorated quickly. And he was taken off a ventilator in an attempt to place him in hospice care. Diamond was surrounded by his girlfriend and a close friend when he passed. And in a statement, his longtime managers said, Dustin Diamond was a character in and of himself, an Unpredictable Spitfire who always left us shocked but never left us bored. Dustin was a humorous and highspirited individual whose greatest passion was to make others laugh. He will be missed. All right, still ahead here, much more on where President Bidens Coronavirus Relief deal stands after his meeting with ten Senate Republicans yesterday. Plus, new reporting on bidens approach to the issue of immigration. But before we go to break, we want to know, as always, why are you awake . Email us your reasons for being up and watching with us to waytooearly msnbc. Com or drop me a tweet. Use waytooearly and we will read the best answers coming up later on in the show. Read the b later on in the show sales are down from last quarter but we are hoping things will pick up by q3. Yeah. Uh. Doug . Sorry about that. Umm. What. Its. Um. You alright . [sigh] [ding] never settle with power e trade. It has powerful, easytouse tools to help you find opportunities, 24 7 support when you need answers plus some of the lowest options and futures Contract Prices around. Dont get mad. Get e trade and start trading today. 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It is 5 30 here on the east coast, 2 30 out west. Im kasie hunt. Well begin this half hour with the latest on President Bidens plan for Coronavirus Relief. It is looking more and more likely that democrats will try to push through the administrations nearly 2 trillion economic aid package with or without republicans. The president met with a group of Senate Republicans for about two hours in the oval Office Yesterday. Thats a long time for this kind of meeting. They pitched their much smaller 600 billion package. But the message from the white house is that it doesnt meet the moment. Senator Susan Collins said the meeting was very productive and cordial, but when it comes to striking compromise, the sides are far apart. And the white house says the president will not delay aid to try and win republican support. Meanwhile, democrats on the hill have already started the process that would allow a bill to pass without republican support. And as Congress Debates how big the new coronavirus Stimulus Package should be, a notable skeptic of President Bidens 1. 9 trillion proposal is democratic senator joe manchin from West Virginia. But the republican governor of his home state, jim justice, actually begged to differ. Watch. At this point in time in this nation, we need to go big. We need to quit counting the egg sucking legs on the cows and count the cows and just move, and move forward and move right now. We need to go big. And if we waste some money now, well, we waste some money, but absolutely, weve got too many people hurting, an economys going to sputter, and weve got to get ourselves out of this mess and this is the way we need to go right now. The message from governors in both parties you heard one of them there saying, look, this is really, really dire, we need more help. Its the republicans in congress who seem to be resisting that message. And also this morning, there is new reporting on president joe bidens approach to immigration policy. According to the associated press, the new administration has already deported hundreds of undocumented immigrants. As the ap puts it, that comes despite his Campaign Pledge to stop removing most people in the u. S. Illegally at the beginning of his term. Senior officials tell nbc news President Bidens expected to establish a task force today to identify and facilitate the reunification of children separated from their parents at the southern border. That effort will include identifying all children separated due to trumps Zero Tolerance policy, facilitating the reunification of separated children, providing regular reports to the president about this, and ensuring the federal government never repeats this policy or makes similar practices in the future. All right, joining us now, senior White House Reporter for nbc news digital, shannon pettypiece. She is outside a very snowy white house this morning. Shannon, thank you so much for being up early with us on this very chilly february day. I actually i would like to start by talking through the Coronavirus Relief plan here and what we learned in the wake of that meeting. Two hours is a really long time for the president to spend having this kind of a conversation. Clearly, it was much different than the way many of these chats went during the Trump Administration. But the bottomline question is whether they came away thinking that they could actually negotiate in good faith and get a deal that was big enough for President Biden to feel confident it would actually help people. Whats your sense of how this meeting went and what it means for what happens next . Reporter well, youre right, kasie, no one walked out of this meeting in dramatic fashion, as we so often saw with the Trump Administration when he would meet with democrats. But you know, no one was really getting into the nuts and bolts of this negotiation in this meeting. You could maybe call this a jumping off point for negotiation, but as one source put it to me, no one was getting out the pen and paper and the calculator and really trying to hammer out the nuts and bolts and logistics to try and get them together. Now, thats the type of stuff that could still come, but the white house has been indicating theyre not willing to wait that long. We are approaching the second week of bidens time in office, and of course, while thats not a lot of time, there is a great sense of urgency within the white house. Now, the white house knows, and officials have said over and over that they are open to compromise. They do not have to get every dollar of the 1. 9 trillion. But of course, they are, you know, about 1. 3 trillion im sorry yeah, apart right now, so they need to close that gap and they need to close that gap quickly. And i think that is the big question. In the coming days, how much are we going to see each side move . Just sort of like negotiations over a house. Are we going to see republicans come up 100 billion, or are we going to see them come up 400 billion . Are we going to see the white house come down, you know, 300 billion, until we get to some points where maybe were at a 900 billion package . Dont worry, shannon. I cant do math at this hour of the morning anyway. Honestly, nobody expects us to do subtraction liven on the air. So, whats your sense . Democrats have to use this complicated process, if they want to pass a bill here without republican votes. Is there any talk of them doing some sort of compromise with the republicans who want to talk about this 600 billion and then also using that Budget Process to do more to try and get that far, perhaps allowing them to say, yes, we made a bipartisan compromise, but also we went big . Well, possibly. I mean, white house officials have continued to say that they want to use the Reconciliation Process for other stuff, potentially a bigger, broader Stimulus Package. And while republicans think this is a pretty big, broad Stimulus Package, biden considers this just his phase one. So, they would like to do something with reconciliation, something, if theyre going to have to do it with just democrats, they want to do it on their big phase two package. You know, this is bidens coming out of the gate, showing what he can do, this longtime senator who really ran on being able to bring the sides together. So, as much as it is about getting something done, which it certainly is from white house officials about wanting to get something done, its also symbolic. So, i think were going to also see continued efforts on this unity, symbolic bipartisanship effort, too. But again, white house officials are saying there is not much time. This is not something that is going to be dragging into march, for example. No, its a very good point. Nbcs shannon pettypiece, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. Go get warm. And still ahead here, for the ladies out there whod rather quarantine with their besties instead of their boyfriends, dont worry, youre not alone. Plus, the honor that could put Stacey Abrams in a category with four former president s and even albert einstein. Well have those stories coming up next in the cooler. Dont go anywhere. Way too early back in just a moment. Nywhere. Way too early back in just a moment my husband and i have never eaten healthier. Shingles doesnt care. I logged 10,000 steps today. Shingles doesnt care. I get as much fresh air as possible. Good for you, but shingles doesnt care. Because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. But no matter how healthy you feel your Immune System Declines as you age, increasing your risk for getting shingles. 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Tide pods childguard packaging. Thank you for being a friend traveled down the road and back again your heart is true, youre a pal and a confidante seems like The Golden Girls may have been on to something, even without a pandemic. A new study shows that over half of american women would rather quarantine with their closest female friend than their romantic partner. In a study of 2,000 women, 56 said that they would rather be stuck at home with their best friend, and that includes 60 of millennials. 47 said the pandemics brought them closer to their best female friend, with 89 saying that those relationships helped them cope with the pandemic. After spending all of these months in the midst of said pandemic, many people can say they have a new perspective on life. 59 said that, regardless of gender, the pandemic made them realize that their current best friend will be in their lives forever. Thats sweet. And former georgia gubernatorial democratic candidate and Voting Rights activist Stacey Abrams has been nominated for the nobel peace prize. Abrams and her organization, fair fight action, were integral in increasing Voter Turnout in georgia last year, specifically within the black community, ultimately, flipping a longtime red state blue and helping joe biden secure the presidency. Abrams was nominated by a member of Norways Parliament who said in part, abrams work follows in dr. Martin luther king jr. s footsteps in the fight for Equality Before The Law and for civil rights. She joins a long list of nominees, including russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny and Climate Change activist greta thunberg. The Nobel Committee will release the Awards Short List in march. And we learned yesterday that singer tony bennett was diagnosed with alzheimers disease in 2016, but that hes continued to create music. Bennetts team also revealed that he and lady gaga have been working on a followup album to their charttopping record cheek to cheek from 2014, and its due to be released this spring. The due you started recording the album at new yorks Electric Lady Studios in 2018 and continued through early last year, all while bennett was showing clear signs of the disease. Lady gaga was aware of bennetts condition and acted as an encouraging partner, according to bennetts wife, adding that he still recognizes her. Excited to hear what theyve put together. And broadway shows have been closed for a while now with a Tentative Reopening Set for early summer. But for those of you who are missing their favorite shows, One Hit Musical is getting film treatment. Universal announced yesterday that the Film Adaptation of dr. Evan hansen will be released on september 24th. The show, which won six tony awards, including best musical, centers on an awkward and socially anxious teen who gets caught in a web of lies after pretending to be Close Friends with a classmate that died by suicide. Ben platt, who originated the role on broadway for which he won an emmy, a grammy, and a tony, has reprised his role as evan hansen for the film. The Film Adaptation also stars Julianne Moore and amy adams. Something to look forward to. All right, still ahead here, the senates Top Republican defends congresswoman liz cheney amid criticism from members of the party over her vote to impeach former President Trump. Dont go anywhere. Way too early coming right back. Go anywhere. Way too ear lycoming right back did you know that your clothes can actually attract pet hair . With new bounce pet hair lint guard, your clothes can repel pet hair. Look how the shirt on the left attracts pet hair like a magnet pet hair is no match for bounce. 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Forwardthinking enterprises deserve forwardthinking solutions. And thats what we deliver. So bounce forward, with comcast business. As congresswoman liz cheney continues to feel the heat from her own party over her vote to impeach former President Trump, Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell is coming to her defense. He released a statement to cnn yesterday. It read in part, liz cheney is a leader with deep convictions and the courage to act on them. She is an important leader in our party and in our nation. I am grateful for her service and look forward to continuing to work with her on the crucial issues facing our nation. Joining us now, longtime capitol hill aide who served in the offices of the last two republican speakers. Hes a current partner at Strategic Communications firm seven letter, brendan buck. Brendan, good morning thank you so much for getting up early with us today. Mcconnell making some interesting moves here, and i know you noted that its extremely rare for a member of the senate to get involved in whats going on in the house. Its a little bit of a battle between the two of them, the two of the houses. But my question for you is, what do you think mcconnell is going for here . And if he is trying to step out and take a leadership role, is it going to work or is it too little, too late . Yeah, theres a pretty wellunderstood rule that house leaders dont get involved in senate mess and Senate Leaders dont get involved in house mess, and theres clearly a Big Mess In The House right now with liz cheney facing calls to step down from her post and Marjorie Taylor greene obviously under a lot of heat. What Mitch Mcconnell said in that statement is far more in defense of liz cheney than Kevin Mccarthy, the House Majority leader, has ever said. So its really interesting that Mitch Mcconnell felt compelled to wade into it in the way that he did. I think Mitch Mcconnell in the last few weeks has been trying to, in words and actions, make the point to his fellow republicans that we need to move past donald trump, that donald trump is an electoral disaster for the party, and we cant continue to be a party that exists purely in his image. And so, liz cheney, obviously, is facing a lot of heat. Hes trying to give her some cover. I think he realizes it would be a terrible image for republicans to boot her for the one person to face any consequences for what happened on january 6th to be liz cheney and not the president. So, i think hes trying to move us along. I hope that it is helpful. I wish that more republicans would be standing up for liz cheney right now. So, brendan, you mentioned Marjorie Taylor greene as well, and there was another statement from mcconnell yesterday night, where he called her Conspiracy Theories loony lies and labeled her a cancer. I mean, those are incredibly strong words, not words that Kevin Mccarthy, the house leader, has used. Youve been behind the scenes in these rooms with mccarthy. You know him well. I know from my reporting, mcconnell and mccarthy dont necessarily have how to put it gently mcconnell runs things a little differently than mccarthy runs things. How do you think mccarthys strength or weakness in dealing with this is going to affect how this plays out . Yeah, you know, there are factions of the house conference, thinking of the freedom caucus, people like jim jordan, who have more power than ever, and they are able to, i think, unfortunately, push around the leadership in a way that is not constructive. And i think what youre seeing right now is both mccarthy and scalise are really trying to make sure they keep the right flank in line. Look, jim jordan was able to round up hundreds excuse me, over 100 members questioning whether liz cheney should be there. That tells you theres a lot of anger at her. And i think he is trying to wade into that very very delicately. I think what he has tried to say is that there needs to be unity in the conference. Whether or not theres a lot of interesting in having unity in the conference is another thing. It is usually not instructive to go gunning at your own members. You want to let them get in the room, vent, say their piece and move on. Hes obviously being very delicate with this and not willing to make comments that Mitch Mcconnell did, which i find very interesting. It is remarkable to me that in one day the Senate Leader would put out statements on two different House Members really, i think, trying to signal to House Members as well as the country what kind of party he thinks we want to be and thinks it would be an awful shame if we demote liz cheney and dont do anything about Marjorie Taylor greene. He obviously, bottom line, wants to win elections and is trying to send the message were not going to win them if we act this way. Very quickly, brendan, the siege of the capitol and whats been unfold anything myanmar, i noticed you tweeted about this. How do you think it affects our standing in the world in terms of being able to support democracies the way we have in the past, that this all unfolded at the capitol. Yeah. You know, we want to sit here and this that was just donald trump or an anomaly. In the eyes of the world, its the united states. When we want to tell countries to stick by your democratic principles and they see us with an attempted coup going on, we lose our credibility and its damaging. There is more to it than the violence we saw that one day. It speaks to us in a broader sense that will last for a long time. Thats a very important point. Thank you for being up early with us. We asked earlier why are you awake . My son lives in a longterm Care Facility and im making valentines for those who live in the facility. Christie said its ground haug day. Couldnt sleep because im so excited for phils prediction. I am up this early because my neighbor was snowblowing his driveway at 3 30 this morning. Who does that . Im up for two reasons. Im resired and so i do whatever i want whenever i want. Small benefit of being old. Also looking forward to watching your show followed by morning joe. Well deserved. Well earned. Thank you all for watching this morning. Coming up next, the axios 1 big thing. Top white house economic adviser Jared Bernstein as Congress Debates the size of the new coronavirus package. Dont go anywhere. Morning joe just moments away. R to treat her frequent heartburn, marie could only imagine enjoying freshly squeezed orange juice. Now no fruit is forbidden. Nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for allday, allnight protection. Can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn . 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Welcome back. Joining us now with a look at axios a. M. , alexei mccam cammond. Whats the big thing today . As you have been reporting on, former President Trumps legal team basically disbanded just days before his Senate Impeachment trial. And axios learned it wasnt just disagreements over legal strategy that led to the implosion of trumps legal team. But there were many tense phone calls with him and butch bowers to discuss financial matters. Bowers said his personal fees would be 250,000. Trump was delighted by that figure but didnt realize that bowers hadnt yet figured in other factors like additional researchers, lawyers, legal fees. Eventually told the former president this would cost him 3 million. Trump wasnt okay with that. He went back and negotiated the lawyer down to 1 million. He thought this would be pretty straightforward. There was already enough said, he told the folks, to acquit him. They didnt need to invest that much. That added to the lawyers existing frustration about the legal strategy. They were uncomfortable with using the former president s unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud as the central argument in the case. And add the fact that the former president didnt want to pay them as much as they felt they earned. That led to this implosion of his legal team at the worst possible time days before he is set to face a second Impeachment Trial. Par for the course for the previous administration. To that point, alexi, you have reporting of a Pretty Wild Meeting at the white house in the final days of the Trump Administration. What happened . Thats right. My colleague Jonathan Swan has new reporting showing that in middecember, sidney powell, the controversial minded lawyer of sorts helping President Trumps efforts to overturn the election, she marched into the oval office with a couple others, including Michael Flynn and the farmer ceo of overstock. Com. This meeting with President Trump wasnt on his schedule anywhere. So white house lawyers and advisers who saw sidney and others march into the room march 18th were kind of wondering what she was doing there and why she was meeting with the president. And it turns out that she and others were there to really try to convince former President Trump that he had the power to invoke Emergency Powers to overturn the election to convince him to keep up the fight as they said against the election and to overturn the results. But it got so heated and tense over the course of two plus hours in this meeting, kasie, that Rudy Giuliani who was on the phone who was on speaker phone told everyone to calm down. And a participant in the meeting told my colleague when Rudy Giuliani is the voice of reason, you know things have gone out of hand. But that small moment just really encapsulates this larger kind of, you know, really confusing and problematic and illinformed legal strategy that trump tried to bring in to help, not least of which he brought in the lawyers who is not dealing in facts and reality. Alexi mccammond, thank you very much. Its auto always nice to hear from you. We learned last night from alexandria ocasiocortez. She was locked in a bathroom saying she thought she was about to die. Those are the experiences on trial when this trial gets under way. Lets not lose sight what this is about. At this point in this nation we need to go big. We need to quick counting the legs on the cows and count the cows and just move, and move forward and move right now. We need to go big. And if we waste some money now, we waste some moy