Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning 20240704

Good morning, welcome to morning joe. Its wednesday, march 13th. We have so much more to get to with that hearing yesterday on capitol hill. Democrats pressed the former Special Counsel on his language about President Bidens memory while republicans wanted to know why the president wasnt charged. Meanwhile, also on capitol hill, today the who house is expected to vote on a bill that could lead to a ban on one of the most popular apps in america. Well explain that legislation. Well also get analysis on the alarming comments from russian president Vladimir Putin this morning about the threat to use nuclear weapons. Hes saying that if russias sovereignty or independence is threatened, he will use nukes. Good morning, everybody. Along with willie and me, we have the host of wasteway, bureau chief at politico jonathan louisiana mere. Msnbc contributor Mike Barnacle and jonathan martin. Great group this morning. Also has President Biden announced a new Weapons Package for ukraine. According to u. S. Officials, the package will include Artillery Shells and ammunition, antiarmor weapons, antiaircraft missiles and spare parts. Defense Officials Say this is a onetime arrangement made possible through savings in longterm contracts with weapons makers. With foreign aid funding stalled on the hill, the Biden Administration working to find creative ways to help ukraine as the country faces dire Weapons Shortages in its fight against russia. And willie, this along with the news just a few hours ago about Vladimir Putin threatening to use nuclear weapons, you have to wonder what the administration is thinking was, maybe very concerned stepping right over congress to get that aid to ukraine. Funding for ukraine is an urgent matter underlined yesterday by polands Prime Minister. He spoke to reporters outside the white house following a meeting that lasted about an hour and 40 minutes saying he hopes House Speaker johnson will realize inaction could cost thousands of lives in ukraine. Quote, this is not some political smirmish that only matters here in america. The ab sebs of this decision will really cost thousands of lives there. Children, women, he must be aware of his personal responsibility. Thats the polish Prime Minister directly talking to mike johnson in getting this money. This 300 million is an ad hoc way to go about it. They found some money. They are going to get it to ukraine. Its not the longterm solution to funding ukraine. Is there any movement to get congress on board . Its a help, but its in a drp in the bucket. This comes in a moment where President Biden and polish Prime Minister made this Push Yesterday to say, look, we need to get this funding to ukraine. The world has rattle lid behind it. But if the United States falls short, russia is going to continue to advance. Ukraine has had some success with drones, but on the battle thefield itself, they are running out of ammunition. And russia has been able to make slow but steady progress here. Were going to get a report from capitol hill shortly. Theres this Discharge Petition starting to circulate to circumvent Speaker Johnson to get a vote cast to get this aid package done. Its seen unlikely to succeed. And if that did you want happen, were going to keep seeing the white house and the Administration Try to find these creative ways. President ial Trau Drawdowns and they will ship it to kyiv, but thats not going to be enough and thats going to run out. Its wild to hear, we have our internal fights, but you hear it from the polish Prime Minister who is on the border, who feels this conflict and knows the Ukrainian Government and its people so well. To say directly to Speaker Johnson, hey, you have to do spg. You have to do it now. Women and children are going to die because of your inaction. Were not embroidering the situation for ukraine. Its life and death for the country of ukraine. Ukraine has a real Personnel Problem when it comes to the military. In addition to all the Weaponry Problems that they have, for the lack of resources, their army, the average age in the field right now im told is nearly 40s. Russia can just keep throwing personnel, which they have been doing, at a colossal casualty rate. The ukrainians need help and were sitting on our hands. To mikes point, and mentioning poland, poland has inspres in whats going on here. They have a shoired story. They took in millions of refugees, and the leaders of poland are here now in washington meeting with the president and meeting with Congress Making the case for that aid and making it loud and clear. Lets turn back politics at home. The general election rematch between President Biden and former President Trump is essentially official this morning. Thats because nbc news is projecting both men have enough delegates to win their partys nominations following their latest primary wins. President biden was projected to become the presumptivive democratic nominee after a win in the Georgia Democrat you can primary. Hours later, donald trump was expected to secure his spot after winning the republican primary in washington state. After last nights wins, President Biden issued a long statement arguing the threat trump poses is greater than ever. He wrote, donald trump is run ing a campaign of resentment, revenge and retribution that threatens the very idea of america. Voters now have a choice to make about the future of this had country. Are we going to stand up and defend our democracy or let others tear it down . Will we restore the right to choose and protect our freedoms or let extremists take them away . The president continued, i believe the American People will choose to keep us moving into the future with every crisis america has always emerged stronger and more unite the on the other side. This november will be no different. I believe we will do it together. Meanwhile, in a fourminute video, former President Trump celebrated the results and went after joe biden. This was a great day, a victory. Last week was something very special. Super tuesday. But now we have to get back to work because we have the worst president in the history of our country. His name is joe biden. And he must be defeated. Nbc News National Political Correspondent Steve Kornacki is looking at how things might play out for the biden and Trump Campaigns between now and november. Steve . The rematch is on. Its trump biden part two. Lets take a first look at the road to 270. Whats the Playing Field look like . This is how we ended up in 2020. The trump states in red. The biden states in blue. It added up to 306 electoral votes for joe biden. The first thing to note is that math would be different, even if biden won all the same states and trump won all the same states because we had the census. We had reapportion the. And that changes the number of electoral votes in sol states. So if you apply the new electoral vote totals from the census, that same combination of states now only gives biden 303. Trump at 235. A net gain of 3 electoral votes in the trump states because of the the census. So thats based on 2020. The question is whats the battleground here . The obvious battleground would be the five states that donald trump carried in 2016 but then joe biden flipped and won in 2020. Thats wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, georgia, and arizona. Those five states. If the Trump Campaign wants to be on offense in these state, needs to flip these states. The math can vary. Lets go through the simplest path. It would be to take the closest of the five states. The two that were the closest were georgia, arizona at 10,000 votes or is so. So if trump were able to win georgia, 251. If he added arizona, 262. Still not enough even with those two states to hit 270. Mean figure he wins back the two closest that he lost in 2020, he needs to add one of these three, wisconsin, michigan or pennsylvania. Which was the closest in 2020 . It was wisconsin. You can see if wisconsin were to join the other two, trump would just clear 270. That would then be enough if he didnt lose any other states that he won. Thats the other big question here are there any other stats on this map that the campaigns can succeed putting in play that we dont think of as being in play now. The one democrats would like to put in play is North Carolina. North carolina is a pretty big state. 16 electoral votes. Margin had come down for trump one of those times, but it was reduced in 2020. Poll this week put trump up 5 points. A lot of people think its a pipe dream for democrats to win it, but they are going to try. If they were to succeed to show you again, look what that does to the Electoral College math. Now you have trump winning back two states. But not carolina, biden would still win in the Electoral College there. That would be flipping a trump state. Well see if the democrats can do that. Well see if republicans can succeed in doing it. Its only our first look. Steve kornacki, thank you. So jonathan martin, theres no mystery here. This is michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, georgia will be fighting. But we know where this race is going to be decided. We have an oughtmonth road to get there. Strap in. Its predictable where its going to be fought. Less predictable in the contours of the race, but i think arizona and georgia were probably the biggest surprises for biden four years ago. I think its going to be tough for him to hold on this time in both states. Pennsylvania, of the three great lake states, probably the best one for biden right now. Michigan and wisconsin a but tougher. I thinks thats where the action is mostly are those three great lake states. Biden holds on there and he wins, he loses the three states or any one of them, trump probably wins. I dont think its more complicated than that. Theres not much of a path otherwise. A reflection of the priorities is the candidates time. He was in pennsylvania over the weekend. Hes Vuted Pennsylvania by far than any other states. He heads to michigan and wisconsin today. Looking at the map there, theres one state democrats think they can flip. They acknowledge arizona is going to be harder this time. Georgia is going to be harder. Some worries about nevada. North carolina, though, a state where Abortion Rights will be on the ballot. Now the republicans have nominated a Conspiracy Theorist for governor. So much of this is pure demography. You tell me the demographics of a certain state, i can probably tell wow you had who is going to win. North dakota, much more Working Class, dramatically fewer collegeeducated voters. Theres not a big upsill suburb in las vegas. Very different in North Carolina. You have two Population Centers in charlotte and raleigh with a ton of collegeeducated voters, who historically were Bush Republicans and are up for grabs. Thats why the biden folks feel better about North Carolina and more concerned about nevada. So g, North Carolina, michigan, whats going on with the democrats and the black vote . I think its more of a gender issue than a racial issue. Democrats have a profound challenge with men of all races. Especially Working Class men. Its not just Working Class white men. I think they have a problem with Working Class africanamericans and hispanics. Why . I think part of it is just pure cultural politics. Men tend to be more Instinct Yulely conservative regardless of race. Margins matter in this election. A 5 of black men inwalk or detroit stay home or vote for rfk jr. , thats a profound threat to biden. Now potentially with Aaron Rodgers as his rubbing mate. Wisconsin up for grabs. Were going to talk more about that. Aaron rodgers on the short list to be Vice President. An active nfl player. Also Something Interesting in georgia. We said it might be trending a little trumps way. There was a poll that had him within the margin of error, but it was interesting to watch last night. Collegeeducated republicans, a lot of them still went for nikki haley last nugt. She stole about 70,000 protest votes. Donald trump won by just under 12,000 last time. That will be an Interesting Group to watch. They are trying to force feed the pill to the dog. The dog wont take the pill. The primary is over. Shes dropped out of the race. They still wont take the pill. And that gets to the heart of trumps challenges that places like kolb county, which were once the Beating Heart of the realignment in the 70s and 80s. They have now flipped back. This is neutral district. And they simpy toeblt the want to vote for the trump version of the gop. Not sure they are sold on biden, but they are still gettable. Finally, one other aspect we can talk about later is how his legal cases impact the election moving ahead now that it started in earnest. The judge in the carroll case approved 91 million that trump put town for his appeal. Did he defame her again . Will there be Another Civil Defamation Trial . And he should be in court in two weeks for the porn star hush money case. If his delay effort doesnt work, donald trump has to be in court for that hearing all the details of the case against him coming out. It will be interesting to see how that plays into all of this well talk about it a little later on morning joe. Still ahead, house lawmakers are set to vote opt a bill today that could ban the popular social media app tiktok. Would the legislation get anywhere in the senate . Also ahead, democratic senator warnock joins us on the heals of georgias results last night. Well also be joined by two Democratic House lawmakers who are pressing the president and Party Leaders to focus on Border Security ahead of november. And well get to yesterdays highstakes hearing with Special Counsel robert her. There seemed to be one agreement, both were dissatisfied with his answers yesterday. Youre watching morning joe. Were back in just one minute. G were back in just one minute. Welcome back. Its 17 past the hour. House lawmakers grilled former Special Counsel robert hur for more than four hours yesterday into the investigation of the handling the of classified documents. Standing by the conclusions he outlined in a report last month that biden should not be criminally charged and that the president demonstrated severe Memory Problems while being interviewed. Yesterday the House Democrats accused the trump appointed prosecutor of showing partisanship in his report. While republicans tried to get hur to admit the president is senile. Base odden your report, did you find that the president was senile . I did not. That conclusion does not appear in my report. Unfortunately, you are part of the guard that guards the swamp out here in washington, d. C. Protecting the elites. Joe biden is part of that company of the elites. Joe biden broke the law. Because hes a forgettable old man who would appear sympathetic to a jury, he chose not to bring charges. We get to this glaring double standard. The fact that the only person being prosecuted happens to be the president s political opponent make this is an unprecedented assault on our democracy. House republicans maybe desperate to convince america that White Conservative men are on the losing end of a twotiered justice system. A theory that appeals to the maga crowd that has no basis in reality. You said to President Biden, you have appear to have photographic understanding in recall of the house. Did you say that to President Biden . Those words do appear on page 47 of the transcript. Photographic is what you said. Is that right . That word does appear on page 47 of the transcript. Never appeared in your report though. Is that correct . That does not appear in my report. I now want to show you and play a video of what is absolutely not photographic. In the failing New York Times by anomoniss gut. We are a nation that just recently heard that saudi arabia and russia will i hope they go and stake a look at the oranges, the oranges of the investigation. I watch our police and our firemen down at the world trade center. We did with obama. We won an election that everyone said couldnt be won. This is the very definition of total tarm. Let me begin by wishing you a you remember this . God bless the united shates. The wind mills are driving them crazy. Thats too easy. That video, we could go on and on. Im sure joe would have some great imitations, but the truth is, its stunning the hypocrisy is that was seen on capitol hill yesterday. One republican saying that in this situation with President Biden that documents was an unprecedented assault on our democracy. I would listen for a second, i would take him seriously for a second if he wasnt also defend ing a man who incited a riot on january 6th and says the people who stormed the capitol are hostages, those who are serving in jail for attacking our capitol. People died that day. They tried to steal an election. Thats guy that they are standing by. And he also admitted he would take dirt on his political rival from a foreign leader, its incredible that they can sit there and even talk about this with a straight face when thats the guy that they are standing by and they are blind, Complete Ly Blind To Everything he says and done. And its glaring what he says. Its dangerous what he says and does. Or even just limited to the issue at hand, which is classified documents. If you want to compare the two cases of classified documents with what they are talking about yesterday with the Special Counsel, and what donald trump did and alleged to have done and what we heard from more witnesses in the last couple days that happened at Martin Bashir and the the obstruction that took place that the Special Counsel says President Biden did not engage in obstruction and didnt believe any charges should be brought, its amazing that many republicans can can sit with a straight face and have their Performtive Outrage about what joe biden did without saying a word about what President Trump did, which the democrats were happy to raise. Lets bring in capitol hill correspondent Julie Circumstancen and justice correspondent ken dilanian. Good morning to you both. Julie, what was like on capitol hill . A lot of Performtive Outrage on both sides, a lot of grand standing, a lot of people talking to their own audiences. Did anything move the meter there . Thats always what happens in these hearings. Everybody is playing to their base. I was in the hearing all day. I was outside of the hearing talking to lawmakers as they came out of the hearing. One source i spoke to afterward, who was closely involved in the planning of the hearing, told me that he didnt feel like any side got what they wanted out of robert hur. He really stuck to the script. He didnt veer off in what he put in his report or put in the transcript that lawmakers only got their hands on a short time before the hearing. That was some of the frustration we heard from republicans. If anything he sort of neutralized both sides on this issue. Didnt feel like there were any fireworks or nothing super interesting that came out of that. One moment that i thought was interesting was when jim jordan, the chairman, was pressing Robert Hur On whether he thought the Department Of Justice should release those Audio Recordings to congress. Remember, this is something that doj said they were working on declassifying perhaps. Of the interview that took place with the president On October 8th and 9th. Robert hur responded that he has no say when it comes to that, but he considered that not only the written transcript, but that and everything, the full body of evidence when writing the report on President Biden. You saw republicans came out and told me he thought this was perhaps that hur omitting certain things from the transcript in the report was him trying to curry favor with republicans hes pressed them if he was trying to get a job in the Trump Administration in the future administration. Hur said politics did not play with this. All in all, youll hear more from ken, who was all over this. Nothing stood out tlp there was no fireworks and no one was really happy at the conclusion of this hearing. So ken, thats the politics. Lets talk about the substanc of yesterday in terms of both the hearing and the transcript, which was indeed distributed just before things kicked off yesterday. What did we learn . Is there anything new about how the president was handling these documents . What else did we learn about how the interviews went and how hur represented them . That is the right question because what i was going to say is the most news worthy thing that happened was nothing that happened during the testimony. It was, in fact, the release of the transcript of the president s fivehour interview with robert, hu republic that trupt showed that while biden made some verbal flubs and got some dates wrong and including the death of his son by a factor of two years and confirming our reporting that it was actually President Biden, not robert hur that brought up the death of beau biden, but at the same time, it showed that the president was in command of a lot of facts from things that happened years ago that he was cracking jokes, he was generally coherent and clear minded. It was the biden that we know. A biden that makes some errors and mistakes and is elderly and not perhaps as sharp as he was 20 years ago, but also not senile or not blathering, which is some whispers of this transcript was going to be devastating and the white house was going to try to fight to keep it secret. Thats not what happened. That neutralized along with the performance of the state of the union, neutralized a lot of concern first raised. And did raise some questions about why mr. Hur so forcefully and front and center addressed those Memory Issues. Hur for his part offered a fulsome defense of that saying that he had to include those lines about the memory because had he was writing a memo explaining why he wasnt prosecuting joe biden, even though he was on tape saying i found classified material in my house in 2017. He didnt turn those documents in. When he was asked about that, biden said he didnt remember saying that or didnt remember anything about that episode. So hur thought it was relevant to say, okay, what is a jury going to perceive about his Memory Issues if hes saying i dont remember. So hur pleased neither side yesterday. As a journalist if i report a fair story and make both sides mad, feel like i have tone my job. Maybe hur feels that way. He didnt satisfy part sans of either party. So the smoking gun they think they have republicans coming out of this is that the republicans confirmed for edits to the report, removing some of that language and descriptions of mental acuity of the president. Did that feel like something in the room . Was that a big moment or is that significant in some way that the white house asked for that . No, because we knew that. Not everybody is paying as close attention as julie and i. Nbc news reported on an exchange of letters between joe bidens lawyers and the Justice Department, where others asked the doj to take that language out of the report before it was published. The Justice Department referred it to the senior career official, nonpolitical appointee, and he looked at it and his conclusion was, no, this language is appropriate. Its not designed to impugn biden. Its designed to explain why thooes not being charged. He signed off and said, no thanks, were not making any changes. Some believe Merrick Garland should have interviewed himself, but doj officials passionately argue that had they done that, that would have been a scandal and they would have been accuse ed of politically interfering on bebehalf of joe biden. Its a nowin there. You want to ask. Another bug day on capitol hill. The house will vote on a bipartisan bill that could ban tiktok in the United States. The vote expected to take place at 10 00 eastern time. Right now, house leaders say they are confident they have the votes to pass it. The bill would ban tiktok from American App Stores if that social media giant does not divest from its chi parent company. The bill passes today, it will go to the senate where its future there is unclear. Tiktok actively fighting against the bill. The ceo will meet with senators in washington today and tomorrow to try to prevent its passage. What is the future of this bill look like . Is Tiktok Goington to be banned . It looks like its going to be a blowout vote in the house. Thats why you see Tiktok Fighting so hard. Notifications even on my phone popping up from tiktok telling all of its users no matter how frequently you use the app, join us. Join us in preventing us from being silenced. Yesterday on the hill, later in the afternoon, you had tiktok fluenters, creators, come to the capitol and stand with the members of the house, which tells you how much support there is, bipartisan support behind this effort trying to rally in stopping this bill from moving forward. So at 10 00 this morning, the house is going to fast track this vote. They are going to need a twothirds margin to get it done. They expect that to happen. I cant tell you the last time we have seen such a bipartisan issue more than this. But in the senate, its future is a little less clear. The bill does not have a Companion Measure in the senate. You still heard from leaders on both sides of the aisle saying this is a good product. It should move forward. But again, you have some Civil Liberties folks in the senate probably trying to stop this effort from moving ahead. You have the tiktok ceo trying to get meetings with senators, but a lot of them im told said no way to sitting down in a room with the ceo. This faces an uphill bat until the senate, but we expect it to clear with flying colors in the house. And President Biden saying that he would sign this if and when the house and Senate Passed it. Its a good sign for both chambers. Big news to millions of people who use tiktok in this country. Thank you both so much for breaking this town for us. We always appreciate it. Donald trump, all over the police on this tiktok ban. His most recent position is that we shouldnt ban it because it will make facebook stronger, an argument he received from a fwie who owns a ton of tiktok, who came down and visited maralago and skrins convinced him what to do. Heavy not been compelled by Donald Trumps argument here that they are going to go ahead at least in the house and vote to ban tiktok. Stunning that trump might be influenced by money, but thats whats happening here. While he was president , he was supportive of a tiktok ban. His administration took steps down that path. They didnt go through with it, but it was on the table. Thats something he had been saying even out office. Hes done an about face. You hit the nail on the head. A Campaign Donor suggested lets not do this, and trump has cloaked that with criticism of facebook and other fake news outlets. And also he has he and his aids have seen tiktok has become a popular spot for right wing talking points. Thats a way to get their message out. But we should note. He has said that he wants to preserve tiktok. He hasnt done any active lobbying. Were told hes not calling lawmakers or pushing them to change their votes. It does seem like it will pass the house today. Well see about the senate. So while thats going on, there was another surprise on capitol hill. Republican Congressman Ken Buck announced hes leaving congress at the end of the week in a move that will further shrink his partys slim majority. His departure means the republicans can spare just two votes on legislative matters before needing democrats to govern. The colorado lawmakers previous ly announced he would retire at the end of his term. So talk to me about what has frustrated you so much about this era of politics and particularly congress. Whats made it so difficult . You really need me to say that . You need me to explain whats so difficult about this place i was the number three in seniority on that committee. I asked questions last. You need me to explain what is so complicated about that or how we try to impeach somebody for a difference in policy. We have taken impeachment and made it a social media issue as opposed to a constitutional concept. This place just keeps going downhill. And i dont need to spend my time here. Wow. Jonathan martin, i cant say it better than him. Hes frustrated obviously with his own party. It doesnt seem like Speaker Johnson knew this was coming. No, he was blind sided as was steve scalise, the number two in the house leadership. Ken buck has not been happy for a long time. It kind of reflects the radicalization of somebody in ken buck, who came to sol level of prominence running as a Tea Party Candidate in 2010, which feels like the ice age for the u. S. Senate. A political outsider who gets to the house. Has done ten years in the house. He hasment come to the conclusion of this place is not worth it anymore. And buck realized that and is so frustrated now he says take this job and shove it. Im leaving next week. Its an extreme version of where a lot of people are in the house. He just says it out loud. Demonstrating what the problems are. Jonathan martin, thank you very much. Well see you again soon. Coming up on morning joe, a new political ad is using Ronald Reagans words to send a strong message to republicans in congress. Retired army colonel Alexander Vindman joins us with more on that, next on morning joe. N j that, next on morning joe. Betmgm is for everyone that loves sports betting. Everyone, but tom brady. Wait what . youve won too much, tommy. Let others play. So im in if im not tom brady . Youre in. Now dog me. What if i used to babysit tom brady and he was a little troublemaker . No one likes a snitch, but youre in. What if im the tom brady of spreadsheets . Youre in. What if im tim birdie, seventime pool champion . The dressups not helping tom. Its still a no. Hey tom hi, wayne gretzky. I thought it would be bigger. Download betmgm. Except you, tom. Youve won enough. Numbers move you. But some can stop you in your tracks. Like the tens of thousands of people who were diagnosed with certain hpvrelated cancers. 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Its onethird of russias black sea fleet, which once boasted 80 ships has been destroyed since the war started two years ago. Meanwhile, although the Biden Administration announced a new 300 million Weapons Package for ukraine, which we reported earlier, the aid bill to provide 60 billion in funding for ukraine is still stalled in congress. The Political Action committee is launched an ad Campaign Calling on Congressional Republicans to standby ukraine while invoking the words of none other than ronald reagan. Take a look. You all knew that some things are Worth Diagnose for. Ones country is Worth Dying For and democracy is Worth Dying For because its the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you are willing to it fight tyranny. You knew the people of your countries were behind you. These are the things that shaped the unity of the al i lies. We in america have learned Butter Lessons from two world wars. It is better to be here redty to protect the peace than to take blind shelter across the sea rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We have learned that isolationist never was and will be an acceptable response to governments with an expansionist intent. The strength of our allies is vital to the United States and the American Security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of europes democracies. We were with you then. Were with you now. Wow. Biden is at least. Joining us is the former director of European Affairs and Senior Adviser for vote vets, retired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. Those are really powerful ad. I want to ask you more about vote vet, but first, im curious as an american citizen anxious about the ukrainian plight, this move by the administration, about 300 million in Weapons Ammunition and support going directly to ukraine, out of our Defense Coffers bypassing congress, how quickly can that get into action in ukraine. Thank you for having me on. Always a pleasure. This 300 million is president ial drawdown authority. Its based on legislation. Hes going to provide some additional ammunition. Theres good indications that long range attack munitions with extended range will be delivered in this package. Very important. And it will get there pretty quickly. We have the means to get it quickly. I would hope we could see some more of these types of flows in spite of the opposition from the republicans continue until a 60 billion aid package is passed, but this is a critical gap filler for ukraine, cha is suffering from severe Ammunition Shortages and results in the rollbacks on the battlefield and more ukrainian casualties. Know you have seen some pretty krauz sit things through the trump era. But im curious your thoughts on the republicans in congress who are holding back this aid. So there will be a lot more of that over the course of the coming weeks. Were basically vote vets representing some 2 million veterans and fams is launching the next in the Pressure Campaign for the republicans to pass this critical aid bill. The reason that this Veterans Group is involved is because we dont the our troops being compelled to fight there if russia is successful in ukraine and continues to advance. Today wed have a Rally Kicking off at 1 on capitol hill with a dozen congressman, several senators will have veteran view of wars of iraq and afghanistan thats been fighting in ukraine since the beginning talking about why he served overseas to defend the u. S. And why hes continuing to serve the u. S. By fighting in ukraine to ensure that russia is not successful there, doesnt continue to convince and our troops are nt drawn in. We have a Video Billboard with that ad thats going to be circulating around capitol hill. And we have fox news ad. Why is it so important . Theres still elements of the Republican Party that believe in the values of reagan. We need to continue to build pressure. We are in a narrow window where the aid bill can pass, ask were going to do everything we can. The last part is republicans are not necessarily safe in their home districts. We have a plan to go after who we think are vulnerable reallies to move them on this issue. If they dont kpom police, if they dont pass a bill in the interest of the United States in preventing our troops from being forced to serve overseas, were going to oppose some costs. This is a Pressure Campaign to make sure this bill passes. Colonel, thank you for being with us again today. A lot of times in america, this conversation around getting aid to ukraine is cast in grand terms. It should be. Youre supporting democracy, youre pushing back against russia. Can you take it down to the ground level about whats happening or not happening because the House Of Representatives led by Speaker Johnson is sitting on its hands and not pushing this aid to ukraine. What does it look like to be a soldier in the battlefield, where you were making extraordinary gains, you protected your country for two years and now having to retreat. Whats it like on the ground . Sure. Let me start with the good. Its amazing what the ukrainians are doing. If you look at the sea domain, its striking that they destroyed a third of the black sea fleet. This powerful ominous fleets based out of crimea. They did that entirely on their own. They have advanced their Drone Technologies to target deep into russian territory and go after critical infrastructure, military targets. They have used the weapons that we have provided to make a huge dent. But the Biggest Challenges are on the ground. The russians outmatch the ukrainians in some cases 10 to 1. Usually 5 to 1. And that means they can just pound away at Ukrainian Defensive lines and do mass assaults. Unfortunately, these are Cannoned Toer assaults with huge losses for the russians, put they still are able the to gain territory. They are not able to overwhelm ukrainians entirely, but they are able to inflict enough damage to make slow gains and press the ukrainians and inflict lots of casualties not just on the military, but on the civilian population. So the biggest thing is continue to support the ukrainians by providing artillery and passing the 16 billion aid bill to provide artillery for the ukrainians. Colonel vindman, youre clearly familiar with ukraine. Youre clearly familiar with the operations of congress and budgeting and appropriations. Do you have any sense of why the republicans led by the speaker seem not to understand that ukraine is now on the critical list . The most disturbing thing is that a lot of you understand. A lot understand the importance of National Security. A lot of them very well perceive if ukraine is lost, russia will continue to advance and we may have troops in harms way. Its happened before. They know this to be true. They are captured by donald trump. Donald trump has a deep an mouse towardsen kraip cain. He was implicated in a corruption scheme, which i exposed leading to his first impeachment. He holds ukraine responsible for that. And hes also a huge cheerleader for Vladimir Putin. On that basis, on that basis alone, hes compelled the Republican Party, including Speaker Johnson, to cast aside u. S. National security in favor of trumps own agenda, and that means not just ukrainian lives now, but it could mean u. S. Lives in the future. Thats the most disturbing part ta we have a Republican Party thats willing to set aside u. S. National security interests. Some would even be concerned its beyond donald trump, that its in some way by happenstance or something else, a direct line to putin. Who knows. Senior adviser for vote vets, tired colonel Alexander Vindman, thank you for coming on this morning. Thank you for what youre doing. We appreciate it. In turkey, President Biden erdogan is warning that nato troops should not get involved in the war between russia and ukraine saying it may spread the conflict further. Turkey supports ukrainesen sovereignty and has provided ukraine miliary support, but is opposed sanctions against moscow. Last week president zelenskyy visited istanbul where erdogan offered to host a peace summit between russia and ukraine. Erdogan is expected to meet with putin later this month. Well be following that as well. Joining us now is the u. S. Ambassador to turkey jeff flake. A former republican congressman from arizona. Mr. Ambassador, great to have you at the table with us. Under different circumstances than we used to talk to you. This is different. Were not going to ask you about tweets from leaders of your party. Lets talk about whats happening on the ground. You have sort of a Front Row Seat to it Serving Inside of a nato country. Whats going on in a place where you used to serve, which is this holdup to the aid to ukraine . How is that being felt . Turkey has been great in terms of supporting ukrainian sovereignty. Drones have been very effective there. They invoke the convention to keep russian warships out of the black sea. Thats been extremely important in the war. But from that seat, its important to get this aid for ukraine. They are running out. And they need the help. And i can tell you if you want our nato allies in the region to step up, then we have to remain committed. Thats why its so important. One of the good things about having you as ambassador is sol of the thinking of President Biden is you still know a bunch of people inside the congress. Have you been able to prevail upon any of your old colleagues about how crucial this is . I often said that regimes may change, but geography doesnt. Turkey is always going to be important. Thats why when sweden was able to get into nato, turkey was one of the holdouts, they had some issues that they had to get resolved and they did. But then congress came through with a 23 billion f16 sale right away to tur key, which is important to keep turkey interoperable. Theft largest army outside of us in nato. Its important. I was happy my former colleagues saw that. En on this direct aid, are you able to make the case to any of them . Im making that case. Im confident they will come through with it. They understand the importance of keeping with our commitment and the fact that if we want our nato regional partners to step up, we have to remain committed. Lets speak to how we got here. We just played that ad from vindman brought us. This was certainly republicans will be at the forefront of National Security and the forefront is standing up against russia. How do you feel about how thats deteriorated . The best thing about being an ambassador is being 6,000 miles away from politics. Not having to engage in partisan politics. But it is different. Even when i was there, you have seen the trend. Republicans have traditionally been the party of reagan. A Strong National defense. I i think there are many who still retain that creed, but its been tough to see. But im confident that well come through. This is a bipartisan issue on the issues that deal with with turkey ask that part of nato, its been completely bipartisan when i go back to the hill and ask for this and that. Ambassador, you mentioned geography a couple minutes ago. If youre standing in istanbul, you can look across and see asia. So the geography of turkey is critical in global affairs, especially now, perhaps more than ever. How dicey is it or navigating the relationship with the United States, turkey, and erdogan and putin . Thats a pretty complex relationship, poout, erdogan and the ambassador to turkey. How do you do it . What are the problems, if there are any . You mentioned the proximity. I swam from asia to europe. Theres a swim they do every year. Thats how close it is. And turkey occupies that position. It allowed them to invoke the convention. They control the turkish straits. Thats important. They have been an important interlocker in terms of negotiating the grain deal initially for ukraine to get grain out of the black sea. And prisoner exchanges. On sanctions, as mentioned, they dont imploy the same sanctions. They say we have relationships with russia that we have to depend on, particularly in the energy sector. Having said that, turkey is committed not to allow russia to circumvent sanctions through turkey. So were working with them collaboratively on that issue. But its extremely important. Those relationships have to be strong. Sometimes its a challenging relationship because of turkeys cultural, historical relationships, economic relationships with russia. But like i said, they remain committed to ukraines sovereignty and they have challenged the russians in a number of areas, not just in ukraine. So its a productive relationship. Another front, the israel gaza war, i dont think a lot of people appreciate turkeys potential role in resolving this it. President erdogan has been critical of israel. They have called for a ceasefire. What can he do to help bring some kind of a lasting solution . Thats a great point. There again, you have words of the north in ukraine, words in the south in gaza. Turkey sits right in the middle. As a 97 muslim country, there are deep feelings of affinity with the palestinians. So they are very critical of what israel has done in terms of going into gaza. Having said that, they havent cut ties with israel. They have expressed a willingness to act as a guarantee as the day after for a lasting peace. They are very supportive of a twostate solution, as we are. So i think we will be working tissue its tough to see any longterm durable solution in gaza without regional powers like turkey playing a role. Youre right in the middle of a lot going on in this world. I know you want to talk politics, but generally speaking, have you talked to former colleagues . How is life on the outside . There is life after the sfat. Senate. Its great. Despite the dysfunction you see sometimes, there are good people on both sides of the aisle trying to do the right thing. I think they will come through on ukraine and on a number of these issues. Lets hope so. Ambassador flake, always good to see you. Still awe a head a new democrats for bored Security Task force is being launched to colt pat baa the crisis. Also in the forty hour, diane lane will us to talk about the Season Finale of the show the feud. 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Probably still living here with mom and dad. Fast reliable speeds right where you need them. Thats walltowall wifi on the xfinity 10g network. I think we all know this is clearly not a witch hunt, unless is trump a witch . Are these incantations . Baa, baa, baa. Bing, bing, bing. Judges . Welcome back to morning joe. Its wednesday, march 13th. Jonathan louisiana mere, Mike Barnacle are still with willie and me. The host of the podcast on brand with Donny Deutsche and nbc news political analyst claire mccaskill. Lets start with our top story this hour. A federal judge has approved Donald Trumps 91 million bond in the defamation damages case involving writer e. Jean carroll. Trump now has five days to file a copy of the approved bond with the clerk of the court for the Southern District of new york. After that, the 83 million judgment against the former president will officially be put on hold while trump appeals the verdict. Last year, a jury found that trump sexually abused carroll in 1996 and then defamed her in 2022. A second trial was held in january to determine the amount of damages carroll would receive for defamatory statements trump made in 2019 while he was president. In the following week, trump all but stopped his attacks on carroll, but over the weekend at a campaign rally, he resumed his disparaging remarks on carrolls credibility and continued during an interview on monday on cnbc. Carrolls lawyers responded to trumps remarks by suggesting that a third Defamation Lawsuit was possible if his verbal attacks continued. Claire mccaskill, its the hot stove thing. Although, i think the trump side considers this a win because it holds the money from her as they appeal. Does it not . Yeah. She doesnt get the payout yet. This is just securing the money to make sure the money will be there when he loses on appeal, which im confident that he will lose on appeal. So shes going to get this money, but its not going to happen right away. He is not going to be able to stop doing what hes doing. I think for her and her legal team, i think hes thinking maybe fatigue will set in and they will quit taking him back to court, but i have a feeling that that wont happen. I think he will continue to lie about her and malign her character and i think it will soon begin. Donny deutsche, why wouldnt that . They have won twice so far. Its caused problems for him. At same time, republicans should note he has these ticks. He wont change. So again, what he says you can believe. Hes been told twice now by a judge to stop defaming this woman. The duj also define what is he did to this woman as rape. This is the guy they are defending. You do this show every day. You report the news and talk about the things that trump does. You can almost get that the republican candidate, the guy who maybe our president again, has been found by a jury to have sexually assaulting a woman and a judge has called him a rapist. Yet that is baked in at this point. If somebody would have told you ten years ago this is where you were, this is unfathomable. But the problem with trump, ask we say this over and over again, the litany of wrong doings is so long and heinous, you cant help but you dont stop and go, oh my god, then you have this interview in South Carolina who herself had been a victim of rape and asked how can you support this man. She just said she didnt the to be rape shamed how have we gotten here . I can tell you how. If you read a book about fascism, it draws a direct line. Just because trump isnt the brightest bulb in the room, and thats saying it lightly, the fact that he can bring people on with a fire hose of falsehoods with no consequences and people begin to catch on to it and hes creating a bench. Hes creating a bench of liars, of cheats, of Election Deniers that are serving in congress. Look at the republican response to the state of the union. That was the direct descendant of Donald Trumps doctrine, which is lie and then lie about the lie and then lie three times over and create another distraction over here. Most of your following will just think youre tough. Believe what you say because its funny or its compelling. But they are not connected with the history of our country anymore. They are on a completely different level. Its a level thats a dangerous direction. Lie, double down on the lie, never apologize for the lie and then blame the media for calling out your lie. That seems to be the playbook. To donnys point about being liable for rape, we learned from Donald Trumps former Chief Of Staff that donald trump has a fondness adolph hitler. That was a oneday story. That shouldnt be a oneday story. We heard from General Kelly, who is saying donald trump admires adolph hitler. Let that sink in. To your point about the bench of people being built for donald trump at the Republican National committee, now completely taken over by donald trump in his campaign, now reshaping its leadership with a lawyer who was at the forefront of all the lies about the 2020 election. Former Trump Attorney and one reporter Christina Bob has been hired as the rncs Senior Counsel for Election Integrity. Bob pushed Conspiracy Theories about the 2020 election and publicly urged mike pence against certifying the Election Results on january 6 president th. She authored a book the titled the stealing your vote, bob also known for playing a key role in trumps classified documents case telling the Department Of Justice she had no knowledge about Government Documents in maralago. The fbi found a trove of materials there two months later. Shes not been charged with any crimes. In a statement about her now role, she said im honored to join the rnc and thrilled the new leadership is focused on Election Integrity. I look forward to working to secure our elections and restore confidence in the process. So jonathan lemire, you wrote a book about this. Christina was in the Trump Command Center on the eve of january 6th cooking up this plan with Rudy Giuliani and steve bannon and everybody else. You ticked through her role of the classified documents case. She was a big part of the effort to try to overturn the 2020 election. She was a key member of the effort, the fake electors scheme, which is what they thought they could do on january 6th and with Vice President pence and had gone on with it and in her time, shes been sued by dominion. She herself has been referenced by smart mad dock in their litigation as well. Shes one of the fundamental characters in the plot to overturn the 2020 election, just like House Speaker mike johnson. Now with all those qualifications, shes going to be trumps lawyer to play this role here. For trump, its about looking the part and central casting. We know that. Its about loyalty. She has proven her loyalty by willing to spout the big lie. This is almost trolling to have christina pobb, one of the central figures named officer of Election Integrity at the rnc , which is now run by Donald Trumps daughter la law. Its the perfect fit that donald trump has created. Claire mccaskill. Im getting weary of people who scratch their heads and say how did we get here. We know how we got here. We have one man, who for at least 16 or 20 years, has been out there in the public stump increasingly getting more publicity and more publicity, preaching a combination of anger, fear and lies, toxic combination that inflames the culture around him and hes done it successfully. Its no wonder that every poll thats ever take asking if the country is on the right track or a wrong track, wrong track always wins because of the poison thats injected into the political culture and the social culture of this country. So my question to you is, are you surprised that we are where we are . I think im surprised that so many people are ignoring what is playing as the nose on their face. I think im surprised that grievance is this powerful. Heres what he is. He is a marketer of grievance with bold lies on a repetitive loop. That combination has proven to be very politically powerful. Very disappointing as someone who lies In The Name Of grievance is as successful as he has been, but his failures in so many other ways are what drag him down. One of those are the people he vounds himself with. I think Everybody Needs to remember that the majority of his cabinet has rejected his candidacy this time. The majority,en surround myself with good people, he did to some is extent. Host of them now are saying dont vote for donald trump. So what he surrounds himself with reflects on him. Its why he couldnt get things done in the presidency. He put a bad lawyer in at the dnc. This is a wol that did some bad lawyering for him saying nothing of the fact that she swallowed whole a ridiculous lie and tried to perpetrate power in the face of a free and fair election. So this guy doesnt surprise me anymore. Again, to the point that we were talking just yesterday about john kelly, talking about Donald Trumps obsession, wanting to be like, wanting to emulate adolph hitler, and yesterday we heard testimony from the Special Counsel who led the investigation into President Bidens handling of classiied documents. Robert hur was grilled by lawmakers for several hours and defended his decision not to bring charges against the president. Nbc news senior White House Correspondent Gabe Gutierrez has more. Reporter the fire storm over President Bidens handling of classified documents is reigniting. You exonerated him. I did not exonerate him. Its my time. Special counsel robert hur, a former attorney, testifying about his report representing no charges. We identified evidence that the president willfully retained classified materials after the end of his Vice Presidency we did not, however, identify evidence that rose to the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Hur defended including damaging details about President Bidens mental acuity, including that the 81yearold president diminished faculties and would present as ab elderly man with a poor memory. I did not sanitize my explanation nor did i disparage the president unfairly. Reporter but hur was grilled but both republicans joe biden broke the law. Because hes a forgetful old man, charges were not brought. You chose a general reference to the president. You understood when you made that decision that you would ignite a political fire storm with that language . Congressman, politics played no part whatsoever in my investigative steps. Reporter hur wrote President Biden could not remember when he was Vice President or even the year his son beau died. The president said he was outraged hur asked him about his son. I was asked a question i thought to myself, it wasnt any of their damn business. Reporter but the transcript confirmed it was the president himself who brought up his sons death. As nbc news previously reported. The president asked what month did die, may 30th and others respond 2015. The president then asked, was it 2015 he had tied . Why did the president say that it was robert hur who brought up his sons death . The transcript clearly shows that the president was being asked by the Special Counsel about the book that he wrote about his sons unfortunate passing. Reporter Classified Dlts were found in President Bidens old offices, his delaware home and husband garage. All were returned. Democrats comparing the case to President Trump who pleaded not guilty for mishand documents. Trump was given multiple chances to rush the documents he did the opposite. And enlisted others to destroy evidence. Sgrt Desperate Question is a distraction from the 91 federal and state federal charges that donald trump faces now. Reporter according to the report, President Biden shared classified material with his ghost writer. Republicans say his motives included an 8 million book advance. He wasnt just 8 million. It was also his go. Pride is and money is why he violated the rules. You agree with a that . That language dos appear in the report. We did identify evidence supporting those assessments. Gabe gutierrez with that report. Joining us is krubter chuck rosenberg. I know you have thoughtsen of the use of Special Counsels overall. And also on the the criticism much of the criticism that robert hur has received. I can take that in either order. Let me start with robert hur. Let me tell you im biassed. Hes somebody i know and admire and i dont believe hes a partisan. He was in a difficult position because the Special Counsel regulations he was appointed as a Special Counsel are flawed. I was a federal prosecutor for a long time. We investigate them. We prosecute some and decline others. When we decline them, we never write a report telling the public our thoughts, our assessments of the persons credibility or their c culpability. He had no choice. The regulations required him to write a report. Think of it this way. If youre going to tell the Attorney General of the United States why someone shouldnt be prosecuted, you have to tell the Attorney General why. I dont fault him for doing that. Could he have chosen better language, sure. But his obligation is to write the report and to tell the Attorney General his rational for declining the case. And that puts him, because the Special Counsel regulations are flawed, in a very difficult position. Claire . Yeah, heres my problem. He also put in the report that the president had essentially a photographic memory on many things. So it seemed to me that the points ta were being made about his report about booids memory were frankly you take his memory out of it theres not a case here. You and i both know that. That anybody who contacts the fbi that has been in the white house and says i have classified documents, i want you to take them back. Hes not going to be prosecuted. The only people that get prosecuted are the people who hide those documents. Who try to hide the fact they have documents, who lie about the fact they have documents. And try to hide them from the fbi. So it seems to me that he did not need to go in to bidens memory in any way whatsoever in his charging decision. Why did he need that . I agree with you in large part and disagree in some parts. So let me explain why. I completely agree with you that there was no case against biden. I completely agree that you can distinguish what trump did that it was appropriate to charge trump of because he obstructed justice. Whereas biden cooperated and volunteered to sit for an interview and consented to a search of his home. So i think relatively easy call. I agree with you. There was no prosecutable case against biden. I dont believe the descriptions if youre going to tell the Attorney General of the United States why someone not be charged, you have to assess the case in front of you. Think of it this way. For instance, youre a journalist. Imagine youre writing a story. Imagine your editor wants to know whether or not they ought to run it. Your editor is going to ask for your assessment that the credibility of your sources and your potential bias. Their kaupable to remember the details that they have related to you as part of your reporting. You owe that to your editor to share all the things you know and all the things you think. Thats your job as a reporter to your editor. Similarly, thats robert hurs obligation to the Attorney General. If claires concern is there was pra jortives, robert has to write a report. The report is confidential by regulation. Its not robert hu who released it to the public. If you want to blame someone, blame Merrick Garland. There you go. I want to ask about the other legal cases that former President Trump is dealing with as the election kind of begins in earnest now. And they are kind of random. Do we know do you know is it Public Information . Is it findable . Are there rules a about how donald trump pays when he appeals and had to put the 91 million down for e. Jean carroll. Does that have to be his own personal assets . Can a Family Member help . Do you know if there are any Public Information about this or rules about this . Its a great question. Generally speaking, in order to appeal a judgment in new york state, you have to put up a bond or cash in the amount of the judgment. It seems to me that trump was able to secure a bond, which means the money is available. If he loses on appeal to pay ms. Carroll. You can have different sources. You can get someone to help you front it, or you can pay a company and through a bonding company. I dont know which of those hes selected, but apparently, hes ready to file papers saying that the bond is secure. That means if he loses, ms. Carroll gets all of her money. This is a mechanism to protect the plaintiff, the person who won the suit below. Right. Does he have to disclose where the money came from . That i dont know. Its a good question. There are a lot of people smarter than me. I would suggest finding one of them. It shouldnt be too hard. I will find out. In about two weeks, the hush money porn star trial begins, if theres not some sort of lastminute delay. Just confirming, donald trump has to be in court for that one every day or is that his choice . Another great question. Typically, defendants in a criminal case must be present for trial. In fact, it can be reversible error. I have seen this happen where a judge proceeds without a defendant present. In a criminal case. In a civil case or hearings ancillary to a criminal case, its not always required that the defendant be present. But thats going to be different here. So you should imagine that if the trial agains on march 25th, and it looks like it will, trump will be in the courtroom. He also has a constitutional right, by the way, to confront the witnesses and the evidence against hill. He should be there to see and hear what witnesses say and to help his attorneys present his defense. Well be watching that. Thats pretty soon. Former attorney chuck roseberg, thank you for your insight. Sorry to put you on the spot there. A lot of questions this morning. Donny, as we listened to chuck tick through those, it goes back to the point that you made that donald trump was found liable of sexual assault. You can add in paying off a porn star on the eve of the 2016 campaign while his wife was home with a newborn child. The list goes on and on and own. Something interesting happened last night in georgia. Donald trump effect you havely clinched the nomination as did joe biden. Trump by doing that in georgia, he won big, as you would expect. But nikki haley got 78,000 votes. Other candidates got about 12,000. So 90,000 republicans kind of registered their protest. Were talking about a lot of suburban voters around atlanta. So there is a group of people that can be had by joe biden. Maybe they wont vote for joe biden. But who are saying as we watch from iowa forward inside the Republican Party, were not going along for this it ride again. Were going to find out the souls of a the lot of people of this country. If you vote for donald trump, youre voting for a rapist. Youre voting for someone who has a fondness for adolph hitler, someone who stole Classified Dltss, who thinks the people who Attack Cops On January 6th are hostages. This is who you have to look in the mirror and say, check, this is who i believe in. You have to own it. He raped a woman. Thats your candidate. You have to own it. Also said he wants to terminate the constitution, said he will be a dictaor on day one, said he would like economy to crash so he can come in and rescue it. Donny deutsche, good to see you. Still ahead, we spoke with the ambassador to turkey. Up next, another top diplomat. Ambassador to poland joins us as poland marks 25 years in the nato alliance. Also ahead, congresswoman Mikie Sherrill will be our guest ahead of a Bill She Cosponsored that could ban tiktok in america. Youre watching jo joe morning joe. Well be right back. Morning joe well be right back. Rylee from rylees realty hi this listing sounds incredible. Lets check it out. Says here it gets plenty of light. And this must be the ocean view . Of aruba . Huh. This listing is misleading. Well, when at t says we give businesses get our best deal, on the iphone 15 pro made with titanium. We mean it. Amazing. All my agents want it. Says here. inviting pool. Come on over too inviting. Only at t gives businesses our best deals on any iphone. Get iphone 15 pro on us. the future is not just going to happen. You have to make it. And if you want a successful business, all it takes is an idea, and now becomes the future where you grew a dream into a reality. The all new godaddy airo. Put your Business Online in minutes with the power of ai. Look im not a young guy. Thats no secret. Put your Business Online in minutes but heres the deal i understand how to get things done for the American People. I led the country through the covid crisis. Today we have the strongest economy in the world. I passed a law that lowers Prescription Drug prices. Caps insulin at 35 a month for seniors. For four years donald trump tried to pass an Infrastructure Law and he failed. I got it done. Now were rebuilding america. I passed the biggest law in history to combat Climate Change because our future depends on it. Donald trump took away the freedom of women to choose. Im determined to make roe v. Wade the Law Of The Land again. Donald trump believes the job of the president is to take care of donald trump. I believe the job of the president is to fight for you, the American People. And thats what im doing. Im joe biden and i approve this message. Look, im very young, energetic, and handsome. What the hell am i doing this for . [laughs] 25 years ago today, poland joined nato. Some of you may remember i was very involved when that happened. And during that ceremony, the former Secretary Of State made the following statement. She said when we stand together, no force on earth is more powerful. We stand together no force is more powerful. And i believed that then and i believe it now. And we see it in polish and american troops serving side by side. In the eastern flank including in poland. And we see it in our commitment the to strengthen the collective defenses. I want to pause here and note that poland is spending nearly 4 in the gross domestic product. In purchasing america and in art aircraft. And has doubled the nato commitment 4 . Thats President Biden at the white house yesterday welcoming polands president yesterday. He praised them saying the country spends more on its military than any other member of that alliance. Joining us now is ambassador to poland mark bra sin skit. He was at the meeting yetd. Ambassador, its great to have you back with us. The Prime Minister came out of that meeting with a pretty direct and pointed message to Speaker Mike Johnson about aid to ukraine thats been being held up in the house. This is not some political skirmish that matters not only on the political scene. His failure to make a positive decision will cost thousands of lives. He takes personal responsibility for that. Ambassador, have you and other polish leaders on the front lines of this conflict been able to apply any pressure to members of congress to prevail upon them how critical it is. Thank you for having me. Something remarkable happened yesterday. A polish president and a polish Prime Minister, who themselves are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, traveled together to washington to stand in solidarity with the american president and to convey to congress, we need to get the Security Funding for ukraine passed now. This is an existential threat. Putin will not stop in ukraine. And the pols wanted to convey the message we have done all you have asked. We have conveyed weapons to the ukrainians. We have taken in to poland millions of ukrainian refugees. We cannot leave now the ukrainians standing on their own and allow them to lose. Theres too much at risk in terms of european democracy and european security. That was the message to congress. I also visited the hill this past week and what i saw on both the democratic and republican side is a lot of interest in getting this passed. Ask im hoping that this happens. Mr. Ambassador, the Prime Minister delivered that message yesterday. Whether its going to be receptive to republicans, were going to find out in the near future. But you were on the ground basically in a war zone. My question to you is do you get any sense of increasing feelings of trepidation of countries in fear of russias appetite for war, appetite for territory . Do you get any sense of a growing fear of that . Mike, in poland, support for ukraine is high, but there is a dropping optimism in poland that the ukrainians will win because of the lack of funding coming from the west. And the pols have thrown everything at this because they are right door. For the pols, this is 19. This is the invasion of Central Europe by a horrible vicious attacker, in this case russia attacking ukraine opinion the video out of ukraine is rem any sent is of world war ii. So the pols ask, what do the words never again mean if not this . If we do not stand with ukrainian people when they are being terrorized and pulverized, when we said we would never allow this to happen again, so there is a sense that this is a moment in terms of in terms the west and america is viewed. Are you people of your word and are you going to stand with the ukrainians because what is at stake is freedom and democracy in europe. Mr. Ambassador, poland next door to ukraine. Certainly in the initial months of the war became a welcoming home for so many refugees. Give us an update about refugees there. Are they still coming . If the situation deteriorates further, what will that mean for poland and its neighbors in terms of refugees, but also their economies . Its very interesting question. Ukraine is a country of 45 billion people. Poland is 38 million people. Polands population has increased by a million people. And this is unfolded because of the number of ukrainians coming to poland. And being placed into peoples homes and apartments. The border between poland and ukraine is 380 miles long. Theres eight Border Crossings. When the crisis broke out, we have a Scientific Understanding of those eight Border Crossings to be able to help the influx of the people into poland. What we did not expect were the lines of pols driving to the border to Puck Up Ukrainians to take them to their homes. Ukrainians literally ran into the arms of the angels of pols organized on social media, organizing to go at 1 00 a. M. Or 2 00 a. M. To pick up the sol family at the Border Crossing to take them to poland. It was that much of a reactive mobilization. They did that because the pols feel safe and secure because they are members of nato. But it was remarkable what happened yesterday in the sense that you have two polish leaders come to washington, a little bit like before the beginning of world war ii, to say to western leaders, theres something horrifically terrible about to happen here. And we need you to be people of your word. And they stood with the american president and conveyed that to congress. History will remember well polands role in their hour of knead. Claire, we spoke to your former colleague jeff flake. He said talking to some of his former colleagues and people on capitol hill he was optimistic that the house would get this aid to ukraine. Unclear why its taking this long or whats going to change to make them do that, not everyone shares his optimism. Lets not be confused here. Theres only one person who is stopping the aid to ukraine, and that is donald trump. And his sycophants in congress that are following his lead. We know his allegiance to putin and what putin represents, which is not the cause of freedom. Ambassador, my question to you, the former president has done a lot of damage in confusing people about nato and this idea there are somehow dues and somehow people arent paying their fair share can you speak to that and how frustrating that is for all of our nato allies that that misrepresentation of what nato is and how it operates has taken root in the United States . Sure. I can simply report from poland and say that the pols this year will spend more on u. S. Defense products than saudi arabia. And poland doesnt have oil and gas. That is how important the defense bill is because of putin. Listen to putins words this morning. Invoking nuclear weapons, a nuclear power, invoking the president , invoking nuclear weapons. How unbelievably irresponsible. Thats the reason why poland and others are building out. Poland will spend more than 4 of its gdp on defense products. Exceeding the 2 requirement by nato by double. And you see many other european nations catching up. I i always say in poland, which poland is safe. Poland is secure. For the first time in the 200year history of the relationship, we can say that. Because poland is a member of nato. Is and the polish leaders came to the white house to say to joe biden, thank you, President Biden, because when you were a senator in the late 1990s, you worked with then republican senator, chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, so is a Democrat Joe Biden working with republican to put aside political differences and to advance the Strategic Interests of the United States of a europe safe and secure. It was a remarkable scene at the white house yesterday. Ambassador, thank you always for your time. Mika says held the low. The widow of Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny is out with an oped this morning. She writes, quote, unfortunately, too many people in the west see putin as a legitimate leader, and look for political logic in his actions. Putin is not a politician. Hes a gangster. Putin is undifferent to the suffering of ordinary people both in ukraine and in russia. The only thing that truly hurts putin is loss of income. Deprived gangsters of their wealth and they will lose their loyalty to their leader. I call on political leaders of the west to help russian citizens who stand up against putins gang. The world must realize putin is not who he wants to appear to be. Hes a tyrant a war criminal, and a murder. The. Coming up next, newly formed group of House Democrats is seeking to shift the positioning on immigration and address a major vulnerability for President Biden that could shape prospects for reelection in the fall. Well talk about a new Border Security task force, when joe biden morning joe comes right back. Morning joe comes right back why choose a sleep number smart bed . Can it keep me warm when im cold . Wait. No im always hot. Sleep number does that. Now, save up to 1,000 on select sleep number smart beds. Plus, special financing. Shop now at sleepnumber. Com vo in the next 30 seconds, 250 couples will need to make room for a nursery. man ah ha vo 26 people will go allin. woman yes vo this family will get two bathrooms. And finally, one vacationer will say. man yeah, woo, im going to live here. vo but as the euphoria subsides, the realization hits. man ive got to sell the house. all [screams] vo dont worry, just sell and buy in one move when you start with opendoor. woman oh wow. vo oh yes. Start with an allcash offer at opendoor. Com 46 past the hour. A beautiful shot of the sun coming up over washington, d. C. South dakota governor posted a bizarre video to her x account, where she appears to be touting a dental office in texas. The nearly fiveminute clip is an infomercialstyle video in which the governor is talking about a biking accident that knocked out her front teeth and the cosmetic Dentistry Team that helped fix her smile. Im the governor of south dakota. And had the opportunity to come to smile texas to fix my teeth, which has been absolutely amazing. For years, i have needed to have an adjust the to my teeth from a biking accident. They have been absolutely phenomenal. For me, i realize that the job that im in, i spent my whole life farming and ranching. And then got into government and politics where everything is speaking and interviews and giving speeches. I want when people look at me to hear the words i say and not be distracted by something that im wearing or how i look or even my appearance. You want them to focus on my thoughts and ideas and what we can do to really make this country better. My husband and i flew down to houston. Got here at 2 00 in the morning and did an appointment that very next week. Then they quickly got the teeth constructed and back. I came back just seven days later and had the final install done and the work completed. Im completely confused. Its totally unclear why she created this infomercial video. Former President Trump said earlier year that nome is on the short list to be his Vice President in the upcoming election. Willie . Yes . I got nothing for you on this one. I dont know. Its a goodlooking smile. Thats good. They did some nice work there. I just dont understand why now sitting governor. Is that allowed . Can governors do commercials for products that give businesses money . Typically not. Im confused. So this is unusual. Jonathan lemire, we have theories well continue to work on privately about whats going on here, but she is definitely on the short list for donald trump. Donald trump views her as a candidate that hed like to have standing with him on stage for the next eight months. S shes considered one of the top contenders for the vp nod. Done some reporting here. This apparently is a celebfriendly dentist in texas. Not clear the connection, but the same dentist per his Instagram Account did Bristol Palins teeth as well as several members of the real housewives of new jersey. With a pedigree like that, you can understand why one of the 50 governors in this great country of ours would travel thousands of miles away to get her smile fixed. Well just tee it up for you. What do you make of this . First of all, theres so much weird here. Why if youre a governor of a state would you not go to a dentist in your own state. That first makes her look like shes an elite that somehow the shes an elite and somehow the dentists in her state arent good enough. Secondly, did she get paid . Has anybody asked if she was paid for this . Obviously, i dont think she did this out of the goodness of her heart, and if so is she up for sell . Can anybody buy her for their products. And trump cares more about the looks than he does the substance, and oh, no. Now she has prettier teeth, and i am kind of thinking by the way, nobody has shielded more for it could be a couple made in heaven. Probably got a deal on these to say the least. Probably for free. I think we talked about kristi noems teeth. And then rfk has a short list for vp, and Aaron Rodgers and jesse ventura, both welcome the idea, and kennedy and rodgers, and the jets did not immediately respond to the request for comment. Aaron rodgers seems like a long shot, and he shares many views with kennedy, and has endorsed kennedy jr. Its you know, it would be so new york jets if they were to lose their starting quarterback to federal office before the start of the next season, midway through. This is obviously a long shot. Aaron rodgers, he and kennedy both vac skeptics. Its not clear if this would hurt trump or biden, and most think it would hurt biden, but if he were to attach himself to somebody like Aaron Rodgers, that would make him less of a threat. A group of House Democrats has formed a new task force on Border Security, and joining us is the co chairs of the task force. Good morning. Congressman suozzi, you just won reelection in new york, and it was a central issue, anyway, immigration, and for a democrat to step into the issue of immigration in a way we have not necessarily seen before, how do you view right now what is happening at the border and what is Realistic Solutions to solve the crisis there . The bottom line, the American People know theres chaos at the border, and henry lives it every day in his district, and this is what people care about. Realistic solutions, the Senate Bipartisan compromise was a realistic solution, and everybody supported it from the chamber of commerce, and we need to have a compromise, and people want this solved. Henry approached me because he has been working on the issue for many, many years and together with a group of 25 other democrats, we will make this a priority for the Democratic Party to get a solution to the border crisis. This needs policy and action, and there are politics attached and we know for a long time republicans had the advantage per polling on the issue of immigrations, and the democrats and president tried to reverse that narrative pointing out the bipartisan bill the republicans walked away from. You tell us, did the president do a good job in the state of the union, and what can democrats do about it . Most democrats have conceded the narrative of the border to the republicans, and its time for the democrats and president to talk about strong Border Security. We can talk about Border Security and be respectful to migrant rights. Go ahead, congressman suozzi . I think the president has leaned into this in his speech, and he said i am willing to compromise that i was not able to do before, and he says to trump, he says, why wont you do it . I will work with you. Its not about me or you. Its about the country. The people of america are sick and tired of fingerpointing and they want solutions, and President Biden is doing something. Biden said, trump, join me. Join me when he was down at the border last week. And it was shutdown in the house, so President Biden can say, i support this legislation, the Border Patrol Union Supports this legislation. What is the hold up . Yeah, and i its really hard, i think, for this narrative in some ways, because thats why trump really has to be i mean, biden has to really be aggressive on this. Its not enough for him to talk about it in the state of the union, and i think both of these congressmen are correct that the president has to make this a central narrative to his campaign. Congressman suozzi, i know you dont want to point fingers, but dont you think its important to point out i remember, i was there when President Trump was elected, and he had a bigger majority in the house and a majority in the senate, and there was no plan from trump that ever got traction in congress to do anything to solve the boarder crisis. Nothing. No legislation on the wall or asylum. He had no solutions at all when they controlled every branch of government. Isnt that fair and important to point that out . Thats absolutely fair. Listen, mexico never paid for the wall. There was a lot of bluster and talk and none of it happened. You mentioned senator langford before, and the bottom line is you couldnt ask for a more conservative, ethical, intelligent republican than james langford, and he said i am willing to get a job done and make a compromise and teamed up with chris murray and kyrsten sinema, and everybody said they would endorse the bill, and trump flies in and says i dont want you to do the deal because it will give a victory to biden and i want to run on the chaos, and hes not disputing that. When the American People hear this message more and more, they will say thats bs and hopefully the democrats can get something done. The republicans got the bill they claim they wanted and then rejected it. Anything going to change here . We are on on the same point, and that is the republicans said there was a problem and a bipartisan solution comes in from the senate and they reject it. They want to have an issue to talk about. I sit on the homeland appropriations, and in the last two cycles we added 2. 4 billion to cbp so they can secure the border. If you look at the voter records, two republicans that are suing congress, every single republican voted against that so we could provide more Border Patrol agents and technology and resources for the border, so we cant just talk about it. We have to roll up our sleeves. Dont make it just a talking point, but pass the bipartisan bill. Co chairs of the democrats for Border Security task force, thank you both. We appreciate it. Still ahead on morning joe, deputy opinion editor for the New York Times joins us to talk about the focus group with former trump voters that say they will not support the former president in this election. And then senator warnock will be our guest. Today he did release the full transcript of his interviews with the president and what do you know, its not this old man forgets a lot, but hur said you appear to have a photographic understanding and recall, so the exact opposite of his report summary. At this point i am worried about hurs cognitive ability. Did anybody ask him to identify a whale . Good morning and welcome to morning joe. Its wednesday, march 13th. We have so much more to get to with the hearing yesterday on capitol hill. Democrats pressed the former Special Counsel on his language about President Bidens memory, while republicans wanted to know why the president wasnt charged . Meanwhile on capitol hill the house is expected to vote on a bill that could lead to a ban on one of the most popular apps in america. Well explain that legislation. Well also get analysis on the alarming comments from russian president Vladimir Putin, this morning about the threat to use nuclear weapons. Hes saying if russias sovereignty or independence is threatened he will use nukes. Good morning, everybody. Along with willie and me, we have the host of way too early, jonathan lemire, and msnbc contributor, mike barnicle, and jonathan martin. Great groove this morning. According to u. S. Officials the white house provided a package for ukraine, and defense Officials Say this is a onetime arrangement made possible through savings and longterm contracts with weapons makers, and foreign aid funding is stalled on the hill, the Biden Administration finding creative ways to help ukraine and its fight against russia. And then this information about putin using nuke weapons. Inaction could cost thousands of lives in ukraine. This is not a political skirmish that only matters here in america. The absence of the positive decision of mr. Johnson will cost thousands of lives there, children, women. He must be aware of his personal responsibility. Thats the polish Prime Minister speaking directly to Speaker Johnson. This is an ad hoc way to go about it, and they found money and they will get it to ukraine. Its not the longterm solution to funding ukraine. Is there movement in that move to get congress onboard . Its help, but its a drop in the bucket. This push was made yesterday to say we need to get this funding to ukraine. The world has rallied behind it, and if the United States falls short, russia will continue to advance. And ukraine has had success with drones and hitting targets behind russian lines and on the battlefield itself, they are running out of ammunition, and russia has been able to make slow but steady grueling progress here. We will get a report from capitol hill shortly. Theres a discharge position to try and circulate and circumvent Speaker Johnson to get this aid package done, and its seen as unlikely to succeed and an uphill climb, and if that doesnt happen we will see the white house and administration to try and find the creative ways, and the pentagon finding funding here and there, and they will ship it to kyiv but that will run out, too. We have our internal political fights and then you hear it from the poland Prime Minister, saying directly to Speaker Johnson, you have to do something and do it now. Women and children will die because of your inaction. Its literally life and death for the country of ukraine. Ukraine has a real Personnel Problem when it comes to the military, in addition to all the Weaponry Problems and the lack of resources provided to them. The average age of their army in the field right now, im told, is in the early 40s, 41, 42 years of age. Russia can just keep throwing personnel, which they have been doing, and its a colossal casualty rate, and the ukrainians need help and we are sitting on our hands. To mikes point, and mentioning poland, poland has incredible interest on what is going on here. They took in millions of refugees, as willie mentioned, and the leaders of poland are here in washington meeting with the president and congress and making the case for that aid and making it loud and clear, willie. Yeah. We will get back to this story in a bit. Lets turn to the politics here at home. The rematch between former President Trump and President Biden is certain. Last night President Biden was projected to become the Presumptive Democratic nominee after a win in the georgia primary, and hours later donald trump secured his spot as the presumptive nominee. President biden wrote donald trump is running a campaign of resentment, revenge and retribution that threatens the idea of america, and voters have a choice to make a chase about the country. Will we restore the right to choose and protect our freedoms or let extremist take them away. This november will be no different, and i believe we will do it together. Meanwhile, in a nearly fourminute video posted to social media, trump celebrated last nights results and went after joe biden. Last week was something special, super tuesday, but now we have to get back to work because we have the worst president in the history of our country, and his name is joe biden, and we refer to him as Crooked Joe Biden and he must be defeated. Steve kornacki is looking how things might play out for the campaigns between now and november. Its trump and biden part two. What does the Playing Field look like in the outset, and in 2020 the trump states in red and biden in blue, and the first thing to know looking at this is, that math would be different even if biden won all the same states he won, and why, because we had the census and reapportionment since 2020 and that changes the number of electoral votes in some states. If you apply the new electoral vote totals, it will give biden 303 and trump 235, so thats the starting point based on 2020. The question is, okay, what is the battleground here . It would be the five states that donald trump carried in 2016 but then joe biden flipped and won in 2020. Thats wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, georgia, and arizona. Those five states. The Trump Campaign, obviously, wants to be in the offense of these states and needs to flip the states, and the math can vary, and it would be to take the closest of these five states and the two that were the closest were georgia, about 12,000 votemargin, and so if trump were able to win georgia, 251, and if he added arizona to that, 262. Still not enough even with the two states to hit 270, meaning if he wins back the two closest he lost in 2020, he still needs to win these three. You can see if wisconsin were to join those other two, trump would just clear 270, and that would then be enough if he didnt lose any other states that he won, and thats the other big question here, are there any states on the map . We will find out in the next few months if some states can be put in play, and North Carolina is a big state, 16 electoral votes. The margin had come down for trump, and won it both times but it was reduced in 2020, and hes up by 25 points, and just showing you, look what that does to the Electoral College math, you have trump winning back two states in the sunbelt and a midwestern state but not having carolina, biden would still win in the Electoral College there, and that would be flipping a trump state. We will see. This is our first look and there are many more to come. No mystery here, right, this is michigan, this is wisconsin and pennsylvania. We have seen the movie. Georgia, and they will be fighting and looks like its trending trumps way, and biden won it last time, and we have an eightmonth road to get there. Strap in. Exactly. Its predictable, and where it will be fought, and i think arizona and georgia were probably the biggest surprises for biden four years ago. I think it will be tough for him to hold on this time around in both states. Pennsylvania, of the three great lakes states, michigan and wisconsin a bit tougher. I think thats where the action is mostly, the three great lakes states there. If biden loses anyone of them and trump probably wins, and i dont think its more complicated than that. Theres not much of a path for the president otherwise. And he was in pennsylvania over the weekend and visited pennsylvania by far more than the other states, and he heads to wisconsin and michigan today, a twoday swing. Steve did a good job laying out the map there. Theres one state republicans think they can flip, arizona will be harder, and nevada could be hard, too, and North Carolina is a state where Abortion Rights will be on the ballot, and then the republicans have tired a Conspiracy Theorists and a holocaust denier as governor. Nevada much more Working Class, dramatically fewer College Educated voters in nevada. Theres not a big up steal suburb in las vegas, and then in North Carolina you have a ton of College Educated voters, and they are up for grabs and thats why the biden folks feel better about North Carolina and concerns about nevada. What is going on with the democrats and the black vote . I think its more of a gender issue than gender issue. The democrats have a profound challenge with men of all races, especially Working Class men. Its not just Working Class white men. I think they have a problem with Working Class black men and hispanics. Why . Politics. Men are more conservative regardless of race, and they see the culture has drifted left in the Democratic Party, and they are more gettable because of that. Lets be clear. This is a margins game. Margins matter in this election, and a 5 of black men in milwaukee or detroit stay home or vote for rfk junior, thats a profound threat to biden. And kennedy now with Aaron Rodgers with his running mate, that state is up for grabs. I will believe that when i see it. Interesting in georgia last night, we said it could be trending in trumps way, and there was a poll that had them within the margin of error. It will be close. Republicans, a lot of them still went for nikki haley last night. She stole about 70,000 protests votes, and trump won by just under 12,000 last time. They are trying to forcefeed the pill to the dog and the dog wont take the pill, willie, and guys, she dropped out and they still wont take the pill, right . Thats at the heart of trump challengers like cobb county, and it was once the heartbeat, and now it flipped back. I am not sure they are sold yet on biden but they are still gettable. No question about it. Coming up, mikiesherrill, our conversation with her straight ahead on morning joe. song in french book in the hotels. Com app to find your perfect somewhere. Theres Nothing Better than a subway series footlong. Except when you add a new footlong sidekick. Like the ultimate bmt with the new footlong pretzel. Nothing like a sidekick that steps up in crunch time. [laughing] not cool man. Every epic footlong deserves the perfect sidekick. Lowering bad cholesterol can be hard, even with a statin. Diets and exercise add to the struggle. Today, its possible to go from struggle to cholesterol success with leqvio. With a statin, leqvio is proven to lower bad cholesterol by 50 and keep it low with 2 doses a year. Common side effects were injection site reaction, joint pain, and chest cold. Ask your doctor about twiceyearly leqvio. Lower. Longer. Leqvio® hill, a few hours from now the house will vote on a bipartisan bill that could ban tiktok in the United States. Right now house leaders say they are confident they have the votes to pass it. The bill would ban tiktok from American App Stores if that social media giant does not divest from its Chinese Parent Company, bytedance. If it passes there, it will go to the senate. The app ceo will meet with leaders today. Does it looks like it will be banned . It looks like it will be a blowout vote, and thats why you see Tiktok Fighting so hard. Notifications even on my phone popping up from tiktok telling all of its users, no matter how frequently you do use the app, join us in preventing us from being silenced. Yesterday on the hill you had tiktok influencers, creators, come and stand with four of the 435 members of the house, which tells you how much bipartisan support behind the effort in stopping the bill from moving forward. At 10 00 this morning the house will fast track this vote and will need a twothirds margin to get it done. They expect that to happen. I cant tell you the last time we have seen such a bipartisan issue, more than this. The bill does not have a Companion Measure in the senate, but you still heard from leaders on both sides of the aisle saying this is a good project, it should move forward. But you have civil liberty folks in the senate on the republican and democratic side probably trying to stop this effort from moving ahead. You have the tiktok ceo trying to get meetings with senators, but a lot of them, im told, said no way to sitting down in a room with the ceo. This faces an uphill battle in the senate but we expect it to clear with flying colors in the house. President biden said he would sign this if and when the house and senate pass it. A good side for both chambers. Thank you so much for breaking this down for us. Jonathan, donald trump all over the place on this tiktok ban. His most recent position is that we shouldnt ban it because it will make facebook stronger, and a guy came and visit the maralago and twisted his arm, and the republicans in this case have not been compelled by Donald Trumps argument here, and they are going in the house today and vote to ban tiktok. While he was president , he was supportive of a tiktok ban. His administration took steps down the path and didnt go through with it and it was on the table. Thats something he was saying out of office, too. He has done a pretty abrupt aboutface. Also, he has, you know, i think he and his aides, mika, have seen that tiktok has been a spot for rightwing talking points. We should note, though, he said he wants to preserve tiktok. He has not done any active lobbying, though. We are told he is not calling lawmakers or pushing them to change their votes, and it looks like it will pass the house today and we will see about the senate. Michelle obama has big plans for this election cycle. We will speak with the leader of the former first ladys National Voting initiative when morning joe comes right back. If you think you have dupuytrens contracture, theres a simple test you can take from anywhere. Try to lay your hand flat against a surface. If you cant, you may have dupuytrens contracture. 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House lawmakers grilled former special council, robert hur, for more than four hours yesterday about his investigation into President Bidens handling of classified documents, and standing by conclusions he outlined in a report last month that biden should not be criminally charged and the president demonstrated severe Memory Problems while being interviewed. Yesterday the House Democrats accused the trumpappointed prosecutor of showing partisan ship in his report, while republicans tried to get hur to admit the president is senile. Based on your report, did you find the president is senile . I did not. That conclusion did not appear in my report. You are part of the guard that protects the elites and joe biden is part of the company of the elites. Joe biden broke the law. Because hes a forgetful old man that would appear sympathetic to a jury, mr. Hur chose not to bring charges. We get to the double standard, and the only person ever prosecuted for this offense happens to be the president s a theory that appeals to the maga crowd but has no basis in reality. You said to President Biden, you have appear to have a photo graphic understanding and recall of the house. Did you say that to President Biden . Those words do appear on page 47 of the transcript. Photographic. I want to show you and play a video of what is absolutely not photo graphic we are a nation that just recently heard that i watch our police and our firemen down at 7eleven, down at the world trade center. This is the very definition of totalitarianism. Let me begin by wishing you do you remember this. God bless the United States. The windmills are driving them crazy, they are time for the gentleman you know, i think thats too easy, willie. That video, we could go on and on. I am sure joe would have great imitations, but the truth is its stunning, the hypocrisy seen on capitol hill yesterday. One republican saying the documents was an unprecedented assault on our democracy, and i would take him seriously for a second if he was not also defending a man that incited a riot on january 6th and said the people that stormed the capitol are hostages, those serving in jail for attacking our capitol, and people died that day and beat cops, and tried to steal an election. Thats the guy they are standing by. He also admitted he would take dirt on his political rival on a foreign leader, from ukraines leader of all countries. Its incredible they can sit there and even talk about this with a straight face when thats the guy that they are standing by and they are blind, completely blind to everything he says and has done, and its glaring what he says and does, its dangerous what he says and does. Yeah, and its classified documents, if you want to compare the two cases of the classified documents, what they were talking about yesterday with the Special Counsel, what donald trump alleged to have done and the obstruction that took place that the Special Counsel himself says President Biden did not engage in obstruction and he didnt believe any charges to be brought. Its amazing many of those republicans can sit with a straight face and not say a word about what trump did. Julie and ken dilanian, and i will start with you, what was it like on capitol hill yesterday, a lot of grandstanding and people talking to their own audiences. Did anything move the meter there . Thats what happens all the time in the hearings, everybody is playing to their base and talking to their audiences. I was in the hearing and outside the hearing talking to lawmakers as they came out, and one source i spoke to afterward that was closely involved in the planning of the hearing told me he didnt feel like any side got what they wanted out of robert hur. He really stuck to the script and didnt veer off on what he put in his report or transcript that lawmakers only got their hands on a short time before the hearing, and thats the frustration we heard from the republicans. If anything he knew trulized both sides. Jim jordan, the chairman was pressing hur on whether he thought the Department Of Justice should release the audio record to congress, and this is something doj was working on declassifying the audio of what took place with the president on the 8th and 9th, and hur responded he considered that, not only the written transcript and the full body of evidence, and of course you saw the republicans that came out afterwards and told me he thought that hur omitting certain things from the transcript in the report was him trying to curry favor with republicans. He pressed him if he was trying to get a job in the Trump Administration, in a future Trump Administration, and hur said of course politics did not play in this. You will hear more from ken, who was all over this. Nobody was really happy, republicans or democrats, at the conclusion of the hearing. So ken, thats the politics. Lets talk about the substance, as it were, of yesterday in terms of both the hearing and also the transcript which was, indeed, districted just before things kicked off yesterday. Is there anything new about how the president was handling the documents . What did we learn about how these interviews went and how hur represented them . Thats the right question. The most newsworthy thing that happened yesterday, was nothing that happened in the testimony. It was the release of the transcripts with the fivehour interview with hur, and while biden made verbal flubs and got dates wrong, including his son by a factor of two years, and it was President Biden, not hur that first brought up the death of beau biden, and it showed the president was in command from a lot of facts from things that happened years ago, and he was cracking jokes and he was clear minded, and it was the biden we know. A biden that makes errors and mistakes and is certainly elderly and not as sharp as he was 20 years ago, and also not senile, and there was whispers the white house would fight to keep this transcript secret, and that neutralized a lot of the concern that was first raised, and did raise questions about why mr. Hur so forcefully and front and center addressed the Memory Issues. Hur, for his part, offered a defense of that yesterday saying he had to include the lines of the memory because he was writing a memo to the Attorney General explaining why he was not prosecuting joe biden even though joe biden didnt turn documents in, and mr. Biden said he didnt remember saying that or anything about that episode, so hur thought it was relevant to say, okay, what is a jury going to perceive about his Memory Issues if hes saying i dont remember. Hur pleased neither side yesterday. As a journalist, if i report a fair and accurate story and make both sides mad, i feel like i have done my job, and maybe hur feels that way. He did not satisfy either side. They asked for edits to the report, perhaps moving some of the language and description of the mental acuity of the president. Not everybody is paying as close attention to this as julie and i. Nbc looked at an exchange of letters between joe bidens lawyers and the Justice Department where they asked the doj to take that language out of the report before it was published and garland referred it to an attorney, and it said the language was appropriate, and he signed off on it. They said no thanks, were not making changes. Some democrats believe garland should have intervened himself, and had they done that that would have been a scandal and would have been accused of interfering on behalf of joe biden. Coming up, our next guest had his name on the ballot in georgia three times in three years, when morning joe comes right back. Ght back and who are antiachr antibody positive, season to season, ultomiris is continuous symptom control, with improvement in activities of daily living. It is reduced Muscle Weakness. And ultomiris is the only longacting gmg treatment with the freedom of just 6 to 7 infusions per year, for a predictable routine i can count on. Ultomiris can lower your Immune Systems ability to fight infections, increasing your chance of serious meningococcal infections, which may become lifethreatening or fatal, and other types of infections. Complete or update meningococcal vaccines at least 2 weeks before starting ultomiris. If ultomiris is urgent, you should also receive antibiotics with your vaccines. Before starting ultomiris, tell your doctor about all of your medical conditions and medications. 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Help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. Without the stuff you dont. So, heres to now. Boost. Forbes and know your value hosted our 35th summit in abu dhabi last week, welcoming over 400 women from 46 countries to network, connect and celebrate International Womens day and also talk about our most pressing challenges around the world. We also heard from several icons of female success, including former president of liberia, Ellen Johnson surly, and finance expert, suzy happy International Womens day 2024. Im so moved by what we have all built here, a summit where different cultures and many generations of women collaborate and lift each other up. The greatest womens summit in the world. As the gps in your car says, we have arrived. Today doesnt belong to anyone person. It belongs to you, the dreamers and the doers. I have never been surrounded by such a concentration of brilliance and intentions that are so united. We need more women in high position of leadership. We cannot comprise on that one. I think as women we are in a real transition, and we have to watch what is going on and get our vote out there. They have to start hearing our voices. I am curious if you are surprised the United States has not had a female president yet . What are you waiting for . I know. But i think, yes, i am surprised, and yes, i think the time has come. Your needs, you wouldnt expect the minimum. You should expect a maximum of nourishment presence and help in your life with the people around you. If you look, inspiration is everywhere. Own the power of your destiny, and you cant be uncomfortable speaking about money, ladies. Everyone can win. Every one. I want to quote one of my mentors, hillary clinton. We are hear on International Womens day, and we should remember the unprecedented suffering of the palestinian women in gaza. At many times i truly felt heartbroken. The key message here is compassion and action because this fight is a fight for freedom and the ability to live in peace. Let me tell you why i am giving it to you. Mika, you have done something that has changed this world. You are on a voyage to make women throughout the world know their value. You have made my life. Ill rise up and ill do it a thousand times when we love our mother, when we recognize where we come from, only then can we know who we are. If we want lasting peace and justice in the world, womens rights are the most important rights to be protected. Speaking with you gives me and others like myself the hope that we will be all right as a world, we will be okay. Throughout history women have always been on the forefront of social change. This experience just filled me up with inspiration. I am going back to my studio, and i am just ready to write so much music. May we recognize how different we are from each other and appreciate and learn culturally in every way, and most of all know your value to yourself and to one another. Ills rise up and ills do it a thousand times again every day, every moment that you can, look to help your fellow women in a real and tangible way. Show women their value. We will be showing you more inspiring conversations from the summit here on morning joe in the days to come. You can get full coverage of the summit at knowyourvalue. Com and forbes. Com. Morning joe will be right back. Why choose a sleep number smart bed . Can it keep me warm when im cold . Wait. No im always hot. Sleep number does that. Now, save up to 1,000 on select sleep number smart beds. Plus, special financing. Shop now at sleepnumber. Com if advanced lung cancer has you searching for possibilities, discover a different first treatment. Immunotherapies work with your Immune System to attack cancer. 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Tell your doctor about all medical conditions including immune or nervous system problems, if youve had or plan to have an organ or stem cell transplant, or received chest radiation. Your search for 2 immunotherapies starts here. Ask your doctor about opdivo plus yervoy. A chance to live longer. So, you going . I am, yes. Everyone in prague is trying to get out. My son is trying to get in. Did you speak to martin . I did. Turns out, hes not going to be there. He is escorting some refugees out of the country antd then he is heading back home to london. Look, i have to do something. You of all people should understand that. Isnt that what you taught me . I cant just sit here reading about it. These people need help. I was never in doubt that the cause was just, only whether prague is safe. Thats a scene from one life, highlighting the story of sir Nicholas Winton, known as the british schindler. He helped secure the rescue of hundreds of children, many of them jewish, from czechoslovakia in a race before the nazi occupation closed the borders. Joining us are two of the films stars, Helena Bonham carter and ramallah gary. I feel a connection with this already. My mother was the great grand niece of edward benish. She fled czechoslovakia to england where she stayed in an orphanage for a year and ate nuts. We begin knowing that. Amazing. Your grandmother . My mother. As a little girl. You would not be here if it wasnt for without Nicholas Winton. Tell us about the story and what drew you to creating this. Do you want to go first, or shall i . Thank you. It was an incredible privilege to be invited to be part of telling this story. Sir Nicholas Winton is wellknown in britain. I dont know if its the same in america. He was a modest man who never sought attention for the contribution that he made towards saving the lives of these hundreds and hundreds of children. Towards the end of his life, he was forcibly outed on a show thats life, a british institution. Thats what the film dramatizes, the tremendous effort of him and his colleagues to rescue hundreds of children in the ticking timebomb before the war and his reluctance to seek anything from that. Explain the relationships that play out. For me, it was a no brainer. Sometimes, some jobs you this was its the story and the character. He is such an extraordinary man. He is like an everyday hero. I think such an example and an inspiration to any of us who feel impotent in the midst of chaos of world chaos. I had my own sort of relationship in the sense, similar to you, that my grandfather was a similar helper of helping jewish lives. I thought it was sort of in my dna. I think its an extraordinary story from which we can gain inspiration in a time when its quite when were all somewhat in the dark as to how to do and how can we help. I love his example saying, theres different kinds of goodness. Passive goodness and active goodness. The relationships are sorry, theres a delay. Passive goodness and active goodness, and as he said in his opinion, the giving of your time and energy in the alleviating of pain defines active goodness. I played his mum. I thought it was intriguing. Ive never seen such an effective and efficient mother son relationship in which she was jewish and german. I come from that similar background. Having said that, its important to say that winton saved them from a point of humanity, and he was somebody agnostic although of jewish extraction. Thank you for handling this delay. Helena, im sorry, we have this delay that has us talk over each other. I want to chime in for a question that might lead to what you were about to say. I will add that my grandmother on my fathers side helped a lot of polish jews receive passports and escape. Im seeing this from so many different angles. My question is to both of you. What do you hope beyond the incredible storytelling here and the incredible acting and the relationships and the characters, what do you hope the audience will take away from seeing this . Helena . From what i gather its been a very the film has been very well received here. Keep on getting lots and lots of responses of people feeling very, very moved and feeling its exactly what they needed. They have come out with a sense of empowerment and a sense of feeling that they can every single individual, whoever they are its to be stressed, winton was an everyman, a stockbroker. If he can do what he did, it has the power its a message of hope and compassion and humanity in a time where we are feeling quite a lot of intolerance, to say the least. Ramallah . I completely agree. I have a lot of friends and family who have seen the film. You dont always have people messaging you afterwards. They dont say anything at all because they havent liked it. Everyone in my life has been so moved by the film. I think thats because particularly right now its easy to forget that human beings can be incredible, selfless, modest, entirely giving of themselves and incredibly brave given the opportunity to do and be so. Its a true testament of what is best about human beings at a time when i think we really need that. We need to be reminded of what human beings do and can achieve without seeking any acknowledgement for it. I think its an incredibly lifeaffirming and optimistic film. It opens nationwide this friday, march 15th. Thank you both very much for coming on the show this morning. We appreciate it. Congratulations. Now i will toss, as we dive into the fourth hour of morning joe to willie geist. I will say, happy birthday, george scarborough. It does get greater later. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, george. We have crossed the clock. 9 00 in new york. The general election rematch between joe biden and donald trump is set. Nbc news projecting both men have enough delegates to win the nominations after primary wins last night. Lets bring in garrett haake. Good morning. Good to see you. You have noticed an issue trump has been fixated on, that he raised again last night. Reporter ive been obsessed with this because trump keeps bringing it up. I dont understand why. I feel like a political archaeologist who discovered something from 2008. Its his describe to talk about the drill, baby, drill talking about. He mentioned it on truth social where he was talking about the socalled january 6th host ajz. When you look at the data, its confusing. The United States is producing more oil and gas right now than any other country has in the history of the world. We are producing more. We are importing less. I struggle to wrap my mind around this talking point. I think its an attempt to connect the inflation issue to something that voters Republican Voters, base voters have known for a long time, this desire to increase Energy Production going back to 2008, 2009 and 2010. It speaks to the unwillingness to talk about this for the democrats, because they dont want to run afoul of environmentalists. He brought it up last night. I think we will keep seeing it. I think the other thing that im watching is coming out of the results in georgia, the significant number of Republican Voters who were voting for nikki haley in that primary yesterday. Theres something for everybody to like in the georgia primary data. For democrats, its the chunk of haley voters. Theres people putting recruit me signs on their back for democrats going into the general election. There was greater republican turnout in georgia. Blayne alexander has a great story about the voter fatigue in georgia. A lot to chew on today as the results continue to get a little closer to getting finalized and people get their head around the fact, these are our nominees. Its time to focus on how this longest general election is going to go. We were talking about that this morning. Georgia, a convincing win for donald trump. But if you look in the numbers, nikki haley got 78,000, Chris Christie got 2,000. 90,000 republicans who have said, were not going along for the ride with donald trump. It doesnt mean they will vote for joe biden. Maybe they will. Maybe they wont. They are protesting at the least in a way we saw in iowa and other places across the country. Donald trump being the nominee again. In a state with a 12,000 vote margin in 2020. Im starting to get my head around this. We are about to go from a primary where nothing mattered to a general election which everything is going to matter. The margins could be so close in the half a dozen states that will decide this election. Those republican protests votes are meaningful. The number of people who left the president ial blank in 2020 was enough to swing things towards joe biden. Im concerned in talking to people in georgia and people who Pay Attention to the state, the question of not having warnock on the ballot, the kind of Energy Building up in georgia for a long time before the 2020 victory and then the 22 midterm victories, whether that keeps democrats home or keeping them sitting on their hands when it comes to the general. Theres a lot to like if you are either party. A lot of work to do now that people are going to be forced into the realization that the two nominees are set. Theres no surprise turn thats going to save people from this general election that voters tell pollsters they dont want. A lot of wish casting on both sides, but here we are. Garrett haake, thanks so much. Joining us now, senator warnock of georgia. Thanks for being with us. Good morning. Tell me whats going on in georgia. That number was made infamous by donald trump and his call to brad raffensperger. 11,780 votes was the margin in the president ial election there in the state of georgia. How do you see things swinging this year . Good morning, willie. Its great to be with you. Although im in washington, d. C. , i have to say, welcome again to battleground georgia. When you think it was georgia that pushed biden over the top and sent him to the white house, flipped the United States senate, sent me and my colleague, i think it was only right and poetic that last night it was georgia to make it official that joe biden is our nominee. Senator warnock, good to see you. Lets look ahead to november and battleground georgia. Polls suggest a close race. Maybe the president slightly behind. His aides have acknowledged they believe georgia could be harder to win because your name is not on the ballot as well. Talk to us about the challenges and opportunities for this president there in your state in terms of whether it be suburban voters, turning them out about issues of Abortion Rights or perhaps trying to win back some black voters who might be toying with donald trump. Give us the lay of the land. Listen, at the end of the day, its a binary choice. That became official just last night. I think that as we get closer to november, people will see that the difference could not be more stark between these two candidates. The stakes could not be higher. Im proud of the work that ive been able to do alongside the president and the Vice President. Im proud of the fact that my bill capped the cost of insulin to no more than 35 of out of pocket cost for seniors. We need to get that done for everybody. Insulin should not be expensive. With one arm behind his back, because the republicans were suing him, the president did 138 billion of Student Debt Relief. Can i tell you, i go into rooms all the time, and this is something ive been doing over the last few weeks. I ask people, do you know of perhaps you having had your student debt relieved . Do you know somebody who benefitted . Hands go up in every room. 138 billion of Student Debt Relief impacting 3. 8 million americans. Now dealing with the junk fees issue. Our democracy is on the ballot. As we get closer to november, you will see georgia rev up in a way it has done in the past and we will send joe biden back to the white house. Senator, after President Bidens state of the union, you said to him that he delivered a sermon up there. Im curious, how and where should he do more preaching like that . Hey, listen, he needs to keep preaching the gospel, tell the story. Thats what i do every sunday morning. There can be good news, but somebody has to tell it. We have a lot of good news. Im proud of the investments that we have seen in georgia. In terms of black voters, we have seen black wealth go up 60 since before the pandemic. We have seen a 30year record in terms of the increase in black businesses. We have seen 7 billion historic investments in historically black colleges and universities like moorehouse, the one i attended. I think as we get closer people will see this is a binary choice and its about the soul of our country, as joe biden has been preaching for years now. Do we want the america of january 5th that sent a black kid who grew up in Public Housing and a jewish kid who is the son of an immigrant to the United States senate in order to deliver the first black woman on the United States supreme court, or the america of january 6, led by the insurrectionist president . I want an american that embraces all of us, rural white kids, all across georgia, brown and black kids who are trying to make their way, our native american sisters and brothers. I believe in the grand american covenant, out of many one. Donald trump is trying to divide us, because people who have no vision traffic in division. I think this is the choice before the American People. I think the people of georgia are savvy. At the end of the day, theyre going to do the right thing for joe biden as they did for me. All right, democratic senator Raphael Warnock of georgia. Thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. We appreciate it. Great to be with you. Thank you. Take care. President biden announced a new 300 million Weapons Package for ukraine. According to u. S. Officials, it will include Artillery Shells and ammunition and antiarmor weapons, antiaircraft missiles and spare parts. Its a onetime arrangement made possible through savings in longterm contracts with weapons makers. A way to get around congress. Polands Prime Minister told reporters outside the white house yesterday, he hopes House Speaker mike johnson will realize inaction could cost thousands of lives in ukraine. He said, quote, this is not some political skirmish that only matters here in america. The absence of this positive decision of mr. Johnson will really cost thousands of lives there, children, women. He must be aware of his personal responsibility. Joining us now, congresswoman sheryl. She cosponsored the bipartisan bill the house is considering at the top of the hour that could ban the social media app tiktok in the u. S. We will get to that in a moment. First, we want to ask about the attempt to pass an aid package for ukraine. Can you explain this Discharge Petition effort . Well, thanks for having me. We have worked hard to get the speaker to bring up the senates bipartisan supplemental bill, which would fund ukraine, our all li all li allies across the world. He has refused. Yesterday, we introduced a Discharge Petition. This is a petition where if you get enough people on it remember, normally, we have 300 votes in the house to support our ukrainian brothers and sisters in their fight against putin, their fight for democracy. This is a means of getting a bill on the floor if the majority wont bring it up. We are going to need republican help on this. What we need is some members of the republican conference who have said time and again that they are the strongest supporters of ukraine that you could imagine, that they believe in the democratic fight against putin, we need them to come forward, sign this Discharge Petition so we can, in fact, get aid to ukraine. Congresswoman, good morning. For a long time House Republicans, your colleagues said we cant do anything about the borders of ukraine until we do something about our own borders, to which they said, okay, we will do something, they did something, presented it to the house which rejected it, led by House Speaker johnson. At this point when you talk to your republican colleagues, what is their rationale for denying the aid to ukraine . Willie, dealing with the House Republican conference is sort of like going into the upside down. Its really difficult. The first thing that i heard from my republican colleagues after the border deal was stripped out of the supplemental because trump didnt want to fix the border was that we were going to bring the supplemental over. I said, could we get any border funding . We have problems at the border that have to be addressed today. They said, no. Not one penny. We want a clean supplemental. Fast forward to today where they are complaining, theres no border money in it. We have got to get the supplemental passed. Then we have to move on to how we address the problems at the border. Its very difficult because to date in my time working in congress, trump has put himself and his political future ahead of the needs of the country. He continues to do so even as a candidate out of office. Good to see you this morning. Lets talk about whats going to happen today. The Tiktok Hearing and vote. Talk to us about why you propose this legislation, what it would do, and why you feel like its important. This is really important legislation. I sit on the special committee for competition with the Chinese Communist party. We have heard brief after brief after brief about this platform and how dangerous it can be to our National Security. We saw the senate about a year ago attempt to weigh in on this issue. Then we saw hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by tiktok to kill that legislation in the senate. We have been working since that time to come up with a bill that meets the constitutional standards that are incredibly important to us and that also protects our National Security. This is what we are introducing. Its not a ban. That is tiktok language. Thats sort of the push they are putting out. What it is is a means of saying that a foreign adversary should not be able to control the media, control the messaging in such a way. It really would be as if during the cold war we allowed russia to have ownership of abc, nbc, cbs, the New York Times, the wall street journal. This is a platform that simply does not care about freedom of speech. They routinely sensor discussions of the uyghurs, sensor discussion of hong kong or tiananmen square. A woman in new jersey was banned for trying to talk about the uyghur genocide. This is a platform that undermines freedom of association by using the app to locate where journalists are and where whistleblowers are so they can shut down freedom of the press. Its really, i think at this point, necessary that the Chinese Communist party divest of this platform so that we can continue to run it in a way that is more commensurate with our values and National Security. As always, thank you so much for being on the show this morning. Thanks so much. Take care. Lets bring in the andrew ross sorkin. What are the Financial Impacts if this bill passes . Goodness. The biggest Financial Impact will of course be to tiktok and bitedance, the parent company. It may be the beneficiaries of this could become google which owns youtube, of course, whats known as youtube shorts, which is trying to replicate so much of what tiktok does. Similarly with meta which owns facebook and instagram. In terms of the economic impact, it will help its competitors american competitors. The real question is, whats really going to happen . There is likely to be a vote today in the house where it will likely get passed. The question really is when it gets to the senate what happens. Its unclear, in truth, whether there is incentive in the senate to pass such a bill. I think this is just the beginning of a massive, massive fight that not only is going to happen in congress, but ultimately will also happen in the courts. I want to move to another story. Im shook by this boeing jet story. A boeing jet suffered a midair fuel leak and was forced to make an Emergency Landing on monday. This is the fifth incident for a boeing aircraft in a little over the week. Then theres the drama. How is the company handling these multiple crises . Look, i think theres multiple crises. The other news that came out overnight that the plug, the door, that airplane with the door that blew out was supposed to be in maintenance that night. They were actually planning to put it into maintenance. They knew it appears that there was potentially a problem with that plane. All of which is to say that this is creating even more problems, challenges for boeing as they try to right the ship and change the culture. It has the same ceo and for the most part, the same board of directors. I will say what this really does theres a Financial Impact on the country, which is to say travelers are having a harder time getting around. Theres less planes. Thats a true supply and demand problem, which is that there are planes getting taken out of service for the right reasons. I think this is going to spur more of that. Theres going to be more planes ultimately taken out of service to put them in the right maintenance programs, which would be a very good thing from a safety perspective. When it comes to why are prices sky high, that does not seem to be going the other direction any time soon. This could be years and years and years, because all of the planes that boeings planning to produce and are in production may take longer to get into the system and get to the airlines. Wow. Keep us posted, please. Thank you very much. Coming up, some voters who supported donald trump in 2016 and 2020 now say they have moved on from the former president. We will find out why. Also ahead, diane lane is our guest for the finale of the show. She costars in feud, capote versus the swans. Its amazing. 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He held a focus group with ten voters who backed donald trump but now are looking for a different candidate this time around. Good morning. Patrick, where are they looking . Rfk junior. They have gone to some of his events. They have absorbed the message. The energy that they are most attracted to is still that antiestablishment outsider message that they saw trump, that they gave trump credibility for in 2016. Some of the the most interesting ones were people who really care about american democracy and talked about the importance of their freedoms. But they still didnt quite see President Biden as the one who could protect that in the way that they wanted to, even though President Biden is talking powerfully about it. We can talk about robert kennedy, last name kennedy, being antiestablishment and the outsider. Thats a long conversation. What is it about this time on the donald trump side of things that has them turning away after going along in 2016, taking a chance on him and sticking with him through 2020, whats different now . Two points came up repeatedly where people said, he lost me, he just lost me, and it was january 6 and it was the documents in maralago. They really felt like this was trump both acting in the case of the documents above the law, entitled. They didnt like that. Twitter rhetoric they can take. Taking documents and treating them as his own, they did not like. January 6th, they saw an insurrection. They saw a maga nation that they did not recognize in their Republican Party. These were a mix of republicans and independents. Too far for them. These are people who saw him as the classic outsider. They very much liked that energy. But these are people who felt like they could tell the difference between american and antiamerican and they saw trumps behavior since january 6th as more in the latter. Rfk junior and his potential running mate Aaron Rodgers look to play some role this november. Theres a school of thought that third Party Candidates usually damage democrats. I know and you know a lot of members of the party are worried. Whats your analysis of robert f. Kennedy junior who polling suggests will hurt President Biden, but also could be detrimental to donald trump, too . When you saw last night that he was considering Aaron Rodgers and jesse ventura, my thought went to, this is likely to draw if thats where he is thinking, thats where his brain is, thats more likely to draw from trump. What makes democrats most comfortable, what makes the biden team most comfortable is the old rematch, biden trump and the fact that these people exist in the world. I know sara longwells group put out a great ad dozens of republicans that had voted for trump that were not going for him. I have heard this in focus groups. Its about classified documents and january 6. Its interesting thats the breaking point. Thats good territory for biden. I have heard i dont think that rfk has been tested at all. We have not theres not a lot of vetting of him. I have seen focus groups where he comes up. People like the idea. Sometimes they see video of things he says and are concerned. I dont know if its possible to ask a question of patrick. I would be interested to know how much the voters know about rfk or is he a vessel for them or are they really familiar . Are they worried about are they so worried about trump that whether or not who they vote for if you argue to them if you vote for rfk, that means trump is going to win, do you have a sense if thats motivating for them to not do that . Im interested in both things. Its a great question. Some of them were worried about a wasted vote, essentially, throwing away the vote on a third Party Candidate who couldnt win. Several of them i think your vessel point is the right one. Several of them just dont want to participate in the rematch. They are upset about an american political system that gives them two candidates who they really dont like and dont believe in. They very much feel like, rfk junior at least right now is someone who speaks to their desire to stay outside the system. I will say a few of them definitely knew granular details about his positions, even on issues like abortion and democracy that are stronger from their point of view for President Biden. Its an extraordinary moment last week for rfk junior when he was asked about flying twice on epsteins plane. He said, i knew o. J. Simpson. He came to my house. Bill cosby came to my house. Thats from rfk junior. Whats happened to the tolerance for comments like these . Who are these guys kidding . Were not going to put them in charge. For whatever reason, people have lowered the bar on just what they are willing to accept. You lead me to my next question. Is the character or lack thereof, is that just baked in at this point . People say, thats him being him. He has found to be liable for sexual assault. He is about to sit for a trial where he allegedly paid off a porn star to keep quiet around the 2016 election while his wife was at home with the new baby. We talked about the reporting from General Kelly who said donald trump had a fondness for hitler. When you talk to these focus groups, do they go, thats just donald trump . The character is baked in on the rhetoric, on the language he uses, even lines like calling immigrants vermin. Its not baked in on actions. Thats where there is more trouble. Im fascinated about the Stormy Daniels case. This question of whether trump is convicted in one of the criminal cases and could it hurt him with republican votevoters, wonder if he was convicted in the Stormy Daniels case, that might not have the negative impact as if he was convicted in one of the jack smith cases, that voters take that more seriously. They dont see the hush money case as serious i think because of some of the character stuff thats baked in. Thats trump being trump. The porn star. That seems to be the only case that will happen between now and the election, unless theres a real acceleration in the january 6 case. Any one of the things we listed would have been disqualifying on earth one in the old days. Not so long ago. Patrick healy, fascinating stuff. Thanks so much chltd. The importance of voting has long been the focus of former first Lady Michelle obamas nonpartisan initiative, when we all vote. I grew up in a household where voting was just something you did all the time. My father, who had multiple sclerosis, i remember going to the polling place with him and how much effort it took to park his car, to get his crutches, to walk into the Church Basement in our local neighborhood where he voted, and to stand there holding himself up, making sure he cast his ballot. I remember my father doing this exercise every single election and not worrying about whether it was raining or snowing or whether he was tired. I remember accompanying him on these voting excursions to that little Church Basement. I would watch my dad vote and think, wow, what a special responsibility that must be. It must be something important for him to take this much time out and push himself to get to the polling place. Thats one of the reasons why i dont take voting for granted. They want to increase participation. They named a campaign and Communications Strategist as its new executive director. Beth joins us now. Congratulations. What a job you have. Tell us what you plan to do on day one, which i guess is today. Well, thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. I will say, its especially poignant to be here on morning joe in my first tv appearance. Thank you for having me. I will say, in the last six years, when we all vote has built such a Strong Foundation rooted in what Michelle Obama just shared, which is the personal connection to voting, the culture and spirit of Civic Engagement and participation. Thats something we are going to build on this year and something im really excited to dig into as i step into this role. Jen, she knows a thing or two about this issue. She has the next question. Congratulations. Its great that you are taking this over. I got to work with some of the folks that preceded you. I know mrs. Obamas message, it seems like the right mix of a personal story, a compelling story, a sense of history, a sense of family. Its weaving all these important things together. Do you feel like those messages are what people need to hear . What are your plans for 24 . Absolutely. Our goal is to close the race and age voting gap, change the culture around voting and ultimately register new vote voters and turn out new voters this year. Our founder had the goal of establishing a Nonpartisan Organization to really engage people around voting outside of political parties, outside of specific candidates, because of that strong connection to the issues and the opportunity to have strong conversations and engagement around voting and democracy as a practice and as something thats so core to many of our communities. One of the things, and particularly when we talk to young voters, they are motivated by issues. Thats something you will see us talking about quite a bit. We also know this is something that over the six years that when we all vote has been doing its work, we know it works, because we see the voters that we register are more likely to vote. Thats really heartening. Thats the wind behind our back as we go into this year. Beth, we all know, because we have heard from her, that this election has Michelle Obama and many of us extremely stressed about the direction of the country. Im curious how much she will engage in this initiative, how much of her we will see taking part in trying to spread the word about when we all vote. So, you know, mrs. Obama obviously is our founder and leader here as we continue this work. We do that in her spirit and with her leadership. At when we all vote, through her organization, we are setting three ambitious goals. We are going to be registering voters, 500,000 voters is our goal to get new voters. We want to turn out 5 million new voters to engage particularly focused on black and brown communities and engage folks to get out and vote this year. And finally, we want to change the culture of democracy. One of mrs. Obamas superpowers, of which there are many, but one of the things that when we all vote is rooted in is changing culture and having culturally important conversations. One of the things we will do is bring our celebrity cochairs, our ambassadors, leaders from the entertainment base and sports base to have conversations around voting to engage and galvanize people in the power of voting. Thats a big presence this year. Executive director of when we all vote, beth lynk, thank you. Jen, thank you as well. Coming up what is it you want . To be able to talk again. Talk are you insane . Why didnt you think of that before you turned me into lady cool birth, that person i am now . Ow. That is diane lane in feud, capote versus the swans about capotes fallout with six manhattan socialites. Diane joins us next to talk about her role and what to expect from tonights Season Finale. I cant wait. I am obsessed. You are watching morning joe. Well be right back. Ight back. Kayak. No way. Why would i use kayak to compare hundreds of travel sites at once . Kayak. I like to do things myself. I do my own searching. It isnt efficient. Use kayak. I cant trust anything else to do the job right. Aaaaaaaahhhh kayak. Search one and done. psst psst ahhh with flonase, allergies dont have to be scary. Spray Flonase Sensimist daily for nondrowsy long lasting relief in a scent free, gentle mist. Flonase all good. Also, try our allergy headache and nighttime pills. Nobody even liked your [ bleep ] story. Its not like it could have been worth it. It didnt even get you out of financial trouble. You gained nothing. But you made me a joke. You made my dreams and ambitions seem so ugly, when it was all i had. I consisted of my ambitions, you [ bleep ] why am i even taking these . Theyre from japan. I got them, then betty did and everyone said hers were prettier. Your story cast its spell and took away everything i had throw it. Throw the dish at me. At me. At everyone. For christ sake, you gotta get rid of this anger. Throw it its worth a fortune. Wow. That was a clip from the Season Finale of feud, capote versus the swans. Its about his relationship with six new york socialites who he wrote about in a thinly veiled work of fiction, betraying their confidence and exposing the most private details of their lives to the public. Joining us now, one of the costars, diane lane, who plays socialite slim keith. You are so good. Thank you. You are so mean and so cold. He earned it. He asked for it. He did. He did. You kept going. You cant let go, slim. Well, i have to say, in this finale which we saw a clip from, this is the fantasy version of his what his amends to each character would have been. I do say character. I love it. Even though these are real women we are bringing to the screen in many theories, as capote was famously quoted as saying, he is not going to let truth get in the way of a good story, which tells a lot about our times as well. Its a timely story in some ways. Its so amazing. I have loved every built of it. Tell us what we learn about Truman Capote. But each of these women, they are so vulnerable, in a different way. Can you tell us about your character and a few others . Well, the situation that you see her be so upset about is that lady cool birth, the character he named her in his fictitious accounting of the women, which was darn close to the bone being called fiction, you know, he put his words in her mouth as if she was ratting everybodys secrets out. I think that was she was smart. She knew not to trust him with her personal secrets. So i have a feeling she might have enjoyed the gossip dish. She might participate. So i think he busted her on that. Thats my personal theory. Interesting. Im going to read from the part of the New York Times obit of slim keith when she passed away in 1990. It reads in part that she grew up to be the kind of beauty that was sought after in hollywood, although she never appeared in films. In 1941, gary cooper gave her away when she married hawks in 1946. 150 fashion editors named her the best dressed woman of the year. The runnerup was the duchess of windsor. At the time, keith was quoted as saying, i have a stall, skinny frame that clothes look well on. Seriously, just say that im a great believer in simplicity in clothes. Fabulous. People are obsessed with this show. I dont use that word lightly. How great is that . They want to talk about it. They want there to be another season. They want another season. You are on the hook for that, if thats possible. For people who havent seen the series yet, can we talk broadly about who these women are, how they exist in new york society and where they come from . They are such each of them are unique, extraordinary women. Some came from wealth. Some were born into it, of course. Someone like slim came from rather Humble Beginnings and a controversial background with some woundings. Everybody has their core wounds. Truman knows how to get to them. And get people to confess them to him. He sort of dined out on his personal wounds, if you will. He conjured forth other people to share theirs. I did very much enjoy slim keiths book. She was born nancy gross. She came from california. She was familiar with having to make very, very tough decisions about cutting people off in your life because of the basic story that happened with her father asking her to choose between the classic where a parent says, choose between me and your other parent, thats what her father did. She said, no, no, no, im cutting you off. Mom. And she didnt really speak to her dad again until almost the end of his life. The question that hangs over this entire series is, Truman Capote got so close to these women, they got so close to him, and he they. Were all obsessed with the question, who would do that . Why would you do that . Its almost like jumping into a volcano. Why would you volunteer for . Why would you subject yourself to that judgment of being that unfaithful, if you will, to the oath of what a friendship is, is that you have some sacred ground between you that, you know, is trusted, that youre going to share youre going to dish, youre going to speak your truth in quiet tones because these women all had, what i call, a mote around them of whos in, and whos out, so they let a drawbridge across and somebody could cross over and be included for a moment, and i think truman knew that he was only a guest in their world, and i think he resented that. I think he wanted to be a true, true, true in deep friend, and i dont know if he ever really felt as accepted as he wanted to. Im not sure. Diane, what drew you to the role . More than that, how much fun is it to play that character, in those settings, against those other actors . Well, we did have a wonderful time being ladies together. You dont get to see groups of women often, enough, i think in shows and films. So im delighted that we got to have time together as artists, as women, and representing remember the era when they wore gloves and hats. Its such a delicious time when clothes were made in a different way with a different intent. They werent mass produced in the way they are today. So, i dont know, fashion meant more. Things just its a different framing of the world, and its nice to remember where we come from because people forget. We get so taken up with the speed with which things happen now rather than the quality of experience is a little different. Talk about that group of women. For people who havent seen the show, how is this for a lineup, diane lane, Calista Flockhart and molly ringwald. Dianes character reaches a breaking point with Truman Capote. I saw you come out of the whitney. Stop, please, would you . Whats at the whitney . The ice pack sculpture. I met a girlfriend for super in the cafeteria. Who has time for art now . What is it you want . To be able to talk again. Talk are you insane . Why didnt you think of that before you turned me into lady cool birth, that person i am now. Ow. Ow. And then the venom from his deadly snakebite finally just drained out of her, and what was left was a lingering sorrowful anger, comingled with a yearning, and a bonedeep exhaustion. Of course, the one name i failed to mention there, Tom Hollander as truman. Indelible performance. Youve done it all. Youve done movies. You slipped in the world unfaithful, best actress for that great movie. How much fun are these series, a little bit shorter, even, eight episodes, intense. Its a different business model. I mean, you dont get to read all of the scripts so youre not entirely sure what cards youre going to be holding and youre supposed to play the game and you sort of go, what do you mean . My character does what . Call my agent. Too late, youre already in. But i got to work with a wonderful Treat Williams and i want to give him and his family a shoutout. That was his last project and it was just very moving, and his work, its apex of his career and he was a joy, and ball of sunshine. Oh. Very good of you to mention him. People are going to be glued to their tvs tonight, the Season Finale of feud, capote versus the swans, the whole season is on hulu tomorrow, its a cant miss Series Finale tonight. Thank you for having me. So nice to spend the morning with. Congrats. News out of capitol hill, the house is poised to pass legislation any moment now meant to force the Chinese Parent Company of tiktok to sell its popular social media app, republicans and democrats, both sounding the alarm that the app is a National Security threat. Well be right back on morning joe. These guys are intense. We got nothing to worry about. With e trade from morgan stanley, were ready for whatever gets served up. Dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. Id rather work on saving for retirement. Or college, since you like to get schooled. Thats a pretty good burn, right . Got him. Good game. Thanks for coming to our clinic, first ones free. Does your bladder leak when you laugh or cough . Mine did until a bladder specialist had me try bulkamid. Its a safe and effective, nondrug treatment that can provide years of relief. Take the next step at findrealrelief. Com. Get your bladder back hi, im kim, and i lost 67 pounds on golo. When i go out with people, they expect me to eat like a bird. They are shocked by the amount of food i eat while losing weight. With golo, i dont need a cheat day because i get to eat the foods i like any day of the week. with wet amd, i worry im not only losing my sight, but my time to enjoy it. But now, i can open up my world with vabysmo. vabysmo is the first fdaapproved treatment for people with wet amd that improves vision and delivers a chance for up to 4 months between treatments, so i can do more of what i love. vabysmo works differently, its the only treatment designed to block 2 causes of wet amd. Vabysmo is an eye injection. Dont take it if you have an infection, active eye swelling, or are allergic to it. Treatments like vabysmo can cause an eye infection or retinal detachment. Vabysmo may cause a temporary increase in eye pressure after receiving the injection. There is an uncommon risk of heart attack or stroke associated with blood clots. Severe swelling of blood vessels in the eye can occur. Most common eye side effects were cataract and broken blood vessels. Open up your world with vabysmo. A chance for up to 4 months between treatments with vabysmo. Ask your doctor. Major vote about to happen on capitol hill with the future of the massively Popular Platform on the line. Could tiktok really be banned in the u. S. . Plus, President Biden and donald trump officially clinch their parties nominations, but what do voters really think about the first president ial rematch in over 50 years . And later, another republican announces plans to exit the house. And soon. Notice hello, im ana cabrera, thanks for joining us, capitol hill, things could be about to change for the 150 million plus americans who use tiktok. The house will vote at any moment now on a bill that would effectively ban the app here in the u. S. If its Chinese Parent Company doesnt sell the platform. They think they have the votes despite a lobbying campaign by tiktoks ceo whos expected back on the hill today to meet with senators in a bid to stop this bill from potentially advan