Transcripts For MSNBCW All In With Chris Hayes 20170309

It with trumpcare. Ill call it trumpcare if you want to but i didnt hear President Trump say to any of us, hey, i want my name on that. The president met at the white house today with representatives of conservative groups who oppose the bill and is set to sit down next week with members of the House Freedom caucus, many of whom are vowing not to vote for it. Tonight he was scheduled to have dinner with senator ted cruz who said the current version of the bill cannot pass as well as cruzs wife heidi whose appearance trump insulted during the campaign prompting cruz to deem trump a sniveling coward. More on that in a bit. People trying to sell the bill have fallen back on a crucial claim their bill must pass regardless of any flaws because obamacare is on a path to implosion. Obamacare is collapsing under its own weight right now. Plans are pulling out right now. Obamacare, to quote an insurance head of an insurance company, is in a death spiral. Obamacare is going to collapse on its own weight very soon. Obamacare is collapsing and we must act decisively to protect all americans. Trumpcare proponents are doubling down on that claim amid massive resistance to the bill. It faces opposition from many conservative groups, dozens of Congressional Republicans and every democrat on record as well as a hugely powerful aarp, the American Hospital association and, as of today, the American Medical Association which deemed the bill, and i quote critically flawed. Analysts say millions risk losing their Health Insurance in the republican plan and a health care ceo says it could push individual plan premiums up by 30 or more next year and more in the future. Then theres polling that shows 363 of american want obamacare to stand as is or be changed to do more. Only 7 want to change the law to do less which is effectively what trumpcare is offering. Faced with these facts, trumpcare proponents are making the case that even if you dont like their law you should accept it because otherwise a dystopian health care hell scape will soon be upon us. Now we have a collapsing marketplace. We really believe were in a rescue mission here to step in and prevent this collapse from occurring. Obamacare isnt staying. If we did nothing the law would collapse and leave everybody without Affordable Health care. We are doing an act of mercy. There are genuine problems with obamacare. There are counties where there are only one insurer left in the exchange. Its undeniable, as democrats have said over and over, there are parts of the claim that need to be fixed but the claim that obamacare is collapsing, that its in a death spiral, that an act of mercy from President Trump and the republicans is needed to save American Health care, that doesnt hold up. Put aside the fact the polls show the law is more popular than its ever been, that the growth of Health Care Costs has dramatically slowed and more than 20 Million People have gained coverage, the associate press reports experts agree the law is not currently in a death spiral. Those experts include the American Academy of actuaries. In addition, Congressional Budget Office data shows while insurance marketplaces are smaller then it had initially expected, they are not in cbos view anywhere near collapsing. So republicans insisting their plan will mean less coverage, higher cost and a massive tax cut for the rich. Remember, just because they say obamacare is collapsing does not make it true. Joining me now, republican congressman mo brooks of alabama. Congressman, i want to start on the process here. Its been interesting to watch folks in your party, colleagues of yours, friends of yours object to the process house leadership is using. Do you feel, as mike lee and others have contended, that they are moving too quickly and trying to jam this down your throats . Well, i have some reservations about the process. I would have preferred that the drafting of this legislation be much more open than it has been. But nonetheless, there are going to be public hearings and committees. There will be some time for the public to be able to digest this legislation and contact folks like me. Senators, house members to share their insight and if we have two to three weeks from the time this bill first becomes public to the time there is a house floor vote, thats plenty of time for the public to digest it and get back to their elected officials. Congressman, you really think two to three weeks for reorganization of onefifth of the American Economy is sufficient time for public input . Well, its more than ive seen in other instances. By way of example, the fiscal cliff bill that was introduced january 1 why not compare it to the Affordable Care act. Why dont we compare it to the Affordable Care act which is the applestoapples comparison. That passed the house do you recall when that passed the house . Well, when it passed the house is not important. When it passed the senate is important and how much time the house had afterwards to then work on the senate version. And i dont remember right offhand. I wasnt in congress. It was nine months and 11 months respectively and republicans complained that it had been jammed down the throats of an unwitting public and that it had been passed too quickly. This argument was being made 14, 15 months after the president was inaugurated. Youre talking three weeks here. I wasnt here in 2009 and 2010 when obamacare passed. But i am here now and in my experience three weeks is has been more than has often been given for other major pieces of legislation so its not inconsistent with what has been done over the six years ive been in congress. Might more time be better . Of course. But im trying to put it into perspective. Rand paul said Something Interesting in the washington post. Hes been meeting with folks in the white house, he met with the president himself and hes been a vocal opponent. He said leadership is selling a bill of goods and has mischaracterized to the president the amount of opposition, the speaker keeps saying the votes are there and the president could end up being annoyed. Do you agree with that . By and large i agree with what senator rand paul is saying. By way of just one example. We committed to the American People we were going to repeal obamacare. And repeal is a very simple bill like h. R. 175 thats two sentences long that says the act that created obamacare is hereby repealed. This socalled repeal effort is not a repeal. Its an amendment of obamacare and its over 100 pages long so if we were going to stick to our word and repeal we would have a one or two page piece of legislation that would state obamacare is repealed, set a day at which the repeal is effective and in the interim work on whatever the replacement is going to be which from what i understand was speaker ryans first game plan. Somehow or another he shifted off of that. I wish he hadnt. Let me ask you this. This gets to whip counts and whether leadership is misleading the president. Steve scalise its reported showed a picture of nancy pelosi and donald trump and said you guys are going to walk the plank, choose which team youre on, Donald Trumps team or Nancy Pelosis team. What hes counting on is that individuals like yourself from going to roll over. That you may complain and whine and say this is not what i wanted but ultimately youll vote for what they tell you to vote for. Is that true . That kind of comparison, youre either with nancy pelosi or donald trump, that doesnt work with me. Im with the American People. Its my job as a congressman to do my best to help convince the president of what is in the best interests of the American People if the president and i disagree. But im going try to do what the people in my district elect today in do. Thats best represent the interests of america. Sometimes, usually, im on the side of other republicans but thats not always the case, republicans are not perfect. We sometimes make an error. My job under those circumstances is to correct the error. Same thing if youre a democrat not always with your democratic leadership. Congressman mo brooks, thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you, chris. Im joined by democratic strategist james carville. Youre laughing because this is what there was a ways and means markup today and one of the things that happened was democrats on the ways and Means Committee introduced old republican amendments from 2009 like the read the bill amendment and benjy sarlin had a great point. He said something tells me its cathartic for democrats to go through this process on the other side. Are you finding this cathartic having been through the Health Care Wars . I find the political rollout is almost absolute. To move on health care is to lose. Whoever tries to change what exists politically, im talking about politically, loses and remember also the cbo has not come in yet with a score. We dont have a headline yet saying 10 million to lose coverage or whatever its going to be. But the suspicion is it wont be very favorable. But what the house leadership by way, congressman scalise is coming to my class in tulane, i think well have 100 attendance. This just its the truth is the only way to get past it is make people walk the plank. So they have to put the bill out there and say all right its either youre either with us or against us. And congressman brooks, that was not a definitive that was not definitive. Thats sounds like leaving a lot of wiggle room to walk said planks. Mo brooks is in for a lot mo squeezing. Hes going to get a lot of phone calls. But at the end of the day its going to be substantially different. You have to ama, which is i think the largest lobby in washington in terms of the campaign dollars, at least it was at one time, the hospital association, theyre enormous. The aarp, other people have not weighed in. Whatever it is that they vote on is by the time the senate and it goes back to the house will be substantially different. So you you think the most likely outcome is that they pass something in the house and it slows down the senate . Is that what you would predict . I guess i would predict it because were going to see the president has never done this before. Hes got to make a lot of phone calls. He doesnt like being on the phone a lot and they have to control people, they have to threaten people. They have to do a lot of things and house leadership will have to do the same thing then it gets to the senate. You cant lose with three people in the senate and the democrats are almost certainly going to be united in their on so theres a long, long way for trumpcare, or as i call it chumpcare or whatever the word is, were in a the top of the first inning. The cbo number is going to carry through the entire weekend and it will set the the polling on this will be ironclad come middle of next week. I was thinking about this today. 1992, 93 president clinton elected, sworn in. Makes a run at health care, fails, democrats get whooped in the midterms. Barack obama, elects, makes a run at health care, succeeds, democrats get whooped in the midterms. Is there any way out of a whooping. I think my history is right on this. I think Lyndon Johnson and the democrats passed medicare in 1965 and got whooped in they got whooped in 66. I think that also happened, too. Look polling is pretty unanimous here that people want to keep it or expand it. 63 . And so hes got were going to see how good a President Trump is in terms of being effective and dealing with the congress and selling this to the American People. Hes got a more skeptical public than republican party. One of the dynamics thats so interesting about watching the Trump Presidency unfold is that he is not particularly popular with the american public, 42 , 44 . Hes extremely popular with republicans. In fact higher favorability than reagan or george w. Bush. Extremely popular and particularly in the house. Thats where most were. Although you have 22 members of the house who were in districts Hillary Clinton won. But, look, if that thing fails, thats a huge statement. In 1994 we lost a rule on the crime bill and our numbers plunged south. Eventually the crime bill was passed but if it looks like you cant pass something then you lose the aura that youre effective and can govern. Defeat begets defeat. And i dont think that ryan and mcconnell have any other choice but strategy not to engage yet. It may not work but the only way theyll get this through is to jam it and they know that. This is theres no plan b here. They have to get this thing through or weakness breeds more weakness. Do you think theres a clock ticking, basically . Do you think the longer the process draws out, the detriment to those trying to get the bill passed . Its not going to get any better. The political situation is likely not going to improve. I actually think politically theyre doing the only choice they have is to put it out there and force these members to vote. Its dicey and i think that eel have to spend a lot of time and break a lot of bones and if they dont change Public Opinion it will be really hard because Public Opinion is trending against them. Not to mention the fact that if they successfully pass it and it produces negative tangible consequences in peoples lives that will be substantively terrible and also one would imagine politically. Its almost wait until the cbo comes out. I dont know what theyre going say, i have no idea. But i cant believe its going to be very favorable. James carville, thanks for joining me. You bet, absolutely. Still to come. Former nsa and cia director Michael Hayden joins me. Why he says the Trump Administrations ties to russia deserve to be looked and and what he says is beyond curious about President Trumps behavior. That candid interview ahead. Up next, senator Bernie Sanders on trumpcare and why trump voters stand to lose the most if its passed. Ill talk with senator sanders right after this two minute break. Livestream your favorite sport at the airport. Binge dvrd shows while painting your toes. On demand laughs during long bubble baths. Tv everywhere is awesome. The allnew Xfinity Stream app. Xfinity. The future of awesome. A lot of people have been tabulating the winners and losers from the Gop Health Care plan, trumpcare, but if you were to pick the Demographic Group that takes it most squarely on the chin, it would be the following rural, 60yearold americans making 20,000 to 40,000 a year. And you know who rural, 60yearold americans making 20,000 to 40,000 a year votes for in the election . Donald j. Trump overwhelmingly. Look at this. It shows tax credits in the gop plan trumpcare versus obamacare. The green or green i can areas show where the trumpcare scheme is better out of pocket than obamacare. The reddish areas are worse than obamacare. The top row is 27yearolds and as you can see, as they make more money they see more benefits which itself is kind of perverse. For instance, the upper right, the one highlighted. If youre a 27yearold making 75,000 a year, which is doing quite well, you get more money out of pocket under trumpcare. In fact, anyone making 75,000 a year of any age, those green maps on the far right get a bigger credit under trumpcare. Now, for the 27yearold making 50,000 a year, still pretty green, still seeing benefits of tax credits under trumpcare. But look at that lower left, the one highlighted. Thats a 60yearold making just 20,000 a year. That is the portion of the population that is going to be crushed, the one that does the worst under trumpcare compared to obamacare. And that whole bottom row shows how bad it is for Older Americans in general. Under trumpcare, until you get to the upper incomes. And joining me now, senator Bernie Sanders chair of the Senate Democratic outreach committee. Senator, i cannot help but obsess a bit over the fact that the Demographic Group that seems to take it on the chin the hardest are rural, older voters in their 60s, 55, 60, making 20,000 a year, precisely the kinds of folks that went so heavily for donald trump. Well, thats right, chris. What the aarp has estimated that if you are 64 years of age and have an income of 25,000 a year, youre likely to pay up to 7,000 a year more under this trump plan, the republican plan, than you presently paid. And those are, in fact, many people in Rural America who are struggling right now economically. I kind of think that when you look at what the republicans are doing, look at it not as a health care plan, because it really is not. Look at it as a tax plan with 275 billion in tax breaks for the top 2 , people earning 250,000 a year or more. Its a massive transfer of wealth from working families, low income people, middleclass, to the top 0. 2 , higher deductibles, higher premiums for those people in need, massive tax breaks for those who are the wealthiest in america. And we should be clear, the reason those tax cuts are there is because obamacare had a bunch of taxes put in place to fund the program, all of which were folks making over 250,000 a year. Heres my question to you. It seems to me if the republicans want a tax cut so bad and democrats want to leave the structure of the aca intact, isnt the half a loaf solution to let the republicans cut the taxes and just charge it to the deficit and leave the program intact . Well, i dont think thats quite the way it works here. I think those people that want tax breaks for the wealthiest people in this country will also at least ostensibly tell us they dont want to add to the deficit. Theyre not going to go on record as saying hey, no problem, were increasing the deficit by 275 billion over the next ten years. But i think what our job is right now, and interestingly enough, why the republicans are moving this thing as quickly as possible, here you have a major transformation of health care, the largest part of our economy. Do you know how many hearings are being planned in the United States senate, chris . Zero. Yeah, that was my sense. They want to do their work very quickly in the house and then they want to vote on the floor of the senate. Im on the Health Education committee and i can tell you that when we worked on the Affordable Care act, we spent week after week, hearing after hearing trying to figure out the best way forward. Now, let me also say that while this effort on the part of the republicans, which were going to fight tooth and nail, is an absolute disaster and will severely weaken health care in america, let us never forget for one second that we remain the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a right and we spend far more per capita with outcomes that in many cases are not as good. Let me ask you about that. Obviously youre probably the most fullthroated supporter of single payer in the United States senate. But heres my question, youve also been a critic of many of the features of the aca because you feel they dont go far enough. Short of single payer which i think given a republican senate, Republican House is not in the cards in the near future, short of single pair, what could be done to make the aca actually better if thats what you wanted to do . Well, first of all, i am. I just met the other day with some very strong experts on health care. It is so clear, chris, it is so clear that single payer is the most Cost Effective way to go forward in providing health care to all because it eliminates so much of the administrative and bureaucratic waste that we currently experience. And its important that we look at other countries around the world. What can we do where we are right now is your question. Well, for a start, it is while obamacare, the aca added 20 million more people to Health Insurance and by the way many of those people will lose their insurance under the republican plan there are still 28 million americans who have today zero Health Insurance. And it is important that we join other countries in guaranteeing health care to all of our people. Second of all, millions and millions of people are paying deductibles and copayments that are so high that it effectively deies them the opportunity to go to the doctor, they cant afford to do that. Those are the areas we should be focusing on. Finally, Mcdowell County in West Virginia is a county that has the lowest Life Expectancy in the country, if im not mistaken, the poorest county in West Virginia. Its also a place where folks have sort of weathered a lot of storms, a lot of transformations to the economy and its a place you and i are going to be going to on the end of this week and its also the kind of place where these issues are going to be at the forefront of everyday folks. What is the message of the Democratic Party to folks in Mcdowell County, West Virginia . Well, lets be clear. While the republicans tell us that obamacare and the aca are not perfect, heres the truth, that in states like West Virginia and in states like kentucky they have had a massive impact in lowering the rate of uninsured. I think in West Virginia, if my memory is correct, it has gone from 17 uninsured down to 7 . That is pretty good. So i will this is an area, obviously, that has to be discussed and i look forward to discussing it on monday. Thats whats so amazing and interesting about this fight, its so concrete. Its one of the most concrete policy fights weve had in a long time. Senator Bernie Sanders, thank you very much. Thank you, chris. As i mentioned, were going to West Virginia for another aedition of all in america, Bernie Sanders in Trump Country thats monday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. You dont want to miss it. Still ahead, former director Michael Hayden on the trump accusation and the Intelligence Community and the relationship between the Trump Administration and russia. I just want to be clear on one point which is there is no reason that we should that we have to think that the president is the target of any investigation whatsoever. Not the thing you want to say from a white house podium, but the white house today appear ing to grabble with the implications of the president s own claim he was wiretapped. Either the former president bugged his opponents, an incendiary claim thats unthinkable, or a federal judge found an issue of wrongdoing to issue a warrant for surveillance which would raise alarming questions. A third option is that its completely made up. The former director of National Intelligence James Clapper denied warrants were issued as did fbi director james comey. And now two senators are calling the president s bluff, republican lindsey graham, democrat Sheldon Whitehouse wrote a letter to the fbi and Justice Department demanding copies of court orders related to possible wiretapping of the president. First things first, i want to find out was a warrant issued against the Trump Campaign for illegal activity. Thats not too much to ask. The answer is either yes or no. If the answer is no, i think we can move on. Graham said hes issue subpoenas if theres a failure to comply. Amid continued pollout from the president s wiretap tweets, were learning what president obama thought of his successors baseless claims and well tell you how he reacted next. Let yours shine through. Neutrogena® skin clearing makeup. Doesnt just cover up blemishes, it clears them. And gives you beautiful. Flawless coverage. So youll look. As enchanting as you are. Neutrogena® see whats possible. And see disneys beauty and the beast. In theatres march 17th. President of the United States, the face of the white house, he the face of the white house, he was more of a behindthescenes kind of guy. Ill explain in tonights thing 1 thing 2 after the break. Thing 1 tonight, an important scheduling for the white house. Today the president and first today the president and first lady announced the initial detail for 139th White House Easter Egg Roll taking place on monday, april 17. Monday, april 17. They are honored to continue the traditions of the past while creating new ones that will play a lasting role in the fabric of our nations history. In continuing past tradition, the question is whether this administration will employ the same easter bunnies as in past years since this is a perfect reminder that the press reminder that the press secretary is not the only job sean spicer has held at the White House Well hop down memory lane to sean spicers memory lane to sean spicers furry past. Thats thing 2 in 60 seconds. That was the largest audience to ever witness and inauguration, period. Inauguration, period. Both in person and around the globe. Thing 2, that guy and the famously illfitting suit coming and im wondering if the president did and how he did it really made it even more difficult to establish that essential relationship he needs to have with my Old Community, the intelligence folks. Now, look, i understand there are a whole bunch of larger political and legal issues involved here. But my focus was once again the president , frankly, accused my Old Community of abetting a felony by the former president and then he seems to have offhandedly rejected the opinion of his outgoing dni jim clapper and his current fbi director james comey. Once again, kind of making it a line of confrontation rather than a zone of cooperation between himself and the intel guys who exist only to make him and american policy more wise than it would otherwise be. Well, let me ask you about that. Theres a theory thats developed among trump folks and not just among trump folks, other observers that there is a kind of some have referred to it as soft coup, some used the term deep state which is imported from analysis of turkish politics in which members of the Intelligence Community are selectively leaking classified information in some cases talking to reporters about the contents of a wiretap to general flynn and the Russian Ambassador had in order to undermine the president. Is that a concern for you . Of course its a concern and i had to live with the consequences of leaks during my entire time in government and particularly my time at nsa and cia. So a couple of general thoughts about this, chris, and without getting too defensive. Number one, i would not automatically assume that all of these are coming from the intelligence guys. A lot of it comprises intelligence but, you know, we have clients and customers inside the government and very often my Life Experience has been its not the intelligence people that leak but these other folks who get the information. So thats, i think, one very important thing to point out. It also, again, kind of reinforces that confrontation between the community and the president. I had problems with the leaks when i arrived at cia. My first talk to the work force there, chris, was we are getting out of the news as source or subject. But the way i then approach the problem was not to make war on my own community, not to make war on my own agency, but to be as open as possible with them and to open the gates for rich and meaningful dialogue. You know, one thing that the president could do, i think, that would undercut any of the leaks that are coming from the Intelligence Community is to be more inclusive of that community, to give them what is and appearance to be a meaningful role in the development of policy. But right now its a line of confrontation, as ive suggested before. I want to follow up on this. Theres some way to interpret this as the following. If you dont play nice with the intelligence agencies and communities and solicit them they are going to have their revenge upon you. But that also seems sort of troubling from a democratic standpoint. Of course its troubling. And im not quite saying that, chris. What im saying is the intel guys are professionals, theyll work for republicans or democrats. They want to get their job done. But theyre also human beings. And when the kinds of things that have been happening over the last 45 well, actually beyond that, while the president was president elect, while those kinds of thing happened, human nature being what it is, human beings do things they might later regret. So, look, im not trying to forgive anybody here. Im trying to propose a way forward where it might make this better and my Life Experience tells me the best way forward is not vengeance but creating a zone of cooperation. You have said the following you said theres a lot of smoke around the trump teams ties to russia. What do you mean by that . Well, look, its a very unusual relationship. We have to step back, chris, and i know you know this. Let me repeat it. We now know that the Russian Federation interfered with the American Election and one of their objectives was to help donald trump get elected. Thats a high confidence judgment of the american Intelligence Community that mr. Trump and his entourage have now stopped denying. They at least accept that. Beyond that, youve got mr. Trumps behavior who throughout the campaign and a way thats hard for me to explain, chris, never criticized Vladimir Putin even though lord knows the man deserves an awful lot of criticism and then finally youve got this network of relationships between the Trump Campaign or more fairly people in the Trump Campaign and people in the Russian Federation. Chris, let me be really candid with you here. That may have absolutely no meaning whatsoever. But those three realities the russian interference, the comments of the president himself, and these extended relationships its something thats beyond curious, something that deserves to be looked at, actually deserves to be looked at for the benefit of the current president so he can put this behind him and have it not be a distraction as he tries to govern. Final question here about the new documents that have been published by wikileaks. They purport to be internal cia documents about the means of hacking various Electronic Devices to turn them into tools of surveillance. Right. Heres my question for you. Can you assure any american watching that no device they have has been compromised by these features without some kind of warrant or court authorization . Yeah, chris. We alluded already to the president s claim over the weekend that president Obama Wiretapped his phones. Weve all rehearsed for the last three or four days. The only way you get to target a u. S. Person, even if youre the president of the United States, is to go to a court, get a warrant and prove that that person is either a criminal or an agent of a foreign power. So you can make an assurance were talking about malware here, malware can sometimes get out of the control of the people that propagate it. You can assure people that malware is not present in any system in absence of a warrant for an american whos watching this . What i can assure you, chris, is that my Life Experience tells me that the laws, the policies, the procedures, the people and the culture of the american Intelligence Community tells me ive got high confidence that no one in that community intentionally targeted someone protected by the Fourth Amendment to the u. S. Constitution. Intentionally is key there. General Michael Hayden, appreciate it, thank you for your time. Thank you. Ahead, protests around the country for International Womens day. How the president marked the day, coming up. vo if you have type 2 diabetes, you may know what its like to deal with high. And low blood sugar. Januvia sitagliptin is a oncedaily pill that, along with diet and exercise, helps lower blood sugar. Januvia works when your blood sugar is high and works less when your blood sugar is low, because it works by enhancing your bodys own ability to lower blood sugar. Plus januvia, by itself, is not likely to cause weight gain or low blood sugar hypoglycemia . Januvia should not be used in patients with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Tell your doctor if you have a history of pancreatitis. Serious side effects can happen, including pancreatitis which may be severe and lead to death. Stop taking januvia and call your doctor right away if you have severe pain in your stomach area which may be pancreatitis. Tell your doctor right away and stop taking januvia if you have an allergic reaction that causes swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat, or affects your breathing or causes rash or hives. Kidney problems sometimes requiring dialysis have been reported. Some people may develop severe joint pain. Call your doctor if this happens. Using januvia with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. To reduce the risk, your doctor may prescribe a lower dose of the sulfonylurea or insulin. Your doctor may do blood tests before and during treatment to check your kidneys. If you have kidney problems a lower dose may be prescribed. Side effects may include upper respiratory tract infection, stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, and headache. For help lowering your blood sugar talk to your doctor about januvia. Plus, before sean spicer was thing 1 tonight, an important scheduling for the white house. Today the president and first lady announced the initial detail for 139th White House Easter Egg Roll taking place on monday, april 17. They are honored to continue the traditions of the past while creating new ones that will play a lasting role in the fabric of our nations history. In continuing past tradition, the question is whether this administration will employ the same easter bunnies as in past years since this is a perfect reminder that the press secretary is not the only job sean spicer has held at the White House Well hop down memory lane to sean spicers furry past. Thats thing 2 in 60 seconds. That was the largest audience to ever witness and inauguration, period. Both in person and around the globe. Thing 2, that guy and the famously illfitting suit was this guy wearing a rabbit suit. For two years during the bush administration, spicer was the man beneath the ears. The veteran bunny spoke with politico. Asked if he met famous kids he said i cant see too much and the bun think doesnt talk but every child is special. In 2013 he reflected on his time behind the fur saying the costume heats up and advising Early Morning is key. This years White House Easter Egg Roll will take place on april 17 and, given spicers much elevated status since 2008 im sure he can secure an earlymorning slot. Bladder leaks, the super. Absorbent core turns liquid to gel. I know im wearing it but no one else will. Always discreet for bladder leaks. Today is International Womens day and all across the country women walked out of their jobs and marched in the streets. The holiday isnt usually celebrated this way but with donald trump as president thousands of people are taking part in protests organized by some of the leaders of januarys womens march which is theyre calling a day without a woman. Earlier this morning President Trump weighed in on the importance of the day tweeting i have tremendous respect for women and the many roles they serve that are vital to the fabric of our society and our economy. On International Womens day, join me of honoring the Critical Role of women around america and here around the world. Any time donald trump is tweeting about women a certain amount of cringing is understandable. This one from last year is up on the old twitter feed, retweet of a sidebyside photo of Melania Trump and an unflattering one of heidi cruz which led to ted cruz railing against donald trump and calling him a sniveling coward while staring into the camera. That was then and this is now. On this womans day President Trump and the first lady are having the cruzs over for dinner at the white house. Ted and heidi both. A certain amount of cringing is understandable. Hallie jackson asked about it today. Reporter heidi cruz is coming and im wondering if the president has plans to apologize her for the insinuations he made on the campaign trail. Good question. Well show you how spicer responded to that question right after this break. Guests can earn a how cafree night when theypring book direct on choicehotels. Com and stay with us just two times . Spring time. Badda book. Badda boom. Or. Badda bloom. Seriously . Book now at choicehotels. Com chooarmy versus army. Ion. Nation versus nation. The battle has begun. Evony the kings return. Download now. Reporter heidi cruz is coming to this meeting tonight and i wonder if the president has plans to apologize to her for the insinuations he made on the campaign trail. Theyre looking forward to a great dinner. He had dinner with the rubios a couple days ago, he had lunch yesterday with senator graham. This is, as i stated weeks ago, the president is going to continue to have outreach to members of congress, both parties. Press Secretary Sean Spicer wouldnt answer whether President Trump will apologize to heidi cruz at dinner for his disparaging, sexist retweet last march that he still hasnt taken down. But trump has of course said incredibly offensive things about women on numerous occasion, the most notorious of which was this. Ive got to use tictacs in case i start kissing her. You know, im automatically attracted to beautiful i just start kissing them, its like a magnet. You just kiss. And when youre a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Whatever you want. Grab them by the [ bleep ]. You can do anything. Joining me now, brittany cooper, assistant professor of womens and gender studies author of the forthcoming book race, women, gender and the making of the black intellectual. So i want to talk about that clip. The reason was this. We were debating whether to play it because at one level it feels so gratuitous, theres something uncomfortable about it. You think . Theres a degree to which theres a kind of collective willful amnesia that that happened and that that man is im glad you played it. I was going to bring it up tonight if you hadnt played it. Women are making sure we dont normalize trump and its largely because of that tape and his feelings about women. I thought the most compelling ads of the campaign were the ones that used his own words calling women all kinds of names. And especially being on the clinton campaign. Just hearing that play, pigs and dogs and fat slobs over and over again it was tough to actually, like, be in a work space with that was as much a part of it as it was because of the man we were running against and then the access Hollywood Tape came out and we had to hear that over and over again and i think i maybe naively thought it was worse being in the clinton bunker than it was for women all over the country and i think nationally we all felt it. Part of what has been interesting to me that women have been so centered in the in this resistance, intentionally so. But part of it felt like it was a referendum of the country going thats fine. Well, lets be clear that women of color are leading the resistance, then if you look at the election it makes more sense. Women of color voted for Hillary Clinton. 94 . Right. So now its like white women suddenly saw oh, my goodness, this can happen and they got on board, but these actions happening from the womens march to today, the day without women, have had women of color saying get out in the the streets, its time to fight back. This is not a thing that just white women have been doing and its important that if were not going to erase Donald Trumps kind of participation in creating this culture of misogyny that we also dont erase which women stood up and said this is a problem. Thats really important. So lets talk about that because theres been an interesting debate about this movement and about sort of dissension within it and what the parameters of inclusion are. So theres this question of marrying together opposition to racism, opposition to scapegoating of immigrants, muslims and women. And theres people who say dont we want a big tent . The only way to get a big tent is to break it down and the things white women have done wrong from the Suffragette Movement on is by throwing over women of color every time they had a chance to advance feminism for white women. That meant that we never actually got anywhere because the truth is, its about the oppressive structure we have to fight against. That means you have to deal with the intersection of racism an sexism if youre going to make advances for everybody. But at the same time, im saying to women of color, right, that we cant let white womens own history of egregious racism keep us from being in the streets around womens issues theres this so there was a bit of hesitancy among some women of color saying we dont know if we trust yall, were not sure if we can trust this sol dare di this is privilege that you cannot go to work. And it was an ahistorical critique because this comes out of labor strikes from the early 1900s, from immigrant women across the country but it comes out of black womens history of critiquing capitalism. Heres what i find fascinating. All the language you guys are using grows from a vocabulary built up over time but is quite specialized as vocab. People learn new terms like intersectional. It seems like theres an organizing challenge of someone like i dont like donald trump, i dont know what intersectional means, i dont know the history of this struggle but im feeling like i need to be on the streets but youre judging me because i dont know the vocabulary. Does that make sense . Were in what we call the woke olympics, right . What is the most radical woke politics . So we have to start speaking in language supporting donald trump, if you go all the way around, thats the most woke. Absolutely not. I will fight you. But that is that strikes me as a challenge. I think its about having personal conversations. You dont have to engage on a gender studies level to talk to the people in your life about your own lived experience and whether other peoples might be different. We can say having trump mean we might defund planned parenthood. Its throughout in writing. We have a veritable crisis of infant deaths among black children. The nation had a great piece about this two weeks ago and the new replacement for obamacare takes away funding for maternity care. The stuff thats tangible. Great point. Brittany cooper, jess mcintosh, i like the red. Thanks. Finally on this International Womens day i want toed share a few phenomenal works on race, democracy and policing written by some incredible female authors. Gooks like ghettoside the warmth of other sons the new jim crow by michelle alexander. Theres a full list and theyre on facebook. Com allinwithchris. I drew on them in the book im writing and on our Facebook Page you can find dour tour dates for that book. So if you want to see me, check out the tour dates and get in there. Thats all in for this evening. The Rachel Maddow show starts right now. Go, chris, go, go, go im excited about your book tour and your book and you did an awesome show. Thank you all around. Thanks to you at home for joining us for the next hour. Politico reports tonight that u. S. Investigators, including the fbi are looking into a russian citizen in conjunction with one of the incidents on the Trump Campaign last year which defied explanation at the time. Dramatic news tonight from politico. Com. This incident that happened last year, last summer of the Trump Campaign, it was one of the first direct signs that we had that something strange was up in the Trump Campaign when it came to the issue of russia. Its an incident that came to light during the Republican National convention. Just in the last few days, the explanations around this strange incident that happened during the convention, just in the last few days, the explanations have started to unravel. Were getting some insight into why tonight. The person reportedly under fbi scrutiny is a joint russian ukrainian citizen. He apparently worked as a top staffer to Donald Trumps former Campaign Manager Paul Manafort. He worked with Paul Manafort in ukraine while Paul Manafort was managing the political fortuneses of that countrys proVladimir Putin dictator this guy who is reportedly being looked i