Transcripts For MSNBCW All In With Chris Hayes 20180505

Petrifi petrified ra. You cant be petrified. Thank you, kanye. Good evening from new york. Im joy read in for chris hayes. Donald trumps efforts to clean up the mess made by his new personal attorney Rudy Guiliani have managed to make things worse. Speaking to reporters this morning, the president suggested that giuliani didnt know what he was talking about when he said trump reimbursed mike cohen for his hush money payment to Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. Ill tell you what, rudy is a great guy but he just started a day ago. But he really has his heart into it. Hes working hard. Hes learning the subject matter. And hes going to be issuing a statement, too. But he is a great guy. He knows its a witch hunt. Thats what he knows pep started yesterday. Hell get his facts straight. Hes a great guy. Well, that flies in the face of what giuliani told nbc news last night. Youre not going to see daylight between the president and me. Trump today distanced himselves from that Giuliani Media blitz that was while designed to clear the president of potential Campaign Finance violations seems to have increased his legal exposure. That was money that was paid by his lawyer the way i would do out of his law firm funds or whatever funds, doesnt matter. The president reimbursed that over a period of several months. Imagine if that came out october 15th, 2016 in the middle of the last debate, Hillary Clinton. Cohen did his job. Despite having denied knowing anything about the daniels payment, trump today insisted theres no contradiction between his and giulianis accounts. Were not changing any stories. To be bringing up that kind of crap and to be bringing up witch hunts all the time, thats all you want to talk about. You said on air force you did not know anything about the payments. Excuse me. Take a look what i said. You go back and take a look. Youll see what i said. You said no when i asked you. You look at what we said. Okay. Lets take a look what he said. Did you know about the 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels . No. Then why did Michael Cohen make it if there was no truth . Youll have to ask michael. Michael is my attorney. Youll have to ask mike. Do you know where he got the money to make that payment . No, i dont know. Giuliani put out a Statement Today walking back his earlier comments. But it does nothing to clarify the president s role in paying off Stormy Daniels. First, there is no campaign violation. The payment was made to resolve a personal and false allegation in order to protect the president s family. It would have been done in any event whether he was a candidate or not. Second, my reference to timing were not describing my understanding of the president s knowledge but instead my understanding of these matters. Okay. So giuliani also tried to clear up remarks that according to some observers might have strengthened the obstruction of justice case against his client. He fired comey because comey would not, among other things, say that he wasnt a target of the investigation. So he fired him and he said im free of this guy. We, giuliani said in his Statement Today it is undisputed the president s dismissal of comey was cleary within his power. Recent revelations about former director comey confirmed the wisdom of the president s decision which was plainly in the best interests of our nation. Trump also had something to say today on the topic of obstruction of justice. Very funny. If you fight back because you people Say Something wrong or they Say Something wrong or they leak which theyve been doing, if you fight back, they say oh, thats obstruction of justice. Somebody says something wrong, you fight back, they say thats obstruction of justice. Its nonsense. For more on whats going on with the trump legal team, Kelly Odonnell joins me live from the white house. One question, who on the Donald Trump Legal Team prepped Rudy Guiliani for his media tour . Joy, i think two words. The president. What we are reporting is from talking with giuliani and others is that he and the president had gone over the strategy in advance of giuliani doing television and print interviews. And what we are told is they agreed that the main point that giuliani was to get out was to release in some form the idea that trump had in fact paid Stormy Daniels fees to Michael Cohen, that reimbursement that because they believe that in investigators already possession that information, it would be important for the president and his team to get that out first. However, that didnt play quite the way the president and others expected. Giuliani also talked with people in his own circle, legal and political circles to get advice on whether that was a good move to put that information out before it came out either through a newspaper or television report or from investigators. So theres still some agreement on that. But what we saw today, joy, is the president wants to reclaim the absence of knowledge on when he began paying that fee. He did acknowledge it on twitter saying it was a reimbursement but the timing, when he knew is now a question once again. Joy . Kelly odonnell, thank you for joining me. To help understand what is going on with Rudy Guiliani, im joined by Michael Daley from the daily beast whose latest piece is entitled Rudy Guiliani the mob bust sister now sounds like a mob mouthpiece. Giuliani leaks when is he wants to leak. Hes famous for na. The patrick doors man leak, the juvenile records. When he held up the guys criminal record. He leaked a juvenile record. He said there is no choir boy. It turns out he was a choir boy. This was a kid shot by a young man shot by police. Talk about the behavior of him now versus then. Rudy guiliani is famous for being pro Law Enforcement and having a special relationship with the new york fbi. How odd was it for you as a reporter for him to refer to them as storm troopers pa shocking particularly in the circumstances. Hes done many search warrants. He knows that to get a search warrant like the bug that they put in the jaguar, the mafia jaguar that made the commission case, he knows you have to go to a judge and show probable cause. If youve got to show probable cause for a mafia coppo imagine how much have you to you you have to search the personal office of the president of the United States . He knows that. They must have said weve got four truckloads of probable cause and another four coming but then i mean. Was he considered a good lawyer when he was the u. S. Attorney here in new york . Yeah, hes a smart guy. And i mean, everybody considered him like mr. Law and order. But hes not like a Robert Mueller. Yeah. Who is is you know, hes just doing his work. Were all saying whats this . Who says this, who says that. Theyre saying this, hes saying that. Meanwhile, were kind of like on a witch hunt. A which thing, which do we want to believe. Mueller is on a what hunt, what is the truth. That wasnt rudys think, it was the who hunt, who am i. And i think its not for nothing that he became very wellknown. Right. Personally, i have a hard time because we have mutual friends who were murdered at the trade center. And trump long before he ran for president starred telling everybody i lost hundreds of friends at the trade center, did nothing for anybody. He saw this and that that never happened you. Have a guy had repeatedly lied about 9 11. And he got Rudy Guiliani standing next to him on the 15th anniversary of the attack, rudy and Chris Christie are on either side of trump like two little lap dogs when he went walking off, they went skipping after him. Im like. Whats going on. Christie you can understand. He shows who he was. But because ive seen him at another observance yucking it up with his pal who shut down the bridge. Giuliani, some part of me as crazy as he may get at the core, hes kind of a decent guy. Ive got to say when i saw him with trump and if you watched the other night when hes twisting and turning and causing fbi agencies storm troopers, its almost like these guys enter a zone where the truth doesnt matter, it is whatever you decide it is. Coand trump just share a mutual grievance that might be named jim comey . We know comey before he he was fired wanted what launched an investigation into Rudy Guiliani and into whether or not he had had knowledge he shouldnt have had regarding the reopening of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. I thought i turned that off. Somebody wants to get in touch with you. Ill talk to him later could it be the mutual grievance they share potentially against comey . I i dont think, you know, i think comeys something for them to swak around. For trump to be so aggressively going after comey tells me that hes afraid. If hes not afraid of something, why is he going after this guy like that . Why is he saying comey should go to jay, comeys a leaker. Come on. And rudy joins him in that. I dont think rudy is afraid. He says comey is my friend. They worked together. Were colleagues and all this stuff. But when it comes down to it, rudy will do whatever will ingratiate him with donald trump. Michael daly, appreciate you being here today. For more on giulianis relationship with the president and what this means for Michael Cohen, im joined by Pulitzer Prize winning reporter david creigh kay johnson, what the Trump Administration is doing to america and contributor emily jane fox, Senior Reporter at vanity fair who has a new book born trump, inside americas first family. Emily, im going to come to you first. It is perplexing what it is that tracts Rudy Guiliani to donald trump and makes him so loyal. He wanted to be secretary of state. He didnt get that. People thought maybe hell get attorney general. He didnt. They have a long friendship and relationship. Lets talk about the other way around. You did a biography coming out about donald trump. Why would he turn to somebody like rudy jew, why specifically giuliani to help him in this moment . He likes people who are public attack dogs. Its the same psychology of why he had someone like Michael Cohen in his orbit for a long time. These are people who will go on television and defend the president to the end. Maybe things are not necessarily true or fully accurate but they will be aggressive and they will punch when donald trump needs to be punching or feels he needs to be punching. Thats what we see with both men. With a lot of men in his orbit. Thats why he brought rudy in and thats why he kept michael around for so long. David, robert costa the Washington Post was tweeting out. I was asking michael about the shared grievances the sense of grievance they both share. Anybody who experienced giuliani as mayor knows he is that kind of person. White house aides are bewilders by giuliani but many on staff now feel like theyre not in control of the situation. Aides say potus and giuliani are running their own strategy and have shareded grievances and perspectives. You heard Kelly Odonnell saying only person briefing giuliani is donald trump. What shared grievances could they be talking about . Well, both of them want to shut down and make sure that there is flow real examination of Donald Trumps conduct. And this is something thats been an issue with giuliani. Anybody hob read the book grand delusion, knows a lot of what america thinks about Rudy Guiliani at 9 11 is absolute nonsense and myth making including the fact that his father was a robber in sing sing. Analyst comments, rudys comments on tv indicate that even though hes a lawyer and former u. S. Attorney who successfully prosecute aid lot of serious gangsteres some of whom were in business with donald trump in various ways an, he doesnt understand the constitution at a level he should or else he has no problem lying about it. And you know, you mentioned that rudy wanted to be secretary of state. Im frankly not sure he could pass the background test for a cabinet level appointment two words should make that clear. Bernard kerik. Yeah, absolutely. Stay with me. I want to play Donny Deutsch on morning joe this morning talking abouting what giuliani knows from what he doesnt. Take a listen. I spoke with Michael Cohen yesterday. He said giuliani doesnt know what hes talking about. He said there are two people that know exactly what happened, myself and the president. Youll be hearing my side of the story. And he was obviously very frustrated at what had come out yesterday. And david, how dangerous for donald trump is what does feel in a lot of ways like a break with michael con even if he has giuliani on his side . Well, if cohen were to turn on trump and trump himself has raised this issue of flipping on him, he probably could be a very serious danger to him. The warrant that was issued had to come after so much solid evidence that the most antimueller investigation judge in the world had to approve that warrant on the basis that it was issued. And one of the things to keep in mind here, there are two attack dog lawyers at work here beyond Rudy Guiliani. Michael avenatti and Michael Cohen. The difference between them is one of them really knows what hes doing and has a track record of proving it in very tough litigation. Thats and notty. Emily, you had giuliani also come out and beak say mueller better not come for ivanka. Exhibiting loyalty to ivanka throwing jared undered the bus. The comment about jared was the most revealing thing. His sick cofan tick comment about ivanka was typical for the trump world. Saying that men are all disposable referring to Jared Kushner not only sent shock waves through the white house but it was a statement that someone who had been preparing with the president for days for this interview would Say Something like that can . It was reveal. Il say in all of my reporting for the book one thing that has come up over and over again is if it to a point where the president may have to choose between himself and his soninlaw, there is no question that he will throw jared under the bus faster than you could say jared. Wow. The plot athleticens. David cay johnson and emily fox, thank you both. Why the president spent part of his speech to the nra today praising Paul Manafort and the judge ruling over his case in the mueller probe. Ill tell you what happened in two minutes. baby crying slow jazz music fly me to the moon and let me play bell ring at a comfort inn with a glow taround them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com. When its your mission to get a better hot dog in every hand, you gotta make a better dog thats just what oscar mayer does. With no artificial preservatives, any added nitrates or nitrites, and by waving bye to byproducts. So you can get back to loving them. For the love of hot dogs. car horn judge t. S. Ellis who is really something very special i hear from many standpoints. Hes a respected person, suggested the charges before the u. S. District court for the Eastern District of virginia were just part of the mueller teams designs to pressure mr. Manafort into giving up information on President Donald Trump or others in the campaign. Ive been saying that for a long time. Its a witch hunt. If youre wondering how closely donald trump is following the impending criminal trial of his onetime Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort, wonder no more. That was trump reading from a news report handed him just before his speech. During a hearing in the case today, a federal judge in virginia expressed skeptic qulix special counsel mule her the authority to bring charges against manafort that were not directly related to collusion. Of course, trump loved that the jung was tough on the prosecutors. But the judge did not issue his ruling today whether any of those charges will be dismissed. The question is, what does todays hearing mean for the mueller probe. To tep us answer that question and more, im joined by legal analyst jill winebanks, form area siftent Watergate Special prosecutor and Harry Sen Dick in the Criminal Division for the Southern District of new york. Harry, im going to come to you first. Tell me about this judge. Judge ellis is a judge in the Eastern District of virginia right outside washington, d. C. On the bench for about 30 years. Appointed by president rag in the you 1980s. He had the Johnny Walker lindh case which an cleaned some notoriety in the years after. The american taliban case. Exactly. The american taliban. Hes had high profile cases. And when you are dealing with a judge on the bench as long as he has, its not surprising theyre very outspoke everyone had their kind of gut level views about a case. And they as judge ellis did today, will not hesitate to share those views with the government. It doesnt necessarily tell you where hes coming out. Okay. Judges need to make it look good. They need to show theyre fair. When you hear judge ellis say he believes that the special counsel is only interested in manafort to squeeze him for information that would reflect on mr. Trump or lead to his imetchment and goes on to say prosecutors wanted mr. Manafort to sing but he worried that manafort might also compose that does not as a former prosecutor tell you uhoh, this guy is going to dismiss this case. If i were the prosecutor i would rather him not have said these things but i wouldnt necessarily jump to that conclusion. He has to base his decision on the law. And we already saw that a judge in the District Of Columbia expressed concern about there were very similar type of argument. We know that the regulations that were talking about here all say right at the front these dont give individuals rights. Thee are meant to talk about how the department of justice divides up its work. So the worst case no for the government is that prosecutors in the Eastern District of virginia bring there case against Paul Manafort. Absolutely. Go into that for a minute. Jill, there are two different case taz manafort is facing, one in d. C. , one the Eastern District of virginia. Why would there be two different judges looking at there case. There are two Different Cases because the crimes that he is charged with in the Eastern District of virginia are based in virginia. For example, phis his tax returns from his home in virginia. And he didnt report the income he got from his work in the ukraine. So he failed to pay federal taxes on that money. And that is a crime that occurred when he filed in virginia. So thats why that is there. And it can be prosecuted by the u. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of virginia or it can be prosecuted by the special counsel depending on how the jurisdictional statement is written. And i am pretty sure that mr. Mueller would not have brought those charges if they werent within what he had been assigned by mr. Rosenstein. But it wont help mr. Manafort if for some reason the judge decides that mueller cannot charge him with these crimes. Then the Eastern District can. Crimes have been committed, the grand jury found enough evidence to say he should stand trial and he should stand trial. And jill, are judges allowed to consider the likelihood that charges will lead to potential impeachment in a case like this . Absolutely not. There is a charge of a criminal act in the state of virginia that vi lays federal law. And thats all he should be looking at. It is outrageous he is questioning the motive of prosecutors. He should be looking at whether there is a crime which there seems to be clear evidence of. Once the grand jury indicts, i once had a case where i questioned whether the evidence was strong enough. And i conferred with my boss who was one of the best lawyers youve ever known, cluck rough, and he said its not for you to make this judgment. The grand jury found enough evidence. You have to present it to the court. And thats what i did. And thats what has to happen here. Let me come to you on there. We have, harry, a piece of news just coming from the wall street journal. This is the wall street journal reporting tonight Michael Cohen, president Donald Trumps personal lawyer, gained access to as much as 774,000 through two Financial Transactions through thing during the 2016 president ial campaign as you saw the to the fix problems for his boss. Those cos factor into a broad investigation of mr. Cohens Business Affairs being conducted by manhattan federal prosecutors at the fbi hob are examininging whether mr. Cohen violated any laws in his efforts to raise cash and can conceal negative information about mr. Trump including transactions tied to his credit line and taxi medallions. If he gained access to these funds but hes saying the source of the hush money to Stormy Daniels was a home equity line of credit as a former prosecutor what, does this say to you. Its very disturbing because if you say false things in order to get a bank loan, that is a violation of law. And youre not supposed to do that. And what is he doing with the 700,000 just sort of floating around . Did he get questions by Financial Institutions . Did he answer truthfully . When the search warrant litigation was proceeding, there were all of these black boxes in the governments pages that were redacted. And through stories like this it seems like were getting a sense as to the seriousness of that investigation. The Southern District is composed of people who are relentless investigators and they will track down every lead. This sounds like a lead that theyre definitely going to track down. Absolutely. Last one to you, jill. If mike cohen gained access to a sum of money that could be used in theory maybe to do some of these reimbursements, what does it say to you that Rudy Guiliani is saying donald trump paid him back . Why would he need to pay him back if cohen had access to money with which to make these kinds of payments . The important thing is that the president and Rudy Guiliani need to get their story straight. They need to be telling the truth. They need to be speaking facts. And clearly, rudy and the president have not agreed on what the facts are here. Theres no question that we dont know yet, did the president pay him back . How many women were paid off . How many other people with negative information were paid off . 700,000 goes a long way to paying a lot of people. And so theres just a lot of questions about it. Harry is right about all the potential banking crimes that could have been committed by false statements to the bank. As well as to the public. Those would have been in new york. D. C. And virginia already dealing with this case. Hello, new york. Thank you both very much. Still ahead, will a newly emboldened trump be more open to sitting down for an interview with Robert Mueller . What the president said today after this. You wouldnt believe whats in this kiester. A farmers market. A fire truck. Even a marching band. And if i can get comfortable talking about this kiester, then you can get comfortable using preparation h. For any sort of discomfort in yours. Preparation h. Get comfortable with it. Tonight from the wall street journal. The wall street journal reporting Michael Cohen had access to as much as 774,000 in lines of credit through two Financial Transactions during the 2016 president ial campaign. In february of 2016, mr. Cohen nearly doubled the amount he could use on a Bank Credit Line tied to his manhattan apartment increasing his ability to borrow by 245,000. Three months earlier according to the journal, he gains potential access to another 529,000 through a new mortgage he and his wife cosigned on a condo owned by her parents in Trump World Tower in new york. According to real estate records. I want to bring in my panel, asawin suebsaeng, natasha bertrand, and ret know nat toe mariotti. Renato, ill icome to you first for your reaction. It appears in two transactions one cosigned by his wife michael was taking out a lot of credit before the campaign. Why does cohen suddenly need access to all this cash. Reporter it certainly suggests that there may be more transactions that we dont know about but that the federal prosecutors in new york do know about. Obviously theyre investigating Michael Cohen for you know, transactions in addition to the Stormy Daniels transaction we already know about. Why would he need access to 700,000 for 130,000 transaction . And i think the other question really is, joy, why is cohen the one making these transactions out of his personal accounts . If he represents a billionaire, why isnt the billionaire putting the money in himself . Its odd. I represent a lot of companies and people. I dont use my personal funds to fund their settlements. Frankly the rules of professional conduct would prevent me from doing so. Natasha, Rudy Guiliani was making it sound when he was on fox news like this was part of the normal process of a retainer in the course of a retainer this is the thing he did as Donald Trumps attorney. But were now hearing a lot of heaven different things. Hes using his own money to do these payments to at least one woman, Stormy Daniels but Rudy Guiliani is saying no, he was reimbursed. The story is convoluted. Its almost like donald trump knew the types of things had he hired Michael Cohen to fix for him, things like perhaps women coming forward alleging that he had assaulted them or that he had affairs with them while married. And he was trying to maintain a distance between himself and any knowledge of what these payments were for in case of a situation like this in which he would be questioned about what he did know and when. Of course, this is going to be really important for the special counsel because he, of course, is wondering what else did the president pay Michael Cohen for . Did he perhaps pay Russian Hackers to keep things quiet during the election . Things that were alleged in the dossier. This is all part of a pattern. Its going to be really important as part of the federal investigation. Asawin, i asked Kelly Odonnell who was involved in briefing Rudy Guiliani before he went on this media blitz where in theory hes supposed to be throwing cold water on the idea there was any of nefarious motive behind. The payment to daniels. He raised more questions by making it pretty clear that trump knew about the transactions. In the white house, is there a concern that giuliani and trump are doing their own thing and that maybe donald trump is telling Rudy Guiliani everything and Rudy Guiliani is telling that to fox friends . Well, just to give you an example of how much senior staffers in if the Trump White House were kept completely in the dark on this until the moment it actually happened, on Sean Hannitys show wednesday evening, therern at least two white house officials who were messaging me as the episode was going on, one of whom very bluntly asked, is he supposed to be doing this . There were so many people at the senior ranks kept in the dark that they were genuinely surprised and caught off guard that rudy was going out there and saying all these things. They didnt nope if it was sanctioned by the president at the time. We quickly found out afterwards that it was. But this is a bit of a fly by the seat of your pants legal strategy that oftentimes keeps people including don mcgahn and emmet flood out of the loop. And it begs the question, is that the wisest legal strategy for a president of the United States who is in such a legal multifaceted mine field. Lets ask the former prosecutor, renato, how dangerous is this strategy . Is it the case anything Rudy Guiliani says publicly on television binds his client . You know, it is a very dangerous strategy. Ill tell you, when i handle sort of routine investigations that arent on the front pages of the newspaper or arent discussed on National Television, you know, when we take any public action or make any statement, we carefully discuss it. Everyone on the team is part of it. The client and everyone on the legal team, very carefully vets those statements. So the idea that you would have statements that are just being made off the cuff that not everyone on the team knows about is shocking and reflects a disarray in their team. Absolutely. We have here, natasha a couple new mes of information. Cnbc reporting mueller is focusing on roger stone and rick gates, stone being a longtime crony of donald trump focusing on alleged interactions between rick gates and political operative roger stone. The new developments indicate theyre interested in stone beyond his interactions with Julian Assange victor vecklesburg has also been questioned by muellers investigators, no indications suspecting him of wrong doing but he attended the inauguration. Interest in him suggests the special counsel is focused on potential russian oligarchs trchs with trump. Under those circumstances, is team trump willing to let all of these people talk to mueller but not donald trump talk to mueller. At this point its more of a pr strategy and less of a legal strategy. Hes banking if he can go out and Rudy Guiliani can go out on National Television and undermine the investigation as much as possible and says theres no way donald trump is it going to sit for an interview without these parameters, its going to last two hours match, he cant ask about this, theyll get the American People on their side. If mueller asks trump about his business ties to russian or anything in the past, theyll be able to say this was not a legitimate investigation. Theyve been building up to this point for months and months. Now they think because they have the American People on their side which is not necessarily true, i think most americans want this investigation to conclude and they want trump to sit down for an interview, they believe this gives them upper hand. Of course, now that we know that Robert Mueller is still focusing on the collusion angle, thats another talking point thats emerged from the right, hes no longer focusing on collusion, its all about obstruction, that is not true. Collusion has been the number one priority of Robert Mueller. That was why he was hired in the first place to investigate potential collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia. Obstruction came out of that because the president fired his fbi director. Theres a question whether he can be compelled to testify or if he doesnt want to do it. Asawan suebsaeng, natasha thanks. The president fawns over the nra. His speech to the trump base is ahead. Plus, the political ad you have to see to believe. In tonights thing 1, thing 2 next. But there will still be pain. It comes when your Insurance Company says theyll only pay threequarters of what it takes to replace it. What are you supposed to do . Drive threequarters of a car . Now if you had Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, youd get your whole car back. I guess they dont want you driving around on three wheels. Smart. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, well replace the full value of your car. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Ayep, and my teeth are yellow. . Time for whitestrips. Crest glamorous White Whitestrips are the only adaaccepted whitening strips proven to be safe and effective. And they whiten 25x better than a leading whitening toothpaste. Crest. Healthy, beautiful smiles for life. Most people come to la with big dreams. We came with big appetites. With expedia, you could book a flight, hotel, car, and activity all in one place. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. And convicted felon don blacken ship who spent a year in prison for his role in a 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 people and who is still on probation has been trying to get republican votes in the West Virginia Senate Primary by going after his own partys Senate Leader Mitch Mcconnell. Nicknaming him cocaine mitch and referring to mcconnells fatherinlaw as a china person. Im an american person. I dont see this insinuation by the press that theres something racist about saying a china person. Some people are korean persons and some of them are african persons. Its not any slander there. Oh, but he wasnt done there. Behold blakenships new campaign ad. Swamp captain Mitch Mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china people. While doing so, he has gotten rich. His china family has given him tens of millions of dollars mitchs swamp people are now running false negative ads against me and childishly calling me mentally ill. War to drain the swamp and create jobs for West Virginia people has begun. Il beat joe manchin and ditch cocaine mitch for the sake of the kids. Its for the kids. And for the sake of the kids, Don Blackenship has a new defense against charges of racism. Thats thing 2 in 60 seconds. From your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. You can do it. We can do this. At fidelity, our online planning tools are clear and straightforward so you can plan for retirement while saving for the things you want to do today. Whoo swatch captain Mitch Mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china people. While doing so, mitch has gotten rich. In fact, his china family has given him tens of millions of dollars. Don blacken assumption is trying to explain away his comments telling a reporter theyve always said about me West Virginia people. Is West Virginia people racist . Were confused on our own staff how it can be racist when theres no mention of a race. Theres no race. Races are negro, white, caucasian, hispanic is, asian. Theres no mention of a race. Ive never used a race word. Negro is . Ah. Im not entirely sure that that cleared anything up. Lets give mr. Blankenship one more shot. The phrase china person, people are offended still. Well, they shouldnt be. And im a West Virginia person. Youre an nbc person. You know, in order to have a racist statement, you have to mention a race or derogatory comment about a race. For my constipation, my doctor recommended i switch to miralax. Stimulant laxatives forcefully stimulate the nerves in your colon. Miralax is different. It works with the water in your body. Unblocking your system naturally. Save up to 5 on miralax. See sundays paper. Now im gonna tell my momma that im a traveller im gonna follow the sun now im gonna tell my momma that im a traveller transitions™ light under control™ so lets promote our spring travel deal on choicehotels. Com like this. Earn one free night when you stay just twice this spring. Allergies. Or, badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com some people see Public Service as a way to give back. Others as a duty to their country. Epa chief scott pru eight however apparently sees it as a way to tick through his world travel bucket list. The west reports that pruitt wanted to add an International Flair to his had penchant for publicly funded travel. And for leaning on his lobbyist friends. After taking office last year, he drew up a list of at least a dozen countries he hoped to visit and urged aides to help him find official reasons tops travel. Pruitt then enlisted well connected friends and allies to help make the trips happen. That wish list included israel, australia, saudi arabia, colombia, panama, japan, poland and canada according to former staff members. Pruitt wanted to schedule one trip per month they said. So far hes been to italy and morocco also. This is hardly the first scandal weve seen everyone scott pruitt like buying a house with a lobbyist at a steep discount from another lobbyist. Theres the 43,000 top security phone booth he insisted be installed in his office breaking the law in the process. Were not even mentioning the bloated security detail that costs million, fondness for first class travel on the taxpayer dime or the way he reimbursed himself 65,000 from his two campaigns for Oklahoma Attorney general. Truly, theres something impressive about Scott Pruitts ability to be so corrupt in so many ways. In the swamp olympics that is the Trump Administration, pruitt is clearly going for the gold. At some point, we are going to be able to beat als. Because life is amazing. So i am hoping for a cure. I want this, to uh, to be a reality. Um, yeah. Nausea, heartburn, when indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea heres pepto bismol ah. Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Like you do sometimes, grandpa . And puffed. Well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. It can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. So i talked to my doctor. She said. Symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. Symbicort doesnt replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. Symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. Symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It should not be taken more than twice a day. Symbicort contains formoterol. Medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems. Symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. You should tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Symbicort could mean a day with better breathing. Watch out, piggies get symbicort free for up to one year. Visit saveonsymbicort. Com today to learn more. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. At the Marine Mammal center, the environment is everything. We want to do our very best for each and every animal, and we want to operate a sustainable facility. And pg e has been a partner helping us to achieve that. Weve helped the Marine Mammal center go solar, install electric vehicle charging stations, and become more energy efficient. Pg e has allowed us to be the most Sustainable Organization we can be. Any time you help a customer, its a really good feeling. Its especially so when its a customer thats doing such good and important work for the environment. Together, were building a better california. Just over two months ago after meeting with parkland survivors donald trump talked tough about the nra. Today he gave the keynote address at the Nra Convention. So lets talk about guns, shall we . I love you too. Thank you. [ applause ] your Second Amendment rights are under siege, but they will never, ever be under siege as long as im your president. Mental health. Mental health is a big one. They dont like to talk about mental health. Mental health. We want armed guards. We strongly believe in allowing highly trained teachers to carry concealed weapons. They said, you know, going to the Nra Convention and speaking today, that will be very controversial. It might not be popular. You know what i said . Byebye. Got to get on the plane. To talk about that prime red meat the president threw to his base today, im joint by sarah rumph, contributor to the conservative website red statep jane colston reporter at vox. And former 2016 president ial candidate. Im going to come to you first evan. This is donald trump saying one more sound bite. Most of its his usual i won the electoral college, et cetera, et cetera, but he did talk a little bit about guns. And heres donald trump talking about gunfree zones. Tragically, as weve seen, theres no sign more inviting to a mass killer than a sign that declares this school is a gunfree zone. Come in and take us. Of course he was saeking at a gunfree zone because there was no guns allowed because the president of the United States is there and deep him saying you cant have guns in that Nra Convention. That was i little ironic. But those talking points you just heard streamed off by donald trump do they still working on Republican Voters . Without barack obama there and the fear of the black helicopters coming to seize their weapons, does that kind of talk still work . I think among some voters that fear is still there. It wasnt only driven by Barack Obamas presidency. And certainly the president continues to stoke it. Even in the speech he said our gun rights, or whatever he said, are under siege, and then he went on to say but they wont be under siege as long as im president. Clearly there are times when allowing guns into situations is inappropriate and the president and his presence at the Nra Convention illustrated that. He continues to push i think a ridiculous idea about Arming Teachers in schools. Im supportive of armed guards at schools in addition to other reforms. But the idea that we would depend on teachers, even if you give them a lot of training, is i think ridiculous. And theyre there to teach and nurture the kids. They dont need to be packing heat while they do it. And you know, sarah, the nra was very successful, even if it wasnt just about obama, president obama, in stoking this fear that people needed to buy more guns, stockpile guns, that president obama was coming for their guns, the same thing was done when bill clinton was president. Weve seen a marked decline in the profitability of gun manufacturers who you know, they bought up a lost inventory thinking Hillary Clinton was going to win. Without fearing the president of the United States, how does donald trump and the nra manage to keep primary gun voters in enough state of intentionty to make sure they come out in the midterms . Well, the reality is there are still democratic politicians and candidates who are talking about things that Second Amendment supporters are very much against. I would ask people to think about theres a very interesting plot line in the black panther movie, and ill try not to spoil it for the three people who havent seen it, but they talk about how if they could take the wa canadan technology and weapons and give it to oppressed people around the world that would help them throw off their colonizer and oppressors. The idea that weapons give people an insurance policy against oppression is something that is very near and dear to the heart of Second Amendment supporters like nra members. Now, i know a lot of nra members, a lot of gun owners. I dont know any of them that are talking about overthrowing the United States government. But still the idea that you have the ability to protect yourself is a real concern. And on a more micro level the idea that as a woman, even a teenage boy is physically stronger than i am. But if i have a gun i have a Second Amendment right to defend myself, now im on parity with an attacker. And thats something that people are concerned about. Let me go to you, miss jaime colson. Because of course wakanda forever. Love the movie. But im not sure that people fear a wakanda style im not sure what that means. But there is this sort of sense of siege that has driven gun sales and driven people who vote on this basis as their primary issue. That sense of siege, can it possibly survive a president who is 100 on their side, whos pandering to this audience, whos showing up with the Vice President at their conventions . Well, its especially interesting because youll notice that throughout the convention, im glad you played those clips, because he didnt talk about a lot of actual gun issues. He didnt talk about concealed weapon reciprocity, going across states, and he didnt talk about issues that are extremely important to actual gun owners, including gun owners who are people of color, which is a rising number of black women and black americans who are buying guns. So i think that siege mentality, its really interesting because a lot of times, you know, the nra is one of the biggest defenders of Second Amendment rights but then you see time and time again that when africanamericans, we think about flaphilando castile and s recent cases ive been covering, you think about how when they have guns its a little best a different story. That siege mentality doesnt seem to work for all americans. And to that point, sarah, a lot of what nra tv has been doing is stoking fears against new groups of people to be afraid of, the liberals, the media, and people of color feels like thats the new obama and clinton. You know, i dont belong to the nra and i dont work for the nra. I have expressed before some concerns about their messaging strategy. I do think that some of the discussion theyve had recently, you know, again, with some of the discussion about if you have a if you are a lawful gun owner then you have the ability to protect your family, thats absolutely a vital discussion. You know, whether who youre targeting as far as what youre supposed to be afraid of, you know, thats something that you have to you do have to be careful in how you message that. Sure. Evan, the new threat really is economic. You have david hogg who is a leader of the never again movement from parkland tweeted out today Florida Retirement System pension fund holds shares valued at 520,000 in American Outdoor Brands Company normerly known as smith wesson which is known as the ar15. Youre seeing economic boycotts tied to the gun industry. Really the threat to the industry now is economic because especially young people are not in their camp. Electorally im not sure how they can message to people like david hogg. I think this movement that david hogg and others are leading is going to have an impact on the midterms. Some of these students arent old enough to vote themselves but i think their parents and other voting age people are seeing this, seeing this energy, and i sort of i view it as in part in a similar way that i view the Womens Movement where you have these different movements that are civic movements that are gaining a lot of force. Republicans arent providing answers. And thats going to have an impact on the midterms. As far as their strategy i still think they should propose solutions, which they have. Policy changes. And go after policy makers. I think going after the economics can be effective too. But theyve got to turn it back to the policy makers. Sarah rumph, thank you very much. Jane coaston, evan mcmullin, thank you for joining us. That is all in for this evening. You can catch me again tomorrow at 10 00 a. M. Eastern, the joy reid show. The Rachel Maddow show starts now. Right at 9 00. Boom. On the dot. From the hardestworking and most precise woman in the business. Thank you very much. Thank you, joy. Appreciate it. And thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. Happy friday. Earlier this week the Deputy Attorney general of the United States Rod Rosenstein made headlines when he gave a talk in d. C. And after his talk he answered questions from reporters. A cnn reporter named Laura Jarrett asked mr. Rosenstein about republicans in congress coming after him and trying to gin up support for impeaching him and removing him from office. And in response to that question rosenstein gave the strongest Public Comments he haset