Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20190128

The president and his top advisers insist he is ready to declare an emergency or to close the government again if he does not get his wall yeah. I think he actually is keep in mind hes willing to do whatever it takes to secure the border and the contender, democrats are jolted by starbucks exceo Howard Schultz considering an independent run that could help reelect donald trump they fear as Kamala Harris stuns the competition with a mega hometown rally. We are here at this moment in time because we must answer a fundamental question who are we who are we as americans . America, we are better than this and good day, everyone im Andrea Mitchell in washington rogestone will be here tomorrow to be formally arraigned before a federal judge on those seven criminal counts brought by Robert Mueller. Mr. Stone says he is open to having a conversation with the special counsel and other individuals who served in the Trump Campaign, but right now hes not willing to deal. Are you willing to cut a deal with Robert Mueller . I dont answer hypothetical questions. I have no intention of doing so, however. Joining me now nbc White House Correspondent kristen welker, nbc political analyst robert costa, National Political reporter at the washington post, and msnbc contributor joyce vance, former u. S. Attorney and Nbc National Security analyst frank agrisi and former fbi assistant director for counterintelligence. First to you all of the possibilities here, roger stone today having the exaggeration of saying that there were more people raiding his apartment than went after bin laden. I dont remember seeing four black Hawks Landing outside his Fort Lauderdale apartment and s. E. A. L. Team 6, but he is the drama king, isnt he, as he is coming here for his federal arraignment. Reporter theres no doubt about that, andrea look, you talk to legal analysts and i know this will be part of the discussion his arrest was by the book because prosecutors felt he could potentially be a flight risk and could potentially try to destroy evidence. Look, this has created yet another growing political problem for President Trump as it relates to the russia investigation. One more person from his inner circle now indicted and the number now stands at six and so its creating more tough questions for the white house. Its created a direct link between former trump adviser and wikileaks, although not that direct link to russia, but bottom line, the white house has been on defense about this the president has been on defense and hes been trying to distance himself and we heard that from Sarah Sanders. This has nothing to do with the president and the white house and if you read the indictment, and the Trump Campaign is mentioned multiple times and hes dealing with the fact that the government has just reopened after 35 days and think, he and lawmakers on capitol hill tried to keep it reopen, but this is one more complicated piece for this president , andrea kristen, also President Trump trying to tweet some sort of separation from roger stone tweeting on saturday after the indictment, roger stone didnt even work for me anywhere near the election, but according to all the reporting he was on the phone with him all of the time and they have a 40year relationship and he is definitely a confidant he is a confidant and the two go way back, as you say, andrea, for decades. Roger stone trying to convince President Trump to run for president years before he actually did it, so this is someone who has been very close politically with mr. Trump for quite some time and in fact, one documentary, Paul Manafort talks about how closely linked the two are and he served on the campaign for about a year and the bottom line is he remained in contact with the campaign for the duration, andrea. And robert, what are you hearing from the white house as they deal with all of the allegations that and the suggestions that were made that were implicit in the indictment on friday . Inside the west wing this white house and the new white House Counsel pat stipaloni are preparing for the onslaught of investigations coming from capitol hill mueller and his investigation remains something theyre keeping an eye on and there are only so much Rudy Giuliani and others can do. The names that pop around the white house are jerry nadler, Judiciary Committee chairman, adam schiff and about what Michael Cohen may say next month when he appears before the Senate Intelligence committee. I wanted to ask joyce, as well, who is joining us about this arraignment what can we expect from the arraignment itself will this be fairly perfunctory . Arraignment will be perfunctory, he will be given a copy of the indictment against him. He will be asked to enter a plea and he will plead not guilty at that point in time, and the real action in this case doesnt come into a much later phase. The arraignment is strictly a procedural step at this point. The other person who weighed in was Chris Christie on his new book and he describes the fact that he was having lunch back in 2017 barely a couple of weeks after the inaugural at the white house, he and his wife were there, Jared Kushner was there and the president expressing the confidence that having just fired Michael Flynn that week the russia problem was over. Lets watch what he had to say today. During lunch with the president and Jared Kushner after he fired Michael Flynn they thought that would end the russia investigation he spoke to the russians apparently and he said i think this will end it and i just laughed and i said, mr. President , its unfortunate they have to tell you this, having done this myself for a living well be talking on this on valentines day, february 14th and they laughed out loud and jared thought i was crazy. They had no experience in government and no experience in this so, you know, what about the naivety, do you think it was nain naivety or Chris Christie, perhaps. I think its Wishful Thinking on his part. As we now know things have unfold the russia problem has not gone away, and to the contrary, it has grown increasingly and exponentially with every indictment that we reach. So lets look at the roger stone indictment as an example we now have this increasingly difficult problem of trying to imagine a scenario where the president was not briefed and the candidate was not briefed on what was going on with wikileaks. On what was going on with russian hacking and so as that becomes increasingly difficult to imagine and the president continues to distance himself from all of these people who are being indicted we are leakly to see a scenario where he is trying to distance hams from his own cal camp they were doing it, but i didnt know anything about it nobody briefed me on anything and thats what this will come down to and thats what mueller is trying thats a gap that mueller is trying to close is whatdid the president know, what did candidate trump know, when did he know it . Did he understand the link between russia and wikileaks did he understand who did the hacking . Did he understand that wikileaks was being used as a surrogate by rush on russia to get this released and did he understand that people in his campaign were directing people to interact with wi wikileaks . Is the absence of that connection despite what was on page 4, as i recall, in that indictment in the passive voice what everyone has been noting that so and so was directed by or was directed to contact stone and the fact that the indictment did not say person one directed person two to tell stone to get in touch with wiki leaks and find out more about those emails against Hillary Clinton. Is the way that was written tell you something or does the absence of it confirm for the president and his associates that the fact that mueller will not be able to prove that connection heres what we know about mueller. He is not a tease. He is not into drama this isnt a movie trailer other than godfather ii, the reference. Except that we have a movie reference inside this indictment, i can tell you from knowing bob mueller hes not into creating a situation where hes teasing us. So what do i mean by that . I think that he is pointing to the very top of this campaign. I think when he says a Senior Campaign official was directed well, who is it that directs a Senior Campaign official if not the most senior people in the campaign so were looking at the likelihood that neither the candidate himself, family members or someone else at the very top of the campaign is calling the shots. And robert, you covered the campaign you know how small a universe that was tell us, you know who could have been in that circle . It was a very tight circle. The 26th floor of trump tower in new york the president at the center directing his surrogates and his advisors from his office on the phone, didnt use a computer and always just making his aides do his work theres no direct connection yet to the president and theres language that points perhaps in that direction, but well have to see what mueller concludes. What is the president who makes so many suggestions all of the time privately and is known to have different mood swings, but what was the intent . Was there criminal intent here or this was something that was an aside thats what mueller, by talking to witness e will try to reveal and hopefully reveal because the country and reporters want to know, what was the intent of the president s role whether or not he did this specific language or not. Where do you think this is going, joyce i think its dangerous for us to get too caught up in our crystal ball, but ill tell you the certainty i have here is where it will go will be the correct place. It may not be a place that makes everyone happy some people want to see the president indicted other people think its a witch hunt that should be over mueller will not have any sort of an endgame here other than seeking the truth which is exactly what the American People deserve. It may be that there may be a criminal Justice System sort of a solution coming or it may be that this is a political solution on capitol hill, but mueller is in search of the truth and respecting the rule of law and i suspect he will go wherever it takes them. Thanks to all, and coming up, deja vu, what the president is saying about the possibility of another shutdown in three weeks. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. What theyre talking about. Or the one that j. D. 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Hundreds of thousands of federal employees across the nation are headed back to work today after lawmakers struck a temporary deal it reopen the government friday night. Trump says there is a 50 50 chance they could meet another deal to meet his Border Security demands and is considering an emergency to build the wall. While some coast guard civil workers describe themselves as Trump Supporters do not want another shutdown no matter what three weeks from now nbcs Vaughn Hilliard spoke to them i understand your concept about the borders have to be secured, yes, i do how youre going about it, by no means do i agree no you are holding the very people that voted for you hostage you cant do that. Joining me now is msnbc political analyst mike murphy, former Senior Adviser to mitt romney, jeb bush and john mccain and msnbc political analyst robert costa im afraid have we lost mike murphy . Can you hear us . Mike murphy . Robert im here, andrea. Why dont you bail me out here and talk about the shutdown. What are you hearing from the sources about whether the president will invoke this emergency procedure which will create legal challenges, but he might have some legal standing, at least, to get past the first court barriers we wrote about this in todays post, making a lot of calls sunday to sources, andrea. I got the impression from top officials and advisors to the president now that the shutdown is over you still want the president still wants this wall. Hes also skeptical of this Conference Committee on capitol hill that has house members and Senate Members that will try to meet over the next few weeks to come up with an appropriations deal to fund the wall. If that goes nowhere the white house and the president are thinking about a National Emergency and the counsel has been sketching out drafts of how that would look. Politically, the thought is, sure, it would be challenged and it may not actually work, but it would show the Republican Party and the president s core voters that it would go to the extreme to get that wall let me follow up with you for a moment, robert because the college of cardinals which is what the appropriators used to be called in both the house and senate these are the people who were on this Conference Committee. They are the experienced appropriators who have done six appropriation bills and there is a budget for the first time in a long time other than homeland because that was the point of contention so if he moves this money around hes basically saying to congress i am superseding your authority as the people who have control of the Purse Strings that is all accurate, but the political subtext here based on my reporting is that the college of cardinals, the appropriators think if the president declares a National Emergency and takes the wall off the table in a sense because the wall would then be decided by the courts. The president would be tied up on the border wall and the appropriators could hope they would cut their own deal on many Border Security provisions while the wall is being figured out by the court. The way this can play out, maybe its extended past february 15th and the wall just becomes a National Emergency issue. And mike murphy is now hooked up properly with us, mike. If this all goes down already anne coulter and others, the president tweeting against her after she compared him to what she called a wimp, George Herbert walker bush going back to a very controversial newsweek cover, and you have divisions on the right and the very people who went after him before the first shutdown and got him to back down from the deal he had already agreed to. Yeah. No, there are definitely broken hearts there and thats a significant power, and the president listened to what they told him to do now that they have an open divorce ann can go back to the far end of the radio dial and vanish into the obscurity they think she earned the bigger question is will the president try to go once again, play poker with the college fund with river boat pelosi who took him for half with another shutdown game of chicken where shes got more charge than he does, or i agree with bob caosta or will he try to preserve his brand of tough guy by ruffling his feathers and National Emergency and it does move the issue away from the grownups who superseded with some legislative semicompromise on this and then the issue becomes would President Trump win the legal thing and institutionally very few people are in favor of that, because if that becomes established then the president can usurp the congress that way it will never go away and future liberal president s may try that. It does move the politics, though, which this is what its all about with the republicans who have no appetite for another shutdown its like going back to stalinbrad, really again . How damaging is he to his own Republican Party they dont want to go up and try to override a veto, but his own credibility in the caucus. How damage side he for having lost to nancy pelosi well, my joke is if the president could read minds hed never want to set foot on capitol hill on either the democrat or republican side. I mean, it was significant that you had a handful of senators which is more than the zero we used to see walk away from him on the democratic bill to fund the country. So theres no doubt his strength is slipping. The question is in ten months will it slip enough to really have a primary challenge if Something Like that to be realistic and right now he is in the drivers seats with the grassroots and the Republican Party. Theyre ominous because parties dont like to lose and the trump plan has gone from art of the deal to going to lose to the liberal and thats a problem for any Political Party and i hear all over the gop now whispers at this point. Mike murphy, thanks so much and robert costa, thank you. And coming up, brewing dissension would a White House Run from former starbucks ceo Howard Schultz could mean for 2020. You are watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc unpredictable crohns symptoms following you . For adults with moderately to severely active crohns disease, stelara® works differently. Studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. Stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. Some serious infections require hospitalization. Before treatment, get tested for tb. 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California senator Kamala Harris officially kicking off her president ial campaign in her hometown of oakland, california, sunday, rallying thousand ws of supporters as Howard Schultz is listening to her and some democrats, Many Democrats fear that could be disastrous for whoever is the democratic nominee. How is the president ial field shaping up. Joining me now, nbc news Political Correspondent Steve Kornacki is at the big board the early polls are where they are, theyre early polls, but the field is getting interesting. This is the most reese not one we have here on the democratic side. This was in the last week or so. You see Kamala Harris announcing her candidacy yesterday running at 9 and the name recognition is a big part. Its not just name recognition its not a bad place to be starting out when youre a firstterm senator and the big question mark hanging over the democratic field at this stage of the races and you look at these, biden and Bernie Sanders, 26 for biden, 16 for sanders thats more than 40 you add those together 42 . We dont know if joe biden will run in this race we dont know if Bernie Sanders will run in this race. If one of them or both walk up to the starting line and say you know what . Never mind, not interested that opens up a lot for these other candidates and the first big question becomes who is going to run . Kamala harris, not a bad place to be starting out and what if biden and sanders are candidates keep in mind we say the wild card at this stage take a look, earlier campaigns at this stage where they stood this point last time around we didnt know if biden was going to run or warren was going to run. Turns out Bernie Sanders who was at 3 ended up being Hillary Clintons main competitor for the nomination and we didnt know that four years ago go back to the epic clintonobama race and obama was clearly a contender and wasnt clear he would be able to rise up and challenge Hillary Clinton and win the nomination obviously he proved he could and you go all of the way back to 2004 democrats trying to find an opponent to george w. Bush joe leishman, and he was number one at this point and a very tenuous number one, but keep in mind, look who was in the cellar it was howard dean and howard dean surged and was the frontrunner briefly and didnt get the nomination and someone sitting way back in the pack right now and certainly plenty of time and an opportunity to catch fire and very briefly, steve, we saw in 2016 in particular thirdparty candidates had a big percentage, more than 5 of the vote in that very narrow race decided by 77,000 votes in three key electoral states so what about will the effect that a thirdparty candidate selffinanced Howard Schultz could have particularly for democrats . The reaction for Howard Schultz has been one of frustration and public frustration. If there are voters out there who say they dont want donald trump and when you look at his disapproval rating, theres a lot of them, dont give the voters another choice if you are diluting the antitrump vote thats what democrats are fearing and the history of these thirdparty campaigns is you get the assumption of who theyll draw from the reality on election day when they go through with it often ends up being very different im not sure we know how a Howard Schultz candidacy would end up playing out if there is one. The bush 41 team forever blamed ross perot for what happened in 92. Thanks, steve. Thanks for setting us up and now joining me Stephanie Cutter former adviser to president obama and post opinion writer and sabrina sadiqy political reporter for the guardian. First, what about the fear factor when it comes to an independent candidacy by someone with the, you know, the dollars of a Howard Schultz . It hasnt worked out so well for democrats in the past with the exception of president George Herbert walker bush it drou from democrats in 2016, but for 70,000 votes, Hillary Clinton would have been president and many of those 70,000 votes went to a third party. A lot of democrats believe why complicate this. We know what the mission is and its to get donald trump out of office theres no possible way right now being realistic for a thirdparty candidate for Howard Schultz to win given where the country stands right now. Its significant that Mike Bloomberg who had the idea of a thirdparty candidacy and can selffinance is rjing about it, but as a democrat and howard has been tweeting against having schultz get in right one of the reasons why mayor bloomberg didnt run as an independent was because of this very thing were talking about, both away trt democratic nominee and thereby being the person responsible for the republican winning. So Howard Schultz, if hes going to run for president , he should run as a democrat. There are lots of people running and hes got deep pockets and why not jump in there and really be in a contest over ideas and candidacies as opposed to running as an independent where you are throwing the election in some way one of the key people advising him is someone who has worked closely with him on the Business World which is bill bradley who ran for president and of course, the former senator and great former basketball player. Lets talk about Kamala Harris let me play a little bit of her speech in oakland and all of the ways that she is trying to expand on and also mirror the obama coalition. And lets speak an uncomfortable, but honest truth with one another racism, sexism and antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia are real in this country and they are ageold forms of hate with new fuel, and we need to speak that truth so we can deal with it. Too many black and brown americans are being locked up, from mass incarceration to bail, to the criminal Justice System needs drastic repair, lets speak that truth shes confronting this headon. Absolutely. I think that what you heard from Kamala Harris was very uplifting and unifying rhetoric and she spoke a frank discussion around Police Brutality and there has been scrutiny as her record as prosecutor in california, she had a tough on crime approach and its clear that they wanted to address this issue as you say, headon, and one thing thats unique about her and theres obviously a historic nature of her candidacy and the daughter of an immigrant mother from jamaica and an immigrant mother from india, she has t the and to excitationamerican voters who are growing in influence and this will be a campaign about the issues and she did embrace a very bold platform that is emerging as a litmus test for democrat dess a democrats, medicare for all and prek education and if you have centrist candidates like howard shut or beto orourke or joe biden they will have to contend with that being a priority with the base how did she do, stephanie, in the midwest in the trump states, ohio, michigan and other states that democrats have to regain . I dont think we know yet, but i think that fromwhat we saw yesterday she is a formidable candidate and she spoke to the issues that are concerning most people across this country she turned her prosecutor background into a strength she set a moral compass for this country. Those are things that are front of pemoples minds and whether they can afford health care and whether they can plan for their future i think what we saw over the course of the last week, it was a very impressive week rollout for her that shes going to be tough and shes got shes got her message and shes got her agenda that shes going to run on and shes built a coalition from the looks of that crowd that is very similar to Barack Obamas coalition, and a very similar message, too while shes obviously running as a democrat, it was an apartisan nature in that speech where she was above partisan politics, and i thought that was impressive. Elizabeth warren with her tax brand. Jonathan, you have Kristen Gillibrand you have a growing field we know theres a possibility of former colorado governor hickenlooper getting in. Terry mcauliffe has not been shy and theyre all waiting on what will joe biden do because joe biden would suck a lot of energy from that centrist white male constituency i think the former Vice President from what i understand is thinking long and hard about this from what i understand he really wants to do it, but its one of those things where do you actually jump in this would be, what . His third run for the presidency i think there are people a lot of people who love and admire the Vice President , some who are trying to advise him who would love for him to hang back and play the role of statesman and kingmaker. Imagine if joe biden didnt get into the race and said to people i know why you wanted me to run because i am the one who can talk to the midwest and talk to White Working Class voters, but im not getting in this race, but let me tell you something i am going to talk to every candidate and i want them to pr prove to me that they is your interest at heart. A joe biden stamp of approval as statesman could be pretty powerful thing to have both domestic, but lets not forget, the former Vice President is a Foreign Policy expert, as well so he would be the complete package as statesman of the Democratic Party if he doesnt get in. Hes been telling people hes leaning towards doing it, but every day there seems to be a different and remember endorsing obama it was the passing of the torch and it really fueled thensenator obama for that round of primaries it was a pretty definitive moment in 2008. Stephanie cutter and onthan, thank you very much, and great to talk to all of you. Coming up, a peace deal, what are the chances of finally reaching a ceasefire with the liban in afghanistan and ending americas longest war the details are next and ill be talking with Barry Mccaffrey stay with us here on msnbc thisyeah. Ice. Yeah, this is nice. Mmmm how did you make the dip so rich and creamy . Oh, its a philadelphia family recipe. Can i see it . No. New philadelphia dips. So good, youll take all the credit. U. S. And taliban officials have agreed to a framework for a peace deal that could pave the way for the withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan assuming they can have a commitment that afghan territory would not become a haven for terrorists again any concessions must agree to the taliban agreeing to a ceasefire and talk directly to the Afghan Government steps theyve refused to take so far after nine years of talks. Joining me now is Barry Mccaffrey. General, good to see you what are the chances this time it could be for real and especially after you have a president withdrawing troops from syria and oh, yeah, afghanistan, too hesal read there. He wants out yeah. No question. Look, ive dealt with the ambassador and the special envoy kalil assad before first time i met him in the half bombedout u. S. Embassy in kabul with coagulated dried blood on the rug between us he is a brilliant, experienced man. My guess is after six days of talks with the taliban, no afghan officials present, what we are looking for is a way out. I think the taliban now have probably half the country largely under their control. The Central Government is incurring casualties that are unsustainable with the police and the army if u. S. Forces withdraw afghanistan implodes i think its a shortterm solution nobody negotiates away the military victory and the taliban right now are winning. And he, of course, the american president wants out and thats an impetus to drive a hard bargain at the table, speaking of which the president and venezuela. According to Axios Jonathan swan Lindsay Graham told him in a conversation with the president the president was asking about military options for venezuela. First of all, what do we know about the status of the military there . The general is believed to be very corrupt, on the payroll, taking money from russia, from the cartels, from whoever propped up from maduro will they ever turn a side and let this be a peaceful transition to guaido that the white house wants and will the troops themselves not join did they do abanalysis on this ive had experience with venezuela in my life and dealt with hugo chavez during his presidency maduro is a corrupt and not very bright thug. Hes still in office largely because of his Security Services which have brutally repressed the people the economy, 100 sure is going to completely implode. So maduros days are numbered. I give him a year, but the question is will he go peacefully or will he fight . And i think hell fight and this is going to be a very bloody situation. No good u. S. Military options. Zero colombia, the oas in particular are the key to trying to help the poor people of venezuela 3 million, andrea, are refugees now, millions more on the edge of starvation. This is a disaster. Do you think the president is really thinking of taking military action other than evacuating our people if he needs to well, we always have military options on the table, and i imagine when pompeo said we wouldnt evacuate our diplomats im sure there was an option on the table at that point to protect amnesty, but i think it would be foolhardy beyond belief to even publicly consider u. S. Military options and for that matter, the states this is a time for diplomats, economic aid and universal condemnation of what turned into a thuggish dictatorship. Its basically owned by russia given who is paying the bills there. Its just a terrible situation thank you very much, general Barry Mccaffrey, great to see you again, sir good to be with you. Coming up, in, youre fired. President trump facing new criticism after one of his golf clubs fired a dozen workers living in the u. S. Illegally nbcs kate snows exclusive reporting. Her interview with the former workers coming up next stay with us with all that usaa offers why go with anybody else . We know their rates are good, we know that theyre always going to take care of us. It was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. Were the tenneys and were usaa members for life. Call usaa to start saving on insurance today. And more trouble for the president and the Trump Organization after at least a dozen undocumented workers were recently fired from the Trump National golf club in westchester, new york. Nbcs seen National Correspondent kate snow sat down with some of the workers for their First Television interview. Reporter for 14 years, gabrielle worked in Building Maintenance at the Trump National golf club in westchester county, new york like painting, plumbing, everything we had to fix reporter in the apartment he shares with a wife and three kids, he showed us his uniform and years of pay stubs maria priego was a seasonal housekeeper for three years, both from pueblo, mexico, they crossed the border on foot why did you come here illegally there . To give them a better life. Reporter you wanted to work . I want to work. Reporter maria and gabriel said they presented forged green cards and Social Security cards when hired they didnt ask any questions . Not any questions, nothing. Reporter did anyone at the Trump Golf Club direct you to get false documents . No. Reporter but gabriel told us he thinks people at the highest levels of the Trump Organization knew they were hiring undocumented workers to save money, paying low wages and no benefits do you think they knew at the club that your documents were false thats like what i think because they need employees and like they dont check, like, when you our jobs are being stripped from our country like were babies reporter gabriel says President Trump spoke with him during his years at the club and suspects the president also knew there were undocumented workers on staff i can like be sure about that, but he got to know reporter you think the president must have known . He must have known. Reporter we spoke with six former club workers on camera and others who didnt want their faces shown. A dozen say they were fired on january 18th Margarita Cruz recorded her meeting. In a statement to nbc news, the Trump Organizations eric trump says, we have tens of thousands of employees across our properties and have very strict hiring practices if any employees submitted false documentation in an attempt to circumvent the law, they will be terminated immediately we take this issue very seriously. This is one of the reasons my father is fighting so hard for Immigration Reform the system is broken now the workers attorney is taking some of them to capitol hill to meet with democrats. The Trump Organization is a criminal enterprise. There is a federal crime here, and these people, who were fired, are material witnesses to a federal crime. Kate snow joins me now. Kate, one of the things that occurs to me, do you know whether this golf course and other properties are part of the everify system . Thats the system thats supposed to have businesses checking whether somebody is legal. Exactly that particular property, westchester county, the trump club is not part of everify nor is the one in bedminster, new jersey, where we have also reported on undocumented workers. There are others, though, andrea, that do. In atlantic city, in charlotte, north carolina, rather, that do use e verify. Kate, there is really no way to know whether the president or others knew we know what the workers say, but the standard, if youre running for president on an immigration platform ought to be lets make sure we clean up our own properties. Right and i asked the workers about that they worried that they might get caught when trump started running for president , but they werent. I will say the white house has not specifically commented well see if Sarah Sanders gets asked about this at the press briefing later this afternoon. I did want to mention eric trump, though, tweeted about us a little while ago his first two tweets were criticizing nbc news for running the story and for leading with this story last night on nbc nightly news. Then after that i responded to him, andrea, and said one thing your former employees said to us is they wish they could come out of the shadows he responded to that saying, absolutely, kate this is why we need our incompetent lawmakers to fix this broken and very sad system. So thats the latest from eric trump whoa, of course, is running the operations the president still owns the Trump Organization ow kate sn thanks so much for your reporting. And well be right back. You should be mad at forced camaraderie. And you should be mad at tech that makes things worse. But youre not mad, because you have e trade, whos tech makes life easier by automatically adding technical patterns on charts and helping you understand what they mean. Dont get mad. 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There is no way given the Electoral College that an independent can win. In 2020, he writes, the great likelihood is an independent would split the antitrump vote and end up reelect the president. He said thats a risk i wouldnt run in 2016 and i wont run it now. That does it for Andrea Mitchell reports. Follow us on mitchell reports on facebook and twitter heres velshi ruhle. Im ali velshi. Im Stephanie Ruhle it is monday, january 28, lets get smarter. We are now 18 days away from the next political deadline after the president punted on Border Security hes leaving it up to bipartisan Congressional Committee to succeed where so far everybody else has failed. He told the wall street journal, quote, i personally think the chances are less than 50 50. Do you think that there will be any new funding for a new border barrier presented by this group of lawmakers well, i hope so i hope were going to find a path out of this is the president really prepared to shutdown the government again in three weeks . Yeah, i think he actually is. Keep in mind hes willing to do whatever it takes to secure the border i am definitely glad to be back to hold us hostage by saying, youre not getting paid