Transcripts For MSNBCW First Look 20200213

Controversies. Good thursday morning, everybody. It is february 13th. Im Yasmin Vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin. We begin with the president lashing outth saying he did not interfere in the Justice Departments decision to overrule roger stones sentencing recommendation of up to nine years in prison. That move prompted all four prosecutors working on the case to abruptly resign. Now President Trump is declining to say whether or not hes considering a pardon for roger stone. Nbc News White House correspondent Peter Alexander has more on this. Reporter President Trump is seething,re insisting he did no interfere in the criminal prosecution of his long time ally roger stone. Isnt your tweet political interference. No, not at all. Reporter the president complained on twitter thatl. Career prosecutors recommended sentence of seven to nine years for stone wasf very unfair. You have murderers and drug addicts that dont get nine years. Nine years for doing something that nobody can define what he d did. Reporter aob juryod found s guilty on seven counts, including lying to protect President Trump. The president refusing to say if hes considering a pardon, but praising william barr for overruling the prosecutors and pushing forer a lenient sentenc i want to thank the Justice Departmentt for seeing this horrible thing. I didnt speak to him just so you understand, they saw the horribleness of a nineyear sentence for doing nothing. Reporter the president lashing out after the protest, all four prosecutors abruptly resigning to the stone case. They ought to go back to learn becauseo the way they treated people, nobody should be treated. Reporter Top Democrats demanding an investigation attacking the president who promisedin to drain the swamp. Republican Lindsey Graham brushing off those calls. Ius got concerns about overzealous prosecution more than anything else. Reporter several republicans saying they hope the a presiden had learned a lesson, his take away was not about himself. What lesson did you learn from impeachment. That the democrats are crooked. Theyve gotmo a lot of crooked things going. That theyre vicious. That they shouldnt have brought impeachment. Not necessarily knowing the lessons that Susan Collins thought that he was going to necessarily learn although Susan Collins has sort of walked back what she initially said. And when recently asked as to whether or not the president had learned his lesson, it seems as if he has not. And our thanks to Peter Alexander for that report. As democrats express concern about his tenure at the Justice Department, attorney general william barr has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee next month. Chairman jerry nadler and 22 democrats on the panel wrote they plan to question barr about the dojs decision to overrule career prosecutors. They also write they plan to ask about the Justice Departments dealings with the trump attorney Rudy Giuliani as well as the removal of u. S. Attorney jesse liu who oversaw the investigation of stone, and Michael Flynn. Barr skipped the Judiciary Committee hearing on then special counsel Robert Muellers report on Russian Election interference, and last july the house voted to hold barr and commerce secretary will in contempt of congress for obstructing. Treasure secretary Steve Mnuchin is facing questions after President Trump this week pulled the nomination of former u. S. Attorney jesse liu to a high ranking post in the treasury department. Liu is a former u. S. Attorney who supervised the case against roger stone and oversaw the proceedings against former National Security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump Campaign deputy chair rick gates. In an appearance just yesterday, secretary mnuchin refused to say if her nomination was pulled because of her direct ties to any of the cases i just laid out. Can you tell me why her nomination was withdrawn . I think you know nominations are at the president s direction, andnt we dont comme when nominations as a matter of policy, when nominations are withdrawn, which happened for a variety of Different Reasons at different times why thats done. So you dont have any knowledge, any opinion or knowledge of why she was withdrawn . Again, what i have said is ah a matter of policy the white house does not im going to give you a Second Chance mr. Secretary. You may know this, maybe you dont. She wasy. Rust attorney for the distri district of columbia, involved in the cases of three of mr. Trumps convicted political po operatives, mr. Gates, mr. Stone, mr. Flynn. Absent any plausible explanation for the withdrawal, you claim, youre more or less under oath, you claimes to have known him f two days,n it appears this is another stoprs on the president personal retribution tour. And recent polls show that President Trumps approval ratingal remain unchanged since the senate voted to acquit him in his impeachment trial. 44 of americans say they approve of trumps performance adds president. That is up 2 points since last week. 54 disapprove. Those are the same as the Quinnipiac University poll which showed that 43 of americans approving of trump, unchanged. New hampshires democratic primary turnout has officially shattered the record previously set back in 2008, according to New Hampshire secretary of state. Over 300,000 ballots were cast in tuesdays primary. That total outpaces the 287,000 votes cast back in 2008, as you see there. The cook political reports Dave Wasserman says that compared to the 2016 primary, turnout in towns, won by Pete Buttigieg a Amy Klobuchar were up by over 25 . And up only 12 for towns won by Bernie Sanders. Wasserman attributes this increase to republicans who backed john kasich and marco rubio in 2016, crossing over in 2020, instead of a surge of enthusiasm by sanders base. Joining us from washington, d. C. , political reporter for the hill, julia nmanchester, great o have you back in washington, d. C. After a few days on the road. What do you make of the turnout numbers in New Hampshire for the democrats. If theres any silver lining, great turn out for Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, if youre a Bernie Sanders supporter, maybe a warning sign that thebe enthusiasm you thoug you had didnt materialize. When looking at New Hampshires electorate, its important to point out there are sometimes more undeclared or undecided or independents than there are registered republicans and democrats and i think a lot of this looking at the numbers has to do with the fact and Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg are moderates and appeal to moderate republicans or moderate leaning democrats. Thats whats reflected in the polls that you see undecided, undeclared voters coming out for them. I got to tell you, i followed Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg around for the pastuc couple of days in New Hampshire, and i actually met up with a number of republicans at their events. Some of the republicans said they would be willing to vote for Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg while others said they were simply curious to hear what they had to say. I think this shows that eventual though sanders progressive message has a fired up base right now, we shouldnt underestimate the moderate camp in the race. I want to stick with this for a moment because im interested to find out and if you have any information on this as to wlornlt there is an whether or not there is an effort on the part of the Sanders Campaign to reach beyond the base, he has a strong base in place, that turn out for him over and over again and supportnd him. Is he going to have an issue Going Forward to reach beyond that base. Chon he is definitely going t need to reach beyond this base to win the nomination. I have talked to a number of individuals in the democratic establishment,ti more centrist democratic officials concerned about the prospect of a sanders nomination because he is all in for policies like medicare for all, which isnt necessarily widely embraced by the Democratic Party. What you see is sanders touting this message, that, look, i have essentially performed well in iowa for somebody that obviously won the popular vote in iowa, won New Hampshire, so that makes me electable and we know that for a lot of democratic voters, the number one priority is beating President Trump. T if he can convince these voters going into nevada, south carolina, super tuesday that he can beat President Trump and he ise electable and a viable candidate, that will help him. And thats how hes hoping to bring people from outside his base. The majority of americans want medicare for all. Time and time again that has shown up in the polls but the important issue isll whether or ot he can get to the general election to win over republicans who also want to medicare for all notso just the centrists an democrats. Julia manchester, thank you very much. Still ahead, hes facing renewed criticism for the stop and frisk policy, now Michael Bloomberg is feeling the heat overis comments he made at the height of the financial crisis. What Top Republicans are saying about President Trumps comments that appeared to influence the roger stone case. Were going to have all of those storiesal and of course a checkn the weather when we come right back. Eck on the weather when we come right back burke seen it. Covered it. At farmers insurance, we know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. So get a quote at farmersdotcom. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum hi with the worldse first invisible trailer. Invisible trailer . And its not the trailer right next to us . This guy . You dont believe me . Hop in. Good lookin pickup, i will say that. Oh wow. Silverado offers an Optional Technology package with up to 15 different views including one enhanced view that makes your trailer appear invisible. Wow. Thats pretty sweet. Thats cool. Oooohh thats awesome. Whered the trailer go . I love it. Its magic. And arent necessarily great for your teeth. The acid can actually wear away at the enamel which over time can cause sensitivity and a lot of people start to see their teeth turn yellow. I like to recommend pronamel to my patients to help them protect their teeth and keep the enamel strong. So former new york city mayor, Michael Bloomberg was pressed on the recently released audio clip from 2013 that appeared to show him defending the stop and frisk policy. He has since apologized for the policy but not for his blunt words about minorities at the time. He was asked also about his comments multiple times at a Bloomberg Campaign event in chattanooga, tennessee, yesterday. Watch this. Mr. Mayor, why did you say what you said in that 2015 speech . I dont think those words reflect how i led the most diverse city in the nation, and i apologized for the practice and the pain that it caused. But why did you say it . It was five years ago. And, you know, its just not the way that i think and it doesnt reflect what i do every day. Back to the 2015 comment, so you have apologized for using and promoting the policy of stop and frisk but those comments on that audio, you know, theyre more than just talking about stop and i mean, theyre pretty derogatory comments about African Americans and the neighborhoods that they live in. Beyond the policy those words dont reflect the way that ive governed or the way that i run my company or the way that i live, and ive led the most diverse city in the country, and the public reelected me, and reelected me two other times, so i think theyre pretty happy. Do you apologize for saying those words. The first part of the question, are you concerned that your comments might affect your performance with africanamerican voters. I do not think so. I think people look at it and say those words dont reflect Michael Bloombergs way he governed in new york city, the way he runs his company, the way his philanthropy works. The Bloomberg Campaign portrayed it as a sign that President Trump is worried about the billionaire president ial candidates rise to nbc quote when you threaten trump you become a target. Michael was mayor for 12 years and fought for all new yorkers. You dont back down from a bully. If he wants to be the democratic nominee, he has to figure out his wording. I was a reportinger in new york during the stop and frisk policy time, and it was a major part of his administration. This was not an after thought, and it was about racial profiling. I think thats why people are pressing him to clarify the comments not just about the policy but also about African Americans. A newly rediscovered video blaming the end of a discriminatory housing practice known as red lining. Watch this. It started back when there was a lot of pressure on banks to make loans to everyone. Red lining, if you remember was the term where banks took whole neighborhoods and said people in these neighborhoods are poor, theyre not going to be able to pay off their mortgages, tell your salesmen dont go into those areas and congress got involved, as local elected officials as well, and said thats not fair, these people stho should be able to get credit, and once you started pushing in that direction, banks started making more and more loans where the credit of the person buying the house wasnt as good as you would like. So bloombergs president ial campaign has refuted the context o. Conversation claiming of the conversation claiming that he was saying something bad. The financial crisis followed something good which is the fight against red lining that he was part of as mayor. Bloomberg attacked predatory lending the campaign said. You have to wonder how all of the timing is coming out as hes beginning to rise in the polls. Thats how politics works here. Lets get a quick check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. Good thing this isnt all snow. We have had a lot of rain in kra areas of the east, and it continues this morning. Rain into boston, a little bit of snow and ice overnight. Not a lot just a little bit. Well have school days in central and northern new england. A little bit of snow in chicago, and indianapolis northward. The blue is the snow that moved through overnight. Now theres a little bit of mix going on in the cat skills, northern portions of connecticut. All the green is rain. Its a soaking rain this morning. Rhode island through areas of connecticut and towards massachusetts. The airports today, the rain will get lighter as the day goes on in the northeast. The worst delays at the airport would be early today and improves later in the day. We will see thunderstorms rolling through the south. We have a line going into georgia this morning, and there could be airport delays when that rolls through, also areas like charlotte. Lets give you the timing. Here we are at 7 00 a. M. This morning. The yellow orange shows you where its going to be raining hard. The blue is where the snow is going to be. As we go throughout the day, heads from the mid atlantic, kind of dries up by about noon today. Well have a little bit of light rain in new york and boston. D. C. , just about done. Norfolk, Virginia Beach could get a thunderstorm moving through. By the time we get to the evening drive, everything exits the northeast, charleston, savannah, southern georgia, northern florida, snow showers throughout the great lakes. The forecast for today, the cold will be the story as we get rid of the rainstorm. When i come back and tell you and show you the windchills and everything in the midwest, it can still winter. Still winter. It can still winter. Thank you, bill. Still ahead, were going to show you what senator Bernie Sanders had to say after being criticized by long time democratic strategist james carvill, well be back in a moment. Carvill, well be back in a moment and a little tip, geico could help you save on homeowners insurance. Hmm cookies uhh, biscuits. Mmmm, is there a little nutmeg in there . Oh its my mums secret recipe. You can tell me. Its a secret. Is it cinnamon . Its my mums secret recipe. Call geico and see how easy saving on homeowners and condo insurance can be. Ill come back for the plate. Theres my career,. My cause,. My choir. Im a work in progress. So much goes. Into who i am. Hiv medicine is one part of it. Prescription dovato is for adults who are starting hiv1 treatment and who arent resistant to either of the medicines dolutegravir or lamivudine. Dovato has 2. Medicines in. 1 pill to help you reach and then stay undetectable. So your hiv can be controlled with fewer medicines. 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Use effective birth control. While taking dovato. The most common side effects are headache, diarrhea, nausea, trouble sleeping, and tiredness. So much goes into who i am. And hope to be. Ask your doctor if starting hiv treatment with dovato is right for you. Ask your doctor if starting hiv too many afterparties. New neutrogena® bright boost with dullnessfighting neoglucosamine. Boosts cell turnover by 10 times for instantly brighter skin. Bright boost neutrogena®. I feelbusiness cards. New logo. Outdoor sign. You always get me. Now, get free 1 hour instore pick up. At Office Depot Officemax and officedepot. Com. Same time next week. Yes welcome back, fresh off his win in New Hampshire, senator Bernie Sanders is pushing back against comments made by former clinton adviser, James Carville about his chances of capturing the democratic president ial nomination. Theyre looking for somebody that can come in and not just kite them but talk excite them but talk about things that can matter to them in every day life. Theyre not interested in socialism and a revolution and all that foolishness you hear. Theres a certain part of the Democratic Party that wants us to be a cult. Im not interested in being in a cult. Look, james, with all due rmrm respect, is a political hack who said very terrible things when he was working for clinton against barack obama. I think he said some of the same things. Look, we are taking on the establishment. This is no secret to anybody. All right. So after the Nevada Culinary Union warned members that Bernie Sanders medicare for all would end Culinary Health care, the union said it received vicious attacks by sanders supporters, including hostile phone calls and tweets, the union released a statement saying it is disappointing that senator sanders supporters have attacked the Culinary Union and working families in nevada because our union has provided facts on what Certain Health care proposals might do to take over the system of care we have built in eight decades. We have stood up for what we believe in and continue to do so. In an interview on msnbc last night, chris hayes asked sanders about the situation and his response to Pete Buttigieg saying unions are skeptical, and opposed to sanders plan. This was his response. I have a lot more Union Support than Pete Buttigieg has or i think ever will have. And that many many unions throughout this country, including some in unite here, the Culinary Union is part of unite here, understand that we have to move for medicare for all. If you talk to union negotiators, they will tell you they spend half of their time arguing against cut backs for the health care they have. Theyre losing wage increases because the cost of health care is soaring. When everybody in america has comprehensive health care and when we join the rest of the industrialized world by guaranteeing health care to all people, unions can then negotiate for higher wages, better working conditions, better pensions, so i think the future for unions is through medicare for all. Coming up, just a week after his acquittal in the impeachment trial, President Trump appears to be in the middle of a campaign for retribution, what this means for the rule of law. Rapper snoop dogg issues an apology to gayle king days after her comments about the kobe bryant rape case. 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Excuse me, sorry about that. Im Yasmin Vossoughian. Thats what happens when you try to speak too fast. Lets begin this half hour with Major Concerns for the rule of law as President Trump celebrates what many see as a blatant attack on this nations independent justice system. This follows the Justice Departments decision to overrule its own prosecutors in an effort to help the president s friend roger stone get a lesser prison sentence. The president denies intervening but his tweet criticizing the recommended sentence before it was slashed and his tweet congratulating the attorney general afterward actually suggests otherwise. They treated roger stone very badly. They treated everybody very badly and if you look at the mueller investigation, it was a scam because it was illegally set up. Its a disgrace, and frankly, they ought to apologize to a lot of the people whose lives they have ruined. I want to thank the Justice Department for seeing this horrible thing, and i didnt speak to him, by the way, just so you understand, they saw the horribleness of a nineyear sentence for doing nothing. You have murders and drug addicts that dont get nine years. Nine years for doing something that nobody can define what he did. Are you concerned about the four prosecutors . Im not concerned about anything. They ought to go back to school and learn. With the way they treated people, nobody should be treated like that. Are you considering a pardon . I dont want to say that yet, but i tell you what, people were hurt viciously and badly by these corrupt people. From rewarding his friends to seeking revenge on those who dont fall in line, there is the dismissal of lieutenant kol nco alexander vindman, gordon sondland. In a new piece on the president s score settling, the New York Times peter baker reports more axes are sure to fall, writing a key National Security official is said by colleagues to face dismissals and dozens of career officials transferring out of the white house may be gone by this week. Senate republicans reacted to the remarks on twitter that appeared to influence the Justice Departments handling of the roger stone case. Should the president stay out of cases, yeah, absolutely, he should not be commenting on cases in the system. I have said that a bunch, and if i thought he had done something that changed the outcome inappropriately, i would be the first to say. I dont think any of us should tweet about an ongoing case, having said that, i appreciate the department of justice making sure their recommendations to the court seek justice consistent with the law as its written, and i was briefed this morning from the department of justice about this case that sentenci sentencing guidelines called for 3 1 2 to 4 1 2, its certainly up to the discretion of the judge, and sentencing enhancement would go to seven to nine if there was a threat or violence or somebody was hurt and they tell me the alleged victim wrote a letter on behalf of mr. Stone and felt like the actions did not rise to that level, and i think they took that into consideration. I dont think that the president needed to jump into the middle of this in the first place. I think its just bad. I dont know, i dont think anyone should be retaliated against. That has nothing to do with the basis by which i voted to acquit the president. Of trumps comments on stones sentencing, senator collins told usa today this, the president should not have gotten involved. President trump was asked by nbcs Peter Alexander about what lessons he learned from impeachment. What do you think the president said . Dont answer that. Here is actually what he said. Listen. What lesson did you learn from impeachment . That the democrats are crooked. That i have got a lot of crooked things going. That theyre vicious. That they shouldnt have brought impeachment. Anything about yourself. My poll numbers are 10 points higher because of fake news like nbc which reports the news inaccurately, probably more inaccurately as cnn, and if you take a look at nbc, i think theyre among the most dishonest reporters of the news. If you thought the president was going to have a moment of contrition and thoughtfulness, you did not win that bet. By the way, we are msnbc, just to be clear. I want to bring in our legal panel, danny cevallos, and from washington former assistant u. S. Attorney for the district of columbia, now an nbc news and msnbc legal analyst, Glen Kirchner who i thought may be making his debut on morning joe first look, he has been auditioning for quite some time, and now we welcome you to our show. Not everybody gets to wake up at 5 00 a. M. With us, glenn. Exactly. Im going to start with you on this one because danny is here all the time. How many times has main justice overruled your sentencing recommendations. In my 30 years as a prosecutor, 0. I cant believe what he said, he really sounded like roger stones defense attorney when he was argued for an unduly lenient sentence, and i think its worth kind of figuring out where the prosecutors came up with this seven to nine year recommendation in the first instance. Its only if we understand that that we can really appreciate the violence that bill barr has done to the rule of law and to equ equal justice. Anytime a federal defendant is convicted, the first thing a judge does is he or she orders whats called the presentence report. Theres an office called the pretrial as much aservices offi then conducts a full investigation into the defendant and his background and into the nature of the offenses that he was convicted of and comes up with the appropriate sentencing guideline range. The way they do that is they look at the uniformed federal sentencing guidelines that is supposed to promote and ensure fairness for all defendants. The number that that office, that arm of the court came up with was seven to nine years. Then as federal prosecutors, what we do is we take that report, we study it. We come up with our own recommendation, also applying the federal sentencing guidelines. The prosecutors, the four career Public Servants in this case came up with a recommendation of seven to nine years. I can promise you that recommendation was vetted up and down the chain both at the u. S. Attorneys office and at the department of justice, and then john cravis taking the lead, a former colleague of mine, taking the lead for the prosecution time wrote a 26page sentencing memo, extremely thoughtful, careful and circumspect saying everybody is in agreement that seven to nine years is the appropriate sentencing range for roger stones crimes of conviction. He filed that in court. The next thing you know theres an angry 2 00 a. M. President ial tweet calling it a miscarriage of justice and bill barr intervenes to cut the legs out from under those four prosecutors and actually filed a second memorandum, four pages, not worth the paper they were written on saying that yesterdays sentencing memorandum was unfair, unjust, inappropriate, and you need to go easy on roger stone. Thats actually the interesting point. I want to jump in because you tee it up well for danny, the question then becomes about the Chilling Effect that this has on judge amy buerman. Shes supposed to be sentencing roger stone next week. You want to think judges are in a vacuum, and void of the political posturing, maybe some of the pressure being put out there, but you have to wonder, just the maneuvering within the courtroom, the sentencing issue then withdrawn, does that have an impact on her. Heres the thing, this judge was probably never going to sentence within that recommended guideline range. If you look at the statistics, because the sentencing guidelines often result in what are perceived as unduly harsh sentences, the statistics are in. Judges often and particularly in cases like this, sentence below the guidelines, especially with the first time offender like roger stone. In a way, the second sentencing memorandum was probably unnecessary because they were going to get a lesser sentence and the second memorandum doesnt recommend an actual sentence, just something below the guidelines which a lot o judges are doing anyway, just to build on what glenn said earlier. The process when youre sentencing in federal court is that probation comes up initially with the sentencing guidelines calculation. The reason were not talking about it is because the presentence report, Investigation Report that glenn is talking about is highly secret, we dont see it in the public, but Defense Attorneys like me are responding to the initial calculation made by probation, not by the prosecutors. This wasnt a number that was arrived at by holtclaw, glenn said this happened in 0. 0 of his cases. I have represented a lot of indigent clients in federal court on the cj panel and i can tell you in terms of main justice swooping in to decide whether or not the sentencing judgments are fair after the sentencing initial memo is filed, that has happened in 0. 0 of my cases. Glenn and i agree on that front. Unprecedented across the board. Glenn, the president is saying he did not intervene as we just heard. Is there any way to get the department of justice to explain why it changed the sentencing recommendation. Thats a great question. I really am interested to see what judge Amy Berman Jackson does. She can take to tacts here, say listen, government recommendations are just that and the fact that this one has changed does not impact or influence the sentence that i will hand down. The other thing she can do, though, is say i need an explanation because one day the United States government for career apolitical servants file a thoughtful 26page memo arguing that the 7 to 9 years is the appropriate sentencing range and the next day some barr files a fourpage motion saying our bad, we are wrong, go easy on roger stone. I as the judge who is about to make a very weighty decision about somebodys liberty interest and roger stone deserves fairness and due process like everybody else, i need to know why you all flipflopped so abruptly. Danny cevallos, thank you, Glenn Kirchner thank you as well. Grab a coffee on the way out. Hes already up, doing sit ups and push ups at this time of day. Snoop dogg apologizes to gayle king following backlash after an apparent threat. Were going to show you what the wrapper had to say coming up next. He wrapper had to say coming up next pnc bank has technology to help make banking easier, like. Pnc easy lock, so you can easily lock your credit card when its maximum limit differs from its vertical limit. And clover flex, for when you need to take credit cards when no one carries cash. Or requesting a call to help get a new credit card one that hasnt followed the family goldfish. Pnc make today the day. Tmobile has the first and only, nationwide 5g network. And with it, you can shape the future. Weve invested 30 billion dollars and built our new 5g network for businesses like yours. While some 5g signals only go a few blocks, tmobile 5g goes for miles. No other 5g signal goes farther or is more reliable in business. Tomorrow is in your hands. Partner with tmobile for business today. Welcome back, everyone. Rapper snoop dogg is offering an apology to journalist gayle king following backlash over his comments appearing to threaten the cbs anchor for asking questions about the late kobe bryants 2003 rape case with wnba star lisa leslie. Two wrongs dont make a right. A wrong, i got to fix it. With that being said, gayle king, i came at you at a derogatory manner based off emotions and me being angry, overreacting, i should have handled it way differently. I was raised way better than that. I would like to apologize to you properly for the language that i used and calling you by your name and being disrespectful. I didnt mean for it to be like that. I was just expressing myself for a friend that wasnt here to defend himself. A lot of people look up to me and love and appreciate me, i want to let them know that anytime you mess up its okay to fix it, man up and say you were wrong. I apologize. Hopefully we can sit down and talk privately. Have a good day. So following the debacle last week which escalated to snoop dogg telling the journalist to back up before we come get you, king explained that the clip was taken out of context from a wide ranging interview posted by the network online. His attacks on her his attacks on her were completely abhorrent. Completely inappropriate. Totally inappropriate, never should have happened and shouldnt have taken this long to subsequently apologize for those attacks. I think were going to have to see what take place from here. His actions reflect that apology, whether or not its not just a result of the public pressure but if he is sincere about it that he Going Forward does not speak about journalists in that way, especially women in derogatory terms and threatening ter terms. Lets get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. Were going to take a look at the upcoming weekend. Just to let everyone know, we mentioned it a bit ago. Winter can happen, frigid this morning. Windchill warnings for fargo. Windchill advisory in minneapolis, and the temperatures when you walk out the door this morning, it feels right now in duluth, the windchill is negative 41 with a temperature of negative 18. This is the coldest air we have seen all winter long. Sioux falls is negative 38. Des moines, negative 32 and all that cold air is heading towards the great lakes today. We have a little bit of icy, snowy weather leftover, Winter Weather advisory for peoria, illinois, indianapolis, cleveland, buffalo, scranton, syracuse to albany, hartford, too, a little bit of snow and ice overnight. I know some areas are reporting around 2 to 3 inches in central new england. A little bit of extra time there. The forecast for today, a little bit of warm air left in florida, dry day today, a little bit of rain tomorrow. A rainy mortgage all the way up morning all the way through the mid atlantic region. The cold air that was in the plains heads to the northeast for friday. It will feel like winter, the hats, gloves, scarves for the kids and heavy coat. By the time we get to saturday afternoon, the sunshine goes to work, a cold start in the east and starts to warm up ch ther. S theres not a lot of problems. By the time we get to sunday, its a quiet map, and areas that were frigid are back up into the 20s. In the northeast, back up into the upper 40s, maybe near 50 by sunday, so thats been the theme this winter. Fast moving. Weve gotten a couple cold shots but they dont last. Strange. Just momentary. I feel like if youre waking up in fargo, and duluth, and bismarck, you better hope you have a heated garage or something. Thats cold. The car starter is mandatory. Start up the cars about 20 minutes before you head outside. Thank you, bill. Still ahead, 2020 democrat Michael Bloomberg answers to critics who say he is buying the president ial election. Well be right back. Buying the president ial eleioctn. Well be right back. Lets be honest, quitting smoking is freaking hard. Like quitting every monday hard. Quitting feels so big. So, try making it smaller. And youll be surprised at how easily starting small. Can lead to something big. Start stopping with nicorette fred would do anything for his daughter get in fred even if it means being the back half of a unicorn. Fear not fred the front half washed his shirt with gain detergent. Thats the scent that puts the giddy in giddy up ahhh. The irresistible scent of gain. For a scent with even more giddy up, try gain scent blast in detergent, fabric softener and scent beads. Welcome back. At a Campaign Event yesterday former new york city mayor Mike Bloomberg responded to critics who say hes trying to buy the election. 300 million in tv ads over the past several months. A million dollars, facebook ads every day what do you say to democrats who argue youre trying to buy this electionants im not trying to buy the election. Weve been at this ten weeks and the best ways to communicate in ten weeks is through Something Like mass media, through television and social media. And the other people that are running have been doing it the last couple of years. Maybe they dont need to do it, but its a ways for me to get out to this whole country. Former ambassador to ukraine, march yovanovitch argued the United States state department is currently in trouble. We need a vigorous department of state, but right now the state department is in trouble. Senior leaders lack policy vision, moral clarity and leadership skills. The policy process has been replaced by decisions emanating from the top with little discussion. Vacancies unfilled and offices wondering if it is safe to discuss Foreign Policy even behind closed doors. Its no news the state department is hollowed out from within at a complex time on the world stage. This is no time to undercut or diplomats. Dangerous warning from former ambassador of ukraine. Absolutely. Coming up, axios one big thing and coming up on morning joe, President Trump bashes democrats in the aftermath of impeachment. Morning joe, everyone, just moments away. Se and flu symptoms fast. Device sneezes theraflu. 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Cofounder and ceo of axios mr. Jim vandehei. Good to you have with us this thursday morning. What is the one big thing . The new conventional wisdom seems among republicans and democrats is that trump is getting stronger and might even be unbeatable come november, and were looking at the data that really suggests otherwise. Theres no doubt President Trump is doing fine postimpeachment. National polls, trails everyone including Bernie Sanders and others. Look at swing state polls, hes basically tied and in some places trailing. This is happening when the economys booming when joblessness is low, when a lot of those figures he tossed out about record low unemployment is true yet he stays hovering somewhere in the 40s. Theres a decoupling how people feel about the economy, 60 plus feel very good about it, yet hes way below that. Not getting full credit for what is a super healthy economy and usually incumbents do and benefit from it tremendously. The angst, while, real and palpable might be mistaken in a lot of data points. Is there evidence to suggest these democrats running for president now will seize on this . I think Everyone Wants to seize on it. The whole thing is now about electability. Look at democrats. Bernie sanders if he gets the nomination will tank the Democratic Party. That might be true. Certainly im skeptical that the broad public is into a lot of ideas that flow from socialism, but polls suggest otherwise. A lot of swing states Bernie Sanders does as well as anybody else against President Trump. The other argument that has democrats worried, ah, trumps going to have more money, has an early start. Remember, Mike Bloomberg has said whether hes a nominee or not will probably spend 2 billion potentially more to help the Democratic Party. If he does that democrats wont be at a financial disadvantage and maybe advantages President Trump has in terms of Gaming Facebook and social media early on would be offset. In the last couple of weeks Mike Bloomberg is outspending trump on facebook. First time youve seen democrat do that. An interesting moment. Electability probably should be front and center in the democratic race largely because its a 50 50 country and trump despite good signals is a beatable president. Imagine what facebook is thinking about the political ad spending and why they were in that controversy earlier in the year about not filtering out fake political ads. Ask you quickly, jim, about new reporting you have suggesting u. S. Drawdown in afghanistan might be taking place. What more can you tell us about that . One of the sad of today most people dont Pay Attention we still have 12,000 troops in afghanistan often in hostile situations, just had deaths over the weekend. Two soldiers in an ambush died. If you listen, though, to the defense secretary, the head of the cia and even trump himself, theres a lot of signs theres going to be a drawdown and you hear it from all of them now, from 12,000 maybe to 8,000 in the short term. But also youre hearing behind the scenes lots of talk theyd like everyone out of there if possible by november so the president can fulfill a pledge saying well be fully withdrawn from afghanistan. Trying to get a deal with the taliban, cover to pull u. S. Troops out of there. The u. S. Is in fact having talks with the taliban in doha as we talk. That does it. Appreciate it. And im Yasmin Vossoughian, alongside ayman mohyeldin, morning joe starts right now. You think he has regret with what he did . I think hell be instructed by what has occurred here. What things