Thanks for watching. And to keep the conversation going, like us at facebook. Com politics nation and follow us on twitter at politics nation. Ill see you back here next sunday. Now to my colleague kasie hunt. Welcome to kasie d. C. Im kasie hunt. We are live every sunday from washington from 7 00 to 9 00 p. M. Eastern. Tonight, brandnew nbc polling just out about the president and his handling of all things russia in light of the historic summit. And senator Richard Blumenthal joins us as Paul Manaforts trial gets ready to start and Michael Cohen drops his first mix tape. Plus this time last sunday we were talking to bill broader about the summit with putin. Hes going to join us live tonight after the russian president name chikd him on the
world stage. And later states of play. Democrats are serious about taking back the senate. Heidi high camp will have to hold on to north dakota. We have new reporting on why it could be tariffs, not russia, that make the difference there. But first its hard to believe that this time last week we were previewing the president s meeting with Vladimir Putin. But, of course, we are apparently living in a different Space Time Continuum here in 2018 where even gravity works differently. But more on that in a moment. All of that happened before friday when the New York Times dropped that Bombshell Report about Michael Cohen and his recording of President Trump. Then came saturday when the d. O. J. Made the documents about surveilling former Trump Campaign aid carter page public. And dont forget about Paul Manafort whose trial begins this week in virginia. Along with a reminder that the president s former Campaign Chairman has been sitting in jail for over a month as he prepares to face a jury. But back to that part about
gravity. The president s Approval Rating is ticking up, not down. A brandnew poll from nbc news and the Wall Street Journal conducted before and after the Helsinki Summit shows the president Approval Rating at 45 . That is up 1 point from june. Among republicans, that number is 88 , the highest ever his entire presidency. With that, i would like to welcome in my panel. Joining me on set national nbc news julia ainsley. Bbc world america and msnbc contributor katty kay. And principal At Cogent Strategy kevin mclaughlin. Thank you all for being here. Kevin, i would like to start with you. Yes, maam. I would like you to explain why it is 88 of americans approve of President Trump considering what saw contradicts republican orthodoxy for years. President trump has shown throughout his campaign and
polling what i took away from the 2016 election is the American People want uh th authenticity. May not like what authenticity is, what hes saying or how hes doing it, but he doesnt back down from it. When he goes out and does these events, i will call them, it actually helps him in fly over country. The outrage you see is in the corridor where we all live and work. When we get out of here people say hes a knuckle head and stuff like that. We understand what hes doing can hurt us personally, but we have to make sacrifices. When he says he could walk down 5th avenue and shoot somebody he defies political gravity. I was thinking the exact same thing. The poll number that struck me was the poll that came out earlier last week, reuters poll that said only 32 of republicans believe russia
meddled in the 2016 election. They do not agree with the assessment of the intelligence community. For republicans to say we dont believe the cia, fbi and nsa, we are siding with the president on this is fairly remarkable. I think the one thing that is the divergence, the prospect of tariffs. You see signs Republican Voters are still not comfortable with that and the Republican Party is still not comfortable with that. If the tariffs start hitting the president , its not going to be russia, its going to be the economy. I would say thats very true. When you look at tracking, russia Doesnt Register on the radar for what people care about. It is literally not even close to the top 15 issue. Julie, this is the strategy the Trump Campaign has been running as well, to cast doubt on whether this meddling ever happened. Absolutely. Were used to seeing republicans go to war with democrats but not their own justice and intelligence community. What youre talking about, the polling, reuters poll, is showing that people are not trusting the intelligence community. Theyre not trusting the justice
department. Theyre trusting the president s tweets. Exactly. Theyre trusting that instead. They think theyre living under a new time when it comes to the Justice Department. I hear that sometimes. What happened to the Justice Department we used to know . The majority of those Career Investigators are still there and theyre continuing the same investigations. But we are looking through it through a different prism now. Were looking at it through trumps prism, at least a lot of republicans are who believe they have a president who wants to meet with people, reach across to people who used to be adversaries like kim jongun and Vladimir Putin because they think it can help them in the end without actually looking at how this president is able to stand up to someone like Vladimir Putin amid all of these accusations not just accusations, documented evidence of 12 russian Intelligence Officers and the specifics and how they hacked into the Democratic Party. It strikes me that this is sort of the end game for talking about fake news and casting doubt repeatedly on the media, right . This is a situation where he has created a universe where nobody believes anything any of the Fact Checkers say. Every single time the president tweets fake news or witch hunt, all of the polling suggests its working. This is a very smart strategy from the president s point of view. He is leading Public Opinion in a different direction. One of the more startling shifts in Public Opinion that we have seen we havent seen it on tariffs, but we have seen it on general attitudes with russia, with more republicans generally more favorable take the Mueller Investigation aside, take Election Meddling aside. Views have changed in the Republican Party. That is almost entirely due to donald trump. But i think it is larger than that. I dont think this is an end game were at with trump. Its a lack of faith in institutions. Its not just press. Theres a lot of blame to go around from a lot of years. The most recent example for me im not picking on nancy ploegs i, she said tax cuts would cause armageddon. Manage expectations just a smidge. Its impossible. Its just not true. And i think that weve seen that on both sides of the aisle from the press, from All Over The Place where people say, this is it. The deficit, everything, its all going to explode. And people out where im from, minneapolis, are like, we wake up in the morning. It didnt explode. So i think we have a huge problem. This is where i go back to with President Trump and his authenticity. Whether or not you like it is not what people are judging him on. People are judging him based on delivering. He knows that. Do you think its true for so many years, when i started covering politics, the action I Dont Mean W action I Dont Mean Was people wanted to get things done. People ran on bipartisan ship. Here are the examples of how i worked with people on the other side. That does not seem to be what the electorate is interested in now. I think weve known that since the idea donald trump had a time frame in which he had to deliver on his promises. I think we all realized fairly quickly after the election that actually wasnt the case with him. He was not going to have to
deliver on specifics that he had promised. He was going to have to talk the kind of language that his supporters wanted to hear and continually stand up for them in an emotional way, but made them feel they had a champion in the white house. I think kevin is exactly right. Not to get too grandiose, but the big threat of the moment we are in democracy, i think its this idea experts cannot be trusted. Whether its on the economic side or the security side, weve had years of experts telling us what to do. Why should we trust them . They absolutely are. While were on the topic of russia and why the president doesnt want to believe anything about it, lets talk about the courtapproved document granting the fbi permission to surveil former Trump Campaign advisor carter page otherwise known as a Fisa Application, has now been released. While portions are heavily redacted, the application alleges that page was the subject of, quote, targeted recruitment by the russian government. That russian efforts to
influence the 2016 president ial election were coordinated with page, and that page established relationships with russian government officials including Intelligence Officers. Here is how page responded this morning when he was asked if he ever served as an advisor to the kremlin. Its really spin. I mean, i sat in on some meetings, but, you know, to call me an advisor i think is way over the top. Except in the 2013 letter you wrote, it says, quote, over the past half year i have had the privilege to serve as an informal advisor to the staff of the kremlin in preparation for the presidency of the G20 Summit Next month. Informal, having some conversations with people, i mean, this is really nothing meanwhile, in the wake of its release, the Fisa Application has become something of a Rorschach Test on capitol hill. Yeah, i dont think they did anything wrong. I think they went to the court. They got the judges to approve it. They laid out all the
information and there was a lot of reasons unrelated to the dossier for why they wanted to look at carter page. A warrant on carter page was supported mostly by a dossier that came from Michael Steele who was being paid by the Democratic Party to do opposition research. Was the surveillance justified . No, not at all in my view. My take is carter page is more like Inspector Gadget than jason borne or james bond. Trump never met him, never had a conversation with him. Im sure hes been on the fbis radar a long time before 2016. Well never know whether the fbi had enough without the dossier. The unvetted dnc funded dossier, because they included it. And everyone who reads this Fisa Application sees the amount of reliance they placed on this product President Trump issued his own Response Writing that they, quote, confirm with little doubt that the department of, quote, justice, and fbi misled the courts. Witch hunt, rigged, a scam. First of all, julia, to your earlieri earlier point, casting doubt on that, jake tapper came back at carter page who said, look, i was never this. Actually you claimed you were. He said he was a formal advisor to the kremlin. You cant have it both ways. You cant advertise yourself to the kremlin in one year and the other year try to completely distance yourself although we see the president do that often with his advisors as hes digs tanzaniaed himself from page and manafort. I think out of the damage done around this, especially when the president says the fbi is misleading people in court, we heard from Christopher Wray at the Aspen Security Forum when he spoke to lester holt, the fbi director saying when this becomes a problem is when my agents arent believed in court. Not just in this case, but in the thousands of other cases that theyre doing around the country, to have the president casting doubt on their evidence. And why carter page has been at the center of all of this for so
long is because of how much the dossier was built around the Fisa Application. The nunes memo. What do you take away from getting a chance to see the application . So much of it is redacted. I think what the president is saying is no evidence to back that up. It really seems weve known this for a while. Theres a lot more behind the Fisa Application to carter page than the dossier. He was a target of this investigation because he was an advisor to the kremlin. That stands on its own without the dossier. And so i think what the president is saying, there really is no evidence i could glean from reading this to support what hes saying. Kevin, where do you think republicans will come down on this . This has been devin nunes cause for better or worse for the last several months alleging there were abuses that took place here. Is that a plausible arguments for republicans to keep pushing forward with . By and large i wouldnt put devin nunes in this
surprised to hear you say that. I also think marco, senator rubio, i should say, hit the nail on the head. And i think that this is a 400page fisa document. There is more than just the Christopher Steele dossier in there. Although it is part of it. I also think there is a couple other things to fly over a country again on this. Number one, no one knows who carter page is, no one cares and i think theyve rooted out this guy and theyre trying to string him up. The second thing is they look at this like a Foreign Policy guy talking to a forbid government. It was russia, but isnt that their job . The third thing is i just think it doesnt resonate. And i think the last thing i would say actually, there is not collusion here that ive seen. I havent seen it, so even if carter page was colluding as a guy who ran campaigns, what would he do about it . A Foreign Policy guy on the k m campaign team, i have an idea, collude with russia . Frankly if the fbi had not looked into what carter page had been doing, they would have been negligent in their duties. The wording is pretty strong. We didnt learn much from these Justice Department papers that were released, but we did learn that they felt that the wording from the Justice Department was strong, that they really felt they did have to go after this and investigate it. And although Lindsey Graham says the Christopher Steele document is a loaded garbage, we have not had that officially debunked. We dont know it was a load of garbage. He can call it that as frp as he likes, but we dont know that. Nobody in the Intelligence Committee has been trying to figure that out. We dont know at what point draw information is what they have to base a lot of their decisions on. It could be commissioned by the Hillary Clinton campaign and be correct or it could be commissioned by the Hillary Clinton campaign and be incorrect. There is a difference between being a Foreign Policy advisor
and campaign and recruited to be functionally a spy for a foreign government. Sure. When we continue, democrats are pointing at Public Comments from Brett Kavanagh and the watergate tapes as red flags as the Mueller Probe presses on. Senator Richard Blumenthal joins me live and whether its much ado about nothing. As we go to break, though, it has been another whiplash week in washington. Yes, all of this really happened in the last seven days. Were back after this. So, there they are, Vladimir Putin and donald trump sitting together. Dan coats came to me and some others. They said they think its russia. I dont see any reason why it would be. Several republicans are criticizing what they saw at todays press conference. The d. O. J. Charging another russian tonight. A russian national, mariah butina. They did interfere in our
elections, its clear. Trumps Top National Security advisors. Instead of should have been i dont see any reason why i wouldnt or why it wouldnt be russia. Maria butina pleaded not guilty. Maria butina in the last hour has been order today remain in jail. Is russia still targeting the u. S. , mr. President . He said no, im not answering any more questions. Is russia still targeting the United States . I think we would be foolish to think theyre not. President trump is inviting Vladimir Putin to the white house. Say that again . [ laughter ] thats going to be special. A secretly recorded tape of President Trump and his onetime lawyer Michael Cohen, talking about a payment to a Play Boy Model. The president wasnt aware he was being recorded. Michael cohen has made it very clear to me this morning that he is not going to be some sacrificial lamb. Bundle and s, but now its time to find my dream abode. Right away, i could tell his priorities were a little unorthodox. Keep going. Stop. A little bit down. Stop. Back up again. Is this adequate sunlight for a Komodo Dragon . Yeah. Sure, i want that discount on Car Insurance just for owning a home, but im not compromising. Youre taking a shower . Water pressures crucial, scott its like they say location, location, koi pond. They dont say that. Your hair is so soft say location, location, koi pond. Did you use head and shoulders two in one . I did mom. Wanna try it . Yes. It intensely moisturizes your hair and scalp and keeps you flake free. Manolo . Look at my soft hair. I should be in the shot now too. Try head and shoulders two in one. Booking a flight doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight
a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. Is it to carry cargo. Greatness of an suv . Or to carry on a legacy . Its show of strength. Or its sign of intelligence . In crossing harsh terrain. Or breaking new ground . This is the time to get an exceptional offer on the mercedes of your midsummer dreams at the mercedesbenz summer event, going on now. Receive up to a 1,250 summer event bonus on select suvs. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Welcome back. Last night the Senate Judiciary committee released documents related to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanagh including some of his views of the watergate scandal. According to the a. P. , a 1999 article reveals an instance in Which Kavanagh said u. S. Versus nixon may have been wrongly decided. Youll remember that decision led the Supreme Court to order president nixon to hand over Tape Recordings to a federal court. And ever since it has been referenced as one of the major cases that limits executive power. Kavanaghs views on Executive Privilege are being carefully looked at as he makes his way through the confirmation process. Joining me mao to talk about there and Everything Else that went on this past week, democratic senator from connecticut and member of the Judiciary Committee, senator Richard Blumenthal. Senator, thank you so much for being with us tonight. I want to start right there with this revelation from these documents that the Judiciary Committee has found about kavanaghs comments on the u. S. Versus nixon case. Do you think that should be applicable in his Confirmation Hearing . It is of profound importance to these Confirmation Hearings. The reason is very simply that u. S. Versus nixon not only stands for the basic principle that the president must provide evidence that is relevant and Cannot Assert Overbroad Claims of Executive Privilege, but also that no one is above the law. No president is above the law. And here we have judge Kavanagh Questioning whether it was rightly decided after a unanimous Supreme Court in an opinion written by the chief justice, warren berger, who was appointed by nixon, said that the president , richard nixon, must provide these tapes. It is potentially a bombshell in these Confirmation Hearings. There have been some indications that senator grassley is not interested in forcing the Executive Branch to
turnover more additional documents for democrats and republicans on the committee to review, and its been reported that Mitch McconnellBehind The Scenes is potentially threatening to push the Nomination Vote until right before the midterm elections. Are you seeing the documents that you need to . And do you think that Chuck Schumer should fight this to the point that you are facing down that vote right before the election . Well, thats a really important question, kasie. First, we have yet to see all the documents that we need. And the recent rejection and withdrawal of the nomination of ryan bounds, he was nominated to the 9th Circuit Court of appeals, shows the importance of seeing all of the documents because his racial comments in the course of his past were extremely relevant to this nomination, and the excessive haste in that instance, the absence of adequate vetting,
shows the importance of every single document here that we need to assess this nomination. The American People deserve it. And so far, we have yet to see all the documents we need. And chairman grassley has yet to provide, in my view, the kind of cooperation we need. If this Nomination Vote is delayed until literally the days or weeks before the midterm elections, it will be the height of cynical manipulation in a vote that is probably the most important that most of us will ever cast because these are lifetime appointments, the highest court in the land. And again, judge kavanagh has indicated in the writing you just mentioned, we just discussed as well as others, that he is an outlier in many of his views out of the mainstream and the result of vetting by extreme right wing groups, such as overturning roe v. Wade and withdrawing protections under
the Affordable Care act. So we deserve every document. What is the Behind The Scenes thinking of what kind of impact a vote so close to the election will have . There has to be some tension in the Democratic Caucus between those moderates facing reelection in red states who want to be out on the trail campaigning, and those liberal potentially 2020 candidates that, as we know, there are a number of them in your caucus. How is that playing out Behind The Scenes . What we need to do is to bring this case to the American People about how judge kavanagh has passed the trump litmus test, overturning roe v. Wade, eliminating the protections for people who suffer from preexisting conditions, millions of americans who suffer from obesity or Heart Disease or alcohol abuse, and many other common conditions. But the tension is really, in my view, exaggerated on the democratic side. I think our republican
colleagues are going to have to answer to history. You dont have any doubt Mitch Mcconnell will go through pushing this right to before the elections. I hope not. And i do have doubt that he will. I mean, youre watching as closely as i have. I just it seems to me like he makes these kinds of threats and he follows through on them. Kasie, you may be right. But let me just say that when i go to work every day, i have to believe that as an institution, our leadership and most particularly the republican leadership, will recognize that we are answering not just to the politics of the moment, but to history. Every one of us will be judged by history on this vote. And my hope is that Mitch Mcconnell wants to be recognized as a leader, not just a master politician, a leader of conviction and conscience. Senator, i want to change gears quickly before we have to wrap up here. The events of the last week, what we saw with the president in helsinki, and then what we
saw in aspen from dan coats, his director of National Intelligence who was surprised by my colleague Andrea Mitchell and told that Vladimir Putin was had been invited to come here to the United States. Some democrats have called for dan coats to step down in protest. Do you agree with those calls . I hope that dan coats will stay. He is a former colleague. I know him as an individual of integrity and dedication to our country. I have disagreed with him probably more often than ive agreed when he was a member of the u. S. Senate. But he has stayed true to the mission of the intelligence community. Donald trump likes to operate without intelligence. Frequently disregarding his briefings, and keeping dan coats in the dark, very humiliatingly. But im going to be su for thing, in fact, introducing a resolution that will condemn any second visit by Vladimir Putin
to the United States. Any meeting that rolls out the red carpet to Vladimir Putin while he is continuing to attack the United States as dan coats has said in ongoing and pervasive use of cyber, objective and verifiable evidence, thats dan coats speaking truth to power. I hope he stays in that job as long as he fulfills the Oath Of Office to defend our country. Senator blumenthal, thank you so much for your time tonight. Really appreciate it. I, of course, will see you on capitol hill this coming week. Thank you. Coming up, the tale of the tape. We will talk about the secretly recorded conversation between President Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen. Were back after this. Youre headed down the highway when the guy in front slams on his brakes out of nowhere. You do, too, but not in time. Hey, no big deal. Youve got a good record and Liberty Mutual wont hold a grudge by raising your rates over one mistake. You hear that, karen . Liberty mutual doesnt hold grudges. How mature of them. For drivers with Accident ForgivenessLiberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty alicewhich is Breast Canceratic that has spread to other parts of her body. Shes also taking Prescription Ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor, which is for postmenopausal women with hormone receptorpositive her2 Metastatic Breast Cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. Ibrance plus letrozole was significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus letrozole. Patients Taking Ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. Before Taking Ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant,
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back in april was initially protected by Attorney Client privilege, but trumps legal team waived that privilege after news broke that the recording existed, making it available to prosecutors. President trump was apparently unaware he had was being taped at the time and quote it is inconceivable a lawyer would tape a client. Totally unheard of and perhaps illegal. First of all, i just would like to i mean, we have heard from the president many miss truths regarding this. His spokeswoman hope hicks when this first broke, we have no idea any of this was ever going on, when clearly we know the existence of tape proves in fact he was aware. Exactly. Im sort of thinking back, a lot of people said Karen Mcdougal more than stormed was actually going to be the affair that could present the most damage to the president , especially now it is seeming because of the discussion of payments. That was two months before the election. And to me the timing of all this tells us everything we really need to know, especially about cohens strategy. His habits for a long time, hes
known it was seized in the raids. This was months ago, early may when the raids took place and its now, now that were getting to a point where he could be flipping on the president that this news is starting to come out because he sees his client, the president , as someone who abandoned him. So why, if youre the president s legal team, why do you waive privilege on this . The only reason i could think is that they think there is something in the tape that could exonerate them or something that could actually be damning to cohen and so they would waive their privilege. But im Head Scratching on that. Judging from the president s tweets today about this is exactly what julie thinks, he thinks this helps him and hurts cohen in some way. But for me, the fact that this tape exists just raises a whole host of questions about what other tapes exist and are there other cases we dont know about. And if so, were they recorded. I think thats, you know, thats what people are going to want to know coming out of this. And do they matter. Deja vu all over again. I was going to ask you. We had a devastating tape i would have told you a thousand times would have ended anyones candidacy or career. That Doesnt Matter politically. It does matter the president if there is some lawyers have suggested to me this is why they are so nervous about the Southern District of new york, the whole case is there a pattern that would emerge. Right. From what was seized in Michael Cohens offices that would suggest that there were concerted efforts made to protect the presidency and numerous we have no idea whether thats the case, but thats the kind of question Campaign Funds. Youre right. It could be an fec violation. Court of public a opinion aside, if its like a john edwards case, if he was using Campaign Funds to pay this woman and obviously he knew about it, thats the thing that could bring them down. The president from a political perception, a lot of damage was
done just by that article coming out. The fact that it exists and maybe they think there are details in there that will exonerate them and will help shed at least a little more texture on the story than what we have already. Right now its not looking great. Understatement. Julie ainsley, katty kay, thank you for your time. We appreciate it. When we continue, no pressure, Heidi High Camp. Youre one of the last great hopes, i think, for your party honestly. I do. I Havent Heard YouEquate Helsinki to pearl harbor or 9 11. Youre in a position, though, in a red state with an election in november, so youre our last hope for any type of reasonable rhetoric. States of play takes us to north dakota as the fate of the senate could come down to one red state democrat. Allie joins us with her reporting up next. woman so beautiful. Woman 1 proof of less joint pain. Woman 2 . And clearer skin. Woman 3 this is my body of proof. Man 2 proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis. Woman 4 . With humira. Woman 5 humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. Humira is the 1 prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. Avo humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Woman 6 need more proof . Woman 7 ask your rheumatologist about humira. Man 1 whats your body of proof . Woman 7 ask your rheumatologist aby staying in rhythm. And to keep up this pace, i drink boost optimum. Boost optimum with 5 in 1 advanced nutrition helps support muscle, energy, bone, normal immune function, and vision. Boost optimum. Be up for life. Need a change of scenery . The Kayak Price Forecast tool tells you whether to wait or book your flight now. So you can be confident youre getting the best price. Giddyup kayak. Search one and done. Who would have guessed . An Energy Company helping cars emit less. Making cars lighter, its a good place to start, advanced oils for those hardworking parts. Fuels that go further so drivers pump less. Improving efficiency is what we do best. Energy lives here. President trump is facing a growing battle with his own party over the mounting trade wars. Senate finance chair orrin hatch warns, quote, flt administration continues forward with its over reliance on tariffs, i will work to advance legislation to curtail president ial trade authority. But the president is as defiant as ever. I mean, honestly i dont want to use the word because its a highly respected show. But they are taking advantage of us, okay. Ill use a different set of words. They are taking advantage of us. Its not as good as the other word. You know what the other word is. I raised 50 and they matched us. You cant match us because otherwise were always going to be behind the 8 ball. You get to 500, though we have to go to 500. It goes almost without saying that all of this is a very real impact on all people and one of the marquee reasons in the mid
terms. In tonights states of play, alley batali is in Divide County, north dakota. First of all, ali, that may be the greatest state line in political journalism. How did you, by the canadian border, what brought you there and what did you find over the course of your reporting . Reporter well, kasie, senator Heidi High Camp as you know is one of the most vulnerable democrats up for reelection this year. Shes in a red state that has only gotten redder since she was on the ballot in 2012. We spent two days with the candidates and voters if its possible for this democrat to win in trump country. Nearly 2000 miles away from washington, its a matter of putting north dakota voters first. Weve got a great story here in north dakota if washington would just get out of the way. If donald trump is with north dakota 90 of the time, he and i are going to be north dakota. That time im going to be with north dakota the other ten. Reporter while not straying too far from President Trump. After all trump, trump, trump, everything is trump. Reporter its a delicate dance. One we saw firsthand in Divide County and 120 miles away at the state fair in minot. Kevin cramer, a threeterm congressman, was one of President Trumps earliest 2016 backers. Its a political loyalty hes tried to use to his advantage. Ive heard her say, gee, i voted with him 55 of the time. Can you imagine going home and telling your wife ive been faithful to you 55 of the time . Are you kidding me . Hi, guys. How are you . Reporter meanwhile, senator Heidi High Camp a democrat has worked hard to thread the needle. Sometimes earning praise. Everyone is saying whats she doing up here . But ill tell you what, good woman. Reporter sometimes not. And we need kevin cramer to replace Liberal DemocratHeidi Hide Camp in december. Reporter but in recent days the president has tested the limits of cramers support. This week on the hill you were a little critical about his
press conference with Vladimir Putin. I was reporter and those comments that he made. Was the walk back enough for you . Well, his explanation, it was it was, hes going the right direction. Hes explaining himself. Reporter do you believe that President Trump believes it was russia . I dont know what he believes. I dont know what he believes. Reporter but you believe it was russia . I mean, you know, i believe it was russia as sure as i believe The Sun Comes Up in the east. Reporter but its tariffs, not russia, that could be the x factor in this already tight race. Farmers are going to take a kick in the as with their soybeans. Reporter the states agriculture, heavy economy makes it ground zero for trumps trade war and soybean farmers here are already seeing prices trending down. But not all are ready to cut and run from trump just yet. We have been taking it in the shorts for so long on our tariffs that its time for somebody to stand up and say enough is enough. Reporter cramer can see the up side, too, even if he isnt a
fan of the method. I dont like tariffs as a negotiating tool. I think the president will be successful at some point in the future. In agriculture, this is what ive advised him more than anything. In agriculture the short term is the long term. One season can ruin a farmer. Reporter what is your message to the president . My message to the president is stop it. I mean, you know, hit a reset button. Reporter hide camp is the only democrat in north dakotas delegation. She eked out a less than 1 Point Victory in 2012. The same year that mitt romney won the state by almost 20 points. How do you win as a democrat in north dakota . Its always such an interesting question because people say how can you win . I say, well, i have. Reporter trump won big here in 2016. And the counties that pushed high camp Over The Edge in 2012 like this small one aptly named divide could reveal the Bigger Picture about high camps chances come november. Given the nature of this area, its going to be uphill. Reporter though Party Politics rules most things these
days, it might not divide voters here in north dakota. Its pretty rural life in north dakota. Reporter do you think thats it, the personal side of politics . I think so. She knows a lot of people. She gets out and meets people reporter that could work in high camps favor unless they decide she is no longer the senator for the times. Kasie, i think the really interesting thing weve heard here repeatedly from folks is while tariffs will be one of the defining issues in this race, many of the republicans that we talk to here like kevin cramer, but also voters who are in tandem with him and President Donald Trump are okay seeing where these tariffs lead. They think maybe u. S. Farmers have been taken advantage of too much, which sounds pretty familiar to how President Trump talks about this issue. Allie vitali in Divide County. Thank you for your great reporting. Appreciate it. Kevin mclaughlin, some of
what she puts together, this president seems to do whatever he wants even if it causes personal harm and nobody seems to be willing to hold him accountable. I think its totally true. Ive seen it in ohio voters, now in north dakota voters. The other thing thats crazy and i think the problem for Heidi Hide Camp here is its really hard to poll north dakota right now and find with a real sample and have her winning. Thats not the real problem, though, as big of a deal that is. The other problem they said in the end there is everyone likes her. Right. And its the ultimate, its not you, its me. And i think the problem here might be that the earth has shifted underneath her and i dont know if she can pull it off like she did in 2012. Its a very, very heavy lift. And she, of course, her victory in 2012 was so, so narrow and obviously the dynamics were much different. The other thing they said in the piece i totally agree with, theres only 3300 voters in the district. Its personal. Everyone knows heidi, they like heidi, but sorry, heidi, youre not for us. Weve seen this with Kay Bailey Hutchinson in the primary against rick perry. The polling would show her approval was going in a Straight Line and her ballot was going down, down, down. Everyone wanted to go the other way. All right, kevin mclaughlin, thank you so much. Really appreciate your time tonight. Just ahead here on kasie d. C. Women in particular, by the way, i want you to get more involved. Men have been getting on my nerves lately. I mean, i just every day i read the newspaper and i just think, brothers, whats wrong with you guys . I mean, whats wrong with us . When we return, well talk about the wave of women running for office in washington including Johanna Hayes honored by President Obama in 2016 for being National Teacher of the year. She joins us live next. [ coughs ]
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government. The state Democratic Party has not backed you, theyve backed your primary opponent. Why do you think that is . Do you think the connecticut state Democratic Party is in touch with the current moment . Well, connecticut is one of only two states that still holds a convention. So, either by design or default, its very difficult for political outsiders to penetrate that first layer and get into the system. I had to reach out and try to get to delegates to try to get to the vote and get the ballot. I think i left as a first time candidate separated by only two votes says theres an appetite for change and the party should be listening to that and responding to that because people are taking notice and sitting up and getting engaged. Im not sure thats happening. I think its to our peril if were not listening and responding to what is happening in our communities. If you were to win this election, would be the First Black Connecticut elected to congress from connecticut. And there was a story about minority candidates running this environment. Their campaigns face distinct challenge, difficulty finding initial support, a need to trust stereotypes and that members of their own party, a minority, that they can succeed in a predominantly white district. Do you think thats a problem, that you can succeed in a predominantly white district . There are lots of conversations about my race that have entered this primary season. Theres nothing i can do about that. I captain take the skin off. I live in a community that is predominantly white, this district. Ive always been represented by white congressman and women. Theyve been able to represent my interests. I dont think you have to look like someone. There is something to be said about starting a conversation
with all people feel like theyre included, all communities feel like our voice is being recognized and we belong here. We get to be a part of this conversation. It is difficult because i was not a part of that inner circle. I have a message that is very different but its a necessary message. You are often described as the more progressive of the two democrat candidates running in this primary. You support medicare for all and the other supports it as it is. If you were to get elected and come to washington next year, do you think the current democratic leadership is progressive enough in the house . Is nancy pelosi and her leadership team, are they progressive enough for you . I think on some issues im very progressive and on others, i tend to be more moderate. We are a country where, i know
for me, i have been the beneficiary of so many programs and a Good Government that works. I also know when i got to the point i could stand on my own i was a contributor and i poured back into my community and into government. I think thats what its supposed to look like. I believe government should be there when people need it. I also believe when people become socially mobile they should do their responsibility to engage in their government and communities and help other people around them. Do you think democratic leadership in washington needs fresh faces . Should there be some generational change . I do. I do. I think if we are having a conversation we need to broaden what representation looks like, what our leaders look like. If we want to engage young people and get the next generation encouraged to join. Give them a reason to vote. Make them feel like theyre a part of the conversation. They have to be able to find theirselves in whats going on. I think the last few cycles have
shown us that. We really need to listen and respond. Johana hayes, thank you for your time tonight. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Just ahead, bill browder joins me live as his public feud with the president of russia deepens. Is the Democratic Party ready for the rise of democratic socialists . And we watch the sunday shows so you dont have to. Before you and your Rheumatologist Move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. Xeljanz xr is a oncedaily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well enough it can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts, and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Dont let another morning go by without talking to your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr