Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live 20190414

Socalled sanctuary cities. Days ago democrats said the proposal is illegal. President trump claimed to twitter last night he has, quote, the absolute legal right to transfer immigrants to cities that dont agree with his white house policy. Democrats say, not so fast. Were going through the process. Were reviewing everything we can do lawfully. The fact is, we release them already into certain communities. Whats the difference in releasing them a little further into sanctuary cities in were trying to figure out if we can do that legally. They shouldnt say this is retribution illegally. They should say this is an olive bran branch. Its illegal. Its immoral. Its unethical. Its sophomoric, its petulent and par for the course. This is going to cost a lot of money shifting these people all over the United States. It reallyle is a crazy idea. This notion that he can somehow scare us away from what is a moral position on this issue, i think, really speaks to his inability to recognize his strength that so many leaders have across this country. The president also decrying his fake news reporting by cnn and the New York Times that he told the acting homeland chief to close the border to immigrants and Asylum Seekers. Three officials tell cnn that the president agreed to pardon Kevin Mcaleenan if he faced any legal problems for closing the border. Steve mnuchin responding to the house ways and Means Committee setting that april 23rd deadline for the irs to release six years of the president s tax returns. Lets go live now to the white house and nbcs hans nichols. What did mnuchin say and where do we go from here . Reporter mnuchin says that april 23 deadline is entirely arbitrary. What youre starting to see is a concerted effort across the government on how theyre going to push back against this challenge. Let me read you a little bit of what mnuchin is saying, an indication really they want to take their time. Hes saying, look, the implications of this is way beyond, in my mind, a congressional oversight issue and a precedent issue. The issue is i feel a responsibility that we get this right and that the irs doesnt become undermined like the nixon administration. Hes saying the process needs to run its course. The democrats have refuted that argument in the past. They sent out a separate letter yesterday demanding those tax returns. Thats a hard deadline, april 23rd. Before i let you go, any idea how the white house is preparing for the release of the Mueller Report, which is likely tuesday . Reporter officially theyre saying theyre not that concerned. Rudy giuliani saying he could do a speed read on this. The connotation is there will be something negative in there. Whether that clouds over what we think to be the brunt of it, and that is, no collusion and no case for obstruction of justice, which you can expect to hear the white house repeat quite a bit. Phillip . Nbc correspondent hans nichols reporting live from the white house this morning for us. Thank you. Joining me now, david mark, Deputy News Editor with the Washington Examiner and daniel lipman. Thank you for joining me. Lets start the release of the Mueller Report. You write some trump allies say the white house is in for a rude awakenings. They say in 400 pages theres bound to be something thats embarrassing or reflecting negatively on the president. You could see elements about his constant attacks on the justice department, on if he tried to interfere with the investigation at all. You know, their findings on james comey and his firing, you know, the fact that trump basically tried to cover up the fact that he told lester holt that this was all about russia and then he later backtracked when he kind of realized he was too candid. They say that this is going to dominate the media and become a story unto itself. And will cloud the no obstruction, no collusion case theyre trying to make. At a minimum, what do you think the redacted report will show. What do you expect the report to include that we might not have heard before . Were going to see some outlines directly of the trump campaigns interaction with russian elements. Weve known some of this so far, the meeting in trump tower between don jr. , various russian agents, campaign manager, et cetera. We might hear many more of those specifics. Of course, this is in the eye of the beholder to critics of the president. They see this essentially as collusion. Something that should not take place in a president ial campaign. Republicans, defenders of the president , are going to say, hey, this is old news. We know about this. Whats the big deal . So, the question for both, the challenge for both sides, will be going beyond the narrative that already exists. Daniel, you and your colleagues also write about how the. Thes legal team is preparing for this release. How are they getting ready . So, theres going to be a number of surrogates who are prepared to go on the air to challenge the report and stand by the president. If you talk to people like rudy giuliani, he seems like he hasnt given this much thought. You know, they can just speed read through it and find not much there. We talked to trump Legal Adviser on vacation in palm springs. He said, he hasnt given much thought to it. Theyre trying say while theyre shrugging it off, nothing new to see here, this is something weve all known about since the barr report. Remember, that reporting a couple weeks ago from the mueller team that the barr report had understated what they actually found. So, it will be interesting to see if barr gets butter embarrassed if theres much more to this that should have been in that summary he wrote. Essentially a pr campaign waged. Setting up a war room. Theyre going to push back and say that the media should not overhype this. But the fact theres a 400page report into the president s conduct and all those links with russia, that is not something that usually happens for any president. Lets talk about the president targeting ilhan omar. His pin on burning trade towers has been up for 48 hours. Dan crenshaw was the first to retweet a portion of a speech by omar and its fueling this controversy. Lets take a listen to what he said last zit theyre trying to silence any kind of argument against them. Why . Because they dont actually have an argument to make. What they do is use identity to try to silence anyone else from saying anything. Its also sort of bigoted in itself because youre assuming that everybody of a certain skin color or gender should think a certain way. Its the content of your character that matters, its the ideas you have. Thats what we should be debating here. David, how do you think thats playing with other republicans. You think they wish the president would not have just jumped in on this with both feet the way he did . I think a lot of republicans probably agree with congressman crenshaw. They feel theres a double standard. This is a legitimate line much criticism in their view that 9 11 is essentially a sacred event and right or wrong, congresswoman omar seems to be undercutting that or questioning the sacredness, the validity of that. Maybe they wouldnt have come out with the same sort of video or tone the president would have. Overall, i dont think youll see a lot of push back from republicans on this. Representative omar, for her part, released a new statement saying in part, quote, i did not run for congress to be silent. I did not run for congress to sit on the sidelines. I ran because i believed it was time to restore moral clarity and courage to congress. Daniel, how do you think this controversy is playing out among democrats as well as republicans in congress . Well, i think as opposed to some of her comments on israel, which drew charges of antisemitism, most democrats are happy to stand with omar on this. They say that its important to recognize the antimuslim bigotry that happened after 9 11. A lot of Muslim Americans did not feel comfortable going out in america because they would get targeted by people. And so they say shes not minimizing 9 11. If anything, President Trump and republicans who are targeting her on politicizing 9 11 themselves. They say the era of republicans trying to bring american muslims into kind of a message of inclusion. Remember, president bush went to ma Muslim Center on september 17th, six days after 9 11. Thats not something its hard to see President Trump going to a Muslim Community center saying, these are our brothers and sisters, we have to protect them, we shouldnt, you know, label all muslims as terrorists and, we shouldnt be afraid of millions of muslims just because a small group primarily from saudi arabia committed this atrocity. We havent seen that yet. Daniel and david, please stick with us. We want you back here in a bit. Well talk about the battle to get the president s tax returns as well as the race for 2020. To weather now. Deadly storms moving through the southeast of the United States last night and brought baseball sized hail and tornadoes to the gulf state. Two children in texas died when a tree fell on their car during a storm. Whats the most devastating youve seen . Just strip of homes on the other side of town over here completely gone, gone. Everythings gone. Its going to be a little difficult putting it back together but well do it. And a possible tornado touched down in vicksburg, mississippi, destroying parts of a gas station and injuring one person. The release of the Mueller Report may trigger a political storm, but what impact will it have on congressional investigations. Thats next. Tech at safelite autoglass, we really pride ourselves on making it easy to get your windshield fixed. Teacher lets turn in your science papers. Tech vo this teacher always puts her students first. Student i did mine on volcanoes. Teacher you did . oh, i cant wait to read it. Tech vo so when she had auto glass damage. She chose safelite. With safelite, she could see exactly when wed be there. Teacher you must be pascal. Tech yes maam. Tech vo saving her time. [honk, honk] kids bye tech vo . So she can save the science project. Kids whoa kids vo safelite repair, safelite replace hi, whats this Social Security alert . Its a free alert if we find your Social Security number on the dark web. Good, cuz im a little worried about my information getting out. Whys that . [bird speaking] my social is 8 7 5 dash okay, i see. [bird laughing] somebody thinks its hilarious. Free Social Security alerts from discover. Somebody thinks its hilarious. A Business Owner always goes beyond what people expect. Thats why we built the nations largest gigspeed network along with complete reliability. Then went beyond. Beyond clumsy dialsins and pins. To onetouch conference calls. Beyond traditional tv. To tv on any device. Beyond lowres surveillance video. To Crystal Clear hd video monitoring from anywhere. Gigfueled apps that exceed expectations. Comcast business. Beyond fast. We wasted tens it of millions of dollars looking for collusion. Theres no collusion. Theres nowhere in the barr report that says the president obstructed justice. Theres no conspiracy, no collusion. I dont care about the Mueller Report. Ive been totally exonerated. No collusion. No obstructions. If its an honest report, it will say that. If its not an honest report, it wont. Just days before the redacted Mueller Report is expected to be released, there are new reactions from within the white house this morning as several aide says told politico, there is nothing that will come out about the president that will harm him criminally. This is a report everyone knows the outcome, no criminality, no obstruction and no collusion. Joining us is danny. Good morning. Aides are climbing the details will at a minimum be embarrassing but does everybody already know the outcome of the report like they claim . Inion. Perhaps the white house doth celebrate too much. Heres why. Yes, there was a conclusion that there was no true russia collusion. But on the obstruction prong, the white house has a number of reasons to be concerned. Mostly because there was no exoneration when it came to obstruction. And there need not be a committed crime in order to initiate impeachment proceedings. Thats a very important rule about impeachment. A crime is the neither a necessary nor sufficient ground for impeachment. A noncrime can be grounds and has been grounds for articles of impeachment. The obstruction side is the piece the white house should be most concerned about. Arguably the conclusion with russia prong is no longer a major concern for the white house. How much power do you think congress is going to have to demand any of the redacted portions, make them become at least available for them to see . Do they have any clear legal or possibly legislative path to make that happen . They have the technical power to issue subpoenas but its a little different than a judicial type subpoena because while congress has broad power to issue subpoenas to get documents and bring people to testify, Congress Also tries to work it out, to compromise with those subpoenaed and the documents that are sought because otherwise they could get into a Lengthy Court battle. Nothing is more true than in this case with the president where they could argue, the president could argue theres some executive privilege or other special reasons why president ial documents and communications should not be subpoenaed before congress. Solid argument but theyd rather work it out without issuing subpoenas. Heres another interesting aspect that might suggest why the white house seems so confident. When asked in a hearing this past week whether the white house has seen the report, bill barr skirted the question. So, what do you think what does that suggest to you, what might that mean that Trump Lawyers saw this but not trump himself . Its hard to say because it wouldnt be that surprising if the white house did have some form of access or eyes on the report. After all, if you adopt the unitary executive theory, the president is the king of the executive branch and the doj. It wouldnt be shocking. But it would tend to violate the spirit of the special counsel. Whats your take on the white houses lack of concern here . Does muellers decision not to prosecute someone for a crime mean that conduct never happened, like the president claims, or could it be just that the evidence isnt sufficient in enough. The president is too confident about the release of the Mueller Report. Yes, its likely it will conclude that no crime was committed. As i said before, that doesnt rule out impeachable offenses. An impeachment trial can be just as trial as a trial in regular federal court. In addition, there may be very embarrassing things in the report as well. Maybe the white house doesnt care about that kind of that kind of issue, but they should because they dont want the president to get bloodied in the Mueller Report for anything personal that he may have done or em bartsing or Something Like that, especially with a Reelection Campaign right around the corner. Another article. Details congress nunez, and he claims doj officials committed crimes. Barr didnt say whether he would take that meeting but he said he would interview. Its the age old question, who watches the watchmen and the question could be, who watches those folks . Thats exactly whats happening here. You have devin nunes now saying, were looking at this original investigation. Maybe there are investigations to be done of that investigation. And then, of course, as we go down the line, it becomes a questionable value to keep investigating the investigators. While devin nunes and congress can make referrals, as nunes has said they dont make the arrest. Prosecutors, fbi agents make independent decisions independently of whatever congress provides them. Nobody has seen this report, including congressman nunes but he suggests spying occurred saying james comey committed the ultimate spying by taking notes of President Trump. How argument hold up . How plausible is it that nunes has seen something that barr has not. A. G. Barr used the word spy himself. Perhaps surveillance would have been better. Its definitely a concern but at the same time, if nunes has had access, i doubt he has, but now that the report has gone from mueller team to barr, thats a lot of eyes and a lot of email accounts arguably that have passed through if its a pdf or something else. There are so many more eyes that have had access to the Mueller Report just by virtue of being sent from the mueller team to barr team. Its doubtful hes had access to the full report. Less than 48 hours away from getting our own eyes on it. Thank you for joining us. President trumps former chief strategist is going after the pope. Steve bannon is setting up shop in italy pushing a nationalist agenda to take down pope francis. Bannon claims the pope is not doing enough about the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. Critics say bannon is weaponizing the crisis to target pope francis for his liberal views on homosexually, Climate Change and immigration. The pope last week kissing the feet of rival leaders of south sudan. Richard engel sat down with the pope for a new report. Reporter the pope is a humble leader who reaches out to immigrants, gays and muslims. Now the same person who helped elect President Trump is going after the pope. The administrative apparatus of the church has to be inc. Chaed. Reporter thats President Trumps former campaign chairman, steve bannon, now on a new crusade. Are you held confident after you bring pretty significant political change to the United States, you can also impact change here . Absolutely, no doubt. Reporter bannons goal is to save the Catholic Church from the pope. Who he says is failing to deal with decades of sexual abuse by priests. My probl my. Moi problem with the pope today is this crisis on pedestrian peel ye pedophilia. Reporter but they say hes using the sex scandal to attack those you think is too liberal. If youre against migrants and refugees, then someone reaching out to them, that will upset. Reporter we drove outside rome where bannon is restoring this grand monastery. He plans to build an apartment for himself here and live here in this monastery of bannonism. He says this will be a school to teach Judeo Christian values to a new generation of nationalist p populists. And bannon says the pope is the most powerful opponent to his plans. Hes coming back and putting all the faults on the word on this populistnonsense. Bannons ambitions go far beyond the u. S. Some people will see this will think, oh, no, the guy who put trump in the white house now has his sights set on the vatican. Why would they think that . Youre trying to bring change to this institution. This Institution Needs change. This institution is in decline. I think people will say that. This is just the beginning . This is the very beginning. This will take years. Rich and engel, nbc news, rome. You can watch the full special on assignment with Richard Engel tonight at 9 00 p. M. Eastern right here on msnbc. Just how far will treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin go to keep President Trumps tax records secret . To jail, possibly . While under order, i wont do it. If under order, i will do it. I have no problem. A wealth of information. A wealth of perspective. A wealth of opportunities. Thats the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. Straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, taxefficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. Fidelity wealth management. This is jamie. Youre going to be seeing a lot more of him now. Im not calling him dad. Oh, nno. Look, [sighs] i get it. Some new guy comes in helping your mom bundle and save with progressive, but hey, were all in this together. Right, champ . Im getting more nuggets. How about some carrots . You dont want to ruin your dinner. Youre not my dad thats fair. Overstepped. I had no idea why my mouth was constantly dry. It gave me bad breath. It was so embarrassing. Now i take new biotene dry mouth lozenges whenever im on the go, which is all the time. New biotene dry mouth lozenges. Freshen breath anytime, anywhere. New biotene dry mouth lozenges. Applebees bigger, bolder grill combos. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. New reaction from treasury secretary in the battle over the president s tax returns. Responding to a letter yesterday by the chairman of the ways and Means Committee, Steven Mnuchin says democrats new deadline is arbitrary. Mnuchin is not committing to release those returns by april 23rd and says he wants to prevent the irs from becoming weaponizing. Back with us, david mark and Daniel Lippman with politico. How far do you think the white house is willing to go . All the way. There is no way President Trump is going to allow his treasury secretary or any other official in his administration to release these documents. If that happens, its going to be because of a court order. The president has made that clear. Thats where things are headed. Its just a matter of how long that might take to play out. Yesterday my colleague, alex wi witt, asked ted lou whether the deadline of april 23rd was realistic. I would be very surprised if the white house complied with this request. Theyve been stonewalling every congressional request. Theres a difference with this request. The law actually says the house ways and means chairman requests these tax returns, then the irs shall provide it. Thats what the law says. We believe the courts will enforce the law. Daniel, is this all about political maneuvering . Its likely this battle is going to tb decio be decided by the c anyway. Of course, democrats and republicans think in terms of politics for everything they do. But they are also kind of fulfilling a Campaign Pledge made by Many Democrats last year in that they wanted to get trumps tax returns and reveal if its under foreign influence or if hes as rich as he says he is, or whether that was kind of like a fraud perpetrated on the american people, in their eyes. And i think if youre republicans, they are, you know, trying to protect the president s returns at all costs. And, you know, hes going to claim that he cant release the returns because hes under audit. Youll hear that all the time. But, in fact, theres nothing stopping him from releasing his returns because they are getting audited. And, in fact, every president and Vice President , their returns are automatically audited. And trump has said theyve been audited for many years. So, thats kind of an excuse hes going to try to use. It seems like hes fighting it harder than he is the release of the Mueller Report. Lets pivot to the 2020 race. Heres some highlights from cory booker yesterday. In the words of dr. King, wait has almost meant never. You see, the president wants a race to the gutter and to fight us in the gutter. But to win, to win, we have to fight from Higher Ground in order to bring this country to Higher Ground. We dont have the privilege to wait for what fits into someone else narrow view of what it means to be a progressive. David, do you think that message is going to help booker get ahead . He hasnt raised as much money as other democrats . Thats in some ways a risky strategy. Senator booker is talking about the when they go low, we go high strategy we heard from Michelle Obama and others the last time around. That did not work out so well against trump. Part of the Democratic Base is champing at the bit to take on trump firsthand, confrontationally, really go after him. Senator booker is lagging on fundraising. Doesnt mean he cant come up with the money, but you need that money to pay for logistics, planes, computers, volunteers, other things. He needs to step it up if he wants to remain in that top tier of candidates. David and daniel, thank you for joining us this morning. New jersey has become the eighth state in this country to allow terminally ill patients to take their own lives. Governor phil murphy on friday signed the medication and dying bill. To get a better understanding of death with dignity, you should check out an nbc news documentary on one als patients strugg struggle. On msnbc. Com. What the candidates had to say about gun control, immigration and medicare for all. Msnbc is now live every saturday and sunday at 6 00 eastern. Back in a moment. 0 eastern. Back in a moment oh, wow. You two are going to have such a great trip. Yeah, have fun thanks to you, we will. Aw, stop. This is why voya helps reach todays goals. All while helping you to and through retirement. Um, you guys are just going for a week, right . Yeah thats right. Can you help with these . Oh. Um, were more of the plan, invest and protect kind of help. Sorry, little paws, so. But have fun send a postcard voya. Helping you to and through retirement. Craftsmanship and technology that have made the rx the leading luxury suv of all time. Lease the 2019 rx 350 for 409 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. And i dont add trup the years. S. But what i do count on. Is boost® delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. Boost® high protein. Be up for life. Oh no. Your new boss seems cool, but she might not be sweatpants cool. Not quite ready to face the day . Thats why were here with free hot breakfast. Book at hampton. Com for our price match guarantee. Hampton by hilton. You dont see psoriasis. Book at hampton. Com for our price match guarantee. You see clear skin. You see me. But if you saw me before cosentyx. I was covered. It was awful. But i didnt give up. I kept fighting. I got clear skin with cosentyx. 3 years and counting. Clear skin can last. See if cosentyx could make a difference for you. Cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis find clear skin that can last. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. See me now. Im still clear. How sexy are these elbows . Get clear skin that can last. Ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. Your but as you get older,hing. It naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. Thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. The secret is an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Senator bernie sapders taking the fundraising lead over the rest of the 2020 field raising 18 million. The top seven democrats raised about 63 million, falling short of where the top candidates were 12 years ago when the frontrunners brought in a lot more. Thats because of the surge in small grassroots donors this time around. As more kaebds hit the trail, heres this weeks sound check 2020. I want to bring people together to develop and invest in the workforce of tomorrow. Im investing in the largest expansion in skills training and apprenticeships in americas history. In america, we need to protect working people and that includes passing and having a workers bill of rights. We need to ban socalled right to work laws. By 2030 theres going to be 30 million electric vehicles made somewhere. I want them manufactured in the United States. I want you guys taking care of the plants that make them. So, lets just talk about what it is, its about greed. If we can start to define this debate about the creed and corruption of the nra and the gun manufacturers that fund them, then well have clarity on this issue. Weapons designed, engineered and sold to the United States military because theyre very good at killing people very quickly and in great numbers should no longer be sold into our community. Buy ban assault weapons. Theres 15 million out there. If we should ban future manufacturer sales, you recognize why theyre so dangerous. Let me begin by being as clear as i can be. Health care is a human right. Not a privilege. I will fight for medicare for all, and i will start with lowering the age of medicare eligibility and giving americans a real public option. Im for medicare for those who want it and were developing a public option now in my state. I believe we should have a rapid expansion of medicare. I believe that is a very tenable way. We have to the ability of everyone to have health care. Youre not medicare for all. People like choice. Thats so much of who we are. We want to have choices. I think the government has a bigger responsibility in that choice. Well, im always for comprehensive immigration reform, but i didnt lead on the issue. When i became senator ten years ago, i decided this is something i need to lead on. This president wants us to believe that we have to choose between Border Security and compassion. I believe that our border is more secure than its ever been. We have a secure border and we can maintain that security. We can be compassionate as well. You want to abolish the Electoral College . Yes. I think the Electoral College needs to go. Importantly, if this nation is going to make any major reforms in health care, in Climate Change, the filibuster needs to go. Its archaic, its time has passed. Its time to have democracy again and movement. The constitutional framers were very wise. I will say as a democrat, its very, very bad form to look like youre trying to change the rules when youve been losing by rules that everyones been agreeing upon for decades. Lots of 2020 candidates out on the trail today. Among them, mayor Pete Buttigieg in south bend, indiana. And swalwell in california. In the next hour, the immigrants to socalled sanctuary cities. Rst, le night laughs. Saturday night live had some with this lockup prison scene featuring lori loughlin, Michael Avenatti and julian assange. Enjoy. I paid 500 grand to a womens group coach to say my daughter was good at rowing. Im loco. What are you in here for . Speeding tickets. Speeding tickets. Im accused of crimes you cant even conceive of like blackmailing a Sneaker Company and stealing taxes from a coffee shop to fund a race car team. Im so shady a porn star once se said she had to distance herself from he had. Im the king of kchaos. Is there a bathroom around here because i really have to take a wikileak. Tech at safelite autoglass, we really pride ourselves on making it easy to get your windshield fixed. With safelite, you can see exactly when well be there. Saving you time for what you love most. Kids whoa kids vo safelite repair, safelite replace mmm, exactly ug Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Nice but uh, whats up with your partner . Oh we just spend all day telling everyone how we customize Car Insurance because no two people are alike, so. Limu gets a little confused when he sees another bird that looks exactly like him. Ya. Hell figure it out. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Openturning 50 opens theuard. Door to a lot of new things. Like now your doctor may be talking to you about screening for colon cancer. Luckily theres me, cologuard. The noninvasive test you use at home. It all starts when your Doctor Orders me. Then its as easy as get, go, gone. You get me when im delivered. Right to your front door and in the privacy of your own home. Theres no prep or special diet needed. You just go to the bathroom, to collect your sample. After that, im gone, shipped to the lab for dna testing that finds colon cancer and precancer. Cologuard is not right for everyone. It is not for high risk individuals, including those with a history of colon cancer or precancer. Ibd, certain Hereditary Cancer syndromes, or a Family History of colon cancer. Maybe ill be at your door soon ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. Covered by medicare and most major insurers. In power, politics and paychecks, one day before the tax filing deadline, consider this, at least 60 Companies Last year paid nothing in federal taxes last year on 79 billion in profit. In fact, because of the new law, the Companies Collectively got a tax rebate of 4. 3 billion. By the way, as of this morning, the u. S. National debt is a little more than 22. 2 trillion. Good sunday morning to you. New this morning, President Trump escalating his immigration demands, capping on of a series of tweets raging against democrats and the media on immigration. He tweeted, just out, the usa has the absolute legal right to have apprehended Illegal Immigrants transferred to sanctuary cities. We hereby demand that they be taken care of at the highest level, especially by the state of california. Joining me now, radio talk show host Rashad Richie and ned ryan, former writer for president george w. Bush. Thank you for joining us this morning. Rashad, i want to go to you first. How do you interpret that tweet . Ridiculous. So, lets look at what trump is doing. Hes actually using immigrants as political pawns in his president ial chess match against democrats. Whats really unfortunate is that it seems as if the president cannot make a distinction between propaganda trump, which is great for campaigning, and President Trump, which should be great for people. Sanctuary cities have 2. 2 less crimes in these cities and a decreased unemployment rate, higher household median income. When youre looking at sanctuary cities, i think we need to look at what is the cause and effect relationship between Law Enforcement and Actual Community safety. What Law Enforcement is not tangled in these battles with i. C. E. Or battles with immigration, they can protect the citizens they are sworn to serve. In addition to that, we have seen study after study produced that sanctuary cities have a higher coordination ratio with those who are undocumented, saying, hey, these are bad guys who are undocumented and getting rid of true criminals. Ned, what did you think about his tweet . Well, i think we just made the argument right there about why this isnt a bad idea. Democrats have made the argument sanctuary cities are the most humane, they want to welcome immigrants with open arms. The fact of the matter is jeh johnson was a voice of reason a couple days there is a crisis at the border. When youre having 2,000, 3,000, upwards of 4,000 illegals showing up every day, and the Border Patrol apprehended up to 3,000 in one day alone, this is a real crisis. I think the issue here that we have to get our arms around is how are we actually going to solve this problem . I know trump is using this as a negotiating tactic, lets be honest about it. At the same time i think we have a broken immigration system, especially as it centers around asylum claims. We know many people are coming for economic reasons, yet theyre claiming oppressive fear, and they have to go somewhere because our laws will not allow us to deport them quickly. Democrats and republicans, because this is a crisis brought about by democrats and republicans, have to get their heads together, congress has to act. We ever to deal with this situation and fix our immigration system moving forward, and what trump is trying to do is force that conversation. Rashad, do you think ned is right about that . Not at all. When you say this is not a democratic or republican issue, remember its President Trump who has made this a very divisive tactic, and in all of his tweets and public propaganda, he contextualizes this problem as democrats versus republicans. They do need to come to the table. But right now the commander in chief is a republican president who has failed to build consensus as a way to move forward for this immigration problem. Some of those who weighed cl spoke to alex witt about this whole sanctuary plan, and heres what she had to say about that. It was floated by the white house multiple times and shot down repeatedly by the department of homeland security, which is why theyre there, to make sure there is legal review. Not only would it be legal because of the political motivations behind it, but it would be illegal because they would have to appropriate funds that werent they would have to use funds that werent appropriated for that purpose. If that is the case, ned, do you think this is just a messaging stunt by the president . Its obvious part of it is a negotiating tactic, phillip, by putting pressure on democrats to say if i need to do this, i will do this to force the conversation. Trump wanting to do this, we dont know where this will actually go. This is a crisis. This isnt trump pushing this, the numbers are pushing this. The numbers are showing there is a crisis, and at some point we have to wake up and say were going to have a real legitimate, rational conversation about this. Were going to have a grand solution, and i think youll find people on this side of the debate that say illegals who have been here for decades, maybe you have to say well give you a path for leadership, but this will never happen again. Well secure our southern border. Well never get our hands messy again and move from there. There are people who want to have a rational debate and i think we need to have it. But exacerbating this problem. We havent seen the influx of immigrants trying to come over here seeking asylum with families. Its more than weve seen in a generation and its trump who exacerbated the problem. No, i think its our laws that exacerbated the problem. When we have such massive loopholes in regard to asylum claims. When people go in front of a judge who make shes asylum claims, a majority of them are actually rejected because they arent credible asylum claims. We have massive loopholes in our laws, trump has highlighted them. The messaging problems should be to these countries south of the border. You cannot come, you will not come, because when all is said and done, youre not really coming for credible asylum claims. I think we have a messaging problem and a legal problem with our laws. Rashad, do you think its the loopholes that cause the problem . Absolutely not. Phil, the loopholes have been in place with President Trump and every president before him. So if its just the law, why did we not see this issue before now . Heres whats happening. When President Trump gets on his propaganda box and he starts saying, were going to close the border, were going to do this, were going to deny the law, were denying asylum claims. When he does that, it gets translated differently to these other countries. Other countries are hearing, we need to get to america now, because when he does this, hes cutting everything off. You have the president of the United States creating the very crisis he says hes fighting. Its not the law. The law has been here before trump and you did not have this level of Asylum Seekers border. And by the way, if you have a problem with people going to court seeking legal asylum, change the law. Thats what you do, you change the law. Thats what i want. Whats that . Thats what i want. Thats what i want. I want democrats and republicans in congress to actually take up this issue and deal with it because i do think we have a problem with our laws and they have refused to deal with it, both democrats and republicans. Ned, real quick, how do you think the staffing shakeup at the dhs is going to play in to the immigration policies and the Trump Administration Going Forward . I think youre going to find somebody the names being floated right now on ken cuccinelli, ken kovak. I think youll find somebody that is a much more hard line on immigration when all is said and done, and trump has been throwing out names that i think a lot of his base would go, okay, thats more sympatico with how he ran the country des moines in 2017. How does the world respond to the Mueller Report . Thats next. D hepatitis b, a li, other liver problems, hiv1, or other medical conditions, and all medicines you take including herbal supplements. Dont take mavyret with atazanavir or rifampin, or if youve had certain liver problems. Common side effects include headache and tiredness. With hep c behind me, i feel free. Fearless. And theres no looking back, because i am cured. Talk to your doctor about mavyret. Guys go through a lot to deal with shave irritation. So, we built the new Gillette Skinguard with a specialized guard designed to reduce it. Because we believe all men deserve a razor just for them. The best a man can get. Gillette. kickstart my heart by motley crue truck honks wheels screeching clapping sound of can hitting bag and bowl clapping always there in crunch time. The riskiest job. The consequences underwater can escalate quickly. The next thing i know, she swam off with the camera. Its like, hey, thats mine i want to keep doing what i love. Thats the retirement plan. With my annuity i know theres a guarantee. Annuities can provide protected income for life. Learn more at retireyourrisk. Org that wraps up this hour of msnbc live. Im phillip mena. Its now time for alex witt. There she is. I think the weather is going to be good out there, my friend. It is 7 00 here in the east, 4 00 a. M. Out west. Welcome, everyone, to weekends with alex witt. New outrage to the tweet some said went too far and may have put a congresswoman in jeopardy. The deadline set in an effort to get the president s taxes. Plus the transgender military ban is now in effect. What it means for the thousands serving in the military right now. They barred women of color, they barred women and