Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Alex Witt 20180210

I need you to say no, its going to be okay. Its not going to be okay. Its not. Omarosa, oh, my, oh, brother. Can we really take her seriously . But we begin with a live picture of capitol hill, where democrats are pushing back on the president s refusal to authorize the release of their intel memo, meant as a rebuttal to the gop memo that was released last week. Here is what congressman rubin gallego, who was here last hour, told me. The republican memo has a lot of false assertions and in general leads the reader into a false direction. The democratic memo blows the cover that donald trump and his complicit partners on the House Intel Committee have trying to create, which is an excuse to fire the Deputy Attorney general. President trump tweeted this morning that the democrats sent a very political and long response memo which they knew, because of sources and methods and more, would have to be heavily redacted, where upon they would blame the white house for lack of transparency. Were going to get into the headlines with correspondent kelly odonnell, maya harris, ali stuckey, and california Deputy District Attorney andrew jans. Kelly odonnell at the white house, another good day to you. What is the president saying in that tweet, kelly . Reporter well, its a stormy day here in washington, a metaphor for the president s comments and the atmosphere after the departure of two staffers, one in the inner circle, that would be rob porter who worked with the president on a daily basis, regular access to the oval office, and then late yesterday, the departure of a speechwriter in one of the councils thats attached to the white house on environmental quality. That is David Sorensen who resigned after he was challenged by white house officials after allegations made by his former wife after a background check. Then today, what we hear from the president is not any support for women who have made these allegations, not a general statement condemning domestic violence. Hes had an opportunity in the oval office to do so. And you heard the comment where he supported the good work of rob porter while he was here. And then in a tweet today, using the full 280 characters now available, the president writes, peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true, some are false, some are old, some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as due process . That struck a nerve, and one of the prominent female senators, a democrat from the state of washington, patty murray, who was first elected in wave of five women brought to the senate, she responded saying that she would be standing with the women of the me too movement. Shes linking the president s comments to that movement. We have seen many prominent individuals who have made allegations in the workplace against male colleagues or male bosses, and then weve seen prominent men being removed from positions. Patty murray saying that the president s comments reflect on that. Unclear what the president s direct intention was, was he speaking broadly about the me too movement or was he referring to the staffers from his own administration who are now gone . We dont know. But we can say that the president has not taken the opportunity to condemn domestic violence, which Vice President mike pence did quite quickly when asked about this during his time at the olympics by our own lester holt. He called it abhorrent and said there is no tolerance in this white house for domestic violence. But the president has not matched those comments, alex. Kelly odonnell at a rainy white house, thank you so much, well see you again. Maya harris and ali stuckey, ladies, welcome to you both. Ali, we know that the president spoke out go rob porter on friday. Here is a bit of what he had to say. He says hes innocent. And i think you have to remember that. We absolutely wish him well. So hes essentially defending porter to a degree. Hes defending the accused. In neither case does the president make mention of the alleged victim. Is this not the case, ali, of a tone deafness . Hes not giving a comprehensive approach to the situation. If the president were watching msnbc right now, which we all know hes probably not, i would have told him or i would tell him to change his statement to include the seriousness of domestic violence, the seriousness of any kind of abuse, and of course acknowledge both victims and alleged victims. I dont disagree with the content necessarily of what he said. I think we all believe in due process. Coming from a legal standard, of course, we believe in a presumption of innocence. But thats not the same standard when it comes to employment, especially not employment in the white house. And i think it would have done well for the president to say what mike pence said, that there is a zero tolerance for Domestic Abuse and even accusations of Domestic Abuse. And unfortunately he didnt say that in his statement and thats the part i disagree with. So allie, you say if you were able to counsel him, so presuming that people do counsel him and give him ideas of what to say, what he should say, thats fine. It appears as if this, though, is offthecuff. It is what is in his heart, in his mind, what he truly believes. So is that the problem there . You cant rein in this president when it comes to offthecuff, certainly. Is that the problem, if this really is whats reflecting the way he thinks . Thats what we dont know. Im certainly not a mind reader. The bottom line is he never should have been put in this position in the first place. We can all agree, even though were operating on a lot of hypotheticals, we dont know who knew what when in this whole horrible scandal, but his leadership in the white house, particularly general kelly, should have never put him in in position. He should have never had to make this statement in the first place. I do think he missed some points in his continued tweets, he misses the point that he should be acknowledging victims and alleged victims. I dont know what he believes in his heart of hearts. From a pr standpoint he certainly could improve. Lets face it, a lot of president s are put into positions they shouldnt be put into, but its the reaction that makes the president. Maya, in the end, another controversy with little to no fallout for the president. Why does he seem interviews to blowback, or as was suggested on an earlier broadcast to me, the midterms may be that level of blowback. I certainly think that the midterms will be a real moment for accountable and reckoning for this administration on many levels, certainly when it comes to issues like this, but even broader levels in terms of what were seeing in the russia investigation and efforts to delegitimize and undermine it and not really support an effort to get to the truth. So i think youre already seeing in the elections cycles weve had, a tremendous amount of momentum on the democratic side. And yes, the midterm elections may indeed be a reckoning. But i think that this is, sadly, par for the course for this group. You know, trumps circle. Weve seen this time and time again. He believes the men, not the women. Listen to the men, not the women. Its something that he has failed in his own behavior, to hold himself to account or been held accountable. Just when you look at not just trump, you look at roy moore, now you see rob porter. I dont think were going to, sadly, be able to expect or see more from this administration. I think the real question is what will we see and can we expect Something Better from the Republican Party. Maya, im curious, with these two men, rob porter and David Sorensen, both being accused of spousal abuse, both having been married twice before in the case of rob porter, both exwives are claiming spousal abuse, in David Sorensens case his second wife saying she cannot confirm the accusations made by the first wife. When it comes to vetting things of this nature, particularly since rob porter did have an order of protection to stay away from one of the wives, i mean, thats on record. How are these things overlooked . The question is is this a question of vetting or is it a question of disregard, lack of, you know, concern about these issues. Because this is not a situation where you take rob porter, certainly in terms of whats been revealed over the last few days, where they didnt know what had happened in his past. They received the information from the federal bureau of investigation as part of the background check that was being conducted. Its why he didnt have a full security clearance. Its why he was expected not to pass the background check. And despite that, despite the fact that the White House Council knew it, despite the fact that the chief of staff knew it, they chose to give cover to a serial Domestic Abuser. And so its really it goes beyond the question of vetting. In this case there actually was some vetting and the administration chose to overlook it. Again, believe the man and not the women. When these allegations occur, not one but two wives, and the federal bureau of investigation saying the allegations were credible, their initial report to the white House Counsel was that it was credible and the administration chose in the face of that information to move forward. I want to get to former white house aide Omarosa Manigault making her debut on celebrity big brother. Shes slamming her former boss. Heres part of what she said. I was haunted by tweets every single day. Does anybody say to him, what are you doing . I tried to be that person. And all of the people around him attacked me. Would you vote for him again . God, no. Never. A million years, never. Allie, do you believe omarosa, and if you dont, why dont you . Well, its not simply omarosa. I dont really believe anything that comes out of reality television. Now, thats not to say that everything shes saying is a lie. Obviously she truly believes that the white house maybe is in disarray or maybe she just didnt appreciate the president s leadership style, and thats perfectly fine. I dont really find her ominous warnings that its not going to be okay very credible. For millions of americans, its more than okay. Theyre feeling the tangible benefits of Donald Trumps presidency, both in Economic Policy and also in domestic and Foreign Policy and keeping communities safe. And thats not to discount the parts of his presidency that she didnt like. However, i just dont buy into this gloom and doom fearmongering tactic that she seems to be employing on reality tv . What about you, maya . Do you think all the criticism aimed atom omarosa is fair . I think this is a really bad spinoff to the reality tv presidency were experiencing, all of us as a nation. I dont know that you can give much weight to anything on maro says. That said, i do think things are not okay, when you look at whats happening in our democracy and a president who temperamentally is not fit for the office, who is undermining and attacking our independent institutions of government, and who is being aided by a Republican Congress that is either complicit or is content to look the other way. Things are not okay. And circling back to your point at the top of this segment, alex, i think this is what illustrates why the midterm elections are so important, that were going to have a check on this government, this administration, is if the democrats, you know, take control of either the house or the senate. Allie, overall, so many of us find this absolutely incredulous, youve got this reality tv aspect of this administration. I mean, when has this ever happened in the past . And how do you feel about it . I mean, it is entirely unprecedented. And look, ive been a critic of certain parts of President Trumps rhetoric, certain parts of his tweets. I do support his agenda. I think thats much more important than this reality tv aspect that we have. And to take at face value anything that anyone says on reality tv, i think is just a little bit silly, when you have so much success coming out of this presidency, when you have so much economic accomplishment and so much safety that has been accomplished through this presidency, i find these things to be very secondary. Certainly going into the midterms. I mean, these tax cuts are going to be huge for the Republican Party and yet you have the democrats who are saying that they are going to run on repealing and replacing tax cuts that are proven to make a large majority or save a large majority of americans money. I dont think this is going to have that much bearing for the gop. I think the midterms are going to be something to be reckoned with much more for the democrats. Im almost out of time, but maya, i agree with allie that we would all love to have substantive conversations about policy and the direction of this country, what will be repealed, what will be replaced, what wont be. There are any number of topics to discuss. But the fact is that we still have this tenor emanating from the white house. Do you have any expectation that that will be tamped down at any time in the near future and offer us the ability to just talk about more substantive things . Well, you know, alex, we thought that speculated that with john kelly coming on as chief of staff, maybe things would calm down, maybe some of the chaos would dissipate. And what have we seen . Week after week since the start of the year, if you look back at the number of dramas, number of situations that have erupted. I dont think theres really a whole lot of hope of tamping anything down with this administration. I think its going to continue as it is. And of course there is the question of, you know, what next with john kelly, because i dont think that this particular situation has done him any favors. But i think he has had a number of series of missteps and conduct unbecoming of his office. And he not only has been unable to control the chaos, hes now become part of the story too. So i sadly dont have a lot of hope, alex, for what the future holds in terms of any dramatic shift from what weve been seeing week after week after week, month after month after month, in this presidency. Actually i hope youre wrong. Thats all im going to say. Youre right about most things. I do too. Allie stuckey, good to see you both, thank you, ladies. Devin nunes is called perhaps the president s staunchest watchdog on capitol hill. But if polls are accurate, he may need to find a new one after the midterm elections. Ve. 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Takes after his grandad. Seriously anything, to help you invest for the future. Ally. Do it right. This is a partisan issue now. This is about politics. This is not about whats best for the american people. Adam schiff and others in the Democratic Party want to put the white house in a position of knowing the information thats in the memo that they sent over cannot be released for National Security reasons. They want to make sure that if the white house does put it out, they have to redact so much of it that theyll call it partisan politics. Corey lewandowski there, a former Trump Campaign manager, this morning accusing democrats of conspiring to undermine President Trump through their memo. Democrats are fighting back, alleging the president s refusal to release their memo is yet another example of a possible coverup. Lets bring in andrew jans, a democratic challenger to Republican Congressman devin nunes of california. Hes a prosecutor and has lived in the district for most of his life, california Congressional District number 22. Welcome, andrew, nice to speak with you. Hi, alex, thanks for having me on. Lets talk about the president who tweeted that sentiment this morning that this memo was an allout effort for the democrats to blame them for the lack of transparency, meaning blaming the white house. Your reaction to this line of thinking. Look, alex, i havent read the memo myself. But, you know, im all about transparency. I want to see all of the information out there. Ive been saying this even about the original memo. I think its very clear to me that the Trump Administration is doing anything that they can to cover up for my opponents original memo. In addition to that, you know, the Intelligence Committee has never been really politicized in the way that it has under devin nunes. I think that its time really for new leadership there. I know, andrew, that you launched your campaign because of nunes ethical issues and how you perceive them. Are your neighbors talking about russia . Do they care about it . Absolutely, alex. Ive been in this race for ten months now. Ive been crisscrossing this district, meeting with democrats and republicans alike. And people are really fed up with devin nunes and what theyve seen him do on the house Intelligence Committee. While hes fooling around on the Intelligence Committee, hes really ignoring the constituents back at home. We have a number of pressing issues. Were a very proud agricultural region. Were just out of a sixyear drought. And devin nunes has been in washington for 15 years, has provided very little as far as Water Infrastructure that our farmers desperately need. We like to say were the bread basket of the world. Here in the central valley, locally, we view that growing our own food is a National Security issue. While devin nunes is out in washington creating fake controversies, fake memos, the people back home have really been forgotten. People are tired of it and theyre ready for a change. It has been ten months, but i know during that time you caught some flack for the billboard that you put up showing congressman nunes and the president being led around on a leash by vladimir putin. By those who might feel it crossed a line, what do you see to them . I think the point of the billboard was to start a conversation about whats going on in washington and what devin nunes isnt doing for his stints back at home. I think its a great expression of the First Amendment and for those critics that cant take a joke, i think that they need to grow up. What about after the memo was released . The president tweeted that congressman nunes will one day be recognized as a Great American hero. The president did win your district by nearly ten points. I will say his margin of success was less than that of his republican predecessor mitt romney and even less than that of john mccain prior to mitt romney. So what do you say to those, the message in that billboard, those who agree with it, why do you think that will rest nate wiona somebody who is not necessarily your supporter yet . People like to say, alex, especially conservatives, that this is a safe seat for devin nunes. If that were the case, he would be doing a victory lap, holding town halls, talking to constituents. But hes in hiding right now. Even when people try to interview him in washington, he runs away from the camera. Great american heroes dont run away, they dont cut and run. Ive had many republicans come up to me and say, look, 15 years, eight terms in congress is enough, its time for a change, its time for somebody that has fresh ideas and a new take on things. Im just looking at the stats here, andrew. He has won his last campaign by a two to one margin so he must be doing something right. To what do you attribute his success so far . What do his constituents say . Is it name recognition or a lot more than that . One of the things that i was very interested in seeing when i first got in the race was how many people in the district actually knew that devin nunes was their member in congress. And not very many people knew. I really attribute the fact that hes won landslide elections in previous election cycles to lack of viable democratic opponents. For the first time in 15 years, people are going to have a campaign, theyre going to have a choice between two people. Were raising the level of attention around whats going on in washington and what hes not doing here locally. People are excited. We have thousands of people calling in, asking how they can volunteer, when they can go knock on doors, make phone bank calls, registering people to vote and that sort of thing. Ive lived here most of my life. Ive never seen the level of excitement around a political race that were seeing this year. And its something that were seeing across the country. Weve seen it in places like alabama and in virginia where people are coming out for the first time to involve themselves in the political process. And im excited to lead that effort here locally. I will say that if people are going to put their money where their mouth is, you did raise over 100,000 in a twoday period over the release of the nunes memo, so there is that to concern. I want to thank you very much, andrew janz. Well be following the race and perhaps have you back on to talk with us, i appreciate that. We did reach out to devin nunes office for an interview. We have yet to hear back. Coming up, the president welcomed the release of the republican memo with open arms but not so much with the democrats rebuttal. Whats the difference . Well ask a legal expert, next. A wealth of information. 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Tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flulike symptoms or sores. Liver problems can occur with entyvio. If your uc or crohns treatment isnt working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. Entyvio. Relief and remission within reach. Welcome back, everyone. Im alex witt at msnbc headquarters in new york. President trump is tweeting that democrats need to redo their rebuttal memo and send it back in proper form. Watergate special counsel Jill Winebanks says the democrats should have pushed for their memo to be released last week with the republican memo. Im sorry they didnt allow it to be done at the same time as the republican memo. Once you have a first impression, its hard to change it. And now weve had weeks or what will be weeks with the republican memo out there and no rebuttal. Although much has already leaked about what the falsehood of the nunes memo is, many of its major components are already disproved. So i think its already been hurt dramatically and it may not matter so much. And here with me now to elaborate, msnbc contributor Jill Winebanks. Welcome to the broadcast, jill. The president , as you know, ignored both the fbi and the doj when they recommended, dont release the republican memo. Now he wants the democrats to work with the doj to release their rebuttal. What is the difference here . The difference is clearly political. The memo that he wanted released, the nunes memo, he thought helped him. And he knows that the democratic facts do not. So thats why hes trying to stop it. I think that he should never have released the first one to begin with, because in fact it didnt help him. Even if it werent misleading, it doesnt prove anything. And the truth is that its so misleading that even his supporters must wonder what hes hiding and why he would put out a partial document that even nunes has had to step back from. For example, the big part was that it wasnt told to the court that part of the information for the warrant application came from a political source, when in fact that was told to the court. It was in a footnote. Thats just as much read by the court as any other piece of information. So they should have never made the hype what it was, because it didnt produce what they promised. So jill, if the memo, the gop memo helps the president , that one he wants out there, but this other one he perceives to not help him and he doesnt really want it out there, can this be perceived as obstruction . I think so much of what donald trump does is obstruction, not just perceived as obstruction. And this could be. But im saying that without having read the memo and without having read the underlying documents. So i dont know in the democratic memo if there is more shown than was shown in the nunes memo. But we know for sure that the nunes memo showed sources and methods which should never have been released. We know the president , never having read the document, said he was going to 100 release it. That shows a clear political intent to release information that was not in the best interests of the country but which he thought were in his best interests. And not releasing the ones that he knows shows the truth certainly is another way of interfering with the investigation and interfering with the publics right to know whats going on. Okay. I want to move on to the Mueller Investigation now. Theres a New York Times report that says that lawyers for the president have advised him against sitting down with special counsel bob mueller. What about you, do you think the president should avoid an interview with mueller . Well, i can understand why his lawyers would say that, because he does have a way of having a loose relationship with the truth. And when you tell the facts wrong to the prosecutor, there are legal consequences. It is a perjury not a perjury if hes not under oath, but it would be a false statement which has the same legal consequences as perjury. So i can see why they would be worried about his doing it. I dont think he has an option for two reasons. One, legally, he can be subpoenaed and then he has to come in to testify. If he takes the fifth amendment, that is political suicide. Its okay for an average citizen, and yes, a judge would tell a jury you cannot make any conclusions from someone taking the right not to testify. Thats one thing to say in a criminal trial. Its another thing when the president of the United States, who is being asked to carry out the laws of the country, and who has taken an oath to support and defend the constitution, does not tell the truth and does not come forward and testify and takes the fifth amendment. So i think hes either politically damned by not testifying, and legally he doesnt have the option. Jill, can you think of questions that would be posed to the president that would trip him up . Almost anything. Given how many things he has said publicly that we believe are inconsistent with the facts, i would say that anything that he has said about drafting the excuse for the don junior meeting with the russians at trump tower when he was on air force one and drafting a false statement, i would say thats an area where he would certainly be tripped up. His statement that he has nothing to do with russia, that he has no financing from russia, that hes not building in russia. We know thats simply not true, we have the facts that show the contrary to that. The reasons for his not implementing sanctions. Why is he not implementing sanctions . Hes bound to lie about that. So i think there are a number of areas where he would get into a lot of trouble, just defending his children would be one of the areas, and his soninlaw. Jill winebanks, always good to get your insight, thanks so much for sharing, we appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up, what to make of omarosa on celebrity big brother. With a 500,000 Life Insurance policy. How much do you think it cost him . 100 a month . 75 . 50 . Actually,duncan got his 500,000 for under 28 a month. Less than a dollar a day. His secret . Selectquote. In just minutes, a selectquote agent will comparison shop nearly a dozen highlyrated Life Insurance companies, and give you a choice of your five best rates. Duncans wife cassie got a 750,000 policy for under 22 a month. Give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. Thereswhatever type ofhe end of eweekender you are,ton. Dont let another weekend pass you by. Get the lowest price when you book at hilton. Com but do you feel like you were able to understand . People from the outside looking in just saw the hate that that campaign kind of incited and that you supported that. When youre in the middle of the hurricane, its hard to see the destruction on the outer bands, if you understand what im saying. Interesting there. On marosa manigault making a stunning aboutface on the reality show celebrity big brother. Good day to both of you, amiche, omarosa defending the president on Race Relations and the like. What do you make of her comments, though . Are they sincere or is this all just a bunch of political or reality show theater . I think its definitely reality show theater. There might also be some sincerity there. On me marosa is now being maligy the president and the house. The president s press secretary raj shah says they fired her for a fourth time, theyre saying her position in the white house was tantamount to her position on the apprentice. The idea that this president is operating as though the United States as a reality tv show. But on marosa also feels the pressure among africanamericans to now say shes not in the president s corner because this president has said so many things that people have found offensive and because his presidency has been so chaotic that people, including republicans, are starting to back away. Seema, there are certainly occasions that inside washington, many people who live and work there can live inside a bubble. Omarosa says when youre in the middle of the hurricane, its hard to see the destruction on the outer bands. Do you think she feels like shes been liberated and shes final now free to speak her mind . If you remember, last year when she either resigned or was forced out of the white house, there was a lot of controversy about whether he was there physically removed from the white house. She gave some interviews then that hinted about her unhappiness and she would speak more about that when she stopped getting paid by the white house, which has in january. Ill wait to see what happens when she says more about her experiences. She and President Trump have an interesting and complicated relationship, although clearly theyre on the out and outs. This isnt the last weve heard from her. Lets go to the president s tweet, yamiche, about lives being shattered, referring to the Domestic Abuse allegations made against two white house staffers. Is this a defense of the accused . He was likely talking about the two aides who resigned because their exwives say they violently beat them. These are wives who had black eyes, who were kicked on their honeymoon, women who felt physically abused by their husbands, and the president is saying the mens lives are ruined because of these accusations. Hes right in that their lives are being ruined. Both these men had great paying jobs, they were at the white house, at the top of their careers, and now theyre being all of that is being taken away from them because their wives are finally being able to be heard and have a voice. So i think what we see is a president who himself has allegations against him of sexual inappropriate behavior and abuse toward women, now coming to the defense of other men who are accused. This president has never really weighed in on the me too movement mainly because he doesnt have the footing to do so because of his own allegations. Seema, the president has accusations from a number of women, well over a dozen in his tenure, of stages of misconduct. He himself has taken to twitter and he has smeared or besmirched or made fun of any number of people on any given day. So can we take his view objectively . We have to look at it in connect. If you look at his history, when he speaks about men who have been accused of either Sexual Misconduct or mistreating women in various ways, hes always spoken up for the men, spoken up for roy moore, roger ailes, corey lewandowski, bill oreilly, he spoke up for mike tyson when he was convicted of rape. So this is not new. This is consistent over many, many years. But then, yamiche, why does he accept his staffers resignations so quickly . He feels as though these men are now making him look bad. Most people who lose their job in the white house lose it not because the public sees them as not doing a good job. Its because the president himself starts to say, this is hurting my reputation among my base, will this make me look bad. Hes still fuming about Michael Wolffs book fire and fury and the fact that they allowed him access into the white house. Now there are reports that he has turned his scorn toward hope hicks because she was defending her boyfriend. The president didnt want people to Start Talking about his own accusations and the fact that he himself got into the white house after the access hollywood tape, continues to occupy these white house, and still does not want to talk about the me too movement. The president is really angry at these staffers for making the white house look even more chaotic than it already looks. So seema, this is all book ended with his tweets supporting hope hicks. Besides the people related to the president by marriage or blood, hope hicks has been with him the longest. Shes not out there on tv, shes not building her own name. She walks into the residence every night, from what we hear. Hes expressed his support for her, he also had his daughter come out and speak in support of her. It seems like her position is safe for the time being. All right, yamiche and seema, great to have you guys back. Coming up, giving money to families with no Strings Attached, can they solve poverty . One california is giving it a try, hell be here to explain. And will chief of staff john kelly be the next member of the administration on his way out . And then i learn type 2 diabetes puts me at greater risk for heart attack or stroke. Can one medicine help treat both blood sugar and cardiovascular risk . I asked my doctor. He told me about noninsulin victoza®. Victoza® is not only proven to lower a1c and blood sugar, but for people with type 2 diabetes treating their cardiovascular disease, victoza® is also approved to lower the risk of major cv events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. And while not for weight loss, victoza® may help you lose some weight. announcer victoza® is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not take victoza® if you have a personal or Family History of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to victoza® or any of its ingredients. Stop taking victoza® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck or symptoms of a serious allergic reaction such as rash, swelling, difficulty breathing, or swallowing. Serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis. So stop taking victoza® and call your doctor right away if you have severe pain in your stomach area. Tell your doctor your medical history. Gallbladder problems have happened in some people. Tell your doctor right away if you get symptoms. Taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, indigestion, and constipation. Side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. Change the course of your treatment. Ask your doctor about victoza®. Countries like kenya and finland have tried it. Now basic income a try. One of the most impoverished areas where one in 13 people live below the poverty line. Few dozen families will be getting a check for 500 a month, no Strings Attached, in an attempt to end poverty. Stockton is expected to hand out checks later this month. Mayor tubbs joins me now, who is behind this experiment. How is this being funded . A group called the Economic Security project, a think tank and philanthropical organization. One in two people can afford a 400 emergency or in stockton where almost 50 of our families are rent poor and poor more than 80 of their income on rent. Again this is 500, no Strings Attached. Check, cash, direct deposit . Do you have logistics worked out yet . We just had our program director. Next six, nine months shell be running a design phase to figure out the right way to disdisperse, the criterion for selection, et cetera. Looking overall at the population of stockton more than 300,000 people are living there. The medium income is well below the rest of california state, income nearly double the rest of the state. And technically one in four living below the poverty line. Do you think 500 a month is going to reverse those trends . What is the goal for you . The goal is threefold. Number one, i think as a city, but also as a country we have to have a conversation about whats the economic floor that americans deserve . Folks are working harder and harder only to fall further and further behind. People are feeling economic anxiety. In the existing social safety net. Stockton is the best place to test the concept. Were a diverse city of strong, resilient people and have some of the indicators and outcomes that happen with economic misplacement. Im looking to elevate the conversation of poverty, what people deserve but also stockton and why we are a poor american city. Youre trying to blaze a trail here. How successful do you expect this program to be . How long will it be in effect . Were looking at 18 months. Not successful because of the dollar amount but because i know the people in my city. Theyre strong, resilient, brilliant people. I can foresee people using that 500 for savings or pay for child care to get back into the workforce or using that 500 for utility bills or housing so theyre not using from house to house or getting evicted. Whats interesting about the program its universal basic income. Meaning you and me. The idea is to provide economic floor for everyone, including the very poor but also including folks who are aworking and folk who have some means. The idea is that you want to get people back with the incentive to earn a paycheck. Some critics will say this will only promote a cycle of dependency. What do you say to them . Look at the studies. Two studies in the states. What they found was there was no labor market effects, that people werent stopping working and, in fact, good things went up like Educational Attainment and bad things went down like alcohol use. And Alaska Dividend Fund is another example where every alaskan citizen is given 1,000, 2,000. Onethird people use it to pay bills, onethird use it to save and onethird tuesday to pay for essentials and necessities. When given the opportunity maybe not everyone but the vast majority of people are rational actors and will use money for needs and things their families need. Given that this is being given to these families, no Strings Attached, do you have a way that youre going to try to monitor this . I mean, with no Strings Attached it means do what you want to with this money. Will you be monitoring how they spend it . Yes. Actually, right now, we have rfi out, request for information. Or proposals for research partner. Who will work with us and the team to figure out how do we track not tell people what to do but how to track people what theyre doing so we can tell a story. That will show that people arent using the money to buy alcohol or drugs or bad things but using it to invest in themselves and their families. Mayor of stockton, michael tubbs, man behind this experiment. Well watch closely to see how it turns out. Appreciate that. Come visit. Im a california girl. Youre not far from l. A. I will do that. Thank you very much. Sounds good. In the next hour, in the week ahead with wall street, should you hold tight or take your money and run . Oh. Nuh uh. Yeah. Ahhhhh. Mmmm. Oh. Yeah. Ah. Agh. Ddd. No. Hmmm. Uh. Huh. Yeah. Uh. Huh. In business, there are a lot of ways to say no. Thank you so much. Thank you. So were doing it. Yes. Start saying yes to your companys best ideas. We help all types of businesses with money, tools and knowhow to get business done. American express open. Somesend you and your family overwhelrunning. Y can. To get business done. Introducing febreze one for fabric and air. No aerosols. No dyes. No heavy perfumes. 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Reports general john kelly could be among the next wave of resignation from the west wing. Outrage grows as how the chief of staff handled those allegations. And ill talk to one of the women who accused the president himself of Sexual Misconduct. We begin this hour with that tweet from President Trump, warning peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed