Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Craig Melvin 20170927

Alabama loss, repeal and replace died again. He has not been winning a lot lately. Is his ambitious tax plan that win . The president a few moments ago also making a bit of news on health care and some other topics. Well have that for you in a few moments. Meanwhile, cries for help. Breathtaking rescues in puerto rico as the desperation there deepens. Long lines for Bare Necessities like food, water, gas. Why whats happening there would likely never happen here. And bribery scandal. Reports that Legendary College basketball coach rick pitino has been fired in the wake of that bribery scandal involving several elite ncaa programs. Theres a new conference set to happen any moment now. Were keeping a very close eye on that. We will pass along pitinos fate. Meanwhile, we start President Donald Trump trying to put a series of stinging losses behind him from health care to his candidate in that Alabama Senate race last night. Hes trying to secure the first big win. This time tax reform. President trump about to leave washington, d. C. , for indianapolis, where he will be talking to voters. He just boarded marine one a few moments ago. Hes headed to joint base andrews to take air force one to indianapolis. It will be his first public pitch since republicans released that framework for reform a few hours ago. Republicans hoping a combination of corporate rate cuts and the state tax repeal can unify a party when the populous steve bannonled wing has one of the very people charged to muster the votes for reform in their sights. Mitch mcconnell, Senate Majority leader. Chief White House Correspondent Hallie Jackson is with us and so is Garrett Haake on capitol hill. Hallie, lets start with you. First of all, what did the president say a few moments ago on the south lawn . Reporter forget me if i have a glow going on because i just ran back from where marine one is taking off. The president stopping for several minutes to speak with reporters. Frankly, craig, making several headlines. Let me tick through some of them and let me start, first of all, with health care. The president says he will negotiate with democrats over the next several months on doing something on health care. This is what the president wanted to talk with reporters about. He came out, i asked him a question on roy moore and the alabama race. He said, yes, well be backing roy moore but then he pifted quickly to talking health care. He said he will probably sign an executive order next week, he thinks, that would allow people to buy health care across state lines. It is not clear yet what the mechanism for this will be. The president says that is still getting worked out right now, but that is some unilateral action he plans to take when it comes to health care. He was asked a couple of times if he has confidence in Mitch Mcconnell. I think the third or fourth time he says, yes, he does, but said that is really up to the senate to decide. Somebody he does not say he has confidence in, his health and Human Services secretary tom price. Price has come under serious fire for taking these charter flights around the country for government business as politico has reported to the tune of some 400,000 of taxpayer money. Including a couple of trips that seem to mix private business with government business. The president several times said he was not happy with tom price. Ill pause so we can listen to what he has to say. Looks like reporter hes walking out here. Youll see him walk up to the reporters. Can you tell he wants to speak. Ive done these socalled departures where the president walks over to marine one. Here he came up, right in front of the cameras. He had some things to say and he took a fair amount of questions from the reporters who were there. Lets listen in. Well, we have a man whos going to be a great senator. Im very happy with that. I spoke to him last night. I never met him. I never spoke to him. Im very happy with him. And i have to say luther came a long way from the time i endorsed him and he ran a good race, but roy ran a really great race. I know what they did with mitch and used him very much in the campaign. He works hard and im sure things will work out. I just wanted to say, though, on health care, we have the votes for health care. We have one senator thats in the hospital. He cant vote because hes in the hospital. He cant vote because hes in the hospital. We have two other votes that are coming and we will have them. But the problem is we cant have them by friday because of reconciliation ends on friday. So well have to do it in january or february. But i feel we have the votes. Im almost certain we have the votes. But with one man in the hospital, we cannot display we have them. Plus, some people want to go through a process to make themselves feel better, thats okay. [ inaudible ] were talking about health care. Were talking about health care. [ inaudible ] i was looking into it, i will look into it. Ill tell you, personally, i am not happy about it. I am not happy about it. Ill look at it. Im not happy about it and i let him know it. Mitch mcconnell, is he in troubles . Youll have to ask senators. Heres what im saying. Were going right now to indiana. Were going to introduce a tax plan thats the largest tax cut essentially in the history of our country. Its going to be something special. You already know some of the numbers. Were going to give you some of the additional numbers. But on haeshealth care we have votes. We cant do it now because we have somebody in the hospital. We have Great Respect for that gentleman, by the way. Hes a fantastic man. We are going to yes, thats why. Why does it matter . Because he has to come here and vote. He cant come here and vote. In other words, he cant come here and vote because hes in the hospital. Heres the story. Wait, wait let me just yes, in the hospital. So, were going to do it in january or february because as you know, we have the votes but we cant go longer than friday. What we will do is we will do the block grants, the health care, we will get a longer process going for the couple of people that did want to see more process even though theyre a yes vote. Very importantly, i am also during this period of a couple of months, im also going to meet with democrats and i will see if i can get a Health Care Plan thats even better. So, i will negotiate with democrats, but from the republican standpoint, we have the votes. Well vote in january, february or march. I am considering an executive order on associations and that will take care of a tremendous number of people with regard to health care. Ill probably be signing a very major executive order where people can go out, cross state lines, do lots of things and buy their own health care. And that will be probably signed next week. Its being finished now. Its going to cover a lot of territory and a lot of people, millions of people. [ inaudible ] go ahead. [ inaudible ] i think were there now, john. Ill be honest. You look at the statement put out by alaska, right, you saw that, by lisa. You look at the other couple of statements. Were only one off, maybe two. But we cant vote now, john. You probably didnt hear me, because as you know one of our votes is in the hospital. I cant take him out of the hospital. [ inaudible ] i do have confidence in him, yes. I do have confidence. Its its really not up to me, its up to the senate. I do have confidence. I will say they used him in the race, and i was very honored bit way i was treated in the race, but they used him in the race. John, they used him in the race. And, you know [ inaudible ] my plan is for the working people. And my plan is for jobs. [ inaudible ] no, i dont benefit. In fact, very, very strongly, as you see, theres no i think theres very little benefit for people of wealth. Estate tax if you look at it for farmers and people with small business. [ inaudible ] i dont see it but well talk to you about that at a different time. So, heres the point, the point is [ inaudible ] the point is this. Health care, we have it, we have the votes. Because of reconciliation, we have to wait until january, february or march, which well do. But in the meantime, i will negotiate with democrats to see if we can make a bipartisan bill. Yes, john . [ inaudible ] very much a red line. In fact, i wanted to start at 15 so that we got 20. The numbers 15 was so low, we didnt take in the revenue. But i wanted 15 so we got 20. 20 is my number, so im not negotiating that number. Im not going to negotiate. Thats the number i wanted to get to. I wanted to start at 15 to get there. Weve really had to start there because of the complexity of the numbers. But 20 is a perfect number. Puerto rico, mr. President [ inaudible ] were thinking about that. We have a lot of shippers, people that work in the shipping industry that dont want the zone lifted. We have a lot of ships out there right now. I will tell you, the governor was very generous yesterday with his statement and so was the mayor of san juan, very generous with their statements. We have a lot of people. Im going there on tuesday, as youve probably heard. Puerto rico is a very difficult situation. I mean, that place was just destroyed. Thats not a question of, gee, lets dry up the water or this or that. That place was flattened. Thats a really tough situation. I feel so badly for the people. [ inaudible ] yeah, the people allowed certain countries, but we can add countries very easily and take countries away. As far as the travel ban is concerned, whatever it is, i want the toughe estebaest trave can have. Ill see you in indiana. Well go over more points that have not been talked about. Are you all going . Is everyone going . Huh . [ inaudible ] i think the nfl is in a box. I think theyre in a really bad box. You look at whats happening with their ratings, you look at frankly, the only thing doing well in the nfl is the pregame because everybody wants to see whats going on. The nfl is in a very bad box. You cannot have people disrespecting our national anthem, our flag, our country, and thats what theyre doing. In my opinion, the nfl has to change. Or you know whats going to happen, their business is going to go to hell. First amendment, you uphold the First Amendment . [ inaudible ] there you have it, President Trump boarding marine one there, headed over to joint base andrews, on his way to indianapolis to taut that new tax plan. He spent some time there talking about the tax plan. Hes still talking. Lets listen. I mean, largely, the fans agree. But we have to show total respect for our national anthem, our flag, our country. Have you to do it. There are plenty of places and there are personally, when theyre protesting during a football game, i think they can find better places but they cannot do during the national anthem. [ inaudible ] i am going to see im looking at that very closely. I am not happy with it. I am not happy it. Would you fire him, sir . That last, well see, by the way, was in answer to a question about tom price, his Embattled Health and Human Services secretary. Price coming under fire over the last two weeks for these politico reports that he has been using a private jet in some cases to fly from philadelphia to d. C. , but in addition to taking these questionable flights, also reports hes been seeing family members while on government business, as we watch President Trump there board marine one. Chief White House Correspondent, Hallie Jackson, is Still Standing by. You didnt overstate it. He did make a fair amount of news there. Reporter i dont lie to you, my friend. Lets start with tom price. Reporter thats significant. That is a story that has been sort of floating around the edges since politico, all credit to them, scooped this about tom prices charter travel. Ive been following the story. In my conversations with the health and Human Services aeshgs they say, listen, tom price is busy. Hes got a big schedule. He wants to get outside washington and see people and these charter travels are the way he does that. That was the end of last week. The argument theyre looking to be effective and efficient in prices travel. As they put it, he has a lot of meetings and needs to get to them. As said, this is a break from past precedent, at least for hhs secretaries under the obama administration. I will tell you in my private conversations now, the president is reflecting that publicly with people in the west wing people are not happy with tom price. Hes a fiscal conservative but spending taxpayer money on this travel around the country. The president himself not happy. I would note, remember the lals time we heard the president say, well see about somebody, i think it was steve bannon at that Trump Tower Press Conference up in new york back in august. So maybe that tells you about the president s thinking there. He says he is looking into it. You know who else is looking into it . Youve got not just the office of general for hhs, members of congress now looking at this inquiry, not just prices travel, but all cabinet travel has tom price has come under fire. As soon as you clear me, ill reach out to hhs again. Thats another headlines. Another big one is the executive order he says he will sign. Its not at all clear, and in that seven or eight minutes, i was texting with folks. Its not clear how he would do that and if he can do that and what congress would need to be able to do or should be doing when it comes to the sell sale of Health Insurance across state lines. We dont have enough information on the headline at the bottom of the screen, the socalled executive order. Its clear the president does not want to be seen as though hes giving up on health care. He talks about doing something in january or february. That assumes tax reform or tax cuts is hammered out by then. That is the thing hes going to indiana to talk about today. Thats certainly not a guarantee that will be wrapped up in 2017 only because while the framework may be in place, how to pay for it, what the offsets will be are highly controversial, even among republicans. Its not necessarily going to be a lick the stamp on the envelope and send it in when it comes to tax reform. Im going through my notes, the jones act and the crisis in puerto rico, asking if he would lift that because thats a discussion weve been having on this network and the today show and nightly news. The president says were considering lifting the jones act which would allow for more shipping passages into the island. He said there is some opposition and also talk about the ports themselves are destroyed and have some serious issues. Its not so much the ships. Its actually rebuilding the ports. He again talked about the folks in puerto rico struggling with this crisis. He repeatedly insisted senator cochran is in the hospital. We know cochran has been dealing with a medical issue. So, he was not around for this weeks vote. Its not clear he is in the hospital. As i pointed out to the president , he was a yes vote anyway. Right. Reporter it seems the discussion is more around senator collins, mccain. I see garrett nodding on the screen. Our chief White House Correspondent, infatiguable, Hallie Jackson, ill let you go and do your texting and make your calls. If you get something, come back. While were having this conversation, air force one departing. That live shot we just saw air force one departing for indianapolis, indiana, where the president is expected to continue to extoll the virtues of his new tax plan. Garrett haake standing by for us on the hill. Garrett, what are lawmakers saying about the details that have been released so far as it relates to this tax plan. Reporter it wont surprise you to know that republican lawmakers are pushing this very hard in part because they know how badly they need it. Especially here on the senate side. Republican lawmakers ive spoken to are clear that tax reform will be at least as difficult as health care was. Theyre also cleareyed about the fact they have got to get some points on the board, particularly in the senate where for the last nine months of effort, theyve essentially come up with a package of sanctions on three misbehaving countries and not much else to come out. A couple of republican senators i talked to today illustrated this point. Take a quick listen. We can do tax reform and health care reform. Tax reform to me is going to be far, far more difficult than health care. Reporter again, two veteran senators being fairly cleareyed about that. If i can, can i jump back in the Health Care Question because the president spent so much time about this. I have pages of notes, but two points that stuck out to me. The president repeatedly said they have the votes to pass an Obamacare Repeal. They dont. Thats just not accurate right now. Rand paul remains a hard no. Susan collins remains a hard no. John mccain remains a hard no. You heard him make references to Lisa Murkowski of alaska who tried very hard not to reveal her position on this. Even if she is someone they could get in the yes column, there are still three nos. If theyre doing this in january or february, theres going to be a new senator from alabama by then. Either roy moore or his democratic opponent. Right now neither one of those people support the Graham Cassidy bill, the one weave been talking about last week. Roy moore said it doesnt go far enough. Jones would likely line up with democrats in pon opposing that. On the executive order, thats something rand paul has been lobbying the white house on very hard for at least the last week and possibly longer. Hes had this idea if you put people in associations, voluntary associations, almost like insurance clubs, if you will, and that theyre all in different states, that would allow individuals to buy insurance from different states in much the same way a corporation that has, you know, offices or stores or what he have you in different states is able to buy insurance in different states. Its an idea that, again, is not entirely clear if its legal or feasible but something the white house is getting lobbied on and something the president is at least interested enough in to pursue. Finally, closing the loop on how all of these things appear to be related. Some price in trouble. He was supposed to be the point person on getting Obamacare Repeal done and thats still not on the president s desk. That cant help him. A busy, busy day there in washington. Garrett haake, thank you for breaking all of that down. Well come back to you a little later. Meanwhile, officials at the university of louisville just officially announcing head basketball coach, legendary coach, rick pitino is now on add administrative leave in the wake of bribery allegations. Hes essentially been fired. The fastdeveloping facts on that case. Dramatic rescues happening in puerto rico. San juans mayor sends a big s. O. S. To anyone listening. The mayor saying people are literally dying in puerto rico. Well take you live to that island where desperation is deepening. 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Stop taking victoza® and get medical help right away if you get 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. Ask your doctor about victoza®. President trump is in the air right now. He is headed to indianapolis, indiana, to taut his ambitious new tax plan. David jolly is a former republican congressman from florida. Josh barro is an msnbc contributor, also senior insider at business insider. Gentlemen, thanks four your time. We just heard from President Trump there a few moments ago. Republicans say they can pass this by years end. Is that true . No, because the president lacks credibility. Look at what he just did at an unscripted moment and your reporting was great on this. Garrett nailed it. President trump does not have the votes for health care, even though he said he did. He said he would act by executive order, even though thats what he ran against, the whole principles of president obamas executive actions. He continues to push this false narrative. Never actually selling the substance. And so i think the lesson from health care is this. It is not the moderates, it is not mccain and collins that stand in the way of an Obamacare Repeal. The reality is, the president and the Republican Party never sold the American People on their Health Care Plan. I dont see the American People begging for tax relief right now. I think this is an inside the beltway debate and the president misses the American People have a large gap between what theyre selling and theyre buying. You maintain in your most recent piece that this is a political disaster waiting to happen. Why . Once the details get filled in, this is likely to raise taxes on a lot of middle income families. When george w. Bush did his tax cut, less than five months into presidency, had already accomplished way more than President Trump had. The thing he said over and over about his plan is it was a tax cut for everyone that paid income taxes. They designed the plan so there was something in there for virtually everybody to build a coalition and pass it. In this plan, especially a person who takes itemized deduction, if you have a mortgage you write off, the state and local tax deduction, some will get taken away from you. Youll lose the personal exemption. And other provisions of this wont make up for that. You may actually end up paying more in taxes whereas various rich people, people who own businesses will get a special tax break. The estate tax will go away. Tax rates will be cut at the top end. This is a proposal to cut taxes for rich people that will raise taxes on a substantial number of middle income people. That will be extremely unpopular. They wont be able to get that through congress. Mr. Bernstein, the president a few moments ago seemed to draw a bit of a red line as it relates to the Corporate Tax code. 20 , he said thats as low as hell go. How significant that . Its highly significant and feeds exactly into what you just heard from both josh and david. And i think their analysis was spot on. Remember, 80 of a Corporate Tax cut goes to people who hold capital in some form or another. Either they hold shares in the corporation or own businesses themselves. Now, these folks are at the very top of the income scale. So, if you go to 20 on the Corporate Tax cut, about 30 of the benefits actually about a third of the benefits will go to the top 1 . Only 15 of the benefits will go to the middle and lower income folks. So, the minute you start to see tables scored on what the president s proposing that includes the josh barro points, which are critically important, theyre not helping the middle class. Theyll end up hurting them. They giveth with a standard deduction, they taketh away by ending the personal exemption. This will look terrible for them and fall into the trap david describes. I want to turn a few minutes to alabama, the primary that played out last night there. And big luther going down to roy moore. A lot of folks have surmised this is somehow a prediction of what well see in 2018 but a local reporter in alabama, his name is brian, and he wrote, quote, personally i think the bentley appointment in moores 17 years building a base made this race what it was. Bentley, the disgraced former governor who appointed luther strange. Are we reading too much into what happened last night in alabama . I dont think the numbers in the senate change. I lived in pensacola when roy moore was making his controversial headlines. It was the same market. The reality is i think trump got duped into supporting strange. If you Something Back four, six weeks ago there was a 72hour between mcconnell and trump. I think mcconnell convinced him to get behind strange. The reality is moore was the trump candidate in this race. Going back to taxes, its way too early to say its done. You cant come out on day one and say youre going to lower the upper tax bracket from 39 to 35, raise lower from 10 to 12 . Even if it goes into effect, they lost the debate. I appreciate it. Always good to have you. President trump also addressed the crisis in puerto rico calling it a very difficult situation there on that island as leaders plead for help. Necessity say the island, home to roughly 3. 5 million americans, is on the bring of a humanitarian crisis. 97 of the island has no power. Half the island has no water. Generator power is limited. Most places still dont have cell service. And many of the hospitals are still shut down. Fuel shortages have led to hundreds of people deep, lines you see here. The mayor of san juan says things are actually getting worse. We are running from one place to another canvassing making sure people are alive. Nbcs Tammy Leitner is in san juan. She experienced firsthand what many of these families are dealing with. Just trying to make sure their loved ones are safe. Reporter in puerto rico, an Incredible Rescue Mission under way. This team of new York City Police officers and firefighters searching for a family of six. Gabriel had not heard from his family since Hurricane Maria chewed up the bridge, trapping his loved ones and their entire community. His town, one of 11 on the island these rescue workers have still not been able to reach. This is going to take over an hour to get up this hill. Reporter weve been walking for about 15 minutes. Its slow going because there are trees down, power lines down. Gabrielle says the last time he saw his family was five days before the hurricane. His desperation visible. Then finally, after almost two weeks apart an emotional reunion. Love you, mommy. Reporter everyone together once again. His family surviving the cat 5 with enough supplies to last a few more weeks. Thank you. Reporter but his parents staying behind for now. Im a little, you know, sad because were going to be separated. Its okay. Okay . Reporter the goodbye is cut short, making it even harder to get off the mountain. Across the river, relief. Grateful. But facing an uncertain future. That was Tammy Leitner there in san juan. Our correspondents are spread across the island there on puerto rico. G Gadi Schwartz with more on the desperation. Reporter in some remotes part of puerto rico, calls for help are written on rooftops, families desperate in the long wait for aid. Roads obliterated by mudslides. They might be stuck in an area they cant leave. Reporter the paurt rico blackhawk helicopters getting aid to remote areas where this 8yearold says her family needs supplies. Shes worried about her grandparents she hasnt heard from in days. I hope you are fine and i love you. Reporter this chopper crew also responsible for preventing a major environmental catastrophe after nearby Oil Drilling Rig was damaged by the hurricane. If would have come aground, hit puerto rico, how bad could things have gotten . Pretty bad. Reporter just one of the Countless Missions american soldiers protecting their island, looking for more people to save. Again, Gadi Schwartz there in san juan. Dr. Natalie azaire and edwin melendez, professor of urban affairs and planning at new yorks hunter college, an expert on puerto rico because you spent vast majority of your life there. I know you moved here in the late 70s. The Washington Post said today that this is colonial neglect. The relationship between the island and the mainland, how is that relationship, or perhaps lack thereof, how is that affecting the response and the recovery . Well, from the very beginning puerto rico was an incorporated temperature. That means secondclass citizenship for all of us since 1917. We dont have representation in congress. But we do have elected officials here and other Community Leaders that advocate for puerto rico. Where the majority of Puerto Ricans twothirds of puerto rican population lives, were very conscientious of whats going on and were very active in, you know, supporting the crisis thats going on there and supporting our elected officials to act, especially those in congress. What are the unique circumstances on the ground there that stand in the way of getting relief to the folks the 3. 5 million folks on the island . Both the president through executive action and congress can act quickly. There is some shortterm measures. The president mentioned the jones act, which is very important. Something important, medicaid happen a cap and its running out of block grants. Those are important. In addition to that, fema has some sort of matching funds that need to be put for their assistance. I think we need a waiver for that and the president can do that. More than that, i think over the long term we need to reconstruct the electric grid, which is in crumbles, as you have reported. And we need to invest in the whole economy. So, repaying the debt, i think we need a prolonged stay on the debt until the economy recovers a little bit. Those are short term and longterm things both the president and congress can do. Doctor, lack of clean water, lack of power at a lot of these hospitals. What worries you most from the Health Perspective about what Puerto Ricans will be facing in the weeks and months ahead . I think it might be useful or helpful to think about the different categories of problems that the people are facing. Think of it as a diagram where you have electrical and Power Outages so you dont have ventilators working, dialysis machines working, then temperature problems. So medications cant be kept refrigerated. There could be Food Poisoning from food spoiling. You might have independent patient factors from the very young and very old who are more success sesible to temperature es tree extremes where theres a convergence with an elderly patient who is dehydrated and needs dils. Thats the kind of catastrophic scenario youll see, not to mention standing water where youll have mosquitoborne illnesses, youll have absence or lack of clean drinking water, youll have more communicable diseases, People Living together in close quarters. You know, who can transmit things like e. Coli and nor row virus and other sort of, you know, gastroailments. You paint a bleak picture. I know. Its heartwrenching to read these stories. I just read a Childrens Hospital who had 12 children who are ventilator dependent who borrowed fuel from another hospital but only have two days left. The anguish these families must be going through must be incomprehensible, sitting here and watching from the sidelines. Professor, one of the things a lot of folks dont necessarily realize when you talk about rebuilding puerto rico, so many of these homes, thousands of homes decimated, fema provides, if im not mistake, 33,000, 34,000 is the max you can get from fema to rebuild a house. 50 of the homes on the island dont have insurance. Unemployment before the storm hit was double what it is in this country. How are folks going to be able to afford to rebuild their homes . Well, it requires congressional action. There is a block grant, a type of block grant that can be sent to rebuild housing. I think the conditions that are described, you know, the Health Conditions and so forth, required immediate action. Im curious to know what is it that, you know, the day after we knew of the magnitude of this disaster, why the army hasnt been sent to help and assist, you know, whats going on in puerto rico. Saving lives, taking people to hospitals and all of that. So the block grants congress can enact. All kinds of support for puerto rico is very much needed, but we need to take action. To some extent i think the American Public is beginning to know about puerto rico. Were all american citizens for more than 100 years. As much as people learn about the situation and the fact that were american citizens, theyre going to start, you know, supporting more and more proactive actions to support the island. Not just texas, not just florida. Well continue to shine a light on the island. Thanks for your insight. College hoops scandal. Legendary College Basketball coach rick pitino ousted after that federal investigation exposes bribery schemes by some ncaa coaches at top universities and sportswear companies as well. How prevalent are these alleged schemes in the lucrative world of College Basketball . New developments in that bombshell bribery scandal thats rocking College Basketball. Just a short time ago, we learned rick pitino, head coach of louisvilles Mens Basketball Team has been put on unpaid administrative leave after the university of louisville confirmed it is also under investigation in connection with the bribery probe. Were using the language, unpaid administrative leave, but lets not mince words. Hes been effectively fired. Anne thompson has been following the story closely. She joins me, so does jordan schultz, a sports columnist for yahoo sports. Were talking about pitino, but the athletics director has also been put on paid administrative leaf. Lets talk about these scandals that have ensnared pitino. Basically, the u. S. Attorneys office here in new york is looking at two different things, craig. One involves the four assistant coaches from usc, oklahoa oklah state, air and one other state. It says agents and Financial Advisers basically bribed those coaches to influence players so when the players turned pro, they would sign with the agents and advisers. The scandal that pitino is caught up in involves adidas. Jim gotto who ran the basketball marketing operation for adidas allegedly funneled money to high school athletes, 100,000 to one recruit who was then decided instead of going to another school, he went to a School Sponsored by adidas. That school, the university of louisville. Today that recruit, whos now a player at louisville, has been pulled out of all ncaa activities because if, indeed, these charges are found to be true, louisville could pay a penalty for that down the line. And there was another player, whos a recruit to come in 2019, who they supposedly offered 150,000 to. So, rick pitino, heres a guy who has been, shall we say, scandalplagued for some time. There was, of course, a few years 2015. Right. Reportedly there was a basketball staffer who had been paying escorts to have sex with recruits and players. Pitino said he knew nothing about it. Was suspended for a number of ncaa games by the ncaa. Do we surmise this is it for rick pitino . Not only is it, i would be surprised if this guy was coaching fifth grade basketball in lexington next year. Hes put himself in a terrible position. One, because its repeated examples. Two, because he is so he doesnt care. Like, hes won and this is where it traces back to the university of louisville, like, are they tolerating too much because hes won a national championship. 2013. Its been a while. Hes won two. An elite College Basketball coaches in the country and of his generation. Hes put himself in a position where you really cannot return from, craig. What does this say about the culture of College Basketball . The culture of College Basketball has been so manipulated by these runners, these basically people taking full advantage theyre like the runners, the people that have all the money with the bags, 100,000, 150,000, they are taking advantage of these players like theyre prey. And they just they circle around them like great white sharks. When they find the elite guys, the top 10, top 50 recruits, those are the ones they say, we have to have them at our school. And the coaches, like a pitino, will turn a blind eye but make no mistake, they know whats going on. As a result, we find themselves in the position now where the fbi is investigating it. The department of justice is investigating it. Now its a position where it is a point of no return. Do we expect there are be more charges or the u. S. Attorneys office is continuing to investigate. In fact, we had one report yesterday that after the press conference, they were getting calls from people volunteering information. Nobody thinks this is the end. This is really just the beginning. The interesting thing will be, can the federal government do what the ncaa has not been able to do and that is, clean up College Basketball, because this has been going on for decades. Just to add, the ncaa is dec. They cant subpoena. How much can they really do . And i totally agree. Long fuel lines, lack of drinkable water. A look at the humanitarian crisis that millions of americans not Puerto Ricans, americans are living through on the island of puerto rico. If you could book a flight, then add a hotel, or car, or activity in one place and save, where would you go . Expedia gives you the world in your hand, so you can see more of it. Expedia ive got a nice long life ahead. Big plans. So when i found out medicare doesnt pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. Then i got a Medicare Supplement insurance plan. 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