Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Craig Melvin 20190114

Years that are racist, why is it different this time around . Well dig into that. We start with breaking news on President Trumps nominee for attorney general. One day before his confirmation hearing, william barr has released his prepared opening statement. In that statement, he says that he supports and has confidence in the mueller probe. Barr saying, quote, i believe it is vitally important that the special counsel be allowed to complete his investigation. Nbc justice correspondent Pete Williams is standing by. Pete, do we also know whether mr. Barr says that, when finished, it should be made publish . What he says is, my goal will be to provide as much transparency as i can, consistent with the law. That does seem to suggest he believes the report should be made public, or at least most of it, the parts that arent redacted. Thatll be his decision, if he is confirmed. It seems clear that the Mueller Report probably wont be done until, say, march or so, early march, early to mid march. Thats just a guess. If he is confirmed, he would be in the office before that. Couple of other things that are in this prepared statement. He talks about this law review type memo that he wrote about obstruction of justice, criticizing one component of the Mueller Investigation. He said, i support the special counsels core investigation into russian inter feerference. I didnt mean a president couldnt obstruct justice, i meant it on one narrow point on the law. He talks about his relationship with Robert Mueller. Ive known bob muehl personally and professionally for 30 years. We worked closely together throughout my previous tenure at the department of justice. Weve been friends since. I have utmost respect for bob and his distinguished record of public service. When he was named special counsel, i said the selection was good news. Knowing him, i had confidence hed handle the matter properly. I still have that confidence today. Thats what he intends to tell his confirmation hearing tomorrow, well aware this is going to be topic a. Yeah. Comments clearly designed to address the concerns that have been expressed by some democrats there in the upper chamber. Mr. Williams, thanks, as always, sir. You bet. Now to the russia front and the loyalty question. President trumps under scrutiny. His nominee for attorney general likely to get an earful during his confirmation tomorrow. House democrats already waving the threat of their newfound subpoena power, all because of a pair of stories from the New York Times and Washington Post. One, one reports on a hereto foe intelligence into trumps loyalties. The latter, how he concealed any and all details of his facetoface encounters with Vladimir Putin. These articles contain no evidence that the president met or took direction from russia. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders calling the times story, quote, absurd. Secretary of state mike pompeo calling it silly on its face. Today, the president spoke to the press prior to his departure for an event in new orleans. Mr. President , yes or no, have you or are you now have you ever worked for russia, yes or no . I havent worked for russia. You know that answer better than anybody. I never worked for russia. Not only did i never work for russia, i think it is a disgrace that you even ask that question. Its a whole big, fat hoax. Its just a hoax. That question coming from our White House Correspondent Kristen Welker there. Lets go to nbcs julia ainsley. She covers intelligence and the justice department. You heard the president there talking about the times report. How does that square, what the president just said, how does that square with what the times actually reported. Explain to viewers and listeners what was in this post report that we did not know before. Okay. So these two together really give us a lot of context. Theres reasons why phones were just buzzing this weekend over both of these stories. It puts the president in a different realm for the first time. Weve known for over a year now, hes the subject or there is a criminal investigation being run by Robert Mueller. This now makes him the subject of a counterintelligence investigation. Thats very different, craig. I want to explain why. A counterintelligence investigation doesnt always end with criminal charges. Sometimes, it can last for a decade, as the fbi gathers more evidence of players in a particular scheme, from a Foreign Government who is trying to use certain people to infiltrate our government. That can go back the other way. They can try to find people who they flip to become, you can call them spies, for the United States. It is kind of this game that goes back and forth. It is really unusual, when the president is involved, however. That means that the way this would end, and being able to inform the executive branch of a potential problem with National Security that could impact Foreign Policy, the person you report that to is the executive branch. Of course, the head of the executive branch being the president , thats problematic. What the Washington Post story does is it gives context as to why this could be crucially important. There were at least five facetoface interactions the president is having with Vladimir Putin hes not only keeping from the American Public but from his senior advisers. These are the people going out to defend the president every day, defend his policies, and to call the Mueller Investigation a witch hunt and a hoax. Perhaps these people arent getting all of the information. What does all of this boil down to . One, as pete just talked about, we might get a Mueller Report by the beginning of march. This counterintelligence investigation could keep going. Two, Congress Matters more than ever. If this keeps going, it could be that it is mentioned in the Mueller Report, but it is redacted and the public wouldnt know the details. It would take congress to say, no, this doesnt work in this situation, and to be able to step beyond what we typically see in a counterintelligence investigation, and try to make the details public. Theyd argue it matters for the American People. Julia ainsley, breaking it all down for us there on a monday morning. Julia, thank you. We should point out, the fbis decision in may of 2017 did not happen in a vacuum. Follow me here. They had already investigated four Trump Campaign members the previous summer. Michael flynn, paul manafort, carter page, and george papadopoul papadopoulos. Plus, there were his comments on the campaign trail about wikileaks. The times reports it was clearly the events surrounding the ouster of james comey that produced the investigation. In early may 2017, the initial draft of the letter to fire comey mentioned the russia investigation. Then on may 9th, President Trump fires james comey. May 10th, the next day, trump meets with russians in the oval office. New york times would later report that trump told them comey was a, quote, nutjob, and admitted that, quote, i face great pressure because of russia. Thats taken off. May 11th, the infamous nbc news interview, trump mentions the russia investigation to lester holt about why he fired comey. May 12th, trump threatens comey in a tweet. Quote, better hope there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. May 17th, mueller is named special counsel. Lets get to our panel. Chuck rosenberg, former senior fbi firm. Matt miller. And betsy woodruff, all nbc news contributors. Mr. Rosenberg, was this an appropriate step for the fbi to take, to launch this investigation . You know, that sounds like a simple question, craig. The answer, if it is any other person on the planet, is yes, with all the predicate facts you just laid out. It would be surprising to me if the fbi did not open a counterintelligence investigation. The problem, of course, is that this is the president of the United States. Any president sets the Foreign Policy and intelligence priorities of the country. So youre in this really strange situation, where somebody has done something that suggests theyre an agent of a foreign power. Yet, they are the person who gets to determine who our friends and allies are and who our opponents and adversaries are. Factually, absolutely. Structurally, i think it raises very difficult questions for our country. Matt, Robert Mueller immediately inherits this investigation when hes named. How does that how does this change our perception of what he is now looking at . You know, i think the question that the fbi decided to make explicit in those days between the firing of jim comey and the appointment of rob er mueller, has always been the implicit question at the bottom of the investigation. The president recognizes that himself. Remember, he made very clear that he questioned jim comey a number of times, whether he himself was the subject of the investigation. The fbi director had said no. The bone of contention between the two of them is that he wanted comey to say that publicly. Comey wouldnt do that because he quite rightly recognized that that status could change at any point. Of course, it did change. I think what the significance of this is for the Mueller Investigation, i dont think it is anything related to the underlying question. Weve known the special counsel has been looking at that all along. Anyone following this closely knows thats what hes been looking at. I think the way they Work Together is, when you go back and put yourself in the fbis shoes, in those very turbulent nine days after jim comey was fired, they felt their investigation itself was under assault. Youve seen the president move against the fbi director and say publicly it was because of the russia investigation. Youve seen the Deputy Attorney general sanction that firing. I think the people in the fbi were nervous about both what was happening substantively, with respect to whether the president was an agent of a foreign power, and also what was happening to their investigation. This was the step they took, both out of substantive concerns and because theye police politically, itd be hard to end the investigation. A statement from Hillary Clinton on this, and we have her tweet there, like i said, a puppet. Betsy, for folks who might not be familiar with precisely what mrs. Clinton is talking about, what is she talking about . Shes referring to comments she made on the campaign trail and subsequent to trumps inauguration, where she accused him of essentially being a tool of Vladimir Putins government in russia. One of the core arguments democrats made in the closing of the 2016 president ial campaign was that trump himself was essentially being used by that regime to advance their Foreign Policy end goals. At the time, it was something that was sort of debated publicly. Intelligence community had not released its assessment that the russian government meddled in the 2016 campaign, specifically for the purpose of helping trump win that election. There were people in some corners who thought Hillary Clinton was going out on a limb by making that accusation. An accusation that, of course, was really significant. Now, looking back, the Intelligence Community has said that their assessment is that the russians were helping trump win. Given that mueller has had, you know, an enormous number of indictments, including the former head of trumps campaign, as well as trumps former National Security adviser as part of his investigation into russian meddling, and conversations and communications that people link to the kremlin with people at the highest levels of trumps campaign, the comment Hillary Clinton made certainly looks pressured. Among them, who authorized the investigation . Was it the socalled gang of eight in the senate . Were they informed . Did the fbis suspicions, did they in any way play into rosensteins decision to appoint mueller . Also, why is this just being reported now . Those are some of the questions i have. What are you curious about . I think those are all excellent questions, craig. You know, let me tell you why some of them matter and why some of them may not matter. Criminal investigations and counterintelligence investigations are often intertwined. Theyre braided. Meaning, you could open a counterintelligence investigation and it results in criminal charges. Or you can open a counterintelligence investigation and it never sees the inside of a courtroom. Im not sure how they opened it on the books at the fbi matters as much as the questions they were asking and the answers they were seeking. I am curious, sort of administratively, who they informed and who discussed it. It always struck me as an absolute necessity that they ask these questions about the president s conduct and about the president s words. So why is it coming out now . My guess is that some of the testimony that fbi officials gave on the hill are now being provided to the press. I dont know that. That strikes me as logical. These are the types of questions that the fbi has to ask, readless read le regardless if it is a counterintelligence or fbi investigation. This is what the president said about trying to conceal the readouts of his oneonone meetings with putin. Heres his response. Well, jeanine, i would. I dont care. I had a conversation like every president does. It was a great conversation. Im not keeping anything under wraps. I couldnt care less. Anybody could have listened to that meeting. That meeting is open for grabs. Again, no good answer. What are the ramifications, matt miller, for our National Security here . Well, two. One, when you go back to the story weve just been discussing, the fbis decision to open this unprecedented investigation into the president himself, you ask yourself, why would you take such a dramatic step . Weve gone through the evidence. This is more evidence why. They obviously didnt know this at the time, but it is the same pattern of trouble beg hahavior both public words and private actions, where he tends to always take putins side publicly. He does things like this privately that are hard to explain. In terms of the National Security implications, what this means is that no one else in the government knows what the president is talking about what the president has discussed. We know in the meeting where he asked the translator to get in his notes. Rex tillerson was there. There were reports he didnt give a full readout into other officials inside the government. There are other meetings the president had. He had the oneonone in he helsinki with Vladimir Putin. We dont know whether he asked the translator to keep quiet or asked for a copy of notes. If he did it once, it is stand to reason he did it again. He had this oneonone conversation with Vladimir Putin at the g20 where there was not another american official there, not even a translator, at the time the false story came that his son put out. It drives home deep, deep concerns people inside and outside the government have about the president s ultimate loyalties. Matt, thank you. Betsy, thank you. Chuck rosenberg, always a pleasure. Thank you, as well. Breaking at this hour, by the way, Police Responding to a possible hostage situation. This is the scene at a ups facility in logan township, new jersey. A Law Enforcement official telling wnbcs Investigative Reporter Jonathan Dietz a guy walked sboots eed into the fac shots, and took his exgirlfriend and another person hostage. Right now, we can tell you, it does not appear as if anyone has been hurt. Again, this is an ongoing situation in logan township, new jersey. Police on the scene there. We will, of course, continue to keep a very close eye on that situation. Also, blame game. President trump and lawmakers busy blaming each other for the shutdown. Now, the longest in american history. A key republican says it may be time to make a deal. Whats it going to take . 2020 continues. President trump mocking senator Elizabeth Warren in a series of tweets. Are we getting a preview of the 2020 president ial matchup . And teachers strike. Educators in this countrys Second Largest School District are los angeles right now. Steve patterson is on the ground following developments. Steve . Reporter craig, were talking about more than 30,000 educators, teachers, nurses, counselors, in a district that represents more than 600,000 students. Well show you what that looks like coming up and explain why. Thats next. Lain why thats next. Tryin to hold back this feeling for so long and if you feel, like i feel baby then come on, oh come on lets get it on applebees all you can eat is here. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Hey, batter, batter, [ crowd cheers ] like everyone, i lead a busy life. But i know the importance of having time to do what you love. At comcast we know our customers time is valuable. Thats why we have 2hour appointment windows, including nights and weekends. So you can do more of what you love. My name is tito, and im a techhouse manager at comcast. Were working to make things simple, easy and awesome. Little more than an hour ago, 30,000 public schoolteachers, counselors, and nurses in los angeles officially walked off the job. The nations Second Largest School District is on strike. Joining a growing nationwide movement, not just for higher pay, but for Better School funding. Heres what theyre asking for. Smaller class sizes, npr reporting some classrooms within the district have as many as 46 students, even though theyre only supposed to be capped at 39. Teachers also demanding more staff, as well. The union says some la Public Schools operate without a fulltime librarian or a school nurse. Theyre looking to change that and also to hire more counselors, more deans, and social workers. Finally, theyre asking for a 6. 5 raise for teachers, to keep up with californias rising cost of living. California ranks second in the country for average annual public Teachers School salary. On average, they make 78,000 a year. While the number is high, the state itself only ranks 41st in per pupil spending. Theyre following the lead of other states, after a number of successful strikes and walkouts in arizona, west virginia, kentucky, and oklahoma, as well, last year. Nbcs Steve Patterson is covering this for us there in los angeles. Steve, whats the scene like there . Reporter you can see it next to me, theyre out. Theyre loud. Theyre proud. This has been going on for about an hour now in the rain, as you can imagine. One of the few days it rains in los angeles. Umbrellas instead of strike signs. Ill march along with nthem, ho in, show what it looks like. More than 30,000 educators, nurses, teachers, counselors, all striking for what they say is the benefit of the students. So many teachers and educators we spoke to say that this is not about the pay. This is about resources. This is about the future of public education. One of them is with me right now. Andrea, you teach at this school, right . John marshall. John marshall high school. Reporter high schoolteacher. Yes. Reporter why are you striking . Im striking for what you just said. Were striking for more resources in the classroom, on the school sites. Theres no class that should have 46 or 50 people in a class. We have that. Were striking for lower class sizes. Were striking for fully staffed schools. That means nurses, librarians, more counselors, psychiatric social workers and their interns. Were lucky we have that here. Reporter yeah. A lot of schools dont. Reporter i can tell you right now, people are going to be watching this at home and say, here are the teachers going, whining again. We showed a statistic that said, on average, teachers in los angeles make about 80,000. People watching at home, what do you say to them about the message about, this is about resources . What do you have to say to people that say, you know, what are you doing here . Like i said, were here because we want more teachers on the school sites. We want lower class sizes, which means austin beutner, the superintendent, needs to hire more teachers. I dont know about the 80,000 on average. Were working more for less. It has been that way the last several years. Working more for less. We want to stop the pri privatization of public education. Reporter well be out covering your message all day. Thank you for joining us. Again, were not sure how long the strike will last. It is the first day. Were not sure what it is going to look like inside the schools. School is open, so well be covering this as it goes on all day long. Back to you, craig. Steve, quickly, for folks who may not be following the story closely, the students in those open schools, how are they being taught . Reporter so students are here in school. The district has said all weekend long, school will be open. That is true. What theyve done is they brought in about 400 substitute teachers. Now, you can imagine the proportion, the ratio from student to teacher, way off balance. What theyre going to do is put students in places like gymnasiums, libraries, cafeterias, mix up and move around a little bit. Some parents say, thats not good enough. We like our teacher. Were not bringing our kid to school. How long parents can afford to do that, that remains to be seen, craig. Back to you. Steve patterson in los angeles, where were going to continue to cover those striking educators in this countrys Second Largest School District. Meanwhile, pressure growing on washington to end the shutdown. Everyday americans, from farmers to folks who live in public housing, a lot of them, suffering from this standoff. Well take you live to florida to share their story. No more excuses with cologuard. We all make excuses for the things we dont want to do. But when it comes to colon cancer screening. Im not doin that. I eat plenty of kale. Ahem, as i was saying. With cologuard, you dont need an excuse. All that prep . No thanks. That drink tastes horrible but. Theres no prep with cologuard. I cant take the time off work. Who has two days . And i feel fine no symptoms everybody, listen all you need is a trip to the bathroom. If youre 50 or older and at average risk, cologuard is the noninvasive option that finds 92 of colon cancers. You just get the kit in the mail, go to the bathroom, collect your sample, then ship it to the lab this is your year own it 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. Ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. Covered by medicare and most major insurers. Ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. 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. I saw my leg did not look right. I landed. I was just finishing a ride. I felt this awful pain in my chest. I had a pe blood clot in my lung. I was scared. I had a dvt blood clot. Having one really puts you in danger of having another. My doctor and i chose xarelto®. Xarelto®. To help keep me protected. Xarelto® is a latestgeneration blood thinner thats. Proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt or pe blood clots from happening again. In clinical studies, almost 98 of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. Xarelto® works differently. Warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your bodys natural bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase risk of blood clots. While taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. Learn all you can. To help protect yourself from another dvt or pe. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. President trump this morning again pointing the finger of blame at democrats for the government shutdown, in his usual fashion. The president tweeting, nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer could end the shutdown in 15 minutes. Theres the tweet. The American People though seem to have a different opinion. A new poll finds 53 of those asked blame the president , blame republicans in congress for the shutdown. Not surprisingly, an overwhelming number of democrats blame the president , as well. Most republicans blame democrats. Most independents, according to the poll, most of them, 53 , blame the president and Congressional Republicans for the shutdown. While washington plays the blame game, the shut downs impact reaches far beyond the nations capitol and the 800,000 affected workers. Mar m we go to a Housing Project in jacksonville, florida. 95 of housing and urban Development Workers have been furloughed. 95 . How has that furlough affected people who live in hudd housing . Reporter for the folks who contracts havent been renewed, this has created a sense of panic. Were talking about over 1,000 federal contractors between hudd and landlords who manage assisted living for lowincome seniors. Like the building behind me here, this building has already missed two payments because of the shutdown. The manager here tells me whats worse is that she wasnt given any warning. She basically came back from the holiday, saw the funds were not in her bank account, and now hudd is telling her she has to tap into the little emergency funds that they have to manage the daytoday operations. This is what the building operation told me, as well as a concerned resident. Most of them have no place else to go. They are in Affordable Housing because this is all that they can afford. This is, most people, this is the last place that they will be before they leave us, leave this earth. This is home. This is their home. Theres nowhere else. Its a little scary, especially with seniors. I have no family. Its just me. Its not like i can go live with a daughter or something because i cant. I think, you know, backseat of my car is awfully small. You know, it is a little frightening, but i tend to believe this will get solved before it comes to that. Reporter this building, again, has already missed two payments, for december and january. Our nbc news digital team, craig, they came out with a story last week. They pressed hudd for comment. In a statement they said, quote, theyre trying to find any available resources. For some of these seniors, some of the most Vulnerable People in our nation, funds cant come soon enough. Craig . Mariana in jacksonville. People living in public housing, specifically elderly people, theyre feeling the crunch. So are americas veterans. Theyre feeling the pain, as well. The military times reporting nearly 1 3 of the federal workforce is made up of veterans. An estimated 248,000, 400 of whom are not getting paychecks doesnt the shutdown. The Veterans Administration itself is not affected by the shutdown. It is up and running. Lets bring in paul, founder and ceo of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. Thanks for coming in. What are you hearing from our veterans, from the folks you work with . What are you hearing from them about all of this . Deep concern. I think at this point, betrayal. You know, 1 3 of our overall federal workforce is made up of veterans. Theyve served and come home and heard, youll get a steady paycheck, stability, and youll continue to serve. These are the people who impact every department of our federal government. Theyre hung out to dry right now. These are also folks who, a couple months ago, were waiting for g. I. Bill checks. This seems to be waiting over and over again, uniquely to our community. More urgent, in our opinion, is the impact on the coast guard. You have people who, tomorrow, may not be paid. These are the people guarding our shores. We are a nation at war. Were concerned about terrorist attacks, and were not going to pay the people on ships and boats protecting us . That, i think, is the apex of how this really impacts our National Security. Yup. And our economy and the moral compact we have with our veterans. It is devastating. My brotherinlaw is a coastie. Hes in the coast guard. Went to the academy. One of those folks who has been furlou furloughed. And this isnt from him, this is from me. But one things i think folks find agppalling is a number of the folks are being asked to show up to work but not being paid. The coast guard, they dont just protect us from terrorists, they stop the drugs. You have an administration that has contained from the beginning that part of the reason they want the wall is to stop drugs. For all we know, drugs might be coming through our water borders nowporous. What resources are available for veterans now . Rapid response line has been ramped up to try to support this. We definitely cant handle this workload. You asked earlier, how do members feel . Most of them dont care about the wall. They dont care one way or another. They care if theyre paid. They want food on the table. They want to pay their bills. They want politics to be removed from their everyday life, especially because theyre doing jobs that are so important. Theyre a huge part of the tsa. Youve probably seen a sign that says, tsa hires veterans. Theyve been doing it for 15 years. Now, theyre hung out to dry. We need everybody in the Philanthropic Community to stand up. If the white house is keeping the government shutdown, tell us where to send folks because the nonprofit cant handle it alone. Our enemies are celebrating this. We are weakening ourself from within. Anybody watching overseas that wants to do america harm is looking at this and licking their chops. Thats why the politics and the president specifically, as the commander in chief, has to end this shutdown. Tomorrow, veteran Service Organizations are going to rally in washington at 2 00 p. M. To unite and call for a shutdown. Put the nation ahead of politics. Paul, thank you. Appreciate it. Here is something on a monday morning that should make you smile. Sue morris. She wanted to do Something Special for her dad on his 96th birthday. She did what we do. She posted a note there on facebook. She asked for people to send world war ii veteran and purple heart recipient Dwayne Sherman a birthday card. She hoped he might get around 100. Well, folks delivered, in a big way. Sherman got more than 50,000 birthday cards from all 50 states and ten countries, as well. Among those who sent letters, elementary schoolers, prison inmates, secretary of the navy, even the pittsburgh steelers, and everywhere in between. All of them thanking mr. Sherman for his service. Certainly making his birthday one for the books. Happy birthday, dwayne. Steve king in the hot seat today after he made some more inflammatory and racist comments. Will Republican Leaders take him to task . Will they take any action . And why now . To lose stubborn b metal vibration therapy. [heavy guitar lick] [glass shattering ] not cool. Freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting . Now thats cool coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. And no surgery. Results and Patient Experience may vary. Some common side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort, and swelling. Ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you. And visit coolsculpting. Com today for your chance to win a free treatment. Some things are good to know. Like, where to find the cheapest gas in town. Something else thats good to know . If you have medicare and medicaid, you may be able to get more benefits through a humana Medicare Advantage plan. Call the number on your screen now and speak to a licensed humana sales agent to see if you qualify. Depending on the plan you choose, you could have your doctor, hospital and Prescription Drug coverage in one convenient plan. From humana, a company with over 30 years of medicare experience. And, if you have medicare and medicaid, a humana plan may give you extra benefits like dental, vision and hearing aid coverage. An allowance for overthecounter healthcare products. Even home delivered meals after an inpatient hospital stay. So if you have medicare and medicaid, call a licensed humana sales agent now to request this free guide. And learn about plans that could give you more benefits. Call now. House minority leader mccarthy set to meet with congressman steve king today after vowing action will be take taken. Those were his words. Action in response to kings recent comments that are racist. In an interview with New York Times, king questioning why the terms White Nationalist and white supremacist were objectionable. King has since tried to walk back those comments, but this isnt the first im the longtime iowa congressman has said something ridiculous. We could also electrify this wire with the kind of current that wouldnt kill somebody but itd simply be a discouragement for them to be fooling around with it. We do it with livestock all the time. For everyone a valedictorian, there are another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and have calves the size of cantaloupes because theyre hauling drugs across the desert. I look and think, we have a first amendment. That cant happen here. If wed done our job, we wouldnt have an anchor baby industry here in the United States. Those hits. Garrett hoaake is on capitol hil for us this morning. What are Republican Leaders saying about iowa congressman steve king, garrett . Reporter craig, this time around, Republican Leaders have been fairly quick to condemn kings comments. From the top down to the rank and file, heres some of what republicans responded with over the weekend. That language has no place in america. That is not the america i know. Its most definitely not the party of lincoln. What steve king said was stupid. It was stupid. It was hurtful. It was wrong. He needs to stop it. Weve got to raise the bar on civility, george. We need to call it out on the republican side and the democrat side. Reporter Strong Language from republicans over the weekend, craig, but we dont note yet if there will be any actual punishment for king. That could range from anything from being stripped of quicommie assignments, being knocked down on committees. Thatll come this afternoon when he meets with leader mccarthy. King said things over the years, controversial, ridiculous, factually inaccurate, racist. What is different this time . Why hadnt Republican Leaders acted before this . Reporter it is a good question, craig. I think there are a couple answers. Number one, there is a reluctance of members of congress to go after folks for the things they say outside of this body, back home in their districts, and a reluctance to people dually elected. In kings case time and time again, by constituents who know full well the things he had been saying. I think in the era of the donald trump presidency, these kind of comments, comments that are racially insensitive, comments that highlight republicans problems speaking to a diverse audience across the country, have taken on new urgency for republicans to feel like they have to address. Steve king is no longer just a voice out in the wilderness. Hes no longer just one congressman. He is highlighted, raised up on social media. He is high profile. With each of these other incidents, he becomes more so and more of a problem republicans have to address to defend their own brand. Garrett haake on the hill for us on this monday. Thank you. It is just 659 more days until the 2020 president ial election. We have two more names to add to the democrats 2020 president ial contenders list. Hawaii congresswoman gabbert, former hudd secretary julian castro, both announcing bids for the partys nomination. They join Elizabeth Warren, who isnt quite there. Shes opened an Exploratory Committee but hasnt officially thrown her hat in the ring yet. That field could grow soon. Once again, even more crowded. Nearly 30, 30 leading democrats are said to be considering a run against President Trump, or whoever the republican candidate might be. There are faces there on the screen for you. Lets bring in abby livingston, Washington Bureau chief, and christian archer, former chief political strategist for the aforementioned mayor, julian castro. Let me start with you, christian. You worked with castro when he was mayor of san antonio. Is he ready to make the long run for the nomination . I absolutely do. Good morning, first of all. I think hes absolutely ready to run. He had an exciting announcement this beak eweekend in san anton. It was incredible to watch, the number of people who showed up. He was the mayor of the seventh largest city in america, one of the Fastest Growing cities in the country. He served president obama as secretary of hudd. I think it is an exciting time to be a democrat, to watch all of these young faces getting ready to announce and run for president. It is an exciting time. It is exciting to watch secretary castro make his announcement. Christian, the field of democrats who want to become the next president of the United States, again, it looks like, at this particular point, it is going to be at least 20 people. At that point, how does one even begin to distinguish himself or herself from a field so crowded . Does it not just become a popularity contest . Well, i think certainly, i think it is a popularity contest. I think, you know, you have to have your voice heard. You have to be able to show your experience. As mayor of the seventh largest city in america, julian has the ability to show, i have executive experience. Ive gotten things done. In san antonio, there were two major issues facing the city when he became the mayor. One was infrastructure investment. Were the Fastest Growing city in the country. He made the largest investment in infrastructure, streets, drainage, roads, parks, libraries. The other thing that was facing san antonio is truly an education crisis. He took that head on. He brought in ceos from some of the biggest fortune 500 companies in america. He brought in republicans, democrats, to Work Together to solve the problem of education. He then put it on the ballot. We did an initiative called prek for sa, which raised sales tax 0. 8 cent to pay for education for every single child in san antonio, to get prek education. It is a marquee accomplishment. I think mayors and governors across the country are emulating the prek for sa program in their cities or states. Its exciting to watch. Yup. You know, one of his initiatives become emulated all across the country. So i think in order to diff differentiate yourself, you have to have a proven track record of getting things done. Castro clearly has a track record of proving not only will he talk about it, hell get it done. Abby, gabbert also announcing. She had an earlier position on samesex marriage and gay rights, will it boom her campaign . Kri think it was for abby. I dont know if itll doom her. Democrats change on the issue of gay marriage. She met with assad without the knowledge of the obama administration. I think breaking through is going to be tough on her, just like anyone else in the u. S. House of representatives. So far, abby, President Trump, his focus, his attentionh warren, though she hasnt officially declared. Why the focus on warren . Is she likely to be the Democratic Front runner . I dont know if he thinks hell be the nominee or if she gets under his skin more than the others. Anyone who emerges at the top of the heap is going to get his ire. Itll be fascinating to watch, if it is fixated on her or anyone else. Christian archer and abby livingston, thanks to both of you. We are this morning getting new details of a wisconsin teenagers amazing escape, after being held for nearly three months, as the man accused of kidnapping jayme closs will soon appear in court for the first time. Well take you live to the courtroom next. Courtroom next [indistinct conversation] [friend] ive never seen that before. I have. I have. Freshbaked, and handcrafted, with 100 clean ingredients. Just a few good reasons to give into your cravings. Now delivering. Panera. Food as it should be. Cohigher ad higher parents arent perfect, but then they make us Kraft Mac Cheese and everythings good again. Today we are learning new details about wisconsin teenager jayme closs terrifying ordeal and about the suspect who allegedly held her captive for nearly three months. That man is going to appear in court in just a few hours. After escaping captivity closs has reunited with family who say that she is in surprisingly good spirits. Abcs ron mott has been covering the story. Hes in barron, wisconsin. Ron, when police held that News Conference on friday we didnt get a lot of details. What have we learned since then . Reporter really not a whole lot more, craig. We are waiting to get our hands on the charging documents and it looks like it may be closer to the actual time of this bond and probable cause hearing which starts at about 4 30 eastern time. Police did say that all along they believe that he was targeting jayme and not so much targeting her parents. Obviously, her parents were killed back in midoctober. Police did tell us after initial reporting about the door being blasted through by a shotgun blast. Thats how the suspect apparently made his way inside the home and of course, was there a 911 call placed from the cell phone of jaymes mother and by the time police got there four minutes later, jayme was gone and her parents were dead. We are also seeing for the first time inside the home purportedly where jayme had been kept. They were posted to the website and nbc news has not independently verified these photos and they believe this first photo here may have been the room downstairs where jayme may have been kept. You can see its a pretty unkept room, lots of stuff strewn about and there is a second photo, as well, that is a shot of, i believe, a basement where you will see theres an open ceiling there, some couches and a wood stove down there. This is a cabin that has been in the suspects familys possession for the past 15 years or so. His dad at this point in the last ten years or so transferred ownership, but obviously, the suspect still had access to this home. Police tell us that when they encountered him in his vehicle they believe that he had returned home, found that jayme was not there, she of course had escaped and met up with a neighbor walking her dog on the road and thats when they encountered him and arrested him without incident. They recovered multiple weapons including a shotgun that theyll be assessing to see if it matches up with ballistic evidence at the closs home. How is she doing . Doing well. Her grandfather told us that shes surprisingly upbeat and weve seen photos of her smiling and reunited with her dog molly. The one thing the family is careful not to do, is overwhelm her and something Elizabeth Smart said to give her her space to dictate the timing to detail exactly what she endured over the last three months. Ron mott, thank you, and we will be right back. S. Ron mott, thank you, and we will be right back chevy is more reliable than toyota and honda. Wow get 4,500 total cash allowance on select equinox vehicles in stock when you finance with gm financial. Thats 16 below msrp on this chevy equinox. Find new roads at your local chevy dealer. Itso chantix can help you quit slow turkey. Along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. With chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting. Chantix reduces the urge so when the day arrives, youll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix. You may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in. Behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or life threatening allergic and skin reactions. Decrease alcohol use. Use caution driving or operating machinery. Tell your doctor if youve had Mental Health problems. The most common side effect is nausea. Quit smoking slow turkey. Talk to your doctor about chantix. I am a techie dad. N. I believe the best technology should feel effortless. Like magic. At comcast, its my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. My name is mike, im in Product Development at comcast. Were working to make things simple, easy and awesome. Ill see you tomorrow morning on today. Casey hunt standing by. Craig, thank you so much. Right now on Andrea Mitchell reports, kremlin connection . Donald trump responds to reports the fbi launched an investigation into whether the president of the United States was acting on behalf of putin when he fired fbi director james comey. I never worked for russia. Not only did i never work for russia, i think its a disgrace that you even ask that question because its a whole big, fat hoax