Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Craig Melvin 20190920

States largest political events. For some it could be a major opportunity to right the ship. But first, as hallie just mentioned, President Trump just wrapped up taking some questions from reporters in the oval office. Let us now go to kelly odonnell. Shes at the white house. Kelly o. , what did the president s say. Reporter he spoke for about 30 minutes addressing the whistleblower complaint. He called it ridiculous. He claimed the whistleblower is partisan and acknowledged he does not know the identity of the member of the Intelligence Community who lodged this complaint that an Inspector General has said is urgent and credible. The president also said that all of his conversations with leaders and counterparts on the world stage are appropriate. He also said that people should look into joe biden. That gets at the underlying question about was the president trying to find out information about joe biden, his son hunter biden, who had been doing work on behalf of an Energy Company in ukraine while biden was Vice President and over seaing the obama administrations policy on ukraine during that administration. The president also was asked if there should be further disclosure of the specifics of his conversation to congress, and he said he dismissed it saying it was nothing. He would also not say for certain if it was a call the Administration Read out in realtime back in summer on july 25th where he spoke to the ukrainian newly elected president at that time. Of course, the president speaks regularly with leaders of foreign countries. We do not know specifically if it was that call. Reporting by the Washington Post suggests it was on the subject of ukraine and deals with a phone call. The president has been talking about it being a phone call. Hes been very dismissive of this as being a political hit job. Hes also attacked the media saying its not been a good week for the media. We expect to hear much more detail from the president and people can judge it for themselves. Craig. Kelly odonnell, thank you. Let us go to the tape. Here is the president. Thank you very much, mrs. Morrison, thank you very much Prime Minister of australia. Congratulations, and thank you very much for being here. Appreciate it. This was a lovely ceremony. I hope you liked it. It was in honor of you and australia. Thank you very much. Were talking trade, military. Weve gn great allies for a long time. Theres no better partnership, and weve developed on a personal basis a tremendous friendship and that helps. That helps a lot. But well be meeting after that and having some very serious discussions about many things. If i may intercede for just a second, we just sanctioned the Iranian National bank. That is their central banking system. Its going to be at the highest level of sanctions. So that just took place and a couple of other things. We have our secretary of treasury here, Steve Mnuchin, if you want to say a few zblings as you instructed, were continuing the maximum pressure campaign, the last remaining funds of the central bank of iran as well as the National Development fund, which is their Sovereign Wealth Fund will be cut off from our banking system. That will mean no more funds going to fund terror. In is on top of our Financial Institutions sanctions. [ inaudible question ]. This is very big. Weve cut off all source of funds to iran. Goes all the way to the top . It does. Right to the top. Supreme leader . Right to the top. Right to the top. Thank you very much, steve. Appreciate it. So were dealing with many nations. Were dealing with some of the neighbors to saudi arabia and dealing with saib. Saib is very much involved from the standpoint of what were doing and what theyre doing. Were working together with others. Were also working on the cost of this whole endeavor and saudi arabia has been very generous. We want to see if it works out. If it works out, thats great. If it doesnt work out, thats great. In the end it always works out. Thats the way it is. It always works out. Youll be seeing certain things happening but a very major factor is what we did. These are the highest sanctions ever imposed on a country. Weve never done it to this level. Its too bad whats happening with iran. Its going to hell, doing poorly. Theyre practically broke. They are broke, and they could solve the problem very easily. All they have do is stop with the terror. They have been the number one as you know, scott, very well number one country worldwide of terror, between sponsoring it and doing it themselves. They have a tremendous potential, incredible potential. I can speak on behalf of aws stlal yeah, too, in the sense wed like to see them doing it very well. We were discussing it before, the Prime Minister and myself, we want to see them do very well. It looks like with whats happening maybe they want to keep going at it. When they go at it with us, theres no way they win, no way they win in any way or in any capacity. So we wanted to let you know about that, thats the way it is. Thank you all very much. Were going to spend a lot of time with australia today. Today is a very special day for the United States because were honoring a great ally and a great friend. Thank you. Scott, would you like to Say Something . Tremendous honor for aws israeliians, for us to be here with the president and mrs. Trump. Its an invitation that recognizes not just the great relationship the president and i have been able to forge so early, but this goes back a long way, this relationship. As the president often says, weve been in a lot of battles. The battles is what happens in the fields of conflict. Were battling continuously for a prosperous and free world. Weve never lost. Weve been doing great and well keep doing great because well keep this partnership together. Its a partship where we both carry our own weight. As i said outside, we look to america, but we dont leave it to america. Prime minister [ inaudible ]. He was saying we both would like to see a prosperous iran. Wed like to see people right across the world to be able to benefit from prosperous economies, doing well. Thats what we want. This is why australia and the United States have worked so closely together, because thats what we want for our own people, thats what we want for everyone. And weve been speaking a lot about this subject, the two of us. I think we have very similar views on the subject. Do you want to address this whistle kbloer story, sir . What story . The whistleblower . Its a partisan whistleblower. It shouldnt even have information. Ive had conversations with many leaders. Theyre always appropriate. I think scott can tell you that, always appropriate, at the highest level always appropriate. Anything i do, i fight for this country. I fight so strongly for this country. Its just another political hack job. Thats all it is. On that point, did you discuss joe biden, his son or family it doesnt matter what i discussed. I will say this, somebody ought to look into joe bidens statement. It was disgraceful, where he talked about billions of dollars that hes not giving to a certain country unless a certain prosecutor is taken off the case. So somebody ought to look into that. You wouldnt because hes a democrat, and the fake news doesnt look into things like that. Its a disgrace. I had a great conversation with numerous people. I dont even know exactly who youre talking about. I had a great conversation with numerous people, numerous leaders, and i always look for the conversation thats going to help the United States the most. Thats very important. Will you name the identity . I dont know the identity. I just hear its a partisan person, meaning it comes from another party. I dont have any idea. I can tell you it was a totally appropriate conversation. It was actually a beautiful conversation and this is no different than the press has had a bad week with Justice Kavanaugh and the reridiculous charges, and the mistakes. Youve had a very bad week. This is another one. So keep playing it up because youre going to look really bad when it falls. I guess im about 220. Ill keep it that way. Did you mention joe biden during the conversation i dont want to talk about any conversation other than to say great conversation, totally appropriate conversation, couldnt have been better. And keep asking questions and build it up as big as possible so you can have a bigger downfall. [ inaudible ] when it comes to china. Will you asking australia to do more when it comes to china . Were talking about china all the time. Scott has very strong opinions on china. Id invite him to express those opinions. We have a comprehensive Strategic Partnership with china. We work well with china. As weve spoken many times, we need to ensure that as countries develop and realize their potential, they come to a whole new level. That means there cant be special rules around that. We have a great relationship with china. Chinas growth has been great for australia. We need to compete on the same playing field. This is something the United States and china have been consistent on. We need to move into this new world where economies are changing. China is a big economy, not as big as the United States, but a big economy. That means we have to get on the same page with how the rules work. Thats what were working to achieve. I will say this. Were making a lot of progress with china. Theyre having a bad year, worst year in 57 years. The tariffs are coming in to us. Were taking in billions and billions of dollars in tariffs. Theyre devaluing their currency which means the tariffs are not costing us probably anything, but certainly not very much. Theyre adding a lot of money into their economy, pouring money into their economy. Were taking in billions of dollars. In the nottoodistant future 100 billion. With that theyve lost over 3 million jobs there. The supply chain is crashing. They have a lot of problems. I can tell you they want to make a deal. That i can tell you. They want to make a deal. Well see what happens. Military action against iran. Always prepared. Theres never been a country more prepared. I spent 1. 5 trillion, spending another 738 billion now. Ive spent 1. 5 trillion rebuilding our military. We have the finest ships, finest planes, finest everything. Scott and australia have purchased some great stuff from the United States, some of the best equipment you have. Greatest missiles in the world, rockets in the world, jet fighters in the world, planes in the world, ships, and we have under construction a number of the most powerful submarines ever built and theyre getting very close to completion. We have the largest ship in the world right now, the president gerald ford, the aircraft carrier, the largest ship ever built. I flew over it yesterday. Its massive and beautiful. I have to say this. When i got here, scott, it was a different world. It was a different world. We were very dep completed. I saw one of the related Networks Today saying how strongly and good and how well weve done with isis. I defeated the caliphate. When i came the caliphate was all over the place. I defeated the caliphate, isis. Now we have thousands of prisoners of war, isis fighters that are prisoners of war. Were asking the countries from which they came, scott, from europe, were asking them to take back these prisoners of war. They can try them, do what they want. So far theyve refused. At some point im going to say either take them back or well let them go at your border. They came from germany, from france. Weve taken over the caliphate 100 . If you remember, i was thinking about getting out when it was at 96 , 97 , but they were all over the place. We did it. We did it in record time. It was a total caliphate victory. Now i want the countries to take back the captured isis fighters. If they dont take them back, were going to probably put them at the border and theyll have to capture them again. Because the United States is not going to have thousands and thousands of people that weve captured stationed at Guantanamo Bay, held captive at Guantanamo Bay for the next 50 years and us spending millions and millions of dollars. Weve done europe a tremendous favor. They mostly come out of europe. Weve done them a tremendous favor. The United States is not going to pay the cost of thousands and thousands of isis fighter prisoners in Guantanamo Bay or someplace else. We wont do it. They have to make their decision. Otherwise were releasing them at the border. Go ahead. Next. National Security Team on iran today . What do you expect to hear from them . I have a great new person, robert obrien. Lot of people wanted robert very badly. Look, i had 10, 12 people that i thought were fantastic for the job. Great friend of australia. Scott was telling me he was very happy with the choice. Robert is going to be outstanding. He just picked a deputy who was in the administration, you all know him. You know who the deputy is. I guess they have to announce that separately. Hes fantastic. Essentially hes already on the job. He did a tremendous job as hostage negotiator. We have a tremendous record. Nobody comes close to our record with hostages. Are you going to be discussing options for iran today . Sure, sure. But also with secretary of defense, secretary of state. Were discussing with everybody. The early move today was the central bank of iran. Mr. President is the u. S. Moving toward a military conflict and would you support that its always possible. Would you expect australia to join any military action . We havent discussed that. Well be discussing that later. We havent discussed that yet. Would you consider 50 tariffs or 100 tariffs on china . Im not going to get into that. Right now theyre paying 30 on 250 billion. That starts in a couple weeks. President xi called through his top people. They have a 70th anniversary, very important day for them. I happens to be october 1st which is the exact day of the increase in the tariffs. They asked us out of respect would i delay the tariff a little bit. I said how about if i move it forward . Let me move it forward a little bit. Its exact think october 1st. So i said let me move it up a couple weeks. They said no, no, no. Out of respect for president xi who i do have Great Respect for, i moved it back two weeks. Right now its 25 . It goes up to 30 on october 15th. Have you read the complaint . No, i havent. I just tell you everybody has read it. They laugh at it. You havent read it . Its another media disaster. The media has lost so much credibility in this country. Our media has become the laughing stock of the world. When you look at what they did to Justice Kavanaugh and so many other things last week, i think this is one of the worst weeks in the history of the fake news media. You have been wrong on so many things, and this one i wont say it will top the list because i dont think you can do worse than some of the stories you missed over the last week or two, but the media of our country is laughed at all over the world now. Youre a joke. Okay. What else . Mr. President , when you talk about the conversation which conversation . [ inaudible ]. Figure it out. Youre supposed to be the media. Which conversation . July 25th with the president i dont know. [ inaudible question ]. Were doing a great program. We have Vice President pence very much involved. We have a tremendous space program. If you look at our facilities, they were virtually closed up, crab grass growing on the runways. Now theyre vital. Were going to mars. Were stopping at the moon. The moon is actually a launching pad. Thats why were stopping at the moon. I said weve already done the moon. Thats not so exciting. They said, no, sir, its a launching pad for mars. Well be doing the moon, but well really be doing mars and were making tremendous progress. In addition, rich people like to send up rocket ships. So between bezos and elon musk and others, were leasing them our launch facilities which you cant get. There are no launch facilities like this. This is big stuff. In texas and florida, were leasing them our facilities so they can send up whatever they want to send up. Its okay with us. Theyve actually done very well. Theyve had great success. But rich people in this country, i dont know about your country, but they like building rocketships and sending them up. Its okay with us. [ inaudible question ]. Will an australian escort be on board . I think scott and i will take a pass. Would you like to be on there . I think he and i will take a pass. There are a lot of people that want to go up. I have Great Respect for the astronauts. [ inaudible question ]. Australias Mineral Industry is massive, far bigger very few countries have anything approaching what australia has in terms of mineral wealth. Youve really taken advantage of it and do it in a very environmentally sensitive way. I know thats very important to you. Its very important to scott. We talk about it a lot. That business can get out of control a little bit from the standpoint of environment. You have really approached it in an environmentally sensitive way. Coal, as an example, youre the leader of safety in coal digging and weve actually studied it. Were doing a lot of coal. You have very little almost no used to have a thing, black lung disease. In australia you almost dont have it anymore. Youve got all of the dust down. They become wet mines basically. A very technologically advanced industry in australia. All our resources are, robotics involved in the production and all the way through. That Critical Metals space, these are the things well be talking about. Australia has a Wonderful Partnership with the United States, not just militarily, not just strategically, but also economically. Thats going to be a big part of this conversation we have today. And environmentally i have to say and in environmentally, the things theyve done environmentally with digging diggi digging, when you Talk Minerals its about digging. What youve been able to do with the environment having to do with taking minerals out of the ground, including and i would say even especially because youre leaning on coal. I sent a whole crew over, because your record is so good in terms of illnesses from digging, better than anybody in the world. Were going to catch you on that, okay . [ inaudible question ]. Well talk about that over dinner tonight. He has another term for it i hear in washington, i understand. We have talked about it, if his schedule and mrs. Trump permits, them taking in the president s cup later in the year. The president knows a lot more about golf and certainly swings a club way better than i do. He has a busy year coming up. If he and mrs. Trump have the opportunity, it will be a great spectacle in australia this year. Interestingly the pga tour invited me to go, and i would love to do it. Well have to see what the schedule is. Its a very exciting tournament. Nothing more exciting. Having it in australia where you have so many great golfers, greg norman is a friend of mine and a great friend of yours i know. I think hes going to be here tonight. Yes. The first lady has done an incredible job tonight. Well have it for either the first time or one of the few times in the rose garden. I watched yesterday the rehearsal, and she was out there. Its goings to be incredible. Tonight is going to be a beautiful night. The only thing that can dampen it would be rain and were not expecting any rain. If it rains, we head over to the state room and well be just fine. Were really expecting i hope youll be able to see it tonight for a little while. Probably you will. Well make sure you do. Its beautiful. On the u. N. , how critical is it that you build a coalition to address iran for the provocations and does that start today . I always like a coalition. Sometimes you find that people have made a lot of money that youd want in the coalition, theyve made a lot of money with iran. When president obama made that deal, not only was it a bad deal but the United States didnt partake in a business sense and other countries, germany, france, russia, many other countries made a lot of money with iran, and we didnt make money with iran. That was just one of the many bad parts about the deal. Everyone else is making money and were not. So well see what happens. The United States is in a class by itself. We have the most powerful military in the world by far. Theres nobody close. As you know, weve spent tremendous we pray to god we never have to use it. But weve totally renovated and bought new nuclear, and the rest of our military is all brand new. The nuclear now is at a level its never been before. I can only tell youz because i know the problems of nuclear, i know the damages that i know what happens. And i want to tell you, we all hope, and scott hopes, we all pray that we never have to use nuclear. But theres nobody that has anywhere close to what we have. [ inaudible question ]. Unger is going to be very exciting. We look forward to it. Youll be there . Yes, ill be there. For you its a much longer trip. It is. We look forward to it. We have a big message for unger. I havent been back to new york in a long time. I see our parttime mayor will be now going back to new york so hell be able to work a little harder. He dropped out of the president ial race a little while ago. Too bad. He had tremendous potential. He only had one real asset. You know what it is . Height. [ inaudible question ]. I think the United States has taken a very measured and calibrated approach today. The thing about our partnership is we always listened to whatever requests are made. Australia considers them. We have good conversations about these things. Both of us, we never get ahead of ourselves on these things. You take this one step at a time. We keep talking to each other. Thats what weve always done. Well keep doing that. Weve got such an open line of communication, i appreciate the fact, the president and i talk about these things even when were not together. Were going to keep doing that and take these things one step at a time. The easiest thing for me to do, and maybe its even a natural instinct, maybe i have to hold myself back. I remember during the debates and when i was running against hillary and the democrats and the media i view them all the same, i view T Partnership all the same. When i was running, everybody said hes going to get into war. Hes going to get intolow every. Hes going to get into war. Well, the easiest thing i can do in fact, i can do it while youre here, say go ahead, fellows, go do it. And that would be a very bad dated for iran. Thats the easiest thing i could do, so easy. For all of those who say they should do it. It shows weakness. Actually, in my opinion, it shows strength because the easiest thing i can do, okay, go ahead. Knock out 15 different majors things in iran. I could do that. All set to go. Its all set to go. But im open not looking to do that. Ive changed a lot of minds. People are very surprised. Many people are thrilled. Many people are saying i wish youd hit the hell out of them. Well, lets see what happens. It will take place in one minute. I could do it right here in front of you and that would be it. Then youd have a nice big story to report. I think it shows far more strength to do it the way were doing it. Again, whether its next week or two weeks or three weeks, it doesnt make any difference. Whether its now or in three weeks, it doesnt make any difference. I think the strong persons approach and the thing that does show strength would be showing a little bit of restraint. Much easier to do it the other way. Its much easier. Iran knows, if they misbehave, theyre on borrowed time. Theyre not doing well. Id like to see them do great. Theyre not doing well. Doing far worse than theyve ever done before. Theyre having riots in their streets. Theyre having a lot of problems in iran right now. They could solve it very quickly. The easiest thing for me to do is to say okay, lets go, lets do it. Very easy for me to do. It was very interesting. When i was campaigning, everybody here thought it would be one day. What i have done, ive defeated isis, rebuilt our military to a level its never been before, spent a lot of money. The budgets are not so hard to fix for me. But when youre spending 1. 5 trillion so far, now another 738 million on the military. Think about it 1. 5 trillion and we have the greatest in the world. [ inaudible question ]. We were thinking about having a meeting. I didnt like the idea that they couldnt produce a ceasefire. I wasnt in favor of that. If they cant produce a ceasefire, why are we bothering. Killed 12 people, badly wounded some others. One of those 12 people was a young man, young soldier from puerto rico, from our country. When i heard that, i said i dont want to deal with them anymore. We have hit in afghanistan, hit the taliban harder than theyve ever been hit in the entire 19 years of war. They have been hit harder. Its come back to me through absolutely impeccable sources that etheyre saying, wow, we made a mistake with this guy. They made a mistake. I was totally willing to have a meeting. Ill meet with anybody. I think meetings are good. I think meetings are good. I really believe meetings are good. Worse that happens, it doesnt work out. Thats okay. Even then you get to know their opposition. Dont forget im looking at them like theyre looking at me. You get to know their opposition. Sometimes you develop a relationship like we do. Many times you wont. But you get to know your opposition. I think the best thing that has happened to this country is the fact that at least for three years, the fact that i have a very Good Relationship with kim jongun. I think thats a positive. His country has tremendous potential. He knows that. Our country has been play are around for 50 years and getting nothing. We have a relationship. Theres never been a relationship with them. Well see what happens. It might work out. It might not work out. Im not saying it will. In the meantime he hasnt been testing any nuclear. Youve had no Nuclear Tests since for a long time. He has been doing some short range missiles, but so does every other country do short range missiles. Every country is doing them, pretty standard fare. I will tell you that weve never had a country so strong. Were just a couple of points away from a new stock market alltime high. And i think weve done it over 112 times, the certain number. I dont know what it may be. If i give you the wrong number, well have breaking news that i said 112 and it is actually 111. It will be breaking news. Let me just say, the country has never been in this position. We have the Strongest Military weve ever had and now weve rebuilt it. After the 738 billion, we have a rebuilt military. Its a great thing. Some of our friends are doing the same thing. I can tell you australias military is unbelievable. I saw the order they put in for some of our most sophisticated equipment. I said thats really great. Theyve really upped it. I want to congratulate you. You have really done a job on your military. Up to 2 of gdp next year, big guest increase in our defense many in the share of gdp since the second world war. Is it right the United States is prosecuting Julian Assange . Thats a question i havent heard in a long time. Ill leave that for you to determine. [ inaudible question ]. S p china just a trade issue for you, or do you see it as a strategic threat to the United States . Obviously china is a threat to the world in a sense because theyre millibuilding a militar faster than anybody. Frankly, theyre using u. S. Money. President s before me have allowed china to take out 500 billion a year, and its really more than that. Theyve allowed china to steal our intellectual property and property rights. Im not doing that. Were very close to having a deal. Were very close. All of the tough things were negotiated. At the last moment, scott, they said we cannot agree to this. I said thats all right. Were charging 25 tariffs and then its going up, and it will continue to go up. Frankly, were making so many hundreds the numbers were taking in through our tezry. You see it. Look at the good reports. Look at the great reports that came out two days ago on retailing, on consumers, numbers that nobody believes. Well, i think a lot of it, were taking hundreds of millions potentially over a short period of time, hundreds of billions of dollars in money is coming in from china that never came in before. So china wants to make a deal. I think we want to make a deal. Well see what happens. I view china in many different ways. Right now im thinking about trade. But you know, trade equals military. If we allow china to take 500 billion out of the hyide of the United States, it goes into military and United States. Your reaction to if Justin Trudeau can survive this controversy . I was hoping i wouldnt be asked that question. You lad to ask me that question, justin. Surprised. I was more surprised when i saw the number of times. Ive always had a Good Relationship with justin. I just dont know what to tell you. I was surprised by it actually. The last australian Prime Minister with a state visit was described as a man of steel. How would you describe i would say a man of titanium. Much tougher than steel. Vi to deal with this guy. You might think hes a nice guy. A man of real, real strength and a great guy. His wife is lovely. I want to thank you and thank melania for the work. I hope youll be able to see. Melania has worked very hard for australia and youve done a its so beautiful. It will be so different. We look up to the skies and we hope its not going to rain. If it is, thats okay, too, because that will work out, also. It always works out. Thank you all very much. [ inaudible ]. There is nothing. Theres nothing. [ inaudible question ]. Its a great honor to be here, tremendous honor to go. Press, lets go. Come out. Were finished. Thank you very much everybody. Thank you. There you have it. President trump there in the oval office with the Prime Minister of australia, Scott Morrison taking some questions as well. A lot to try and get through here. Of course, the president starting by talking about increasing sanctions on iran. He brought in secretary of treasury Steve Mnuchin to do that. We heard the president spending time talking about china, also saying were going to go to mars perhaps by way of the moon as well. But the president seemed to have made some news here on two specific fronts that were going to focus on for the next few minutes. The first being the first of which being the whistleblower story that just wont go away. The president dismissing that a few moments ago. The president , also, declaring that isis has in fact been defeated on his watch. I have defeated the caliphate, the president said. Richard engel is standing by to address that. Hes got a timely special that will run on sunday night in which he spoke to some of those defeated members of isis. We want to start with ken dilanian and evan mcmullen, former cia operative, former independent president ial candidate. Just to remind folks here watching or listening who may have tuned out, this is what the president said with regards to the whistleblower. Take a listen. Its a partisan whistleblower that shouldnt even have information. Ive had conversations with many leaders. Theyre always appropriate. I think scott can tell you that. Always appropriate. At the highest level always appropriate. Anything i do, i fight for this country. I fight so strongly for this country. Its just another political hack job. The president went on to say, ken dilanian, that he did not know the identity of the whistleblower, but hes certain that the whistleblower is, in fact, partisan. Im not sure what that means. Bring us up to speed on the latest with this story. This whistleblower complaint thats putting the spotlight on the president s phone conversation with reportedly a leader in the ukraine. Sure. To understand, the Washington Post leading the way on this story is reporting today that the whistleblower complaint deals in part with ukraine. The New York Times is also reporting that. Nbc news has not independently confirmed that. Weve been told it involves a phone call with President Trump. The post reporters have said it involves this phone call that happened on july 25th between President Trump and the president of ukraine. So its important to know that when understanding President Trumps comments there, when he was asked about this phone call, he didnt deny the allegations that democrats have made, that he did something inappropriate on the phone call which was he sought to make a deal with the ukrainian president to urge him to reopen an investigation that has to do with former Vice President joe biden and his son. Trump didnt deny that. He simply said everything he did was appropriate and he kept stressing was in the interest of the country. It was important that he said that because the allegation here is that what he was doing was in his own personal interest and not in the interest of the country. Thats why Congressional Democrats want a copy of this whistleblower complaint. President trumps lawyers are arguing theyre not entitled to it. Whats also important about trumps comments, at any time President Trump could order that this complaint be turned over to congress and or the transcript of the phone call he had with the ukrainian president. He has the power to do that. If hes telling us and telling the world like he just did, everything is appropriate and aboveboard, this is all a partisan witch hunt, he should probably turn the transcript over, redacted for classification and turn this secret complaint over to the democrats and the intelligence committees who would like to see it. Because the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, craig, who is a nonpartisan person, a Career Justice Department lawyer has reviewed the secret complaint and says its an urgent concern, something that needs to be investigated. Also, correct me if im wrong here, ken, i believe the ig, the intel ig were talking about, i believe he was appointed by President Trump. No . Yes, he was indeed. Confirmed by the senate, but appointed by President Trump. His background, 15 years in the Justice Department as a prosecutor. He won an award in 2012 for prosecuting a huge federal corruption case. Yes, hes a trump appointee and he very much disagrees with the opinions of the Justice Department and the dni general counsel that he cant turn this complaint over to congress. He says it goes to the heart of what the dni is trying to protect but he cant tell us what thats about. Evan, i dont know if youre going to know the answer to this question because i found it a little odd when the president seemed to mention joe biden giving billions of dollars to a country. He said someone should ask joe biden about that. Do you know what the president is talking about . Not specifically, but the general issue here is that while joe biden was Vice President and he was point person on ukraine policy, his son hunter took a job with a ukrainian gas company. Republicans for years have been accusing the bidens of having a conflict of interest over that. Reasonable people can disagree. Good reporting in the Washington Post and elsewhere, you can go online and look at the details of this. No allegation of criminal wrongdoing has ever been levied or ethical wrongdoing against the bidens in this matter. Theres a lot in dispute. Not nearly as clearcut as President Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani are making it out to be. You mentioned giuliani. Evan mcmullen, the president s tv attorney was on cnn last night and asked about this whistleblower story. I want to play for our viewers precisely the exchange and well talk about it on the other side. This is Rudy Giuliani on cnn. Did you ask the ukraine to investigate joe biden . No, actually didnt you did ask the ukraine to look into joe biden. Of course i did. You just said you didnt. Evan, as a former member of the Intelligence Community, how troubled are you that the Trump Administration may have been asking a foreign actor to investigate a 2020 rival . Well, i would be highly concerned, obviously. In 2016, obviously, we lad a large problem with foreign interference in our election. And still the president has not been held accountable for that. And i frankly think he feels emboldened. Were still waiting to get the details of exactly what the conversation was and what promise or commitment the president may have made, but the more information we learned and what we already knew before this about giulianis efforts to put pressure on ukraine to cough up information that may or may not exist about bidens son in ukraine, we already knew trump and his team was looking for dirt on joe biden in ukraine and hoping to get cooperation from the Ukrainian Government on that front. So now were learning about a phone call that the president made to the leader of ukraine. And it seems to me that what we may learn, and again, lets wait for the facts, but what we may learn is that the president was withholding foreign aid. We know he was withholding foreign aid, he is withholding foreign aid to ukraine that ukraine badly needs. We know that the president , as i said, was hoping to get help from the Ukrainian Government against one of his rivals. So that phone call may have married the two. If he did so if the president spoke about those two issues and married them in an explicit way, that truly is sort of foreign interference in our elections 2. 0. I feel whats happening here is that the president feels emboldened because he, as i said, wasnt been held accountable or hasnt been held accountable by congress of 2016 for welcoming interference in that election and then for obstructing justice in response, in the investigation that followed. Now he feels like he can do it again i think. Yes, it may happen differently than it happened before, but i think thats what hes pursuing here. Any Intelligence Officer in going to be highly concerned about that naturally. Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel is here in new york with us. Well get to the isis claim in just a moment. What do you make of this whistleblower story right now . Its astonishing how central ukraine is to all of this and has continued to be for the last year or so. It was Paul Manafort who was at one stage President Trumps Campaign Chairman who was accused of working for the ukrainians, accused of working for them inappropriately. That caused a lot of hassle for President Trump. I dont know want to say ironic, but now you have the z reaching out to the new ukrainian president in order to dig up dirt on joe bidens family. Once again, ukraine is at the center of this controversy. Theres also a new the ukrainian president , hes a new president. In some ways he shares a little bit with President Trump, the new ukrainian president was an actor, comedian, actually played the president of ukraine on television before taking office. So he also is now going to be under a lot of pressure. If this phone call did, in fact, happen and it happened in the way its being reported out, that President Trump gets on the phone and says, hey, when Vice President biden was in charge of ukraine policy, his son was working for the gas company there. I want you to look into that, you crane especially a new president there is going to feel quite obligated to do it because hes a new president , ukraine is a small country. Ukraine is trying to stand up to russia, therefore, is in a weak position, needs help from europe, needs help from the United States. I think they eel feel a lot of pressure to carry out the request. While you were here, i want to get your take on the other one of the many other revelations from that exchange we just saw in the oval office, President Trump declaring, quote, i defeated the caliphate. Well get to your special on sunday night in a moment. Is that an accurate statement in has the president defeated isis . Well, theres two statements there. Did he defeat the caliphate . Yes. He and the previous administration, president obama, did defeat the caliphate. The caliphate was the isis state. This was a state that had millions of people. It was a blob that extended over iraq and syria and it collected taxes, it administered social services and it care read out its own brutal form of islamic law. That state is gone. But the isis members, isis as a terrorist organization, isis as an ideological destination for radical, violent people, that still exists. That still exists in quite a large way. There are tens of thousands of people who lived in the caliphate who are now homeless. They have nowhere to go. Some of them are in detention facilities that we visited, detention facilities that are appalling conditions. Theres one camp in syria that has about 70,000 people in it. People are dying there. They have nothing to do. They are still ideologically very radical, and they have no real future. So when you have a group of people who have radical beliefs, no future, no offramp for them and theyre all together, that is a ticking time bomb. Recipe for radicalism. Remember what happened in afghanistan before 9 11. You had all these extreme jihadis brought to afghanistan to fight against the soviet union. They were left there. They coalesced around Osama Bin Laden and 9 11 happened. We have a similar situation when you have tens of thousands of former caliphate citizen sitting around in iraq and syria with nothing to do. Instead of Osama Bin Laden, the leader of isis is calling on them to get back together and to reconstitute the group. Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel. This sunday dont miss his revealing look at isis on assignment, an Award Winning slow on msnbc this sunday. The rise and fall of isis, 9 00 eastern only on msnbc. Richard, thank you. A big thanks to ken dilanian and Evan Mcmullin as well. Millions of folks marching in cities all around this country, all over the world, demanding axon climate where folks are marching toward the capital. Thats live look at a massive crowd in boston, massachusetts. Well go live on the ground to some of those marches, getting under way. Were also inside our Msnbc Climate Forum where right now south bend mayor Pete Buttigieg is speaking, one of several president ial candidates appearing at that forum today. What if other kinds of plants captured it too . If these industrial plants had technology that captured carbon like trees we could help lower emissions. Carbon capture is Important Technology and experts agree. Thats why were working on ways to improve it. So plants. Can be a little more. Like plants. Red lobsters endless shrimp is back for just 15. 99. Get all the shrimp you want, any way you want em. Like new srirachahoney shrimp, savory grilled teriyaki shrimp, classic shrimp scampi and more red lobsters endless shrimp is 15. 99. 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Right now millions taking to the streets of more than 150 countries to demand action on Climate Change. This is a look at the protest in boston. The global demonstrations set to be one of the largest environmental protest in history. Weve gone reporters spanned across the globe, closely following the demonstrations on the ground for us. Lets start in new york city where we find he hrehema ellis. Rehema, whats the scene there . Reporter craig, were told the protesters were leave here with all the great signs theyve made and will go to a big rally. It starts on the floor, on the ground, if you will, with people literally making signs. Weve got some kids, i say kids, youre a junior in high school. Why are you here and whats this all about . I want to save our planet, because when i have kids i want my kids to be around and see how the world is going to be. The way global warming, what were doing, you know. Reporter and whats your name . Fatima. Reporter in case fatimas mom is watching, shes not in school but shes doing something valuable. And whats wrong with our planet . Global warming is wrong. Our planet is dying and everything is ignoring it. Reporter and finally, on the end, you feel that our climate is dying . Yes. Reporter three students from a high school here in new york. Today they think this is a teaching moment, craig. Back to you. Rehema ellis there on the ground with the young people. Rehe rehema, thank you. Some of the signs ive seen so far for this rally are absolutely fantastic. Lets go to washington, d. C. , the nations capital. Demonstrators there set to take their protest straight to lawmakers on capitol hill. Msnbcs Mariana Atencio is there. Are lawmakers expected to address the crowd at all . Reporter craig, we are expecting to hear from representative aoc, alexandria ocasiocortez, and Ayanna Pressley as well as Representative Ilhan Omar according to organizers. I can tell you thousands of people led by these young climate activists are out here on the streets of the nations capital. We just walked from John Marshall park to the capital. Theyre demanding our leaders take action on Climate Change. This is carla stefan. Ive been following up, craig, with carla for almost a year now. What makes today so different . I think the movement as a whole has really grown. We have over 4,000 strikes across the globe, possibly over 10,000 just here in d. C. Its amazing to see how much its grown in the past couple of months. Another thing thats different is theres the u. N. Global Climate Summit which is on the 23rd. So, last time we were holding our politicians accountable, now were also holding our World Leaders accountable. Reporter which candidates are getting it right on Climate Change . In my opinion, Bernie Sanders is getting it right. Hes put out the best policy. And he really has stuck with what he believes in for as long as hes been fighting for this cause. Reporter thank you so much, carla. Im going to let you go so you can join the other organizers. You heard it from them, they are estimating this crowd is around 10,000 people, craig. And theyre going to be holding our World Leaders accountable and american leaders accountable, frankly, because the u. S. Is the largest emitter of those Carbon Dioxide emissions. Thank you, mariana. This is a new report from nbc news finding that the Trump Administration ignored its own report about a connection between Climate Change and migration from guatemala. Jacob soboroff is live in guatemala city, tell us what you found, buddy, about the impact of Climate Change there. Reporter the evidence couldnt be clearer, craig. Julia ainsley and i obtained data that shows food and security, there are literally children dying here of starvation in guatemala, is fueling migration to the southern border of the United States. Thats exacerbated by Climate Change related conditions. Well get into it tonight on all in with chris hayes at 8 00 p. M. Youre seeing coffee leaf rust on your screen. The Trump Administration pulled funding entirely from usaid in guatemala. The bottom line is if the Trump Administration thinks building a wall along the southern border or militarizing the border or punitive policies against migrants is going to stop people from coming here, they couldnt be more incorrect based on what were seeing on the ground here in guatemala. Thats what well see tonight on 8 00. Thank you, jacob, much more on jacobs reporting on our special all in with chris hayes, climate in crisis, right here at 8 00 on msnbc. That will wrap up this hour of msnbc live. Ill see you monday morning on today. Andrea mitchell reports starts right now. Thank you, craig melvin, and good day, everyone. President trump is about to take questions in a joint press conference with australias Prime Minister. Well bring that to you live. But first, President Trump is forcefully rejected reports that the Intelligence Communitys whistleblower complaint involved a phone conversation with ukraine or about ukraine which could have been a july 25th conversation with ukraines new president. Its a partisan whistleblower who shouldnt even have information. Ive had conversations with many leaders, always appropriate, scott can