Msnbc. And this morning, Michael Bloomberg appears to edge closer to the stage with new reporting that might complicate his message on income inequality after he said taking from the rich was a bigger problem. We have a lot to get to on both of the fronts. Our team is here and ready to goen on a friday morning. Hans nichols, jake sherman is on capitol hill. And hans, let me start with you. Because the president woke up to the headlines. Ag barr says trump tweets make it impossible to do his job and barr pushes back, et cetera, et cetera. But i think people are looking at it through a thread of skepticism and we have sources talking about this. The president s now tweeting he does have the right to get involved in a case if he wants. Give us this sort of back story big picture perspective on whether this is political theater or not. So big picture as of this morning, it looks like the president is escalating and he is reasserting his authority. Now, there is a way a gentle reassertion, right . Well, the president has the absolute right to do so. And in the second round of the interview hes suggesting that he shouldnt or no attorney general will follow through on investigations they dont deem to be lawful. The way you can sort of thread this is to suggest that well, theyre going to have a different definition of what is legal, what is appropriate. Theyre boxed in somewhat publicly. Whether or not theyll both choose to escalate is really a question for them because theres some reporting out there from the New York Times that attorney general barr suggested to the president that he gave them basically a heads up of what he was going to say. Then we had the soft statement from Stephanie Grisham saying this is done and dusted, nothing to see here. But this morning it seems line the president is reasserting his authority and escalating a little bit. But the question is one, what happens with media coverage, how is this going to play out because we know that the president is an avid consumer of cable television. Then also to what extent does the president weigh in on this when he departs today or that other event. There are two other opportunities for him to talk or engage with the press. Well see if he doubles down and tries to totally reassert his authority over the attorney general. You have everything going down on capitol hill and the Senate LeaderMitch Mcconnell was kind of backing up the ag here. I want to play for you what he had to say. The attorney general has said its making it difficult for him to do his job. I think the president ought to listen to the attorney general. How much weight do you give that comment, jake . Well, we have to ask whats behind it is the Senate Majority leader going to stop the president from putting judges in place . Is there some sort of repercussion, because if theres not it doesnt seem like we are three or four years into the administration, hallie, that you have covered so in depth. Do we believe that the president is going to change his behavior, do we have any evidence at all in front of us that indicates he is somebody who is going to take advice from anybody in washington . Doesnt the tweet this morning give the answer to that, jake . Right. Which is no. What you see in plain view is what you should believe. So he believes it completely proper to intervene in cases which the attorney general said is improper. What are they going to do . Nothing. He wont change his behavior and the democrats have said they dont believe theres anything they should be doing visavis impeaching him or impeaching the attorney general. They have used that proverbial bullet and the president believes he can do what he wants after impeachment. Thats what were seeing. So again, Lindsey Graham believes that bill barr should stay in his place. I dont believe the president likes the attorney general on television dumping all over him. I dont believe that this is some sort nefarious plot. I believe what this is a guy maybe im naive but i believe the attorney general doesnt like it and hes saying that and whether the president is complicit in that i dont think we know. I dont think the president will like someone in the cabinet openly defying him on national television. Thank you. I want to peg off the point that hes making, i have two former prosecutors. And carol, let me start with you. Jake makes the point that the president probably doesnt like his cabinet members coming out and speaking out openly against him. The president s tweet is a reassertion of his dominance if you look. But look at bill barrs actions versus words. Do you see anything changing with the attorney generals actions or no . Its a good point, hallie. I want to be clear about this. At this point it doesnt matter what the words are that these men say. What has happened here i cant be clear enough about this. What has happened here, what bill barr did in this case with roger stone, you know, the castle walls have been breached in my view. This is of a nature that is fundamentally different from anything that has happened before at the Justice Department and i include in that events like the saturday night massacre because those are events that took place an a level of political appointees. What bill barr did here is he reached in the career ranks of the department of justice and meddled in a case that was being handled completely appropriately. This has thrown out the window decades and decades of tradition and impartiality that have been protected by thousands of career employees and thousands of members of of department of justice leadership. I view this event as somethinger the terrible and for bill barr to say that the tweets are making the job impossible is rich with irony because what he has done has made the jobs of thousands of career prosecutors impossible. Paul, your take . You know, hallie, yesterday bill barr made this big show about the independence of the Justice Department. And trump just called his bluff. Trump just tweeted i run the Justice Department. And what barr said was that trumps tweets and interference make it difficult for him to do his job. Well, guess what . Trump just tweeted and interfered. If barr had any integrity he would resign. I want to play more of what bill barr had to say. The full interview has been released. He tries to explain on the sentencing guidelines that youre talking about. He tries to explain why everybody wasnt on the same page of this. I dont think its gotten a ton of air time here and i think its important for people to see. I could not support the seven i didnt need anybody to tell me that seven to nine years was an excessive sentence. Im confused as to how that recommendation could get filed when you clearly were indicating that shouldnt go down like that. Yeah. Well, im afraid its one of those situations. Im confused too. I think it was a situation of miscommunication. In your experience working as a former federal prosecutor could it have been miscommunication . Do you believe thats a legit explanation. No way. When you work in the high profile case like that, everything goes through the front office. So if they know that they have a sentencing memorandum due on monday, that week before theyre going to be talking to the front office. Telling them what theyre going to recommend. Apparently, the u. S. Attorney in d. C. Signed off on the recommendation. And it wasnt until trump tweeted his displeasure that the department reversed course. Carol, as we mentioned as paul referenced the president sent out the tweet about bill barr this morning. The president never asked him to do anything in a criminal case, but the president could if he wanted to. But hes choosing not to. Fact check that for us. So the department of justice is a member of the executive branch. The attorney general works for the president. There are, you know, senator whitehouse has reintroduced legislation trying to keep separation between who can talk to the department of justice from the white house about criminal investigations. That has stalled along with everything else. But to this day, it has been the understanding of people in these very important positions that you have to exercise restraint. That you cannot do something only because you can do something. That has been the bedrock of how we have maintained impartiality in our Justice Department for the president to come out and say as hes done in so many different realms im the smartest northwestern the room, i can do this so im going to do it, thats extremely dangerous. No one has gone to that length before in the criminal justice system. What would that mean is that anybody the president likes what a different subject of justice than anybody that the president doesnt like. Thats a real problem. Thank you for your expertise this morning. Well talk more about this later on in the show but were talking a 2020 because as Pete Buttigieg picks up steam in the democratic primary some in the conservative media are dialing up lgbtq attacks is this a preview of whats to come. With the nevada caucuses one week away we are live on the trail with how candidates will play in the state with the first big test of hispanic voters. Play in the state with the first big test of hispanic voters. Gay young woman yeah, thanks mom mother of course and i love these flowers young woman whispering hey, did you bring the. The condoms . Young man whispering whats up . Young woman whispering condoms young man whispering what . Young woman whispering condom father condoms charlie. She wants to know if you brought any condoms. Young man yeah i brought some. Announcer eargo, a virtually invisible hearing loss solution with high quality sound and lifetime support. Wheneveryone is different. A, which is why Xfinity Mobile created a different kind of wireless network. One that saves you money by letting you design your own data giving you more choice and control compared to other top wireless carriers. Now you can choose unlimited, shared data, or mix lines of each and switch any line, anytime. No one else lets you do that. Design your own data with Xfinity Mobile. Its wireless reimagined. Simple. Easy. Awesome. We are looking ahead to whats going to be a big week for 2020. Starting with our high profile debate in nevada and ending with a caucus vote that might might launch one candidate to the head of the democratic pack. But for the five candidates guaranteed spots on the debate stage theres one big billion dollar question still hanging out there this guy. Will they be sharing the spotlight with Michael Bloomberg . It looks like the former new york may year is one poll away from qualifying for that vegas debate. Garrett haake is in vegas. You can only guess which way the political winds will blow as we wait for this more diverse state in first time. Tell us what youre hearing when you talk to folks. Its interesting hallie. We havent gotten a poll in this state in more than a month and since that time we have seen the person who had been the frontrunner, joe biden, get walloped in iowa and New Hampshire and Bernie Sanders has a very significant ground game here in the state. Tom steyer is spending tons of money. You cant turn on your Television Without seeing an ad for the billionaire who was not much of a factor but is playing here. Then you have the two candidates who got a significant bounce, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar who are much well known here. They appeared at a forum for latino voters. And theyre playing catchup, trying to introduce themselves in a much more diverse state. So theres a lot going on here. Its a very unsettled situation on the ground and it makes for an Interesting Campaign to cover. Certainly. I get out there my weekend, my friend. Well see each other in vegas. That is because the see you at the roulette table. Yeah, right. Nbc and msnbc debate, im moderating. Were taking the show there with lester holt, chuck todd, telemundos vanessa huac and jon ralston. Later in the show we have new reporting this morning on how someone running for the democratic nomination is making democrats nervous. 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In just about an hour, Bernie Sanders is getting back on the trail for his First Time Since his win in New Hampshire but take a look at where hes going to be today. Not nevada, not South Carolina, the next couple of states to vote. Instead hes hitting North Carolina and texas. Pretty clear signal, right, hes making a strong place for those super tuesday states. It comes as our team has some new reporting from capitol hill the Congressional Democrats are getting more and more concerned concerned about the senators success on the campaign trail so far. Why . Theyre worried with him as the nominee he may hurt the partys chances of winning back the senate and could put existing house seats in danger. Nbc news road warrior Shaquille Brewster and lee ann caldwell. Fair to say that Bernie Sanders is eyeballing the super tuesday states pretty intensely . You can go ahead, were in the middle of the crowd. You see some people walking back and forth. But its clear where hes planning to spend his time. The super tuesday states which are bigger, more diverse and more delegate rich. It starts here in North Carolina where in a couple of minutes hell be having a rally here in durham, North Carolina. Hes going to the charlotte area and spending his time in the dallas, texas, area. These are more diverse states and in texas there was a poll that came out just recently that showed senator sanders fighting for the first place lead in the state. This campaign is trying to spread its wings. It feels momentum coming from iowa into New Hampshire and the bigger states. The campaign is dealing with some pushback and hes contending with some push back for his supporters and the supporters having a more aggressive tone online. In nevada, the Culinary Union pushed back at sanders and the supporters for attacking them on line and he had to push back. Obviously, that is not acceptable to me and i dont know who these socalled supporters are. Anybody making personal attacks against anybody else in my name is not part of my movement. We dont want them. And thats not to say, hallie, hes ignoring nevada. He will be in nevada this weekend. But if you look at where hell be just through the weekend, we have North Carolina, texas, colorado, washington, california and its very clear this is a campaign that has resources to compete on the nationwide level and are flexing their muscle. But that flexing of muscle is what some are concerned about back home in washington. Explain that. So hallie, not a lot of love for Bernie Sanders on capitol hill right now. Of course democrats here, they want to beat President Trump in november. But theyre also concerned about their own electoral fate as well. They want to maintain the majority in the house of representatives and they have hopes of winning back the majority in the senate. Some democratic lawmakers and aides are telling me theyre concerned that sanders is not the right person for the top of the ticket to really turn out the voters that they need here to be in the majority. Those suburban voters especially women that were so instrumental in 2018 to giving the House Democrats their majority then. So remember the House Democrats they won their majority with 31 districts who also went for President Trump in 2016. And democrats say that Bernie Sanders policies of big government, Health Care Including medicare for all and a wholesale change in the Economic System might not be the right form what for these voters. Theyre worried theyll stick with trump or perhaps stay home on election day. So with Bernie Sanders doing quite well in the first two nominating contests here on capitol hill, its making them a little jittery. And some of the quotes are so interesting too like from joe manchin of West Virginia i know my state is not going to move that far to the left in that instance. Great reporting, shaq, you too. Well see you a little bit. I want to bring in Kevin Sheridan from mitt romneys president ial campaign and also with us Christina Reynolds from emilys list working to elect pro choice women to office. She worked on Barack Obamas 2008 and Hillary Clintons 2016 campaigns. Thank you both for being with us. Do the democrats have reason to be worried about Bernie Sanders and the down ballot races . Well, we have spent a year talking about elect kt and which dont know. Lets have a fight for the primary. Im a democrat, i think my partys nomination is worth something. Lets have that fight. It may get brutal but well come out with a nominee who has organized in states, who has faced a lot of competition. Then lets get behind them and win so i think its a little premature. I know theres a lot of great candidates down ballot who brought them out in 2016 and theyll do it again. And going the distance, although we dont know who it will be yet, how do you think republicans will capitalize on to . Im seeing it in my day job over at the white house and the aides. It would offer the clearest contrast but i think youre right to center on what it means for down ballot because they have to make the same decision that republicans made in 2016 and then had to run again in 18 with a president they didnt necessarily agree with on anything, with his tone and the tweeting and more of his affect. But with Bernie Sanders its going to be policy differences and they have to be tied to a National Candidate that is calling for radical change to the American Economy and thats a tough sell at a time when the economy is not perfect, but its booming. I mean, its as good as we have seen it in a long time. We have three dead terrorists abroad and Energy Independence and he wants to up end all of those things. It will be a tougher sell for those candidates in swing districts in the purple states. Lets talk about some of the policy differences, because the Huffington Post make the argument that moderates might not be too worried about a sanders candidacy and alexandria ocasiocortez said that sanders may have to compromise on medicare for all. Quote, a president cant wave a magic wand and pass legislation they want. We compromise deeply and get a public option. Is that nightmare, i dont think so. She says. Thats a is that not a rather remarkable concession given thats sort of against the cornerstone against what sanders is pushing . It feels like a shift. I think its realistic. The president doesnt wave a magic wand. I worked in the Obama Administration in the early years and we saw that. But i think her argument is not an unfair one. What people should vote for is what values do you want someone to take into the white house . And are the candidates and the candidates made clear what their plans are and where theyll start. I think they should assume that those candidates will fight hard for that exact policy. So then in that case, are some in the party overreacting here . I mean, ultimately as you point out the president does havent a magic wand, right . You need consensus to get something done. Does the sanders presidency look all that different, right down the road from somebody else . Sure. It might not. I think the other the other reality here is that we dont know we dont know whats going to happen, but we do know it will be a different from the republican president. We share the same values and moderate, progressives how ever you want to frame it we near a similar place which is lets protect protections for people who need it. Lets make sure we dont undermine some of the protections, undermine health care for the people who need it the most and so on. And so the differences are within a range that is not as large as i think they would want to make you believe. Also say the republicans will hit us for as far left as you want to go no matter who the nominee is. Lets talk about the congressional endorsements. Look at who might have an easier time to get behind here, joe biden and sanders at 8. Look at whos in there, Michael Bloomberg with 14. And nbc news is reporting that there are moderates who are looking at alternatives after biden didnt do so well as expected in iowa and New Hampshire with Mike Bloomberg getting some traction here. The big question is what happens when bernie goes up against that wall of bloomberg money. Hes already carpet bombing the super tuesday states. We have seen the ads a thousand times but you know, if biden or a warren were to get out after South Carolina where do those voters split up and thats a great unknown. This is were in a totally different world where a candidate has come in with this amount of selffunding to see how much they can actually you know, how much voter support can translate from that kind of spending. We just dont know. Look, donor endorsements are great, but honestly its really translating into the voters on the ground that youre going to really the test is super tuesday well find out. Kevin sheridan, Christina Reynolds, thank you both. I appreciate it. Coming up after the break, attorney general bill barr speaking out publicly against President Trump. But were talking about whether theres real friction between the two or whether this is for show with real reporting from our nbc news team. But first a story were following here in new york. Harvey weinsteins Sexual Assault case soon in the hands of the jury. 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Whew call unitedhealthcare today and ask for this free decision guide. Yes. Yes. Yeah sure. Yes yes. Yeah, yeah no problem. Yes. Yes, yes a thousand times yes discover. Accepted at over 95 of places in the u. S. So we mentioned that news, here it is. One of the sources kelling my colleague over at the white house, peter alexander, that bill barr has told the president privately what he said publicly and he asked him to stop. This tensions between the president and the ags is not new. Like when Roberto Gonzalez resigned but the back and forth between President Trump and ag barr sets some precedents of its own and raising some real questions about whether this is an actual rift. Is it or just theater to make the doj look more independent . Joining me now, msnbc political analyst rich stengel, and president ial historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin who happens to be the executive producer of history channels washington tomorrow. Good to see you in person here in d. C. Doris, if were to believe that the president and the attorney general are truly at odds, there are some question marks around that as some critics have raised whats the precedent for them to be airing it in full public view . We dont know what happened, was it theater or real on his part . Its hard know whats happening. And thats a strange thing. Its an interesting thing about attorney generals and president s. They to have a close relationship. Somewhat in tradition. Think about when Bobby Kennedy was appointed to attorney general under president kennedy, its nepotism, hes got no experience and kennedy said i had to give him experience after law school making light of it. But it turned out he put a great team together, an experienced team and made up for it. The attorney general under eisenhower had been the former rnc chair and they thought this is too cozy and he had a distinguished career. The irony is that mr. Barr had been already attorney general under bush 41. He comes in with much more experience than either one of them and yet seems to have a cozier relationship with the president than either of them. Is that how you see it . I always see things as doris seems them. You know, i do think we could be overthinking this a little bit. Explain. We overthink everything. I mean, if im the white house gardener and the president says i think the front lawn needs cut, thats whats happening with bill barr. He has to seem like hes independent so its both real and for show. But the show part is to kind of tampen down the unhappiness within the Justice Department. You had the four career prosecutors who resigned from that case. Barr has to show the people who work under him who are the most independent people in government. They care about law enforcement. He has to show hes independent of the white house. Whats interesting, doris, not to date ourselves back to the days of George Washington but lets do it. He had a big role in establishing the norms that the first president could have made himself a king but he chose not to do that, to be very careful. But you say that his warnings remain relevant today. When you look at his farewell address which said to the citizens what he wanted to leave to them, it was the too much partisanship, of the spirit of revenge and warned if we allowed that to happen we woke owning the door to foreign influence and corruption. So the party system was developing under the second term of George Washington and hamilton on one side, jefferson on the other side. There were partisan newspapers. They said terrible things about each other. There are echos from the past and we got through it. And the norms versus what law is, im curious to your perspective on this especially given the president s tweet this morning saying, you know, well, i have the legal right to get involve if i want to, but im choosing not to. What i discovered after going into government right. Being a journalist, there are so many norms in washington that are not actually lost. So this separation between the Justice Department and the white house is a norm. The president is correct when he says there is no law that says he cant meddle in the Justice Department. Again what i would do in the next presidency is youd have to reform the legislation about the Justice Department. It would be on congress shoulder. You need to put a real moat around it, this is a quasi Judicial Branch and look at the fbi. You have fbi directors that last ten years and overgo two different terms of office. They should do that with the Justice Department and the ag as well. Rick made the point earlier in the discussion, its both real and fake. This rift, this feud or whatever you want to call it. If this were contrived or something where it was, you know, whatever, not as real as it seemed is there precedent for that . Well, i dont know about the precedent but im sure theres times that people within the cabinet decide to have a fight and then keep it private and come back together. There are two cabinet members under fdr who had a public fight and they were having such an argument on the public that fdr took them on a fishing trip for six weeks and then they came back and said the fight is buried, here we are. Wow. So great to see you both, thank you for being on. Prominent conservatives after the break ratcheting up their attacks on Pete Buttigieg specifically on his sexuality. Why its probably just a preview of what the former mayor could face as the democrats nominee. But first, tell you about something else. Which is on this big story the number of reported coronavirus cases exploding overnight. Heres the deal. More than 5,000 new cases and 121 new deaths have been identified in the last 24 hours alone. Why . Well, china says the numbers are spiking because of a change in the reporting standards. The World Health Organization says more than 1,700 medical workers have been infected as we speak. Worldwide look at this. The number of coronavirus cases has climbed to more than 60,000 for about 2 of the patients its a deadly diagnosis. Applebees new irresistabowls now starting at 7. 99. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. But when i started seeing i knew aboutthings,emors. I didnt know what was happening. So i kept it in. He started believing things that werent true. I knew something was wrong. But i didnt say a word. During the course of their disease around 50 of people with parkinsons may experience hallucinations or delusions. But now, doctors are prescribing nuplazid. The only fda approved medicine. Proven to significantly reduce hallucinations and delusions related to parkinsons. Dont take nuplazid if you are allergic to its ingredients. Nuplazid can increase the risk of death in elderly people with dementiarelated psychosis and is not for treating symptoms unrelated to parkinsons disease. Nuplazid can cause changes in heart rhythm and should not be taken if you have certain abnormal heart rhythms or take other drugs that are known to cause changes in heart rhythm. Tell your doctor about any changes in medicines youre taking. The most common side effects are swelling of the arms and legs and confusion. We spoke up and it made all the difference. Ask your parkinsons specialist about nuplazid. Pete buttigieg is turning his focus out west today, making four stops in california for his first Public Events since that second place finish in New Hampshire this week. Why california . West coast best coast obviously but probably also because that state is key to super tuesday with the most number of delegates in the country. Buttigiegs western swing comes as some allies of President Trump are starting to swing their attention to the former mayor. Not talk about the policies or the platform but the fact hes gay. The Washington Post is calling it a possible sign of things to come as some conservatives and the president himself talk about whether americans are ready to elect a gay president. They have got to be saying despite all of the great ground thats been covered america still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage president. What limbaugh was talking about the way he said is different than i would say, hes saying there are democrats that are sitting there worried that this is going to be a bigger issue. Would americans vote for a gay man to be president . I think so. I think there would be some that wouldnt and, you know, i wouldnt be among that group to be honest with you. So were going to break that down in a second. Some numbers on that piece of it but i want to bring in the road warrior Vaughn Hillyard and with us, Washington Post political reporter eugene scott. Vaughn, talk about buttigiegs return to the campaign trail here. Yeah, good morning, hallie. This is it. Hes on the west coast and hes not returning to the east coast at least per his schedule until after the nevada caucus a week from saturday. He is in california today. Hell be in the greater bay area for two fundraisers before heading up to sacramento for a Public Campaign event. For Pete Buttigieg this is go time. Over the course of the last year, he has faced persistent questions over whether he would be able to expand his reach of support, particularly communities of color. Well, this is it. Between nevada and california, youre looking at very similar demographics about the democratic voting population, half white and then also latino voters and this is his opportunity. Frankly when youre talking to folks on the ground they havent seen Pete Buttigieg on the airwaves. He hasnt been on the tv airwaves here. You have tom steyer and the likes of Michael Bloomberg but theyre making the Campaign Stops but for california over the course of the next 18 days, thats a lot of question marks. We should note theres a change in election law here where folks can now show up on march 3rd and change their party registration. So you saw this in iowa and New Hampshire. Buttigieg benefit from some of the more moderates or disaffected independents coming to the polls and he hopes to do that here in california come march 3rd. Vaughn hillyard, thank you. The question is are the americans ready to vote for a gay president and the answer seems to be yes when you look at the numbers. The new gallup poll shows 78 of americans would vote for a gay or lesbian candidate. Why do you think this is a question here . Bell, i think its still a question because we have had some polling suggesting that there are members of the Democratic Party specifically black voters who are uncomfortable with president ial candidates sexuality but its moved it beyond black voters. We saw that incident in iowa where a woman was going to caucus for buttigieg and said she did not even know that he was gay and that was something that made her want to change her vote. But also after buttigiegs performance in iowa and New Hampshire conservative media and specifically the in part buttigiegs success was because of more moderate and even christian voters who were dissatisfied with President Trumps morality and are looking for another option. Your colleagues at the post write about how this episode with limbaugh into what buttigieg could face if he end up being the democratic nominee. It does seem that the buttigieg side has decided their candidate is not going to get down in the mud. Is that your sense . We know buttigieg performed as well as he did because of the issue he talks about. He hasnt run as the gay candidate, which is in part probably why there are some people who missed it somehow. So hes trying to draw attention away from this identity piece that his critics are trying to weaponize against him and focus on the things that he believes helped him become as successful as he did perform in New Hampshire and iowa. Just a quit setback, because tim miller, a friend of the show, we shouldnt be looking at how unreal it is that a married gay man leads the delegate race for a major party two cycles after. When buttigieg spoke in iowa the night of the caucus and people are look why are you claiming victory . He said he was claiming it was victorious that someone like him could do as well as he did considering where america was three or five years ago and hes absolutely right. Eugene scott, Vaughn Hillyard, thanks for coming on the show. I appreciate it. Coming up, bloomberg is facing new criticism for some old comments. Wait till you see this next. When i got my dna results, it opened up so many doors. Its a lifelong adventure finding all of these new connections all the time. Greater details. Richer stories. And now with health insights. Get your dna kit at ancestry. Com. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Thats why Xfinity Mobile lets you design your own data. You can share 1, 3, or 10 gigs of data between lines, mix in lines of unlimited, and switch it up at any time. All with millions of secure wifi hotspots and the best lte everywhere else. Its a different kind of wireless network, designed to save you money. Switch and save up to 400 a year on your wireless bill. And save even more when you say bring my own phone into your voice remote. Thats simple, easy, awesome. Click, call or visit a store today. So this morning again were talking about Michael Bloomberg versus Michael Bloomberg. It was just last week that he wrote a New York Times oped called fixing inquality is my priority. Bloomberg once said taking from the rich was a bigger proper bl than income inequality. He said the bigger problem is you can take money from the rich and move it over to the poor. If you do it too much, the rich stop producing and everybody loses. Aaron, talk about how you see this in per expespebexpectat pe Bloomberg Campaign. Michael bloomberg is running an unorthodox campaign. A lot of us scratched our head and wondered if he had a good strategy. Basically hes carpet bombed the entire country with ads and hasnt faced a lot of scrutiny. Once you start rising in the poll in some of these states and there was a poll in florida that showed him basically tied for the lead today, the scrutiny is going to come. What were finding is on this issue, on economic issues, he has been pretty fiscally conservative over the years. He has offered very unvarnished comments be on things likes stop and frisk. I think its going to be intense and people are going to learn about a candidate they quite simply hadnt learned much about before this week. The Bloomberg Campaign did not respond directly but said everyone in this race says they want to fight income inquality but Michael Bloomberg is the candidate who has actually done it. Do you see bloomberg needing to respond more forcely to the questions that have come up here . Whats your sense . Yeah, i think its going to come at some point here. I think if you look at that comment, the point he was trying to make was that if you tax the rich too much, then business will come crashing down and everybody will be hurt because poor people wont be employed. I do think, though, that the way he spoke about it is emblematic of how he has spoken about issues over years, which is in ways that arent really in line with how the Democratic Party has evolved over the last decade. So if youre going to be the frontrunner, if youre going to be a leading candidate for president , you need to teak that head on and i think its going to be a real testing ground. Look at the real clear politics averages here, Bernie Sanders around 24 , joe biden around 19 and in third, Michael Bloomberg at 14 . He has not been on a ballot. Hes ignored the first four states intentionally. Are you surprised by some of these numbers . It is remarkable. Just last week after there was some talk about bloomberg after iowa, i was looking at the relatively little polling in super tuesday states where hes been advertising heavily other candidates may not have focused on so far and he was in the double digits in some of those states already. There is a real place in this place for bloomberg right now and i think the candidates and the media are starting to recognize that, too, which is why youre seeing in in the news today. Thank you, my friend. Appreciate it. The next time i see you, well be on the debate stage in las vegas. We are headed there hunkered down for debate prep as we gear up for the nevada caucuses. I leave new the capable hands of my friend and colleague hows debate prep coming . Its coming. Really looking forward to that. Thank you, pal. Happy valentines day as well. Back at you. 2020 democrats are on the trail. Theyre expanding the map beyond the upcoming aforementioned nevada and South Carolina races, making a play for some of super tuesdays 14 states. And this hour two of the candidates are looking to build on their momentum. Right now Pete Buttigieg, fund raising in california, roughly 30 minutes from now Bernie Sanders will be rallying supporters in North Carolina. But the crowded field is splitting progressives and moderates and also raising anxiety among democrats and one candidate spending billions to try and push through the divide, the man that hallie was actually just talking about, Michael Bloomberg. But with growing support comes great scrutiny and he is starting to face it now as he continues to surge in the polls. One of Bloombergs National c cochairs with join me in a moment. Shaquille brewster is in North Carolina. I want