Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Stephanie Ruhle 20190314

Of the world and order all boeing 737 max planes to stop flying in the u. S. After satellite data reveals frightening similarities between the two 737 crashes which were only Five Mountains nths apart. We got new information yesterday and we acted on it. And it is in our minds now you a link that is close enough to ground the airplanes. We begin this morning with a great big name entering the race. After months of anticipation, beto orourke announces his bid for president joining an already very crowded democratic field and spark position the question, will he have more luck in a National Election than he did down in texas. I have a great team here to dig into all of it. But first by now everyone knows his name and this morning he announced his official candidacy with a stark yet uplifting message to voters. The interconnected crises in our economy, our democracy and climate have never been greater and they will either consume us or they will afford us the greatest opportunity to unleash the genius of the United States of america. This is the beto that many democratic voters have come to know and this tone has largely remained constant throughout his 14 years in politics. It began with a run for El Paso City Council back in 2005. Six years later he tried his luck in congress unseating an eight term incumbent by knocking on nearly 16 thurks doo,000 doo. It was this kind of campaigning that caught the attention of voters across the nation. In an uphill battle against ted cruz, bets to visited all of te 2 254 counties and raised 84 million. But it wasnt enough as cruz of course won reelection and orourke ultimately set out on a now infamous road trip to speak to Everyday Americans and recover from his loss. His next marquee event came in february when the president went to el paso to rally supporters around his border wall. Beto orourke held a dueling antiwall march for truth setting up a split screen image for the country to see, how would he fair in a head to head battle against President Trump. Which brings us to this morning when the former congressman will begin a three day tour of the state of iowa where he will visit more than a dozen counties, including eight that went from barack obama in 2012 before turning and voting for donald trump in 2016. There has been a ton of speculation around his decision, but as he told vanity fair in a piece published hours before his announcement, quote, im just born to be in it and i want to do everything i humanly can for this country at this moment. I want to go first to Garrett Hague who is in iowa where beto just arrived. Take me through this, what is the mood like there . Reporter were waiting for beto to arrive here in this coffee shop. Were in southeastern iowa. This is exactly one of those counties where you had a barack obama county in 2012 becoming a donald trump county in 2016. These are the people that orourke wants to take his message to, wants it talk about the idea of being a uniting candidate, wants to talk when issues like Climate Change, like economic fairness. The crowd here is primed to see him and it is interesting, there is a Pretty Healthy mix here of iowans who came out to meet the candidate and media from across the country. And he has to navigate where is the meat on the bone, what does he bring in terms of policy and what as he was asked by our dallas affiliate kxas who spoke to him back in el paso, he has to answer this question, what is the guy who lost to ted cruz in 2018 uniquely bringing to the table to take on donald trump in 2020. Listen to how he answers. We didnt win the race for senate in texas, but we got to be part of something that was profoundly positive. If you look at the other races that were won, 17 africanamerican women who won judicial positions in Harris County alone. Folks who won in what were thought to be safe republican districts be the first democrat to represent them in ages. We may not have won this one election, but i think that we set the stage for some wonderful things to happen in texas. And by extensions rest of the country. Reporter so well get a pretty good idea of what be toes future in this race looks like relatively quickly. What are his fund raising numbers like, what are the volunteer numbers like and what is he going to stay when he walks into this coffee shop. Stick with me here. Because well have beto orourke in iowa in our coffee shop here in about five seconds. [ applause ] how does it feel to be in . It feels wonderful. Feels better even to be here and looking forward to meeting the folks and having a cup of coffee, waking up a bit more. Thanks for joining us today. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Reporter stephanie, im getting a little boxed out here, so ill throw it back to you. All right. Keep that mic on and keep it near beto. If you get to speak to him, we will jump right back to you. I want to bring in my panel. Joining me charlie sykes, joe hag hagan, mark thompson, and tim obrien. Joe, i have to go to you first. You visited beto in texas. You spent time with him and his family. I saw him for the first time just a month ago when he sat down with oprah and me and the rest of the people in the audience thought wow, this guy has this dynamic positive energy. Did he have it behind closed doors . Absolutely. In fact it was a little bit jarring for me having ive met politicians in my life and there is always a bit of a polle tesch shan thing goi politician thing going on. He was just there on a sunday afternoon, invited me in, did not expect to see me, his guard was down. And he was real. And that was a little bit there is a kind of charisma to that, a guy who can be himself without worrying about it. He is out on a high wire, but he likes to have the camera on him and he can be himself. His power over social media is that he can turn the camera on to himself for 36 hours as he once did during a road trip and not worry about, you know, making a mistake. Is there anyone youd compare him to from spending time with him . There is some of that barack obama quality you see when he is out in public because he has a real connection with the voters. But i think that there is something unique about him in terms of how his generational quality. He is younger than anybody who is running for president right now i believe. And he splits the difference between i think Pete Buttigieg is younger. So he sort of splits the difference between the boomers and millennials. And he feels comfortable in his own skin in social media and in a way i think that is what people saw during the election and what they saw of him seemed true, you know. He is wholesome and earnest. Many people said it certainly wasnt wholesome, but they felt the realness with donald trump and it is what helped propel him. Charlie, how much does this shake up the race . It does shake up the race because he is an immediate frontrunner. I think there are four frontrunners. Biden, bernie, Kamala Harris and beto orourke. We live in a world where the scarcest resource is attention. You square that when you come to politics and beto orourke will get an awful lot of attention. We keep talking about the oxygen in the room. A lot of these other candidates are going to really be struggling because he has the ability to raise money. He has the ability to generate this kind of buzz. And quite frankly, he has a certain star power that nobody be else in this race has. I say this as an order white guy he is in contrast to the old white guys at the top of the ticket. If they want something new and fresh, beto is right there. And for all those who watch conservative media every night, who is telling you there is a war against white men, a war against white men, they cant really combat that argument if beto ends up being the candidate. We know beto did an extra ordinary he is about to speak. Well take you back there. The delayed reaction in the next room over. Thank you all for being with us and welcoming me to your community. This is the first stop in our campaign to be president of the United States of america. And it is a huge, huge honor to be here with you. I just got a call from my wife, amy, who is back in el paso, texas where she is raising sometimes with my help ulysses who is 12, molly who is 10 and their little brother henry who is 8 years old. And she is getting them ready, feeding them and taking them to school. Even though this is the first day, i miss them terribly but ill tell you this, it is those kids and your kids and it is your grandkids and the generations that follow that push us out into the country to do this incredibly important work together. The challenges before us, i hope you agree, have never been greater. The greatest of our lifetimes. If you look at the crises in our economy where the power has been concentrated into the hands of the privileged, the few and the corporations, if you look at our democracy which may very well be a democracy soon enough in name only unless we get it back, and make sure that it represents people and not special interests and corporations, and if you look at the climate which if in this ten year window we did not do everything we possibly humanly can, the generations that follow us, and i mean our kids, in our kids lifetimes, by the time ulysses is my age and he is 12 right now, we may not be able to live in some of the cities that we call home today. We may not be able to grow our own food, feed and clothe ourselves in this country. And if you think that a little more than 300,000 immigrants and Asylum Seekers apprehended on the southern border is a problem, and i dont necessarily think that it is, the kind of migration and refugee flows that we will see when entire bands of this world are no longer habitable, will be a crisis of a different magnitude all together. But these challenges im absolutely convinced will bring out the absolute best in every single one of us. And we have something that almost no other country in the world has. We have the single greatest mechanism to call forth the genius of our fellow human beings. This democracy more than 320 Million People strong can bring the ingenuity, creativity, the resolve of an entire country. And each one of these challenges can and will be met. But the foundational challenge to get all of this done is to fix our democracy. Only when it works and only when each one of us can work within it will we be able to meet these threats. And so this setting right now, the very first event of our campaign for president is an example not only of the way that i wish to Campaign Across this country for every single american, and i could care less your party persuasion, your religion, anything other than the fact that right now we are all americans and we are all human beings and we do everything within our power for one another, for this great country and for every generation that follows. This is democracy. And in the spirit of that, i want to make sure that i have a chance to listen to you. This is my first time to ever visit iowa. My first time to ever visit kad kiacook. And im looking forward to the conversation, to hearing what is on your mind, to abci inganswer questions. And even better if you want to pose the solution from your perspective, im all ears right now. There is no sense in campaigning if you already know every single answer, if you are not willing to listen to those whom you wish to serve. And that is what brought me here along with hopefully a cup of coffee. So with that, raise your hand, ill call on you and well take it from there. So he said his wife was getting his kids ready if school. I dont know if i just watched my dad do that, there is zero chance id get up and go to school that day. Id be pretty psyched. Tim, i said it before, he raised a record amount of money when he was running against ted cruz. Here is the thing. Loads of people detect ted cruz. Is he going to have that same kind of money raising you power when he is running against people that will thes 6 othlotoe democrats like . Ted cruz is a very polarizing person. But having said that, beto orourke ran a strong tough campaign. He did the hard work going county to county. And he has made magic dust. Of course his son is named ulysses. Youd expect that to be his name. You know, the presidency and president ial campaigning is about that x factor and that ability to get out there and have people feel that you represent something about them and not just about yourself. You put your finger on it earlier when you mentioned that trump has that. Trump to middle american white men feels like he is a representative voice to them. I think Kamala Harris has this kind of magic dust. I dont know that as many others in the democratic field who are out there thus far have that. Having said all of that, there is some practical things that beto will have to do. He will have to win iowa for example. Elizabeth warren has new hampshire. Kamala harris has south carolina. But iowa is early and beto orourke has to win iowa i think to show that he is viable which means that he has to get a Campaign Structure in place, he has to do all of the National Campaigning he hasnt done. He will also have to clarify where he is on a number of issues. To that right there, do we know where he is . Right now youre looking at the Democratic Party and it is pretty divided. Howard schultz couldnt bring himself in his mind to run as a democrat because the party had gone so far left. Do we know where beto is . Maybe not completely and specifically. But it appears that he is going to be right along with looking at his Texas Campaign right along with the other frontrunners in the democratic race who are further left than moderate. I dont think that he will be moderate at all. I think that the question and i degree with what everyone has said. He voted with republicans 167 times when he was in office. But hes running for president thousand. Now. And he said he was in favor of medicare for all, universal health care. So i dont think that you will see the same beto as he is running for president. I think that the test will be again on the fund raising. Bernie and kamala kind of set the bar coming out of the box with early and quick fund raising. Because that is what he is most known for in terms of running a successful race. I pray that there is some thought that went into the calculation of whether it would be it would have been better for him to try to unseat john cornyn as democrats also look to take the senate. The poll that was taken past few days i have to interrupt. He is answering a question on how he will keep the campaign from turning into a zoo. That we hold each other accountable for the just for what we promise and what we enact or fail to enact, but how we conduct ourselves on the campaign trail. Critically important that we not denigrate or demean any other candidate. We didnt talk about their personal lives. Any single democrat running today and i may not be able to enumerate every one of them right now would be far better than the current occupant of the white house. So lets keep this in mind. And we can conduct ourselves in this way every single day for the next 11 months until voting begins here in iowa. Lets remember that each one of us at the end of this once we have a nominee will be on the same team. Doesnt matter whose team you are on today. Doesnt matter which perspective nominee that you back right now. Ultimately we all have to get on board the same person because it is fundamental to our chances of success that we defeat donald trump in 2020. And then that we have a movement of people defined not by their differences, but how they have been able to come together to allow the next president of the United States to be successful on these extraordinarily large challenges that will be before him or her Going Forward into the next four years. So thats the way we will conduct ourselves in this campaign. Thank you. Yes, maam. Id like to ask you your thoughts on the tariffs and how to get rid of them. So the challenge that the president seeks to confront of china gaming the International Trade system is a legitimate one. We want him to be successful in this. But as i was reminded by a fellow iowan, when have we ever gone to a war including a trade war without allies. When have we first alienated every single trading partner we have as this country has done under trumps leadership before confronting one of the largest economies in the world today, one of the largest markets for soybeans, for corn, for what we produce in iowa and texas and around the country. I want us to be successful in Holding China accountable. I want to make sure that as competitive as possible for what we grow and what we produce in the United States of america. But in order to do that, lets bring to bear every single ally and partner that we have around the world. Because here is the consequences if we fail. And you can extrapolate this anecdote what you are seeing here in iowa. We were in west texas talking to a pecan grower. That grower used to have reciprocal tariffs levied on his pecans of 2 . Now they are 27 . In other words no one is buying his pecans. And he said i know at some point the tariffs will come down, the trade war will end, but those boo buyers will find other producers from whom to buy. And my kids who i so desperately want to take over this pecan growing operation, they will move are somewhere else, well have to subdivide the land, well be building tract houses. So yes, lets make sure that we hold other countries of the world accountable, but lets not do it at the expense of our farm farmers, our growers, those who are fundamental to the success of the u. S. Economy knowing full well that 30 of what you grow here in iowa is wound fbound fo markets outside of the United States. So i want to make sure we are tough on trade, we hold other countries accountable, but in an intelligent and effective way. Thank you for asking. Yes, sir. Would you speak to the Education System . I see teachers in our stridistr struggling, they have to that money out of their own pockets to buy supplies and they are doing the best that they possibly can, but they need more funding to make the schools work. Great question about Public Education and specifically the teachers who are the backbone of Public Education. And the retired teachers who made it possible for all of us to be here, right . So i want to hear from you about what it is like in iowa. Let me share with you what i learned in texas. Nearly half of public schoolteachers in texas are working a second or aren or a t job just to make ends meet, to put food on the table, to buy that medication with the 444 copay just to exist. And at the same time and the gentleman said this in his question, out of their own pocket they are buying supplies for their classroom, supplies for the students in them, and we know firsthand that there are teachers who see a student come in on monday in a pair of jeans and tshirt, tuesday the same pair of jeans and tshirt, wednesday the same. By thursday out of her own pocket that teacher has bought that child a new set of clothes knowing that it is important for that childs dignity and therefore their ability to learn and hold their head up high. They dont have the extra cash to do it nonetheless. Our ability to meet the economic challenges that i just described is only on going to be possible if we support our teachers, pay them a true living wage so they focus on only one job, the most important before them. That they have a Health Care System that they can depend on and retired teachers are able to afford a life of dignity. And so Somebody Just pointed out nurses. When i say teachers, maybe i should be saying educators because that is thursdays, librarians, therapists, custodial staff, bus drivers, everyone who makes it possible. Now, this is another one of these investments where some will say this sounds like pie in the die. We cannot afford to do this. We cannot afford not to do this. If we dont make that investment, by extent we are not making that investment in our kids. What should we expect for them to be able to achieve in their lifetimes. We do not want to be the generation unique in American History that sees our children do worse economically, do worse in terms of Educational Attainment than we did or that our parents did. That is very possible unless we get a hold of this situation now. Yes it means investment. But it also means that we hold one another accountable. Those School District trustees, the superintendents, it means that we invest in teachers not just in their pay, but their education and continuing education. Every teacher ive met wants to be the absolute best at her profession. But she also wants us to make the investment in her and her fellow teachers. So thanks for asking the question. Yes, sir. Your thoughts on the new green deal. The question is on the Green New Deal and by extension if you dont mind ill take the spirit of the question. We face catastrophe and crisis on this planet even if we were to stop emitting carbon today right now at this moment. We know that the storms that we saw in texas, harvey which dealt the landfall record amount of rain on the United States of america as long as weve been keeping records, that claimed the lives of too many of our fellow americans, flooded people literally out of their homes and businesses, storms like harvey are only going to become more frequent and more severe and more devastating and ultimately they will xlo iz moo tcompromisy to live in a city like houston. The droughts that we experienced in the panhandle of texas, five years straight, and a little bit of rain and then back into droughts again, Scientists Say those droughts will become more profound, severe. At a town hall like this, i remember a young woman came in with her two children, she was skipping her sons basketball practice to be there, she was going to talk to a democrat even though she was a life long republican because she told mina what her grandparents planted on their farm, what her parents planted on their farm, that she is now trying to plant does not grow. She said Climate Change is not something that we have to prepare for, it is something that is here. Let us all be well aware that life is going to be a lot tougher for the generations that follow us no matter what we do. It is only a matter of degrees. And along this current trajectory, there will be people who can no longer live in the cities that they call home today. There is food grown in this country that will no longer prosper in these soils. There is going to be massive migration of tens or hundreds of millions of people from countries that are literally uninhabitable or under water that are above the sea right now. This is our final chance. The scientists are unanimous that we have no more than 12 years to take incredibly bold action on this crisis. My gratitude for the young people who have stepped up to offer such a bold proposal, to meet such a grave challenge. They say that we should do nothing less than marshal every single resource in this country to meet that challenge. To reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, to get to net zero emissions. Which means that not only must we emit less Greenhouse Gases, we must also plant those things that absorb Greenhouse Gas and carbon and we must invest in the technology that allows us it clean some in the air right now. Do you want to make it . Because your kids, my kids, ulysses who in 2050 will be just about my age. He will be looking back on this moment in 2019 and every moment there after to judge what we did or what we failed to do. Because his kids will be thinking about all of us. His kids life, whether they can even breathe, is dependent on what we do right now. So some will criticize the Green New Deal for being too bold or unmanageable. But i havent seen anything better that addresses this singular crisis that we face, a crisis that could at its worse lead to extinction. So that the Green New Deal does that, that it ties to the economy and acknowledges that all of these things are where interconnected, that also recognizes that some communities have born the brunt of pollution more than others right now. The assist that deaths that we have in the United States of america concentrated in some neighborhoods, some people more than others, it ptd with as to ma wants to make sure that we do our part in helping those communities that have already been hurt so badly, that we ensure that there are Jobs Available for those looking for work, for purpose, for function in their lives who do not have it right now and are sin so doi make sure that the greatest democracy, its greatest economy brings everything that we have to this unique challenge. Literally. Not to be melodramatic, but literally the future of the world depends on us right now here where we are. So, yes, lets find a way to do this. Sir. I have work in health care. You kind of answered the health care question. But ive been to all the hospitals in the area and watched the opoid crisis, people get addicted to it, it is awful. People my age are committing suicide at alarming rates. This is a way that i personally believe we could help stem some of this is how are we going the marijuana at the federal level. What are your thoughts on that. Great question. Im going to take my sweater off real quick. And it is not because he asked about marijuana. Make that clear. We lost more than 100,000 of our fellow human beings to Drug Overdose and to suicide last year. Now, we can either accept that, we can look at it as a force of nature or an act of god, or we can understand that there may be a human solution to some of these challenges and problems that our fellow americans, our fellow human beings face. First of all, we should make sure that drug use, drug abuse, drug addiction is treated not as a criminal justice problem that will have you locked up with really no help or hope to get right and back on your feet and have that purpose and function that is so fundamental to your success and freeing yourself from those dependencies. We need to make sure that we invest in the resources for Mental Health care in america. In texas, largest provider of Mental Health Care Services in our state is the county jail system. People with skiz fren can i cant schizophrenia, bipolar, are getting arrested on purpose because it is the only guarantee of help. And then they are again on the streets and guess what, the reason that so many people on the streets use drugs is not that the drug use led them to the streets, they are on the streets without access to health care and it is the only way to medicate the problems that they have. So that investment and guaranteed high Quality Universal Health care, that be investment specifically in Mental Health care, that understanding that we have to boldly change our criminal justice system, to stop penalizing people for illnesses that they have, all of that is going to be the basis of getting this right, of reducing those numbers that i just shared with you, of getting people help who need help right now. What can we do . The wealthiest country, most medically advanced country the world has ever known if not be there for each other right now especially when we have the resources. So lets do that. And then the last question and again it is not the one that made me take my sweater off, we should to this end especially since more than half of the states in the union have legalized marijuana in some form or another, we should end the federal prohibition on marijuana and given the fact and listen, i say this as the father of a middle school student. Middle schools are one of the Fastest Growing markets for marijuana sales today. And in the black market, they do not ii. D. , they dont care. And weve seen marijuana use grow by kids whose brains are still developing and it is not healthy for them. It will slow their progress and it may not make them do as well as they would have otherwise in life. In those same four years tobacco use has plummeted. We treated it as a Public Health issue. We marketed against it, we that sure that it was not cool. We can do the same thing when it comes to cannabis or when it comes to marijuana. We can free ourselves from the distinction of being the country that imprisons more of its fell will he citizens than any other country on the face of the planet and guess what, by and large they do not look like this room. They are browner and blacker than most of america. Though people in this country use Illegal Drugs at the same rate no matter where they are, only some face arrest, face imprisonment and when they get out, forced 20 cheto check a bo says they have a conviction that stops them from being successful. So lets end the prohibition on marijuana. Thank you. Im curious what are your thoughts on a ubi. Universal basic income. I appreciate you asking it. Because it gets at the fact that even though we have record low unemployment in this country, too many of our fell will he americans right now in this community and in my hometown of el paso are strugglingwill he americans right now in this community and in my hometown of el paso are struggling to get by. It is not just the schoolteachers working two, three jobs. Some of the people that worked at the hotel who are working another job at the end of the day, at the end of this shift. So i think that we need to address that problem. As productivity has gone through the roof in this country, workers wages and incomes have not kept pace. And while some wealth in some parts of the country continues to hold or increase, in other parts of the country were losing it and were losing entire communities. What are my steps to address this . When everyone is well enough to work those jobs or start a business or provide for their family, they are going to do better economically. So i think health care is foundational. When you have child care for those little kids so that you can return to the workforce and be at your best, you will be able to earn more. You wont be as frazzled, you can read to your child before she begins the first day of first grade. You wont be at your second or third job or riding the bus home from the supermarket. A minimum wage that matches the real minimum needs that we have in out households, we need to get to 15 an hour within the next six years so that everyone can afford to have that one job focus on themselves, their kids, their families, giving back to their communities. When i asked the clerk behind the desk in the hotel, she said this is a community that has distinguished itself by service, by public service, our parks are cleaned by the community, it is not done at taxpayer expense. When there is a problem near the river, we go in and get after it. I want people to have the luxury to be able contribute, to coach their kids teams. Paying a living wage i think is part of that. And especially in rural communities, in Rural America, the federal government, the rest of the country needs to form partnerships, partnerships that mean that each side is going to give a little to get something greater than either could achieve on their own. In texas we have a problem with broadband in rural communities. You may have that in iowa as well where farmers and ranchers and producers literally cannot get online, where people cannot start businesses in their hometown or finish their education after high school because they cant get online. They cant go to tinder and find a date tonight to find that special person who will make the difference in their lives. If we remind ourselves of our American History, there was a moment more than 100 years ago foe where only some cities were connected to the electricity grid. Companies, corporations saw a profit in some places and not in others. So fdr and help of members of congress started the Rural Electrification administration and partnered through coops to invest in themselves with federal backing and support. Lets build up these rural communities. Lets get behind our farmers and producer, lets end these trade wars and make Rural America successful. Thank you for the question. Cynthia is telling us this is the last one. What are your views on [ inaudible ] the question is on womens prerow du reproductive rights. Every woman should be able to make her own decisions about her own body. Thank you, i cannot tell you how much this means to me. I will remember this forever. Every single one of your faces and what you were wearing, what you had to drink. Let us remember it. Youre going to run. Announce it now for us. He already did. Im running to serving as president of the United States of america. Thank you. Thank you all for having us out. Really grateful. Thank you. Thanks for the coffee. And that of course beto orourke speaking in iowa. First reactions. Well, i think he kind of answered your question in terms of what he will be about. He endorsed the Green New Deal. He endorsed the spirit of it. He was pretty careful. He said lets talk about the idea of it, not the details. But he said that he was grateful to those who introduced it. I dont take that as running away from it. But youve heard from the Mike Bloombergs of the world who say we need the idea of a Green New Deal but didnt support this specific one. We dont know that he supports this Green New Deal but we need something. He embraced the spirit of it. He likes the idea of a goal of getting Carbon Neutral in ten years. So he pulled one bullet point from it. He probably doesnt want to get into every aspect of it. Bottom line is any democrat running is running in a culture right now, in a party whose culture is more left of moderate. And i dont think a nominee is going to be successful unless she or they does that. Although i will say there was a poll in the past few days matching up against trump, biden is 4843 beto 4344. This announcement usually helps. This was before the announcem t announcement. 1600 people. He will get the bump, but as we were saying earlier, his claim to fame in texas was the money. Will he be able to have the big money raising that Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders had in their first 24 hours. But whatever the case may be, he is the white obama in many respects. Very effective today. But then kamala they say is the female obama. Elizabeth is the female bernie. So an embarrassment of riches in the party. Charlie, mark made the point that betos claim to fame is how much money he raised against ted cruz. Moments after we heard he was running, im sure in your inbox, in my inbox, were seeing messages from the other side saying his claim to fame or only reason we know him is because he lost. What will be his claim . Because republicans will push on the idea that you only know him because he lost to ted cruz. Why should we not saying that i view, but that is the pushback. Im guessing that you will hear a lot about Abraham Lincoln losing as well. I dont know whether he is the white Ballistic Missile or not, but you saw a pretty skilled politician and you did pick up on the fact that he managed to sort of skirt the actual endorsement of the Green New Deal while embracing the spirit. If you are sitting in the white house right now, i think that there are two worse Case Scenarios for you. Biden or beto. These are not the candidates right now, and it is a long campaign, that donald trump wants to run against. And i think you saw so many of his skills on display there. And the reality is, yeah, he will get a bump because people will be looking googling him, looking up youtube hits that hes had. And even though we all think that he is known, the vast majority of americans are just now being introduced to beto orourke. And look, as far as i can tell, all three of the Cable Networks carried what we just saw here. Which is an extraordinary tribute to i dont believe fox did. That he will get this attention. Im pretty sure that fox did not. Im just going to point that out. What is your you spent time with him oneonone. You just watched sort of his first presentation there. Hand gestures, that is his jam. Yeah. What is your take, is that the man you sat down with . Yeah. And hes very compelling. But i would say that it wasnt just to counter that republican talking point there, what made him known was that he went national. He was in a state race and he became a National Figure because of a video that he made about nfl players taking the knee. And that video we have a clip of it. Because it was that clip that at least across my facebook feed was flooded i saw that clip from nontexans. Do we have a piece of it . My short answer is no, i dont think it is dis respectful. Reasonable people can disagree on this issue. Lets begin there. And it makes them no less american. Peaceful nonviolent protests including taking a knee at a Football Game to point out that black men unarmed, black teenagers unarmed and black children unarmed are being killed at a frightening level right now including by members of Law Enforcement without accountability and without justice. And this problem as grave as it is is not going to fix itself. I can think of nothing more american than to peacefully stand up or take a knee for your rights anytime anywhere anyplace. Is that the speech . Yes. Let me Say Something about that. That was not a video that his campaign put out. You could see that was a handheld phone. That was picked up by now this generates these memes and it took off on its own volition. He didnt really even i think they were taken by surprise, whoa, this came yout of the blu. I think what people will see in that iowa video that we just saw is that the guy is a natural. Hes got something. And people want that and the party needs that kind of excitement and energy right now. Thats what they want from a candidate. And to speak to this and what you said earlier about trump is people were fascinated watching Trump Campaign because off the cuff he is a performance artist. But the difference between beto orourke and donald trump is that when people are watching trump, it is like watching someone on a ledge threatening to jump. You are wondering like is this car crash going to happen. That is part of the magnetism around trump for the people who gravitate toward his videos. Beto orourke is doing the same thing with a message about people coming together. He is not doing a message that things are a car crash, everyone is out to hunt you down and im going to protect you. All right. That video, you saw it, i saw it, it was organic. Probably the best explanation we saw as a counter to President Trump on the take a knee issue. Good conversation. Up next, after finding out he would be spending another 3 1 2 years in prison, Paul Manafort now facing state charges from new york. The latest indictment is said to be a move to prevent President Trump from pardoning his former Campaign Chairman. Ill say it one more time. His former Campaign Chairman is in jail, will be in jail for 7 years. Let that sink in. Theyre americas biopharmaceutical researchers. Pursuing lifechanging cures in a country that fosters innovation here, they find breakthroughs. Like a way to fight cancer by arming a patients own tcells. Because its not just about the next breakthrough. Its all the ones after that. [woman] with sharks duo clean, i dont just clean, i deep clean carpets and floors, so i got this. Yep, this too, and this, please. Even long hair and pet hair are no problem, but the one thing i wont have to clean is this because the sharks selfcleaning brush roll removes the hair wrap while i clean. [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans now cleans itself. The latest inisnt just a store. Ty its a save more with a new kind of Wireless Network store. Its a look what your wifi can do now store. A get your questions answered by awesome experts store. Its a now theres one store that connects your life like never before store. The xfinity store is here. And its simple, easy, awesome. Welcome back. Im stephanie ruhle. President trump says its very sad that his former Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort will be spending the next sixplus years of his life in jail on charges of fraud and conspiracy. But within hours of his sentencing in d. C. , manafort was hit with state charges in new york. The indictment is seen as a strategy for preventing a president ial pardon which would not excuse manafort from state felonies. I want to bring in nbcs intelligence and National Security reporter, ken dilanian. Caroline polici, a federal and white collar criminal defense attorney, robert beyanke. Ken, walk me through these new charges. Its a 16count indictment, stephanie, involving mortgage fraud, falsification of business records. It involves transactions part of the Mueller Investigation. And many of them were entered into evidence in manaforts virginia trial. Some legal experts have raised the question of double jeopardy. You cant be charged twice for the same crime in the United States but its common, though, for you to face state charges on the same fact pattern as federal charges. But new york has a tougher standard of double jeopardy. Nonetheless, Manhattan District Attorney believes hell prevail. Also these state charges, i think loom larger in importance today because were learning the top prosecutor in the manafort case, muellers top prosecutor, is leaving his office. How do we read that . I have just confirmed that with a source close to how should we read that . How should we interpret weisman leaving . Its the latest sign the Mueller Investigation is reaching its end. But what that doesnt mean is that the criminal investigations into donald trump and the people around him are at an end. This new york case is a great example of that. Theres also a couple of pending investigations in the Southern District of new york. On the russia question, Robert Muellers wrapping up and we expect a report from mueller to go to the department of justice really any day now, stephanie. Whats his strategy here . Stressing that i havent spoken to him about this, i can only conclude his strategy in doing something quite unusual is to prevent against the possibility of a president ial pardon causing a miscarriage of justice. It would not happen ordinarily. Manaforts team is going to say double jeopardy. Will they be successful . Right now in the United States Supreme Court, the Trump Administration is arguing against eliminating double jeopardy in these cases. Theyre saying the sovereign doctrine at the federal and state should be able to prosecute their crimes as they see fit. It was just argued before the Supreme Court in december. And interestingly, justices like alito and kavanaugh and kagan and the more liberal judges are all saying youre asking us to turn around 170yearold doctrine that allows the state and the feds to be able to prosecute as they see fit . The challenge here is that new york state has a law that gives greater protection to defendants. Thats why you see District Attorney vance was very narrow in only charging state crimes like Residential Mortgage fraud which were not included in the federal indictment so that he can say these crimes were not similar, theyre not the same. Theyre separate and, therefore, it does not implicate double jeopardy. The last point, i have been saying this forever forever. The state crimes bypass the pardon power and the doj memo that says you cant indict a sitting president. If i were the boss sitting there tactically with the feds id say, trump organization, with the charity, with those kinds of things that have nothing to do with russian collusion, let us take it so the president cant end run the case. Do you think vances indictments and his indictments here are going to work and theyll stave off the possibility that the president will try to pardon Paul Manafort . I think potentially potentially it could work. In all likelihood, the offices coordinated with each other in with how the federal indictments were charged narrowly tailored to allow for this other state charge. I think this looks a bit political on vances part. If theres not a clearly, its political. The question is, is he wasting prosecutorial resources on a man thats going to spend likely the rest of his life in prison . Why is he going to spend the rest of his life in prison . Hes only 70. 7 1 2 years. Potentially. Hes going to get pardoned. Its likely hes going to get pardoned. If my parents are watching, who are in their mid70s, i hope youre okay. Seven years . Come on. When youre talking about jared and ivanka and some of these other investigations going on in the Southern District, they are great prosecutors. But the bottom line is they have the ability. They suffer the pardon power. And theres no question in my mind that thats what the president will do. So tactically as prosecutors, you give the crimes to the jurisdiction that bypassed the pardon power and thats the state attorney general and the District Attorneys. The state attorney generals have already gone after trump with regard to the Trump Foundation and basically wrote a press release that sounds close tune indictment. What does that actually mean . We sat here going, youve got to be kidding me with what happened with the trump charity. Awful, humiliating. They cant even touch a foundation for ten years except it really doesnt matter. Jare sd still in his job, ivanka is still sitting in her job. That terrible thing happened, but it didnt really impact them. Well, for the point of the state of new york, sure. Thats a big deal to get barred from a charitable boards and have a charity disbanded. I think its a pretty big deal, just legally. Not a criminal case, right. So thats a the new York Attorney general doesnt generally have criminal jurisdiction. Didnt make ivanka trump lose her job as the Senior Adviser to the president of the United States. Well, thats up to her boss. And we have to keep in mind because people think this is so political, stephanie. But a lot of times as a state prosecutor, we were prosecuting people for frauds that were in the area of 75,000, 80,000, 90,000 and they were going to state prison. So people want to say this is just political and theyre going after them for no reason. A guy like Paul Manafort with the break he got on the sentence he got in the eastern district, in my jurisdiction, the guy would have been looking at a prison sentence of ten years. Thats not true in manhattan. Id not expect him to get any more time in manhattan. Maybe even if he gets sentenced, it could well run concurrently. New york judges are not the strongest sentencing im just trying to point out people that do far less get the same kind of time. Roger stone is going to appear before judge jackson today. They are working on getting a trial date for charges, lying to congress and obstruction of justice. What are you expecting . Well, remember, judge jackson made a very definitive statement the last time roger stone was hauled into the courtroom for posting an instagram photograph with but the statement wasnt punishment. Hes still walking in a free man. He didnt sleep in jail last night. She said this isnt baseball. You dont get three strikes. The next time this happens, i could throw you in jail. I think its a little bit of a nuanced question in that the new statement, as it were, is the publication of this book. The republication of a book that came out previously and the question is whether that violates the existing gag order that she imposed which was no ratcheted up to literally no statements that he is allowed to make about the case. I tend to think this is not going to be the straw that breaks the camels back but one more offense like this and hes going to jail. Well soon find out. All right. Quite an hour. Thank you all so much. Weve got a lot in. Thank you all very much. That leaves us here. Ill see you again at 1 00 p. M. With my partner ali velshi. Right now i turn you to my friend Hallie Jackson in d. C. That is right, steph. Im Hallie Jackson in washington. You are going to want to stay right where you are for the next 60 minutes or youll miss a ton. A bunch of big stories are going down right now. Roger stone just now beginning a key hearing in d. C. Federal court. His next stop could be jail, if that ticked off judge decides to send him there. We are inside the courtroom and were over on capitol hill where two big votes are going down this hour. The house making moves to make sure you see the Mueller Report while a republican semirevolt brews in the senate over the emergency declaration. And beto orourke is out on his first day of officially campaigning for president. Lucky number 13 in the democratic field after his announcement this morning. But there are plenty of questions about his campaign, and our reporters are with him asking. Beto, how does it feel to be in . It feels wonderful. Feels even better to be in. Looking forward to meeting the folks who are here and having a cup of coffee. Weve got our team set up and ready to rock n roll. Well get to more on orourkes run but first, we want to touch on the two developing stories connected to Robert Muellers investigation in the courts and in the capitol. Look here on the left side of the screen. A live look at the federal courthouse here in washington. Longtime donald trump confidante roger stone is inside those doors facing a judge who is not thrilled that he seemed to violate his gag order. On the right, thats action starting in the house with lawmakers expected to vote this hour on a democratic bill to make sure that Mueller Report is made public. Nbc news senior investigations producer Anna Scheckter is outside the courthouse