Transcripts For MSNBCW MTP Daily 20171208

Good evening. And welcome to mtp daily. Im chuck todd. Heres at winceals oyster house in mobile, al pam here because whatever happens down here in alabama on tuesday is going to send shock waves through American Culture and politics. Voters are about to decide if an accused child molester is going to join the u. S. Senate and a moment when all of washington is reeling from Sexual Harassment allegations. This is the dilemma facing the gop do they want roy moore to win down here . Or do they want him to lose . There are folks in the party trying to figure out which is worse. Not the president. Moments ago he boarded air force one and headed for the alabama border to hold a Campaign Rally at 8 00 p. M. Eastern tonight. Its clear, its purpose, to fire up roy moores base. This white house is now allin for moore. Which really is a stunning whiplash, because their position on moore has gone from this just a few weeks ago is this senate seat that important . Theres no senate seat more important than child pedophilia. Chuck, thats the reality. To this today vote roy moore. The last thing to make America Great agenda needs is a liberal democrat in the senate. The president wants moore to win but the republican leader of the Senate Mitch Mcconnell obviously does not. Regardless of the president s position. Been no change of heart. I had hoped earlier he would withdraw as a candidate. That obviously is not going to happen. So now the party is stuck. A win means theyre going to have to own moore and all of his baggage. At a moment when that baggage couldnt be more toxic in american politics. A loss means their Senate Majority is at risk and they still might have to own moore and all of that baggage, because of the president s endorsement. Democrats seemingly have the opposite dilemma. Which do they think is going to be better for them . A moore loss or a win . Obviously theyd be thrilled if Democrat Doug Jones won. Dispatch john lewis and other africanamerican leaders to sum up the sizable minority population to head to the polls. Who will anyone a few days . Frankly, who knows. Its snowing in birmingham and donald trump is president. This race is a tossup, and things have gotten pretty icy in the final stretch. I damned sure believe that i have done my part to ensure that men who hurt little girls should go to jail and not the United States senate. Announcer roy moore coauthored a legal koirns instructing students that women should not be allowed to run for office. We certainly dont want to have a liberal democrat thats controlled by nancy pelosi and controlled by chuck schumer. We dont want to have that for alabama. Announcer doug jones. Instead of standing up for our most vulnerable he chose to stand with them. And thats unforgivable. I think theyre afraid im going to take alabama values to washington. And i want to tell you i cant wait. [ cheers and applause ] and today moore supporters are seizing on the news that one of his accusers is now changing part of her story. To back up her claims moore assaulted her, Beverly Young nelson initially says moore wrote her a message in her high school yearbook. The moor campaign suggested it was a forgery and demanded it be wee leased. Now more than three weeks later nelson told reporters she added notes to the end of the message. Joining me now is senior colleague Vaughn Hilliard just over the border in pensacola, florida. Vaughn, every day in the last final weeks of this campaign, seems to have created more headlines. Today, no pun intended there, today the Gloria Allred client seemed to gum things up, sort this out for us. Reporter yes. No. Were outside here. Theres only actually about a dozen people in this line outside of the pensacola arena. Weve actually talked to that have come 20 miles in from alabama. Looking at beverly nelsons story, being on the ground here in the last month, made hay out of that yearbook. From every event, from twitter, online. Calling attention to having that ye yearbook turned over to check the veracity of the signature of roy moore. So when thats the piece that comes out being a chip in the story of these nine women that came forward with the allegations, its significant. When up talk to the women they want to believe roy moore. They want to vote for a republican. They want to vote for a conservative. Dont appreciate in a lot of instances doug jones stance on abortion but looking for an out and potentially without having had the chance to talk to them today being in florida the question, whether its going to convince or give those few voters that opportunity to make a difference and come over and vote for him. Ironically, look, this accuser, the Gloria Allred client, was no part of the initial Washington Post report. Correct . Now its all being conflated, it seems . Reporter exactly. Suddenly but when talking to them, look at what roy moores done. Essentially paid attention to just two of the nine womens stories up to this point and called attention to that, and really made a case of this. This hasnt been a Campaign Based on issues. Its a Campaign Based on us against the world and that us being roy Moores Campaign versus the likes of Mitch Mcconnell. The establishment. Liberals conflating the women, nine accusers and go down the folks in line here saying, essentially, who is the they, they dont know, to be frank. Some suggest its democrats. Ship say strange. When looking at the state of alabama its working for perhaps just enough voters to pull off that win on tuesday. All right, Vaughn Hilliard, youre apparently on a whistle stop tour of alabama. Let you go and let the train whistle continue to blow and turn to my guests here. Vaughn hilliard, good work. And joining me in mobile is representatives of both campaigns. First start with the chief Campaign Strategist for roy moore. Welcome to the show, sir. Thank you, mr. Chuck. Lets start with the president s rally tonight in pensacola. How important is the president s presence here to your campaign . Very important, because we need all of our people back. You know . They were sold a bill of goods on all of this Washington Post stuff, false allegations. Were seeing today they falling apart. The ringleader was Gloria Allred and now thats falling apart. The people of alabama have stood with roy moore. If anybody would have left, very few. Went to the undecided not to the doug jones category, and the president being down here brings them all back onboard and we look for a big victory tuesday but got to get them out to vote. Thats the key. You said you seem to conflate, and talking about that earlier with my reporter, seemed to conflate all of it. Judge moore did know some of the accusers. At least he said that at first and now claims he didnt know any of the accusers. So why should we take judge moores word on this . The problem, the Washington Post conflated it. Threw all of these people and asked judge moore, did you know any of these people . Judge moore knows people all over this country and all over al. He doesnt remember people he dated . I remember everybody ive dated. We know this. Do you remember everybody you dated . Heres the thing. Chuck you could be in trouble on that one. Did you do anything really crazy when dating these people . Judge moore doesnt know exactly what he was doing 38 years ago but knows exactly what he wasnt doing and wasnt doing what they say he was doing. Does the judge believe its troubling to date somebody who be 20 years old . He didnt know, on sean hannity if that happened he didnt know that it happened. So thats all i can say. He would condone he thinks its okay . He said, no. He doesnt like that. He said as far as hes concerned its not something he would generally do. Somebody says theyre in klemp and college, believes them, mom says this a great idea. Go back, in alabama theres a custom. You take somebody out you ask theyre parents. Its been very clear if judge moore ever took any of these people out, which we dont you think he might have . I dont think he did, you seem to be hedging a little here. Just saying that judge moore clearly has said on one occasion he knows the family, and the girl thought they were on a date, hes not going to disparage her. See, hes a good guy and not going to get on national tv and go, oh, no. I dont know you. When they ask that, thats why he said that. So he doesnt know them or he knows them . He has said constantly in the last few weeks he doesnt know any of these women, but it isnt what he said at first. Like i said, all of these people came foreand since the first intershoe with sean, do you know these people . Gone back, looked as far as i know ive never had any contact with them. For some reason, i dont buy it, but judge moore thinks i do. Will not come and do an interview. Ill ask you a few questions that i would prefer to ask him about but youll have to interpret it. But im not judge moore. I understand that, but maybe can explain, in september, as you know, the l. A. Times recording of this he said the following ask aed, the people asked when were things great . He said i think it was great at the time when families were united even though we had slavery, they cared for one another. Families were strong. Our country had a direction. Do you ind why so many thought that little freeze, even though we had slavery, for a lot of americans in the 19th century heres the thing. Go back and listen to the entire thing, he was asked a question and saying that this country was founded on christian beliefs, and he said it wasnt perfect. He said they made mistakes and right before that one little quote, taken out, i wont call you fake news, but what happens right before the election. All of a sudden yall take a quote out of a paragraph and say, oh, hes for slavery nap is ridiculous. Judge moore has used nobody saying hes for slavery but even to just revere that what about that era should be revered . He was saying there was a war this nation went through and the civil war. That was horrible, and the part about slavery you took out, just take out and put in there, judge moore likes slavery. I wasnt alleging he liked slavery. I was alleging it acted like he didnt think he didnt think it was all that bad, at least the impact on families . Judge moore has been very clear. The rand School Decision in 1957, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that black people were property or, you know, remember that . Yes. When he talks about the homosexual ruling, where they can be married, pretend to be married, judge moore said like the grant scott decision of 1957. It was horrible and caused our nation to go into a war with 600,000 americans dying. He used that as an example of being bad. Slavery is extremely an odd back and forth with the guardian involving putin. The question was this that it was said that russia was the focus of evil in the modern world and judge moore responded, you could say that very well about america, couldnt you . And then he said, and they said what do you think than . He said, well, we promote a lot of bad things you know, referring to america. Then he said like samesex marriage. He said, the person responded, thats an argument Vladimir Putin makes. Judge moore said, well, maybe putin is right. Maybe hes more akin to me than i know. What did he mean why in . What he sment that when you get down to the brass tacks, this countrys in trouble. Weve got pornography filling our streets. Weve got abortion taking place and judge moore is returning against this defy doug jones whos even partial birth aborti abortion, before the babys born, okay to abort them. If i understand hes clarified his position, he told me he supporting supports the law on the books. Lateterm abortion. Abet he clarified it. You got it. Very clear, until a babys born he can be aborted. He can come back and try to pull politics with you but thats what he believes, and our countrys in trouble and weve got to get back to the constitution, and godly principles that made this nation great. How does he affectively serve in the United States senate when his fellow republican senators, if he gets elected, richard shelby, didnt wont to vote for him and wrote somebody in. Mcconnell doesnt want him him. Id say at least half of the senate they want to seely expel senate. How can he represent alabama effectively . Hell represent us proudly. Im talking effectively. Hell be effective. Look whats happening now. Hell stand up for whats right, just and fair. Thats why they dont want him. Mcconnell will be his boss when he goes up there. Mitch mcconnell is not his boss. Alabama voters are his boss. He should have figured that out. Who does we want in there if not Mitch Mcconnell . Well find out. Mitch mcconnell spent 30 million trying to get roy moore out of the election. Money he could have used up there, he could have used there. If he loses do you blame Mitch Mcconnell . Think the president should have been with you sooner . Were going to win. No doubt . Nope. Get our voters out and remember, alabama is coming. Thanks to the president. Leave it there. Appreciate it. All right. Joining me know, other side, other view of this race, democratic Alabama State senator Henry Sanders. Welcome, sir. Good to see you. All right. You heard mr. Young from mr. Moores campaign. First of all, whats the state of this race . Do you think doug jones can win . I think the race is very close, and i do think that doug jones can win. I think this is a turnout race. Hoomp tuwhoever turns out their people, thats whos going to win. You were among those that werent wasnt happy how the kpar wasnt happy engaging with the africanamerican community. What say you now. Not a matter of not being a strong supporter of doug jones, i understand. I didnt feel enough was being done in the africanamerican community. But within the last two or three weeks, a lot more has been done, and first, i dont depend up on doug jones to get out the vote in the black community. Many black leaders and black Community Leaders have been working to get that vote out, and i see considerable movement in the last couple of weeks. The last time judge moore was on the ballot in a general election it was president ial year. Barack obama was on the bam it. Ballot. Big africanamerican turnout and judge moore almost lost. Closest he came. Right. Should barack obama have been down here campaigning for doug jones or would that have been a doubleedged sword given the democrat republican polarization in the state . Let me say roy moore has a lot of problems, he had a lot of problems before the issue of the young girl kale up. Hed been removed from office, twicetwice by republicans not democrats. He led the charge against removing language from the alabama constitution dealing with segregation in Public Schools and also dealing with poll tax and other kinds of things, oh, and marriage between black and white people. And so he has done a whole lot long before the issues came up about the girl, but i think your question was, really, about the national democrats. Right . Right, right. If the president had come down here could that have done as much harm as good just because of this polarization . I dont know. And thats something that every campaign has to make a decision about. I certainly would have liked to see him here. I think would have energized more people in the black community, but on the other hand it might have energized more white people who was for roy moore. I dont know and i dont to me, thats not really the issue. The issue is the people who are here getting the people out. What is there anything that you wish jones would have done sooner that he hasnt done . Weve talked about what it comes to the africanamerican community. Is there a specific issue . It feels his campaign is about one thing. Hes not roy moore. Sometimes you just dont win if youre just not somebody else . It doesnt feel like that to me and it doesnt feel like that when dealing with other people. Roy moore has a lot of issues, but doug jones has demonstrated great courage. When those four little girls were killed, murdered, in birmingham by the ku klux klan, nothing was done about it. All of those years passed, and nearly 40 years later, he came in and did something about it. It took courage to be able to do that. It also took a commitment to justice. So here doug jones on the one hand working to try to institute justice, and we have roy moore on the other hand time after time resisting justice and literally breaking the law to such an extent that he got removed twice. Its not just against doug jones, i think he has courage. A lot of people say what theyre going to do but get into congress and dont do it because they dont have the courage. Alabamas already a symbol worldwide for Voting Rights. Thats why we have the bridge jubilee. You say that positively or negatively when you say that . Its a symbol. When i go to south africa, to the country of india. They know selma . They know selma and selma stands for Voting Rights in a positive way. It has become a very powerful symbol. So this race is also a symbol. It will be either a symbol for sliding back or it will about symbol for moving forward. If doug jones wins it will about symbol for moving forward. If roy moore wins it will be a symbol for sliding back. Because theyll say if somebody accused of being a pedophile is preferable to somebody whos not from another party who is not from that party, that thats a terrible image to be able to have for alabama, and for this country. Leave it there. Thank you for making the drive. Treacherous weather for you guys down here today with icy roads. I want to take this moment and invite you to the bridge crossing jubilee, first resident in march. I thank you for that inhave a tags. An honor to be there, anyway. Thank you very much. While all the attention is on this alabama, President Trump is holding a rally in another alabama. In pensacola. Ill tell you more about that in a minute. Its the sunday, its meet the press. Among my guests another senator sanders, democratic senator from vermont and republican senator tim scott. Live from wincesters oyster house in mobile, alabama. This holiday, the real gift isnt whats inside the box. Its whats inside the person who opens it. Give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions and open up a world of possibilities. Save 30 for the holidays at ancestrydna. Com we are back. Live from mobile, alabama. We are less than an hours drive from pensacola, florida, where in just a couple of hours President Trump is hod holding a Campaign Rally. For whom or for what . Officially the white house is dubbing this a make America Great rally, but it really is a make roy moore a senator rally. You see, mobile is in mobile, alabama, and its also in the pensacola tv market. What happens in pensacola is seen right over here. Its almost as if President Trump wants to campaign for roy moore while denying he ever campaigned for roy moore. See, i never campaigned in alabama. Did i . Pensacola may be in florida, but as you know, folks down here say its l. A. Lower alabama. Back in 60 seconds with more mtp daily live from wenzdnes oyster house, live in mobile, alabama. Welcome back. Plenty of flus to get to. Alabama and otherwise. Let me bring in Tonights Panel whos not with me eating great gumbo and freezing in mobile is National Reporter for the New York Times and nbc news contributor. And a Washington Post columnist and editor for said newspaper and Vice President at the American Enterprise institute and, of course, also an nbc news contributor. Welcome all. All right. Start with you, dani. Whats worse for the Republican Party . A moore win or a moore loss . Thats a great question. I think there are a lot of people for whom this is hanging in the balance. I think the answer is a moore win is probably much worse for the party than a loss, because they can then move on beyond him. Start to focus again on the democrats who are accused of Sexual Harassment and doesnt become their story again. You know go ahead, ruth. They told us jump and you could sit back and eat your jumbo, chuck, so do it. All right. I was trying to think this through and i think the reason that republicans are worse off if moore wins is that democrats are better off if moore wins. In other words, theyre not going to hold this is not going to be a democratic seat. This is not there inroads into taking back alabama and holding a senate seat in the future. Its a sort of bizarre detour in the, you know, red, red state of alabama, and they can use moore and lord knows based on your interview, with the campaign spokesman, he would be the gift that keeps on giving to democrats. I guess democrats can use more in commercials either way. If he loses, still say the rnc after backing, putting money into this person accused of molesting teenagers, an idea if he wins politically republicans still pick up that seat and with al franken gone, now have to fill that seat and this idea theres an idea politically they hold that seat and can pass more measures that way. Sure. Definitely and i think your point is, could be win either way. Done with the soup . Let me throw another hockey puck in for you guys and do the same thing kmp , which is the importance of this Gloria Allred messup, whatever you want to call it. You heard Vaughn Hilliard earlier and i experienced it myself talking with a handful of voters. There is this, okay. Whats true . Whats not true . And there are voters waiting for new information. How impactful . So youve talked about conflating the Washington Post and Gloria Allred. I would say you made the exact correct point. Go back. Leave aside Gloria Allred and her client and what is or isnt and originally was in the yearbook. Go back to the original Washington Post story, which rocked everybody for a very good reason which is it had people on the record who had no reason to come forward, who had no reason to have any animus against judge moore who had contemporaneous support and corroboration. It was just a rock solid story and so Everything Else thats happened since then has either kroish a corroborated it or its a bunch of noise for judge moore supporters desperate not to believe this has thrown out not to believe people. Im sorry, ruth. You know i agree with you wholeheartedly about this, but you lost me after the, this is a rock hard solid story from the Washington Post. Heres the problem for people in alabama. I was talking to a friend from alabama yesterday. We just dont believe you people in washington. This does hurt that. There is chmplgts is the this . The fact this lady who Gloria Allred brought forward, decided to partially edit for whatever reason the inscription in the yearbook by roy moore. Now, again, why do we believe her in the first place . Because there is a demonstrated history of people who make the case, and theres so many other things other than Sexual Harassment. Theyre all the other terrible stories about roy moore. But if you want to sew doubt, this is what its done. The people are alabama dont actually believe the other people of alabama. The Washington Post, end of the day, local People Living in alabama who are corroborating it from their state. No a lobbyist in washington saying i used to know roy moore. This is a young woman, grew up in their own community. If they dont believe a young woman who grew up in their own community, respect lam be community, roy moore has beableo say, the media hates me, theyre going against gods will. The people i inter1r50ud on the campaign trail works not believe the women who said anything about donald trump. Not believe the access Hollywood Tape or some women dont have a problem with it even if they believe it. Even if you think there are women out there who said, yeah. I think donald trump is brash, and theres problems there, but in my own household, i hear my husband talk about that. I might have had my own his trir of sexual abuse. Got over it. These women can get over it, too. There are voters doing that. All right. Pause it there. I have more hockey pucks to throw at you in the i promise you, including the very fascinating column from ms. Ruth marcus today i want to talk about regarding al franken. Thats in the second part of the show. Anyways, stick around. What does it take to run against a guy like roy moore . Were going to talk with the last guy who ran against roy moore in a general election. Well be right back. You might take something for your heart. Or joints. 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Might have provided the road map for how do you defeat roy moore in alabama . Its moores 2012 opponent for alabama Supreme Court justice. We are live from wintzells oyster house in mobile, alabama, and will have that interview for you next. Get hungry. more people shop online for the holidays than ever before. clapping and the United States Postal Service delivers more of those purchases to homes than anyone else in the country. because we know, even the smallest things are sometimes the biggest. The ford yearend sales event is in full swing. you are going to be a big surprise. whining aww, i see a big puppy. I see a biig puuppy. Hey greg thats ford, americas bestselling brand. Now get exclusive holiday offers, with 0 financing for 72 months across a full line up. For a limited time, get an additional 1,000 cash back on top of 0 financing for 72 months. Get these exclusive offers during the ford year end sales event. We are the driven. Get these exclusive offers the dedicated. The overachievers. We know our best investment is in ourselves. We dont take no for an answer. We fight for what we want. Even for the things that were once a given. Going to college. Buying a home. And not being in debt for it for the rest of our lives. But were only as strong as our community. Who inspires and pushes us to go further than we could ever go alone. Sofi. Get there sooner. Welcome back. This years special election is not the first time roy moore has fwhun a statewide election and not the first time hes dealt with controversy during a campaign. In 2012 moore won the election to become the chief justice of the alabama Supreme Court nine years after he was removed from that same job when he refused to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse defying a court order. Moore defeated the circuit judge bob vance by just four points in that election. A thin margin for a republican over a democrat here in alabama. Bob vance joins me from a little ways north in a snowier birmingham. Judge vance, thanks for coming out. My pleasure, chuck. Let me start with that 2012 race. You did an interview earlier today with politico and talked about the importance of president obamas presence on the ballot, enthusiasm from the africanamerican community. I just spent time talking to state senator Henry Sanders and admitted he was a littles did appointed he didnt see the former president down here. So, you know, how can that be duplicated in a race like this . Chuck, im not sure it can. That was a luxury i had in 2012. I got in the race late. The former democratic nominee was removed and i didnt get into the race until august but i recognized i had the luxury, recognizing that the democratic turnout would be there, because it was a president ial year with president obama at the top of the ticket. So i was able to focus all of my Campaign Efforts on trying to peel away moderate republicans with the assumption that the Democratic Base would show up on election day. Doug jones doesnt have that. Ive always said doug has two opponents in this election. Roy moore and the timing of the election on december 12 when people are more interested in holiday parties and christmas shopping. So he faces a much bigger daunting task than i faced back in 2012. You referred to winning over people who voted for you and voted for mitt romney in 2012. Who was that voter . And how did you connect with them . Why do you think they picked you over judge moore . Our focus was on republicans in the suburbs. Suburbs of birmingham and mobile and huntsville, for example. More moderate republicans. Republicans who dont really tolerate the social fire brand conservatism of roy moore and that crowd. And our pitch was that elect bob vance and i wont embarrass the state. You wont find me on the front pages of the newspapers. Ill just be quietly going about my job as chief justice, but with roy moore, hes going to embarrass the state as he did before, and sure enough, that came true. But i think there are a number of republicans establishment republicans, republicans interested in bringing business into the state, for example, who really have concerns about roy moore and his type of conservatism. You came up short. What do you think the dealbreaker was . Simply a party label . Was it social issues like abortion . Ive had a lot of democrats down here tell me if doug jones loses, it will be a oneword answer. Abortion. Its a tough, complicated issue for any democrat. The default position for most alabama voters these days when they go into that election booth is to vote for the republican candidate. Period. The democrat has got to make himself or herself known to the voters, but just as importantly, the democrats have to make the voters comfortable. When they go into the election booth, they can be comfortable in voting for the democrat, and sometimes thats a very difficult proposition these days in alabama. So its a hard sell. I didnt have quite enough time to get over the finish line in that regard, since i did come into the race late. But certainly for a number of folks, the social issues, the hot button issues that moore relies on so much, they are a driving force. All right. Judge vance, i appreciate your time here. Quite a, quite an election your state is giving us. Its been fun. Appreciate t. Thank you, chuck. Well be right back. Live from wintzells oyster house live in mobile, alabama. I just got my cashback match, is this for real . Yep. We match all the cash back new cardmembers earn at the end of their first year, automatically. Whoo i got my money hard to contain yourself, isnt it . Uh huh let it go whoo get a dollarfordollar match at the end of your first year. Only from discover. Ive always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. Super poligrip free. It creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. Just a few dabs is clinically proven to seal out more food particles. Try super poligrip free. when it comes to holiday shopping, my wife loves style, my son is all about technology and my daughter . She just loves horses. Dont you just love onestop shopping . I do. Ring in the holidays with buick. Get up to 20 below msrp on most 2017 luxury suv models. Thats over 7,100 on this Buick Envision essence. Experience the new buick this holiday season. Welcome back. Tonight im obsessed with interior secretary ryan zinke who seems to view himself or acts like some sort of european monarch with all the privileges that entails. Let us count the ways which continue to grow today. The Washington Post reported that like the queen, zinke has a flag raised at the interior department when there and taken down when hes gone. Vant fair reported hes had a commemorative coin commissioned with his name on them. I dont know what you get for that coin pap small firm in the state of montana awarded a 300 Million Contract to help rebuild after hurricane maria. That contract was taken back. Plus the number of times he has spent government dollars, tens of thousands of government dollars to charter jets, use government helicopters are too many to account here and a government chopper required to get him back to washington to go horseback riding with Vice President pence. Not fake news. Seriously. Secretary zinke is under investigation by the interior departments Inspector General and independent office of the special council for all of these things. His Office Defends the trip all approved by ethics officials. Okay. No word whether advance approval it needed to ride a horse to work. Speaking of that horse, secretary zinke may need to ride back to montana once the Inspector General report is done. Well be right back. Remember how the economic crash was supposed to be a wake up call for our government . People all across the country lost their savings, their pensions and their jobs. Im tom steyer and it turned out that the system that had benefited people like me who are well off, was, in fact, stacked against everyone else. Its why i left my Investment Firm and resolved to use my savings for the public good. But here we are nine years later and this president and the Republican Congress are making a bad situation even worse. They wont tell you that their so called tax reform plan is really for the wealthy and big corporations, while hurting the middle class. It blows up the deficit and that means fewer investments in education, health care and job creation. Its up to all of us to stand up to this president. Not just for impeachable offenses, but also to demand a country where everyone has a real chance to succeed. Join us. Your voice matters. Everyone deserves attention, whether youve saved a lot or just a little. At pnc investments, we believe youre more than just a number. So we provide personal Financial Advice for every retirement investor. Its lid time. More fallout from the highprofile congressional resignations we told you about last night. The latest, congressman trent franks. He announced hes resigning. At first he said he would stick around until january. Suddenly today he said hes making his resignation immediately. In the statement he said it was because his wife had been admitted to the hospital. But nbc news can now confirm reports that franks offered one of his staffers 5 million to conceive a child with him. Okay then. Now i think we know why he sped up the resignation. On this one, i dont know where to begin. But i guess now we see why trent franks sped up the resignation. Well, he released a statement yesterday that had everyone in washington shaking their heads. There was this long statement about how his wife was infertile and they had been struggle and they had used a surrogate that was not genetically attached to the child and it led everyone thinking there was more to the story. He was the first to resign before the story was out before it came out about what he did. So you knew this must have been especially bad. And offering 5 million to someone to be a surrogate is essentially pretty bad. I dont know how you defend it. It looks like were just speechless. I dont think theres any defending. It is clear, there are going to be, there are multiple members of congress who just, not only did they behave badly, they behaved weirdly. Look. Its a very strange environment and i think all of us who live in washington understand that washington is a little bit weird. I guess we could say of trent franks, at least he didnt expect it for free but thats the only good thing we can say. I think when youre a member of congress, you youre surrounded by people who work for you. Yes men, lobbyists and i think you lose your sense of reality. Thats the only way i can explain the absolute bipartisan wave of creepiness. I think the creepiness is a great phrase. Theres been lots of rumors about what your newspaper is working on. It is an unanswerable question because marty would have your head for it anyway. Clearly, more will come out. There will be more stuff on more members of congress. And well have to figure out how to judge these people. And you wrote an interesting column today about the al franken situation. It seems to be, is that, so if thats the new standard, what does that mean Going Forward . Especially if were looking at dozens of members of congress that will be dealing with some bad behavior stories. It will be really complicated, and i think that the franken outcome, democrats and republicans, might end up somewhat regretting. It is clearly as a political matter how much better it is for democrats to have franken, well still see that horrible picture but if they can put him off to the side and say theyre the party that dealt with it. The republicans are the party that refuses to deal with their Sexual Harassment and sexual abuse problems. But im not sure justice is done. We should have zero tolerance in the workplace and even in the Congressional Workplace for Sexual Harassment and sexual abuse. But that doesnt mean that we cant distinguish between degrees of bad behavior. And it doesnt mean we need to have the political Death Penalty for every offense. And i think built on that, we also didnt have a very, certainly not a complete process for senator franken. He said hes confident if the ethics process went through, that he would be cleared. And i wonder about his colleagues can. They say theyre confident that he would have been found guilty or liable or responsible if the ethics process finished up . It should make everybody a little uncomfortable. Senator menendez is still being evaluated before the ethics committee. Ive heard some democrats say, whoa so senator franken didnt get a chance and senator menendez continues to get a chance. His has nothing to do with personal behavior. His has to do with potentially abusing his its office. But senator frankens speech was someone who was asking his own party for justice. Wasnt a speech from someone who felt like he had been wrong. He was saying, i am who you think i am. A chile for women. And it is interesting as a reporter to see a party, the democrats say theyre a party of justice. In the case of al franken, he didnt get the due process he was essentially owed. If youre the democratic party, the Democratic Women, and a Democratic Women senator, can you say, you still deserve to be here. Theyre going to say it is a partisan issue. You may think there wasnt due process for al franken and roy moore will get he vg he should get. When people start on distinguish between democrats and republicans in harassment, it is a slippery slope. It is. Ill have to leave it there. Have a great weekend. Thank you for coming in. Im sure you enjoyed me not being there. I couldnt interrupt you as much. Youre missing some great gumbo here. Rub it in another crazy set of elections. avo when you have type 2 diabetes, you manage your a1c, but you also have a higher risk of heart attack or stroke. Noninsulin victoza® lowers a1c, and now reduces cardiovascular risk. Victoza® lowers my a1c and blood sugar better than the leading branded pill. avo and for people with type 2 diabetes treating cardiovascular disease, victoza® is now approved to lower the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. And while it isnt for weight loss, victoza® may help you lose some weight. avo victoza® is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. 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In case you missed it, the recently pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio was asked if he would run. He said hes not interested because he is seriously, seriously, seriously considering running for the u. S. Senate. Seriously. Seriously . Thats right. The same joe arpaio who the president convicted after being, who the president pardoned. The same joe arpaio who was accused of abuse of power as the Maricopa County sheriff. So ill return to my original comment and probably something in corey gardners thought bubble. Seriously . Thats all for tonight. Thank you so much to the folks right here in mobile, alabama. Well be back on monday with mtp daily. If its sunday, its meet the press he on msnbc. And ill have my tour right here in alabama. And ari, i know ill late but nicole was late too. So make matthews pay for it. My only question, how are the oysters . Ill tell you in a few minutes. Well check back with you. Have a