Transcripts For MSNBCW MTP Daily 20190219

To this hour, thats how much is on the docket today. We talked for months about the president and his allies possibly obstructing justice and doing it, frankly, in plain sight. The New York Times dropped an exhaustive detailed look inside trumps twoyear war on the multiple investigations. The times puts it, the investigation reveals the extent of an even more sustained, more secretive assault by mr. Trump on the machinery of federal Law Enforcement. There is a lot in this piece. The president may have tried to interfere with another federal investigation. This one going on in the Southern District of new york, over the hush money payments in the 2016. He pressured Matt Whitaker to put jeffrey better man in charge of the sdny investigation. The president today called that report fake news. Multiple people familiar with the cases says its correct to describe him as a trump ally. Using his acting attorney general to his benefit does fit a pattern. There was the firing of james comey over the russia investigation. Or telling comey to let Michael Flynn off the hook. That took place before he fired comey. Or there was the ordering of the white House Counsel to fire robert mueller. Or there was calling the fbis raid on Michael Cohens office, an attack on other country. Or calling Jeff Sessions to end the mueller probe. Both publicly and apparently privately. Or dangling pardons in plain sight. That does not even include dictating the misleading statement for his son about the trump tower meeting which isnt technically a crime, lying to the media that is. Lying to mueller, thats another story. Any of these instances on their own would be difficult to prove as obstruction of justice. Put them all together and they lead to one simple question. For a man who says hes done nothing wrong, he sure seems to be worried about people finding something that he did do wrong. With me now, is nbc news justice correspondent pete williams, also joining the crew, matt miller for the Justice Department. And now an msnbc justice and security analyst, barbara mcquaid. And also frank nicluzy. B. Williams, let me start with you. What did the times find . And where should we hold off on what weve been able to confirm and not confirm here . Well, in terms of the contact with Matt Whitaker as attorney general. A couple things about that, first of all, the times says that jeff berman, the u. S. Attorney in new york had recused himself. Actually, thats not quite accurate. U. S. Attorneys under the rules cannot recuse themselves. He was recused by a senior official at the Justice Department because of the fact that he was not appointed by the president. He was the president s apparent choice for the job. He was put in there in an acting capacity by Jeff Sessions. When that term ended, he was appointed to fill out the term by a federal judge. Thats how it works under the rules if theres no nominee acted on it. Thats how berman got the job. He had been in a law firm with rudy giuliani, perhaps thats how the Trump Administration knew about him. He had been a prosecutor in the new york office, the Southern District of new york before. He had a pretty high profile. The Justice Department asked about this today, gave us the following statement. It says it notes that whitaker said this, it quotes the language the words he spoke when he testified ten days or so ago before the house Judiciary Committee. At no time has the white house asked for, nor have i provided any promises or commitments concerning the special counsels investigation or any other investigation. And they say, mr. Whitaker stands by that testimony. So you can make of that what you will. He was specifically asked during the hearing whether the president ever asked him to do anything about the cohen investigation, whether they talked about it at all. And he gave an answer that he gave frequently during that hearing, im not going to describe my conversations with the president. Pete, is this the first that sdny has heard about a potential obstruction into that Michael Cohen case . Was that news to sdny today as far as we know . Well, i dont know whether theres an investigation of any obstruction involving that case. I would hesitate to describe it that way as a legal matter. Certainly, theyre aware, these questions have been asked before whitaker appeared before the house. Jerry nadler said, were going to ask you about this. This question has been out there. Barbara mcquaid, let me ask you. Given this report, would todays report alone be enough for sdny to launch an obstruction probe or add that on to their current investigation of president and that aspect of the investigation . How would that work . I dont know that it would. The fact that he asked Jeffrey Berman be overseeing this case. I dont know that thats enough. You really need the element of a corrupt intent. And it seems like this is sort of the way President Trump rolls. He likes to have loyal people overseeing and making decisions, he believes they will make decisions favorable to him. He didnt ask that anybody be done corruptly, that anybody change a decision, not bring charges against him. So i dont know that that alone is going to be enough. As you say, the cumulative effect of all of these things, i think at some point does beg the question. At what point does it become obstruction of justice. Let me run the list with you, if you dont mind. Which one of these is the most troubling. And then, is it the firing of comey. Asking comey to let flynn off the hook. Is it the supposed report that he asked to get mueller fired. Is it trying to call on sessions publicly in the investigation . Is there any one of those thats more lethal . Or at some point do you take all of this and open a separate investigation . Yeah, i dont know that any one is any more lethal than the others, i think all of them together start to feel like there is some purpose here. The tricky part of proving an obstruction of justice count isnt usually what the person did, its what the person thought. Proving that corrupt intent, you can never read a persons mind. The way a jury gets strucked about this, because you can never read a persons mind, you must make reasonable inferences based on the totality of the circumstances, you should consider all of the things the person said and did. And so i think the cumulative effect is what is used to make that reasonable inference into whether the president had a corrupt intent. I think the more you add on to the pile, the more likely it is that someones going to look at the totality of the circumstances and find a corrupt intent. How would you go about investigating this at this point, frank . Matt whitaker may find himself a fact witness now this is someone who is still walking the halls of doj as a special adviser. The interesting part of this, you can start investigating phone logs at the white house, if they even exist. You can look at Matt Whitakers intake if hes documenting phone calls from the president. You want to talk to whitaker, what this is going to lead to is some likely claim of executive privilege. If this was a conversation with the president , he could attempt to assert privilege or at least the president could, and that would get interesting. Dont be surprised if the Southern District does attempt to talk too Matt Whitaker and get the facts. Theres a lot of it depends here. Was it asked in the form of a question . Can we get the u. S. Attorney to handle this . No, sir, hes recused. Or was it more of a direct order that was ignored . Those facts make a difference. Frank, does it make a difference whether hes attorney general . Is it less criminal if he was just simply talking to the chief of staff, to the former attorney general before he was acting a. G. . I think theres little distinction there, if in fact theres criminal conversation. Theres investigation there, i think its about work product provided to the president and theyll argue for a privilege there as well. Matt miller, walk us through justice, how often im sure its not often if at all. But can you walkthrough a time where you remember someone going, there should be a different supervisor for this investigation . How did those conversations go . Thats fairly routine. Eric holder recused himself for a number of investigations. I think the biggest one he recused from is the john edwards investigation. Which he was confused from. He had vetted him as a potential Vice President ial nominee. There were others he recused himself from, because his law firm, when hes in private practice had represented someone. It is a fairly common thing, and its a fairly common thing for people down the line to recuse themselves from investigation. What is unusual, of course, and beyond unusual. This kind of thing never happened to the Justice Department while i was there, and i would dare say didnt happen in previous administrations going back, except for nixon. Its for the white house or someone else who is the subject of a criminal investigation. To weighin on the Justice Department. Of course, its more so for the white house, because the president has the hiring and firing power. Implicit in this push to whitaker for the u. S. Attorney in the Southern District to unrecuse himself. A term ive never heard before. Is the implicit ability to remove Matt Whitaker from office. Frank, since youre the former guy, the president s constant haranging of the fbi and questioning the fbi motives, the specific attacks on Andrew Mccabe and his wife, when do all of the attacks on the fbi and Law Enforcement look like an obstruction case . Frank, ill start with you, and then barbara, id like you to follow up on that as well. Theres no question the damage has been done. Lets go back to the conversation weve had with others. This is about totality of the circumstances. And we know that mueller is looking at obstruction issues, because were hearing reports at least, that people who have been questioned by him, have been asked about that kind of thing, so if you put the firing of comey into that mix, now you put the treatment of mccabe, you put questioning of mccabe in the oval office about how he voted and how hes leaning toward something and whether he resisted comey or not. All of that public tweeting, all of the posts, all of the statements become part of the argument that this president is on a daily basis, trying to undermine and erode an investigation in which he is a party and an interest. Given the fact that the president went out of the chain of command to appoint an acting attorney general that was not in the chain of command for another reason in that he didnt want Rod Rosenstein to be it. I know in isolation, thats not any proof, but is that part of the larger picture here . Well, i think so, depending on the reason, if you can find someone that says the reason he wanted Matt Whitaker to be there instead of Rod Rosenstein is because he was concerned rosenstein would seek and find the truth and it would be damaging to president interrupt, he wanted someone there instead who might protect him. If thats the purpose, that could be evidence of obstruction of justice. One thing thats important, even if matt wit kerr was in agreement with such a plan, its enough that a person attempted to obstruct justice, even if hes efforts are not successful. That could be one more piece on that pile of evidence. Matt miller, how does the whistle blowing process work there . Could the i. G. Be investigating this at this point and we dont know yet . He could be. I think the bigger issue here is probably congress. One of the lines that i didnt think we havent talked about yet in this New York Times report, its not the conversation between whitaker and the president. Whitaker talked to associates of the department of justice and said to them, there needs to be more adult supervision of sdny. The Judiciary Committee is going to ask about those conversations and those are not protected by an executive privilege claim. You may see either jerry ed that letter, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee or maybe someone in the senate asked the Inspector General to ask this question. I doubt he would launch it on his own. Members of there was the Justice Department staff there, that would have to cooperate with those investigations. Matt, barbara, frank. I really appreciate it, like i said, theres a couple corruption probes were not going to get to today, including the mike flynn saudi nukes story. Let alone whats going on with betsy devos. Coming up, the latest bombshell from Andrew Mccabe. He says he told top members of congress from both parties that there, indeed, he had opened a Counter Intelligence investigation against the president. And no one objected. Thats next. 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The apparent pile of the obstruction of evidence the former fbi acting chief dropped an enormous bombshell into a Counter Intelligence investigation about whether the president was working for russia. Mccabe spoke to Savannah Guthrie this morning. I know you and other members of your team briefed the socalled gang of eight. These are the leaders in congress in the days after comey was fired about the russia investigation. It would have been the majority leader of the senate. Did you tell them that you had opened a Counter Intelligence investigation into President Trump . The purpose of the briefing was to let our congressional leadership know exactly what weve been doing. Did you Tell Congress . And i told congress what we had done . Did anyone object . Thats the important part here, savannah, no one objected. Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on facts. You may do a double take on that revelation. We went back to confirm he said what he said. A mccabe spokesperson said in so many words, we heard him correctly. None of the republicans objected mifrp mcconnell, paul ryan, devin nunes. None of them was seeking to object. That didnt leak out until recently . The president s lawyers remain in the dark about it the whole time . Lets get to tonights panel, alfonso agular. Jennifer palmieri, former obama and Clinton Communications director. And adam nigurney. Frank, let me start with you youre our fbi expert here. You open that kind of investigation, what ended would it have surprised you, had the director of the fbi not briefed the gang of eight in congress about something as sensitive as investigating the president of the United States . They would have to. I have briefed Senate Committees on far less. The rules are, that any significant Counter Intelligence operation, opening of the espionage case has to be briefed. At some point it would have to be briefed. I will tell you this, from my own experience, there should be documented evidence of that transcript, the briefing, at least the notes from either their side or from the fbi side somewhere that those notes of what was briefed are going to be documented. I was going to say, you say that, do you wonder if maybe folks didnt hear andy mccabe right at the time . It is shocking that Something Like this didnt leak out. Yeah, im surprised it hasnt leaked out. I wouldnt want to go back to the date that allegedly occurred and i want to see peoples behavior right after that. What did we see members do that were briefed . What public statements were made, what attempts were made to get at evidence right after that, a time line needs to be constructed to see what was going on. Look, the fact that you have devin nunes in that room, if this took place as mccabe said it took place, and you think about all of the ways that devin nunes seemed to help the white house in and around that time and after. Thats suddenly a pretty maybe he didnt hear it, maybe theres some other mitigating circumstances. I dont know why anyone has tried to receive it. It undercuts the republicans discussion on this. Jennifer palmieri, youve had your share of run ins with the is department, the fbi, your frustrations of when they say things and when they dont say things. There is as adam put it, theres something that makes you scratch your head on this one. I dont know, actually, because recall that in the summer, the obama administration, in 2016 briefed the gang of eight about the russian leak and hack and the fact that they had open investigation an fbi investigation of donald trump. And that didnt leak either. And also recall that in that following up on that meeting. We went to the gang of eight and they said they wanted to make that information public. Mitch mcconnell said no, he objected. So my takeaway to this piece of news as well as everything thats contained in the New York Times story is that when that Mueller Report comes out, the republicans and congress are going to have so much to answer for. We just know little snippets, we get snapshots of everything thats going to be detailed there, i think its going to be damning. It raises a bunch of questions about devin nuness actions. Now that the gang of eight was a crowd of two dozen in the room, andy mccabe writes. I thought the chance of this not getting back to the president was zero. Then devin nunes walked in, and the chance was less than zero. He was suspected of having given information during the nighttime rendezvous at the white house. Look whos here i said to rod, referring to rosenstein. Rosenstein understood went to talk to nunez, nunez is staying, hes not recused himself from this. He refuses to leave. If everything thats being reported is as is, that andy mccabe did brief all these folks and they knew this. How much pressure does that put on devin nunes and his actions during the summer and fall of 17 . Well, it puts some pressure, but ill begin by saying, i dont put a lot of stock into what andy mccabe says. This is a guy who was fired because the Inspector General found he leads. So i frankly dont know if this is a factual statement from mccabe. I want to see corroborating evidence as it was said before. A transcript, to see if he clearly informed the members of the intelligence committees, and if p they truly understood what he was talking about. I mean, we just cant take andy mccabe at his word sadsly. Frank, this is what this judiciary or the Intel Committee that would need to investigate this . I think either of them has standing to open the case. Since were talking the gang of eight, i think they have the they have the venue, the jurisdiction here, they would likely do it. Adam, youre watching all this from out here, you dont live it the way we all live it in some ways. Even though your paper breaks bombshell after bombshell, im sure its a different perspective. Since you used to be a washington creature of sorts, what do you think this looks like from where you are, and do you think youd be covering it differently if you were where we are . I dont think i would be covering it differently. From a lot of this stuff, its a blur after a while. Its numbing people. I think people are losing track of it, its more details. This whole day has been like that, a lot of people are just tuning this, or sort of critically it becomes their basic view of trump or the situation. This kind of stuff how many more things can shock people or outrage people. This is the latest one. Jennifer palmieri, how do you handle that politically . You wait until the Mueller Report comes out. Ive lived in situations where youre waiting on action from the department of justice. You can live in suspended animation, you can convince yourself that everything is fine, and this stuff doesnt matter, and its all a blur. I dont disagree with what adam said, but ultimately, theres going to be an earned to this process, and a report of this detail. And i think thats going to be a different day, thats when the American Public will tune back in, and the republicans will have to decide which side of history they come down on. Where is your head on all these things . You hear all this stuff. I know where you are personally on him and some of his policies. Forget that, when does it become more real for you . I agree with what jennifer just said. The problem is, i think at the end its not going to be republicans scratching their head, its democrats, he may have started that investigation, perhaps congress was wear that this investigation started. If at the end they cant find a smoking gun evidence that puts the president in a compromising position. Then democrats have a problem. They keep saying that hes somehow included with the russians, if they dont find that evidence, democrats are going to and a lot of talking heads are going to have to do a lot of explaining to the American Public. Thank you very much. Frank, im going to let you go, alfonso, jennifer and adam have to stay with me. Quick programming note, former acting fbi director Andrew Mccabe is sitting down with Lawrence Odonnell tonight at 10 00 p. M. Eastern on msnbc. Is america ready to feel the burn once again . How Bernie Sanders entry into the 2020 race could impact an already very crowded field. For my family. In only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured and left those doubts behind. I faced reminders of my hep c every day. But in only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured. Even hanging with friends i worried about my hep c. But in only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured. Mavyret is the only 8week cure for all common types of hep c. 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You may raul that in 2016, many of the ideas that i talked about, medicare for all, raising the minimum wage to 15 an hour. Making public colleges and universities tuition free. All of those ideas, oh, bernie theyre so radical. You know whats happened in over three years, all of those ideas and many more are now part of the political mainstream. Youre saying the party came your way . Well, i dont want to say that, i think most people would say that. At the same time, you are going to have others like Amy Klobuchar tapping the brakes on promising too many goodies. The president tries to tag the entire Democratic Party with the socialist label. Bernies back, and well dive into what it means right after this. Right after this senator Bernie Sanders made it official today, hes running many lets dive in with the pollster of the clinton campaign. Alfonso, jennifer and adam are still here. Let me start with you, the Republican Party is the party that has a history of nominating its runnerup from four years befo before, than the democrats. How unusual would it be if bernie standers is the nominee . I think it would be unusual. And what you have right now is a large field starting out early on. What strikes me is interesting, senator sanders ran a Strong Campaign last time. He got 43 of the vote throughout the primary system. Throughout the primaries, and hes polling in only one poll i think above 25 . At about 27 . He has as much name i. D. Right now as everyone in that field, probably except joe byiden. But probably as much given his campaign. I dont know whats Holding People back from where they were four years ago, i think democrats want to win. Im not sure they settled yet on a candidate or who they think has the best chance to beat donald trump in 2020. Adam why is it Bernie Sanders is not being treated as the frontrunner in this race. On paper now, theres nobody who polls better. I think its a good question, i think people like joel was saying, people think hes not going to go the distance. He had his moment four years ago, he didnt do it, and i think hes facing more scrutiny this time, a tougher race this time. Its a more crowded field this time. I dont think hes necessarily as an attractive candidate as other people in the field. I think a lot of people are if theyre not saying it, you had your chance, its not going to go this time. Jennifer, it feels like bernies biggest liability is his biggest asset. He is who he is. Theres no new bernny, right . Theres no reintroducing yourself like john edwards from 04 to 08. For bernie, what you see is what you get. Which is sort of what he was saying. Its true, and i think this is why he weathers up and down better in some campaigns. He doesnt get caught in traps the way other people do. But as adam said, he has a lot more competition this time, and people are going to have similar views. People will have more choices than they did, if you are on the same ideological spectrum as he is. And i guess the model that hes going for is reagan, right . From 76 to 80. Reagan 76 lost that primary, was a conservative candidate. Very ideological. People werent ready for it yet. I think bernies hoping this time his party will be ready for someone like him. But they have a lot of choices. And im not sure that he has some of the gifts that, in terms of communicating and Winning People over, thats something the other candidates will have. I want to keep the reagan thing going here the Reagan Sanders comparison. You know, like democrats in 1980, cheering on the nomination of Ronald Reagan, donald trump was cheering on Bernie Sanders. One of the few democrats hes had something nice to say about. What do you make of that . Well, i think hes cheering him on, because it helps us as republicans to highlight how the Democratic Party is moving to the extreme left. I mean, consider that one of the leading candidates in the democratic primary right now is a democratic socialist. And as jennifer was saying, this time around, hes not the only one. There are other candidates with similar views. Medicare for all, government controlled health care, free public college. Supporting Green New Deal that calls for a massive government involvement in the economy. I think it really helps republicans. I think my interest is, how does that impact the more moderate candidates like klobuchar or joe biden if he gets in . When you have all these candidates that are are moving to the extreme left, are they going to be able to remain moderate in the primary . Because if a joe biden comes out of the primary can he in a general election, if hes moved to the extreme left, say, im a moderate . So for us, this is actually politically good news. Joel, answer alfonsos question there. Well, first of all, i think that republicans like to talk about the extreme left, because theyre doing so poorly with the middle. Theyre doing poorly with the middle because theyre out of touch with a majority of where americans are. On making college more affordable, and delivering health care to more americans. You know, they promised for eight years they were going to repeal and replace obamacare, and they got whiplash because of the backlash. They are so out of touch with the middle of america right now, democrats are actually the most mainstream party, talking to people about their economic lives and economic futures in a way that benefits the middle class joel, are you worried about the s word defining the Democratic Party . Not particularly, the republicans try everything they can do to paint the Democratic Party as the party of the left. They tried to do it in the midte midterms, they got their clocks cleaned. They got their clocks cleaned because theyre not talking to the majority of the americans any more. They lost favor with women, they got clobbered in the they lost 12 points in the suburban vote last midterms, compared to the previous midterm. They won them by 12, democrats were even in the suburbs, the tide is changing, and they want to keep staying behind the tide and behind the curve on where americas going. Adam, where are you on this. First of all, is Bernie Sanders Ronald Reagan or Barry Goldwater . I think hes Barry Goldwater. In some ways he may be out of touch with his own party. I dont totally disagree with joel. I dont totally agree with joel here, i do think the democrats have to be wary of the socialism tag. Theres a long history of republicans successfully painting democrats as being way out of touch. Its more complicated now because the party has moved so far to the right. I think a lot of whats been going on right now. Is tv commercials i think a smart democratic candidate can win the nomination and position him or herself in such a way it will be harder for trump to do that. I think one thing we learned, suburban america get ready for a whiplash, series of attack ads from the left and right. Joel bennett son, thank you. Panel, stick around. President trump says his wall is needed because were facing a National Emergency at the border. Most americans agree. A Heart Failure pill that helped keep people alive and out of the hospital. Dont take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. Dont take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if youve had angioedema with an ace or arb. The most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. Ask your doctor about entresto. 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Welcome back, President Trump reacting to the wall. Which includes the lawsuit filed by 16 states. As a flagrant disregard of fundamental powers in the constitution. The lawsuit even uses the president s own words against him. I didnt need to do this. But id rather do it much faster. The only reason were up here talking about this is because of the election. And its not just a legal problem for the white house. A new poll out this morning finds an overwhelming majority of americans find 61 approve of his building of the wall with the declaration unpopular, the white house staring down a losing battle. Could this prove disastrous for the president . Or would he rather lose and fight the loss and campaign that way . Well discuss it after the break. Break. But youre not, because you have e trade, which isnt complicated. Their tools make trading quicker and simpler so you can take on the markets with confidence. Dont get mad. Get e trade. When cravings hit, hit back. 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Youll get five screenings for only 149 saving over 50 . Life line screening. The power of prevention. Call now to learn more. clapping every day, visionaries are creating the future. so, every day, we put our latest technology and vast expertise to work. the United States Postal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, affordably and ontime. ringing the future only happens with people who really know how to deliver it. Our panel is back. I want to put up the party splits on that poll, because i want to bring it up, because its sort of shows you our politics in a nutshell. Among democrats, 94 disapprove of the National Emergency. Among republicans, 85 approve of the president s majority of independents, 63 that disapprove of this. Considering the lack of partisan backlash for the president here, politically does he have that much to lose here if he ends up losing in court . In some ways he might be better off losing in court because of his base, an important caveat, because of the various fighting. He doesnt want to be the dog that catches the car, have to implement this. And the independent numbers remind me of this, it is a base strategy. Once again he is going after his base. Taking what happened in 2016, you cant win an election unless theres a fluke with 38, 40 of the vote. If i was working for trump and saw the independent numbers, my heart would go through the seat, i would be alarmed by that. Alfonso, independent numbers never seem to panic the white house, no matter what the numbers are with the middle there, self described independents. Absolutely. And this specific move is as adam was saying directed towards his base. But let me be clear about this, i dont support the president declaring a National Emergency about this, it is a bad precedent. Im concerned a democratic president could exploit this in the future. In terms of legal authority, i think he does have it, because of the National Emergency act of 76. This broad delegation of power to the president. I think he will be validated, but i think the conservatives and liberals are being consistent on this and it shows how polarized the immigration issue is. Conservatives have always criticized obama for his imperial presidency, governing through executive action. Now you have so many conservatives supporting a declaration of National Emergency. On the other hand, liberals supported barack obama going around congress, creating the daca without constitutional authority, now criticizing trump saying this violates the constitutional separation of powers. Jennifer, i mean, hes got a point there. It seems as if it is the party that commits the violation we get more outrage. The courts upheld daca. It was challenged in court and upheld. Not daca, the epa, not the daca one. Yeah, i said daca. But it is challenged in court and the courts ruled. The wall has been a game to trump, it is not a real issue, tas game he uses to entice his base. No matter what happens in court, whether he wins or loses, head, he wins, tails we lose, doesnt matter. He will find a way to make that issue work for him and his base and they will buy into whatever answer, whatever response he has because thats the kind of control he has over the people that support him and the value they get from him being president. What would you advise a president ial candidate on the democratic side of the aisle to handle immigration, dont bother talking to him and his base, talk to independents that clearly want something in between what the two parties are offering . I actually dont. I actually would argue that they have to make the argument on immigration to everybody, whether these people vote for them or not. I think targeting certain voters who you think are open to you is part of the reason we got into the mess where we had donald trump as president. I think you should try to convince them as well as independent supporters as well as democrats, make the argument heard, and hope that it has some impact. But i do know that he will figure out a way to find, to keep his most hardcore supporters with him no matter what the outcome for the course is. Adam, being here in california, i know California Republicans are absolutely apoplectic how the president talks about immigration and about hispanics and latinos, it is a frustration that the party feels as if theyre not even being given a chance. Does this only make it harder . Yeah, the california Republican Party has been in trouble a long time, in large part because of the way it sort of was identified with policies that were considered antiimmigration and antihispanic. Whats going on now has been a nightmare. People like schwarzenegger, small group, trying to move the party to the center to make it competitive which it is not in the state. This kind of rhetoric out of washington, not talking the merits, is the worst thing for the Republican Party trying to be competitive in an increasingly blue state. We had a panel crosscountry from coast to coast. Thank you for that. Up ahead, forget the coasts, space force. Are you ready for lift off . Ace. Are you ready for lift off woman 1 this. Woman 2 . This. Man 1 . This is my body of proof. Man 2 proof of less joint pain. Woman 3 . And clearer skin. Man 3 proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis. Woman 4 . With humira. Woman 5 humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. Humira is the number one prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. avo humira can lower your ability to fight infections. 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In case you missed it, space force is back. Not the old show we told you about last year, no, no, no. Not the soon to be steve carell show on netflix, although thats about the real space force. We mean the real, real space force. President trump signed a directive establishing space force at least for now. Not its own branch any more, it will be part of the air force. Good for the air force, how would they have lost there. Some can do we need a space force and what is the cost . Well let the president speak for himself on that. Space is a new fighting domain, with the space force leading the way, we have some very bad players out there and were a good player. Okay. Come on. That wasnt nearly space forcy enough. Control room, lets activate the space force filter. Space is a new war fighting domain. With the space force leading the way. We have some very bad players out there, and were a good player. Little cgi helps him there. There you go. What happens next . Where do we go from here . Watch this space force. Thats all we have for tonight. The puns are gone too. Were back tomorrow. The beat with ari melber sfar starts now. A big show tonight. The top story, two pieces of breaking news in the mueller probe. A federal judge is considering jailing roger stone before trial based on provocative messages he sent which could violate the new gag order he got in the case. Remember the chaotic scenes of him coming