Transcripts For MSNBCW MTP Daily 20190916

New boost from an unexpected place. Plaintiffs pushing a wave of Climate Change lawsuits around the country. If it is monday, it is mtp daily. Good evening. I am katy tur in for chuck todd. We begin with threat of war, except were not sure how credible a threat it really is. After insisting the u. S. Would be locked and loaded on the culprit of a massive attack of Oil Installations in saudi arabia, the president echoed his secretary of state pointing the finger directly at iran. It is looking that way. Well have some pretty good were having some strong studies done. It is looking that way at this moment, and well let you know. As soon as we find out definitively, well let you know, but it does look that way. The president told reporters he does not want war with iran, but the military would be ready for one anyway. The United States is more prepared than any country in the history of in any history if we have to go that way. As to whether or not we go that way, well see. These escalating tensions with iran coming after the Houthi Rebels took responsibility for an attack in saudi arabia that shut down 5 of the worlds oil supply. The u. S. Offered scant evidence to back up claims of iranian involvement other than Satellite Photos of damage. The saudis said their initial investigation indicated iranian weapons were used in the attacks. Iran has denied the u. S. s claims. It is happening against a backdrop of failed u. S. Efforts to get iran to the negotiating table, despite repeatedly offering talks with zero free conditions. To come back to credibility of the president , he is now claiming the fake news is saying that im willing to meet with iran, no conditions. That is an incorrect statement, as usual. Not only has the president said he would meet with iran with no preconditions multiple times on camera, but his top aides have as well, multiple times, on camera. I would certainly meet with iran if they wanted to meet. Do you have preconditions for the meeting . No preconditions, they want to meet, ill meet. Anytime they want. You want to talk good. No preconditions . Not as far as im concerned, no preconditions. The president made clearest happy to take a meeting with no preconditions. The president made it clear, he is prepared to meet with no preconditions. Today the president reversed himself insisting there were always conditions. Yes. It is hard to take this president at his word, but were talking about threats of Armed Conflict with iran from the commander in chief of the worlds most feared military. As he rages about his political enemies and heads for a Campaign Rally. Mr. Trump made it clear he does not want to be mired in another major conflict in the middle east. Still, does that mean he gets to threaten it with impunity . Joining me, White House Reporter kristin welker. Kristin, what is the latest . What is the president now saying . Reporter hi there, katy. He chaired a meeting with the National Security team earlier today as he tries to figure out next steps, what if any response will the United States have to iran. And again, President Trump saying it looks like it was iran. So the question becomes where you started, will there be more evidence the administration puts forward to prove that. In terms of the locked and loaded piece of this, important to point out just as you did on one hand the president said the u. S. Is locked and loaded, ready to respond. On the other hand, tamped down rhetoric, making decisions on potential next steps without former National Security adviser john bolton who was hawkish on the issue of iran. So the question becomes is President Trump looking at a more tempered response potentially or is he trying to still bring iran to the negotiating table. He used the same language, locked and loaded talking about north korea a few years ago and ultimately as you know, President Trump then wound up having negotiations kim jongun, still in search of some broader deal in that Foreign Policy issue he is grappling with. Is that a possibility, the president heads to the u. N. General assembly next week. At this point in time, no indication these two leaders will meet. The administration telling me, underscoring that President Trump is still very much weighing next steps. Are they interested in meeting with iran . Reporter well, i think you have to assume the chances of a meeting just got lower given the latest provocation that there would be some concern that that would be giving iran too much. I go back to the issue of preconditions, the president saying i am willing to meet with no preconditions, now saying i never said that. I have been trying to drill down on that all day. One Administration Official said look, he may be referring to the fact that the equation has now changed in the wake of the attacks against the saudi oil fields. And so President Trump is going to have to give the ultimate clarification there, but again, i think the chances for a meeting next week, seems like that would be tough at this point, but we have to wait and see. Kristin welker, always good to see you. Reporter good to see you. Joining me, senator ben carden. What is your take on the escalating tensions with iran, what evidence have you seen that iran is behind the attack . Well, katy, good to be with you. Well be getting classified briefings sometime this week, i will have more information as to the houthis and iranians, who is responsible for the attack. One thing is clear, the temperature between iran and the United States has gotten much hotter with the president s tweets. This is no way to conduct Foreign Policy, particularly at this particular time with iran. And the United States has isolated itself. We need to work with International Partners who share our views, and unfortunately the United States has been more isolated than we need to be in regards to dealing with iran who does dangerous things. What do you make of the president s locked and loaded comments, are we gearing up to go to war . Well, i must tell you, it was certainly not helpful, it just raises the temperature. There could be a miscalculation, could be a miscalculation on behalf of the iranians or the americans, so to me it is not the way you conduct diplomacy. Have you heard anything from the white house on what next steps might be . We know there will be briefings this week. Well have opportunity to see documentation in a classified forum. But we also do know that the president rarely consults with congress or tells us an overall strategy, we dont know whether he has one or not. The president and secretary pompeo believe iran is behind this. Was there any briefing at all with the committee before either of them went out and said that . No. Theres been no briefing or documentation to committees. I expect tomorrow i will be able to see in classified setting documentation. We do know there is disagreement as to the american involvement with the saudis in regards to whats happening in yemen here on capitol hill and theres been failure of this administration to work with congress to develop a coordinated strategy in regards to yemen and in regards to the saudis. We have u. S. Intelligence shows that the attack was launched from iran. If that is the case, and that proves the president comes out and says the intelligence you see confirms that, what is the appropriate response . Quite frankly we have to be very careful about using our military. What we need to do is use the International Community to isolate iran. Iran is the bad actor. They need to be isolated, not america. When we pulled out of the iran nuclear agreement, we hurt our opportunity to be an International Leader with our allied partners. So what the president needs to do is get unified support, as much unity as possible to isolate iran. Theres a lot of things we can do to make it extremely difficult for iran to pursue this type of action. Given how this country got into war with iraq, how does the American Public trust this government when it says we need to have a military strike or get in an Armed Conflict in the middle east . Lets make it clear, the president does not have authorization to use military force against iran. Congress has never given this president or any president that authorization. The president needs to come to congress and seek our authorization. At that time i must tell you, were going to want to know exactly what the strategy is. We want to use diplomacy, not military, to resolve the issue. What about the 2001 aumf. What if he uses that . That was used in regard to those that planned the attack against our country. It would be a stretch to try to use that now against iran attacking kingdom of saudi arabia and saying that congress authorized that in 2001 after the attack on our country. Should we be in lock step with saudi arabia . No, we shouldnt be. Saudis have done things inconsistent with american values, we saw that with the murder. We have a Strategic Partnership with saudi arabia. Clearly their supply of oil is important to National Security interests, so we have a lot of common interests but we need to develop a strategy that represents americas National Security. I know you were not initially in favor of the Iran Nuclear Deal but also not in favor of leaving the Iran Nuclear Deal. Do you think the fact were no longer in that deal may have contributed to the escalating of tensions and potentially reporting bears out and intelligence bears out of this attack being launched from iran onto saudi arabia . Did they feel emboldened . No question in my mind with america pulling out while iran was in compliance that it did elevate tension between the United States and iran. No question in my mind. To me, it was the wrong decision to make, it was against our National Security interests for us to pull out of the agreement. We should have pursued actions against iran for its nonnuclear violations of international agreements. We would have had the support of our allied partners in doing that, isolating iran. That would have been a much better course to pursue, instead by the president withdrawing, he did elevate tension between our country and iran and isolated america. Do you support the president talking to iran without preconditions . I have no idea what the president is going to do. I would like the president to be prepared for a meeting. We have seen in summit meetings with kim jongun, it doesnt look like there was as much preparation as there should have been. You see that with summit meetings with putin and russia. So yes, i want to see diplomacy work, but i want to be sure the president is prepared and we have the support of International Partners when we meet and talk with iran. Senator ben cardin, thank you for joining us. Thank you. With tweets ranging from misleading to threatening, when can we trust what the president has to say. Later, Justice Brett kavanaugh faces another over impeachment. Over impeachment this is the family who wanted to connect. And find inspiration in new places. Leading them to discover were woven togethere are. Everything you need, all in one place. Expedia. They give us excellent customer otservice, every time. E. Our 18 year old was in an accident. Usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. All i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. If i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. Were the gomez family. Were the rivera family. Were the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. Get your Auto Insurance quote today. Mr. President , do you want war with iran . Do i want war . I dont want war with anybody. I am somebody that would like not to have war. We have the best fightser jets, rockets, missiles, best equipment. With all that being said, we certainly would like to avoid it. As we reported a moment ago, nbc news learned details on the origin of the saudi oil attack. American intelligence shows the attack on a Major Saudi Oil facility was launched from iran, according to three people familiar with the intelligence and goes further than what President Trump said at the white house this afternoon. Joining me, senior politics editor at nbc news, and susan dell perfe percio. We have what u. S. Intelligence have, and reporting at nbc news, and we have the president and the way he talks about being locked and loaded, needing preconditions, no preconditions, and history he has with telling the truth. How does the American Public trust the president when he talks about getting into a potential Armed Conflict in the middle east . He hasnt had a good record talking about the weather. Do we trust him to take us to war. This is something that should have a bipartisan issue, not sure it is or will be, but the cynical voter in me says he didnt get what he wanted with pre9 11 camp david summit, maybe it is his way of ramping up rhetoric and language around this issue, not to say it isnt warranted in certain respects, ramping up rhetoric around this to seem more president ial if you will because sometimes his poll numbers go up on some Foreign Policy issues related to this. But this is very tricky for democrats in part because i believe that you want to give the president some latitude to conduct Foreign Policy, to make these types of engagements, but i dont think anybody trusts him to do so. Bring in ken delaney and nbc news reporter, one of the reporters behind this new piece on nbcnews. Com. What do you have . Reporter were reporting that three sources familiar with the intelligence are saying the u. S. Has compelling evidence that this attack originated in iran and thats a Significant Development because it would be one thing for the iranian proxies, Houthi Rebels in yemen to carry it out on irans behalf, that would be bad enough. If theres evidence that the attack emanated from iran, that it was a staging ground for the attack, that ups the significance and increases the tension between the Trump Administration and iran. And the other important thing were reporting is that Congressional Democrats familiar with the evidence, some have gotten some level of briefing are not disputing iran was behind the attack. Thats important because many people agreed with great skepticism pronouncements of donald trump and secretary pompeo, when it comes to iran, they have a policy of maximum pressure, hostility against iran, it appears the democrats are also deeply concerned the attack came from iran. I am not asking you to reveal sources, i had senator ben cardin on, he hadnt gotten any briefing. Is it clear which democrats have been able to get access to the intelligence . Yeah, i mean, tends to be democrats on the Intelligence Committee and the gang of 8 that hear this information first. That would be the leadership and the leadership of the Armed Services and Intelligence Committee. The early briefings, early indications, there are staff relationships, and theyre not con ver jent with all details. If there were compelling evidence could be released to the public, but were told it may be sensitive that theyre not willing to declassify it and release it, doing it would show the iranians how we know things. This will be on political appoint appointees, career people telling us it is solid. Anything on next steps . I have spoken to people more broadly than the u. S. Government who point out that the u. S. Is really isolated on iran. The europeans are completely alienated from the Trump Administration, theyre upset trump pulled out of the Iran Nuclear Deal, so order necessarily you would try to build a coalition. This is attack on the International Oil markets. All countries will feel the pain from the attack, but this is difficult for trump. Theres a great feeling from allies he put himself in this box, he escalated and provoked this attack. The other issue is that trump said last time he declined to take military action, crossing the red line would be loss of american life. The iranians, if it was them, calibrated the attack, no americans lost their lives that we know of in this attack. The question of whether trump will respond militarily. There will be internal disagreement on capitol hill, there will be disagreement with the American Public how to respond, extreme weariness after iraq. And ken points out rightly so our allies dont have the most trust in us. President trump is in a bad spot. Lets not forget, he basically spent his entire presidency undermining intelligence agencies in this country. Youre talking about the American Public, how theyre going to respond to it. If they have been conditioned over and over to not believe what theyre told, sometimes the intelligence agencies work off another agenda, why do you persuade the American People to believe it this time. I would also say because the country is still scarred by iraq, you talked to ben about the aumf, bringing in congress to authorize it, President Trump is not good at that. He doesnt seek input from congress. He likes to go it alone, although he is in a strange spot, he is the president that promised to withdraw america from overseas entanglements. Lets not forget the Washington Post reported the other week in the process of interviewing for his National Security adviser he was telling candidates dont worry, it is the easiest job in the world, i make all the decisions. And when faced with something of this magnitude, we know the American Public does not trust this president. We have polling to that effect already. What the American Public needs is a president showing he is thoughtful in gathering information. Locked and loaded is not thoughtful . You dont tweet about it, dont thump your chest about it, dont make offhand comments about it. You get serious about it. Donald trump, also the scary thing is now he does not have a full cabinet of confirmed appointees, he has an acting cabinet. This is the administration where sick oh fants go to live. That should frighten all of us. We know it frightens our allies, he makes decisions on his own, not making it based on information, he is making it off his gut, and he does not have the experience or the ability to make logical, smart decisions. Do republicans fall in line with this president if he says he wants to make some sort of strategic or get into some Armed Conflict with iran . Ken said congress is being briefed, people that need to know are being briefed, hopefully theyll absorb information theyre given and advise the president some way how to act. But as we know typically with this president , thats not how things work. Somewhat leery about the relationship with saudi arabia, didnt they send him a bill to essentially punish saudi arabia because of not only their treatment of yemeni civilians and killing of the journalist. Spend a ton of money at Trump Properties as well. Thats exactly right. Whatever bill congress sent, they vetoed. Theres concern, what is his relationship with the saudis, which should give everyone pause, democrat or republican. The question is what happens next . Well wait for a tweet. Apparently we have to wait for a tweet. This is how this administration rolls. Normal world, they would get together, the National Security adviser would pull all of the information together, they brief the president. He can make decisions based on detailed reports. This president wont do that. For all we know, he is going back to the residence, he is going to a Campaign Rally tonight. That will be a great place to make decisions. What message does that send, going to a Campaign Rally ahead of this or on the heels of Something Like this . I think what susan said, well probably hear him talk about it. Everything to President Trump is told within the realm of politics anyway, why not. He will get a cue from the base at the rally. This is a frightening thought. What does john boltons absence mean for a decision like this on iran . John bolton was a big iran hawk. It means the hardest line voice in the administration who would urge probably maximumal response to provocation like this if iran carried out this attack, that hard line voice is now missing from the conversation. Mike pompeo has been a hard liner on iran, it remains to be seen how this will play out within the administration. To answer the question about what happens next, the Defense Department and Intelligence Community should be in position of presenting the president with options to respond to this, may include military options, sanctions options, diplomatic options. In any normal administration, thats what would be happening now. In any normal administration is the key. The United Nations General Assembly is next week. Should the president , i know it is unlikely after this, should the president be trying to meet with the iranians to diffuse tensions . Good idea . Bad idea . He is the one that says it is important to talk. My thought is iran wont agree, given the bad relationship that exists. And confusion between him saying he would meet with no preconditions and coming back and saying that was fake. Will he keep his foot down on the last sentiment and say i will not meet with them, i think it probably shouldnt happen, i dont think this president is equipped to meet with them. Thank you. Stay with us. Youll be back. We will be back as well. Be back we will be back as well. Performance comes in lots of flavors. Theres the ampedup, overtuned, feedingfrenzyof sheetmetalkind. And then theres performance that just leaves you feeling better as a result. Thats the kind lincolns about. Thats why with dell Small Business technology advisors. Youll get tailored product solutions, expert tech advice and oneonone partnership. Call an advisor today at 877buydell. Get up to 45 off on select computers. Paneras new warm grain full of flavor, color,. 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Beto orourke on meet the press, defending his call for mandatory buy back of certain semi automatic weapons. Hell yes, were taking your ar 15, ak47. Pete buttigieg say orourkes comments are counterproductive as lawmakers try to move forward with new gun legislation. When even this president and Mitch Mcconnell are at least pretending to be open to reforms, we know we have a moment on our hands. Lets make the most of it. Tweeting trump and mcconnell are pretending to be open to reforms, that calculation and fear is what got us here in the first place. Lets have the courage to say what we believe and fight for it. Earlier today, buttigieg was pressed about criticism of orourke and his response. The mayor said he doesnt want to tell anybody else what to do, but is focused what can be done right now for gun policy. Well be back with more mtp daily after this. Daily afterhi ts. Hmm. Exactly. Liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Nice. But, uh. 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Tell your doctor if you have an infection or flulike symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently had a vaccine. Alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems. These may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. Some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. Talk to your doctor today, and learn how janssen can help you explore cost support options. Remission can start with stelara®. Welcome back. House democrats debate whether to pursue impeachment against President Trump or if theyre already pursuing it, theyre now facing internal pressure to consider trying to impeach Brett Kavanaugh after the New York Times reported another allegation of Sexual Misconduct during his time at yale. Kavanaugh repeatedly denied wrongdoing. The woman involved in the alleged incident tells friends she doesnt remember it. Nbc news can confirm authorities have been aware of the allegation for some time, and some members of the Senate Judiciary committee were even aware of it during his confirmation hearing a year ago. Still, five president ial candidates are calling for kavanaughs impeachment or an impeachment inquiry as have several members of congress, including alexandria ocasiocortez, and assistant House Speaker ben ray lieu hon. Jerry nadler down played the likelihood of that happening saying he is too busy deciding whether to impeach the president. Lee ann caldwell covers capitol hill for us, and beth, basil and susan are back. What is the latest on capitol hill . Reporter start with the fact that chances of kavanaugh being impeached are so unlikely at this point. We heard from jerry nadler, chair of the Judiciary Committee this morning on local radio. He said he is too busy impeaching the president to investigate kavanaugh. He might have made news there regarding the president. One thing he did say, he said the committee will talk to fbi director wray, he will app investigation into kavanaugh. Thats one thing critics are intent upon, the fact that this investigation into kavanaugh at the time was not thorough enough. But that was also the point. The point was that the investigation was limited in scope. They only interviewed about ten people. It was not an extensive investigation, and thats the way it was supposed to be by the directive of the white house. Now, senator chuck grassley, then chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee took to the senate floor and defended the investigation, defended the fbis investigation, and defended his own committees investigation saying it was thorough and that there was no corroboration, but katy, theres a lot of talk about this, it resurfaced, and i dont know how fast it is going to go away. Multiple different facets of the story. Theres whether it was reported correctly in the first place, politics of whether it is a good idea for democrats to get on this impeachment wagon for another person, and the question of whether the fbi adequately investigated the allegations in the first place. You just heard lee ann say it wasnt supposed to be a big investigation, the white house didnt want it to be. But in itself, if the white house didnt want it to be a big investigation, if the fbi didnt pursue another allegation like this which corroborated another story, doesnt that make the whole thing seem more of a spectacle . Theres almost a fourth umbrella part of the story, the way the administration has tore down pillars of our democracy, especially when it comes to the Justice Department and the free press. Because of his actions, because of the way the president has spoken against the Intelligence Community, against members of the fbi, it leaves doubt for people to think maybe theyre corruptible. Im not saying every fbi agent is completely honest and no one ever did anything wrong, we used to have faith in the system that the justice the trustworthiness of the white house, the fbi and the democrats and republicans. And the press, katy. Theres some question again because of the way thisthe medi claims of fake news, when you see reporting like this, youre the two journalists at the table, i ask you, do you have any concern how this was rolled out as a journalist . I know it was a book excerpt, given it was a book excerpt with a newsworthy allegation, i imagine the editors note would have been included in the original piece, saying the womans friends say she did not remember. There was also the first woman we knew about, gina ramirez, some of that was a little bit buried or not as closely followed up on as christine ford. We knew about gina ramirez. This allegation suggests more people could corroborate her story. Shes a named person. The second case youre talking about where the woman doesnt want to come forward is separate. Ramirezs story was bolstered by the excerpt, should have been reported as a news story most likely. What do we learn about this. It brings out this painit a lifetime appointment, mistakes were made. Perhaps things goingely to see how this gets reopened. True. Thats why i think it is important that democrats ramp up language around this, and look like they can do two things at the same time. I think you can. But i think it goes to your point about whether or not voters or democrats specifically or republicans have faith, not just in reporting of this but the initial inquiry in and of itself. All that did, it looked like it was designed to protect kavanaugh and republicans. What are democrats doing about that. If we go into this without teeth necessary to prosecute, i mean that loosely, the case against donald trump, to say he should not be president because of x, he should not have appointed kavanaugh because of y, he may get another Supreme Court appointment. Where is the accouconsultabilit he will not be impeached, going into 2020, is there perhaps on a single issue more animating for the other side than justices and judges. Is it a good idea to bring this back to the surface . Listen, i was against impeachment initially but i got for it because enough democrats stopped me on the street and said why is the party being so cerebral, not engaged in emotion around what it means for donald trump to be president of the United States. This is part of it. I do understand that on the right judges like gun control is galvanizing, i get that, but it is for democrats even if it was before. As a republican who doesnt want to see donald trump reelected, i can tell you theres no better way to push turnout for donald trump from republicans than talking about the Supreme Court and guns because theres a lot of republicans who are frustrated with this president , who are disgusted, and probably wont vote for a democrat, but wont show up. You start putting these issues on the table, theyre showing up. I think the argument would be to talk about President Trump and his way of handling things, what he has done in his record, and including kavanaugh. To bring up kavanaugh impeachment . I was saying it may not get to the point of actual impeachment. We need to forcefully talk about why this is a problem. But theres not agreementacrs either, right . Reporter absolutely not. Leading that agreement, house spear support of impeachment. She said there are not 218 votes to impeach the president. Adding another impeachment process to this as far as kavanaugh is concerned seems really unfeasible now that they want to impeach the president. Kavanaugh, there is agreement kavanaugh motivates the Republican Base as well, so it doesnt look like impeachment is going to be imminent for either of these two at this moment anyway. Very briefly, i talked to dolly, she said while the kavanaugh controversy went on, it seemed to effect cases the court took up the last docket and she wonders if because this resurfaced if that effects what they take up in the next docket as well and avoid some of the more controversial cases to not look like theyre making decisions in a political way. Were going to have to table this conversation for now. Im sure it will be picked up multiple times. Everyone, thank you very much. Ahead, climate in crisis in the legal battle that can make a difference. Ttle that can ma ake difference i get it all the time. Have you lost weight . 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A growing number of plaintiffs are suing oil and gas companies, trying to hold them financially responsible for the role in Climate Change, and the legal battle against Climate Change may have just gotten a big helping hand from a rather unexpected place. A Court Decision regarding opioids. Last month an oklahoma judge ordered Johnson Johnson to pay 572 million for its role in the opioid crisis. Johnson johnson is appealing the decision, but the judge basically said Johnson Johnson held liability, even though it served as intermediary for doctors that prescribed it to patients. Heres the connection. In the same way Johnson Johnson provided opioids to doctors knowing they were harmful, Oil Companies sell products to gas stations companl their products to gas stations and utility products knowing the harmful environmental consequences. Anne carlson is professional of environmental law at ucla school of law. She has also done some pro bono consulting in cases against big oil. So anne, walk me through the. Decision and the intermediary factor comes into play with the Oil Companies. Sure, katie. So to begin with, one thing thats important to note is the. Case took place in oklahoma, which is partly known for being a liberal state. Its one of the red estates in the country. And yet the judge used whats called public nuisance law to hold Johnson Johnson liable, even though Johnson Johnson was not the principle Pharmaceutical Company actually prescribing the medication or selling it to doctors. Instead, they provide the narcotics that other Companies Use to put into their products. In the same way, cities and counties and the state of rhode island around the country are suing Oil Companies who extract oil out of the ground, refine it, and then sell it to utilities and gas stations. So there is a parallel in using public nuisance law in different states and also trying to hold an intermediary liable for knowingly selling a product that it knows causes harm. So its a public nuisance to know that is Climate Change is public nuisance . Is that the argument . The argument for Climate Change . Yes. The argument that the cities and counties are making is that the that they knew was going to create harm. And that harm comes in the form of things like rising sea level, intense drought, worst hurricanes, wildfires that are more severe than they would have otherwise been, and those jurisdictions that are suing are left with lots of bills to pay to either try to adapt so they wont get harmed by those harms, or theyve already been hurt from, again, sea level rising or from really bad wildfires in california or really bad hurricanes around the country. How do they prove the Oil Companies knew that they were doing something harmful . So it turns out that the Oil Companies had their own Research Scientists in the 1960s and 70s who told them the Oil Companies, based on their own research, that putting Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere was going to cause Climate Change. They predicted it with kind of erie accuracy, including predicting that there might be really big hushes that were similar to Hurricane Sandy off the new york coast, and including predicting with really amazing accuracy just how many parts per million of Carbon Dioxide would be in the atmosphere. But then they didnt take that knowledge and try to reform their behavior. Instead, they started to try to fund campaigns to confuse the American Public about whether Climate Change was actually happening. They essentially funded a denialist campaign so they wouldnt have to reduce their behavior. They wouldnt have to change their behavior to reduce the emissions that cause Climate Change. That would come out in discovery in any sort of lawsuit. The Oil Companies worried . Are they scared . The Oil Companies are fighting tooth and nail to try to get every one of these cases dismissed. One reason is they dont want to have to pay the money. But i think a second reason is they dont want their executives having to testify about what they knew, when they knew it, what they did about it. One other thing that is kind of remarkable is as the Oil Companies were funding these campaigns of disinformation, they spent their own resources to fortify their own assets against what they knew was going to happen, Sea Level Rise, storm surges. They raised their Oil Platforms in the north sea, for example, knowing that Climate Change was occurring, but all the while funding these campaigns to try to persuade the American Public that no Climate Change was happening. How are they going to try to convince congress . Theyve already been trying to Lobby Congress to provide them with an exemption from liability, to protect them from liability. One of the carbon tax proposals included a shield from liability. But interestingly, the organizers of that climate tax proposal just dropped it because maybe they recognize that the behavior of the Oil Companies was sufficiently bad that maybe they dont want to be associated with the behavior that occurred. Would the discovery process reveal potentially money being used in dark money campaigns to, i dont know, elect certain members of congress or to vote down Climate Change measures . Absolutely it could reveal dark money campaigns. There is some evidence that the Oil Companies helped fund the tea party movement. And as if you watch the tea party movement, one of the issues that activists became very opposed to was action on Climate Change. In addition again to just a more general advertising campaign, claiming for example, in an infamous ad that Carbon Dioxide is good for you. Lyle remarkable. Public nuisance. Is that going to be is that going to be an easy argument to win in some of the redder states in a place like oklahoma . Well, to be clear, this is going to be a tough battle in all of the states where plaintiffs are suing. Right now theyre concentrated in coastal states because the evidence that Climate Change is occurring through Sea Level Rise is really, really strong. And these are cases. Theyre novel cases. Theyre big cases. Theyre asking courts to hold Oil Companies liable for potentially billions and billions of dollars in damage. But theyre not unprecedented as the. Litigation show, and also as litigation against lead paint manufacturers in california has shown. Very interesting. Ann carlson, thank you so much. And all this week on nbc news and msnbc confront Climate Change in a special series climate in crisis. On thursday and friday, chris hayes and ali velshi will moderate Climate Forum 2020 featuring 2020 president ial candidates, including senator bernie sanders, senator cory booker mayor Pete Buttigieg and more. It will stream live on nbc news now and telemundo with special coverage across msnbc. Com and msnbc. Keep it right here. Im not calling him dad. Oh, nno. Look, [sighs] i get it. Some new guy comes in helping your mom bundle and save with progressive, but hey, were all in this together. Right, champ . Im getting more nuggets. How about some carrots . You dont want to ruin your dinner. Youre not my dad thats fair. Overstepped. So, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. The United States Postal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. Ecommerce deliveries to homes thenot actors, people, whove got their eczema under control. With less eczema, you can show more skin. So roll up those sleeves. 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The beat with ari melber did we get a new host at 6 00 . Who is this ari melber guy. Its me. Same host. We missed you, katy. You know what i have to ask you, now that youre back. Go ahead. Did you miss the silences . I had 99 problems during maternity leave, ari, but you werent one. Very good. You know what . Were going to leave it there. Its a good one. When you win, you win. Are you going to drop the mic off your lapel . Mic drop, katy tur, were glad youre back. Mazoltov to you and your whole mi