Transcripts For MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell 20190904

Good evening, rachel. I just learned something from senator aklobuchar who we also are going to discuss this with. Nice. She is a member of the rare disease caucus in the senate, which is a caucus that i did not know existed, but they actually are concentrating on the special elements of rare disease and whats necessary in research and all those issues that youve been discussing that isabel has brought forward to us in this case. And so senator klobuchar will have a lot to say about that. And actually some of the i think some of the First Political work she ever did was around medical advocacy, around, like, times you can stay in the hospital after having a kid and all that. Thats where she got thats where she made her bones in terms of starting off in political work. So shes got a lot to say on that. We will hear more from her. Thank you, rachel. Thanks, lawrence. Well, tonight, Hurricane Dorian remains a category 2 hurricane and is gains speed as it moves toward the florida coast. The hurricane has already resulted in seven deaths in the bahamas where new images show scenes of near total destruction in some areas. Hurricane dorian is now moving dangerously close to the florida coast, according to the National Hurricane center. We will get the latest, the very latest on the storm track at the end of this hour because the National Weather service will update its forecast just a few minutes before the end of this hour, and so we will have that breaking news for you as soon as the National Weather Service Releases its latest forecast for the hurricane tonight. We begin tonight with the Sleeping Giant in the president ial campaign. It is the issue that has not really been discussed at the democratic president ial debates, but we will discuss it tonight with one of the democratic president ial candidates. It could be one of the biggest issues in the president ial campaign a year from now when the democrats have a chosen nominee. And it could be the sing tle mo damaging issue that really could cause donald trump to lose some support among some trump voters, especially in agricultural states, and this issue which could spell Economic Disaster for america eventually, meaning a recession, is all Donald Trumps fault. No one else has any responsibility for the creation of the potential disaster that could be coming our way thanks entirely to the trump tariffs and the Trump Trade War which has so far been ignored by most of the candidates and questioners in the democratic president ial debates. Donald trump is the only president in history who has told the American People that war is easy. He wasnt talking about a shooting war, of course, he was talking about a trade war, but trade wars are called wars for a reason. They are not called trade games. And no american president prior to donald trump has said trade wars are good and easy to win. Trade wars have casualties. People lose jobs and lose income in every country involved in a trade war, and donald trump should know that by now, but this week he dropped more bombs in his trade war by increasing the tariffs that americans must now pay for chinese goods to the point where jpmorgan now estimates that the tariffs will cost the average American Household 1,000 a year. For most people coming up with an extra 1,000 a year to pay in taxes, which is what tariffs actually are, is not easy. And the democratic nominee for president will surely be running hard against the trump tariffs, but so far the Democratic Candidates are staying relatively quiet about the trump tariffs and giving donald trump a very long leash in which he appears to be getting himself all tangled up politically. Donald trump launched the trade war with china because he thought the United States trade deficit with china was too high. Now it is higher. Axios is reporting President Trumps trade war has led to even bigger trade deficits with china, even though it was intended to improve the trade balance. But its not just china. The deficit has increased with most of our other trade partners, too. Among the u. S. 15 biggest trading partners, the trade balance has moved in the wrong direction for trump in ten of those countries between 2016 and 2018, while the aggregate trade deficit has jumped from 503 billion to 628 billion. The New York Times reports the American Manufacturing sector contracted last month. A key measure showed on tuesday heightening fears that the trade war with china could bring on a recession. The last team of president ial economic advisers who had to deal with the effects of a recession is the obama team of economic advisers who came into Office Facing the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Our first guest tonight, economics professor austan goolsbee, was a member of the Obama Campaign team of economic advisers and served as the chairman of economic advisers for president obama. Austan goolsbee knows what economic crisis feels like from inside the white house and he joins us tonight with what the Trump White House and the American Public might expect from the Trump Trade War as it continues to fail to achieve any of the objectives that President Trump had when he started this war. Austan goolsbee, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it. Great to see you again. Are you at all surprised with what the trump tariffs have delivered . No, of course not. Look, we had the conversation back two years ago when President Trump first started saying he was going to launch this trade war, and i told you these tariffs if he does them theyre going to put the um in dumb. There is the biggest tax increase on the middle class, i believe ever in u. S. History. Were going to charge middle class americans 1,000 each to entertain this fantasy that were achieving something. Were not. You dont get the chinese to change their behavior by publicly humiliating them and trying to bully them. That doesnt work. We got them, for example, to stop devaluing their currency. And the way we did that is we got all our allies on same page and then we went with specific strategic demands. We said, look, you need to change your currency devaluation behavior in this way and if you dont, we will react in the following way, and that got them to change their behavior. Donald trump has not made any specific demands. He thinks that this is working. He thinks this is actually good. And as you pointed out, manufacturing starting to contract. The university of Michigan Consumer confidence numbers came out. I believe it was the biggest drop in Consumer Confidence in six years. And there are strong points in the economy. Theres no question. But if we keep escalating this trade war as this week we had a major escalation, were going to get a recession. I dont think theres any doubt about that. You have served as an economic adviser on a very successful president ial campaign, the obama president ial campaign. If you were advising a president ial campaign now, a democratic president ial campaign, what would you say about how they should handle the Trump Trade War . So far what i seem to be watching are the democrats kind of sitting back and letting donald trump have a longer and longer leash on this, and the real debate on this seems to be waiting for next year. That might be true. Ive talked i know beto orourke a little bit, and he came out with a pretty comprehensive trade plan that started with get rid of the trump tariffs. This is selfdefeating. Its doing the opposite of what they were intended. And then it went through a lot of a lot more detail on trade policy. I think youre right, over the next year well probably see more about it, but i think the impact of the tariffs in the short run is just a tax increase on ordinary americans. Over the medium and longer run, we get the retribution and blowback that the chinese both stop buying american agriculture products, stop buying a bunch of the stuff that we sell, and importantly, they lower the tariffs on our competitor nations. So theyre doing the double whammy. And its just this isnt thought through. If that werent obvious enough, just look at what the president is saying. Hes varying back and forth between this is a great idea and easy to win and turning around and saying, and, actually, were going to throw 10, 20, 40 billion of relief because in our hearts we know were hurting you. The last word i quoted from the New York Times before turning to your introduction was the word recession. Is that is that where this is headed . I think it is where this is headed. Look, for the most part the imports and exports arent that big a share of the u. S. Economy, so at first glance you say how could it lead to recession if trade isnt that big of a share and china isnt that big of a share of our trade . But the answers are, number one, it keeps escalating. Number two, these are the two biggest economies in the world now throwing haymakers at each other. And number three, were applying tariffs all tariffs are terrible, but the worst tariffs of all are tariffs on things that are supplies to your own manufactured products. And now were ramping up the tariffs on steel, on aluminum, on the stuff u. S. Manufacturers need to produce their own products. So were just doubly shooting ourselves in the foot. I really dont understand why he keeps pressing. The economy has been the strongest thing he had going for him in the polls, as you know. And that is clearly starting to weaken, and i think recession if we keep going this way, recession is absolutely whats going to happen. Austan goolsbee has been right about this so far. Were going to have to bring you back. Thank you very much for joining us tonight, austan. Good to see you. Were joined by a senator who is a member of the joint economic committee, Amy Klobuchar is a member of the Agriculture Committee that has seen the devastating effect of the trump tariffs on american farmers, and senator klobuchar is a candidate for president of the United States who hopes to be on the democratic stage preparing to debate donald trump. If you are the democratic nominee, it seems to me the tariffs will surely come up. Well, i think we should be talking about it now and i have heres your chance. Everything youve wanted to say that you havent been able to get into the debates. I think you know that we need to have trade enforcement, and i worked on this very hard during president obamas administration. When we come to iron ore and reopening our iron ore mines in minnesota because of the steel dumping from china. We got it done because we went focused on that problem. Now what we see donald trump doing, hes using basically a meat cleaver. He is going wholesale to the point where youre starting to see the soybeans now for years mounting up in the bins. You see pork now at nine year low for exports. You see what austan was talking about there in terms of what effect its going to have on consumers, and starting this week now were going to start seeing tariffs on ordinary consumer goods like clothing and shoes and things like that. So its going to affect americans and its going to start hurting our manufacturing, and i dont think its a surprise that were at 891 billion trade deficit, the worst that weve been at since hes been at the helm. And you look at the chaos. Instead of going to the negotiating table with our allies, figuring out our focus and getting this done with a very tough negotiating partner, what does he do . He goes, just look at the last month, august 1st he says that hes going to put out 300 billion in tariffs. August 12th, they dial it back. The next august 20th, they say theyre going to lower taxes. The next day they change it. The world is watching. And what theyre seeing is chaos. Theres an old saying with trade negotiations, keep your promises and keep your threats, and he is doing neither. So i think it is an economic issue. He inherited an economy because of our great workers and businesses and now hes blowing it up. And this is entirely Donald Trumps personal doing. The tariffs are his idea. Its maybe the only idea hes had as president. And then the execution of it he leaves to the ustr and others involved in it. This is one of those things where he cant duck it. Hes not this is not any other this is not something that the senate voted on or that the Republican Congress helped him do, its entirely his own. Exactly. And when you look at what he came into, we have big challenges, we know what china is one of them. Theyve been vesting in places like africa and around the world. And our goal should be to take them on as austan was pointing out on the currency manipulation, were doing some of that. The subsidies theyre doing with the industry. The stealing of intellectual property. The best way you do that is with your allies. If theyre going to be tariffs, they should be focused tariffs. Thats why in my first 100 days i would review all these tariffs and figure out a negotiation that is going to work for our farmers, manufacturing and stop something that seems like a vanity crusade that hes on. You represent a big agricultural state. Do you think your ability to talk about this particular issue is going to be important in the general election . It is. I dont know that every candidate has spent time sitting in farmhouses, and not just in the Campaign Year but for years, and seeing that change where a farmer just bursts out in tears without the media there and the door closed saying, you know what, i might be getting these subsidies right now, but thats not what i want. This is a farm thats been passed on to me from generations and i want to pass it on to my kids and i dont know how im going to keep farming. Have you found any minnesota farmers who are getting a subsidy that makes them whole, that is equal to what theyd be getting in the marketplace . Its certainly not equal to what they need to keep contracts. The problem is this goes on and on and on, these contracts are going to farmers in other countries and its going to be very hard for them to take it back, and thats why we need a policy, and i think, you know, we know we didnt get some of these votes, right, in 2016. I did in 2018. But we need to gain the trust of these farmers and bring them back as well as Rural America and the people that are being hurt by this trade war. Can you stay with us . I want to get your reaction to an interview Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell gave today, in which among other things he complains a lot about being called moscow mitch. After a commercial break . Okay. Well be right back with senator klobuchar. Har. Har. This simple banana peel represents a bold idea a way to create energy from household trash. It not only saves about 80 in carbon emissions. It helps reduce landfill waste. Thats why bp is partnering with a California Company fulcrum bioenergy. To turn garbage into jet fuel. Because we cant let any good ideas go to waste. At bp, we see possibilities everywhere. To help the world keep advancing. Hour 36 in the stakeout. As soon as the homeowners arrive, well inform them that Liberty Mutual customizes home insurance, so theyll only pay for what they need. 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Its a different kind of Wireless Network designed to save you money. Save up to 400 a year on your wireless bill. Plus get 250 back when you buy a new samsung note. Click, call or visit a store today. After Labor Day Weekend which saw another mass murder in texas that killed 7 and wounded 25 with an assault rifle, when Mitch Mcconnell was asked today about gun safety legislation, he created a new operating principle for the United States senate. This is the latest of many new mcconnell rules that he has introduced as majority leader that stifle democracy. Were in a discussion about what to do on the gun issue in the wake of these horrendous shootings. I said several weeks ago that if the president took a position on a bill, so that we knew we would actually be making a law and not just having serial votes, id be happy to put it on the floor. If the senate could only debate bills that are guaranteed to pass and become a law, be signed by the president , then heres a small sample of things that would never have become the law of the land. Social security, the sishl rights act, Voting Rights act, medicare, medicaid, the Affordable Care act and many, many more. Back with us is president ial candidate and senator Amy Klobuchar. So how about the new mcconnell rule, we have to be guaranteed that this will become a law . Literally he is giving up the power of the senate. Not only as a counterbalance, but as you know, the senate has sometimes passed bills include some farm bills where then the president vetoes and we override the veto. So you have that situation. And on a topic like this where the country is crying out for action, where a recent poll showed the majority of trump voters want to see universial background checks, which is one of the three bills sit on Mitch Mcconnells desk, we saw the ordinary courage of these people who just rose to the occasion, saved their babies, cops showing up in one minute in dayton, you think whats happened in the country in just the last few weeks and for him to say, well, i dont know what the president wants to do. We should put those bills up for a vote. We should pass them. Because i sat across the table from donald trump after parkland and he nine times said i had some hashmarks on a piece of paper. That he wanted to pass universal background checks. Let him veto it then. He said he wanted to do it. The Washington Post in an editorial that will appear tomorrow as a list of names of mass murder victims and its addressed specifically to Mitch Mcconnell. There we see it on the screen. Do something, mr. Mcconnell. The Senate Must Act on guns. So the Washington Post is focussing the pressure on Mitch Mcconnell. Exactly. He puts those bills up. I just challenge my republican colleagues to vote them down. They have already passed the house with some republican support. So there is absolutely no reason he cant put them up and then put them on Donald Trumps desk. Thats leadership. In that same interview today, let listen to what he said about moscow mitch. Its an effort to smear me. You know, i can laugh about things like the grim reaper, but calling me moscow mitch is over the top. Its modern day mccarthyism. So hed rather be called the grim reaper . I dont know. I think the problem here is actually my legislation, my bill with senator langford that Mitch Mcconnell stopped, we know that. As did President Trumps white house. Stopped it from advancing for backup paper ballots. Thats what caused i think Joe Scarborough and others thats what made Joe Scarborough call him moscow mitch. Thats exactly what happened. It was that bill. And also bills for social media and things we can do to protect our democracy. A republican senator. You had a republican cosponsor on this. We did. Now we have several versions of that bill that would simply say to those states, there are still 11 states that dont have full backup paper ballots, if youre going to get federal funding, youve got to do this. It pushes them to do it and also requires allows for audits the distinction its unbelievable to me. What he doesnt seem to understand about mccarthyism, joe mccarthy was accusing a lot of people falsely of doing stuff they didnt do. Joe scarborough accused him, moscow mitch, of doing what he said publicly. Theres a very big difference there. It was very public. He does not want to see these changes. We really look at this this is about our democracy. Its a foreign power trying to invade our democracy. I dont care if you are a conservative republican or a liberal democrat, it is not american to allow that to continue. You should do everything to protect the sanctity of our elections and he knows that. He just doesnt want to do it. I want to ask you about something we were discussing just before the show when you told me you were on the rare disease caucus. Im actually the cochair. Which i didnt even know existed in the senate. Isabel bueso, who rachel has been doing incredible coverage, weve been talking about her on this show, really trying to save her life, trying to get her story told, New York Times broke the story, trying to get it to someone in the Trump Administration who can see this for what it is, apparently that has happened. The Trump Administration appears to be in the process of reversing their death sentence to isabel and all of the other patients in this country who have been getting automatic twoyear renewals of their right to stay here for lifesaving medical treatment. What this is about, its about these kids, of course, and saving their lives, but its more than that. Its about saving the lives of americans as well. Because with rare diseases, especially with children, youll have such small number of kids that have rare diseases, and to do the necessary tests for drugs or for surgeries or for trials, you have to have the children to do those trials, and sometimes they live in countries where youre not going to be able to have a supervised medical trial in those places. Minnesotas the home of the mayo clinic, so ive been involved in a lot of these cases, and you just cant do this. This is not america to send a sick kid off to die. We know that, but we also should think about what this means for us as really a medical mecca. Our country has been a lead. Weve relied the whole world has relied on vaccines that have been developed here and weve relied on vaccines that have been developed in other countries, so this is something that is a world problem that we cannot be as successful of saving kids lives that are born in america and grow up here unless we also are saving the lives of kids in other countries. Now, you had this struggle in your own family with your own daughter, a rare disease yeah. And so it seems like someone in the Trump Administration, whoever did this, they didnt have any Public Comment on it, they just made this decision. Yeah. They sent out these letters to people. Possibly not even realizing that these were death sentences. I have no idea. My daughter was very sick when she was born. She couldnt swallow. We never actually quite figured out. She got better after being fed in tubes for two years. You searched the country for solutions. The thought that as a president you would just sign this off and saying these kids can leave, when you have seen as i have in those intensive cares these parents who are just holding on to keep their babies alive, this is not what you do as a moral leader. And so one of the things that i am my focus in running for president is we need to have a president that you can watch on tv and not turn the volume on. We need to have a president that makes decisions based on what is right for our country and the people of this country and for the morality of this country that weve always been so proud of. We need to be have a president we can be proud of. And at its very core, i think thats a lot of what this campaign in 2020 is going to be about. Senator Amy Klobuchar, thank you very much for joining us. Really appreciate it. When we come back, the House Judiciary Committee is going to schedule public testimony about Donald Trumps participation in what federal prosecutors in new york call a conspiracy against the United States. That is next. About geico making it easy to switch and save hundreds . Oh yeah, sure. Um. You dont know my name, do you . laughs nervously of course i know your name. I just get you mixed up with the other guy. Whats his name . Whats your name . Switch to geico®. You could save 15 or more on car insurance. Could you just tell me . I want this to be over. On a scale of one to five . One to five . Its more like five million. Theres everything from happy to extremely happy. Theres also angry. Im really angry clive actually, really angry. Thank you. But what if your business could understand what your customers are feeling. And then do something about it. Turn problems into opportunities. Thanks drone. Customers into fanatics change the whole experience. Alright who wants to go again . I do i do i have a really good feeling about this. Just between us, you know whats better than mopping . Anything at the end of a long day, its the last thing i want to do. Well i switched to swiffer wet jet and its awesome. Its an allinone so its ready to go when i am. The cleaning solution actually breaks down dirt and grime. And the pad absorbs it deep inside. So, it prevents streaks and haze better than my old mop. Plus, its safe to use on all my floors, even wood. Glad i got that off my chest and the day off my floor. Try wet jet with a moneyback guarantee todays New York Times carried former Senate Staffer mark schmitts oped piece about, quote, the extreme and unprecedented corruption of mr. Trump and his allies. And right on cue, mr. Trump and his allies provide yet another example. The Vice President of the United States visits ireland and decides to sleep on the west coast of ireland and travel all the way across the country for his meetings with Irish Government officials in the Irish Capital of dublin. Fly all the way across the country for the meetings. Normally when the Vice President of the United States goes to dublin, he stays in dublin, as joe biden did at the Phoenix Park Hotel when he was Vice President. President John Fitzgerald kennedy was the first Irish Catholic president , and he became the first president of the United States to visit ireland, and he stayed in the shellburn hotel in dublin. Former president ulysses s. Grant stayed in the shellburn hotel. Former president clinton stayed. Michelle obama stayed in the hotel with her children when she was first lady. If you glance at the display in the lobby about notable guests who have stayed there, it seems every movie star who has ever been to dublin stayed there at some point, but mike pence says he and his entourage could not stay because they needed a place big enough, quote, to accommodate the unique tonight print that comes with our security detail. How much bigger a footprint is that than the last Vice President s footprint . The shellborn has 265 rooms but mike pence decided to stay at a hotel on the west coast of ireland owned by donald trump that has about 40 fewer rooms. The Vice President s chief of staff told reporters that the choice of the trump hotel was suggested by President Trump himself. That would be like the president of the ireland deciding to sleep in princeton, new jersey while on an official visit to washington, d. C. Princeton, new jersey is exactly the same distance from washington as the trump hotel is from dublin, about 180 miles. And its not just ridiculous. At least one constitutional scholar believes that this is illegal. Harvard constitutional law professors lawrence tribe tweeted, quote, getting pence and team to stay at the trump property on irelands west coast and commute daily to and from the meetings on irelands east coast, all to line trumps pockets, isnt just a waste of tax dollars, it violates the article ii domestic emoluments clause, the constitution says the president shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a comp salensation, which shall neither be increased forediminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and she shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States or any of them. Professor tribe argues that the income donald trump is receiving at his hotel from the pence visit, which is paid by the United States treasury, is an emolument from the United States to donald trump. The law dictionary defines an emolument as an advantage, profit or gain received as a result of ones employment or ones holding of office. Today nbc news is reporting that the House Judiciary Committee plans to hold public hearings on President Trumps, quote, alleged role in hush money payments to two women during the 2016 election. A committee aide familiar with the matter told nbc news. A committee aide said that the committee wants to, quote, highlight a case in which they believe prosecutors would have enough evidence to charge trump with a crime if not for the Justice Department policy against indicting a sitting president. Joining our discussion now is a democratic congressman, jamie raskin from maryland. Hes a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight committee. Thank you very much for joining us tonight, congressman raskin. Delighted to be with you. I wanted to start with professor tribes view of this emoluments situation involving mike pence, and lets lets do full disclosure for the audience, that youre a former student of professor tribes at harvard law school. You are yourself a constitutional scholar. What do you make of the emolument intersection with mike pence staying at Donald Trumps hotel in ireland . Well, you know, this has been original sin of the trump presidency. Theyve been using the white house as a moneymaking instrument for the president and his family and his business. Its a forprofit enterprise that theyve got going, and professor tribe is right, and i say that not just because i hold him in very high regard and esteem, but the language of the domestic emoluments clause is clear. Youre limited to your salary in office. Look, before the framers wrote the constitution, it was all monarchy and all of the kings and princes ran their governments as moneymaking operations. They were trying to make as much as they could. They wanted to continue to accumulate wealth. Our framers wanted our president to be a servant of the congress and the people who takes care that the laws are faithfully executed. You dont go into that in order to make while youre in office. Youre limited to your salary. It cant be increased. It cant be decreased. You cant take money from the government. Every time they go to maralago, the secret service, the fbi, the department of defense, the white house officials going are spending 50, 75, 100,000 every weekend. Hes spent one out of three days at maralago or another trump property. Imagine, lawrence, if the obamas rather than speaking two weeks out of the year in Marthas Vineyard spent four months out of the year at Marthas Vineyard and everyone who went from the government had a stay at the michelle and Barack Obama Hotel in Marthas Vineyard, i mean, the republicans would be staging sitin strikes demanding impeachment of the president for that ripoff of the taxpayers, and yet thats what theyre trying to get everybody conditioned to, its o. K. For trump to take the taxpayers for a ride every weekend. We have the president s chief of staff mark short saying that it wasnt hes asked, did the president ask the Vice President to stay at the property . He says it wasnt a request like a command, but i think it was a suggestion. So thats a suggestion that you pay me money that you get the United States government to pay me money for your trip to ireland. Right. Well, hes both the spender of the governments money there and the receiver of the governments money there, as the owner of the trump hotel, and thats been whats been going on at the trump hotel in washington, where all the foreign governments go and where they also spend a lot of u. S. Government money. Thats why i call the trump hotel the washington emolument. It should be a stop on the tour busses where they point it out to all the tourists and explain what the emoluments clauses are all about. Congressman, you know, when Michael Cohens case became public and the indictment came out and Michael Cohen pled guilty to it, it seemed to me that what we were looking at in the federal indictment was an obvious article of impeachment because the federal indictment said that Michael Cohen committed his crimes in paying off Stormy Daniels and the other woman in order to hide their stories during the campaign as a conspiracy against the United States. And it said that he committed those crimes at the at the direction of donald trump. And that just seemed to me right there as the strongest impeachment case ive ever seen, right there made by federal prosecutors. That seems to be what your committee, the judiciary committee, is now going to bring out in public testimony. Yes. Its an open and shut case, and obviously weve had to wait for the other federal prosecutors to do their thing with the witnesses and the facts, and now its our turn, but, look, its very clear what happened from Michael Cohens testimony, from the documentary evidence like the cancelled checks. The ami group, the National Enquirer newspaper, gave s 150,000 to Karen Mcdougal has hush money for her to remain silent about her affair with the president , which she wanted to talk about, and then donald trump reimbursed Michael Cohen 130,000 for money that he had paid to stephanie clifford, Stormy Daniels, for her silence about her story about the president. These are illegal corporate contributions, illegal conduit contributions. They are contributions 30 or 40 times above the federal max and they are also unreported contributions. So if they were committed deliberately, which almost certainly they were, that is with consciousness of guilt and an attempt to circumvent the law, then they are felony crimes, too. So this really is a conspiracy and the president is at the heart of the conspiracy, and of course the republicans impeached bill clinton for far less. They impeached him for telling one lie about an affair, and here we have multiple Campaign Finance felonies committed in pursuit of a whole series of lies about affairs. Who was on your witness list for this testimony . Well, the witness list has not been drawn up yet, but, you know, the key players are known. You know, from ami, mr. Pecker and, you know, Michael Cohen obviously was involved in this. And the recipients of the hush money payoffs, so, you know, that would be a good starting place, but there were other people who were involved in it. Congressman jamie raskin, thank you for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it. Delighted to be with you. And when we come back, the Trump Administration sentenced her to death by mail. And after a week of great reporting by the New York Times and extensive coverage by Rachel Maddow and on this program, she might now be allowed to live. She has already saved lives and she might be saving even more lives now. That story is next. We trust usaa more than any other company out there. They give us excellent customer service, every time. 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. 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So that early retirement we planned. Its going ok . Great. Now im spending more time with the kids. Im introducing them to crab. Crab . They love it. So, you mentioned that that money we set aside. Yeah. The kids and i want to build our own crab shack. Ahhh, youre finally building that outdoor kitchen. Yup with room for the whole gang. See how investing with a j. P. Morgan advisor can help you. Visit your local chase branch. This is amazing. This is great news to wake up to. Those are the words of someone who truly understands the concept of lucky to be alive. This is amazing. This is great news to wake up to is what Maria Isabel Bueso said yesterday morning when she woke up in california to discover that in washington, d. C. The Trump Administration issued a statement that appears to reverse the Trump Administration decision not to renew permission for her to stay in the United States, permission for people who are being treated for serious liflifethreatening mel conditions. Maria isabel buesos doctor appeared about this Program Friday night to repeat what he told Rachel Maddow the night before, that isabel would die if she was forced to leave this country. Isabel has a rare genetic disease and has participated in medical studies for almost 20 years now that have helped extend the lives of people with their illness. One of the people who have been fighting to save isabels life by allowing her to stay in the United States is her local congressman, and he joins us now. Hes a member of the House Oversight committee where isabel is scheduled to testify next week. Congressman, thank you very much for joining us tonight on this important story. What is your understanding of the Trump Administration turn on this . Is it official . Is it clear . Well, first off, let me thank you for your coverage. Its been a big help. As to as far as the clarity of it, as usual its not clear to us. Its welcome news in the right direction. I introduced a bill yesterday that would go further and make sure that the family was on permanent status here in the country. So were appreciative of someone over there coming to their sends, but weve got a lot of work left to do, and wed like to hold the people accountable who have done this to these families. The notice that they put out was really just a press release saying that they they will send new letters this week to everyone whose cases were pending on august 7th, and all of those people, including isabel, got letters saying times up, youre going to have to leave the country in 33 days yep. From receipt of this letter. And then the last line of their statement simply says that they will complete the case load that was pending on august 7th. And no one quite knows what complete the case load means. No. This is consistent with all of this. We didnt find out about it until the family called our Office Asking for help. I have a copy here of the letter that isabel, her sister and both of her parents got. Its a form letter. Its not officially signed. And its quite frightening. So we want to get to the bottom of it. Right now were scheduled to have a hearing in the Oversight Committee that representative presley and myself asked for. Weve got a lot of support from our colleagues. Were hoping to get to the bottom of it, but mostly were hoping that this doesnt happen again and the people who did this are held accountable. Well, your hearing i think is going to be a very important element of this story. Were going to see republican members of congress have to address this at your hearing, and its hard to imagine any of them any of them attempting to defend this. Well, yeah, it is hard. I have seen them tried to defend this administration before where it was hard to defend. This one in particular i cant imagine even supporters of the president are not being ashamed of what the United States, this government has done to this individu individual, isabella particularly. They were invited by the federal government to come to this country. Well be covering your hearing and looking forward from what we can learn from this. Thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Hurricane dorian has now killed seven people. Well talk to the survivor of the hurricane in the bahamas next. Next is just a button. That a speaker is just a speaker. Or that the journey cant be the destination. Most people havent driven a lincoln. Its the final days of the lincoln summer invitation even. Right now, get 0 apr on all lincoln vehicles plus no payments for up to 90 days. Only at your lincoln dealer. Play it cool and escape heartburn fast with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. Tum tum tum tums with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. 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Because theres always another team looking to punch one in. A spectacular touchdown grab with nfl redzone from nfl network on xfinity, you get every touchdown from every game on sunday afternoons, all season long. Watch every breakout star, every heartpounding running attack, and every big time defensive stop. Sundays were made for football on xfinity. Thats simple, easy, awesome. Add the Sports Entertainment package for nfl redzone. Click, call, or visit a store today to learn more. Breaking news, we are continuing to track Hurricane Dorian as it moves up the coast. Seven people were killed and 13,000 homes destroyed in the bahamas this weekend. Officials told the New York Times believe that the whole town have been wiped out. Joining us now by phone from freeport. A lifelong resident of the bahamas. Alannah vellacott, whats the situation right now . First of all, thank you for having me on your show. At the moment the power is out at the coast. And you are in an area that was less damage than other areas of the islands . Yes. I was fortunate enough to be on the Southern Side of the island, closer towards to the freeport area. The wind came from the north and the storm surge came from that direction. We remain quite lucky. How are you getting electricity to run your phone for example . Well, i have like simple laptop computer that i charge all the way or youtube speaker that i can charge my phone. Earlier today i was charging my phone in my car and tomorrow well be going to go look for sources, people are generators so we can recharge those batteries that we can keep our phones on. Do you have access to water supply . Yes, we have about between us and my dad and i about seven gallons of drinking water. We filled up the bathtub with water that we can drink as well. I live at a complex, near designating that pool water to do Everything Else other than drink or wash dishes or shower or clean up any messes that we need to clean and stuff like that. Whats the condition of the general water supply for the islands . Well, very, very soon we are going to be needing water. The main water supply for this island is crown water. Testimo it exists on the eastern side of the island. I have not been outside very much. All of our ground water is contaminated with salt water. I am going to need to bring in a lot of water and need a lot of help and bringing in water and message to take the salt out of the water. Alannah vellacott, thank you very much for joining us. Save your battery, well try to stay in turch wiouch with you. I urge anyone listening if they can reach out and help. Go to the bahamas red cross society, thank you so much for having me mr. Odonnel. Thank you for joining us. For the latest of Hurricane Dorian path, we turn to our meteorologist, bill kareins. Sounds like theyll need water for 50,000 people. You can see the huge eye that we have here and the bands of rain. Again, the worse are offshore. The intensity has not changed. It is not supposed to. It is not like we are dealing with just a small hurricane anywhere. It is still a big, strong storm. The Million Dollar question, will those strong winds ever make landfall in the u. S. Lets look at the new path in the National Hurricane center. It is going to head parallel to the coast and about 100 miles offshore. And then well wait for another turn. This time it does not stall. It is going to be a gradual turn and then it will head northeast. It will happen late, the storm will be dangerously close to charleston. If it happens early, it will be far off the coast. If you are looking at that. North carolina, it sticks out. Thats a reason it gets hit once every four year by hurricanes. A category two landfall as we go into thursday night, myrtle beach or wilmington. Well be watching. Bill karins. Thank you very much. Thats it for tonight, the 11th hour with Brian Williams starts now. Tonight Economic Uncertainty and daily trashing on twitter and electi elections 14 months away now. Plus, dorian, a slow category two. Involving the carolinas as they prepare. Congress is coming back after their long summer break. The threat that kills the momentum. The fact that 53 people were killed in a single month of mass shootings. Do people expect anything from