Night last week we were talking on the show about the Siberian Energy group on the right and we accidentally showed the website of the Siberian Energy group on the left. Im sorry about that. You can understand why we might mix those up. The live Siberian Energy group versus the dead Siberian Energy group. Interesting. The reason we even know we made that mistake and put up the website is this article on politico. Com concerning the murky origins of half a Million Dollars paid to former security advisor mike flynn. The Siberian Group is the only publicly traded gas and Exploration Company in the u. S. That has 100 of its assets in russia. Siberian energy group. Part of what politico talked
about last week and we told you on the show, there is a link between the ceo of that now defunct Siberian Energy group and the guy who paid mike flynn more than half a Million Dollars mike flynn did not disclose on his Security Clearance application in washington. This is the money that was paid to flynn that caused him to retroactively register as an agent of a foreign power after he was fired from the white house. The guy that paid flynn that money has his own Business History in russia as reported by politico, reporting at least one Financing Deal personally approved by Vladamir Putin. This is an interesting thing about the flynn story, right . That link from the guy who paid flynn to his russian Business Dealings that personally involve putin, does that mean the money used to pay National Security advisor mike flynn might have
its origins in russia while russia at that very time was attacking the u. S. Election to help trump win . Thats the question, people trying to figure out the trump russia story by following the money thats what makes this whole question red hot. Thats why this is so important. The prospect when flynn was being paid during the campaign this possibility has been raised maybe who was paying flynn maybe the source of his foreign money were the same people attacking the election on trumps behalf. Its a red hot question and an important question particularly there is this new observable phenomenon in washington, d. C. Where republicans in positions of authority find themselves getting up close and personal to the flynn side of the Trump Investigation those republicans keep poofing. They keep finding reasons to absent themselves from the investigation. Congressman nunes and sally
yates and what they told mike flynn and told the white house, devin nunes canceled that hearing and got himself kicked off entirely and jason chaffetz, disclosing about money for sources. Before that happened, he announced he was quitting congress and up and left town without any warning to go get foot surgery for an old injury and said he wouldnt be back for weeks. Then, right after that the day after it was made public the Department Of DefenseInspector General was taking its own independent investigation of mike flynn and foreign payments the day after that the Attorney General of the United States, Jeff Sessions announced for the first time he was out of this, too, he would recuse himself from any Justice Department investigation that touched on mike flynn. Something about the investigation into mike flynn makes republicans turn tail and run away from these
investigations. The question of mike flynn and these foreign payments makes republicans faint. That makes the question of flynns foreign payments very interesting. It is extraordinary enough the National Security advisor was fired. Its extraordinary enough the National Security advisor was fired for lying about his contacts with the Foreign Government. It is extraordinary enough he did not report his payments from foreign sources on his Security Clearance application. It is extraordinary enough as nbc news reported friday night the trump transition knew about mike flynns foreign payments and they hired him as National Security advisor anyway. It is sfroor enough that the sitting Attorney General and the sitting Vice President head of the transition, they both now deny there was any way they could have known about those foreign payments to mike flynn at the time. Even though its clear the white
house and transition absolutely did know about those foreign payments to mike flynn at the time. The whole thing is extraordinary enough already before you get to the question whether or not the on for payments that came to mike flynn during the campaign might have come from putin connected sources. The guy who paid mike flynn denies the money came from putin connected sources although he himself has had russian Business Dealings directly with Vladamir Putin. The link between that guy who paid flynn and the Siberian Energy guy is through a couple of d. C. Based nonprofit groups that lobby on turkish interests. Both of these men have loose ties to those turkish organizations and deny having played a key role in founding them. The exSiberian Energy ceo denies any connection to flynn or connection to the man who paid
flynn or Vladamir Putin and doesnt want anybody to think of him as a russian linked oligarch, that said he had a gas Company Withholdings in russia. As his lawyers wrote to us to make his denials and said they were bidding at a public auction they left out from their defiant Lawyer Letter to us all the stuff from this is old bioon his siberian Company Website about all the years he spent working with the russian government including the part he literally brags about his quote extensive ties to russias Business Community as well as federal government and regional authorities. Whether or not he is ultimately going to turn out to be tied to these payments to mike flynn as politico suggested and we
talked about last week, he says hes not. His denial to politico and now to us he has any connections whatsoever to the putin government, his denial he has connections to the putin government is a little undercut by his previous public boasting about his previous extensive ties to the putin government. The mike flynn story kind of pulls it as red hot at the center of this bullseye. The official story about it is getting more and more upsetting to more and more people. Were hearing about it in more and more different kinds of ways everyday. The central story what happened to mike flynn and where that money came from and why he was paid and who he told about it and how it affected his employment at the white house and how the white house responded when they were told what they were told about his contacts with Foreign Government and russian officials, none of that makes any sense. Fbi director james comey
testified he was nauseated by the knowledge the election result might have been affected by his choice to talk before the election about the fbi investigation into Hillary Clintons email server and his choice to not talk until after the election about the fbis counterintelligence investigation into the Trump Campaign and the possibility they colluded with the russian attack. Tomorrow, james comey and mike rogers will testify Behind Closed Doors to the house intelligence committee, the investigation from which chairman nunes has now been recused, then on monday there will be another open hearing in the senate. That one will involve sally yates fired by the Trump White House for refusing to defend the muslim ban in court a couple days after she went to the white house to tell them about mike flynns contacts with the russian government and lying about those contacts and potentially vulnerable to russian blackmail. That mike flynn issue is what
she is going to be testifying about in the senate on monday. Depending how that hearing goes maybe we will learn more at that hearing about the murky origins of the foreign funding that went to Michael Flynn during the campaign while russia was attacking our election on behalf of trumps interests. Maybe we will hear more about why the white house story about that money and Michael Flynn just doesnt add up. If we do get closer to the truth on that figuring out why the white house has not been telling the truth about that thus far i fully expect we will see at least one more d. C. Republican faint from the shock thus requiring him or her to be immediately excused from this investigation. At that point i will also fully expect more threatening letters from lawyers. Even so, we will stay on it, no matter what, i promise. Today we also got a grand new display how the trump party will fight against the investigation. Where is all this speculation about collusion coming from . In January Buzzfeed published a Dossier Spinning Wild Conspiracy theories about the Trump Campaign. Buzzfeed acknowledged the claims were unverified and some of the details were clearly wrong. Buzzfeed has since been sued for publishing them. Since then much of the dossier has been proven wrong and many of his outlandish claims have failed to gain traction. Republican senator Chuck Grassley today trying to make the annual fbi oversight hearing this year focus on what hes now characterizing as a scandal the fact the fbi has used the Dossier Intelligence gathered by former fbi agent Christopher Steel as part of its Trump Investigation. The public needs to know what role the dossier has played and where it came from. We need to know more about it,
how much the nvi relied on it. According to press reports, the fbi has relied on the document to testify its current investigation. There have been reports the fbi agreed to pay the author of the dossier. The author of the dossier is someone who a long standing relationship with the fbi, a key version who worked with the fbi on investigation that led to multiple arrests an indictments of International Soccer that happened all over the world and substantially prosecuted here in the United States the least soccer major country there is was prosecuted here because the fbi and the u. S. Justice department nailed the corruption in that multibillion dollars
organization because they worked with mi6 agent Christopher Steel to do it. The Republican Party has just taken a turn on the trump Russia Investigation, they decided to defend against the trump Russia Investigation by attacking Christopher Steel and attacking the fbi once again with this British Intelligence officer the fbi has had a long standing productive intelligence relationship in the past led to very high profile criminal indictments. In order to make that turn, in order to try to discredit and turn against the trumpRussia Investigation on this basis, republicans have to reach. Since the dossier came out, piece after piece of it have been corroborated by the free press, which is very inconvenient for them for this argument. Heres cnn, u. S. Investigators corroborate some aspects of the russia dossier. The bbc, Trump Rush Dossier Key claim verified. One of the claims in the dossier was a trump advisors trip to moscow during the campaign. The Trump Campaign itself verified that one. The New York Times reported key american allies, british and dutch corroborated information Trump Campaign figures having meetings during the campaign with russian officials. Cnn reported parts of this dossier Passed Mustereen In Federal Court when the dossier was used in part to justify a secret fisa Court Warrant for u. S. Surveillance on a Trump Campaign advisor. Its going to be an Uphill Battle for republicans to make the pivot on this and denounce and defend against the whole trumpRussia Investigation as if it is somehow tainted or suspicious because it includes this dossier. The republican claim today is the dossier has been increasingly discredited. Thats not true in terms of the Public Record about the dossier, quite the opposite. As time goes on more and more pieces do get independently corroborated. Thats apparently what they decided on. In fact what has to be one of the greatest political smoke bombs of all time. The republicans today started today to claim the dossier itself between the Trump Campaign and russians, they started to claim today that claim itself is a russian op. What . Thats what theyre going to say now. Are you familiar with fusion . I know the name. Okay. Are they part of the russian intelligence apparatus . I cant say. Do you agree with me if fusion was involved with preparing a dossier against trump that would be interfering against the elections with the republicans . I cant say with the
russians. They want to let you know the new defense against the trump Russia Investigation is that the trump Russia Investigation is a russian operation which is amazing but that really is what they started arguing publicly today. On monday, next week, Lindsey Graham will be the one chairing that Committee Hearing in the senate where sally yates will testify what she and the Justice Department found out about mike flynn and foreign contacts and on for conversation and how the white house handle that information. Lindsey graham also apparently invited former obama National Security advisor susan rice to testify at that same hearing because why just have the hearing on the trump Russia Investigation when you can also muddy the waters with the president s claims the Obama Administration was secretly wiretapping trump tower and susan rice must have been up to no good. Susan rice is declining to testify at that hearing on monday. She called the request a diversion from what is
supposedly the topic of the hearing, the Trump Campaign and russia and noted the invitation came just from the republican side of that committee and the ranking democrat of the Committee Said the white house backed her up on that saying it was not actually a bipartisan request to testify and he supports her decision to say know. Theres a lot going on right now, just in washington right now. The house vote on Repealing Obamacare is likely to take place sometime early tomorrow, early to midday tomorrow. We have the latest on that coming up next. The Trump Administration may also be about to lose yet another senior nominee for the new administration. This is somebody who replaced their previous nominee. They may be losing their new nominee for that same job as well. That Story Ahead Tonight as well. On the trump Russia Investigation, all of a sudden we are in full pushback mode in terms of the other side of this. The smoke bombs are flying,
counterallegations and diversions are flying, republicans with ambitions are jumping out of the investigation anywhere they can and Lawyer Letters coming down like rain. This is a new phase of this game here. This took a turn today. Republicans are no longer just saying if trump and russia colluded, thats a serious thing, a game changer we need to get to the bottom of it, they are pushing back on the concept of this being investigated. This took a turn today. Everybody on your toes now. Its. Its how well you mow fast. Woooh its not how fast you mow. Its how well you mow fast its not how fast you mow. Its how well you mow fast. Theyre not just words to mow by, theyre words to live by. The John Deere Ztrak z345r with the Accel Deep Deck to mow faster better. Take a test drive and save up to 250 dollars on select john deere residential ztrak mowers. i wanted him to eat healthy. , so i feed jake Purina Cat Chow naturals indoor, a nutritious formula with no artificial flavors. Made specifically for indoor cats. Purina cat chow. Nutrition to build better lives. For years, centurylink has been promising fast internet to small businesses. But for many businesses, its out of reach. Why promise something you cant deliver . Comcast business is different. We deliver superfast internet with speeds of 250 megabits per second across our entire network, to more companies, in more locations, than centurylink. We do business where you do business. At the end of this week
congress leaves for 11 days off. An 11 day weekend, yeah. Thats the only thing thats ever made me want to run for congress. I never want to run for congress. 11 day weekend. Not for a thing. Why do we have an 11 day weekend. Before their next tax funded payer vacation. The question is will House Republicans try again for a third time to kill obamacare. Tonight we learned the answer is very likely yes. Going forward tomorrow . Were going tomorrow, yes, we are. Do you have the votes . Yes, we do. Do you have the votes . House republican Kevin Mccarthy saying they do have the votes to kill the Affordable Care act supposed to occur between 12 30 and 1 00 p. M. Eastern time tomorrow. I would caution that is subject to change depending how confident they are in vote total and twisting of arms. One remarkable thing about this
planned vote, they are not going to get the bill scored before they vote on it. You might remember the last time they tried to appeal obamacare the cbo score came back and said the republican bill would result in 24 million americans losing Health Insurance. Thats a hard thing to sell and that failed of the score came in. Now theyre going back at it. In order to win over more conservative votes they made the bill more draconian this time raising the possibility when the score does come in on this one we could be looking at more than 24 million americans losing their Health Insurance because of this iteration of the republican bill. The republicans apparently learned their lesson. They decided to solve that Attack Problem this time by just not waiting for the score. Before they go ahead and vote on this version of the bill. This new version of the bill allows individual states to opt out of the Coverage Requirements mandated by the Affordable Care
act. That sounds boring. What it means is if you have a Preexisting Condition of any kind, get ready to go back to the time when you can be denied Health Insurance for that or at least charged more for your coverage. Reacting to tonights announcement of a vote, House Democratic leader nancy pelosi said tomorrow, House Republicans are going to tattoo this moral monstrosity to their foreheads and the American People will hold them accountable. Assuming the republicans are right and they do have the votes to pass healthcare tomorrow constituents will have immediately 11 days at home with their member of Congress Starting the end of the week to start that Holding Accountable process. Joining us from new York Magazine the author of audacity how bo denied his critics and created a legacy that will prevail. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. Is the Affordable Care act
going to be a legacy that will prevail . They seem closer than ever to killing it. They are although the senate is not going to pass the bill going into the house tomorrow. Its not clear they will pass anything, not clear they will pass anything i think will be much weaker and leave a large chunk of the acas achievements into place. We will have to see how it plays out. I wouldnt rest on that. You should hope the house doesnt pass it and dont get the chance. It was always the easy process for them. Do you think it will pass and Kevin Mccarthy is right they will put it up tomorrow and it will pass . I think so. Theyre bad at counting votes. I wouldnt stick my life on it. I would on pelosi. The republicans lose these votes sometimes but i would bet on them winning. In terms of the political fallout of this, one of the things weve seen is the Home State Resistance to this specific thing republicans are doing right now. It resulted in republicans not just moderate and swing state republicans but republicans of every stripe being a little shaken in their conviction they thought previously might have been an easy vote republicans have been saying for six or seven years they wanted to repeal obamacare and voting impotently to do that over and over again while in opposition. The home state dynamics changed since they had the power to do it. What happens to that now . Thats a great question. Just like you say, i think they sold themselves and drank their own cool laid on this and convinced themselves it was unpopular and always unpopular and nobody benefitted from it and came facetoface with people benefitting from it. Obamacare became popular and that was before they took out whats popular in the bill, 20 still protected in Preexisting Conditions and now vulnerable to say Insurance Companies can discriminate against people who get sick. I think they decided their political interest lies in being seen as strong. The worst thing for them is to be seen as failing. That overrides any of the specifics of this terrible piece of legislation. To be clear on Preexisting Conditions obviously that is a Heart Rending thing for all sorts of people. You watch those confrontations to people and their member of congress, people born with genetic disorders, people who have cancer, every gamut, run the entire things that could have gone in their life through no fault of their own that makes insurance unaffordable. Republicans today saying we fixed that, taking account of that. We know you like that in obamacare and keeping that here. Theyve been saying that from President Trump to paul ryan all the way on down. Whats the rebuttal to that and will this be one of those alternative facts fights nobody agrees whats really in the bill . It will be to some extent. Their solution is shunt people into Preexisting Conditions special pools that only sell policies to people who are very sick. Those pools have never worked. Theyve always been underfunded. They have a small number of people and they have terrible limits. Limits who can get in and how much money can be spent on them and Waiting Lists and all kinds of problems and they dont have money to make that a workable solution. The two sides will argue whether it works. People are cynical about washington and i think they wont believe republicans they will take care of sick people because they dont believe republicans like to do things like that because they dont. Jonathan chait, new York Magazine writer. In terms of timing there, republicans are saying that vote to repeal the Affordable Care act will happen around 1 30 eastern time tomorrow. Expect that to change. They are close at their votes and not good at counting them. As soon as they think they have got it they will be rushing it to the floor. A lot of people will be on the ender hooks. Stay with us. Does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment . If you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. Taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. With taltz, up to 90 of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. In fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. Do not use if you are allergic to taltz. Before starting you should be checked for tuberculosis. Taltz may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. Inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz. Including worsening of symptoms. Serious allergic reactions can occur. Nows your chance at completely clear skin. Just ask your doctor about taltz. Adult 7 promotes alertness and Mental Sharpness in dogs nows your chance at completely clear skin. 7 and older. ray the difference has been incredible. She is much more aware. She wants to learn things. vo purina pro plan bright mind. Nutrition that performs. Dry mouth can affect how your mouth feels and how you feel. Discover act dry mouth, specially formulated to soothe and moisturize your mouth. And try new Act Dry Mouth Spray for relief when you need it. We have couple different president ial versions of signing things now. Three actually if you count the one where the president signs your hat and then tosses it to other people in the crowd. No, no, you were supposed to give it back to me. When it comes to signing Government Business this president likes to make a show of it. Likes to have cameras and a crowd around to watch and the Executive Order in the menu thing and show off his signature. Would you like the kieonte or claret . Sometimes he doesnt like to do it that way at all. Sign things but not make a big show of it like when he is making its easier for seriously mentally ill to buy guns for sign another muslim ban that got stopped by the courts. These things he does without a crowd or menu behind closed
doors, no cameras, ship it out, get it done post it on the website. Were waiting to see which version of the president ial signing might happen tomorrow when reportedly the president will sign one maybe two Executive Orders, the first one to allow religious groups to endorse candidates and get overtly involved in politics without endangering their taxexempt status. There are First Amendment worries this is basically a way to turn churches into dark money Money Laundering institutions for campaigns and candidates. The second Executive Order rumored calling it a religious liberty Executive Order to make it okay to cut off coverage for contraception. If youre having deja vu about
the forthcoming religious freedom order. Weve seen this before. In february a draft of this supposed Executive Order in the works was leaked and it basically disappeared there after. If you believe the contemporaneous reporting, folks we can reportedly thank for disappearing it in february ivanka trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. A lifelong democrat and miss trump an independent travel in liberal social circles and long supported lbgt rights and neither saw it before it was leaked and expressed their dissatisfaction to mr. Trumps other advisors and weighed indirectly with the president , and then it was gone. Until now when it is possibly back and he will sign it tomorrow. From the outside it can be hard to know whether the president s daughter and her husband are pulling the president anywhere because the whole time they have been this supposedly moderating
influence in the administration and doing a lot of things that dont seem that moderate. The Justice Department rolled back protections for transgender kids in school. The nominee for Army Secretary has a history of making super antigay and transgender comments. And Public Affairs and messaging is a long time abortion activist that maintains abortion gives you breast cancer. A person he put in charge of the federal governments Family Planning efforts says she does not believe contraception works. Shell now be in charge of contraception for the federal government. Ivanka trump and her husband have reportedly been lobbying the president to make sure the United States stays in the paris Climate Change agreement. Its looking more likely each and every day the president will choose to exit the Paris Climate Agreement anyway. So where is this moderating
influence manifest . Does it exist . How does it work on a daily basis out of sight in the white house if it is working and if it is working how would we know . What should we watch for . We will have somebody on this show next who actually knows the answer to that question. Stay with us. Okay, lets go. Find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. Thats amazing hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. The microsoft cloud helps
the pga tour turn countless points of data into insights that transform their business and will enhance the game for players and fans. The microsoft cloud turns information into insight. They carry your fans shpassions, hopes, and dreams. S. And maybe, a chance at greatness because shoulders were made for greatness. Not dandruff. Then youre a couple. Think of all youll share. Like snoring. Does your bed do that . The dual adjustability of a Sleep Number Bed allows you each to choose the firmness and comfort you want. So every couple can get the best sleep ever. Does your bed do that . For a limited time save 900 1200 on select final clearance beds during our spring clearance event. Only at a sleep number store or sleepnumber. Com
how to brush his teeth. woman vo in march, my husband didnt recognize our grandson. woman 2 vo thats when moderate alzheimers made me a caregiver. avo if their alzheimers is getting worse, ask about onceaday namzaric. Namzaric is approved for moderate to severe Alzheimers Disease in patients who are taking donepezil. It may improve cognition and overall function, and may slow the worsening of symptoms for a while. Namzaric does not change the underlying disease progression. Dont take if allergic to memantine, donepezil, piperidine, or any of the ingredients in namzaric. Tell the doctor about any conditions; including heart, lung, bladder, kidney or liver problems, seizures, stomach ulcers, or procedures with anesthesia. Serious side effects may occur, including Muscle Problems if given anesthesia; slow heartbeat, fainting, more stomach acid which may lead to ulcers and bleeding; nausea, vomiting, difficulty urinating, seizures, and worsening of lung problems. Most common side effects are headache, diarrhea, dizziness, loss of appetite, and bruising. woman 2 vo i dont know what tomorrow will bring but im doing what i can. avo ask about namzaric today. Working on my feet all day gave me pain here. In my knees. So i stepped on this machine and got my number, which matched my dr. Scholls custom fit orthotic inserts. So i get immediate relief from my foot pain. My knee pain. Find a machine at drscholls. Com. Why pause a spontaneous moment . Cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis. Quote the two trade thoughts from morning to night dorgd aides. Though she has no government or
policy experience she plans to review some Executive Orders before they are signed. Some earlier orders have set off a firestorm. She calls cabinet officials on issues she is interesting in recently asking the United NationsAmbassador Nikki Haley about getting humanitarian aid into syria. She set up a weekly meeting with Steve Mnuchin, the treasury secretary. She says, i am learning everyday. Think about it within the white house, having your bosss daughter set a weekly meeting with you when he is the president of the United States. This is not something there is much precedent for in American History. There are not many if any American People cabinet members can call to get advice on. Whats the precedent in American History and how do you say no to
the president s daughter . One of the many brand new worlds we have stepped into for this administration. Joining us now is jody cantor who wrote this Jaw Dropping Piece for the New York Times given access to the first daughter. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much. We have interesting reporting about the white house sending their minders io the agency. They sent somebody fm the campaign to the epa and stef mnuchins office and how they were annoyed. The guy at the epa piped up too much and Steve Mnuchin put his minder in the basement of the treasury. If a person in the federal government does not want to be working with ivanka trump, does not want her Making Decisions in her area of expertise, how is that handle . Shes such a different kind of Senior Advisor . When we saw her last week in
the white house shes open about the fact she doesnt know government, a newcomer in washington and doesnt have legislative experience, et cetera. I think on the one hand it could be very disconcerting with somebody with no Subject Matter experience, 35 years old is asking you very consequential questions about your job. On the other hand, i think it honestly could be helpful because i think if you want to have influence with the president , get through to his daughter could be very effective for cabinet secretaries. Or the opposite. Right . If you cant get along with his 35yearold daughter who has no Subject Matter expertise, who comes to this with an inherited real estate Business Background in Jewelry Marketing and all this stuff, she doesnt like your idea for the Federal Reserve restructuring or something, that shell never be fired. She will never be fired. One of the Big Questions here is what the accountability level is
with both ivanka trump and Jared Kushner. For most white house staff if you dont do a good job however you define it the president lets you go gently or harshly. The likely they will ever be treated that way seems very very small. What we were really struck by in our visits with her were the lack of parameters on her portfolio. Its really wide ranging. She did not appear to see any limits on what Subject Matter she would deal with. I thought part of the headline of our story was she was going to review Executive Orders before they wear signed. To see if she thought they were a good idea . To what end . Well, part of this is a reaction to bannon, right . Part of it is sort of like her presenting herself as the antibannon in the white house. She was pretty open with us about the idea that she is there to be a kind of not rating
force. She said even if i cant kill certain policies, i cant stop certain things, i can sand down the edges of these policies. We said, okay, please give us examples because if were going to represent that in the New York Times we really need to know what youre talking about. She said, oh, no no no. I cant because my influence is contingent on me doing it silently. If i went out and spoke out against what the administration is doing i would not be able to be effective with my father. So the thing people say is kind of unique in the ivanka trumpdonald trump relationship is that apparently she is able to give him criticism. This is not a president who is very open to criticism at all, that probably one of the most interesting moments in our reporting is maggie and i were on the phone with Jared Kushner talking about this. We asked him to describe the interactions in the west wing between the president and ivanka trump. He said they go into the oval
office together and talk. Theyre alone together. His implication and other aides supported this basically nobody really knows whats going on there in between father and daughter. If shes the only person who can criticize her father, shes the only person who can deliver a no for sharp criticism to her dad, that makes it really important that we know if shes getting good information, if she has true beliefs about the world, if she has conflicts of interest driving her to advise her father in a way that arent in the countrys best interests. What do we know about what she knows and where she comes from . She describes herself as a not particularly idea lolg call person, pro business, socially liberal moderate. Thats an important question and the other important question is is she really able to challenge
her father. With that we went to biography. There are no answers in the white house, this is only her second week in the west wing. We looked at her life in the trajectory. This is not a kid who has ever really distanced herself from or visibly challenged her father. Plenty of people grow up when they have a moment and say to their parents, im not like you in some way, i will live my life differently going on my own path. Ivanka trump did not have that. She nestled within the Trump Family Brand and trump family name, even her own company is interesting in terms of what were talking about as well. It was sort of adjacent to the trump organization. She used their payroll and internal resources. She essentially set herself up as a part of the trump organization. In what is supposedly an independent business environment. I struggle with this because im not a biography driven political analyst. I dont believe you can look
into anybodys eyes or look into their biography or parents and divine whether or not theyre good for the country or not. I tend to believe you have to judge people by their actions, not who they are. With her, she has no overt actions. With Jared Kushner he has no overt actions other than what they have done in the Business World. What ivanka trump has done in the Business World shes this champion of womens rights, she wasnt marketing these things and the only thing shes done is run a sub sid air aye of her dads organization. I want to tell you a story reported by my colleague, rachel abrams. Lets look back at her support for womens issues, shes saying she wants gender her thing in the white house, will fight for family leave and childcare. I want to stipulate there are a lot of people out there who want paid family leave and affordable
childcare by any means necessary. They do not care who passes it. The question is does she believe in it and can she execute it . Does she have the legislative skills to move on Something Like this. We went back and looked at her first interest in gender issues. What it was when she launched her own apparel brand and other brands she wanted to become more relatable to regular women so she launched this women who work initiative. The sandberg book had just come out and ideas very popular. It was really a branding campaign, a hashtag. Behind the scenes she officially had not offered Maternity Leave to her employees who wanted it, later came wake up plan. This hashtag didnt involve any policy, there wasnt like some agenda . Anthropic activity. Yeah. Exactly. It really had nothing t doith
improving womens lives in a substantive way, it was about the image of being a contemporary working woman. Aligning herself with that as an idea purposes. Literally for branding purposing. Its just an incredibly curious trajectory from feminism as kind of Marketing Campaign to supposedly feminist policy. One really striking thing about her with our encounter with her in the white house, some of her words sounded so surprisingly like Hillary Clintons. A lot of the classic clintonisms dont belong to hillary only. When people talk about wanting to empower women, obviously thats very broad language. But some of the things she said about the way women could power the economy and how women had to live up to their full economic potential, it was the language was so close that i think the skeptical question there is she trying to appropriate rate clintonism,
even though of course Hillary Clinton has been an advocate for women her entire life . And are people going to be happy with that . For people that are really upset that clinton lost, ivankas work on gender in the white house going to be at all a satisfying substitute . Particularly as Contraception Coverage is going to get gutted tomorrow by this Executive Order that her dad is about to sign. Its a fascinating again, biographical approaches to this kind of stuff is not usually the way i approach these things. But with the children as president ial advisers, its the only way in. Jodi kantor, coauthor of this remarkable new piece on ivanka trump in the New York Times. A remarkable piece. Thanks. Well be right back. Stay with us. Across the state. New roads and bridges. New mass transit. New business friendly environment. New lower taxes. And new University Partnerships to grow the businesses of tomorrow today. Learn more at esd. Ny. Gov istart at the new carfax. Comar. Show me minivans with no reported accidents. Boom. Love it. [struggles] show me the carfax. Start your used car search at the allnew carfax. Com. Its your glass of willpower that helps keep cravings. Far, far away. Feel less hungry with the natural fiber in clinically. Proven meta appetite control. From metamucil. Vita coco coconut water, hydration comes naturally. Start your day with the number one choice of dentists. Philips sonicare removes significantly more plaque versus oralb 7000. Experience this amazing feel of clean. Innovation and you. Philips sonicare. Save now when you buy philips sonicare. This is Tennessee State senator mark green. Until recently, he was running for governor in tennessee. But he quit that race because he got a better gig. Donald trump nominated him to be the new secretary of the United States army. That nomination coming after the first Trump Nominee for that job dropped out amid Conflict Of Interest concerns and after news that he recently punched a guy out at an expensive horse auction. Huh . I know. Its kind of weird. But now it looks like trumps plan b pick to be secretary of
the army looks like he may be in serious trouble as well. Since he was tapped for this gig last month, his past public statements have made for fun reading. Mark green, for example, has said that being transgender is a disease. He has said the reason more latinos are registering to vote in his state is because they are, quote, being bussed here probably. He has been an outspoken crusader against evolution, which he destroys in arguments with he destroys in arguments with metaphors like these. Quote. If you put a lawnmower out in your yard and 100 years come back, its rusted and falling apart. You cant put parts out there and 100 years later its going to come back together. Boom, evolution, dead. But the pressure against his nomination is now mounting on capitol hill. Reporting today is he may be withdrawing from consideration any minute now. Senator john mccain heads up the Armed Services committee that will have to sign off on and approve his nomination