Transcripts For MSNBCW Way Too Early With Kasie Hunt 20201202

Conspiracy, too. Helping donald trump overturn the election, seems to be a bridge too far even for one of the president s most loyal allies. As attorney general william barr breaks with trump with the claims of Election Fraud. The question, will the president fire him too . Plus, new reporting that the president has discussed pardons for his three eldest children, Jared Kushner and Rudy Giuliani. The question is if pardons are for those of federal crimes, what potential crimes have been committed. Plus, a federal investigation into a bribery scheme involving president ial pardons. The question is who is involved . Its way too early for this. Good morning. And welcome to way too early. The show that just has so many top stories to choose from this morning. Im kasie hunt on this wednesday, december 2nd. Lets get right into it. The white house is investigating a potential bribery scheme involving president ial pardons. It was revealed in heavily redacted Court Documents pertaining to a search warrant of several offices. The opinion was entered in late august by the chief judge for the federal court in washington, d. C. , and its now been unsealed. The investigation seems to involve at least two individuals who, quote, acted as lobbyists to senior white house officials without registering as lobbyists. Who to secure pardon or reprieve of sentence for a person who appears to be known for investigators but whose name has been redacted in these newly unsealed documents. The investigation also involves an alleged offer from someone whose name had also been redacted of a, quote, substantial political contribution in exchange for a president ial pardon or reprieve of sentence. The documents do not name President Trump or any other white house officials. Nor do they say anyone in the white house new about the alleged scheme. The white house declined to comment. But last night, the president tweeted, quote, pardon investigation is fake news. Well, theres a lot there. At the same time, multiple sources confirmed to nbc news that in recent days, President Trump has been discussing the possibility of pardons for family members and close associates, including his children and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. The New York Times was first to report the news. Two people briefed on the matter tell the times that giuliani who has been out there promoting baseless claims of Election Fraud talked about a pardon with President Trump as recently as last week. According to the paper, President Trump has said hes concerned that a Biden Justice Department Might seek retribution against him by targeting his three oldest children, donald trump jr. , eric trump and as well as ivankas husband, Jared Kushner. The times points out that a pardon for giuliani is certain that trump add cuizations that trump has used his pardon power to obstruct investigations and insulate himself and his allies. One source tells the news the recent conversations are because trump feels embattled and not because he or any of the family members did anything illegal. When asked for comment, he said, quote, a lie 100 . So get furious at the lying members of your profession. I think despise crooked lawyers. The white house has not commented. Theres all about pardon news. And then theres this, the attorney general acknowledged something that we all have known for weeks that there was no real voter fraud in this election. Bill barr in a rare break from the president told the New York Times that the Justice Department hasnt wouldnt anything that would over current that joe biden won. He also said theres nothing to substantiate any claims about the wide theories surrounding voting systems that trump and his allies keep saying were rigged. Barr was actually at the white house for what the white house insisted was a previously scheduled meeting with the chief of staff. Its unclear if he met with trump who has yet to react to barrs comments here. Although its pretty clear how he feels, if you scroll through his twitter feed. Barrs remarks prompted a swift response, though, from trumps Legal Team Led by the aforementioned Rudy Giuliani who wrote in part, with the greatest respect to the attorney general, his opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of substantial irregularities or evidence of systemic prod. To date, the Trump Campaign has filed 40 lawsuits, so far, none of have found a single incident of fraud. For more on this, were joined by nbc correspondent julia ansley who covers the doj for us. Julia, i dont know where to start but how about we pick up on the last threat about the attorney general and the interview with the associated press. Essentially coming out and saying theres no fraud here, theres nothing thats going to overturn the election. We know how reluctant bill barr has been to break with the president. What do we know about why he decided to do this now . Well, its interesting, kasie, i mean, this is an an interview with the associated press. He clearly picked what he saw as a downthemiddle outlet. Someone he could go to get the message out. It seems the real news he wanted to break is about how hes insulating john durham at the russia investigation, if i can throw more news for you this morning, insulating him. But in the middle of that he was surprisingly asked his opinion about voter fraud. He said to date they have not seen evidence that indicates that the election would have gone for donald trump based on any alleged fraud. Simply, the evidence isnt there to support that. Now, since that, since youve seen that the twitter feed has blown up. The statement from giuliani and how the white house has responded, the Justice Department spokeswoman did say, what the attorney general is saying, so far, we have not seen evidence to date. That does not mean we have ended our investigations and closed shop. This is an important qualifier, and it also follows the statements barr made before the election where he said that he wanted to give the Justice Department more leeway to investigate fraud. Not just wait for the states to do their job as they traditionally would. Yes, it was historic. I think is really means something for people following what this administration is doing, in the wake of this election and where the chips are falling. But i dont think this means that we have an attorney general who is going to now breakaway completely from the president. You can see that yesterday in the way he tried to protect john durham, in a way that would keep his job and his position in that investigation safe in the new administration. Yeah. Lets pick up there, too. Its such an important point that hes still essentially saying, okay, these u. S. Attorneys can look into any upcoming allegations of voter fraud. If we find them, fine. Well look into it. But this john durham question. If he went to the ap to basically put that out there. For people who havent john durham is a much more familiar name to a lot of the conservative news outlets, news max, oaan. Can put this in the context of what this means to the Incoming Biden Administration . Yeah, thats a great question. John durham was appointed by william barr, to be an investigator, to lead an investigation into the origins of a russia probe. Basically to look at whether or not the probe that became the Mueller Probe should have been opened in the first place and whether or not theres any wrongdoing in the process. This is on top of countless investigates, kasie. Youve covered them on the hill. Weve covered them in the Justice Department saying there was no political bias in the early days, in the early fisa warrants, what led to what we know as the russia probe. But john durham was called in by william barr to do a more thorough review. William barr has constantly turned to the durham investigation and say, look, there might be something there. Even after the report, he said, we think this is premature. We think john durham is going to find more. Now, barr didnt get his wish in the fact that durham didnt put out his investigation, even an interim report, before the election. This is his way of saying when the new administration comes in, durham should be safe to continue his work. Oh, boy. We didnt even get to bribery and president ial pardons. Nbcs julia ansley, thank you for getting up on this busy morning at the doj. Thank you so much. Still ahead here, new overnight, the uk becomes the First Western country to approve pfizers coronavirus vaccine, clearing the way for britain to begin mass immunizations. Were going to have that story and a check of your weather, when we come right back. Did you know that your clothes can actually attract pet hair . With new bounce pet hair lint guard, your clothes can repel pet hair. Look how the shirt on the left attracts pet hair like a magnet pet hair is no match for bounce. With bounce, you can love your pets, and lint roll less. Is now a good time enough, crohns. For adults with moderate to severe crohns or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, and is the only approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc. You, getting on that flight . Back off, uc. Stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flulike symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. Rpls, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. Some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. Lasting remission can start with stelara®. If youve been financially impacted by covid19, janssen may be able to help. Did you try it yet . Comparing plans . Oh yeah. They sure can change year to year. I found lower premiums and lower prescription costs. And those new insulin savings hundreds of plans, 35 a month. Thatll save you money. So uh, mark . On medicare. Gov now. Open enrollment ends dec 7th. Comparing plans. Really pays. Paid for by the u. S. Department of health human services. Welcome back. Time now for sports. The ravens arrived in pittsburgh yesterday, ahead of this afternoons planned matchup against the undefeated steelers. The game has already been postponed three times, but its still on, despite reports that the ravens had yet another new player testing positive for the coronavirus. Before the team left baltimore. According to espn, the player is rookie safety gino stone. While an equipment manager also tested positive and that both were deemed no risk to others. While the ravens have now had ten Straight Days of positive tests in an outbreak thats affected more than 20 of its players, the team has been able to trim the number on the reserve covid19 list down to 16 players, with the possibility of removing two more by game time. The team will be tested again before todays kickoff. While the San Francisco 49ers meanwhile have found a new temporary home at the carolina facility amid covid restrictions that banned Contact Sports in sabt that clara, california, the situation is more difficult for schools Like Stanford University and san jose state. They had to cancel another game, putting the brakes on tara van devers quest on the trophy stanford is apparently sending its team on a road trip to be played in washington and oregon. And the san jose state Football Team will spend some time until paradise, after moving saturdays originally scheduled home game, to hawaii. Not the worst deal. Meanwhile, the university of notre dame has clinched a spot in the acc title game set for december 19th. The irish have the winning edge in all tiebreakers after they cancelled the finales in order to keep them on equal footing of each playing nine conference games. With miami still in contention, a loss for the hurricanes or a tiger visibility other over to Virginia Tech would set up a rematch over the Double Overtime win cleanagainst clemson last m. And the matchups remain with alabama, notre dame, clemson and ohio state occupying the top four spots. Its been a rough season for Michigan Football fans, like me, out there. Lets go now to this story, the world cup champion u. S. Womens National Team has won a partial legal victory, in its battle, legal battle, for equal treatment to the mens team. After they reached a settlement in a suit filed in a mens soccer industry. While the dispute over equal pay is continuing, the federation has agreed to provide the womens team comparable conditions to the mens team, including chaere ing chartered team travel. Venues for team events, Hotel Accommodations and specialized support services. Were not all the way there, but were getting there. Time now for weather. Lets go to meteorologist bill karins for the forecast. Bill, it is freezing in washington. What else you got . You finally joined the rest of the country. I told to you enjoy yesterday, kasie. Lets get into this, all of the snow was in the deep south but the snowiest spot was ohio. Cleveland itself picked up 10 inches of snow. The first snow of the season and it was a doozie. When you see plows off the road, thats not good. The forecast is exiting, were done with the snow in ohio. And were focusing our attention on the next storm. Thats the one moving into oklahoma and texas. Theyre going to see snow in northern texas and western oklahoma and then this storm is going to move to the east coast. Im going to fast forward to friday. Rainy weather on the southeast. Then on saturday, like a noreastertype storm. Looks like all rain for d. C. , philly, new york. Central new england, and Northern New England could get snow out of this in its mountains and then sunday, snow for vermont and new hampshire. Kasie, looks like an allrain event. But for ski resorts that need it, this could be a chance for snow. Well talk about that as we get to the weekend. Well, winter is most definitely here. It seems like a White Christmas may be possible for a lot of folks across the country. Bill karins, thank you, my friend. Still ahead here, a cdc panel make. A recommendation about who should receive the first coronavirus vaccines once shots become available in the u. S. Were going to take a look at who will be first in line. Coming up next. For severe eosinophilic asthma. Not for sudden breathing problems. Allergic reactions can occur. Get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. Infections that can cause shingles have occurred. Dont stop steroids unless told by your doctor. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. May cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. Ask your doctor about nucala at home. Find your nunormal with nucala. Welcome back. With the rollout of the vaccine, that is nice to read. According to a tracking project, the u. S. Hit a new record with more than 100,000 people currently hospitalized with the virus. Meanwhile, florida is now the third state to report 1 million cases, with nearly 9,000 new cases yesterday alone. The other states to have reported more than 1 million cases so far are texas and california. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has become the first major western country to approve the use of the covid19 vaccine from pfizer and biontech. This morning, a spokesperson from the uks department of health and social care announced the news of the vaccine approval. Saying that, quote, the vaccine will be made available across the uk for next week. The twodose vaccine is 95 effective and must be stored at basically arctic temperatures. So far, only russia and china have approved vaccines without approved test results and scientists have criticized that approach. United states is going to make its decision on emergency authorization for the available covid vaccines when the fada meets on december 10th to decide on the Pfizer Vaccine and december 18th for the moderna vaccine. Health care workers and nursing home residents will be at the front of the line when that vaccine is made available. Yesterday, the centers for Disease Control Advisory Committee on immunization practices voted 13 to 1 to recommend giving those groups First Priority in the first days of vaccine rollout. Health care workers and nursing home residents represent 24 Million People. And current estimates show no more than 20 million doses of the pfizer and moderna vaccines will be available by the end of the year pending fda approval. We have a lot of work to do folks, as quickly as we can. Still ahead here, were going to take a look at where stimulus takes place on capitol hill. Nbcs Leigh Ann Caldwell is joining us with the details. But before we go to break, we want to know why are you awake . Email to way too earlwaytooear. Hughes the hash tag and well read the answers coming up later in the show. Then break it. Every emergenc gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergenc. Tget an iphone 12 with 5g on us on every single plan. Switch now and save 20 on your bill vs. The other guys. Thats right. Iphone 12 on us. Its time to holiday on with t mobile. Just washed laundry doesnt smell. Just washed. Our thats because theres hidden sweat and body soils that cause odors on your clothes. But theres a solution for those secret stinks gain flings laundry pacs gain flings has more freshness ingredients compared to bargain liquid detergents. They have 3 super powered ingredients that fight stink oxi boost, febreze odor remover, and concentrated detergent. Just toss in a couple of pacs. Gain flings works in all wash cycles, even in cold water. Try gain flings and smell the difference or well give you your money back. Others see cracked concrete, broken backboards,here. Rundown courts. I see a way to bring pride back to communities. Art can change it all. Bright colors, a bold vision, and it can be somewhere that brings people together. For games or hangouts or whatever. A place that makes people proud like this is my neighborhood. Thats why i made project backboard and a site with godaddy. How will you make your mark . Make the world you want. Welcome back to way too early. Its just before 5 30 here on the east coast, 2 30 out west. Im kasie hunt. Pay Bipartisan Group of senators announced a 908 billion covid relief plan hoping to break a months impasse and provide Unemployment Benefits and other benefits this year. The proposed stimulus announced at a morning News Conference faces an uphill battle without backing from house and Senate Leadership or support from the washington white house. The post reports after months of stalemate the bipartisan plan is not likely the most likely in plan but may be the most palpable compared to other bills makes the rounding. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell said that Senior Republicans received a bill from nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. They failed to provide details of the proposal. And Senate Republicans have submitted a new plan that is likely to get met with democratic opposition. That plan would extend base Unemployment Benefits and unemployed workers and Government Contractors for about a month. But otherwise not supplemental benefits. Mcconnell told the reporter that he has spoken with trump. And also has a liability shield and doesnt provide for local and state governments. Joining us to talk about this, Leigh Ann Caldwell. Leigh ann, great to see you. My sense is that democrats are really facing the consequences of what happened on election night. They were expecting to win more seats in the house, to win more seats in the senate than they did possibly even controlling the senate. And they had been holding out for a sweeping deal that would spend maybe as much as 3 trilli trillion, likely less. What happened is they lost, they didnt win in the senate. And now at a point where republicans in many ways, perhaps theyve raised the top line number on relief but changed fundamentals of it. Democrats hands are weak here. And theyre seems to be pressure on pelosi to do something smaller, pressure coming from moderate democrats, democrats that are still left in her caucus. Whats your take on how this is all playing out . And what, bottom line, are americans what can they expect to see, as they face the end of these checks that have been holding them together . Wyes, kasie, pelosi for monts thought she had the upper hand in the negotiations and now things have switched. It seems like senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell now thinks he has the upper hand in these negotiations so thats evident from the framework of the legislation that he introduced. It is thinner, it is smaller. It includes less of the things that democrats want. So it was a big shot across the bow really. And this moderate proposal which is probably right in the middle. Probably the perfect of the whole goldilocks scenario, people on the left, people on the right. And then the proposal right in the middle that might be right. But this proposal is really a failure of leadership. Failure of Republican Leaders and Democratic Leaders to come together to even to start to negotiate. So, they tried to fill this leadership vacuum with legislation. Now, on the same days, you have these two other leadership proposals that came through. But i dont know how the top forward will work. And the pressure is mounting on these lawmakers, that at the end of the month, 14 Million People are going to lose their unemployment insurance. Theres a lot of other expiring deadlines, the rent moratorium is set to expire. And theres a lot of pressure on lawmakers. And it is very unclear at this time how theyre going to get out of this lasting stalemate, even though theres now three proposals on the table, kasie. Leigh ann, i apologize, were having a little trouble with your audio. But just to underscore what you were saying there, they are under so much pressure, americans need help. Everyone agrees americans need help. Economies need help. Officials from the Federal Reserve were on the hill asking for more help yesterday. It really is, i think, to your point, it under scores the failure of leadership to figure out how to move forward on Something Like this. Fights over liability shields and the number for state and local governments, well and good. Im not saying thats not important. But when it comes to getting people the help that they need to keep their families afloat and food on the table at the holiday season, it pales in comparison. Nbcs leann caldwell, thank you for your reporting. Still ahead here, mystery solved . Sort of. We can at least now rule out aliens in the disappearance of a metal monolith found in utahs red rock dessert. Well have those details. Way too early back in just a moment. Up at 2 00am again . Tonight, try pure zzzs all night. Unlike other sleep aids, our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. And longer. Zzzquil pure zzzs all night. Fall asleep. Stay asleep. Sprinting past every leak in our softest, smoothest fabric. Shes confident, protected, her strength respected. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. Our own hopes and dreams. Well pass many milestones. Moments that define you. And drive you. To achieve even more. So, celebrate every one. 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The wrinkle guard shirt has less wrinkles and static, and more softness and freshnes a bounce out wrinkles with bounce wrinkle guard dryer sheets welcome back. Time to gather around the watercooler that are going to have people talking today. I dont know about you, but im a little obsessed with this story. We realize weve updated you several times on the ever fascinating utah monolith that appeared in the desert. A photographer is now claiming to have witnessed the removal of the monolith, and maybe disappointingly, it shows that it wasnt aliens. Ross bernard said he was photographing the monolith in the moonlight with friends as four people appeared and removed. As they were removing the structure, the person in the group said leave no trace, as they put the monolith in a wheelbarrow to take it away. Yesterday, 34yearold andy lewis took credit for the statues removal, including others. They did it to protect the land from not only the metal structure but from the masses of people that would descend upon the desert. Still, it is unclear who or what put the monolith there in the first place. So heres that. Tonight, this is also a wonderful story, one of the wonderful nights of the year. The world famous Rockefeller Christmas try will be officially lit for this holiday season. While the event usually draws massive crowds, this year the Tree Lighting is closed due to the pandemic. But were going to get performances from dolly parton, brett eldredge, earth wind and fire and bring back broadway with the radio city rockettes. The Tree Lighting ceremony airs tonight at 8 00 p. M. On nbc and hosted by our friends at the today show. Cant wait to watch. Meanwhile, our very own Steve Kornacki is using his khakis to do some good. After the khaki sales at the gap, after named sexiest man alive, they named kornacki free khakis for life. While said the offer was very kind and said he only goes through a pair every five years. Instead, gap and kornacki came up with a different plan. Instead of giving me pants, see this, this wouldbe lifetime supply of pants for me instead is going to go to the boys and girls clubs of america to what they call their workforce rednesre readiness program. This is a great charity. Boys girls clubs of america. A great organization. It prepares them ready to meet the workforce. Theyre going to supply 500 pairs. This is only a small sampling here. 500 pairs to the Workforce Readiness program to the Boys Girls Club of america in my name. Congrats to everybody involved. I do think we need to discuss the fact that he only requires three pairs of pants at one time. Still ahead, attorney general ensures that the investigation into the russia investigation is going to continue into the incoming administration. And as we go to break, we take a look at this date in history, in 1993, after a president was killed by security forces. Two years ago, escobar turned himself in. He built his own prison with a hot tub and private soccer field but he broke out in a bloody battle with soldiers last year. Since then, hes been pursued by Police Groups in retaliation of killings he ordered. The cartel far less violent took over the cocaine trade. But not anymore an alternative to pills voltaren is the first full prescription strength nonsteroidal antiinflammatory gel to target pain directly at the source for powerful arthritis pain relief. Voltaren. The joy of movement. Youre all, youre all i need youre all, youre all i need as long as i got you then baby you know that youve got me, oh yea. Welcome back. Attorney general bill barr has officially appointed john durham as special counsel to investigate the origins of the russia investigation. Durham is currently looking into the fbis probe of the russias interference in the 2016 election. And barrs appointment yesterday formalizes durhams investigation and ensures that the investigation will continue during the Incoming Biden Administration. Responding to barrs move republican senator Lindsey Graham said, quote, i hope my democrat colleagues will show special counsel durham the same respect they showed special counsel mueller. So far, durhams investigation has yielded one prosecution of an fbi attorney who pled guilty failing to maintain surveillance of a trump aide, carter page who was a key figure in muellers investigation. President trump is threatening to veto an annual defense bill authorizing more than 1 trillion in military funding unless Congress Starts to hold social Media Companies legally liable for the way they police their platforms. Trump tweeted that section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency act is a, quote, serious threat to our National Security and election integrity. Adding if a, quote, is not completely terminated as part of the Defense Authorization act i will be forced to unequivocally veto the bill. The decades long bill for the content posted by users have come into question by many lawmakers questioning whether its outdated. Joining me now nbc news and msnbc contributor benjamin witis. Thank you for getting up with us, ben. We have so much news that is right in your wheelhouse this morning. And we started with the show talking about pardons, because all of a sudden, this has ka catapulted to the front of the news with unsealed documents that suggests there is someone trying to prescribe the president , to get a president ial pardon. And then theres this the New York Times report that the president is discussing pardoning his three oldest children. I was just hoping you could walk us through what the precedent is here . What legally does this mean that the president definitely thinks they committed crimes . Or is this the kind of a situation where he can say, well, i dont think they committed any crimes, but in the event they did, and somebody investigates it later, im just going to pardon them in advance . I mean, is that a power that the president has . It is. So the best precedent i know for that is Jimmy Charter preempt e preemptively pardoning all draft dodgers including from the vietnam war era, including people who had never been charged with anything, right . Look, the president ial pardon power is extremely broad. And if the president has, you know, some suspicion that, for example, Rudy Giuliani is the subject of an investigation, and he wants to say im going to nuke this investigation in its crib, he actually does have the power to do that. You know, the Richard Nixon pardon pardoned him from sort of any and all crimes he may have committed in the period of his presidency. Wasnt limited to watergate exactly. And so i dont doubt that the president can do it. I do think the optics of it would be terrible, particularly for, you know, jared and i vaughn ivanka and the two trump sons, eric and don junior, it does imply that theyve committed a crime. And when you accept a pardon, theres an implication in the acceptance that there is something there to pardon. And so, whether thats its a good, you know, pr strategy for them to tolerate or to take such a pardon is a different question. But i dont doubt that he has the power to do it. Interesting. So, what about the situation where someone is allegedly trying to bribe the president to get a pardon . Is there does this fall under that same blanket situation . I mean, could the president could the president accept a bribe for offering someone elsen and pardon himself for accepting a bribe . That seems a little i realize im sort of spinning my head around here at 5 30 in the morning. Yeah, lets take those in steps. So some of those questions have answers and some of those questions dont have answers. Can the president pardon himself, we dont know. The traditional Justice Department position is that the president cannot pardon himself, but no president has ever tried and so we dont really know. Its one of the great Unanswered Questions of american constitutional law. Can the president take a bribe for giving a pardon . Well, yes. But hed be committing a crime in the course of doing so. And he would be subject to prosecution for the crime. But the pardon would be valid. So a pardon that was illegally procured is a still a valid pardon. This is people hate this fact, but its real. Its a true thing, so if you walk up to donald trump on National Television and say heres 100,000, please pardon me, and he signs a pardon there on the spot, he can be prosecuted for giving the bribe, receiving a bribe. You can be prosecuted for giving a bribe, but the pardon is valid. And so could he, you know, the whoever the subject of the bribes for pardon scheme is, is, you know, potentially subjecting himself to prosecution, but hes not crazy that the thing could work, if you could keep it secret. Well, and i guess theres also the question of the family, et cetera, this entire conversation just shows how far weve come or fallen in the last four years, depending which side you sit on. Exactly. Ben, thank you so much for your time this morning. Really appreciate you getting up early. Sandy writes, im up early because of these working dogs and work. Kona and Penny Service dogs, cooper, jackson, retired service dog. Thank you for your service. From patrick, a new season of fortnite dropped at 3 00 a. M. A compromise with my 9yearold son has us up at this hour. We went to bed earliment hey. Hes showered, dressed. And its 39 degrees here in daytona, its too cold to sleep. I got this note from stephanie who says shes up because its time to move the elk on the shelf. Indeed, also a household of at least one lucky kid. Thank you, guys, so much for watching. Coming up next here, were going to take a look at the axios one big thing. And coming u p on morning joe, a look at president elect joe bidens policy team. Is the u. S. Next, morning joe, just moments away. Next,g joe, just moments away. Are you tired of clean clothes that just dont smell clean . What if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks . Now they can downy unstopables inwash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh way longer than detergent alone. Pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load and enjoy fresher smelling laundry. 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Tell your doctor about your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. So, give that just saw a puppy look. And whatever that look is. Look like you. With fewer lines. See results at botoxcosmetic. Com did you try it yet . Comparing plans . Oh yeah. They sure can change year to year. I found lower premiums and lower prescription costs. And those new insulin savings hundreds of plans, 35 a month. Thatll save you money. So uh, mark . On medicare. Gov now. Open enrollment ends dec 7th. Comparing plans. Really pays. Paid for by the u. S. Department of health human services. Welcome back, joining me with a look at axios am, the cofounder of axios, mike allen. Good morning to you, what is axons one big thing this morning. I have added kornacki khakis to my christmas list. The one big thing is trump behind the scenes. Were told when that alert moved yesterday, that bill barr had said that the Justice Department had not found widespread Election Fraud. Im sure in your newsroom, like in newsrooms around the country, somebody is getting fired. Were told that the president s rant when he heard about that was that this was a smoke screen by his attorney general to try to prevent the release of that report thats looking into the 2016 fbi investigation of the Trump Campaign. The president is convinced, even though his Justice Department says otherwise that that report, the Durham Report by special counsel john durham is complete, and the president is convinced that it has the secret information thats going to vindicate him and thats going to put pressure on his obama era rivals. So he is now pressuring barr to release that report, which hes convinced is finished, and Jonathan Swan reports that the president is talking about replacing barr, nobody knows if he will. But hes definitely throwing that out there as he chats with the few people still in his inner circle. Yeah, that was going to be my question to you is how long is barr for this world, which of course is pretty remarkable considering all of the times he has done what the president wanted or preemptively done something the president was later happy with him for. Mike, lets stick with this future of trump question that you are also writing about, which is this possibility that President Trump may run for president again. Its something that intrigues me because it obviously says its going to determine a lot about what the future of the Republican Party is. What are you guys hearing on this question. Yeah, so we have new reporting for you on this, casey, and last night at a christmas party, at the white house, the president throwing this out again saying if i dont get another four years, ill see you in four more years. Heres what president is thinking. Were told people who have talked recently to the president about this. They think that he will announce for 2024, he stays relevant. He keeps his drug of coverage, which is what he wants more than anything. He complicates any moves by the 2024 field, people who want to succeed him and be 47 after he was 45. These people doubt that he ultimately will do this. One republican close to the president told me that the president will have troubles hes never had, will face more trouble after his presidency than he can imagine, and i texted this person back, and i said are you talking financial trouble, legal trouble, political trouble, and this person replied yes. That is all of the above. All of the above indeed. Mike allen, thank you very much, as always, great to see you. One thing im watching today is for a couple of republican senators to come out and back up the president on the voter fraud questions as Mitch Mcconnell came out yesterday and acknowledged that there is going to be a new administration in january. Thank you, guys, for getting up way too early with us on this wednesday morning. Dont go anywhere. Morning joe starts right now. Wing we ai think we all kno the first of the year, theres likely to be a discussion about some additional package of some size next year depending on what the new administration wants to pursue. All right. A not so insignificant statement from Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell referring to the quote new administration