Transcripts For MSNBCW Weekends With Alex Witt 20210124

Own party vote to convict him . Two Senate Republicans with different reactions this morning. Theres no question that the article of impeachment that was sent over by the house suggests impeachable conduct, but we have not yet heard either from the prosecution or from the defense, ill get a chance to hear from them and i will do my best to apply justice as well as i can understand it. Its counterproductive. We already have a flaming fire in this country and its like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire. Lets start in washington. With a good day to you, both. Monica, were going to begin with you. What exactly does the white house hope to accomplish on the call . Reporter this is an outreach process to bipartisan lawmakers in an effort to try to hammer out the details, what some of these lawmakers have already expressed are high concerns about just how large the price tag is of this 1. 9 trillion Coronavirus Relief package that President Biden hopes to get across the finish line in the next couple of weeks ideally. Of course, that looming impeachment trial may complicate that and that is why this timeline is so important to hammer out and thats why theyre having this call take place on a sunday afternoon. We know it will be with the Top White House economic adviser who is going to be leading the charge and we hope to get a readout after that. But you had ron klain earlier today on meet the press talking about just how difficult it might be to reach out to republicans and get them and convince them to support Something Like this, but why the need is more urgent now than ever with all of the crisis facing the country. Take a listen. We were going to move past and move bipartisan. I think bipartisanship and speed are enemies of one another. The need is urgent. Americans both democrats and republicans are dying. Kids school that is take care of both democratic and republican kids are closed. People are on unemployment, people are in food lines. Thats not a party issue. Thats the argument that President Biden has been making. Of course, hes no stranger to how things work on capitol hill. But he might be keeping himself at a bit of an arms length, delegating the negotiating to others because he also doesnt want to necessarily interfere in the process. We know behind the scenes hes been having many conversations with congressional leaders of both parties and that may be more the way he navigates this in the days to come, alex. Okay. Thank you so much. Appreciate that, monica. New insight from senators on both sides of the aisle as they prepare for the impeachment trial. What positions are senators taking as this article of impeachment is set to be handed to them tomorrow . That Senate Impeachment trial is not going to start for roughly another two weeks, but there is already a debate among senators from both sides of the aisle about whether that trial is constitutional at all. There is no precedent for impeaching and then holding a trial for a president once theyre out of office and republicans saying that makes it unconstitutional, this is just a waste of time now that trump is out of office. Of course, democrats siding amongst each other and saying that theyre actually in u. S. History there have been government officials that while they were out of office, there was an impeachment trial held for them to determine whether they can hold federal office ever again. Of course, Democrats Holding the power here in the senate so we shouldnt expect any kind of decisionmaking to not hold this impeachment trial. But it is interesting within the Republican Party, senators are already differing on whether it is constitutional to go forward with this or not. Take a listen to a number of senators, both democrats and republicans, expressing their opinion on how to move forward with this in the coming weeks. It is constitutional. We have precedent from way back when a secretary of war was tried after he had left office. And, obviously, theres a remedy that would help in the future, which would ban former President Trump from running again. Article 1 i think its 6 and 7, specifically point out that you can impeach the president and it does not indicate that you can impeach someone who is not in office. So i think its a moot point. The preponderance of the legal opinion is that an impeachment trial after someone has left office is constitutional. I believe thats the case. This is not a criminal justice trial. This is a political process. Reporter so the most interesting takeaway for me there is hearing the array of republican opinions, senator mitt romney saying it is constitutional and should move forward while you have senator marco rubio saying that this impeachment trial will just be a waste of time. Of course, romney signaling that he still needs to hear from the Trump Defense to be able to make a decision on whether he will vote to convict. Were a number of weeks away to really finding out if there are 17 republicans that will join democrats to make sure trump never serves in office again, alex. Thank you so much. Joining me right now, Patrick Leahy, president pro tem of the senate. Welcome. Lets get to the nuts and bolts here. Democrats need 17 republican senators to vote to convict donald trump. As the days pass and the horror of the capitol hill riot seems to recede some what from the minds of a select few, you have some gop senators who are growing vocal against impeachment. How do you, sir, counter that ideology and do you think enough republicans can be convinced to convict trump . I think you heard senator klobuchar earlier saying theres precedent for this. Theres no question that we can go forward with this trial. Remember, this is not impeachment of a president who is out of office. He was impeached. He was impeached while he was still in office by the house. This is now the trial. Do we convict ahead of the impeachment which, of course, would have bearing on the ability to serve in the future. That may sound like legalese, but its not. It is the constitution of the United States. Donald trump did his best to ignore the constitution over and over again during his four years. Now some people would like to forget the constitution. The fact is the constitution holds the United States together and that is what were going to act under. Well have the trial. The trial former President Trumps lawyers can appear for him if they want. Well hear the evidence. And then i hope that every senator, republican or democrat, set aside politics, just do what is right. Senator, you make a very good point. I believe youre the first person i personally have heard say that. In fact, this is merely a continuation of the impeachment trial that already began. It was successful in the house and it goes to the second half of how impeachment is conducted in this country. May i ask you, sir, about the word unprecedented. You hear a lot of republicans throwing it around saying its unprecedented that we would have Something Like this. Is this a case to be made that this was an entirely unprecedented presidency . The president acted in an unprecedented fashion. Of course, we had impeachment like this with the secretary of war back in 1800s. But what i would point out is, look at history certainly in my lifetime. Richard nixon committed crimes while he was in office and he said, ive got to resign. And he did resign. Many would argue that the crimes that donald trump has committed worse crimes, inciting riots and so on. But he did not step down. So i think under the constitution, we have to take the steps. The fact is, the house makes a determination to impeach. Theyve done that with him twice. Hes had one trial, hes going to have another trial. Im watching it very closely. I cant tell you how many hundreds of hours my staff and i have gone over the constitution procedure because it appears i may well be the one presiding over the trial. That is true. Because if chief Justice John Roberts and Vice President Kamala Harris both choose not to preside over that trial, that does fall to you because of the title. President pro tem. Have you heard any likelihood on whether or not that is going to happen . I go on the fact that its a real possibility and thats why ive started the work and started the research and going through it with some of the most brilliant lawyers i have ever known, many on my judiciary staff. And were doing that. At the same time, of course, wearing my other hat as the incoming chairman of the Appropriations Committee trying to figure out how we get the money that President Biden needs to continue fighting the covid which is an enormous threat to our country and our way of life, our schools, our families. The ability to get people back to work and ive told the ive told President Biden i will fight like mad in the Appropriations Committee to give him the money he needs. But i will also able to do these other things too. Indeed, walking and chewing gum at the same time. I have not discussed with President Biden at all the question of the impeachment and i dont think he would ask me to. What weve done with our conversation has been on how we get the money for the things he needs. Absolutely. Lets move to senator republican senator mitt romney today weighing in on both senators hawley and cruz as theyre facing an ethics complaint from senate democrats. Sir, lets take a listen to this. I think history will provide a measure of judgment with regards to those that continue to spread the lie that the president began with. As well as the voters in our respective communities. I dont think the senate needs to take action. Whats your response to that . Well, thats going to be up to the Ethics Committee and, actually, senator romneys own caucus. But ive always thought of the senate as being or should be the conscious of the nation. I have considered a great responsibility but a great opportunity to serve all of these years in the senate. I want the senate to set an example, example of honesty. We can disagree on policy matters, how we vote, but the constitution should be the lone star for all of us. We should follow the constitution. And those who want to set aside the last election, the way they did, President Trump calling and trying to pressure authorities in a state to lie about the votes he got and so on, thats not thats not who we are as a country. Thats not the example we should be setting to the rest of the world. Think about the United States, how badly its been tarnished. Lets bring it back together. Indeed. Senator, lets talk about President Bidens call for unity in his inaugural address. But as you know, the president is facing republican pushback on some of the executive orders he signed since the speech. Is there an action in your mind that the president could take right now that would unify everyone . Well, i think its so soon. I think hes doing his best to unify. He has talked to a number of us privately, hes going to continue those conversations today. I think that he really wants to see us come back the way we should be. I think President Biden understands actually, probably better anybody in this country, how much the divisiveness hurt the whole country, the divisiveness of the past four years. And i think the reason he got more votes than anybody ever who ran for president is because hes trying to bring sides together. Im urging senators to give him a chance. Ive also said now is both as president pro tem and as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, i intend to bring republicans and democrats, sit down with me, talk about what we can and what we cannot do. I want people to i dont want either party to be knee jerk. I want us to be United States senators. Thats what we take an oath to be. What a thoughtful conversation and i thank you for it. Patrick leahy, thank you, sir. One of the big headlines of the week, that some of the people who stormed the capitol may not pay any price at all. The prospects of that next. 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And stay productive with 24 7 support. Make this years resolution better solutions. Bounce forward with comcast business. Get started with a powerful internet and voice solution for just 64. 90 a month. Plus, for a limited time, ask how to get a 500 prepaid card when you upgrade. Switch today. I cant imagine how Republican Opposition to insurrection would fade over the space of a couple of weeks. Were talking about a president who stood in front of a mob and told them to go to the capitol and invade. Told them to go to the capitol and stop the lawful business of government so that he could try to stay in the white house. That is so fundamentally wrong. Impeachment juror and massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren this morning reminding her fellow senators exactly what transpired at the capitol january 6th. The article of impeachment against donald trump is expected to arrive at the senate tomorrow. Joining me now, peter baker and joyce vance, former u. S. Attorney and professor at the university of Alabama School of law. Welcome to you both. Joyce, you first, here, republicans are arguing that its unconstitutional because trump is out of office. Is there anything explicit or implicit in the constitution that would support or reject that notion . You may have heard my conversation with Patrick Leahy in which he outlined that the process began while he was president. It went through the house. This is merely a continuation of the process to get to the senate. Senator leahy is absolutely right here. A president cant just resign in order to avoid the consequences of his action. And i spent some time yesterday afternoon and went back and reread the portions of the federalist papers that talk about the powers of the senate and impeachment to see if there was anything explicit. Theres not. But the clear tone and the agreement among legal scholars is that a president can proceed to an impeachment trial after hes resigned. Otherwise the most important sanction that the Founding Fathers created for a president , the sanction that says you can never run for office again, would be meaningless. So republicans are simply trying to dodge the merits of the argument here. Thats one way to spend a saturday afternoon, reading the federalist papers. Were a lot of fun. Hes a private citizen now. If so, are there other legal avenues at Different Levels that could pursue to punish the former president . Joyce, to you. Absolutely. Private citizen trump is a minimal to any sorts of investigation or prosecution that any other private citizen could be. That could run the full range from preexisting investigations we know about, the new York Attorney general appears to have some civil investigations going, preexisting criminal cases, but also criminal consequences if the evidence supports them from the insurrection. Peter, you have senators that may argue right now that its unconstitutional, but where does the former president s defense stand . He seems to have secured himself an attorney. How does he plan to defend himself . Yeah, its a good question. We dont know the answer to that yet. The team that defended him a year ago is basically not returning for a second bite of that apple. Rudy giuliani was interested in doing it, but he might be a witness. Hes no longer going to be the president s lawyer in this regard and he picked a lawyer recommended by senator Lindsay Graham from South Carolina who hasnt been part of trumps orbit before. I think theyre only beginning to take it seriously. I think in trumps orbit he focused on other things until now. But the looming trial, of course, is in fact going to happen. He cant get out of it at this point. He make the constitutional argument, but the democrats will proceed regardless of that. And i think that the president is going to make the case most likely that it was free speech. He said that he thinks his conversation at the rally that preceded the mob attack was, quote, appropriate, unquote, and didnt actually incite violence. He used the word peacefully one time. But the house managers would point out that he used the word fight nine times. I think the house manager is going to try to build a case that will go beyond that one day. Make the argument that january 6th was the culmination of months to discredit the election, that they used false claims of fraud in order to overturn the will of the people. I think their case will go beyond that one talk at that one rally. Im not sure you find this remarkable but it feels palpable here. Donald trump would have already begun a vigorous defense of his actions on twitter and yet without that platform, were hearing next to nothing. So there are a number of ways you can take that. How do you interpret the effect of that . Its a huge difference. Just look at our conversation this last week or two without him being on twitter. He doesnt dominate the same way he did. Yes, he has every avenue in the world to speak to the public if he wants to. He could go and call fox news, he could hold a rally, have a press conference, issue a written statement. Without the twitter and instantaneous vehicle, hes no longer this constant presence in our national conversation, right . Back in the day, back when he was two weeks or so ago, any moment, any hour could go by in which he was expressing his thoughts, sometimes very provocative on any subject, that interested him, anything that he happened to see on fox news or oan. Weve gone days without seeing and hearing from him and it doesnt mean hes going to go away. Its a different way of communications i hope what i just heard is going to conflict with what i heard, but i want to ask you about another headline this weekend. The Justice Department and the fbi, theyre debating if they should not charge some of the capitol hill rioters mostly because it could swamp the d. C. Courts. How commonplace is that . Not changing because of an overwhelmed court system . Especially on a highprofile case . Well, prosecutors are always forced to make choices about resources and to charge only the most serious, important cases that impact their districts. But, here, i think the conversation needs to take advantage of this knowledge that this is not a group thats been indicted. Its individuals. Every individual needs to be assessed independently for prosecution and doj has the resources to surge people in and to stage prosecution using both the federal courts and d. C. Superior courts. Alex, maybe this has undertones of the Larger National conversation about criminal Justice Reform and whether we have alternatives, whether there are some people who should receive pretrial diversion which puts you on probation before you go to trial and see if you can turn your life around. Were a country that engages in mass incarceration. There are a lot of people who believe we can do better. I dont think people who stormed the capitol are the right place to start with that. These people need serious consideration for consequences. Maybe this helps us evaluate other cases in a new light and push these very important cases forward. Yeah, yeah. Peter, one more question about impeachment here. I saw a suggestion that if the conviction vote were silent, not public, there would be an overwhelming number of senators voting against the president. Is that your sense . Are some gop senators scared of getting primaried if they vote against trump . Well, i think the republicans a lot of republicans in the senate are done with trump. They would like to wash their hands of him and move on. Theyre tired, exhausted. They think they cost him their majority because of the way he handled the georgia runoff elections. Whether or not they would actually translate into a conviction, its a different thing. There is you know, its their partys base to consider. Would there be a penalty if you go against the will of republican voters, or at least some republican voters. That will be the calculation for many of them. Youre right, there might be a different vote if it were, you know, a secret ballot. Obviously thats not going to happen. But it does tell you, i think, the level of anger that there has been among at least some senator republicans against President Trump after these last few weeks. Yeah. Good to see you both. Thank you, guys, so much. Donald trumps businesses are now paying a price for the capitol riot and the investigation into his finances is digging deeper. The legal perils the former president may be facing next. Net mornings were made for Better Things than Rheumatoid Arthritis. When considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz. A pill for adults with moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough. Xeljanz can help relieve joint pain and swelling, stiffness, and helps stop further joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. Before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. Tell your doctor if youve had hepatitis b or c, have flulike symptoms, or are prone to infections. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. Taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. Tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. Dont let another morning go by without asking your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. Xeljanz. Ooh la la by cherie the moxie showerhead speaker. Only from kohler. New projects means new project managers. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. The moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. Claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed. Com home. Two florida banks are the latest to sever ties with donald trump, bank united announced it would no longer have a depository relationship with President Trump joining floridas professional bank and jeremys deutsch bank. Joining me now is business investigations editor for the New York Times and author of the book dark towers. David, welcome. Tell me what these decisions actually mean. Does it mean accounts that Donald Trump Holds get closed immediately or what . It varies from bank to bank. Most of these banks that have been saying that they will no longer work with him have simply been places where donald trump had checking or savings or in a couple of cases brokerage accounts. They amount to basically an inconvenience for trump having to find new Financial Institutions willing to hold his money. The bigger problem are the banks saying Going Forward were not going to lend to donald trump. And deutsch bank is the biggest because trump owes deutsch bank 330 million. It varies but it amounts to a serious problem. Thats an extraordinary amount to owe deutsch bank. The miami herald, one account holds more than 5. 1 million. But the question to you, david, why did these banks cut ties with trump . Is there a risk for their business bottom line by doing so . Well, i think theres a risk in either case. Theres the reason they did this, i think, in general is that the reputational damage that the trump brand has incurred in the past couple of weeks is just immense and these banks, like other companies, are getting phone calls from reporters, customers, perspective customers, from employees saying what on earth are we doing working with someone who is being impeached for a second time and who, you know, helped incite a crowd that went onto try to impede democracy . And i think the risk to the institutions that are cutting ties with him, first of all, its probably not the best financial decision for them in the short term, at least, its good for banks to have millions of dollars in someones deposits, that helps them financially. And trump won tens of millions of votes in the election. He has many loyal supporters in places like miami. Theres a lot of people who voted for donald trump. And it would not surprise me if theres at least some backlash to that. But clearly, theseinstitutions have done a costbenefit analysis and concluded its better to be rid of donald trump and risk that backlash rather than continue working with him. It seems unprecedented, david . Is it . Is there something that comes to mind to you where youre like, no, this happened before . I feel like everything in the past four or five years has been unprecedented. No, nothing like this comes to mind. Im not with some of these banks, im not hugely surprised that this is where its ended up. The appeal of doing business with trump had been that this is someone who, you know he had a lot of money and was doing big projects and banks thought they could structure loan agreements in ways there was very little risk to these institutions of him defaulting. That has changed and it also is now the case that theres great Downside Risk to working with him. And deutsch bank let me interject there. Didnt his banker with deutsch bank resign . What does that indicate to you . What kind of legal troubles could he face with his dealings over deutsch bank and what does it say to the fact that she resigned . Her resignation theres still a lot of unanswered question about that. Her name is rosemary bradley. She had been his primary banker at deutsch bank for more than a decade. There are both civil and criminal and congressional investigations that are still seeking after years of trying to get trumps financial records from deutsch bank and, you know, its anyones guess what that is going to show. We know at deutsch bank, though, there were employers who raised money laundered concerns in both the trump and kushner accounts. We still dont have the full story about what happened there. I trust you will get to the bottom of that. Let me ask you, though, is this just the beginning . How many more banks or Financial Institutions have relationships with donald trump and whats the impact on his finances of this . I think its a very serious Financial Impact for him. He has hundreds of millions of dollars of debt coming due in the next few years, most of it to deutsch bank, but not all of it. And normally, a borrower would go to the lender and say, can we refinance the loan, extend it a few years. Thats not going to be an option for trump with most of these loans. Hes going to need to come up with a lot of cash quickly or hes going to be at risk of defaulting. In the case of deutsch bank, if he defaults, the bank has recourse to his personal assets. They could go to court to seize his property or the money he has in various banking accounts. So hes going to need to come up with cash very quickly and his businesses right now are struggling. So its very unclear to me where he might be able to get that money. Well, im certain you wont find this surprising when i say, im curious to see what your investigations lead to as are the viewers here. Well welcome you back any time. Thank you very much. Author of dark towers. It was just released in paper back. Congratulations on that. Next hour, ill speak with Michael Cohen about his cooperation with new york prosecutors investigating trumps finances and, chop, chop, citizen trumps new idea that could split the Republican Party in two. Wo this is what Community Looks like. Caring for each other, protecting each other. And as the Covid Vaccine rolls out, well be ready to administer it. Sofi made it so easy to pay off my student loan debt. They were able to give me a personal loan so i could pay off all of my credit cards. I got my mortgage through sofi and the whole process was so easy. Express yourself express yourself he may no longer hold public office, donald trump is showing no signs of loosening his grip over the Republican Party even if it means splitting the party in two. New reporting today from the Washington Post says in recent weeks, trump has entertained the idea of a third party calling it the Patriot Party and instructed his aides to prepare election challenges to lawmakers who crossed him in the final weeks in office. Well, joining me now, don calloway, founder of the National Voter protection action fund, susan del percio, republican strategist, and david jolly, former republican congressman from florida and an msnbc political contributor. Good to see you all. Ill start with you, susan. Trump reportedly preparing these challenges for these lawmakers. You have congresswoman liz cheney, brian kemp, lisa murkowski, tom rice and gave his full endorsement this weekend to kelly ward of arizona who embraced his false election conspiracies. What do you make of this . How much influence does trump really have now . Well, at the moment, he still has a good deal of influence. If you look at what happened in arizona, ms. Ward did win reelection. It was close. I think it was 5149. But he still does have influence. He goes into a topic that he knows nothing about and that is election law. You cannot just start a new party. It doesnt just happen. He can run as an independent assuming hes not convicted and barred from running from office. But to start a new party and get access on ballots in all 50 states is just doesnt happen overnight. So, of course, he talks about that which he does not know anything about. That doesnt mean he cant be influential in 2022 primaries. There theres still the potential. Things could change as we get more information about the siege on the capitol hill and depending on how the impeachment hearing goes or hearing, well see what happens. Im going to pick up on what you were talking about with you, david, with the Washington Post backing this up. Multiple people in trumps orbit say trump has told people that the thirdparty threat gives him leverage to prevent republican senators from voting to convict him during the Senate Impeachment trial. I was asking peter baker about that, were the vote to be silent, might it be different than what we think could happen, if they werent able to trace who voted which way. But your reaction to all of that . Do you think its going to work or will it backfire . I love that question because im actually involved in a group that has started a new party. And susan is exactly right. Donald trump does not realize what he is saying. I think what donald trump ultimately will realize if he wants to reshape a party in his image, hes going to use the primary process within the Republican Party. The Republican Party today has a marriage of necessity. Its in a fragile state. It cant lose the trump win and it cant lose the traditional wing or their numbers deflate too far. What republicans are going to suffer from, and were seeing it right now, is both attrition of grassroots voters and the emergence of a new party that creates competition. The attrition of voters is obvious. Republican voters are delisting as republicans. In tampa bay, 2,000 people left the Republican Party during the week of january 6th. Republicans are going to suffer the loss of voters. And they will see the emergence of new minor parties that create competition. The group im involved with, the Serve America Movement, were in new york and connecticut, recruiting candidates in florida, texas, iowa and maine. In one week, we have seen an uptick of over 1,000 in traffic to sam. And the interesting thing is, the Serve America Movement is not a conservative movement to the gop. Its a coalition that comes around comes around the shared values of problemsolving and i think thats the attrition that republicans are going to suffer from. Not people looking for more conservativism, just for a government and a party that works. Were seeing at the Serve America Movement right now. Dually noted. Were going to have to talk further about that as its developed more. This brings me to the Perfect Question for you, don. Do you think democrats actually like the idea of splitting the Republican Party . It could give them the edge in coming elections . Im delighted. This is i dont have an answer. This is wonderful. What a time to be alive. This isnt about starting a new party. If its going to happen, its going to be about battles that are happening between Party Loyalist and is extremists on the republican side and, listen, primaries are great for democrats because you will emerge with a deeply flawed candidate if the traditional republican wins that person will have been deeply wounded and be in a financial disadvantage, particularly if the democrat has been had a clear field for our entire primary. If not, if the crazy wins, then you have a deeply flawed candidate who republicans and democrats will have an interest of keeping out of office. As a partisan democrat, this is fantastic. I dont think it will last forever. Republicans are professional. Theyll get it together. This will take a while and its going to be a bloody battle i shouldnt say bloody. Because weve seen theyre capable of violence. But its going to be a fight. And democrats have to get our stuff together while republicans are having their information battle. Lets talk about more of this division of the Republican Party, especially since the capitol riot on january 6th, david. On capitol hill you have gop house leader Kevin Mccarthy and heres what he said it was a fullcourt press with greta van susteren. Take a listen to this. I thought the president had some responsibility when it came to the response. I also think everybody across this country has some responsibility. Whats your reaction to that . I served with Kevin Mccarthy and i described him as a raw Political Animal who is desperate to become speaker of the house and wounded from not becoming speaker when john boehner vacated the seat. And what happened initially, he suffered the blowback as cheney and mcconnell did. As a test of leadership, cheney and mcconnell stuck to their position. Kevin mccarthy is backpedaling. He wants to be speaker. But its also an indication of this previous topic, alex, which is donald trump still controls the party. This is a marriage of necessity. Kevin mccarthy is a perfect reflection of the fact that this Party Remains shaped in Donald Trumps image. Cheney and mcconnell are the last gasps of the old Republican Party. A new poll shows that 57 of americans, theyre confident in joe bidens ability to unify the country. Do you share the same optimism . Absolutely. And thats why it was very clear early on, it was clear that joe biden was probably the only person that could beat trump and i think that sentiment is seen now in the idea that 57 of voters think hes the one who can bring us back. But we were dragged down during the trump years and a significant part of joe bidens task is just getting us back to zero. But i do think that the message of joe biden is never stop, kee the faith because there is a role for you, and you never know when your number is going to be called so i think everybody should be inspired by joe biden actually. With the Arizona Party overnight, susan, voting to krens youre cindy mccain and governor ducey, establishment republicans. What was your response . Cindy mccain said ill wear it as a badge of honor. I dont mind being judged by my enemies, people who are against me, thats fine, and that came around a lot during the trump administration, but it is it does show how absolutely shattered the Republican Party has become. I mean, were talking about arizona. Were talking about cindy mccain. That is as drastic of a contrast as we can show in this country as far as our Political Parties have gone, and i think its a real shame frankly, and, you know, but i will go to this point about President Biden and his inauguration speech. He said enough of us can come together to move our country forward. It doesnt have to be everybody. So there is room to make a difference even in a fractured Republican Party. You can stand on conviction, and you can workers especially right now to get our country, you know, healthy and recover from the covid crisis. Amen to all of that. Don, susan, david. Always a pleasure, guys. See you next weekend. Better show up. Ill be here. Meantime, getting on a plane is about to get more complicated for a lot of travelers. Just a few days, the new rules coming your way next and hear the latest news and updates from your favorite msnbc host anywhere any time on any device with tunein. Go to tunein. Com msnbc2021 to listen commercialfree with tunein premium. Commercialfre tunein premium. Why walgreens . With save a trip refills that let you pick up all your prescriptions all on the same day. We make filling your medicare prescriptions. Go like clockwork. So you can get back to what youd rather be doing new sweeping travel restrictions will change how you fly. This will begin on tuesday. Lets go to jfk airport here in new york city. Okay. Whats this about, and what should travelers expect this week . Reporter yeah. This aomais to International Travelers coming into the United States, alex. It starts on tuesday. They are going to have to provide a negative covid test within three days of their travel, or if they have recovered they are going to have to provide documentation that they have recovered from covid. This applies to anyone traveling 2 years old and up and does not exempt you if you have the vaccine. You still have to get tested. We spoke with some travelers, some International Travelers about what all this means to them . Listen to what they told me. I have a friend who wants to come from brazil to have trip and all these things its crazy, the new normal. I think its really necessary because, you know, the spread of covid is really getting out away. Better to start now. Been a lot of asymptomatic people, too, even with the covid19. So if you have at least covid testing beforehand, you know, on top of the temperature check, i think it would definitely add on to the safety of the travelers. Reporter so alex, even though there is going to be some scramble internationally as people try to get on the flights before tuesday or try to get that test in order to continue with their travel, for the most part were hearing that people do approve of these changes, and along with these changes other executive, other parts of that executive order signed by the Biden Administration includes requiring masks in all public travel areas as well as some guidelines when it comes to quarantining as you arrive here, about ten days when you get into the United States. We also know this is not just for air travel, for ports of entry in canada and mexico. Having done some air travel myself. Got to wear masks on the plane and the new york State Government is after me. They do tracing with me for a good ten days after i return so there you have it. Thank you, cori coffin, for that. President bidens covid relief proposal comes under a microscope later today involving the white house. Up next, why this meeting may be critical to advancing the near it trillion package and Donald Trumps personal attorney has been doing a lot of talking to the manhattan d. A. And has another interview coming up. Ill be speaking with Michael Cohen about where the investigation is heading and why citizen trump could be in big trouble. I feel like were forgetting something. Let me check. Xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored Home Security built around you. No, i think were good. Good. So when youre away, you dont have to worry. The tent. We forgot. The tent. Except about that. Xfinity home. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Hey look, i found the tent get xfinity home with no Term Contract required. Click or call today. Good day, everyone. From msnbc World Headquarters here in new york, welcome to weekends with alex witt. Developing this now this afternoon a group of bipartisan senators will speak with the white house about President Bidens 1. 9 trillion Coronavirus Relief proposal. White house chief of staff ron klain stressing the need for bipartisanship. We were going to move fast and were going to move bipartisan. I dont think bipartisanship and speed are enemies of one another. The need is urgent. Americans, both democrats and republicans, are dying. Kids schools