and this right here is el viejo, san juan, the oldest part of a heavily fortified colonial city established in 1521 by none other than ponce de leon. and the spaniards named it puerto rico, aka rich port, so you can get an idea of what their intentions were for this island. sugar, spices, gold, just a few of the perks the spanish enjoyed for over 400 years. that is, until the u.s. was happy to help, you know, liberate the island from the spanish and make it a u.s. commonwealth. that means puerto rico is neither an independent country nor an official state. and its people don t have a vote in the u.s. congress or in presidential elections. despite all of that, puerto ricans are unstoppable. and their cultural impact on the u.s. and the world? massive. to really get to the bottom of how puerto rico has not only survived but thrived requires an understanding of the cultural history of the island. so that s what we re going to do now. and in case you re new to this show, that s l
there s now a little optimism on a debt ceiling deal following yesterday s meeting at it white house even though president biden is cutting short an overseas trip. we ll have the latest on those negotiations. and also ahead ron desantis goes after donald trump on the issue of abortion. we ll look at how it could impact the 2024 presidential race. good morning and welcome to way too early on this wednesday, may 17th. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. moving in today with the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations, president biden met with congressional leaders at the white house yesterday, and while both sides say that some progress has been made, no deal has yet been reached. both biden and house speaker kevin mccarthy named top negotiators to take part in talks and continue daily. and while democrats continue to insist that they will not negotiate over the debt ceiling, they are reportedly in talks about spending cuts working on a parallel track. the
clearly established procedures involving classified documents d. he know the right and wrong way of handling those items when he took them from the white house to mar-a-lago. cnn has learned the national archives is ready to hand over records to special counsel jack smith showing that the former president and his top adviser certainly did know. just walk us through your reporting, jamie. anderson, cnn has obtained this letter that was sent by the national archives, as you said, informer former president trump that it is set to hand over the 16 presidential records. they re from his administration which show that trump and his top advisers were aware of the proper declassification process when he was president. our understanding is that the special counsel wants these records for the grand jury because they may provide critical evidence that, despite trump s claims that he automatically declassified all documents that he took, he was, in fact, aware that there was a correc
expel george santos from congress. republicans cheat to a room of accountability. and three democratic state attorneys general from colorado, california, and michigan join me to discuss reproductive rights, gun reform and combatting hate crimes. i m charles blow infirmity has some. let s get started. as we start the second hour, we want to flip the script on how president biden s reelection campaign is perceived. the common within much of the news media says that biden is struggling in parts of the electorate in 2024 because of how voters view his age. in a recent piece of the new york times, i argue that there is a chicken and egg expect to this coverage. let me say up front, candidates age and competency are always fair game in politics. even biden conceded earlier this month that he took a hard look at his age as he contemplated whether to seek reelection. one of the things people are going to find out, they re going to see a race and going to judge whether or not i ha
i m alicia menendez, coming to you from washington d. c.. we begin this saturday with a 2024 race for the white house. federal prosecutors make moves in the special counsel investigation into donald trump s plot to stay in power. this investigation lingering over the gop presidential primary, as trump remains the top pick among republican voters. on thursday, former vice president, mike pence, testified before the great january six grand jury in d. c.. his testimony could be key, as special counsel jack smith works to piece together trumps effort to block the certification of the 2020 election. today, on msnbc, pence s former aide spoke to ali velshi about this historic testimony. i think he went in there, i think he told the truth. i believe that the truth is on his side. i believe that is the true character who mike pence is. now, here s the issue, i ve been critical of him, as you know, elie, because in the court of public opinion, where it really matters, i felt that m