Office. What we learned from trumps doctor. We did do a cognitive assessment. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. It is very good to be back. Today, after spending the past few days offering pro prosperous semi denials the white house cape close to conceding what is almost certainly the truth, that the president of the United States used racist language in the oval office where he killed the bipartisan daca deal. Look, i wasnt in the room. I can go only off of what the individuals who were. They said that term wasnt used but that tough language was. Look, no one here is going to pretend like the president is always politically correct. He isnt. I think thats one of the reasons the American People love him. One of the reasons that he won and is sitting in the oval office today because he isnt a scripted robot. He tells things like they are sometimes. And sometimes he does use tough language. Republican senator Lindsey Graham who has effectively confirmed the president uses the racist language today placed blame on trumps aides for killing the daca deal. I think the president we sauteuce is that that donald trump exists. And somehow by 12 00 on thursday, something happened and i dont think he was well served by his staff but hes responsible for the way he conducts himself and so am i. Cant blame that on the staff. But i do believe his staff was. Would that be general kelly. Pretty much misses the mark here. I think general kellys a fine man but also part of the staff. The president we saw on tuesday in the words of graham is the one who promised to sign nel daca deal, any daca deal brought to him before he was reportedly pressed not to do so by advisers including john kelly and Steven Miller who feared that graham and dick durbin would try to tricking into signing a bill that would hurt him with his political base. Before the Senate Judiciary committee today, kellys former deputy Homeland Security sect Kirsten Nielsen in that meeting with trump claimed not to recall exactly what the president said. Madam secretary, you were in the room. Youre under oath. Did President Trump use this word or a substantially similar word to describe certain countries . I did not hear that word used, no, sir. Thats not the question. Did he use anything similar to that describing certain countries . The conversation was very impassioned. I dont dispute that the president was using tough language. Others in the room were also using tough language. Strong language, there was apologies. I dont remember specific word. What i was struck with as im sure you were, as well was just the general profanity used in the room by almost everyone. Nielsen tried to explain the president s comments that he wanted more immigrants from norway. What did the president say about immigrants from norway . I heard him repeating what he had learned in a meeting before that they are industrious, a hard working country. They dont have much crime there. They dont have much debt. In general, i heard him giving compliments to norway. Norway is a predominantly white country, isnt it. I actually do not know that, sir. But i imagine that is the case. It is the case as you would expect. The acting head of the dhs to know. Norway is very white. It is also the case norway has one of the worlds shortest work weeks. Theres ha in terms of hard working. Democrats on the committee including my next guest were not impressed by her performance. When oval Office Rhetoric sounds like social engineering, we know from a Human History the dangers of that. Our greatest, our greatest heroes in this country spoke out about people who have convenient amnesia or who are bystanders. You could even say in your testimony that norwegians were presenced by him because theyre so hard working. Excuse me, let me finish. Happy to. When bigotry is alive with power, it is a dangerous force in our country. Your silence and your amnesia is complicity. Joining me now is senator cory booker of new jersey. Senator, you were there in that room today with the secretary of the department of Homeland Security. Do you believe she was truthful with you . I do not. I think that her artful dodges, her hedging was insulting. And not just insulting because she wasnt being truthful in a Senate Hearing but because she was trying to cover up for the vial and bigoted words of the president of the United States which is not just words that go away or that disappear. We have our history replete with people just bystanders when folks were doing dangerous things. When the president of the United States has ignorance allied with power, those words fester. They give people permission to do things that are despicable. For her to be silent, its unacceptable. Is there a connection to your mind, between the policies pursued by dhs and the administration at large and the sentiment expressed in that infamous comment in that meeting . Thats really my worry is we are actively shaping immigration policy, taking a second look and theyre demanding the end to many different programs. I know theres lots of people that want to do things that are akin to trying to genetically engineer the population of our state, of our nation. We are a nation that believes everyone, that god created everyone equal. And we need to respect the undering that this is a nation that wasnt founded because we all look alike, pray alike, speak the same language. We share a set of ideal. Attempts in white house are contrary to what distinguishes a person which is the content of their character, not the color of their skin. I want to be specific here. Is it your belief that the white houses agenda, people like Steven Miller who advises the president on this, chief of staff kelly, the president himself, have a vision for immigration that would attempt intentionally to reduce the number of brown and black people of color that come into this country because of their views of the inferiority of those people . Again, i dont have any factual evidence thats what theyre attempting to do. When you see them saying things like the lottery system which the intention of it, we dont disagree with the policy but what the intention was to make sure were not having bias toward certain groups reflecting days of old where we did have quotas from certain countries. It seems like the policies theyre doing could have a discripper to impact and the language coming out of the lips of the president himself are definitely bigoted, definitely showing an ignorance and definitely i think hurtful and harmful to the security and the strength of this country and its moral fiver. The president said he would sign any deal that came to him in that televised meeting. A deal came to him. He blew up about it. They say no deal on that right now. The democrats in the senate have the ability to filibuster this resolution. Will the democrats stick up for the 800,000 Daca Recipients whose lives are in limbo right now . I will. Im not going to vote or support anything they try to do that leaves these folks out. These arent just you know, these arent just statistics or numbers. These are not pawns in a larger political game. These are americans in every way but the piece of paper. These are military folks. Theres 20, 30, 40, about 80,000 of them have served in the United States 800 of them have served in the United States military. These are people first responders, people that are teachers. This is a group of people who are showing every single day their commitment to their country, their service to the country and willingness to sacrifice. I cant leave those folks behind. I cant leave them behind. The president is tweeting about a doj report, and this is a tweet they had this morning. Three out of four individuals convicted of International Terrorism and terrorism related offenses were foreign born. What do you make of that . What do you make of the President Trumpeting it at this hour . Ive seen him pull out a lot of the statistics that do not give a full picture, do not give context. As i got very upset with the secretary of Homeland Security for not even talking about since 9 11 theres been 85 terrorist attacks, over 70 of them have been right wing White Nationalist groups attacking americans, africanamericans, muslim americans. So theres no context to the president s words. To me, again, they reflect bias, ignorance. And they reflect dangerous rhetoric. Theyre trying to create a picture that does not give the fullness and the truth of the challenges we do have with security and safety in this country. But also the importance to the success of our nation from having immigrants in our country. Were a nation built on immigrants. Innovators, business folks, teachers, first responders, we are a nation that is profoundly enriched because of immigration. And to change those positions right now risk what made us great over the last generations. Senator cory booker, thank you. Thank you very much. Im joined now by republican congressman matt gates of florida. Sarah Huckabee Sanders today not denying the president said what he apparently said by all indications we have. Do you understand why the statement he said in that oval office is viewed as so offensive and hurtful by so many . I do. I also understand that the president believed that it was a meeting he was having behind closed doors. It wasnt something he was doing in front of cameras. The conditions in some countries really are bad. It is a consequence of the not of the people there but a systemic failure. But if i called and youll forgive me for using the language of the president , if i called Okaloosa County a shithole, you would be upset with that, right . I could problem you wrong and i could bring you here and show you its the home of the most beautiful beaches in america. I dont know if in haiti they can make the same claim. So you agree with the president s characterization . I agree haiti is a place where the people have been very disadvantaged as a consequence of longterm corrupt governments. You said i probably. You said okaloosa, you could refute that. If you brought me to haiti, you cant refute it is. If thats your understanding of the condition haiti is in which is the reason for tps, what relationship does that have to merit . Because it seems to me theres a real fish sewer here. If the idea is the merit of the person independent of the place theyre coming from, but if the president objected based on the condition of the countries, that is not merit, is it . The president is objecting to those countries not contributing to the immigration process in a way that benefits our country. The president indicated well have an america first. Not that looks at the needs of other people rather than the needs of americans. You dont think the haitians are contributing . I think there are many instances haitians do contribute and they are a vital part of our state. There are a number of instances where they dont. Its very dangerous to overgeneralize the broader contributions of people solely based on national origin. Right or to generalize by referring to a country or an entire continent in the terms of the president did, which is also an overgeneralization. I would not pick those terms. I would say the conditions in haiti are disgusting. Everywhere you look income haiti, its sheet metal and garbage when i was there. I think you should think maybe, i would suggest why people would find that kind of characterization of the place where people live and have pride and love of the place theyre from as derogatory. Look wasnt that true of ireland . Wasnt that true of ireland in the 1830s . I wasnt there, chris. But i mean. Youve read history books, congressman. Sure. There are a number of circumstances where people have come from disadvantaged places and made a contribution to the United States. That will continue to happen. But i dont think that one off the cuff comment by the president should derail the work of the congress in finding a broader immigration solution. Democrats have used this as an example to distract from the important policy work. Ive heard this before. I get real confused on this. It was a democratic president that implemented daca, correct . Correct. Republicans voted en masse for steve kings amendment to get rid of daca. The republican president rescinded daca, correct. Correct. The Republican Party stands against the policy. I imagine you do, as well. Yeah, yog support the policy. We need a Border Security agenda that is the centerpiece of immigration policy. Thats what most republicans an most americans would agree with. This last election was about daca, Hillary Clinton would have won it. This was about Border Security and thats why donald trump won. Thats why we should do Border Security before daca. You think we should stick to the president s promises. Of course. I think we all campaign in poetry and govern in propose, not any politician achieves every objective they have. From the president s standpoint, we ought to have the Border Security first. You would be surprised how many republicans would be willing to work with democrats on solutions for people who already are here in the country if we secure the boarder. If thats true and if this is a referendum issue for electorate as you contend it is, shouldnt democrats insys the president makes mexico pay for the wall that he said they would . Hey, were all for finding solutions to have mexico contribute to the wall funding. He didnt say contribute. Okay. Pay for it. There are proposals in the congress that would do that. Im sponsoring one with mike rogers that would tax the remittances people send back to mexico and use that money to bid the wall. There are a number of good ideas where mexico ends up paying for the wall as a consequence of enhanced Border Security. If theyre going to pay for the wall, theres no reason to appropriate it from american taxpayer dollars if the reason the president won was because of his signature idea and promise which is that he would build a wall and mexico would pay for it. We may have to front the money. The economic benefit that comes to the United States would be mexico paying for the wall. That doesnt mean they have to write the first check. It means the economic consequence of the wall doesnt. I watched a lot of Donald Trump Campaign speeches as i imagine you did. I never heard well front them the money in the campaign rhetoric. Thanks for joining me. Here with me is Washington Post columnist jennifer ruben. First of all, it seemed what happened today is a classic sort of white house move in which people go out on a limb like tom cotton and senator perdue to say the president didnt say these words and sarah Huckabee Sanders says effective lili, yes, he does. The dhs secretary goes under oath and says i dont remember. Welcome back and congratulations, chris. Thank you. Yes, when you say you dont remember something and do you remember something and youre under oath, have you perjured yourself or at the least committed a crime under federal law by lying to congress. I cannot believe that the president used that language and she couldnt remember what it was. She just knows it was tough. Come on. She also remembers apparently Lindsey Graham using tough language because he repeated the president s phrase and says i came from an shole country, as well. I think shes being completely disingenuous. She should go back to her office, think long and hard whether she wants her career to be characterized by perjury and whats she doing in an administration anyway where one of her duties is to lie about the president s expresses racism. That was a train wreck for her today. I think as far as senators perdue and cotton go, theyve disrequested themselves for any confirmable office. Their colleagues should disbelieve about everything they have to say at this point. I thought the congressmans interview was fascinating because that is the fundamental premise of these people. That you have to be a european white already wealthy person to contribute to the United States. Thats wrong. Thats wrong morally. Thats wrong factually, wrong historically. Yet, that is the view they hold forth. They do want to make this country more white. Unfortunately, the ideal they talk about this country is not all men were created equal but some mythical White Christian america. Thats the america they want to see. They see every Single Person who doesnt meet that characteristic, that description as shouse diluting and worsening this country. It is the most heinous, the most offensive ploef i have heard in my lifetime coming from the oval office. Whatever criticisms i have of whatever president s pale in comparison to the racism and the bigotry we have heard and the ignorance we are have heard from these people. They also assume if you come from africa youre less educated than if you come from norway. Wrong, turns out west africans in particular are some of the most highly educated immigrants. Why would they think that africans were not educated . Could it be because theyre dark skinned. As someone noted norway is not a skill that a person can bring to the United States of america. Jennifer rubin, thank you. Youre welcome. How bad does Steve Bannons testimony on capitol hill go today . It started as voluntary. Then he was served a subpoena as he sat there. Congressman adam schiff is just out of the hearing a few moments ago. He says