Transcripts For MSNBCW First Look 20190129

Burgdorf. The head of the House Intelligence Committee says President Trumps handpicked nonsenate kmirconfirmed head of Justice Department should let Robert Mueller finish his investigation. Watch this. Now since you have received your briefings, is there anything youve seen or read that gives you concern about special counsel Robert Mueller or his investigation . Ive been fully briefed on the investigation. And, you know, i look forward to director mueller delivering the final report. And i really am not going to talk about an open, Ongoing Investigation otherwise. The statements i made were as a private citizen, only with publicly available information and im comfortable that the decisions that were made are going to be reviewed, you know, either through the various means we have but right now the investigation is, i think, close to being completed and i hope that we can get the report from director mueller as soon as possible. A few hours later House Intelligence Committee chairman democrat adam schiff responded to that comment saying. Quote an acting attorney general who refuses follow the advice of ethics lawyers and recuse himself from an investigation in which he has shown a clear bias is the last person who should speak for the special counsel while the probe is ongoing. Mueller can speak for himself. Since the first of really since the first couple of months of the special counsels appointment the president s allies assured him of a quick to end the investigation. Back in august of 2017 then white house special counsel you may recall told reuters i would be embarrassed if this is still haunting the white house by thanksgiving and worse if its still haunting him by the end of the year. Roger stone will appear in federal court in washington, d. C. Today on a seven count indictment in the special counsels investigation. Yesterday President Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani telling nbc news that the president has not discussed pardoning stone if he is convicted. While White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders would not say if such talks were off the table. Has the president ruled out a pardon for roger stone . Im not aware of that. Havent had any conversations regarding that matter. Will you discuss that with him and leapt us know. I wont get into that at this point. Does that mean he hasnt ruled out a pardon. Im not aware of any conversation regarding that or any for it. To follow up, can you guarantee that the president wont pardon roger stone. Im not is going to talk about hypotheticals that are ridiculous. Heres a reminder from november. Trump told the New York Post that a pardon for Paul Manafort was never discussed but i wouldnt take it off the table. Why would i take it off the table . In that same interview trump mentioned flipping and the resistance of manafort, jerome corsi and roger stone. Adam schiff announced yesterday that Michael Cohen will appear before the panel on february 8th. He was originally scheduled to testify on february 7th but that was delayed after cohen cited threats against him and his family from President Trump. Adam schiff wrote mr. Cohen has relayed to the committee his lem mat concerns for his own safety as well as that of his family which have been fueled by improper comments made by the president. Cohens testimony is slated to take place the same day Matthew Whitaker is to testify. Cohen has been subpoenaed to testify before the senate Intelligence Committee behind closed doors. That will take place february 12th. The president s state of the Union Address has been rescheduled for next week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited President Trump to give the address next tuesday, february 5th before a joint session of congress in the House Chamber and the president has agreed. In a letter sent last night to the House Speaker the president said it was a quote great honor to accept her invitation writing in part we have a great story to tell and yet great goals to achieve. The state of the union was originally scheduled to take place tonight but pelosi suggested it be postponed during the partial Government Shutdown. Next weeks state of the Union Address will take place 10 days before the february 15th deadline to avoid another Government Shutdown. According to a Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office the u. S. Economy took an 11 billion hit in the 35 days that parts of the federal government went unfunded. That includes 3 billion that will never be recovered. Cbo says those losses may just be the beginning to all of this. The report says underlying those effects on the overall economy are much more significant effects on individual businesses and workers. Among those who experienced the largest and most negative effects are federal workers who faced delayed compensation and privatesector entities that lost business. Some of those privatesector entities will never recoup that lost income. Nancy pelosi released a statement saying this. When the congress completes its bipartisan, bicameral work to fund the government, the should should swiftly sign that legislation to avert another shutdown and restore certainty to our economy and the lives of the american people. The white house is disagreeing with the cbo funding. They are doing the best job they can. I get that. I wont acknowledge any of that right now. As i said many times, you have just a whole bunch of very temporary factors and now that the government has reopened the switch goes right back on. Theres certainly no permanent damage to the economy. Joining us now from washington, d. C. , capitol Hill Reporter for the hill, molly hooper. Lets talk a little bit about this kind of discrepancy were seeing between larry kudlow and the cbo. How do americans feel the shutdown exacted their daily lives. Thats a good question. On capitol hill well hear from the head of the cbo and basically they are going to ask him and drilling down in these numbers and be able to see what republican members of congress are feeling about this. It may be one thing for the administration to say that they dont see any permanent damage. That may be true. However, what are members of congress, what are republicans hearing from members of their communities and constituents, individuals who have been impacted, not just the federal workers, but federal contractors. When we think of contractors a lot of times think of big defense contracting firms but they were fine because the military was taking care of. Its more of the smaller contracting firms who do business with the usda, fda and other agencies that were involved in this shutdown and were impacted by it who are taking hits. Remember, this is a three week this is a three week reprieve and the question is what happens at the end of the three weeks. Does the federal shutdown happen again. Its unclear what the results will be but well see, im sure well see a few fireworks up on the hill regarding this issue. Im sure there will be lots of ripple effects considering how long the shutdown went on for. Lets talk about the big news from Matthew Whitaker regarding the Mueller Probe. Im not sure if it was a slip on and how much sort of a melee that would cause in washington and across the Media Outlets as well. Saying that the Mueller Probe will be wrapping up soon. What do you think lawmakers here are bracing for with this news . Man, you know, its hard to tell. It will be very interesting when we hear from Matthew Whitaker when he goes in front of the Judiciary Committee that i believe hes supposed to be going up there relatively soon in the next week or soon. Keep in mind, though, hes the acting attorney general. Hes not the full attorney general. And william barr, the senate Judiciary Committee is going to be voting they are supposed to vote, technically vote on his nomination today. Generally due to procedural rules that vote will get extended to next week. Well see what the senate takes up in the next two or three weeks and what will bill barr say. Lawmakers, at least some senators were heartened by his answer saying he rather resign, barr would rather resign than fire mueller or end that Mueller Probe without due cause. When you have people like Charles Grassley introducing a bill to make public the findings of any Mueller Investigation that will be key Going Forward because the next question is what happened, or whats part of this report . Yeah. Again, i want to reiterate i dont know how many times we heard the Mueller Probe is wrapping up but yet its been going on and on. Molly hooper, well talk to you in a little bit. A story breaking overnight in texas. Five Police Officers were injured after a shooting at a houston residence last night according to police there. The officers were met with gunfire after serving a search warrant for narcotics in the southeast part of the city. Two suspects died on the scene. However, its unclear how many suspects fired at those officers. According to officials for the officers were struck by gunfire and another suffered a knee injury. Two officers are in critical but stable condition. Two others are in Good Condition and one officers with a shoulder wouldnt was released last night. Texas Governor Greg Abbott in a statement called for prayers for the injured officers and said the state would provide any resources needed by police as they continue their investigation. Still ahead the u. S. Announces new sanctions on a Venezuelan Oil company. This as National Security advice orjohn boltons note pad sparks some new questions about a possible military intervention. Wow. Hide your notes. Plus dangerously cold, wind chills and dropping temperatures are expected to hit parts of the country this week. Meteorologist bill karins is going to have a full check of your forecast when we come back. burke parking splat. And we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum make ice. D be mad at tech thats unnecessarily complicated. But youre not, because you have e trade, which isnt complicated. 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Ty its a save more with a new kind of Wireless Network store. Its a look what your wifi can do now store. A get your questions answered by awesome experts store. Its a now theres one store that connects your life like never before store. The xfinity store is here. And its simple, easy, awesome. Welcome back. Turning now to venezuela and the Trump Administration yesterday unveiled new sanctions against that countrys stateowned oil company. In an effort cripple president Nicolas Maduros government by cutting off its main source of income. Its the latest move the administration has taken to force regime change in that country, which also says all options including military intervention remain on the table. The United States is Holding Accountable those responsible for venezuelas tragic decline. We will continue to use all of our diplomatic and economic tools to support interim president , the National Assembly and venezuelans peoples efforts to restore their democracy it has long been a vehicle for corruption for venezuela officials and businessmen. This is a country thats very rich in oil resources. Theres no reason why these resources shouldnt be used for the economic benefit of the people there. Theres no reason for the poverty and the starvation and the humanitarian crisis. We also today call on the Venezuelan Military and Security Forces to accept the peaceful, democratic and constitutional transfer of power. I reiterate that the United States will hold venezuelan Security Forces responsible for the safety of all u. S. Diplomatic personnel, the National Assembly and the president. Any violence against these groups will signify a grave assault on the rule of law and will be met with a significant response. How do you define significant response . Well, were not going to define it because we want the venezuelan Security Forces to know how strongly we think that about guido, the National Assembly, the opposition and most importantly american personnel are not harmed. This is an unequivocal statement on our part. Is there any circumstance in which United States forces would get involved. The president has made it very clear on this matter that all options are on the table. So you see that image there. John Bolton Holding that yellow note pad yesterday during that briefing. Heres the interesting thing about that note pad. Written on it was, afghanistan welcome the talks and 5,000 troops to colombia. Bolton realized his error and turned his note pad around. But nbc news was told no assets are heading to colombia or venezuela. But an official told nbc news that the state department has been running contingency plans for evacuation of u. S. Diplomats. In the event that Nicolas Maduro target protesters or u. S. Embassy and if that does happen the u. S. Military may be needed, could it be staged out of neighboring colombia. And nbc news was told quote as the president has said all along all options are on the able. Cliff simms alleges the Trump Administration held more controversial attitude towards refugees. Simms wrote in his book a team of vipers he reconciled his Christian Faith in working for a president with his attitude towards refugees, including persecuted christians. Simms took his concern at one point to Steven Miller who he writes told him i would be happy if not a single refugee foot ever again touched americas soil. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders yesterday denied the allegations. Steve miller is quoted, i would be happy if not a single refugee foot ever touched american soil. Is the policy of this administration eventually to get Refugee Resettlement down to zero . Im not aware of any statement that steve miller made and certainly not the policy of the Trump Administration. Sims will join morning joe later this morning. Lets get a check of our weather. Some really cold temperatures out there, bill . Coldest a lot of people have ever seen in their lives in the midwest and great lakes, especially anybody under 30. Lets show you the current wind chill values out there. We have a tax reform system that brought some snow yesterday. Thats trying to push into southern canada. That cold front is heading into pittsburgh. Typical winter cold is behind that. Then another cold front coming out of canada. This is atypical. Right now International Falls is negative 39, duluth is negative 35. This is just the beginning. Well track this over the next two to three days. As far as the warnings go one of the coldest air masses youve seen. 44 Million People are one wind chill warnings from north dakota all the way over here into areas of pen. Some of the other numbers that well watch. One of the things thats important about wind chill is your exposed skin, how long it takes to get frostbite. Negative 31 it takes about 30 minutes to get frostbite in bismarck and minneapolis. Now tomorrow morning at this time is the peak of the outbreak. At negative 51 in chicago tomorrow morning, five minutes. Thats it for exposed skin. Thats why they have cool cancelled in a lot of those areas for today and tomorrow. We still have a little bit of snow in mississippi and alabama. Atlanta, Winter Weather advisory. Worst of it is north of atlanta. Well watch that commute carefully this morning. Word to the wise stay inside. I wrote some notes down. Sorry, guys. Read teleprompter. I got word of bills forecast and i decided to leave the country. I thought we were sending you to chicago. What happened . I got on the wrong flight. I ended up in london. Hopefully its warmer there than here. Still ahead, Howard Schultz isnt backing down from a potential 2020 run. Well show you how hes responding to some of his critics. I recommend pronamel because it helps protect and strengthen your enamel. Its pro enamel. Its the positive thing. Thats why i take osteo biflex to keep me moving the way i was made to. It nourishes and strengthens my joints for the longterm. Osteo biflex; find our coupon in sundays paper. Welcome back. Time now for sports. We begin in last nights action on the nba floor in memphis where the nuggets outscored their opponent. Memphis has a chance for redemption trailing by one as the clock winds down. Take a listen to this. 9392, nuggets. Anderson. He traveled three seconds. Puts it up . No. Knocked down. Nine seconds to go. Anderson takes the shot. No good he got it back. Two clean looks, anderson cant get it done, nuggets go on to beat the grizzlies 9592 in that one. Lets go to indianapolis where wars extend their win streak to 11 games. They won over the pacers. Steph curry had game high of 26 point in the first half. He is just unreal. Look at that. Way beyond the arc. Were more than a week past the nfl conference championship games but the fallout over the no wall in the ramssaints game. A judge heard from lawyers representing two ticket holders. It cost the saints their shot at the super bowl. Lawsuit says nfl commissioner Roger Goodell should implement a league rule that results in reversing the game results. The league gets it. But the rule in question was not meant for this situation according to the new orleans advocate. Replaying a few minutes of the game requires a super bowl delay and more than 100 million in costs. Safe to say that is not going to happen. Yeah. Im pretty sure the saints fans would take a few minutes. They dont care about the 100 million. Everybody else would. If it means their team would get in the super bowl. Do whatever it takes. Thats team loyalty. Still ahead while recent polling has shown a majority of americans blamed President Trump for the Government Shutdown the president s 2020 team is brushing it off. What his Campaign Manager is now saying about his reelection chances. Trump Administration Charges a chinese tech giant with stealing trade secrets. What it could mean for trade talks between the two countries. Well be right back. Take your razor, yup. Up and down, never side to side, shaquem, you got it . Come on stay focused. Hard work baby, it gonna pay off. With my bladder leakage, the products ive tried just didnt fit right. They were too loose. Its getting in the way of our camping trips. But with a range of sizes, depend® fitflex is made for me. With a range of sizes for all body types, depend® fitflex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. For all body types, the only thing i remember is us hitting the buoy, losing control, and i hit the pier face first. 911 operator, muffled 911, whats your emergency . overlapping radio calls i crushed in the left side of my face, almost to the back of my head. mrs. Mccarron in my mind, i was thinking. I am going to have to bury my child. 911 operator, indistinct First Responder we got down to the landing and we were in a serious situation. I mean, ive never forgot about that run. mccarron the First Responders, they are the reason why im here. Just um, just makes me thankful, for everything that i have. Audible members know listening has the power to change us make us better parents, better leaders, better people. And theres no better place to listen than audible. With audible you get a credit good for any audiobook and exclusive fitness and wellness programs. And now, youll also get two Audible Originals titles exclusively produced for audible. Automatically roll your credits over to the next month if you dont use them, and if you dont like a book just swap it for free. Enjoy 100 ad free listening in the car, on your phone or any connected device. And when you switch a device pick up right where you left off. With our commitment free guarantee, theres never been a better time to start listening to audible. The most inspiring minds, the most compelling stories, the best place to listen. To start your free 30day trial, text listen5 to 500500 today. Im Yasmin Vossoughian alongside Ayman Mohyeldin who is in london and Louis Burgdorf here in new york. Its the bottom of the hour. Lets start with the mornings top stories. President trump has a date for his state of the Union Address after nancy pelosi extended an invitation for him to speak. Its coming as lawmakers work to try to strike a deal to avoid a Government Shutdown with less than three weeks to go. Nbc news chief White House Correspondent Hallie Jackson has more. Reporter good morning to you. Speaker nancy pelosi and President Trump are talking now for the First Time Since the shutdown ended. Agreeing on february 5th, a week from today for the state of the Union Address. The next countdown is on already ahead of that deadline for a longer term deal to keep the government open, february 15. The Sticking Point remains money for border wall but some democrats sound more willing to be open to fencing. The nonpartisan Budget Office today estimated this most recent partial shutdown cost the economy 11 billion, 3 billion of which will never be recovered. Back to you. Thank you for that report. The fallout over the governments historic shutdown hasnt hurt President Trumps reelection chances according to his 2020 Campaign Manager. Politico reports its bolstered his stance. But the president that carried those same counties back in 2016, the Campaign Says while those findings show a large number of voters blame trump for the shutdown a large number also supported his push for a border wall. 61 of those voters questioned support the president s position on border security. 52 agree the Current Situation at the southern border represents a National Security athlete to the u. S. Meanwhile 53 of those asked support for building a barrier between the u. S. And mexico but its not all good news for the president. The poll found that just 49 of voters in the republican leaning districts approve of trumps job performance. Thats just one point higher than those who disapprove. Trump was supposed to be brief on the numbers yesterday. President trumps indicted political conif i dan roger stone is claiming that fbi agents used gestapo tactics again him by knocking on his door early friday morning with an arrest warrant. Stone is now casting the events in increasingly dramatic terms. To storm my house with greater force than was used to take down bin laden or el chapo or pablo escobar. They surrounded my house. Assault weapons pointed at my chest. I opened the door looking down the barrel of two assault weapons. However, outside the courthouse on friday stone said that while he would have preferred to have surrender through his attorneys the fbi agents were extraordinarily course courteous. Heres sean hannity last night with former u. S. Attorney trump transition chair and new jersey governor Chris Christie. Do we need 17 vehicles, predawn raid to arrest a guy that has no weapons in his house, a guy that is charged with lying to congress . No. Listen, you know that ive defended mueller over the course of time, over the last 18 months or so. How can you defend this man . I can defend this. Well hear more from former governor Chris Christie in just a little bit when he joins the conversation on morning joe. A federal judge has cancelled former Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort upcoming sentencing hearing. It was scheduled to take place on february 8th. In a one page record the judge said the sentencing would be postponed because of dispute with muellers team that manafort lied. Prosecutors have argued manafort violated his employee agreement after he pledged to cooperate as part of his guilty employee to avoid a second trial in washington, d. C. Now a new date has not been set for manaforts sentencing. Joining us once again from Washington Capitol Hill Reporter for the hill, molly hooper. Lets talk first about this rescheduled state of the union speech. Historically state of the unions are not so political, not about party lines remember its more about whats happening in this country. How political are we hearing is President Trump going get and how much especially if we dont have a deal yet on the border wall how much of his speech will be about immigration . At this point its a little unclear given on the one hand you do have a political situation over his, you know, conversations about having this border wall and the republicans digging in and being unified, democrats unified in opposition. So we have that issue. But keep in mind, theres still a full two years that the president needs to get through and i think he actually does want to get stuff done as do democrats and republicans. One thing that blue dog democrats are pushing for with their leadership in particular is really to focus on infrastructure. So perhaps we would see the president reaching out to democrats, discussing infrastructure. But, again, its unclear at this point, especially because we dont know where that Conference Committee of 17 senators, lawmakers that are democrat, republican are in terms of coming up with a solution to prevent another Government Shutdown. I have a feeling that he probably will touch on this issue of using his Emergency Powers if he deems it necessary. But, again, one thing i did find particularly noticeable is his Quick Response yesterday to accept the invitation in writing to nancy pelosi. That was a bone of contention on the front end of this whole state of the union saga we should say. Let me ask you, you brought up the Conference Committee in the house, democrats and republicans working on this. There are some reports that republicans behindthescenes are working to ensure another shutdown does not happen. This will be interesting to see because its the president s own party. Is this seen as some within the party going rogue against trump perhaps because of his own political position or whats going on here internally within the Republican Party to avoid another shutdown. Youll see republicans and some democrats are focused on this as well. We have two tracks going on. One you have appropriators who have a different stifle legislator. Jeffries said you have democrats, recognizes, and proi appropriators that write the checks. They are seeing money being wasted in paying federal workers for not working. So there are several republicans on the house side who said, you know, if we can get a measure together that would have a veto proof majority to ensure that even if congress does pass a bill to fund the government and the president wes to it, we can ensure that it will be overrun, thats fine. Thats one avenue. I heard that from appropriators. The other avenue is to prevent Government Shutdowns Going Forward in you have somebody like senator rob portman, democrat mark warner talking about if theres another shutdown, the legislators, lawmakers and their staff would be the ones taking the hit more so or as much as federal workers. So they wouldnt get paid. Thats a different track they are talking about. But, we shall see, ill put it that way. The clock is ticking. Molly, thanks. Still ahead the Trump Administration files criminal charges against chinas top tech company. Well could live overseas for details on how the administrations actions against huawei could impact trade talks with beijing. A dangerous outbreak of arctic air set to hit the country. mom is that for me . dad mhm. Aaaah mom nooooo. dad nooooo. son nooooo. avo quick, the quicker picker upper bounty picks up messes quicker and is 2x more absorbent than the leading ordinary brand. [son loudly clears throat] [mom sighs] [mom and dad laugh] avo bounty, the quicker picker upper. Audible members know listening has the power to change us make us better parents, better leaders, better people. And theres no better place to listen than audible. With audible you get a credit good for any audiobook and exclusive fitness and wellness programs. And now, youll also get two Audible Originals titles exclusively produced for audible. Automatically roll your credits over to the next month if you dont use them, and if you dont like a book just swap it for free. Enjoy 100 ad free listening in the car, on your phone or any connected device. And when you switch a device pick up right where you left off. With our commitment free guarantee, theres never been a better time to start listening to audible. The most inspiring minds, the most compelling stories, the best place to listen. To start your free 30day trial, text listen27 to 500500 today. Thats why i take osteo biflex to keep me moving the way i was made to. It nourishes and strengthens my joints for the longterm. Osteo biflex; find our coupon in sundays paper. And everyone ive ever opioloved away from me. Thing everything. I blew my ankle out and i got prescribed pain pills by my doctor. If making my detox public is gonna help somebody im all for it. I just wish i wouldve had a warning. Just as important as what you get out of it . Our broccoli cheddar is made with aged melted cheddar, simmered broccoli, and no artificial flavors. Enjoy 100 clean soup today. Panera. Food as it should be. Welcome back, everybody. I want to get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. Bill . The heart of winter. This is it. We dont see cold outbreeks like this very often. In some cases like minneapolis, duluth, fargo, chicago, this is once in a generation type cold. Here it comes. International falls dipped to 19. Thats the actual temperature. Chicago youre at 8. Youll be watching those numbers going down during the day today as the latest arctic blast moves in. As we factor in the gusty winds, we already got negative 30. International falls is threatening to go into the negative 40s. Chicago feels like negative 11. St. Louis and indianapolis its just a very, very cold morning. Dangerous stuff is tomorrow. 44 Million People one wind chill warnings from bismarck to eastern portions of pennsylvania. We also have some snow to deal with this storm. Not a lot. Just enough to cause problems. Winter weather advisory from columbus down through asheville. Atlanta still under a Winter Weather advisory. Right now just rain. One little area of winter storm warnings in areas of alabama. Mississippi numerous reports of snow. A lot of it is not sticking. Interior sections of the northeast are going to get a little decent snow tonight into tomorrow morning. Blue on the map shows you where the snow is. Upstate new york. We go from rain in areas of alabama and snow on the back side. Our executers are not hinting at a huge ordeal just a little bit. A coating. Up to an inch central portions of alabama. Atlanta we have none for you. Just a little bit in portions of north georgia. In the northeast that snow comes in as we go tonight into tomorrow. Mostly away from the big cities, interior sections, maybe two to four inches. Not a huge ordeal. Wishing all my friends out in bismarck, north dakota to stay safe. Lets turn to business. Department of justice has announced criminal charges against the Worlds Largest Communications Equipment manufacturer, Chinas Huawei technologies along with its top executives. It comes as china and u. S. Work to end their trade dispute. Can you break down the charges by the u. S. And how this could actually impact those trade talks . Reporter good morning. Yes. Certainly coming at a very interesting time. The chinese premier will be in washington this week to have discussions with robert lighthizer. But this story weve been following for a couple of months now. Yesterday the u. S. Department of justice has indicted the ceo of huawei on two grounds. First on Cyber Espionage grounds. And the second is in violation of iran sanctions. So the lawyers have hit back against the claims said she never plotted to violate u. S. Law. But its a cloud over these talks. The Trump Administration also announced sanctions against venezuela yesterday targeting that countrys oil industry. How could that move impact the price of oil, john bolton pretty firm yesterday. Exactly. So the u. S. Has officially announced sanctions. The bulk of Venezuelan Oil exports do go to the u. S. So it could hit the u. S. Courtrooms. But what the treasury sector Steve Mnuchkin said u. S. Oil refineries import Venezuelan Oil but not go the maduro government. The only way it would if maduro accepts peaceful transition of power. Back to you. Always great to have you with us. Thanks so much. Still ahead Howard Schultz fires back at critics of i had potential 2020 white house run. What the former starbucks ceo is saying about fears he may help get President Trump reelected as one possible democratic contender weighs in on his run. Just got a job as a lifeguard in savannah im 85 and i wanna go home [ding] [boxing bell ding] [applause] they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps. Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the Amazing Services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again to take care of yourself. But natures bounty has innovative ways to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and wellrested. Because hey, tomorrows coming up fast. Natures bounty. Because youre better off healthy. Amazon prime video so when you say words like. Show me best of prime video into this. Youll see awesome stuff like this. Discover prime originals like the emmywinning the marvelous mrs. Maisel. Tom clancys jack ryan. And the man in the high castle. All in the same place as your live tv. Its all included with your amazon prime membership. Thats how xfinity makes tv. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Chris christie. Welcome back, everybody. Despite growing criticism from democrats former starbucks ceo Howard Schultz is not backing down from a potential 2020 independent run. Schultz announced on sunday that hes going to be making a formal decision about a president ial bid in the next three months. Numerous democrats have since warned that an independent bid for the white house by schultz would reelect President Trump. Heres how schultz responded to those critics. If i run for president i will run as an american under one banner, the american flag. The question i think we all should be asking ourselves at a time in america when theres so much evidence that our political system is broken, that both parties at the extreme are not representing the silent majority of the american people, isnt there a better way, a better choice . If theres a choice between President Trump and a progressive liberal minded person on the democratic side, it would kill me to to see President Trump be reelected. And i believe thats what will take place. So former new york city mayor michael bloomberg, who has also toyed with an independent bid in the past and is now considering a democratic run released a statement yesterday warning of the consequences an independent might have in 2020. He writes this a great likelihood is that an independent would just split the antitrump vote and end up reelecting the president. Thats a risk i refused to run in 2016 and we cannot afford to run it now. As the crowded democratic president ial field continues to joe, Joe Scarborough in a New Washington post oped writes how senator Kamala Harris has set herself apart from the pack. Joe writes in part, it is one thing to propel a president ial campaign off a launchpad and quite another to send it into safe political orbit but a few days into her campaign, even Kamala Harriss critics should know that she accomplished certainly in her Campaign Speech that the last nominee failed to do through the whole campaign, she gave americans a compelling explanation as to why she wanted to be president , we are better than this, much like Elizabeth Warren had framed her bid as a quest to protect consumers and promote a fiery brand of progressivism. Like warren, harris will be underestimated by team trump at its own peril. We are, of course, in the opening steps of a grueling, nonstop twoyear battle. Perhaps harris will prove more adept at beginning a president ial campaign than running one. Coming up, everybody, Axios Nicholas Johnston has this mornings 1 big thing and more on the offthecuff comments by the acting attorney general suggesting bob muellers investigation may be winding down as lawmakers slam Matthew Whitaker for revealing that information. Joe and mika will have reaction from two former trump insiders as they released new books. Former new jersey governor Chris Christie along with staff er cliff simms. Im 53, but in my mind im still 35. Thats why i take osteo biflex to keep me moving the way i was made to. It nourishes and strengthens my joints for the longterm. Osteo biflex; find our coupon in sundays paper. All right. Welcome back, everyone. Joining us from washington, d. C. , editor in chief for axios nicholas johnson. What is axioss 1 big thing for this morning . The starbucks 2020 problem. You talked about the former chairman of starbucks. The thing to look at is what might spill over from the company he founded. The company will probably fall under more scrutiny than its had in its 30 years of its existence. If youre an opponent, youre already trying to big up opposition files, employees or what happened with bain capital or mitt romneys firm. How did it work out for companies. Look for that kind of scrutiny or starbucks this year. How does starbucks, if he does decide to run, how do they plan on combatting this scrutiny . Their first example is an email the ceo sent yesterday is were staying out of it. But behind the scenes they are pri preparing an Opposition Research firm of their own. He has people on the inside who are able to respond very quickly but the company realizes this is something theyve never undergone before. Lets talk about this new exclusive polling you guys have out at axios. What does it reveal about americans and their feelings about the economy at this stage of the presidency. An overwhelming number of americans think the system is rigged and unfair and only benefits the wealthy. Pap la popularity of capital iism has dropped in popularity. A bunch of billionaires saying theyre worried about the capitalist system, its losing faith of more common workers and thats a big problem going ahead. How do we think voters attitudes about the economy could impact the president ial race in 2020 . I think it will factor in very heavily. Perhaps in the campaign of Elizabeth Warren or bernie sanders. I think what is most fascinating this is very similar to the message that donald trump ran on in 2016 saying a lot of these International Affairs were unfair and unrigged and will be more of a folk news focus in. You can sign up for the newsletter. That does it for us on this tuesday morning. Im Yasmin Vossoughian alongside Louis Burgdorf and Ayman Mohyeldin. Morning joe starts right now. To terrorize my wife and my dogs, its unconscionable. That is a good point, mika. Because one of the things that made willie and me upset, even during the height of the war on terror was the way they treated bin ladens poodle. Dont terrorize bin ladens poodle. They kept bin laden on the bracelet for how long . Oh, no, wait a second. They blew his brains out. So they didnt treat him quite as badly, did they, mike . They did not knock on bin ladens front door. There was not a knock saying, bin laden, fbi, come on out. They didnt do that. All right. Roger stone, trumps longtime adviser equated the use of force in his address to what was used in the bin laden raid, sparking all this way too early in the morning. Way too early. Some of willies best work, way too early. Now listen. I didnt understand the Christmas Special with kanye and bring crosby but still. You were adorable doing that. Stones complaint that his dogs were terrorized is a tiny bit ironic because his sevencount