Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20171102

The last two years have been two of the best world series in i mean recent history. The difference is last year you had a great game seven. Last night the astros jumped out in the weekend inning and the pitching held out. 51 was the final. They won the first world series in the history of their franchise. They have been to the world series once before, that man right there, George Springer, crossing the plate right there, most valuable player, hit another home running homered in four consecutive games, darvish, thats all they needed. 51 was the final. This team, joe, was 2011, 2012, 2013, each season lost more than 100 games. They were the worst too emin baseball . I remember saying they should really be playing aaa baseball. No, they were horrific. They were. There is a 2014 Sports Illustrated cover. Yeah. That shows George Springer on the cover says 2017 champs . What did they know . They had an incredible farm system and grow up and three years later predicted the world series title that happened last night. Ill tell you why, sam what a way to end for the city of houston, a city just absolutely slammed and they had that houston strong on. Did that remind you of anything . Yes. 2013. With the red sox going through adversity, ending up with the world series nobody expected. Thats why i was so happy they beat the yankees. Nobody deserved it. No, it was an amazing world series. I was a little upset last nights game was so anticlimactic, George Springer, the private connecticut. And mika, you look at houston, heres a team down 32 against the yankees. It was all over, they blew through that. And then came back and beat the dodgers as well. Exciting for a lot of reasons. No, no, this was a big game. So with us as can you see, we have politics editor for the daily beast sam stein and White House Reporter for usa today heidi briz bill la. Good to have you both on board this morning. President trump is calling for the execution of the suspect who Authorities Say carried out the truck attack killed ache people and injured almost a dozen more. Tweeting shortly before midnight, nyc terrorist was happy as he asked to hang isis flag in his hospital room. He killed eight people, badly injured 12, should get Death Penalty. I want to stop here, this is so important, again, you always talk about norms and norms being violated. Several days ago when we were talking about Paul Manafort and gates and the gentleman who was actually charged. Papadopoulos. Yes. Willie, what did we say . Several times, its important to remember that in america, even though this is obvious, it seems obvious to a lot of people in america, we still believe that people are innocent until theyre proven guilty. Yeah. Obviously. All of the everyday points to this man, but for the president of the United States, the person who is supposed to be the chief law enforceer of the United States of america saying 24 hours after an act that he should get the Death Penalty that is what happens in autocratic regimes. That does not happen here. Every president ive ever known, every governor, everything weve always herd is, you know, let the Justice System play itself out and take its course. Here you have the president 24 hours later calling for the death of somebody. Even before weve got a jury empanelled. Anything happens, calling for his execution. Well this guy is not going to get any sympathy from anybody here or anybody else, you are right the president of the United States has an obligation to come out and say let the system play out. But this is a different president i dont think we should expect anything. He guess for the most visceral, send to Guantanamo Bay i wouldnt be surprised if torture comes up. He knows it appeals to the fwut instinct of a lot of people of this country. But what is important, heidi, if the president is shattering all norm, its important that everybody else steps back and says, this guy gets no sympathy, yes. It certainly does appear he committed these heinous acts and killed these people and in any other country, not in any other country but in a lot of other countries you would have people saying, hang him, hang him in the government, but we are not any other country. For 230 years everybody has had constitutional protections and we live by those norms. If the president doesnt live by those norms, then dam it, you know what, americans need to be reminded every day that for 230 years we have. Joe, its the kind of exchange that you and i might have on an emotional level and an aftermath if were at the br talking to each other, but not something that you say as a matter of policy the president of the United States, because we do still have something in this country called due process. Right. And this was someone who was here legally and whether you want to have a debate about whether his miranda rights could be suspended, which, by the way, did happen after the unabomber, the underwear bomber, it was a something if you want to get tough, fine. But to say he should be executed and to immediately go to deathcon1 is not something weve seen. Before midnight is showing a psychological profile of someone up all night freaking out. Certainly satisfying. It is making the job harder for the government officials who do have to prosecute this case. Right . Trump has now tainted the jury pool the defense can argue. The defense can say hes not going to get a fair shake. He complicates the case you will make against this guy. I mean the famous instance was Richard Nixon and charles manson, Richard Nixon called for the beth penalty, obama had to watch around this stuff with khal Khalid Sheikh mohammed. They want to make it easier for the prosecution here. Hes made it harder. Not to go too far on this point, we have so much to talk about. We do. But the president s own immigration plan, he gathered the way time and time again in his own words were used against him to for courts to undermine his attempts at what he called extreme vetting. I think we are witnessing a little of a breakdown. Well, if you listen, though, mika, to what the New York Times is reporting, what vanity fair is reporting, what the washington spofrt reporting, theyre suggesting the president is in full meltdown mode right now based on three articles and im sure you all read yesterday. He actually called the New York Times to refute those, know, im not melting down, everything is fine. Wow. Back to your original argument, donald trump and many will watch what we said in the last five minute and say thats an academic exercise, there are people in new york city who despise donald trump who say you are dam right, that guy should get the death ben penalty, he did what he did, he is already talking about it. Donald trump is speccing to the gut of the country, where the argument goes to the brain and the norms of the country. I think, mika, most of us might agree with that off camera. Most of us might even say that on camera, but if you are the president of the United States, you have to be held to a higher standard because we have a constitution in this country and, you know, im a guy that has been hammered for years by you but a lot of people online, because i actually believe that terrorists and suspected terrorists should be treated tougher. Right. So even, people had suggested that i think they should be tortured. I do think they should be treated a lot tougher. So thats why im saying, even my position to the far right, what donald trump did yesterday violates constitutional norm, he has helped this suspected terrorist and any defense lawyer worth their weight in salt is going to be able to make a very compelling case against the president to a judge that he cant get a fair trial now. He can argue like many times before the president has a lot going on and things are really closing in on him and hes freaking out and his family is even in peril of some of the stupid things that theyve done over the past nine, ten, 11, 12 months and this was just another great deflection that people talk about and churn over for hours instead of looking at the matter at hand. He actually doesnt know what hes doing. The president yesterday said hes open to sending the suspect to guantonomo bay and took aim at the legal system. We need quick justice, we need strong justice, much quicker and much stronger than we have right now. Pause what we have right now is a joke and its a laughing stock. A little context on the speed of our current legal system. A new jersey man was convicted last month of planteding two Pressure Cooker bombs in new york city in the summer of 2016, just over a oneyear lapsed between the guilty verdict. That is swift justice. Meanwhile, men 16 years ago were formally charged in 2012 and still awaiting trial in guantonomo bay. Fast . Is it a little ignorance at happened or a great deflection . That is not swift justice. In fact, if you want to have justice delayed, send them to gitmo. If you want to have fast justice, i got to say, i dont want to go into too much, for the president of the United States to say that the United States legal system is a joke and a laughing stock around the world, actually is one of the most ignorant things the president has said, our Justice System again 230 years since 1787, it has been the envy of the world. It is what separates us from most other countries on this planet. It is what guarantees that we have checks on tyrants and on tyranny and that i mean for him to say that is just dumbfounding. My indistinct is that its a deflection in light of the next story now. President trump plans to call to the New York Times yesterday afternoon to refute recent coverage of his administration from a reefbal paper. After two aides were indicted and a former policy adviser pled guilty t. President wanted to assert, im not under investigation, as you know. But that is not what his chief of staff jop kelly said on monday. Were in great hopes that it wraps up. It is very distracting to the president as would be to any citizen to be investigated for something trump also said of the indictment of his former campaign chief Paul Manafort. Quote f. You look at that there is not a mention of trump in there. It has nothing to do with us t. President has a bone to pick with the Washington Post for a story about his reaction to the charges on monday entitled upstairs at home with the tv on, trump fumes over russia diernlths reporting his anger monday was invisible with those that interacted with him. He told the times im not angry at anybody. A new report in vapty fair is upset from the advice from soninlaw and unpaid adviser Jared Kushner who reportedly he calls bad blood. Speaking to steve bannon, a source briefed says trump blamed kushner for his role, specifically the firings of mike flynn and james comey that led to bob muellers appointment. When roger stone told him trump was giving bad political advice, trump agreed according to a source familiar with the investigation. Although i smell another dirty layer to this, which would be steve bannon trying to push out Jared Kushner who know, its just a mess. Sam, he was saying that jared whats the worst political adviser in modern American History and weve had reports from several vours and other journalists that donald trump has been trying just daily to push jared and ivanka out of the white house. To save them. Daily. Which i do think aligns with the news reports that hes pack in regular contact with bannon, because if you remember, when that trump tower meeting was reported, we never got to the bottom of how that was leaked out the fact that kushner was had played a role in setting it up as well, so bannon was suspected to have been behind that and bannon is suspected to be behind whats going on now with this offensive against kushner. Its so comical to say Jared Kushner is such a terrible adviser, he made buildings and heaps not a political adviser, thats not a knock, i dont know. Weve all been saying that, everybody has been saying that. Yeah. Six months. Many muchen came in, its like oh my god what a mess. They have no p theyre not going to work magic. I mean. The foreign piles team, some of the lower levels, are you like, whats going on . George papadopoulos came from nowhere. I talk to his professor at depaul, who said he was absolutely shocked when he found out he was a Foreign Policy adviser, he was a terrible student. Jared kushner said his professor said hes an okay guy, but not to be in charge of Foreign Policy. I dont think staffing is the main issue with this presidency, it is an issue. Its a huge issue. It was weird when donald trump kept giving jared an ever large portfolio in the opioid government and remake the government. In the end, it would have been a wiser thing for him to have done is tell him go over the staffing pros says, find really smart people. Bring them into this government and help me out. He just didnt do that at the beginning. It could be the original sin. That would have worked except for the fact that both Jared Kushner and donald trump believe that the fewer people they hired the better. They didnt trust anybody in the state. They didnt trust anybody anywhere. Thats why we have a government run by very inexperienced hands, heidi, there was another extraordinary thing, we will be talking to gape sherman about in that piece that bannon has already gone a quick run through the cabinet and believes that if things continue as theyre going, that if there is a vote on the 25th amendment, that trump will be voted out. Well, the timing on all of this is strategic. And thats what is scary. I think people in the white house is that bannon is also talking about this tax cut initiative kind of being the trigger. Right, if that doesnt go through the party kind of starts to explode. People turn on each other. People turn on the president and it also corresponds with these charges coming out. The liars in the white house. Right. Right . Heres where when you go into a meeting, who is wearing a wire . We dont know. Neither does the president. Fasz nateing that they say russia. They run out of the room. Which is, by the way, a smart move. Id get out of the roomly would say if anybody even talks like you see all the states. Go back to the ussr, leave. Thats the thing about the kushner timing, all of these in terms of him being helplessly mismatched in this role are true. It also is true whenever this white house faces a crisis, somebody has to be the sacrifice. Somebody has to be strung up. So how is Jared Kushner, to be fair to blame for whats going on right now with the staff of the russia investigation . I have a question, you think powell and cohn, do they have an excuse . I got to make coffee. You are right, though, so Jared Kushner is now being nailed for one of the stupidest things the Trump Administration has done, that itself the firing of james comey, mika and i have seen the interactions with donald trump and Jared Kushner enough to know that donald trump does what donald trump wants to do. Exactly. If donald trump didnt want to fire james camy, for anybody to say, dadinlaw, that sounds like a great idea that is so disingenuous by steve bannon to run around. By the way, i got say this, i have been calling steve bannon mr. 33 , you know, because hes sort of, his strategy has put donald trump at 33 . You got to call him mr. 8 now. Steve bannon, willie, has an 8 Approval Rating in america. We showed the poll yesterday. 8 . So ive just got to ask, if youre taking advice from a guy that has an 8 Approval Rating, his Approval Rating. I think Mitch Mcconnells Approval Rating is double steve bannons. So if you are take, if you are still taking advice from a guy that has an 8 Approval Rating in america, then you are actually playing into those suggesting that you are not fit to be president of the United States. Like the 25th amendment spinning kind of a little more snug this morning. Well, he helped make him president , even though donald trump doesnt like to admit that. Donald trump knows that steve bannon helped put him where he is today. On some visceral level donald trump right now . President bannon you mean . Yes, no on some visceral level, he believe there is a the instincts of steve bannon got him where he is, at least if part. He ought to follow through, if thats worth 8 to 33 so be it. You can blame jared, bannon, whoever you want. We spent a lot of time talking to donald trump and showing people exactly the the way he thinks. One of the things he said on this show during a lengthy interview for everyone to see and hear, was, i listen to myself. I am my top adviser. I have a great brain, no unelse really helps me, i work with my own britain and, secondly, there were times when people were like, you had vice trump . Yes, absolutely, we said to trump what we said on this sew, you dont insult someone like john mccain, you should apologize, he never took any of that had vice, not one piece of advice. He said, i dont apologize, there is a frightening arrogance happening here as we watch the feds close in on this president. Look at him. Listen to him. Listen to what he said about the legal system. Listen to what he said about the suspect, whether you are for or against the Death Penalty. Look at his behavior. Look at his tweets before midnight. Something is going on here and i think it might be a complete breakdown. I really do. You bring up a great point. He doesnt take advice. The other advice that we were giving was hire good people. Put good people around you. Its the same thing that bob gates was telling him. Its the same thing, you know, im sure that condi rice and others. We said it on the show. Everybody was saying get good people around you. Donald trumps biggest problem as we move towards this russian investigation, it kicks into high fear is, there is a long track record of donald trump not listening to anybody. Fought taking anybodys advice. Therefore, prosecutor versus to look at donald trump and say, wait a second the buck stops here. There is an organization that is run by one person. He doesnt listen to advisers. He cant point fingers at Jared Kushner. He cant point fingers ation kelly. He cant point fingers at ashe else. He is the one that makes the decision. Bus you are right. He said it on our air. Time and time again. I listen to myself. And by the way, mika, i now give you. Weve gone back and forth about whether you can talk about the 25th amendment on the air and whether hes fit. Too early to talk about the 25th dont you think now that steve bannon is polling to figure out which cabinet members are going to vote him out that it might be time to Start Talking about the 25th amendment . Oh, i think its id time. Thats just me. Only because of steve bannon. The reporters houston those three pieces will john us next hour. Plus the senates number two democrat dig kur bin, Republican Congressman peter king and puerto ricos governor will be here on set with an update on that countrys recovery efforts. Well be right back. Ah, dinner. Throughout history, the one meal when we come together, break bread, share our day and connect as a family. [ bloop, clicking ] and connect, as a family. Just, uh one second voice guy. [ bloop ] huh . Hey . I paused it. Bam, family time. So how is everyone . Find your awesome with xfinity xfi and change the way you wifi. You know, we made a couple mistakes before. Rick hamlin was supposed to bring you the weather. Brit, were sorry, we went right past the weather. And im Veronica Corningstone the prompter. No, its on me. Im not gentleman to sit here and criticize the president for being not fit and fought point out that i should make it very clear that puerto rico is far the great United States of america. Dont put question marks in the prompter. Now the prompter say no, no, no its on me. All right. Lets move on with the conversation. Whats your favorite part of it . The fight scene t. Anchor fight scene when brit killed the guy with the trident. It escalated quickly. Quickly. What about you, heidi, have you seen anchorman yet . I dont think, ive seen part of it. You are like me, you dont see movies and stuff . Im a mom zplu dont have time. You got to be trying the colognes. Sex panther works 90 of the time, nine or ten times of the time something look that. Was the coach talked oh, yeah. Right. After jack black had punted him off the bridge. Yeah. Or milk was a bad choice. So many food lines. Milk was a good choice. We could, were not going to mika. What . Cmon, you liked the movie, too. It was all right. Ahh. Anchorman 2. Lets talk about tax reform. What a segue. I was feeling uncomfortable there. Glad were back to texas. Its right now, they have a bit of a challenge ahead of them, tax reform. Its not as easy . I tho talked to someone in the room dealing with all of this last night. He said, look, everybody is getting nervous at the white house, theyre nervous on the hill. Making kind of last minute adjustments worth millions and billions of dollars with members of their only party not only democrats are not in on the process, they feel the leadership has kind of tan it over. So the big tell on this is when it drops, what are the what we call the pay fors, how are they going to fund it and convince people this is a middle class tax cut when you tell people, were going to curb your 401ks and take away your tax reducks to give a Corporate Tax break. Once we see those details. I know from the people in the room, theyre nervous about how this rollout will go. They had wanted to get it out yesterday or be i this morning latest. They already had to cancel an event that they had hoped the president would hold before he goes by the way for two weeks to asia, so they will drop this and then the president is going to head out of the country. Sam, the republicans on january 20th of this year, its a romp through washington. Stay there the white house the senate, the house. Yes. Nothing on repeal and replace, what about tax reform, are they going to be closer . If they dont get it through the year, they make it through an entire calendar year with no legislative single achievement. What does that mean . Its not good at all. Second it says a lot about this ability of the party to govern. Parties are great at winning elections, but you know they had seven years to prepare for Obamacare Repeal and replace bill. They couldnt do it. Theyve had not as much time, a significant enough time to get a tax plan in place. And theyre making change its remarkable to see theyre making huge substantive changes before its unveiled. Were talking making a Corporate Tax cut not permanent it phases out in ten years, there are budgetary restrictions and parliamentary restrictions that commission this. If you are a party pinpointed opened tax reforms and mocking things up the night before that suggests you dont have your act completely together. What i dont understand is how they make the same mistake repeatedly, theyre doing it on tax reform, too, sam, with health care they drafted it behind the scenes. Yeah. They tried to keep it away from the press from their own members, keep it away from the opposition. And drop it. And force people to sign on to a bad bill. Theyre doing the same thing with fax reform where behind closed doors and theyre actually saying, we dont want it to leak out. We dont want the press to see it. We dont want our own members to see it. This is how theyre running things there. No regular order. The tax reform bill should be open and a sixmonth process, at least if its done right. And heidi can probably speak to this too. But that was the lesson that everyone seemed to have taken from the clinton years, right . Which is health care was done behind closed doors. Right. It was top down. You will have to take this and naturally lawmakers which have agency in this process said no way. We can make our own bill. This is what happened with obamacare, where literally, you know the night before they gave the people a look at it and said vote on this. They could have got it done. What theyre lern learning is you need to buy in. Not at the end of the promise. Heres the thing, as this started to break down a little bit. We heard news reports about yelling inside the Committee Rooms on capitol hill. However, the difference with obamacare was that nobody came running to the mic, because they all, also, you can kind of also smell the desperation that they have to get this done and that everybody agrees. Yeah. As a party, they have to get this done, heres the crazy part is that do they really . How much does the American Public really want a Corporate Tax cut . And is that going to be the cure of cancer here for the party . If were making parallels here, for example, to raise the first round of tax cuts in fine 81, i went back and looked, guys, his numbers continue to go down. He was down by 1982, down to 42 . He lost 25 seats in the house . Right. So that was not the magic cure and i dont know that its going to be here either. For instance, have we heard from guys like steve bannon . Do they really think this is their populist vision of whats good . The president , right, theyre youing over the name the president wants to call it. Genius. The tax cuts. The problem, there is any time you try to pass tax cuts, that youre going to get hammered for helping the rich. And the reason why is when Ronald Reagan cut tax cuts you could cut it that impacted the middle class. Its hard to do unless you do a payroll tax, the top pays 40 the top 10 pay 70 of the income taxes in america. So if theres not really a tax cut that is going to reach a wide swath of middle class americ americans because weve had over 30 years those rates being cut down, down, lower, lower, lower. People talk about kennedy tax cuts and it was so high, the margin in those days that you can create that. Then i wonder to your point, what is the actual political argument for getting rid of the state tax, which this bill will do. The state tax hits incomes 5. 5 million and above for individuals and 11 million and above for married couples. What is the populist argument to say, we got to get rid of that . It is not, but there is a donor argue, this bill is aimed towards donors, its a very unpopular bill, had 25 . Cut, cut, cut. Approval rating. So theyre not doing this for voters, theyre not doing it for middle class americans, this sul about going back to the donors and saying, hey, look what weve done for you. Because slashing Corporate Tax rates may help business in america. It may help Small Businesses in america. Thats not financial to show up on any polls. The only reason to pass this politically right now is for the donors. Still ahead in the weak of this weeks terrorist attacks in manhattan the president tweeted he ordered Homeland Security to step off our already extreme vetting program. Our next guest says there is no extreme vetting program. That is a madeup name. Well talk about that. Alex, are we going to brit tamlin at all . We will see if he is back. Putting in a toaster. You are all laughing. Well talk about that next on morning joe. Liberty mutual stood with me when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. Liberty did what . Yeah, with Liberty Mutual all i needed to do to get an estimate was snap a photo of the damage and voila voila i wish my Insurance Company had that. Wait hold it. Hold it boys. Theres supposed to be three of you. Wheres your brother . Wheres your brother . Hey, wheres charlie . Charlie . you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you. Liberty stands with you™ Liberty Mutual insurance. You wof your daily routine, so why treat your mouth any differently . Complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease, bad breath and kill up to 99. 9 of germs. Listerine® bring out the bold™ we create machines that make every experience more real. Because the best feature of a pc Gaming Machine is the power to make you forget its there. Get 200 off at dell. Com gaming. get 200 off at dell. Com gaming. Accused of obstructing justice to theat the fbinuclear war, and of violating the constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down news organizations that report the truth. If that isnt a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president , then what has our government become . Im tom steyer, and like you, im a citizen who knows its up to us to do something. Its why im funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. A Republican Congress once impeached a president for far less. Yet today people in congress and his own administration know that this president is a clear and present danger whos mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. And they do nothing. Join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing whats political and start doing whats right. Our country depends on it. I didnt wiggle. I wanted to make sure like most politicians that what i said was correct, not make a quick statement t. First statement on saturday was a fine statement. But you dont make statements that direct unless you know the fact. It takes a little while to get the facts. You still dont know the facts. And its a very, very important process to me. Look. We have a tragedy. Were going to do and what happened in las vegas is in many ways a miracle. The Police Department has done such an incredible job and well be talking about gun laws as time goes by. Were not going to talk about that today. I am going to ask congress to immediately initiate work to get rid of this program, diversary and diversity lottery, diversity lottery, sounds nice, its not nice. Its not good. We want a meritbase program where people come into our country based on merit. We have to get much tougher. We have to get much smarter and we have to get much less politically correct. Were so politically correct that were afraid to do anything. Were being stopped by democrats because theyre obstructionists and honestly they dont want to do whats right for our country. We need strength. We need resolve. We have to stop it. So were going to get rid of this Lottery Program as soon as possible. President trump was quick to react and attack his political opponents on policy yesterday less than 24 hours after the terrorist attacks in new york city. It was in an traft to his more cautious approach three days after the deadly violence in charlottesville and two and three days after the Mass Shootings in las vegas. Joining us now, rick stringle, axe for public diplomacy, his attack from the vetsing program. Start from the beginning, what exactly was he talking about . Well this visa Lottery Program that was passed in i believe 1990, signed by george bush, a Bipartisan Program to bring in visa holders from countries that traditionally didnt get a lot of immigration into the United States. It was meant for fairness, it came from this idea we are a country of immigrants and that there ought to be a fairness and balance where people come from. By the way, they win a lottery. They are vetted, they have to have a surgeon income. Have you as to pay. Its not just grabing people out of a lot of people. Do you think the president i think there is nothing wrong rethinking that, by the way, his accusation against schumer was wrong, he was a part of a gang of eight that decided to purge this and take this out of the layered immigration bill passed by the senate and did not get passed in the house. Some people realize this is not necessarily the best system and the system will eventually go away. Can you speak of your time in the vetting process, we know this guy down in Lower Manhattan took two years the vetting process the people of applicants from uzbekistan was in the hundreds of thousands, they took a couple of thousands what is it like to go through that program . Willie, im glad you asked that. People dont realize how strict and vigilant it is already, it takes years, not only are you being interviewed by a consular official in your country. They interview members of your family and check bank records, its not easy to pass muster there. And were pretty vigilant about all that even people who win the lottery. And how relevant is it in the first place given that all indications are that he was self radicalized here . Hes been here for several years. Right . Yeah. So all of this has taken place in seven years hes been on u. S. Soil, correct . You did lone wolves as a misnomer, self radicalization as a misnomer, everything we learn about the path, its much more like an ep deemial model, a close tan tact with people that have an ideology, they are trying to imparm. Its aided and abetted by what people read online. Its not the germ that makes it happen. As we will see with this guy, we are already beginning to see, there is a connection. People that maybe knew. Yes. So discounting all of the president s very unfortunate statements since the time of this attack, im one of those people that believe a merrittbased system for visas makes a lot of sense. There are other countries that do it. Its not racist, you are not looking at where the person is from, are you not looking at what race they are, what religion they are, what creed they are, you are saying, how can you help our country . What are you good at . Can you bring jobs to our country . Yes. Do you qualifier to go to our best schools and will you agree if you do to get an education here, start your business here, hire americans here . Whats wrong with us moving towards a more meritbased system on immigration and on green cards . Absolutely nothing. By the way, our system is mostly meritbased. This visa process is a little exception to remedy countries that werent having visitors. I would go towards that. Look at the bill that said, if you get an ad advanced degree in a s. T. E. M. Subject, stamp a green card, all those things make sense. Isnt there a pushback that some countries will not provide a great pool of merrittbased applicant, they are in need of refugees fleeing from insurance from syria . I guess that will be the element of pushback you get. And the refugee categories has an even different category. Sure. Thats a separate category. You have to make sure you have that in the mix in the pool you bring into this country in addition. We talk mainly immigrants, green card holders. You are right. Refugees have to be a separate system. But a merit standard is a good standard. Rick stengel, stay with us. The wall street journal is saying prosecutors are considering bringing charges in the dnc hacking case. Well have those details next on morning joe. You wouldnt do only half of your daily routine, so why treat your mouth any differently . Complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease, bad breath and kill up to 99. 9 of germs. Listerine® bring out the bold™ at bps cooper river plant, employees take safety personally down to each piece of equipment, so they can protect their teammates and the surrounding wetlands, too. Because safety is never being satisfied. And always working to be better. Your bbut as you get older,ing. It naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. Thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. The secret is an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Saying that prosecuters are considering bringing charges in the dnc hacking case. At least six russian government officials are identified as part of an ongoing investigation. Thats according to people familiar with the probe. Thousands of the emails were made public by wikileaks last year. As the journal reports, quote, the high profile hack of the dncs computers played a central role in the u. S. Intelligence communitys assessment in january that russian president Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the u. S. President ial election. If filed, the case would provide the clearest picture yet of the people behind the dnc breach. Prosecuters are still assembling the evidence and could bring a case next year. Rick, whats your take . Its about time. All the reporting back in 2011 putin felt Hillary Clinton was trying to cause a Color Revolution in moscow. Hes been adept at using active measures to try to come back. Ru russians use active measures. Now they have the as a general said to me, they have the big battalions when it comes to social media. Are you shocked by the extent, like, 125 million americans saying fake russian ads on facebook . Thats more about facebooks reach. Facebook is the Biggest Country in the world. Thats a tiny minority of their users. Im not surprised. I remember after the annexation of crimea, we started tweeting about russias violation of the i started getting hit by bot hits. Thats the template for what they did in 2016. It seems more particular. Willie, did you see jesus arm wrestling satan . No. I didnt get that. How did i miss that . Was that a russian product . Yes. And it says if you want satan to win, vote for hillary and if you want jesus to win thats subtle. It was kind of like the south park episode where satan was boxing jesus. Well hear a lot more. Well get into specifics about this as we hear all these twitter and google and the ceo of apple talking to lester holt about whats happening there. It becomes more and more confounding that from the top of our government, you dont hear someone pounding the desk saying how outrageous this is, because they feel theyre wrapped up in it. This shouldnt be about politics. This should be about america having its democracy breached by a foreign enemy. A sworn enemy. Lets also talk about the power of lobbying. Theres no reason why you shouldnt have demands from capitol hill for a lot more accountability from the top tech companies. We have had people come to capitol hill to are very wellknown, some leaders in the tech community, lie, out and out lie and theyre not being held to account. And their companies arent being held to account, and everybody on capitol hill is afraid to say what we all know. They need to be regulated. Broadcast industry is regulated. Theres certain norms. Theres certain rules and regulations you have to abide by. What was shocking to me is some of the executives would not even agree to some of the bare minimum such as will you accept or refuse to take ads paid in rubles . What is difficult about that . What is the justification for an ad where you see its coming in and its being paid in rubles . That was an al franken question. Rick, thank you so much. Thank you, rick. A lot to talk about with this. On monday, the Washington Post reported that President Trump was fuming about the russia indictments. Yesterday the president called the New York Times to say hes actually not angry at anybody. Well talk to reporters who worked on both of those stories. The New York Times peter baker. And also the vanity fair story by gabe sherman. Gabe will be on as well. Morning joe will be right back. Dad molly trash whoo mom hey, molly . Its time to go bell ringing class, lets turn to page 136, recessive traits skip generations. Who would like to read . molly i reprogrammed the robots to do the inspection. Its running much faster now. See . Its amazing, molly. Thank you. thank you. Heres the story of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters sumatra reserve. Lets go to sumatra. The coffee here is amazing. Because the volcanic soil is amazing. So we give farmers like win more plants. To grow more delicious coffee. Which helps provide for wins family. All, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. Green mountain Coffee Roasters. Thats why a cutting edgeworld. University counts on centurylink to keep their global campus connected. And why a Pro Football Team chose us to deliver fiberenabled broadband to more than 65,000 fans. And why a leading car brand counts on us to keep their Dealer Network streamlined and nimble. Businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. Its a lot easier to make decisions when you know what comes next. If you move your old 401 k to a fidelity ira, we make sure youre in the loop at every step from the moment you decide to move your money to the instant your new retirement account is funded. Oh and at fidelity, youll see how all your investments are working together. Because when you know where you stand, things are just clearer. Just remember what i said about a little bit o soul welcome back to morning joe. Whoa. Wheres brick . Brick tamelin. This is going to be an ongoing joke. No. Since youre talking about baseball. I want to talk about were going to show you the world series quickly, and champ is going to take us through it. Whammy. Houston astros, if you hadnt heard, are your world series champions. First world series title in the history of the franchise. This was early on in the game in the first inning. Things kind of came undone. Three in the second. They went up 50 on a home run by George Springer, the mvp. Yeah, baby. Hit a home run in four world series games. After the game, got down on a knee on the field and proposed to his girlfriend. What a come on. Oh, my goodness. Sorry. Thats carlos karay. He has a new wife. George springer has the mvp trophy, and the Houston Astros are your champions. You cant really say no. No. These games were so great and close. A couple years ago the astros were so bad you couldnt even watch them play a game. They had that mound in center field. Seriously. It was like why are you guys not in aa . Right . Plat they have come back and houston strong, a great story. The model of a modern baseball team. It used to be youd throw a lot of money at aging veterans and make a world series run. You stock your farm system and let them develop. You develop young, good hitters with good pitching investments and get a good series. What an exciting series. Its tough to think of them its weird. I always think of them as an nl west team. I never really cared for then. They were rivals of the braves way back. But you cant help to love this team. Theyre going to be around for a while. Thats the thing. 22 and 23, some of the draft picks. Theyre all stars now. The tastros have Young Players. The red sox have some great Young Players right now. I think i pushed mika as far as we can. Im good. That was a big game. It was the biggest game. Yeah. Coming up, were going to be talking about the meltdown in the white house. We have three reporters that have talked about it over the past several days. President trump apparently in meltdown mode. Well get to that in a second. First, mika, i think you had an important event where you went out and talked to women . Something about knowing their value . We started the week with a big know your value event. You guys were great at it. But yesterday i went and spoke at the girls lounge at deutsche bank. Its an incredible event. We really went there on women knowing their value and communicating effectively. It was a great group of really smart, really fabulous women. The moderator there was wonderful. I thank you very much for having me. Youve been doing this for a little while now. Right . Have you noticed a change in how the audience reacts to the message over time . Ive noticed every step of the way the lightbulb would go off in the heads of women who dont think they can communicate their value effectively. They think its not in their personality. No one can do it for you. But are people absorbing this more and more . Absolutely. I think its kind of a time its a moment for this message now especially. Given all the conversations were having. And willie and i were down there. We were completely blown away by how great the women were that were there talking about how they needed to know their value. I mean, at one point i looked at you, like we were, and you were stunned n and looking through you, i looked at mika who has tears. That was the know your value bonus competition. Tiffany from stanford connecticut, mika was crying. This never fails to really inspire. Those three women were incredible. So was the entire room of women. I have people come up to me on the street and they say tell mika i went and asked for a raise. I forgot to tell you that, but its true, the message is breaking through. And in the context of everything going on, a woman with a strong voice is more important than ever. He would have told you that a couple of days ago, but he was in the middle of great poker hands. The joining us now, Phillip Rucker and peter baker. Phillip, you started this mess a couple days ago reporting on the president in meltdown mode. Of course, the times also wrote about it. Well talk to peter in a second. Also vanity fair yesterday had reports. A lot of reports confirming the same thing, that this president is in a very bad place. Unfortunately for him, and the country. And also a lot of people in the white house feeling the walls starting to sort of move in on them. Yeah. Joe, i think meltdown mode might be a little strong. But on monday we reported in the mueller russia probe, the president was late getting to work. He was holed up in his residence watching television, concerned about the dooinlts talking to his lawyers. He was frustrated. He was angry with the tone of the media coverage. He felt like he had been connected to past misdeeds that Paul Manafort and rick gates did before they joined the campaign and was upset by that. Thats the state of mind hes been in. We know russia theres an issue that keeps coming back and bothers him. He sees it as an effort to ill legitimize his presidency. Peter baker, first, lets look at the president s logic saying you cant be mad at me, because Paul Manafort committed all of these federal crimes, and was engaged in all of these nefarious activities before i selected him to run my campaign and tamper with the rncs platform in cleveland. It doesnt seem to be a very compelling argument, i cant be blamed for hiring the guy that committed all these crimes before me. Well, look, his point is that these crimes didnt have anything to do with the campaign. Thats true. They are about lobbying. Theyre about Paul Manaforts actions going back a decade in terms of his service for a pro russian krooukrainian political party. The future president of the United States did put in charge of his Party Somebody we see according to this indictment, was a highly paid agent for foreign interests that were pro russian. And now, peter what did Paul Manafort do as Campaign Chairman to help russian policy. We dont know. He did sit in a meeting. There may be another shoe to drop. Mccain said this is a centipede. This cuts another way as well. If mueller is going after the past business dealings that predated the campaign of Paul Manafort, then as vanity fair was told yesterday, obviously every one of Jared Kushners past business dealings and Donald Trumps past business dealings are also now being examined most likely by mueller. Well, that could be. We dont know that Robert Mueller is giving the full forensic treatment to every business deal the president or Jared Kushner ever had. The Paul Manafort issues were under investigation before Robert Mueller came into the scene. He inherited an ongoing investigation. That doesnt necessarily translate to the idea that everything now is up for grabs for the president and Jared Kushner, but that is a concern they might have. You heard the president say this summer, he said there is a line to be drawn as far as he was concerned nature Robert Mueller looking into his familys person finances outside of the context of russia would be a step too far beyond a red line, he said. Now, hes called the rhetoric down on mueller ever since. Hes not been making threats to fire him. Hes been careful at the urging of his lawyer to not directly take on bob mueller. That could change. He has a way of deciding to do Different Things at different points. Can you describe for us and our viewers the circumstances under which the president of the United States called the New York Times to talk to you and maggie to refute the reporting of phil rucker . Well, he didnt say anything bad about phil. He did call. I think hes frustrated with the idea that hes sort of angry and throwing things at a wall. He didnt like the quote in the posts story that hes mad at everybody. He says im not mad at anybody. That may be a little much, but he was in a good mood. I think his point was i can be annoyed but it doesnt consume me. Im able to focus on other things. The economy is going well. Im focussed on my tax plan and the selection of fed chair. He even said im looking forward to the trip to asia. It might be a stretch. I dont think anybody going on the trip is necessarily looking forward to it. Its a 12day grind, but his point was dispelling the white house under siege. I think hes grown frustrated at that idea. Its not helpful to him politically. He talked to my colleague, Maggie Haberman to try to dispel that point of view. What do do we think of this effort, what looks like an effort to discredit papadopoulos . It does seem this may be the more Troubling Development for the president that papadopoulos is cooperating and what weve learn sod far does not look good in that hes saying in that meeting with trump he said do you want to have a meeting with the russians and the president didnt shoot it down. That kind of flies right in the face of the president s Longtime Convention that he knew of no contacts between his campaign and the russians. Yeah. Its obviously a concern, and it was obviously a surprise. In fact, i think there was some relief in some ways in the white house when they first saw manafort and gates indictment. Everybody knew this was coming. Even my 12yearold said it was going to be manafort. Everybody knew it was going to be man fort. Because the charges didnt extend to the campaign, they didnt mention President Trumps name, there was a relief. Papadopoulos was a two by four to the head. Hes been cooperating for months. You look around now. Youre wondering who in the room might not be on your side anymore. Is it possible somebody in the room is even wearing a wire . Those thoughts have gone through the heads of people in mr. Trumps circle. But theyre not wrong he was not a central figure in the campaign, so when they try to say he was a lower level official, theres some truth. The question is whether he kept people higher up in the chain of command in the know and what they did with it and what they did with this legal document is they kind of hinted at that without putting out all the evidence they have. Were waiting for the next shoe to drop and to learn more about who George Papadopoulos engaged with, and what they did inside the campaign once they had the information. Phillip, thank you. Theyre saying papadopoulos wasnt a major player. Lets go back to the Washington Post and say one of your first major Editorial Board meetings was at the Washington Post and there you named him excellent guy a small group of Foreign Policy advisers. Wasnt that in june of 16 . It was pretty far into the campaign. He named George Papadopoulos, i think that was the second name as a Foreign Policy adviser. Papadopoulos was named with a number of other advisers. Lets put it in context for a minute. This was a moment in the campaign where most established seasoned republican Foreign Policy experts had nothing to do with donald trump. They want want to work for this campaign. They shunned his candidacy. Jeff sessions was the top policy figure on the campaign and helped put together this team of advisers, papadopoulos was one of them. Most people in the Foreign Policy community had never heard of him. His kre dcredentials were prett week, but trump boasted about him and said hes an excellent guy and named him as a policy adviser and then had the meeting with him in washington. Its correct he was not a central figure on the campaign. We never really saw him on the campaign trail. He wasnt at rallies the way Steven Miller was. But he was on the campaign. Thank you so much. Washington post Phillip Rucker. We appreciate it. Sam, lets look. They have a pattern. President especially has a pattern. Paul manafort, they say he was just here for a minute or two when donald trump and Jared Kushner and everybody else involved in that campaign told everybody in the media this guy is going to help us get the number that we need to get over the top. Thats all they talked about in the summer of 2016 that they had to get rid of Corey Lewandowski because cory didnt know how to count delegates. They were bringing in the pro. The pro was Paul Manafort, and he was critical to get donald trump over the top. Sure. Now theyre saying nothing to see here. Same thing again with George Papadopoulos. Saying he was a critical part of his Foreign Policy team in 2016 when all of this activity was taking place, by the way. Its not taking place now. Yeah. We need to unpack a few things. One, i was wondering the same thing. We looked at the daily beast, looked into George Papadopoulos to see how critical a role he played in the campaign. I called high school classmates, college classmates, College Professors, campaign pros, people in republican circles, people on the ben carson campaign. The truth of the matter is this. He is almost universally unmemorable. No one knows this guy. He came out of nowhere. His College Professors say he wasnt very bright. How did he get on the campaign . He ends up in d. C. After going to depaul university. Works and is a selfpromoter. Manages to find his way onto ben carsons campaign. Thats how did his campaign pluck this guy out of the air . Sam clove us, iowa guy, politician was asked to put together a list of Foreign Policy officials donald trump could say was advising him because donald trump was getting questions. Sam cloputs together the list. On the list is carter page and George Papadopoulos. Trump sits down, calls papadopoulos a well regarded oil and gas guy. No one is quite sure why. In that moment, he attaches himself to papadopoulos. Is he an oil and gas guy . No one actually knows. Was he vocally pro fracking if he were, you would know. Correct. This is critical. Just because papadopoulos isnt a well known entity doesnt mean test not important. On the trump campaign, it is clear. He was sending emails and saying we have russian officials that want to meet with you. Just because papadopoulos came from nowhere, doesnt mean the emails arent important. Where was john dean . Im sure he has yeah. What im saying is someone you dont know before something blows up doesnt mean they dont become a key player. I think the Bigger Picture is im sure john dean went to oxford and then harvard. He went to the London University school of economics. We couldnt figure out if that was true. The point in the end is trump has this problem which is while he is a nonestablishment candidate and that helps him, it hurs him because he doesnt have people who are good at their jobs surrounding him and he relies on people like papadopoulos. His family works for him. Up next, gabe sherman with his new reporting the president is upset with advise hes received from Jared Kushner. And were going to take a look what . And were going to ask if he i think we should ask every geuest, did you the answer is always yes. Yes. We were there together. Time magazine is taking a look at Robert Muellers most wanted list. First as promised rick. Im sorry, bill. I had, like, a brain malfunct n malfunction. Im sorry. I have them daily. She was trying to figure out what no. No. Bad day for mika. Anyhow, hows the forecast, bill . Its going to be a little crazy. A chance for all time monthly record in dallas. It will cause everyone to turn their air conditioners on. First the northeast. Delays out there. Rainy weather from buffalo to syracuse. It got warm in a hurry. It was chilly yesterday throughout the east. Now were in the 60s. You walk outside this morning, warm front went through. Southerly winds in place. That means the temperatures are going to soar. 92 in dallas in the beginning of november. Why is that significant . Going back almost 120 years its never been in the 90s in dallas in november. Were going to do it today at 92 degrees. Now its 93 for a high. 77 oklahoma city. 70 in st. Louis. 70 in new york city. And the area thats starting to feel and look a lot snowy is the Pacific Northwest in the northern rockies. Perfect from jackson hole through the jorn rockies and the cascades will get a good dose of snow, four to eight inches in the next two days. A big difference with d. C. , new york city, capitol hill, all these areas. Look at this. Gorgeous start of the morning. Temperatures in the 50s. Heading up to 75. Lunch outdoors in november. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night. Hold on dad. Liberty did what . Yeah, Liberty Mutual 24hour roadside assistance helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely. My dad says our insurance doesnt have that. Dont worry i know what a lug wrench is, dad. Is this a lug wrench . Maybe . You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Were on a mission to show drip coffee drinkers, its time to wake up to keurig. Wakey wakey rise and shine oh my gosh how are you . Well watch this. 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Those other cards made you sign up for bonus cash back. Then they change categories on you every few months. Then you had to keep signing up you. Deserve. Better. Now get out there and keep earning that 1. 5 cash back on every purchase everywhere. Thanks, doc. Im not a doctor. What . [whispers] time to go. Whats in your wallet . Swho live within five miles of custyour business . 54, like these two. And that guy. Or maybe you want to reach women, ages 18 to 34, who are interested in fitness. Namaste. Whichever audience youre looking for, well find them were the finders. We work here at comcast spotlight, and we have the best tools for getting your advertising message out there. Anywhere, any way your audience watches. Consider them found. Joining us now, vanity fair special correspondent gabe sherman. His latest piece is entitled you cant go any lower. I would also think people around him are worried for themselves at this point. Also with us Washington Bureau chief for time magazine. This weeks time cover is trumps growing mueller problem. Were going to blow through brakes here. We have too much to talk through. Have either you in the past gone to the London School of economics . Neither. None of purely d. C. Based. D. C. Based. Okay. The only two people not claiming that in your resume. I want to ask you something because its morning joe and weve gone wildly off topic. Im going to ask you something ant air weve been trying to figure out off the air. Weve heard Rupert Murdoch is very concerned about being able to get a contract in europe. Yeah. Sky. European paid tv service. Forgive me with that fact. What weve been surprised about is that Rupert Murdoch and his sons have watched this shift at fox news, especially over the past month or so that has moved well beyond what could be called factbased. Im a conservative. Ive watched it for years. But what do the murdochs think when theyre saying, lets say sean hannity or other people . Are they not concerned anymore that this is going to impact sky . And the wall street journal last week called for the firing of mueller. The wall street journal has been great on the op ed page up until the last week or two. Do you have any reporting on whats going on inside news corp. Right now . Heres what i know, and people inside the people are saying. We know theres an open federal investigation. Fox news, looking at the way they perhaps use Company Money to cover up roger ailes Sexual Harassment settlements. Thats a major problem. We know regulators in the uk have cited the Sexual Harassment scandal at fox news as a possible reason not approve a deal for murdochs to buy sky. What people are wondering is why is murdoch perhaps, is he cozying up to trump with this over the top coverage supporting the white house going way out into the conspiracy swamps . Perhaps because he hopes that the Trump White House will shut down the federal investigation. Make it easier on the investigation . Exactly. And heres where it gets interesting. It doesnt make sense, especially heres what we know off the record from talking to people close to murdochs. Personally they are not fans of donald trump. I mean, a Dinner Party Guest was at dinner with Rupert Murdoch and jerry hall and said they trashed trump. I have heard from source after source that Rupert Murdoch privately does not have anything good to say about donald trump. Without question. This to me as a reporter seems like a purely business decision. Lets get behind the white house because they can do something for us. Lets talk about i think a couple of things that were the most shocking to me from your vanity fair piece from yesterday was, one, a former trump aide actually talking about how theyre done. Yeah. And everybody he talks to says the walls are closing in. The second thing was steve bannon sort of doing a survey in his mind of whether donald trump would survive a 25th amendment challenge and coming to the conclusion he wouldnt. People close to the white house are much more concerned about the scope of the Mueller Investigation than donald trump seems to be and should be. And i think what this piece does is really say to people, listen, this is not going away. Yes, Paul Manafort had nothing to do, perhaps, with the campaign, these charges. But the fact that mueller is looking that far back is a sign that he is going to cast a wide net. I think what steve bannon has been telling people is donald trump needs to take this seriously because if he doesnt, its not the democrats who will impeach him. Its the Establishment Republicans who are looking for a chance to break with donald trump and right now Donald Trumps hold on power is probably a lot more precarious than donald trump imagines it is. And given the events of this week, the president and the white house have reason to be concerned. The headline is muellers most wanted on time. Theres an empty slot suggesting there could be another big fish to land in the investigation. Where do you suspect this is headed next . Well, i think whats fascinating about this week is that amid all of the sort of typical drama of the Trump Administration and as were discussing here, talk of impeachment. Talk of mueller being forced to resign, one drama after another, you have mueller enter the scene and drop a very solid factbased piece of investigative work on the table. Trump has been a master at the diversionary presidency. People around him have learned to play that game. A fact here, a leak, an innuendo there, stir up drama, and into the middle of this walks a prosecuterer, seasoned, focussed with an enormous team of lawyers behind him and puts facts on the table. And in that sense, whats changed this week is the Legal Process has sort of stepped on stage, and thats something that all the diversionary tactics by trump or those around him really cant change. Thats whats sort of changed the dynamic this week. Gabe, what are you hearing about the relationship with Jared Kushner . Theres rumors of a breakdown between him and the president , and yet, you just cant help but wonder if steve bannon has his fingers on this. What im reporting is donald trump is frustrated. Phil said adds well, hes looking for ways to turn how to get out of the mess. Hes frustrated with his legal team that they let the Mueller Probe get this far. And one of the other people donald trump is frustrated with is Jared Kushner because hes the last remaining member of the original Administration Team that came into office with him and has been at Donald Trumps side at all of the key junctures that led to the appointment of the special counsel. Have you heard hes trying to push them out . Ive heard people close to the family say that trump doesnt understand why theyre in d. C. Because theyre getting so Much Negative press that the cost to them personally far outweighs the benefits they may serve to his administration. Ive heard that as well. Papadopoulos seeps to be key and people like him. Thats the question. Are there other people like him . Do we have any indication there are lower level aids being used to get information and collect electronic communications. Really getting at the central question here which is what the president and his senior staff knew about the extent of the coordination or communication with the russians. That is the key question. I think the papadopoulos quality plea triggered the for a know wa we saw. You could put manafort and gates in the box. The idea that people have flipped in cooperating is triggered a level of alarm. The fact that trump called the New York Times yesterday. I think you dont call up the New York Times and say im not mad if youre not mad. I mean, clearly this was a sign that his level of agitation at events he cannot control. Thats a really good point. The cover, the image of the cover im struck by. If only because the universe that surrounds trump is already small. Deliberately so. He trusts very few people and brought in very few people because they didnt want to work with them or they didnt want him. As the Mueller Investigation expands, the universe gets smaller and smaller. What are the Practical Impacts inside the administration for a president who already doesnt trust many people now having fewer people to even turn to . I think the willingness of mueller to put into the documents that he put in front of the court that he knew then could become public, a description of the cooperation that his office endpajgaged in papadopoulos indicating that papadopoulos had been cooperating with the special counsel, suggesting with the language that he was a pro active cooperator and might have been wearing a wire. It was intentional, i think, designed to create a sense of paranoia. I would not be surprised if mueller had other previously unknown or unattended to folks that he was working with. I think the larger, the larger move by mueller here is to create that sense of the walls closing in. Thank you very much. Thank you. The detail in your piece that jumps out is about how people inside the west wing are concerned. Talking about gary cohn and dana powell. Describe how it plays out . Yeah. People, my sources were saying that grow are not tied to this investigation, the word they use is you dont want to be read in. You dont want to be part of a meet where its discussed because suddenly if mueller wants to talk to you, he can. People are making sure and dena and gary are examples of that, not to be around when the topic and the strategy meetings of russia come up. So they just get up . Yeah. If its a russia meet, they make sure theyre not going to be there. What if it comes up in the middle of a conversation . They folk a phone call. You do what you need to do. Start coughing. A bathroom break. Yeah. Gabe sherman, thank you. Coming up early on, mika, when bob mueller started this investigation, we had people that worked in the Bush Administration who said to us, it changes everything, because you look at everybody you work with inside the white house, and you wonder are they talking to prosecuters . Are they wearing a wear . Can you imagine the scenario in there right now . Everything tightens up. I think it explains what were seeing from the president himself over the past 24 hours. To me, it all matches. A closing in, a meltdown of some sort. And also weve heard, quickly desperate deflections. Weve heard that obviously jared, at the center of everything. You heard jared might be an ultimate target. Youve heard all these other things. That obviously is another reason why donald trump would want jared out of the white house. Right . Without question. And people close to trump and as you well know, when it comes down to it, donald trump will put donald trump before anybody else. So that, where i see the story coming to a head is he may have to face a choice between his daughter and his soninlaw and himself. And that is a question i think i think thats a choice that for donald trump, thats no choice. But its going to be ugly is what im trying to say. Yes, it is. All right. Did you ever see anchorman . I did. Coming up on morning joe if its called the cut cut bill, great. I think biggest priority he has is making sure it does what hes laid out are his priorities. He wants to call it the cut cut cut bill. Hours from now House Republicans are expected to unveil their new tax bill, the cut cut cut bill, but there are some major Unanswered Questions like whether it will be called the cut cut cut act. Well go live to the white house for the latest next on morning joe. Paying less for my medicare . Im open to that. Lower premiums . Extra benefits . Its open enrollment. Time to open the laptop. And compare Medicare Health plans. Why . Because plans change, so can your health needs. So, be openminded. Look at everythinglike Prescription Drug plans. And Medicare Advantage plans from private insurers. Use the tools at medicare. Gov. Or call 1800medicare. Open to Something Better . Start today. To find smarter solutions. To offer more precise and less invasive Treatment Options than before. Like advanced Genomic Testing and immunotherapy. See how were fighting to outsmart cancer at cancercenter. Com outsmart thats why a cutting edgeworld. University counts on centurylink to keep their global campus connected. And why a Pro Football Team chose us to deliver fiberenabled broadband to more than 65,000 fans. And why a leading car brand counts on us to keep their Dealer Network streamlined and nimble. Businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. Welcome back to moing. Years old i was holding this exact green marker . Green marker. And i said to myself we need to invest in a special foreign correspondence desk, a trump tweet desk. We did that. Lets go live to the London School of economics where willie geist has a report on the latest trump tweets. I they it was crazy when you proposed that. Midnight last night from the president last night, quote, happy birthday to gary player a great champion. His a great champion and great person. Im sure gary why are you looking to your right . Thats right. Lets go back to the London School of economics. Joining us now, christkriste welk welker. Set to unveil a tax plan this morning. Are you hearing about the potential for success . I dont have any new tweets, but i have details about the tax plan. Republicans are unveiling this after a series of fits and starts which underscores how difficult the process is going to be. Here are the top lines based on our understanding and reporting, its going to increase the individual deduction to 12,000 for families that will be 24,000. Its also going to decrease the number of tax brackets from seven to four. Its going to scrap state and local Tax Deductions. Thats controversial. Heres where its really difficult. Its going to decrease the Corporate Tax rate from 35 to 20 . We heard that, but now thats a temporary cut. That goes against what President Trump wants but lawmakers on capitol hill think its necessary in order to get this piece of legislation through the Senate Without democratic support. Now, of course, President Trump is about to leave for his big trip to asia on friday, so hes going to leave this push in the hands of his top economic adviser and his treasury secretary. Take a listen to what he had to say about it yesterday. Secretary mnuchin and gary cohn will stay back from the trip to make sure the tax cuts pass. If i have any problems, i will be blaming mnuchin and cohen. Believe me. Reporter and another money related headline. A white house official confirms that President Trump is expected to announce Jerome Powell as the next fed chair. Hes the current fed governor. Hes going to be replacing janet yellen. So far the move seems to be seen as one that will be stabilizing, because powells views are in line with janet yellens. Back to you guys. A lot of nervous laughter when trump made that comment. Kristen welker at the white house. Up next, a lead line in usa todays reporting reads quote, massive damage to puerto ricos water system from Hurricane Maria poses a looming Health Crisis for residents exposed to contaminated water. Well talk to the governor of puerto rico next on morning joe. Ats why theres ocuvite. It helps replenish nutrients your eyes can lose as you age. Nourish your eyes to help keep them healthy. Ocuvite. Be good to your eyes. We all want restful sleep. Thats why natures bounty melatonin is made to help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. So youll be ready for whatever tomorrow brings. Because moms love is unconditional. Even at 6am. Natures bounty melatonin. Were all better off healthy. Joining us now the governor of puerto rico and stephanie raul as well. Good to have you all with us. Basic status of puerto rico as it stands now. Water and power, where are we . Water, were at about good morning, first of all. Water is at about 75 of the people of puerto rico having water. Were at about now, thats drinkable water . Yes. Thats drinkable water. Of course were asking citizens to be cautious and to use other precautionary measures as well. The numbers youre about to give us, are those numbers that will continue to increase . It should. Is there any reason the systems would break down and would revert back to lower numbers or do you think 75 is youre on the way to 100 . There is a reason that this could happen, and its the energy its the energy grid. Thats one of the most critical components over here. Right now as were passing through the life sustainment phase, what we really want to focus on is getting our energy grid back up. Why . Because hospitals depend on it. Water and sewers depend on it. Telecom depends on it. How many people are power right now . Right now its at about 35 to 37 . Our milestone was finishing last month to have 30 . We are increasing the rampup right now to have about 50 by the middle of the month and then 80 . There were reports earlier this week that bodies were being cremated in a way that would prevent you and everybody else to get an accurate reading as to how many people actually died due to the storm. That report, really, you have to consider puerto rico, 27,000 people die a year. That approximately after the storm that would average out about 2,500 that would have died of Natural Causes or other elements. We have had a very rigorous system of identifying how people have died and if its directly or indirected related to the storm. Were not only stating in the death toll the people that died because of mudslides and so forth, but also, for example, suicides that family members attributed to the storm. Theyre also counted there now. Trying to connect people that died just of Natural Causes, just of the natural set of occurrences and the average in puerto rico to that storm is really not appropriate. Stephanie. Back to the electric grid, one of the reasons its delayed is the white house fish contract. Its been canceled. You called for it to be canceled. The fbi is looking into the contract. At the time right after the storm you could have put in place the mutual utility protocol and that would have brought in Florida Power light, pseg, big agencies that we know well that are trusted. At the time you said you didnt because there wasnt the money and there was no way to communicate. We also know that prepa had 500 million in free cash so they did have the money. The contract youve signed with white fish, what we learned is it was negotiated over the phone. It would have been possible to use Florida Power and line, pse g. Why would you have gone with white fish to begin with . Let me correct the premise. We didnt go with white fish from the beginning. White fish as well as six other companies in between irma remember we had irma and we had maria. In between that storm there was an rfi, request for information. Six companies answered and that process was on going. Really after the storm and what has delayed this process is the involvement of the corps of engineers. September 30th i signed an agreement, thats more than a month ago, with the corps of engineers under the direct statement that they would start immediately and that they would lift the energy grid in 45 days. The advantage of doing that over doing other processes is fema would deputized the corps of engineers and we wouldnt have to pay anything directly, it would all flow through fema. So under that direction we went with the corps of engineers. The reality is, 35 days later, the corps of engineers hasnt started to work. Your Campaign Manager, Elliot Sanchez has no ties to white fish. Now your creditors are saying hes a lobbyist for them. He has no ties to that effort. I personally have no ties. I had nothing to do with this contract. This is a very clear effort and i want to state this. As soon as the allegations came about with white fish, i did two things. Number one, i invoked two investigations. Those investigations are on going. And secondly, even if we didnt have the information on the best interest of the people of puerto rico, i decided to cancel that contract. The investigations are still on going. All that information will flow, stephanie. Right now whats important is that contract is canceled, and i want to state that it is not because of the cancellation of the contract that things are slowed down. Actually, it was because of the lack of work that the corps of engineers has done. Right now what we have done is we started working with the governor of new york, the governor of florida, the mutual aid projects. Some of the subcontractors that white fish had were actually from florida, from new york. So they will stay over there. Well ramp it up and get our energy back up well get to heidi who has a question. And i want to confirm it. Neither you or your Campaign Manager had any thais or have any ties to this Energy Company . I had zero ties to this company. What about your campaign as well. Weve seen a migration from puerto rico to florida, and im just wondering what those numbers look like today . Have we seen that level off . Do you have any idea how serious it is, as a percentage of population, is it a drop in the bucke bucket. It is serious. We have over 86,000 people that have gone to florida right now. We dont have the numbers in new york. They will be high numbers as well. This is one of the critical components. We need to Start Talking about how were going to rebuild puerto rico, how well get the tools to do so. There are several components. Were talking with the white house to see how we can look for novel ways to use the fema funds, and were also working with congress. This supplemental is important, that we get equal treatment as florida, as texas, as california. Are you getting equal treatment from the administration . So far, but this is just the beginning. It doesnt look like it from where were sitting. It looks like texas is Getting Better treatment and florida is Getting Better treatment than puerto rico. There are certain areas, and i pointed out. The corps of engineers its unacceptable what happened. In terms of permanent work, we still havent gotten permanent work accepted. Florida and texas got it within the first ten days. We have to recognize dod, fema and others have worked diligently in puerto rico. The argument from the federal government is their response has been adequate, they had people in place, shipped everything that had to be shipped. And it sat in containers in puerto rico. Is that still happening or is that trucks waiting to be driven because thad dont have drivers or access to roads . Was the federal government right in saying that . In the beginning it was, in the first four or five days. We had a logistical problem. Afterwards, all the food was being distributed and all the water. That part, that life sustainment part, were overcoming it. Of course this has been a major catastrophe and everybody has to understand we had lewis and dr. Dave campbell went to haiti. Their biggest problem in getting medical supplies and held to the other parts of the island, there just were no roads. Are you facing that problem still down there . There are we still have about 42 roads closed. We have about 97 bridges that have partially or completely collapsed. The reality is now we can get everywhere. The first two weeks in puerto rico, we had to airlift food to different areas. So its Getting Better. Again, the department of defense has been very helpful with that. But there is a long game here. This is just only starting. What were asking is equal treatment as u. S. Citizens. We are u. S. Citizens, proud u. S. Citizens. Now when the supplemental comes, talking about the novel instruments to rebuild puerto rico, we need to have that flexibility so we cannot only put puerto rico back as it was, but actually rebuild it better. Equal treatment as u. S. Citizens. Governor ricardo rossello, thank you very much. Stim ahead, congressman peter king and member of the house Homeland Security committee joins us in the wake of this weeks terror attack. Plus senator dick durbin joins the conversation. Morning joe will be right back. Lets go mom slow down for the ones who keep pushing. Always unstoppable. Accused of obstructing justice to theat the fbinuclear war, and of violating the constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down news organizations that report the truth. If that isnt a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president , then what has our government become . Im tom steyer, and like you, im a citizen who knows its up to us to do something. Its why im funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. A Republican Congress once impeached a president for far less. Yet today people in congress and his own administration know that this president is a clear and present danger whos mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. And they do nothing. Join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing whats political and start doing whats right. Our country depends on it. By the way, are you going to get the votes . He better get them. He better get them. Otherwise ill say, tom, youre fired secretary mnuchin and gary cohn will be standing back from the trip to asia to remain vigilant in making sure the tax cuts pass, so if i have any problems, i will be blaming much anyone and kohn. We all know how that worked out for tom price and the repeal of obamacare. House republicans are set to unveil their tax plan in just a few short hours from now. Meanwhile President Trump is lashing out at democrats and the american legal system of a terror attack on his watch. Well be talking about all of that and much, much more. Lets talk about last night, willie. One of the best world series in recent memory, excluding last years world series. Lets put it this way, the last two years have been two of the best world series in recent history. The difference is last year you had a great game seven. Last night the astros jumped out in the second into a 50 lead. 51 was the final. The astros win the first world series in the history of their franchise. They were born in 1962 as the houston colt 45s, been to the world series once before. That man right there, George Springer crossing the plate right there, most valuable player, another home run. Homered in four consecutive games. Here is the one from last night on yu darvish who got touched up early. Five runs, 51 was the final. This team, joe, was 2011, 2012, 2013, each sew son loason lost n 100 zblaems they were the worst team in baseball. I remember watching saying they should be playing aaa baseball. They were horrific. Theres a 2014 Sports Illustrated cover that shows George Springer on the cover. It says 2017 world series champs. What did Sports Illustrated know . Houston had an incredible farm system. Three years later, predicted the worse title that happened last night. Ill tell you why. Sam, what a way to end for the city of houston, a city absolutely slammed, and they had that houston strong own. Did that remind you of anything . 2013. Definitely, boston. The red sox going through adversity, ending up with a world series nobody expected. Thats why i was so happy they beat the yankees. They deserved it. Ive got to bring it back. It was an amazing world series. Everything prior to then was fantastic. George springer, the pride of connecticut. Thats right. Mika, you look at houston. Here is a team down 32 against the yankees. It was all over, they blew through that and then came back and beat the dodgers. Exciting for a lot of reasons. This was a big game. With us, we have politics editor for the daily beast sam stein and White House Reporter for usa today heidi przybilla. President trump is calling for the execution of the suspect who Authorities Say carried out the truck attack that killed eight people and injured almost a dozen more. Tweeting shortly before midnight, nyc terrorist was happy as he asked to hang isis flag in his hospital room. He killed eight people, badly injured 12. Should get Death Penalty. I just want to stop right here for a second because this is so important. Again, we always talk about norms and norms being violated. Several days ago when we were talking about Paul Manafort and gates and the gentleman who was actually charged. Papadopoulos. Yeah. Willie, what did we say self times . Its important to remember that in america even though this is obvious, seems obvious to a lot of people, in america we believe people are innocent until proven guilty. Obviously all the evidence points to this man. But for the president of the United States, the person who is supposed to be the chief law enforcer in the United States of america saying 24 hours after an act that he should get the Death Penalty, that is what happens in autocratic regimes. That does not happen here. Every president ive ever known, every governor everything weve always heard is, let the Justice System play itself out and take its course. Here you have the president 24 hours later calling for the death of somebody. Even before we get a jury impanelled, even before anything happens, calling for his execution. This guy is not going to get any sympathy from anybody here. Of course not. Youre right. The president of the United States has an obligation to come out and say well let the system play out. This is a different president. I dont think we should have expected him to say what you just laid out. He goes, as we were discussing, for the most visceral thing you can pick up. Go for the Death Penalty, send him to guantanamo. I wouldnt be surprised if the world torture would come up. These are the things he talked about on the campaign trail and now talking again as president. He knows it appeals to the gut instinct of a lot of people in this country. What is important, heidi, if the president is shattering all norms, its important that everybody else steps back and says yes, this guy gets no sympathy, yes, it certainly does appear he committed these heinous acts and killed these people and in any other country not any other country, but in a lot of other countries you would have people saying hang him, hang him, hang him. But we are not any other country. For 230 years everybody has hat constitutional protections. We live by those norms. If the president doesnt live by those norms, damn it, you know what . Americans need to be reminded every day that for 230 years we have. Joe, its the kind of exchange that you and i might have on an emotional level in the aftermath of Something Like this, if were at the bar talking to each other, but not something that you say as a matter of policy, president of the United States. We have something in this country called due process. This is someone who was here legally, and whether you want to have a debate about whether his miranda rights could be suspended which, by the way, did happen after the underwear bomber, if you want to get tough, fine. But to say he should be executed and to immediately go to defcon one is not something weve seen. Tweeting just before midnight is showing some sort of psychological profile of someone up all night freaking out. While it may be satisfying, its making the job harder for the government officials who have to prosecute this case. Trump has possibly tainted a jury pool. The defense can say hes not going to get a fair shake. He complicates the case youre going to make against this guy. The famous incident is Richard Nixon and charles manson. Where nixon called for the Death Penalty and had to walk it back. Obama had to walk around this stuff with Khalid Sheikh mohammed, too. Obviously we want to protect the judicial process, but president s realize they want to make it easier for the prosecution, too. Hes made it harder, mika. You have another example of this, not to go too fine into this point because we have so much to talk about. But the president s own immigration plans. Time and time again in his own words were used against him for courts to undermine his attempts at what he called extreme vetting. I think were witnessing just a little bit of a breakdown. New york times is reporting, what vanity fair is reporting, what Washington Post is reporting. Theyre suggesting, willie, the president is in full meltdown mode right now based on three articles that im sure we all reid yesterday. He actually called the New York Times to refute that saying no, im not melting down. Everything is fine. Im not upset. Back to your original argument, donald trump and many people will watch what we just said for the last five minutes and say thats an academic exercise. There are people in new york city that will say, youre damn right that guy should get the Death Penalty. Hes already talked about having done it. Youre damn right. Donald trump is speaking to the gut of the country where the argument goes to the brain and the norms of the country. I think, mika, most of us might agree with that off camera. Most of us might even say that on camera. But if youre the president of the United States you have to be held to a higher standard because we have a constitution in this country. Im a guy that has been hammered for years by you, by a lot of people online because i actually believe that terrorists and suspected terrorists should be treated tougher. Right. People have suggested i think they should be tortured. I dont think they should be tortured, but i think they should be treated a lot tougher. Thats why im saying what im saying right now. Even with my position being far to the right of your position, what donald trump did yesterday violates constitutional norms. He has helped this suspected terrorist, and any defense lawyer worth their weight in salt is going to be able to make a very compelling case against the president to a judge that he cant get a fair trial now. He can also argue like many times before, the president has a lot going on, and its closing in on him and hes freaking out and his family is even in peril of some of the stupid things theyve done over the past nine, ten, 11, 12 months. This was another great deflection that people talk about and churn over for hours instead of looking at the matter at hand. He actually doesnt know what hes doing. The president yesterday said hes open to sending the suspect to Guantanamo Bay and took aim at the legal system. We need quick justice and we need strong justice, much quicker and much stronger than we have right now. Because what we have right now is a joke, and its a laughing stock. A little context on the speed of our current legal system. A new jersey man was convicted last month of planting two Pressure Cooker bombs on the new york city in new york city in the summer of 2016, just over one year elapsed between the attack and the guilty verdict. Thats swift justice. Five men accused of conspireing in the 9 11 trial attacks 16 years ago are still awaiting trial in Guantanamo Bay. Theres a little ignorance at hand or a great deflection. That is not swift justice. If you want to have justice delayed, send them to gitmo. If you want fast justice i dont want to go into it too much, for the president of the United States to say that the United States legal system is a joke and a laughing stock around the world actually is one of the most ignorant things the president has said. Our Justice System for 230 years, since 1787, it has been the envy of the world and it is what separates us from most other countries on this planet. It is what guarantees that we have checks on tyrants and on tyranny and that for him to say that is just dumb founding. Still ahead on morning joe, President Trump calls up the New York Times to refute reporting in the Washington Post. Plus the latest on Jared Kushners future as political adviser next on morning joe. Whats the value of capital . Whats Critical Thinking like . A basketball costs 14. Whats team spirit worth . cheers whats it worth to talk to your mom . Whats the value of a walk in the woods . The value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. Morgan stanley heres the story of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters sumatra reserve. Lets go to sumatra. The coffee here is amazing. Because the volcanic soil is amazing. So we give farmers like win more plants. To grow more delicious coffee. Which helps provide for wins family. All, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. Green mountain Coffee Roasters. [burke] abstract accident. Seen videoit. Covered it. C we know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum dad molly, can you please take out the trash . sigh dad molly trash whoo mom hey, molly . Its time to go bell ringing class, lets turn to page 136, recessive traits skip generations. Who would like to read . molly i reprogrammed the robots to do the inspection. Its running much faster now. See . Its amazing, molly. Thank you. welcome back to morning joe. President trump placed a call to the New York Times yesterday afternoon to refute some recent coverage of his administration to was not in the New York Times. After two aides were indicted and a former policy adviser pled guilty, the president also wanted to assert, quote, im not under investigation as you know. But that is not what his chief of staff john kelly said on monday. Were of great hopes that it wraps up. It is very distracting to the president as it would be to any citizen to be investigated for something trump also said of the indictment of his former campaign chief Paul Manafort. Quote, and if you look at that theres not even a mention of trum in there. It has nothing to do with us. The president has a bone to pick with the Washington Post for a story about his reactions on monday entitled, upstairs at home with the tv on trump fumes over russia indictments. The president told the times im actually not angry at anybody. Meanwhile new reporting in vanity fair says the president is upset with the advice he received from soninlaw and unpaid advisor Jared Kushner who reportedly he caused bad blood. Speaking to steve bannon on tuesday, a source briefed on the call said trump blamed kushner for his role and decision, specifically the first of mike flynn and james comey that led to bob muellers appointment. When roger stone recently told trump that kushner was giving him bad political advice, trump agreed according to a source familiar with the conversation. Although i smell another dirty layer of this which would be steve bannon trying to push out Jared Kushner. Who knows . Its just a mess. In the vanity fair piece saying Jared Kushner was the worst political adviser in modern American History. And weve had reports from several sources and other journalists that donald trump has been trying daily to push Jared Kushner and ivanka out of the white house and get them back to new york. To save them. Which i do think aligns with the news reports that hes back in regular contact with bannon. Because if you remember when that trump tower meeting was reported, we never got to the bottom of how that was leaked out and the fact that kushner was had played a role in setting it up as well. So bannon was suspected to have been behind that and bannon is suspected to be behind whats going on now with this offensive against kushner. Its so comical now to hear people say Jared Kushner is a terrible political adviser. Do you know why . Because he ran a newspaper and made buildings in new york city. Hes not a political advisor. Thats not a knock on him. Im sure he was fine at running a newspaper. Weve all been saying that. Everybody has been saying that for six months. Oh, my god. What do you expect these people to do . They have no background at all in politics. Theyre not going to work magic. The Foreign Policy team, some of the lower levels, y u ear like George Papadopoulos, came from nowhere. I talked to his professor at depaul who said he was absolutely shocked when he found out he was a Foreign Policy adviser to the president. He said he was a terrible student. Thats what one of Jared Kushners professors said, he was an okay guy, but shouldnt be in charge of Foreign Policy. I dont think staffing is the main issue with the presidency, but its an issue. Its a huge issue. It was weird when donald trump kept giving jared an ever larger portfolio, the opioid crisis. In the end what would have been a wiser thing for trump to have done is tell Jared Kushner go run a staffing process for me, find really smart people, bring them into this government and help me out. He just didnt do that at the beginning. It could be the original sin. That would have worked except for the fact that both Jared Kushner and donald trump believed that the fewer people they hired, the better. They didnt trust anybody in state, they didnt trust anybody anywhere. Thats why we have a government run by very inexperienced hands. Coming up on morning joe, the Senate Democratic w. H. I. P. Dick durbin joins the conversation. The cover of the times magazine says the senate party in search of its fact. The becomes lo straight aheadn morning joe. If you move your old 401 k to a fidelity ira, we make sure youre in the loop at every step from the moment you decide to move your money to the instant your new retirement account is funded. Because when you know where you stand, things are just clearer. A little bit o soul, yeah thats why feeling safe where you stand, is priceless. With adt, you can feel safe with an adt starter kit professionally installed for only 49. 00. Call today, and install an adt starter kit that includes security panel, keypad, key fob, entry and motion sensors and for a limited time, get a camera included and installed at no additional cost. Thats a 449. 00 value, installed, for just 49. 00. Bp uses flir cameras a new thermal imagining technology to inspect difficulttoreach pipelines, so we can detect leaks before humans can see them. Because safety is never being satisfied. And always working to be better. Welcome back to morning joe, beautiful live picture of the white house. Back here in new york the president out with his first tweets of the morning and writes this, would love to send the nyc terrorist to guantanamo. Statistically that process takes much longer than going through the federal system. He goes on, there is also something appropriate about keeping him in the horrible crime he committed. Should go fast. Death penalty. Hes backed off the claim yesterday that he said send him to gitmo, yes, i would consider that. Perhaps, i dont know, he was watching tv this morning and heard that wasnt such an expeditious way to achieve justice. There we are, willie geist once again at the London School of Commission Tweet desk. Are we going to get sued by them . Maybe theyll give us a degree. Giving everybody else a degree. Did mick jagger get an honorary doctorate . He was there for a time. Right before satisfaction. And keith richards. Joining us, chairman of the Sub Committee on counterterrorism and intelligence, Republican Congressman peter king, also a member of the Permanent Select Committee on intelligence. Condolences to you. Good idea to send this suspect to guantanamo or have him appear in a federal court in new york . Probably in this case better in federal court. Im not one of those people that is opposed to guantanamo. There could be certain instances where it serves a urp p. In this case i think the Federal District court is the right way to go. The fbi is making considerable progress in their investigation. I think you may see Joe Scarborough here. Are you concerned at all with the president calling for the Death Penalty 24 hours later . Again, im just talking mainly for due process concerns and also not wanting to give his defense team any advantages in court that they wouldnt have. This is one of the situations where we have a president who is a nonpolitician and a nonlawyer and speaking from the gut. I think most americans right now would say, yes, give him the electric chair, give him the gas chamber, give him the needle. The fact is, i agree with you, joe, as a lawyer the president has to be careful in what he says. I remember years ago dating myself now during the manson case when president nixon made a statement about him being a murderer and the trial wasnt over yet. President s have to be careful in what they say about someone about to be charged, is being charged or is about to go to trial. Congressman, its heidi przybil przybilla. Were reminded in horrible moments like this of the fact that in our own budget we have cuts to counterterrorism programs to some items which you would think would be essential, like patrolling airports. Can you please weigh in on how we can justify putting cuts like that into our budget at a time like this when we see things like this happening inside our own country . Ive fought Homeland Security cuts, whether under the Bush Administration, the obama administration, and now the Trump Administration. Virtually all of those cuts have been restored in the budget that passed the houses. I know some individual segments within that i believe the budget was increased over the last year for Homeland Security. To me we can never spend enough money on Homeland Security. Somehow bureaucrats dont realize how intense this is, every day of the year there are threats or potential threats being monitored, both from overseas and within the country. The fbi director said theres over a thousand on going investigations right now in the u. S. If only one of those investigations goes the wrong way, we can have 20, 30, 50, 10 people killed. Congressman, stan stein here. Yesterday the president tweeted about diversity visa Immigration Program that he suggested was responsible for letting this guy in and for the attack. He also said it was a Chuck Schumer beauty. Im wondering what you make of both the future of that program, what congress can do and should do about it, and secondly about the attack against fellow member of the new york delegation, Chuck Schumer. Let me start with the last one first. I obviously have political differences with Chuck Schumer but we work closely together. The issue of terrorism, Chuck Schumer has been very strong. Ill say that up front. I do believe we need stronger veting. However, the lottery visas have nothing to do with vetting. Anyone coming in under a lottery visa is vetted the same as anyone else. This was actually put in in 1990 going back to 1965 when ted kennedy led a reform of the it grags law. To help the irish. Most of western europe was closed down because they wanted to open up to south asia. It was a great benefit to our country. Then we realized people from western europe, among others, in effect were not allowed to come to the country. This is one of the only ways people from western europe i think last year over 20,000 of the visas given out under this went to people from europe. Also, after the fall of the berlin wall and the fall of the soviet union, many people from Eastern Europe are using the lottery to come in. Listen, i agree with the president to the extent i think we need more vetting. I think weve been not as strict as we should be with the vetting. On the other hand, the lottery visa has nothing to do with it. So lets move from the terrible attacks here and immigration to tax reform. Thats obviously going to be a challenge for republicans in the house and the senate, to pass a bill, especially where theyre pushing it on you guys at the last minute, having you try to digest it and pass it in pretty quick time for something this significant. What are your initial thoughts about the tax reform plan that youve heard about, and is it something that you ultimately would support . Joe, right now i have one very real problem with it. Thats on the issue of state and local tax deduction. In my district 48 of the people take advantage, if you want to call that, of the property Tax Exemption can i stop you there for a second. I live in connecticut and certainly understand that. Can you talk about the Small Business owners, the plumbers, the electricians, the people the mom and pop operations. Can you talk about just how impacted they would be in new york, california, illinois, by these cuts . Theyve been hit very badly. If you itemize at all, this is a devastating impact. People in my district, its not unusual to have a property tax and combined income tax bill of over 25,000, 25,000 to 30,000 which is a deduction. That does not make you rich. Average property tax bill in my district in a 6500 home is well over 15,000 a year in many cases. Income tax similar to that. This to me has a Significant Impact on us in new york and connecticut and also affects, youre right, the small mom and pop Small Business operators. What bothers me a bit about this, somehow this is a special benefit were getting in new york or new jersey. The sfakt is new york is a donor state. We get 79 cents back on every dollar sent to washington. New jersey is even less than that. As republicans, were supposed to be against taxing. This is a tax on a tax. Also, were supposed to believe in tradition. Since 1913 property local property taxes, state income taxes have been deducted. Theyre not being taxed at the federal level. This is a dramatic change. Also, joe, the last time this was done was 30 years ago. Whatever we do is going to really impact generations to come. And yet when it was done 30 years ago, about two years of debate before the bill was finally voted on. Now were going to be voting on this in two weeks. No one has seen it yet. Well be voting on it in two weeks. This can have either catastrophic consequences for my district. Who knows, maybe it could help my district, i dont know. I dont know how you can digest a bill of a thousand pages with all the loopholes that could be in there, all the exceptions that could be in there and all the unforeseen consequences that can be in there. Pete, they did that to you guys in the house and in the senate on Health Care Reform. I remember back when newt tried to do this, we would all go crazy. Theyd put together this omnibus package, have 12 hours to read it and say vote for it. I remember people like you and me would say, youve got to give us time to actually see whats in the bill before we vote on it. That has become the norm over the past nine, ten months, hasnt it . It has. And with the omnibus, i agree with you, thats a bad procedure to follow. Usually the only bad impact is for one year. If theres something in there bad, it has a oneyear impact. This is something that could affect us for the next 20 to 30 years. Its all the more reason why i think we should again, i think paul ryan, kevin brady, they certainly are well intentioned. Im not questioning them at all. Weve been able to talk to them. On the other hand, this to me is being rushed through and could have a real impact on my district the people it affects in my district are the trump district. My District Voted twice for barack obama. They voted for donald trump by nine points, a 14point turnaround, 34 republican district. The people im hearing from the most are Trump Supporters and these are middle income people, hard working people, cops, firemen, construction workers. People first generation college, working on wall street. Theyre making good money but working hard for it. These people arent being born with a silver spoon. They feel theyre being be strayed. You and other rank and File Republican members still havent seen the bill. Congressman peter king, always great talking to you. Thank you very much for talking to us. We have senator dick durbin standing by. Hell be with us in three minutes when morning joe comes right back. We come into this world needing others. Then we are told its braver to go it alone. That independence is the way to accomplish. But there is another way to live. A way that sees the only path to fulfillment is through others. That our time here can be deep beyond measure. No one who chose interdependence ever found despair. 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If your uc or crohns medication isnt working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. Entyvio. Relief and remission within reach. When i met my team at ctca, they put together a comprehensive plan, that gave me an opportunity to accomplish my goals, and my dreams. Learn more at cancercenter. Com obamacare is finished. Its dead. Its gone. You shouldnt even mention it. Its gone. There is no such thing as obamacare anymore. Open enrollment for the Affordable Care act opened yesterday. Senator dick durbin says if anyone is to blame for obamacare issues, its trump who, quote, has its hands around its throat. Senator durbin on that happy note jones us now. Good to have you on the show this morning. Senator, well get to that wonderful imagery in a minute. But lets start with a couple of things we talked about with Republican Congressman peter king starting, first of all, with the tax plan which he says he still hasnt seen. He doesnt know whats in it and what he and his constituents have heard of it, his constituents who voted for barack obama twice and donald trump by nine points feel betrayed. Thats just the fattest pitch right down the middle that id like you to take a swing at. Id like to tell you Republican Congressman peter king, i listened to his interview. I want to tell you something, i didnt disagree with anything he said. I thought it was an honest analysis of where we stand. Were facing tax reform, which as congressman king said, will affect us for decades. Were about to make changes that could impact the entire u. S. Economy and were doing it in a hurry without review. He still hasnt seen it. Still has not seen the bill. This is just like the Health Care Reform bill. And this is something that republicans used to always criticize their own leadership about and used to criticize democrats about. There he is in the dark. The americans have seen this movie. We watched it when it came to health care and affected 1 6 of our economy. This bill affects our entire economy. Every single american will be impacted by it. Wouldnt be want to do this carefully . Shouldnt we do it together, democrats and republicans . Shouldnt we set goals to really encourage economic growth, help working families, not to reward those in the highest income categories or big corporations . There are things we can do that are good for the economy. We should do them in a thoughtful way. Senator durbin, sam stein here. I know youre on to talk about the open Enrollment Period and what trump has done with respect to obamacare. Theres no video or announcement from the white house encouraging people to sign up for health care. Hes left a void for democrats to fill Barack Obama Barack obama did a video. Im curious, is there anything that senate drks, democrats you know, people outside washington, d. C. Should be doing to encourage people to sign up for this law or are you guys completely helpless . Well, were not helpless, but we dont have the tools we need to get the job done. At a press conference with congressman jan schakowsky, a number of people on monday to announce in chicago the open enrollment. Look what President Trump has done to this Affordable Care act since he was elected. Since he came to office he issued an executive order saying every federal agency should try to stop the development of the Affordable Care act. He cut the Enrollment Period from 90 days to 45 days. He eliminated the advertising so americans knew that the open Enrollment Period was currently under way. Hes put out ads paid for by our government to discourage people from signing up. He cut the amount of navigators that would held people go through the process and pick the best insurance policy. The net result is predictable. Fewer people will sign up. There will be higher premiums for those who do sign up as a result and the president is achieving what he wanted to, sabotaging our health care system. Senator durbin, its willie geist. The president proposed since the attack a couple days ago about getting rid of the visa program in which this 29yearold came into the country. You were a member of the gang of eight that proposed that way back when. Do you agree it would be a good idea to get rid of this diversity Immigration Program . Thats the point. He attacked Chuck Schumer for this program. Chuck and i were part of the gang of eight senators, democrats and republicans, who proposed the end of this program and passed our proposal in the senate with a bipartisan vote. We know what happened next, the measure went to the Republican House of representatives, they refused to even call it for consideration or a vote. So criticizing senator shuker over this is entirely inappropriate. Were both calling for this reform. We want to make sure america safe. We dont want anyone to come into the country who would be a danger to us. You believe we should get rid of the program. We believe it should be phased out as our bill called for and should be done in a thoughtful way. I might add lindsey graham, my colleague helping to pass the d. R. E. A. M. Act. He wanted to move us toward meritbased immigration but do it in an orderly way. There are families and individuals who can be brought to this country who are no threat to us whatsoever, could enhance our economy and basically honor the principle that immigration is critical to america. Heidi. Senator, this tax debate just feels different from the Obamacare Repeal and the Republican Party feels such an urgent zee to get this done. Im wondering what youre picking up from some of your republican allies about their willingness to basically, regardless of whats in this, to hold their nose to get it done. Its one for all and all for one politically in terms of this party, at least in terms of how they view this tax cut. There is an element of political desperation here. Here we are a at the end of the calendarer yoo. I can count on one hand, maybe Three Fingers what weve done substantively in the United States senate during the course of this year. What are they . What have you done . Im counting. Im dead serious. What is the major piece of legislation be fair objectively what is the major piece of legislation that has been passed this year. The department of Defense Authorization bill, and i would add the Gorsuch Nomination to the supreme court. Beyond that you really have to stretch to find anything of substance thats happened. Now theres a desperate effort to get something done before the end of the year. To think that we would try to rewrite the tax code of the United States of america and have it all done in the next two weeks and we havent seen it as of today, november 2nd, is an indication of that desperation. I can guarantee you, as sure as im standing here, if they do it, if they achieve it, they will regret it. Things will happen that should never have taken place. Senator dick durbin, thank you so much. Mika, theres no way if youre a republican in california, if youre a republican in connecticut, if youre a republican in illinois, if youre a republican in california, if youre a republican in any state that has significant state income taxes, you cant vote for this bill, and they know it because, if you take away the state Tax Deductions that have been there since, as pete king said, 1913, you will wipe out Small Businesses all across those states. White them out, destroy them. Well, well see what happens. If youre a republican right now you have a lot of things to balance because youre looking at this white house ive got to say im not just saying this. The men and women i worked with in the Republican Congress way back when would say ahead of time, if you think youre going to show us a bill that reforms onesixth of the economy on health care and have us vote on it in a week or if you think youre going to change the tax code for the first time in 30 years without us going through committee were voting against it. It doesnt matter what it was. Were voting against it. It was a hardfast rule. This is ease sy for republicans if they give you two weeks, why dont you commit on saying im not going to vote on anything unless i have four weeks. President trump expected to announce Jerome Powell as his fed chair nominee later today. Well see how wall street is responding to that potential pick. For eight years the Democratic Party was the party of barack obama. Today its a lot harder to say who is in front. New York Times Magazine tackles that and well reveal the cork straight ahead. Speaking of the obamas, the former first lady offers some tips on political communication. This whole tell it like it is business, thats nonsense. You dont just say whats on your mind, you dont tweet every thought. Most of your first initial thoughts are not worthy of the light of day. And im not talking about anybody in particular, im talking about us all. For those who know what theyre really building. Always unstoppable. Anyone who calls it a hobby doesnt understand. We know that a persons passion is what drives them. [ clapping ] and thats why every memorial we create is a true reflection of the individual. Only a dignity memorial professional can celebrate a life like no other. Find out how at sanfranciscodignity. Com. Yeah, i got some financialbody guidance a while ago. Howd that go . He kept spelling my name with an i but its bryan with a y. yeah, since birth. That drives me crazy. Yes. Its on all your email. Yes. They should know this . Yeah. The guy was my brotherinlaw. Thats ridiculous. Well, i happen to know some people. Do they listen . What . Theyre amazing listeners. Nice. Guidance from professionals who take their time to get to know you. 52 past the hour. Lets go to Cnbcs Sara Eisen live at the new york stock exchange. President trump is set to announce his pick for Federal Reserve chairman later today. What do we expect . Well, this is a monumental decision. One of the most consequential and important of President Trumps presidency, at least in our world. The choice for Federal Reserve chairman arguably the most powerful economic policymaker in the world, all signs and reports do point to jerome or jay as hes known powell. Hes a current Federal Reserve governor. The market appears very pleased with this decision. A few things to know about governor jay powell. He is considered a janet yellen ally. He voted with her in materials of policy making. The slow and steady Interest Rate increases weve seen from the fed. Market a peers to be okay with it. That continuity is expected under jay powell if he is named. He also worked in the bush treasury department. Hes a republican. He has private sector experience, particularly within private equity. He was a managing partner at the carlisle group, big private equi equity. Alan bernanke, greenspan, for instance. Having been at the fed, knowing about monetary policy, and as a bonus to the big bank, a little lighter touch on regulation there. Well see what he says. Were expecting that announcement at 3 p. M. Out of the white house. Cnbcs sara eisen, thank you very much. In many ways, barack obama still remains the face of the Democratic Party. The question now at a time when our politics just seem so divided and so angry and so nasty is whether we can recapture that spirit, whether we support and embrace somebody who wants to bring people together. Yes, we can. We can do that. Look, ive always believed in that kind of politics. Yes, we can. Former president campaigning in virginia last month with the democratic nominee for governor. Plans to hit, oldie but goldie, yes, we can. And the crowd loves it every time. They love it every time. Sooner than later, the democrats are going to have to stand on their own and with us now right from the New York Times magazine robert draper. His new story looks at the Democratic Partys struggle to find itself after the Obama Presidency and how to turn the page after the elections. Thats a great cover. Great cover. Have you ask robert the first question but my gosh, this Donna Brazile story that Donna Brazile, author of a piece for politico posted this morning. Essentially a post more dumb of what happened in the 2016 race. She was of course named interim chair of the dnc after Debbie Wasserman schultz stepped aside last july. Donna brazile this morning destroys debby wasserman shuttle, says shes responsible and that the Clinton Campaign fully took over the process. She promised bernie sander, Donna Brazile did, shed get to bottom of whether or not it was rigged against him, the primary process. And her conclusion effectively was in a lot of ways yes it was. She also goes on to say she would get out in the country. She didnt believe the polls. She saw no enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton. Its a little rear end covering but an explosive piece. I talked to her three months before the campaign ended and she was saying the same thing off the record. Yes. So where do we go from here . The Democratic Partys going through an identify crisis postobama. They suffered down the ballot significant losses in the state legislature and all the governors mansions. Theyve never been able to explain succinctively what theyre about like the republicans have. Democrats believe government has a role to play in our lives but theyre loathe to say that because government polls poorly. So what National Message they can actually craft for 2018 to regain locomotion, to get traction, remains to be seen. Isnt all the energy pretty far left . Yes. Yes, it is. But to take back the house, for example, youre going to have to win republican seats. Do you win them back with far left messages . That really is the internal conundrum faced by the party. Heidi. A lot of this money being raised, the democrats are promoting, raising more than 5,000 per candidate this is a record for us. Isnt a lot of that going to these far left candidates . Not the candidates being hand picked by the dnc . Absolutely, without question. It remains to be seen whether its just axiomattic. They will have to appear, therefore, to republican voters, or theyll have to turn out democratic voters who we didnt know existed in these districts. To be able to do that, will they be able to do that with a far left message it remains to be seen. You have to understand the past, right. Im curious, as you reported this out, what your takeaway is about obamas legacy with respect to the Democratic Party. Obviously all the down ballot seats were lost. I think the dnc, you can rightfully say, was completely gutted. Part of the reason the story was written is Donna Brazile took over, it was in severe debt. But he won two presidencies. Yes. So whats the legacy as a party man . Right. No, interesting question, sam. Trump and obama have very little in common. They have this in common. Neither of them sees themselves as a party person. They see themselves a movement candidate. Obama built institutions that were built for him, such as ofa, such as priorities usa. These were nonfactors in the 2016 election. Meanwhile, the existing institutions most notoriously, the dnc, really suffered. Are sort of they werent in the best of shape before but now theyre raising 40 cents on the dollar like the rnc is. Name one person obama helped elect other than obama. I cannot name one. Obviously 2018 is front and center. Any dinner party, theyre already talking about who is going to beat trump in 2020. Obama wasnt around at that point, that stipulation in 2008. But youll hear bernie sanders, tom hank, oprah winfrey. Did you hear any consensus when you talked to democrats . I heard zero. Instead, i heard people say more than anything else if there was a consensus, weve got to find somebody new, got to find somebody different. Whether its seth molten out of massachusetts, someone who sparks the imagination in a way the usual suspects kind of candidate does not. Robert draper, thank you. The piece is the cover story for the new issue of New York Times magazine. Congratulations. I cant wait to read this. Very exciting. Yes, looks great. Yes, you have a candidate that you are impressed by. Yes, absolutely. Do you not want to say it on the air yet . Im going to do a big reveal. A big reveal. Im going to do a big reveal, yes. Is he sitting next to you . I think Donna Brazile will be on the show next wednesday. Donnas on next wednesday, thats going to be fascinating. That does it for us this morning. Stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. Thanks, mika, thanks, joe. Im Stephanie Ruhle with breaking news overnight. The new york city terror suspect wheelledded into a courtroom as we get disturbing new details about his plans. Dry runs, phones full of isis propaganda and a plan to drape the truck in an isis flag. Id been planning this attack for two months. While President Trump calls for the Death Penalty hours after suggesting the suspect should be sent to gitmo. What we have right now is a joke and its a