Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20180221

It wouldnt go as far as the bill that pat is talking about putting back on, but heres the daily news. One of the other papers that donald trump reads every morning. Bump ban isnt fixing this and its not, but it is though, it is jim, youre seeing first step, something that republicans refuse toe do even after the horrors of las vegas, but, you know, everybody ive talked to in the white house has said since parkland that the president really wants to move on this. Big question whether he does or not but ill tell you another thing were about to report that in the white house yesterday he was telding aides that he might be support ifz of raising the minimum age of buying weapons to 21. He spent so much time seeing those children talking on tv that there is a response toyota. Whether or not trump follows through, another important thing on the new york post, remember, the president itself talks to murdock multiple times a week and i do do think that all of this is having some effect on him. Yeah, and murdock, when you say the name murdock over here, everybody thinks about fox news because it is obviously the dominant media force that murdock is now associated with, but this is a guy who supported tony blare and has subported time and again the power and has helped them empower and weve seen he has some hefz vi skepticism about donald trump and has had as much at times. So people want to know why were holding this up. This is a message. Youve heard of people talking to donald trump through the Television Set. This is rupert mer dourdock a r strong memo. Dont listen to the whackos, listen to 97 of americans who want universal background checks. We need to do something about this . The post has done this a come of times on issues around trump where they have distanced themselves on the white house and gun control is one of those times. The biggest news would be fox news and you started to see fox news reiterate some of that kind of a line that would have a bigger impact in american politics. But that the Donald Trumps hometown paper. It is and its going to be really interesting to see, well look and see what fox news does when the bump stock ban passes and if he actually thinks about doing something significant, if hell do the cornen murphy bill and then go where 97 of the public want him to go. Boy, the world is changing very rapidly on this and actually in this instance, it appears with 97 of americans in a poll saying that they support universal background checks. Among gun owners 97 of as well. The president actually looks like he is a step ahead of the most republicans. And in conversations that weve been having all over the washington, you hear, im scared to say it but i fear maybe thing there change. While speaks the president said he had directed the Justice Department to propose changes that would ban bump stocks. The devices allow guns to shoot hundreds of rounds per minute and were most noticeably used last october that left 58 people did. Just a few moments ago i signed a memorandum directing the attorney general to ban all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns. I expect that these critical regular liegss will be finalized very soon. In 2010 the atf concluded that bump stock devices were firearm parts with no automatic function and therefore not regulated as a firearm under existing gun laws. Senator fienstein is calling on President Trump to support her measure. The nra says it cannot comment until a bump stock rule is published. Bank fire arms as been shown time and again not to prevent criminal activity and simply punishes the law abiding for the criminal acts of others. President trump also tweeted last night, whether we are republican or democrat we must now focus on strengthening background checks. Republican senator said yesterday he plans to introduce legislation in the coming weeks that would expand background checks on firearm purchases. It is a revival of a measure he introduced in 2013. Alongside democratic senator joe mansion. President trump is scheduled to hold a listening session today with students, parents and teachers affected by the shooting in florida. Gun control has hut record highs according to a new poll. 66 of americans support tougher gun laws. Thats the highest percentage reported. Thats 97 of americans. 97 of americans support requiring back ground checks for gun buyers with the same amount of support among gun ownerowner. And by the way, the Supreme Court yesterday left a 10day waiting period ruled well, we didnt get involved in the case to let that tenday waiting period to remine valid. And a night wade ban on the sale of assault web ever weapons. I know that the president of the yats and so many americans, during the president S Administration with san do hook and the weeks and months that followed sandy hook and there was frustration that nothing could get done. Do you do we allow ourselves to hope that it may actually happen now . That his bill, and mansions bill may actually become law along with this ban on bump stocks . This is what 97 of americans want and it sounds like the president may be listening. We have to. We cant accept the current situation. We cant accept an environment in which we see these terrible tragedies occur all around our country and the people who sit behind us dont do anything about it. That cannot continue that way. And one of the things thats interesting to my about this head line about the announcement on bump stocks. The approach for the nra has been that any step in the direction of gun control would be a step down a slippery slope which is why they fight tooth and nail against tObama Administration. At least well be able to use this situation and Public Awareness and grief to make some long needed changes and that was something that was rigorously opposed by the nra. They refused to have actions can about some steps that could be taken. They would have been deeply concerned that any step in that direction would be a slippery slope so maybe well have an opportunity to tets that proposition. And yet, look at this. Florida had a chance to ban assault wepz upons yesterday, but the republican led state house of representatives blocked the mish sure to even debate banning weapons like the one used in the School Massacre one week ago in that state. Jefrl watched from the gallery as it happened. You can see here, 16yearold who was overcome with emotion as the measure was defeated, which would have also banned high capacity magazines. Shes the senior who captivated if nation over the weekend by calling out nra backed politician who is redpuzed to budge on budget reform. How could you do this to me . We are not forgetting this come midterm elections. The anger that ill right now now is indescribable. Students alived from tall has lee la tallahassee. I fear were being a little too hopeful here in terms of i do too. I was going to come to you because i wanted i know i banted someone to go ahead. He says lets do something on bump stocks. He says lets have the Justice Department and the atf look at it. The atf is still reviewing itz and i dont know if the president wants them to do u. When he talks about back ground checks, if you look at what he said yesterday does not sound like a man whos upbeat that this will pass the house, pass the senate and become law. A lot of these things youre still just flipping at the edges and the reason what happened in florida might be the same thing that happens here, is that the nras power isnt as strong as it was two or three years ago. Yes, those polls were overcheming two or three years ago and you still have the same outcome. But i do think a reality check is we often feel this way and nothing happens chls. The smart money is on nothing getting done. The smart money is people behind being too scared to go with a 97 . We were shocked that the people behind us were scared to support a 94 proposition when thats what background checks were sitting at in 2013. You also have to look at this president. By now we know the patterns. The president comes out, its leaked, hi wants to do something on dreamers. He comes out and he says im going to do something on dreamers. Then the 30 start pressuring him saying you cant do something on dreamers. Youll be a traitor and youll be just like everybody else and he gets scared and he retreats. This has happened on four or five different issues where the president goes out and you think, okay, his going to try to expand beyond his 33 base and the second hes called out, he retreats back. Now, well see whether hell do the same thing here. I i cant i cant answer that question, but youre right, the smart money is on that, but i will say this does feel different just politically. If they drag their feet, they will pay ern greater consequences most likely in the midterms in the suburbs among educated republicans, among many of these who have helped elected a democratic governor in virginia and a democratic senator in the state of alabama. This will have significant impact. It will be a prime motivator to get more people out to vote. Jeremy bash, from a how enforcement perspective, is this a 97 issue . Well, the president is putting forward things that are no brainers. I mean, these bump stocks should be banned. They should be illegal. They can convert weapons no semiautomatic weapons. Of course, background checks are a no brainer. Anybody who has access to those weapons subject to scrutiny about their Mental Health and past conduct. These are nice to have, but i dont think theyll really clamp down on the problem we have in our country. People having access to weapons that the destroy lives and i think the one thing is the vice of High School Students. We didnt have that in horrific attacks and these students are so compelling, thats what i think could spark a national movement. Theyre scared to go to school. Thats compelling. And that weve said this before, that wasnt just afz parkland. Right. Youve had issues in your family. Ive had issues in mine. Weve all known people whos children are traumatized, parents who have told usz we dont want to send our kid to school today. This is this has become an epidemic and the president has to know, the republicans have to know, ern the nra has to know this is going to happen again because you look over the past five years and the numbers are so dramatic that 3 of the biggest mass slayings in American History have happened over the past five months. Yeah. Its staggering. Over the past five months. Yeah. Its staggering and youre never going to go broke betting on congressional dysfunction on capitol hill. But you know, the other part of this that is challenging weve seen murdock weigh in on issues where he hasnt been able to move trump. I think immigration is probably the most prominent of those. So there are some clear head winds here. The other thing thats noetdable about the way that the post is in today, theyre weighing in in support of these kids even though oh, my gosh. Some f the attacks against these kids this guy. Beyond slimy. Its stunning and you do think maybe the thing that might change now is whether that five to 6 for whom this is a single voting issue is gun rights and they call the republican senators and the republican senators are only hearing from their gun rights people. The High School Students who seem determined to keep this issue aloifr and their parents will start making this a single issue when they come to vote. We need to match on the gun control side needs to match the gun rights side. Otherwise lets put this in now. There are some people who are attacking. The outspoken student survivors for their activism and their voices. Among the most brutal was from author and film maker. After the Florida House voted down consideration of assault weapons ban, he tweeted quote, adults one, kids, zero. He also wiped the student who went after the game. You nose, ive known this guy since his days of the darkness review. I still dont understand him. I dont ern know why his voice is allow out there and theres two other people like this be that at some point need to get a life. And figure out Something Else to do with their time. So donald trump jr. Hit the like button on this tweet from a conspiracy theorist who used a School Massacre to attack both a student survivor and the fbi. And reminiscent of alex jones, an aide to a Florida State lawmaker was fired after he used his state email to tell a journalist that two of the student activists were not actually students, but actors. Senator rubio claiming some of the parents on tv. And heres fox news host Tucker Carlson and a guest last night. All of a sudden youre seeing these kids involved in calls for very specific pieces of legislation and the allegation has been that they are in some way in contact with organized anti gun grupzs and pop have be denounced and how dare you question these kids or attack them . I am certainly not doing. Where were the signs missed . They dealt with this kid every day, but the media has focused more on a teenagers expertise in control measures for guns which tucker, lets be candid. They probably have not studied a very complicated layered issue. On the show last night, a guest actually blamed the students for the slaughter. For not being spperceptive enou report. And sawing that these dunt students are not experts, they can not speak out against these mass killings where children are gunned down. So the supply side, whatever he said, thats like saying that my kids couldnt look up at the towers as they were like burning and falling to the ground and knowing people inside if they had known people inside the towers who had died hed say you have no ragt to talk about that because you have you dont have the back ground to underst why those buildings crashed. We could do all the numbers but it is more people die from guns than per year, easily than died at 9 11. It took place, everything stopped. The city stopped, the country stopped. Everybody stopped and bush and cheney implemented the 1 solution, did whatever it took to stop the next terror attack and americans went along with him and in this case were having a 9 11 at least every year. Our kids schools are getting shot up and again, i probably am far more conservative on guns. You hunt, right . I unt hunt. But, you know, the thing is all im talking about is bump stocks, background checks and limiting the sale of assault style weapons. And by the way, i dont even mind if they put them in hunting clubs and all this other stuff, but were talking about a small, small section of of you know, the gun industry right now and just trying to make it safer. And these people are freaking out. Theyre attacking victims. Yeah, this shouldnt be that hard. There is Common Ground that we should be able to find using simply common sense. The fact that there should be regulation particularly when it comes to background checks, and bump stocks obviously we should be able to found Common Ground. But our political bro sesz is pearlized and has been for quite some time. And president obama did indicate he was going to be a singlish somehow voter on this. Ill remind you that Bernie Sanders at the time was not pleased with the writing of that op ed, but thats the kind of commitment that were going to have to demonstrate to this issue. The other side on this is showing such a lack of humanity no matter what your views are. Just, you know what, think about it. You have been fighting so hard for free speemp so you can write some of the most astounding things ive eve read and you gifz them a moment to use their voices . Thats cruel hypocrisy. Its wrong and this is where were at. These kids cant get their book at their library at this time . If you disayee with the kids, you know, theres a limitation on the speech. I think in this occasion time place matter as far as common sense go. Yes, you have a right to attack children who, just a week ago were traumatized, but just why do it . Just wait. And the thing is the thing is that this is the time is coming up there are going to be changes that are going to be made and can also maybe not this year but its coming very soon. This extreme position, this absolutist position is coming to an end. Its coming to an end because our gun laws are actually allowing the most unbalanced in society to go in and shoot up schools, shoot up churches, shoot up Country Music concerts, and americans at some point are going to say enough is enough. Weve got to fix this and the Supreme Court by the way, for people i want to just be straight about this, and there are a lot of people that lie to you if you are a gun activist. You are lied to all the time and you are told that having military style assault weapons, military styled weapons or assault style weapons are your constituti constitutional right. It is not. All right . Go back and read. 2008, that will tell you. They have the right to have handguns in your home, the right to have shot guns in your home to protect your family. The court keeps allowing states to ban assault style weapons. They allowed the state of california. California firearm waiting period for ten days. The Supreme Court let that stand as constitutional. They didnt they said no we dont need to hear that case. The Supreme Court said yeah, were going to let that stand. Theres nothing unconstitutional on that. 2017, californias concealed carry law ban. They let that stand. They let the gun laws stand which are some of the most expansive in this country in san ton owe. They let new jerseys concealed carry law stand. They let new yorks open carry law stand. Now, listen, on the substance of the mat err, lets be clear, because there theres so many people that say so many stupid things every single day and i have to read it on my fitter feed about guns. There are a lot of things on that list that i disagree with. But the Supreme Court says those are not constitutionally protected rights. The states can limit those rights. Justi justice said the rights are limited. If you want to make the argument that they should have military style weapons . Thats fair, but if you say its your godgiven right to have an ar15. Thats not what they said. Justice thomas is on your side right now, but it appears that knob else on the nineseat Supreme Court is. So lets just lets have an honest debate. All right . And lets have gun lobbists stop lying to the American People and trying to whip them into a frenzy and crushing the New York Times, crushing enemies, tletdenning violence against people, taking sledge hammers to ima images of people who simply state what the law of the land is. Well have that honest debate and well seize where the American People come down. Still ahead, the white house insists the ptz has claerly said that russia meddled in the 2016 elections. We checked the tape for that fact check. Plus, he was in croatia and in vermont during charlottesville. Now the plus, new details on the fate of kushners role inside the west wing. Now that keef of staff john kelly is cracking down with those of security clearances. Its ok that everyone ignores me while i drive. Its fine. Because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months im accident free. And i dont share it with mom right, mom . Righttt. Safe driving bonus checks. Only from allstate. Switching to allstate is worth it. 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If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. Does the president acknowledge that russians not only tried to meddle but sbeer fear and influence the 2016 election. Absolutely and the president has acknowledged that multiple times before. He acknowledged itburg the transition and during a press conference in poland and he acknowledged it a third time in poland. Do you accept the hacking of the rnc . I think we also get hacked by other countries and other people. Will you once and for all, yes or no, definitively say that russia interfered in the 2016 election . I think it was russia and i think it could have been other people in other countries. Mistakes have been made. I think it was russia but i think it was probably other people and or countries and i see nothing wrng with that statement. Nobody really knows for sure. Actually we do. They do, though. Everybody does know. We do. The white house insists President Trump backed american intelligence when in reality he said nobody really knows. Joining us now, former fub special agent, clint watts. Clint has a new piece entitled heres how to stop russia from wrecking election 2018. We want to get to that t. Im just curious, a little bit about sarah huckabay sanders answering that incorrectly. How long did that last . Did you ever do that . Did you ever do that . Yes, i did. I lied about syria, i lied about i mean, the thing that is striking about her comment is her suggestion that somehow the president should deserves credit for merely acknowledging that russia interfered in the election on three occasions. Actually, we demand more of our prt than just acknowledging russ russias complicity. We demand that the president of the United States lead a response the most serious attack on an american democracy. Thats what we expect of our president and thats the kind of responsibility that the president has not merely to acknowledge what he has. That is the minimum. We actually expect him to mobilize an Effective Response and hes not done that and he has actually tried to roll back or at least flirted publicly with rolling back the punishment that the Obama Administration put in place. Exactly the opposite of what the White House Press secretary was saying which is incredible. What i find incredible is the question though, what does russia have on donald trump . It must be fantastic. First of all it must be so dirty. It must just be unbelievable just wrenching to him to think that they are holding this information about him, that they have on him and they just at any point could drop it if he says the wrong thing. It must drive him nuts. Is this the opening of saturday night live . Did i get transported to that set . Hes driving recklessly. First of all, i need to say what i need to say. Okay. So first huckabay sanders, i want to say right here, because i cant look at her. What, no, shes amazing. On sanders, i think anybody that holds that position probably feels much like the number three in al qaeda after 9 11. It never ends well. You can say no. But as far as russia goes, yeah, listen, what h said last night when we were talking in private alone was that i just said i just listened to all stheez clips and i said, my god, we are going to find out in five, maybe ten years exactly what Vladimir Putin has on donald trump and when we do, it will be like the end of spa movie. Thats the other thing he knows. Were going to find out. Its all going to come out like a waterfall. Its going to be like the end of the sixth sense where you go,my, my god, yaw, it all comes together so we dont know i no. We are looking through a glass darkly right now, but we will know, but lets if we can, i want to first of all i want to key in on something sanders said yesterday, that the American People actually do need to know, that is not speculation which basically fills up 98 of our air time here and that is, ive spoken with election officials, one in particular that ive known very well for decades who is working with the department of Homeland Security and they have quietly been working and aggress i haveivelyg to prevent it from happening in 2018. Thats also something the senator said. It is happening and happening quietly behind the seens. Donald trump doesnt want to hear about it publicly but tell me if youve picked any of that up and also tell me what concern what level of concern do you have for the 2018 election and beyond that the russians are going to interfere . Yeah, i have heard that with the voting pla machines. And i could see that sort of exchange and discussions happening. So i thought that was good. Thats one of the first positive signs. Its strange that you cant mention that around the president , you would think hed want to jump out there. But at the same point, the other part is the influence and i think thats where were really still on our heels. Its coming to light now with these indictments and sho there should be some sort of counsel with that. That would be something thats a National Security concern. We dont i think have a strategy that goes across the government that works with the inner agency to put our foot down about what our stance is against int interferen interference. I think thats the real gap. Everyone stay with us. We have much more ahead on this and the jarred kushner he headlines. The day after chemo might mean a trip back to the doctors office, just for a shot. But why go back there, when you can stay home, with Neulasta Onpro . Strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection, which could lead to hospitalizations. In a key study, neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17 to 1 , a 94 decrease. Applied the day of chemo, Neulasta Onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the next day, so you can stay home. Neulasta is for certain Cancer Patients receiving strong chemotherapy. Do not take neulasta if youre allergic to neulasta or Neupogen Filgrastim . Ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries, and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. Report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. In patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. The most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. So why go back there . If youd rather be home, ask your doctor about Neulasta Onpro. So, what do we do as far as 2018, 2020. Whats the first step to check american democracy. Theyre impacted races especially in central europe. The first thing you have to have a commander in chief acknowledge the problem. Then he has to bring the advisors and they have to formulate a government wide plan. Thats going to happen. So whats our next step . The president will not do that. We have agencies that are doing it alone. Homeland security is trying to do what they can do. Are there other agenerals, is there a way to do it from the top . I think thats no way we can counter their influence. We have the state department involved, we need the Defense Department involved, all agencies working together. If america cant meet it we will fail. And other countries are failing even though you do have the top the desire to do something about it. Youve got the desire in britain, in france and the netherlands and theyre still meddling. Theyre having an imkt pact. So heres what you write. Heres how to stop russia from wrecking election 2018. Over the past year i have testified four times to Senate Committees regarding russian influence operations. There are a variety of ways in which American Companies and the American Government could meet vladimirs challenge. Members of congress from either Political Party could rightly wonder if the Trump Administration has their back against russia as they run for office in 2018, russian influence operations work because the commander in chief uses them against his opponents until this changes america and americans will continue to bow to putin. What are your solutions . We talked about the election machine, you know, issue before and now its can we identify this influence and counter it . Well, we should do this back to russia in terms of what they did to us. And i disagree on that t. We dont want to know what they did to us because that understood mines their democrat you can value yaw. But i think there are two lines of approach. We eve seen it with sanctions. You start restricting the access to the finance rnl system and the ability to make money and move purchases. Well see it as putden, you were aggressive and now youre limiting my ability internationally. For some reason under the Trump Administration were backing away from that, but we could push that forward in a way that we are promoting democracy, human rights, actresses inside russia and that becomes a game where the russians have to come to the table with us and you need to stop doing it here and youll seize putin play this sort of chess mass. I think the kremlin is confused. I think its probably confusing to the kremlin we ooefz done nothing to this point. Probably not as us. Theres no doubt he does. I cant wait to find out what it is. Just like when the ring comes off and its the sixth sense. Everyone finds out its not yours anymore. Well it all comes out. Thats why we have mueller. So jeremy, i got quite a few emails from washington lawyers yesterday and texts going holy cow. Sort of. This guy does not mess around. Like mueller, by indicting a an attorney, boy, he sent a strong message didnt he . He really did and he got a plea deal by a hired lawyer and i think prosecutors hold lawyers to a higher standard baze they are officers of the court and if lawyers come in and lie to this special counsel theyre going to get a guilty plea or get a conviction and they may go to prison. This story is really interesting because what thissish e episode shows is that mueller is really dripping into the support by the Donald Trump Campaign in the fall of 2016. The support that they were continuing to give to russian backed individuals who are associated with the former regime. Basically the russian backed regime. The manaforts exactly. And it shows that political activity by russian backed entities was so intertwined with the Trump Campaign in 2016. That was the main play and putin is going right back there and sparing nobody. The New York Times and others are a bit weary to go ahead and confirm that gates is now cooperating with the mueller investigation. They just cant nail it down. The post cant nail it down. Nobody seems to be able to nail it down and yet, dont all the signs point to the fact that especially with the indictments on friday that mueller has information from gates that he wouldnt have had had gates not cooperated . And denying the bail terms, theyre using Additional Information about manaforts illegal conduct and now we saw Additional Information including cryptic apps, chats and rick nelson information. Thats a good guess. Okay. Probably. Maybe. Just might be. Thank you very much. Well be reading your piece in the daily beast. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Coming up Vice President pence was all set to meet with the North Koreans earlier this month. Well explain why it was called off at a last minute straight ahead on morning joe. Liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. Yeah, my dad says our insurance doesnt have that. What . you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Wild thing applebees handcrafted burgers. Any burger just 7. 99. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Time now for the latest. They won the first ever gold medals in womens Cross Country. The second Cross Country medal won by an american. Vonn finished winning the bronze w450i8 being the oldest at 33 years old. She said i wish i could keep going adding my body just probably cant take another four years. 33 years old. Thats ancient. Thats 21 years younger than me. In ice hockey the u. S. A. Mens hockey team has been eliminated by the czech republic. They move onto face norway. Moving onto Womens Short Program too russian skaters stole the show setting World Records minutes apart. Three american skaters finished ninth, tenth and eleventh place. Team u. S. A. Is in fifth. Norway is in first. The thing about the russian athletes, abi hai was glad the c committee allowed them. You sit there and work your whole life. They deserve to be tlo. Absolutely. Speaking of the russian, am i the only one old enough to remember the 1980 hockey game . Not the reality. The not the movie. Yes. It is one of my first memories. Do you remember that . I kind of do. My dad was nefreaking out. Were you rooting for america or the soviet union . In my house . You should have seen my dad. For some it may be too much. Well discuss what condition reasonably accomplished. Ted joins us as students call for action. Plus hardballs Chris Matthews will be here. I have to talk to him about his open. Did you like it yesterday . What did he say . I have to talk to him. Have you smelled this new litter . No. Nobody has its unscented vo new tidy cats free clean unscented. Powerful odor control with activated charcoal. Free of dyes. Free of fragrances. Tidy cats free clean. When no scents makes sense. Dont we need that cable box to watch tv . Nope. Dont we need to run . Nope. It just explodes in a high pitched yeahhh. yeahhh try directv now for 10 a month for 3 months. No satellite needed. You can do it. We can do this. At fidelity, our online planning tools are clear and straightforward so you can plan for retirement while saving for the things you want to do today. Whoo i would lu to be this good of an actor. I am not. This is real. He is the one really leading us. None of us are talking with these adults. We are going on these things. We are talking out. We are making a change. It is the students. Welcome back to morning joe. It is wednesday, february 21st. With us we have White House Press secretary. Washington bureau chief, the cofounder and c, o and host of msnbcs hardball last night you started your show. Frenzy. I didnt get it. Trump is going crazy. We have do get in front of the tv set. It is just like those people looking up at the ticker tape dont let me down. And tim ryan was on. I said how about the ar15 what are we going to do about it . Nothing. So we have to comment how desperate are some of these people . I wont even say on the far right. What do you mike of these people attacking High School Students saying they actors . Yes. What the heck . Yeah. Exactly. But i think that it shows they are working. Let me ask you this about your brother. Does your brother believe what he is spoon fed no. She smart. Zbli know the institution didnt allow him it allowed them to outlaw tommy guns. How come that was something to knock out . People are using them to gun down Country Music fans. Right. Why isnt that good enough . You cant go into a school and spray it with a shotgun. Yeah. I dont want to make your comment on mur dock. But youre going to. This the a memo to donald trump saying you need to stop listening to the crazies because this is out of control. He is meeting with some of those dids today. Those kids got him out yesterday to say that he supports banning bump stocks. It would be a sign of of hope, would it not . They are talking about it. Download is huge skepticism everywhere in washington and around the country. We have seen this so many times before. These kids are really effected. The kids were weeping. It was unbelieve b8 to see. And those who say these kids dont matter, im sure they were saying the same about College Students in 1966 and 1967, 1968 who by the way got the attention because it kept growing because they kept ignoring it. It changed history. I agree. I think the president has an ability to faint. He will go for Something Like he did with daca. Do you think that he understands doing something on this this week. You think it diffuses he is saying he is going to do it or sort of do it. It wasnt quite real though. But he is avoiding the hill. Right. It is based on the executive order. He is bypassing congress on this one he is directing his attorney general to propose say ban. Take a look. Just a few moments ago i signed a memorandum directing the attorney general to propose regulations to ban all devices that turned legal weapons into machine guns. I expect these will be finalized very soon. So josh wait. It wasnt like declaring war on japan was it . So josh, look at these numbers. 97 in this poll showing americans want background checks, expanded background checks, universal background checks. Two out of three want a ban an assault styled weapons. Thats significant. Going into an election where the republicans already are back on their heels it seems to me they ignore these numbers at their own risk. They do. I think that we, there is likely to be political electoral consequences for all of this. The other thing thats striking about that statement other than the lack of energy that was used is the audience he was peeking to. These are cop killing bullet it. It allows perp theyers to outgun Police Officers who are responding to situations. So there is an opportunity to capitalize on political high ground here. They will tell you civilians shouldnt be running around the streets with ar15s. When you talk about the politics of this we went because we knew it was try a solid red educated part of that state. It voted for republicans every year. It might help doug jones get elected. Guarantee you there arent a tonover people in republican suburbs across america that are willing to say the minute they see they are getting defeated because they have a view thats not with a vast majority of america thats when you get the see clang. Thats why republicans will talk about gun control. He is saying i would like them to regulate it. You have to pass a law to do it. Even if you did that youre nibbling at the edges. It has to have big electoral consequences. 2 most remarkable number from 2017 is that black voter turnout was as high or higher. You get out west around the 18th where you pointed out it is not for the gun control issue, thats where it changes. I wonder. Why . They never heard my. You just have to be aggressive and go into it. If you cant explain away an issue that 97 of americans support, they should take away your voter card. If you cant explain why we need expabded r up and downed background checks and the mentally ill you really actually you should be kept away from blenders and other kitchen appliances. Youre not that smart. In 1968, ten days before he was shot kennedy went to roseberg, oregon. He was told before he spoke, dont talk guns. There are lumber jacks here. He is actually running and waiting for tim ryan to come out and say i change midmind. One leader to say i changed my mind. Come ochblt. You say gun control. I say common sense gun safety, backgrounds checks, maybe not letting them have the same type of weapons. How about a 21yearold to buy a multishooting machine . I want to say gun bye backs. Again, oots lanother lie tha been pushed around is that the ar15 is a civilian weapon. It was developed. The pentagon wanted to use it in vietnam. I have a yes. And i have said this the past couple of days, chris. In 1981 he wrote an article for the atlantic where he said that the pentagon and others were looking at the ar15 and that the whole premise of this article written six years afterstreafte aftervietnam is that it was more lee than than in street no, maam. Thats the gun that little kids are being shot up with. An African American woman you know, we have people that are correspondents. A woman said how come they are for all kind of restrictions on voting and no problem saying you have to get out of the department of transportation to get some special card to vote. They love restrictions. When it comes to guns, nada, pure right. Thats a good way of putting it. Joining us from parkland, florida, ted deutch. Thank you so much. First of all, our thoughts and prayers are with you and your constituents. We cant imagine the pain your kplun community is going through. Tell us whats been happening on a personal level. How are the students in school doing right now . There is a community thats grieving right now. Its hard for the community and the parents who lost kids, many of whom i have spoken with, that students who survived this who are now passionately trying to bring about clang in a positive way but they still heart. The feelings are very raw. It makes it all the more remarkable that these kids have organized what they have already organized, that they started what they were moving. The isnt about gun control. Have people if they support school safety, if they support public safety, if they support taking action to prevent more slaughters. Thats the way this debate has to go and because of these kids i think thats the way it is going to start to be addressed. Yes. Congressman, my condolences to you and your constituents there as well. I guess the question i have is there are republicans who represent florida voters in the United States congress. To what exat the present titent on the change of senator rubio and others who obviously are seeing this on the front page of their newspapers. Their constituents are seeing this. They are experiencing this in a very deep deep way. Well, the answer is i dont know. We had the worst mass shooting that happened a few hours from here in orlando. That didnt move my colleagues. This time i have to tell you, it feels different. It is because of what these kids are projecting around the world. Do they feel moved . Are they compelled to take action . I dont know if they are yet. Im not saying they make elected decisions based on polls but when 97 say we should have universal background checks it is political malpractice not to support that position. Saabsolutely. Thank you for being on the show this morning. Best to you. Thank you. Still ahead, is there a new feud brewing twoo woen of the most powerful people in the white house . They are coming head to head over security clearances. Also talking to chris. Oh, you are . About whats happening and where donald trump is. Next on morning joe. Its time for the ultimate sleep number event on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort, your sleep number setting. Does your bed do that . Right now, save 50 on the ultimate limited edition bed. Ends sunday. Visit sleepnumber. Com for a store near you. We know that when youre spending time with the grandkids every minute counts. And you dont have time for a cracked windshield. Thats why we show you exactly when well be there. Saving you time, so you can keep saving the world. Kids safelite repair, safelite replace guys,but youve got sto be strong. St remember janet . She got cash back shopping with ebates and hasnt been skeptical since. Whered the money come from . Stores pay ebates. Psh psh then ebates pays you. Psh psh psh psh psh psh psh psh psh and theyll send you a check. Psh oohh sign up for free. Shop your favorite stores. Get cash back. Ebates. Something to believe in. Join today for a 10 bonus. We all want to know you know, the new, new thing. With xfinitys retail stores, you can now see the latest. Want to test drive the latest devices . Be our guest. Want to save on mobile . Just ask. Want to demo the latest innovations and technology . Do it here. Come see how were making things simple, easy, and awesome. Plus come in today and ask about xfinity mobile, a new kind of network designed to save you money. Visit your local xfinity store today. Tfrmt president tweeted in a frenzy this weekend. This was right after the School Shooting as trump and the administration reeled from one of the most dismal weeks kushner and ivanka werent in the country. The senior aids took a holiday in the sun enjoying the long weekend in the car ribbean. Say ski trip in aspen. I remember not seeing my dad for foir years because it was kind of important. A ski trip to aspen and a get away to vermont last summer. That comes as the white house is responding to reports of a power struggle over access to highly classified information. Unnamed officials tell the New York Times that president soninlaw feels john kelly has personally targeted him with an order to revoke top security clearances for anyone whose background check has been pending. Kelly responded, as i told him days ago i have confidence in him performing his duties including overseaing our Israeli Palestinian peace effort and serving as a part of all right. All right. Yeah. So listen. We have seen this before. Jerrad versus the world. Jer r jerrad wins. Do we want to wring or hands and found out who will survivor if it comes down to kelly and kushner . Kushner is married to the president s daughter. He has been ton campaign since before day one. The bigger question to me is what does it mean from a policy perspective. The white house will say who is how he does it if he doesnt have access to classified information is a gigantic question mark. They say we dont talk about security clearances publicly. You have the statement you read. We dont hear that from john kelly often. He talked with him days ago about this. Remember at the beginning of the administration there was a lot more about cukushners portfoli would be. It has been narrowed down to the middle east and mexico. And theres the office of American Innovation which is looking at government overhauls. And right now he is focusing on those two things. Specifically i think mexico right now. Elizabeth, to think the white house determines. Right. What he wants to do as we understand it is to have him have access to secret there are three grade of intelligence. There is Gold Standard of intelligence, the briefing he gets every morning. That is the top clearance. That he would be denied. The question is can he do his job in the middle east with mexico with this lower level of clearance. And when he goes to the middle east and he talks to the crown prince and stays with him an entire weekend before the crown prince moves sort of has this internal cue it is obvious he is bringing back highly classified information as well. They had to clean up the security clearance mess at the white house. There are vast numbers of people without perm nept security clearances. We saw that rob porter had a clearance he had to do something. The president s soninlaw got caught in a net. He will be plucked from the net if push comes to shove and most likely be allowed to do this. It is interesting, kelly has gone from being the savior from inside the white house to everybody saying shehe is racis he is a thug. As far as paper flow goes and as far as keeping people out of the would you say it is much like he had to accomplish order. I wonder whether he is more like a public schoolteacher. I wonder if its lake a big nba team. You cant tell kushner what to do. You cant tell ivanka what to do. They are upstairs. They go upstairs. They are special. By the way, will the president get clearance if he hadnt been elected . Of course not. Imagine him trying to get through the fbi right now. He cant. They are investigating him. You were talking about frenzy. Where are we after fridays indictments and what we saw with the indictment yesterday, where are we . It is a series of squeezes. Well get this new guy. She going to squeeze gates. Gates is going to squeeze manafort and he has the goods on trump. Trump is watching all of this. They would say georgey knows what georgey has done. Trump knows every phone call he has taken. He knows every conversation he had with flynn and manafort. He knows it all. Every time he sees some witness getting squeezed he says that guy was in the room with me and he heard it. Flynn and manaport. Bannon was in a lot of these conversations too. They were all not room when trump was talking about we are going to clahange the world. All of that stuff was and very close to the president right now too. You know, if he had 5 or 10 people wearing wires over the past several months they all have to know, are you sensing a rising tension inside the white house . I think the tension level is quite high. You know this, there is nothing that makes him stew and simmer and fester more than when he sees cable news and reads front pages that talk about the Russian Investigation specifically. You talked about john kelly a little bit. I think it has been a challenge is focusing on issues other than russia. I think he was never coming in to slap the president s hand. Right. It was never john kellys role. What about the times youre reporting and of course you have an unfair advantage because you have schmitty. Sitting at his desk. Yes. Loathed by democrats because he was rest lentless about getting Hillary Clintons server. He was relentless. Now its republicans who cant stand him because he has been relentless on this story. What does michael think . How is the times piecing together what happened yesterday with the indictment, what happened on friday and what we have seen . I want to say right now you guys all have the very interesting theories. We know nothing about what is going on here. Yes. We know nothing. These were all really interesting theories. Thank you for saying it was interesting. But the president knows it too all too. He seems to be building a case. You can see the indictments on friday were predicates for whats next. He has nod addressed the dnc hack or wikileaks. This guilty please yesterday is a metssage. I think it is i totally agree the president is going crazy. The remarkable thing about mueller is we dont know. It is a black box. And guns. Listen rn, you have the president coming out with this bump stock issue. He told me he felt frustrated. You could have heard that when he said and jeff, i expect this soon. He seemed sort of very stern. There is also question whether he would lift requiring the age to maybe 21. I am told there have not been discussions on a policy front as far as decisions made about this. It says maybe he is leading towards that. I wouldnt be surprised to hear that but im told there has not been any kind of policy decision made. Okay. Thank you. Well be watching tonight. I will be watching your open lines. Well work on the cold open for you. It will be a good one. And still ahead on morning joe. He criticized obama. He criticized the fbi. He didnt even criticize putin. He has been tougher on russia in the first year that obama was in eight years combined. He has taken away properties. He has rebuilt our military. He has done a number of things to be tough on russia. The white house says the Trump Administration is cracking down on russia. The president s words and actions so far suggest otherwise. Well run through it still ahead on morning joe. We do whatever it takes to fight cancer. These are the specialists were proud to call our own. Experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. Expert medicine works here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com ancestrydnand now,y 69. With more than 150 ethnic regions to connect to. Its the perfect time to find out where your greatness comes from. Save 30 at ancestrydna. Com. But some of us make somethinge make sommuch more. Dinner. Mom would be proud. With blue apron, any night is a chance to see what cooking can do. My fellow americans, im donald trump and i strongly support mitt romney. He will stand up to me. Donald trump is a phony, a fraud. Mitt will expose my lies and empty promises. His promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. And he will point out my frightening mental deficiencies. He is very very not smart. Dont let me destroy this great country. Vote mitt romney for senate paid for me against me. You to love a good trump endorsement. Up next, our next guest examines how the country has gone from me to we. Robert rice joins the discussion next on morning joe. Everyone has a thing. That binge watch over the weekend thing. 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Americans began talking less about the common good and more about selfaggrandizement. From were all in this together to youre on your own. The past five decade have been marked by growing cynicism and distrust towards all of the basic institutions of american society. We seem to be a long way from when john f. Kennedy ask that americans contribute to the well being of all. I couldnt agree with you more. What do you think of the factors that brought us here, robert . If you were going to be a little bit cynical you might say it is mainly because politics has become kind of a game in which you try to get as much as you can despite the costs, no responsibility and no care about the institutions of politics and the same is true of big business. You know, ceos today, it is all about profits. Why did it happen . I think partly it may be generational, that is if you were someone who came to sort of prominence and adult hood you had a different sense because you had to be on it together to survive, but once there was no longer that kind of Common Threat posed by depression and world war ii. We sort of drifted a little bit. Unfortunately we didnt have the leadership we needed and now we end up with donald trump. And all of this of course highlighted or made, you know, far brighter by technology and the ability to communicate and have opinions flying out there and shows that our culture. Is it fair to say this has been happening on a political level, on both sides of the aisle . I think it absolutely is. In the 1980s, for example, tony cuelo, in charge of the Democratic Campaign committee, he decided to drink from the same trough as republicans in terms of big business and wall street, Campaign Contributions money pouring into politics and so undoubtedly, im not i dont want to engage in false ee quifl lens because i think democrats have been far better in terms of keeping the common good in mind than republicans, but undoubtedly both parties have failed. Weve seen this loss of trust through western democracies and parallel with that a rise in income inequality. Are the two linked . Yes, i think they are absolutely linked. When you get a certain degree of income inequality and wealth inequality, a lot of people feel with justification that the game is rigged against them. What we saw, whether its brexit or we saw in this country in terms of 2016 with the emergence on the right of donald trump and left of Bernie Sanders, there is in america still today and certainly in europe and around much of the globe, a sense that the what might be called the governing class, the people who are in charge really have failed the rest of the population, that our democracies are overrun by money and rigged it for themselves. Josh earnest. Bob, its josh earnest here. The other trend that has taken place at the same time is an expanding diversity in america. And im curious to hear from you what your view is of what we can do even in a more Diverse Society to instill a greater sense of collective action and to make clear to people that we actually do have an interest politically to cooperate particularly when were facing external threats like whether its common sense gun control or a threat that ema nate from russia. Unlike some countries founded upon, one particular ethnic group, america basically has always been to some extent a melting pot and weve always tried at least at least over much of the history we tried to be and seek a more equal society. Never achieved it but we almost given up on that. I think one of the big problems right now is that we have a government and a leader who has been exploiting racism and xenophobia and a lot of divisions to maintain power and thats what happens. I dont want to i dont want you to think that im resigned to this. I look at young people today, those kids who are going to tallahassee florida, high schools around florida and young people in colleges, they are dedicated to the principles that i understood as a kid, john f. Kennedy talking about in terms of the country actually coming together around the common good. I dont think we should just give it up. So this is kind of a tough one, but ultimately were asking the question, i guess, how we got to trumpism, how we got to someone like trump becoming our president. And is it fair to argue that perhaps even the matchup between clinton and trump and the Clinton Presidency and some of the attributes and some of the values that came out, maybe they did it better but were equally as selfish . I think that Hillary Clinton was not the best candidate. In many respects she was a terrible candidate. But also donald trump is i think i think he is not the cause, hes the consequence of this multiyear many decade decline in a sense of common good. I mean, the constitution was created for we the people and coming together to form more perfect union, not for i the selfish jerk trying to make as much money and power as possible. But we for get this and the purpose of the book is to try to spark a discussion about what we are together. Were not just a country that is united by a common religion, we certainly arent or common color of our skin pigment or because we were born here. Many of us werent. We are a country unique in that we did have in the constitution the declaration and bill of rights and also the gettysburg address, all of our founding documents a sense that there was a common goodness. Percent of ideas that we were trying to that hold us together. The book is the common good. Out now, robert reich, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. Thanks, myka. President trump to hold a listening session with the survivors of parkland and well go live to the white house for a preview. President trump claimed yesterday that he has been much tougher on russia than obama. Just look at the facts. David ignatius joins us to look at the facts. We have a packed 8 00 a. M. Hour on morning joe. This year, were taking it up a notch. So in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Nobody glows. He gets it. Always the lowest price, guaranteed. Book now at choicehotels. Com on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort, your sleep number setting. Does your bed do that . Right now, save 50 on the ultimate limited edition bed. Ends sunday. Visit sleepnumber. Com for a store near you. Were talking about the difference between crown and victoria. The Second Season of victoria is great and shes more defy aentd than elizabeth. Elizabeth is more of a respectful of the traditions and customs of the monarchy and victoria is constantly pushing. But albert is still alive. Yeah, great love affair. I love victoria and the crown. I was saying the difference between the two is victoria is has an awful lot of dialogue back and forth and then youll have the crown, clair foy staring at phillip for ten seconds then shell move her lip a little bit and then phillip will stare back at ten seconds. I always thought you were a r, small r. Its the monarchy. Not when it comes to britain. Like, constantly live in 1940 and please. You can see katy kay is with us along with former press secretary nbcs political analyst have you seen what was the movie we saw . Not the finest hour. The dark eflt hour. Twice. What did you think of that . Loved it. Went to see it with my parents, 84 and 82. They loved it. Especially my dad. He remembers that time. Thats cool. David, did you see that movie . I have not seen that. Ive seen my share of churchill movies i must say. Nostalgia here. Touch tones even for our generation, wonderful katy took her parents. The Washington Post David Ignatius is here and Senior Writer of politico and author of the play book, jake i should ask what you thought of lawrence of arabia. Not part of my regular Media Consumption diet but i enjoy the bantore. You must watch the crown. Okay. I dont think its old people banner. Plenty of young people do watch. If lindsay vonn at 33 think shes old, were screwed, just saying. Since the last week shooting in florida, President Trump stood on the edges of the gun debate but now signaling an openness to new Safety Measures around firearms, while speaking at the ceremony at the white house yesterday, the president said he had directed the Justice Department to propose changes that would ban bump stocks and the devices allow some guns to shoot hundreds of rounds per minute and most notably used during the Las Vegas Shooting last october that left 58 people dead. Just a few moments ago, i signed a memorandum directing the attorney general to propose regulations to ban all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns. I expect that these critical regulations will be finalized, jeff, very soon. President trump also tweeted last night, whether we are republican or democrat, we must now focus on strengthening background checks. According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, 97 of americans support requiring background checks for gun buyers with the same amount of support among gun owners. 66 of voters support stricter goo gun laws, the highest percentage after sandy hook. The poll also finds that 83 support a mandatory waiting period for all gun purchases and 67 of those surveyed support a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons. So, this doesnt mean actually that anything is going to happen on the hill, does it . I dont think so. We wrote in playbook this morning, i think it is worth pointing out and getting lost here, there are 36 or so republicans that sit in districts that republicans win by 20 or more points every single year. They go home and talking to a senior aide, a prominent republican who said they go home and go to barbecue and picnics where people are carrying guns and look at the nra magazine and score card every single time they go to the ballot box. Its not as much about the money but they dont feel in districts. In those districts. What about the 24, 25 that Hillary Clinton won . Im adding two more now because of pennsylvania. What about those 25 . Districts where they are prime for action. If you have those 30 districts in the house especially where they cannot vote for this or will not vote for this, its dead. Its not going anywhere. And i think and Jonathan Swan in axios, the president wants to increase the age to 21 to buy guns, try telling that to members of Congress Whose kids at 19 years old own guns and go hunting. They dont do that with ar15s. I come from a district where people started hunting with their dad and grand dad at 5 and 6 years old. And ive taken my kids out shooting. Its and people from my district, not scared of guns, have guns in their house just like the bre zzezinskis had 3 o four rifles locked up in their house. After newtown, i had so many friends went to First Baptist church with that hunted all the time. Thats what they did in the fall. Went to College Football and out hunting. They all said the same thing. Said none of us need an ar15. So i ask that question yesterday and somebody said to me, well fine, ban ar15, someone will go in with a pistol and what will you tell me, government should ban all pistols . Im not advocating for this position but this is the way a large number of republicans think about this debate. Always a slippery slope argument but David Ignatius, at some point you would think that just political selfinterest would kick in. Because republicans know. And thats why all of the Senior Republicans are quitting. They know that they are facing probably their most difficult midterm elections since 2006. This thing may end up looking like 1974 for republicans. At some point youve got to stop angering suburban Republican Voters who have always voted for you but in like alabama and virginia said enough. Thats true. If youre in that tough race, alienating this core base voters who were nra supporters would be a tough step for any republican. I think what people arent really factoring in yet is this rebel onamong young people. I was talking about it with one of my daughters who is a School Teacher last night about the world in which every teacher and every student goes through lockdown drills and what that does to people. They are angry. They didnt make up rules where nra is super powerful and republicans are fighting about the primaries, they care about what they have to go through school and what will happen tomorrow. I think thats becoming a movement. Thats the x factor, new thing here. I dont know, jake, you know the way this plays on the hill far better than i, but it strikes me its a new variable and everybody has got to think about it. The thing is, and Everybody Knows this that watches this show, katty, i was Second Amendment absolutist, not only in congress but after congress. I always use a slippery slope argument. After Virginia Tech i said okay, wait a second, you know, lets see what happens. Then aurora. Then even before sandy hook saying these are different times, this is turning into an epidemic in 2008, scalia says youve got a right to keep hand guns in your home. Thats what the constitution protects shotguns but not scanneding it to ar15s and military style weapons. And the court still refuses yesterday refused to take cases at limited. But i know there are republicans on the hill that are looking at this and seeing 20 first graders being massacred on the friday before christmas vacation and are watching christians being massacred in church pews and Country Music fans being massacred at music festivals. And High School Students being massacred and saying, okay, the pace of this is quickening. We need to do something. So three of the biggest shootings in the last five months, you pointed it out earlier in the program, joe, the question is whether that x factor translates into sustained pressure on lawmakers because up until now, the pressure has come consistently from the people who are supporting gun rights. Will we see those students and the parents of those students and those teachers starting to call their members . If they do in large numbers and carry on doing so, not just for the next month or two, but over the course of the next year or in the runup to the midterm elections, then lawmakers will start to hear from the other side of the argument, which they are not doing at the moment. Tragically, myka, because this is an epidemic, and because five of the deadliest Mass Shootings have happened three of the deadliest Mass Shootings have happened over the last five months, tragically, unfortunately we know this is probably more likely than not going to happen again. The pace is quickening. The pace is quickening republicans know the pace is quickening. They know that its happening everywhere. Cant really get away from it. Were going to turn to russia now. Yesterday President Trump continued his tweet storm about the russia investigation that was sparked by friday muellers indictments, this time saying hes been much tougher on russia than obama. Look at the facts. He didnt elaborate, leaving the explanation up to press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders at yesterdays briefing. The president has been extremely tough on russia. He helped push through 700 billion to rebuild our military. I can assure you russia is not excited about that. He helped export energy to eastern europe. I can assure you russia is not excited about that. He has put and upheld sanctions that the Obama Administration put in place and upheld those and closed three Diplomatic Properties that were russias here in the United States. He has taken number of actions against russia and put pressure on them, hes helped arm the ukrainians through a number of places that obama was too weak and refutesed to take and put pressure on russia where this president has. He hasnt even called out putin. He criticized obama and criticized the fbi. He didnt even criticize Vladimir Putin. He has been tougher on russia on first year than obama was in eight years combined. He imposed sanctions and rebuilt the military. He has done a number of things to put pressure on russia and to be tough on russia. Why hasnt the president implemented the sanctions which Congress Passed last year . Look, thats not completely accurate. This president has been tougher on russia doctor far tougher theres a process that has to take place. And were going through that process, that law also says that the countries have to violate something in order for those sanctions to go into place and that hasnt necessarily happened. So david, obviously, everybody in the press wants a perry mason moment where donald trump breaks down i admit it, Vladimir Putin is a horrible human being and has all of this stuff on me were note going to get that. Lets separate what donald trump doesnt say in front of cameras that drives so many people in the media bonkers and the policies actually that Sarah Huckabee sanders was outlining yesterday. Compare the Obama Administrations treatment towards russia with donald trump or approach approach and also again, lets stick to policies and not his bizarre sort of tendency to always whitewash what Vladimir Putin says or does. The president himself has been restrained to the point of many observers, as stonishment in not being critical of that moment when he came back and said that putin had told him he didnt do it and he as if that takes care of that. In terms of policies, theres actually quite a lot of consistency. The idea that the trump is much tougher than obama was, i wouldnt see the evidence of that. There is a continuity of policy, weve been working with nato there has been a continuity of policy. There has been a continuity of policy. The issue that obama and secretary kerry struggled with, is there a way to work with stabilize ukraine. Made trips to lavrov and i have to say Rex Tillerson has made numerous trips to lavrov, same effort to draw russians into diplomacy, but what i took from the Sarah Huckabee sanders performance and the repetition over and over again of how tough the president has been, they are reacting to last fridays indictments. This is a new game. This is a game in which the only correct answer is our president has been very tough on russia. And i think that tells you that this investigation by Robert Mueller now is in the new phase. And people are trying to accommodate themselves to it and show themselves to be supporting it because they know the public is finally getting how serious this is. We have breaking news to report this morning. The reverend billy graham has died at the age of 99. That is confirmed to nbc news by church services, billy graham dead at the age of 99. Its really its hard to overstate the importance of billy graham and his significance in American Culture over the past 50, 60, 70 years, i often said among evangelical christians in america, certainly among my family and in the deep south, billy graham was our pope. He was an extraordinary man and he had a ministry that went across the world and much to the criticism of some people on the hard right, he even took his message to the soviet union. We were talking before about the crown, one of fascinating things about the crown was that he had a long time positive relationship with queen elizabeth. I can tell you growing up in my household and certainly in my grand moms household, billy graham crew crusades or the biggest thing that came to town and you would sit and watch. There would be tens of thousands of people filling up not auditoriums but football stadiums. And youd have a lot of people, johnny cash, other stars who would come up and talk about it. And i will say unlike a lot of evangelical leaders in 2018, while billy graham made mistakes in getting too close to some president s and some politicians, he always admitted those mistakes and he there was always a humility to him. And David Ignatius, i suspect you and i are probably the only people onset old nuenough to remember. Myka is 25 and katty is 24. Double it for me. We are the only people that can remember when billy graham came on the Television Set in the 1960s, in the midst of cultural upheaval and likes of which we had never seen in our countrys history, for a lot of people, everything stopped and they watched this man and listened to this man talk about jesus in the most tu multiyourous times. He made himself a pastor to america. He had a quiet, dignified style. He wasnt a shouter but he was passionate. I was always struck by the way in which he often humbly would meet with president s and try to be a counselor. Who can a president talk to about what hes going through . As you say, billy graham sometimes may have gone too far in that but he made himself available and theres a deep well of protestant passion in america as part of what made our country and he was able i think to adapt that and give it his own special voice in the 60s and 70s. So a figure who as you say in the time you and i grew up, really shaped the country. An absolute giant. You can look at billy graham, and william f. Buckley jr. , who really were the voices of the counter culture. The voices we were talking again much like the queen has been the rock, has been the steadying force in britain through these years, billy graham for a very long time was exactly that here. We were talking about the young people know who are angry and making their voices heard in this country. In a way i was thinking when you were saying that, we havent seen that in the country since the 1960s, that was the last time we saw an angry youth making their voices heard. That time is when billy graham was there and he he i think in those very first big evangelical audiences and meetings was trying to harness that for positive, lets see if theres somebody that can do that today. I wonder who fills a role like that today. Its kind of a strange time for the evangelical community. I say that very carefully and with respect. I can say as an evangelical, all you have to see what people like Eric Ericsson are saying and others. Its a depressing time for people have grown up in the evangelical community. Billy graham was always a positive force and he would talk to republicans, fatally flawed republicans and talk to fatally flawed democratic president s. Like i said, he would go to the soviet union and again, he faced such a barage of criticism when he went to the soviet union and went behind the iron curtain and humble reply was doing r dont russians have a right to hear about jesus too. And the number of people that he talked to and that he touched and that he witnessed to over the decades, its nothing short of extraordinary. Billy graham an interview that always stuck with me, was billy graham was asked by Time Magazine and this is i have no idea why i remember this. But i think that the interview must have been like 1981 or 1982. And i remember they asked him at the end of the interview through your life and i guess he was he was moving through middle age then said of everything youve seen, what is what is the one trait of humanity that stands out to you the most . He said actually its the brevity of life. Wow. Then went on to live. Until he was 99. Another 35 years. An extraordinary man. It is fleeting, every moment, you have to cherish. Joined the first world war, that gives a sense of perspective. Church sources confirming to nbc news that billy graham has died at the age of 99. So our thanks to our panel this morning, politicos jake sherman, thank you very much. Still ahead, President Trump is known to sway his policies based on personal interactions. So what might come from his face to face meetings today with students, parents and teachers affected by Mass Shootings . Were going to go live to the white house next on morning joe. I would much raermg come back to my mountain treat and live there and be the pastor of a small flock of people. That would be the height of my personal ambition, but i know god has sent me out as a warrior on five continents to preach the gospel and he must continue until he gives the signal that i must stop. Last years ad campaign was a success for choicehotels. Com badda book. Badda boom. This year, were taking it up a notch. So in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Nobody glows. He gets it. Always the lowest price, guaranteed. Book now at choicehotels. Com dont we need that cable box to watch tv . Nope. Dont we need to run . Nope. It just explodes in a high pitched yeahhh. yeahhh try directv now for 10 a month for 3 months. No satellite needed. 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Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. More now on the prbreaking news, the reverend billy graham has died at the age of 99. That is confirmed to nbc news by church sources. Lets bring in jon meacham with more on his legacy. What can you tell us . He was one of the most important christian ee vvangeli who ever drew breath, arguably preached the gospel of jesus of nazareth than any other person in history. Did it from one corner of the globe to another. He did it tirelessly. He did it with a kind of i want to say this in the best possible way, a kind of simplicity. He was not a great theolog ian, he told me that once. He had not spent an enormous amount of time thinking out the various nuances of the faith. He simply believed in john 3 16, that god so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, shall have everlasting life and took that gospel to the extraordinary number of people. He was very funny about being called dr. Graham. He was not he had not earned a doctorate, so he preferred mr. Graham. Which i think says a lot about his character. And in terms of the politics of the nation, he represents i suspect the clergymen who in American History closest to the most american president s. He had a remarkably reassuring pastoral presence. I met him about 15 years ago or so and after about two minutes, perhaps, i suddenly realized why if you were a president in the maelstrom of power, you would want him around. He was simply someone who seemed to be in touch with and able to communicate a truth that was larger than any of the present troubles of the moment. And so a truly remarkable figure. Jon, we had been talking about president s and all of the president s that billy graham had met with but it was the simplicity of his message, the beauty of his message that did appeal to so many millions and millions of people that he spoke to. Talk about if you will and of course he had a remarkable impact across the globe but i suspect nowhere more than the region where you and i grew up in and that is of course the deep south. Talk about the impact of billy graham and states like tennessee where you live and georgia, alabama and mississippi where i live. Well, today the fascinating thing about him is he was an evangelical but not a fundamentalist. And thats hugely important distinction. Ee van gel cal christian believes its part of the duty of their faith to communicate that message and share the good news. That was his central undertaking. He had moments where is he would wander in to social and political issues that have tended to play an out sized role here in the south and in other rural places around the country. But by and large he always returned to this heart of as in the words of the great hymn he played in all of those enumerable revivals, just as i am. He was offering himself as a sinner in such of re search of redemption and trying to share the news of redemption with other sinners. He was a voice perhaps not as loud as one would hope, but nevertheless a voice and those of us who should not be the first to cast the first stone, for civil rights and my hometown of chattanooga, tennessee, once in the days of jim crow, he personally took down the ropes that separated the African American from the white sections of the Memorial Auditorium on mckully avenue in chattanooga. He didnt believe that he believed with st. Paul, i should say that in christ there was neither male nor female. I think that is a hugely important legacy. And i think that for people who are uncomfortable with the role of religion in American Public life. Graham is a fascinating person to contemplate. Because he essentially argued that there was a providence shal order at work in the world. There was a theological truth to be discerned. And he made that message in sectarian terms because he was a christian, but i talked to him, 13 years ago now, spent a couple of days at his house on a mountain. Isnt it wonderful he lived on a mountain and looked a lot like moses would have looked i think in those days. And he said it wasnt his job to decide who got into heaven. That was gods job. And i think that that kind of disposition about faith is something that people in the south and people in america and in this time of Great Division would do very well to emulate. Exactly. Beautifully put. Just as i am for anybody that watched the crusades, that was the song that would play at the end, just like in most of my Southern Baptist churches, you would keep playing it 14, 15, 20 verses until somebody came forward. So josh, president obama actually had spent time with billy graham. Yeah. Obviously this was later in reverend grahams life but he did have a couple of occasions to spend time with him. President obama i do think had enormous respect for billy graham and the kind of gospel that he preached. He preached a gospel that was accessible and welcoming and was inherently optimistic sharing the good news and that is a tone that is missing from so much, not just in our politics but even in our public commentary on our in our culture. In our daily life. We dont have as much access to that kind of an optimistic view of the world. And you know, and unfortunately thats particularly true in evangelical christianity. And reverend graham almost came of age at a time when he was able to capitalize on the explosion of television. In some ways he talk evangelical christianity mainstream. He was actually preaching on television and he was he was a compelling figure and i think who lived as you said, who lived as faith who was humble. He was very humble and i think that there are other preachers who have risen to prominence on television who have then faced a reckoning and hypocrisy that has struck them down. But he did not. He was certainly not a perfect man but somebody who worked a hard to genuinely live the way he preached. And be first to tell you he wasnt a perfect man. I was looking this up, 215 Million People he preached to during the course of his life in 185 countries. And of course, many more millions over television as well who saw his meetings but if you track the rise of evangelical christianity in africa and in latin american, it really begins from the 60s 70s and started to displace the catholic church, Fastest Growing religions are these young evangelical christian religions and that correlates with the beginning of Billy Grahams time and rise of evangelical. Same with saz i canasia, ex growth of the church. I thought jon meacham put this so well. He wanted to be the pastor for the whole world, for all americans. Jon, you describe billy graham in such a moving way and im wondering as billy graham looked at this divided america, that must have troubled him. He was not a man who wanted to see peoples teeth on edge in a way that we see today. I think thats right. He was a great cable news viewer in the back of this house where he lived with his beloved ruth for so long. And ruth graham is the author of arguably one of the great lines about spouses of powerful men from that generation. Mrs. Graham was once asked, she would say, had she ever considered divorce. She said divorce . Never. Murder . Often. Which barbara bush has always embraced. I love it. Isnt that great . Its a wonderful line. She was a formidable woman and she would have to be raising i think four or five children while he was on the road so much. But yes, he i think he made a point and his critics believed he was simply interested in power, which again, i leave that to his maker who is now making that accounting, but he was close to ieisenhower. He was close to johnson and nixon. There was nothing partisan about his interest in the welfare of the earthly city of the country. The interesting thing about politics now that hes interestingly attached to i think and worth consideration, is he really embodied the rise of a modern mass media age. Katty just alluded to this. William randolph hearst, the great publisher, saw him early on in his career and sent a telegram to all of the editors of the hearst papers, two words, puff graham, he wanted to build graham up but putting a good deal of publicity and putting him in the mainstream. He was on the cover of time because of his new york crusades in the mid 1950s. So he was someone who used the means of communication of his age to a larger purpose. And i think so much is given and much is expected. For all of the all of the failings we all have, there was never a whiff of scandal. The one thing i will say quickly and this is important because it was important intrinsically and something he always thought about and regretted. He is captured on the Nixon White House tapes making antisemitic remarks, agreeing with nixons antisemitic remarks. He had to have those tapes when they were released actually played for him and was always shocked at his own failing there. Jon meacham, thank you very much for joining our coverage of the passing of billy graham who has died at the age of 99. Well be right back with more morning joe. Its time for the ultimate sleep number event on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort, your sleep number setting. And snoring . Does your bed do that . 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The things we do every single day that puts ourselves in harms way, and to have a partner that is so skilled at what they do is indispensable, and i couldnt ask for a better partner. Up next, facebook has been in crosshairs after russias meddling in the election. Well talk to one of the founders ahead on morning joe. Does your moisturizing routine have an mvp . Mine does. Aveeno® skin relief. With oat oil and natural shea butter, it softens very dry skin and lasts for 24 hours. Aveeno®. Its a game changer. Was a success for lastchoicehotels. Comign badda book. Badda boom. This year, were taking it up a notch. So in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Nobody glows. He gets it. Always the lowest price, guaranteed. Book now at choicehotels. Com dont we need that cable box to watch tv . Nope. Dont we need to run . Nope. It just explodes in a high pitched yeahhh. yeahhh try directv now for 10 a month for 3 months. No satellite needed. You totanobodys hurt, new car. But there will still be pain. It comes when your Insurance Company says theyll only pay threequarters of what it takes to replace it. What are you supposed to do . Drive threequarters of a car . Now if you had Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, youd get your whole car back. I guess they dont want you driving around on three wheels. Smart. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, well replace the full value of your car. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. The white house says that the president s tweet late saturday night, the one that called out the fbi for missing signals that could have prevented the florida School Shooting while spending too much time trying to prove russian collusion with the Trump Campaign, was not meant to assign blame. Though Sarah Sanders did say the president believes the 35,000 person fbi should not be quote, focused on it. The president doesnt really think that the fbi failed to stop the parkland shooter because it was too involved with the russia investigation, does he . I think he was speaking not necessarily that that is the cause. I think we all have to be aware that the cause of this is that of a deranged individual did he mistweet when he said that. He was pretty direct. This is not acceptable, they are spending too much time trying to spend russia making the point that we would like our fbi agencies to not be focused on something that is clearly a hoax in terms of investigating the Trump Campaign and its involvement. Lets bring nbc News White House correspondent kristen welker. President trump set to welcome people impacted by this countrys worst School Shootings for a listening session at the white house today. What can we expect out of that meeting . Reporter well, myka, according to a white house official, there are going to be about two dozen people here. These are going to be community members, students, families who have been directly impacted by gun violence from some of the biggest massacres in recent history, from not only parkland but also sandy hook and even cru columbine. Some of the parkland students wrote letters to the white house asking to speak directly to the president. In terms of what they are asking for, myka, they want to see real action. Yesterday we heard from President Trump, he indicated that he wants to see the Justice Department have stiffer regulations on bump stocks. Those are the devices that can be used to alter weapons to make them fire off dozens of rounds, the device used during the Las Vegas Shooting. Its important to do a fact check there, that could face legal challenges. Even if new reregulations are enacted there could be roadblocks and you have to ask about the legislation, thats what a gun Safety Advocates are cowelling f calling for. President trump indicating he may support Bipartisan Legislation coming together that would strengthen background checks. But thats really a very narrow piece of legislation. Its sort of the minimum that could be done in the wake of this. Sarah sander was asked if the president could get behind legislation that some democrats are pushing for that would put an age limit on ar15s. Thats the weapon that was used in the florida shooting. She indicated he would be open to having a conversation about that, but again, you have to ask the reality check here. Is this merely words or are we actually going to see action on this. As you know, when it comes to gun regulations, gun safety laws, its a very difficult history here in the u. S. The last Time Congress really tried to tackle this was after sandy hook and even legislation to expand background checks failed in that instance. Its still a very uphill battle but again the students from parkland say their voices are whats going to make a difference this time, myka. Kristen welker, thank you so much. All right, you cant have a conversation about russian meddling without mentioning the social media sites they use to push their propaganda and that includes the name nas facebook, under whithering criticism for how it mishandled the onslaught from the kremlin. Joining us now, one of the cofounders chris hughes, now the cochair of the Economic Security project and out with a new book called fair shot sho rethinking inequality and how we earn. Well get to that in a moment, an important topic as well. But we want to start with the role that the social Media Company you helped create played a role in russian meddling in the election. Do you think facebook understands fully how facebook was used to undermine our democracy . Thanks for having me, mika. Facebook is undergoing a come to jesus moment. In the early years of facebook it was largely about connecting to friends, seeing fun videos, cute kittens, sharing photos of a newborn. But today its a place where hundreds of millions of americans go to debate issues of the day, find people they agree with, occasionally disagree with, and its a place were foreign powers can go to meddle in our elections. And so i think facebook failed to protect our elections last year, and theyve acknowledged that responsibility. I think were all waiting to see what they do this year to respond. But theres no doubt that its a coming of age moment for the company and one i think theyre taking very seriously. So given that, do you think were waiting to see what they do. Do you think they should try and combat this problem alone, on their own, in private . Well, no. I think they are collaborating with the investigation that Robert Mueller is leading, and talking very publicly about some things theyre doing, changing the news feed algorithm so people are hopefully seeing more information they might disagree with or at least more robust conversations. Some of the things theyre doing to verify political ad spends are actually happening from real people. Listen, i dont know if any of this stuff is going to work, i havent been at the company in over a decade. However i do think theyre steps in the right direction, and most importantly, that the sense of gravity, of really understanding the role that facebook plays in our democracy. I think thats new. And i think its encouraging. David ignatius. Chris, David Ignatius. I just would be interested in your personal reaction to reading what was in the indictment last friday, and seeing the facebook pages that had been posted with names like blacktivist and army of jesus and i think there was one called army of texas, and seeing that degree of manipulation of facebook users, this community youve tried to create. What does it feel like for you to look at the way its been exploited . Yeah, well, i mean, there are plenty of examples of facebook being used for good which we see all the time, and then there are plenty of examples of Malicious Foreign powers and people that i very deeply disagree with using the platform for evil. And so the question i think is, are these platforms value neutral, people are going to say what they say, or do Companies Like facebook have a responsibility to make sure hateful speech isnt permitted on the platform, that child bullying isnt permitted, that if people are having Mental Health issues and are talking about those, that they get the help they need. There is a sense of responsibility when you have hundreds of millions of americans, billions of people globally, using the platform, to not just be a platform, so to speak, but to be there to think about the role that youre playing in shaping those very conversations themselves. And so i do think this is a new era for not just facebook, for the other social media companies. And its overdue. Chris, its catty kay here. I wanted to ask about your book, the rise in engine income inequality. You suggest in your book that the rise of income is the best way to help the poor in the country, youre suggesting 500 a month for everyone who earns less than 50,000 per year, and you would pay for that with a tax on those making over a certain amount. Is that politically feasible in this country . I wrote the book to make the case that my case is indicative of a fundamental unfairness lurking in the american economy. I worked at facebook for three years and made half a billion dollars. Im the first to say it was an incredible lucky break. But its a kind of luck weve eng eng eng engineered. Median wages havent budged in 40 years. Theres a lot of evidence that particularly the earned income tax credit which can be made monthly and made flat and expanded to a larger group of people could lift 20 Million People out of poverty overnight. I think it is possible to do it. And listen, all of this costs about the same as the republican tax bill that was passed at the end of last year. This idea that we can give tax breaks to corporations but we cant actually help working people in america, i just dont think thats right. The book is fair shot rethinking inequality and how we earn. Chris hughes, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Vice president mike pence had planned to secretly meet with a high level delegation of north korean leaders before the North Koreans canceled at the last minute. The meeting had been planned two weeks in advance of pences arrival in south korea. The north koreas withdraw after pence teased he would announce the toughest and most aggressive sanctions yet against the regime. They ultimately canceled the day after an awkward runin during the Opening Ceremony where pence and kim jonguns sister sat in the stands together while not acknowledging each other, awkward on several levels. David ignatius. This latest reporting makes clear that the Trump Administration wants to engage with north korea, they have a desire for talks about talks, when they say they want to pursue a diplomatic track, they mean it. The question that interests me, are they pushing this simultaneous line of be tough, confront, maximum pressure, and also wanting diplomacy, are the two getting caught in each other, are the two preventing each other from going forward. Okay, you wanted the meeting, you didnt get it, what do you do now . Weve got two minutes left, were marking the passing of billy graham. Ill put josh earnest on the spot. Look, i think one of the things thats indicative of the way that our politics works today, its evident from our discussion, theres a lot going on in the world. Whether hes north korea, investigating whats happening in russia, cultural events like the reverend billy graham, too often theyre overshadowed by scandal in the white house. In some ways that puts our country at a disadvantage. We havent talked today about the situation in syria and the hundreds of civilians that have been killed there in the last couple of days. The increasing tensions between israel and iran thats playing out inside of syria. The domestic political challenges and criminal charges facing the israeli Prime Minister are relevant to that discussion. All of these are things that would dominate a briefing if i were still in the white house as the White House Press secretary. Theyre getting zero attention in that White House Briefing room and in the public attention. Katty kay . Billy graham mastered something very modern, that was communication technology. He understood the power of television, not just his reach in the United States but his reach globally. He harnessed that to get his message out in way that is distinctively 21st century. He was the beginning of the rise of evangelical christianity. With Billy Grahams passing, i think, sadly, of the Memorial Service that will take place, which will be an opportunity for the president s that he touched, including donald trump, one assumes, but other living president s, to talk about billy graham, a rare moment in america where we see leaders from different parties, different periods, standing together. Maybe this man who wanted to speak to all of america, all the world, will have a chance to do that in death. Jon meacham when he joined us eloquently spoke about the way billy graham had a simplicity in the way he presented and shared with those who sought his guidance, and that he could really see why president s wanted him around. You wonder who can be that person today. You just wonder. Billy graham has died at the age of 99. Our coverage will continue all day here on msnbc. That does it for us this morning. Stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. Thanks so much, mika, thanks, joe, what a beautiful tribute. Good morning, im Stephanie Ruhle with a lot to cover today, starting with double action. The president moving to ban rapid fire bump stocks, a device known for its deadly role in the las vegas massacre. We must do more to protect our children. We have to do more to protect our children. These children are quickly learning it will not be an easy road ahead, as florida lawmakers decline to take up an assault weapons ban right before their eyes. If there is another mass shooting here in florida, its going to be their fault. They had a chance to stop it and they threw that chance away. And access