Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live 20191110

Fresh backandforth between democrats, republicans, and the white house on this day 49 of the impeachment inquiry. First to democrats pushing back on House Republican demands seeking hunter biden and the anonymous whistleblower speak publicly during hearings that begin in just three days. Gop Intel Committee Ranking Member devin nunes sent the gop wish list for at least ten witnesses to intel chair democrat adam schiff on saturday. Schiff responding sharply, making two things abundantly clear. First, the impeachment inquiry and the committee will not serve as vehicles for any member to carry out the same sham investigations into the bidens, and schiff says the Committee Also will not facilitate efforts by the president to threaten, intimidate, and retaliate against the whistleblower who courageously raised the initial alarm. Nunes responded. The ink wasnt even dry on the letter that we sent to the democrats this morning before they blasted out that press release to all of their cohorts in the media that then ran and said, well, these are you know, calling, as if theres something wrong with us calling hunter biden, someone who is receiving 50,000 to 80,000 a month. Its well documented that something definitely happened there. The fact that the democrats are already not letting him testify all right, let as of right now, theyre going to give us no witnesses. This comes just days before the first public impeachment hearings are set to begin after weeks of testimony behind closed doors. Career state Department Officials William Taylor and george kent are expected to speak on wednesday, and testimony of former u. S. Ambassador to ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is set for friday. Democratic congressman andre carson will be in those hearings this week, too, and heres what he told msnbc about what he expects to hear from those witnesses. I think that they will highlight the fact that President Trump did, in fact, attempt to misuse taxpayer dollars, your and my taxpayer dollars that have been approved by both the house and the senate to use as leverage to force the Ukrainian Government to investigate a political rival, i. E. , joe biden. We know, of course, President Trump will be watching the proceedings very closely, and hes been in new york this morning after being cheered on by a friendly crowd at the Louisiana State alabama Football Game last night. Once again, trump struck a familiar theme on his feelings about impeachment. This is a witch hunt at the highest level, and its so bad for our country. But heres the deal read the transcript. Youll see the call. Now ill give you a second transcript because i actually had two calls with the president of ukraine. So youll read the second call, and youll tell me if you think theres anything wrong with it. But never in history has anybody gone through this. Its a witch hunt and it should never happen to another president. Joining me now is msnbc White House Correspondent hans nichols. Hes at trump tower here this morning. The president is back amid these fastmoving developments in the impeachment probe here. What is the latest from trump tower . Reporter well, what the president did yesterday was really two things. Number one, he wants to keep this conversation just on the transcript, so he set a timeline, saying that hes going to release that second transcript on tuesday monday or tuesday, because of monday being the holiday, it may come tuesday. Listen to how the president uses his language to insist that he did nothing wrong based on the transcript. Read the transcript. Its all about the transcript. Theyre having people i never even heard of some of these people. I dont know who they are. And by the way, its all thirdhand knowledge. But regardless of whatin says, read the transcript. Reporter and then the president was on twitter, and i think thats the second phase of what he did yesterday. And for the first time, he appeared to directly attack one of the potential witnesses, Marie Yovanovitch. He suggested on twitter, retweeting a transcript of hers from one of the House Republicans on the committee but suggested that she was a liar. Joe, thats different from what the president in the past has said about Marie Yovanovitch. He said she seems like a nice lady. Hes basically tried to maintain that he didnt really know a lot of these people, whether its tim morrison, Marie Yovanovitch, gordon sondland, even though he had obviously had conversations with them. So, in this next phase, this public phase that were going to get on wednesday, well see to what extent the president directly attacks the witnesses that are giving testimony against him. Now, you mentioned the backandforth between House Republicans and House Democrats. Clearly, House Democrats are not going to let House Republicans call either hunter biden or the whistleblower to offer testimony. Those are nonstarters. The question then becomes is, will the republicans call anyone or will they simply try to claim that they were shut out of this process and allow the president to continue to use this argument that it was a sham process . J jo . We also know that it wasnt thirdhand knowledge here. As you look ahead to seeing the transcript that the president is promising, what do you expect to actually get on tuesday . Reporter you know, im reluctant and hesitant to speculate on this because the president seems as though hes read it, and he thinks hes fine and hes exonerated. If you look at the second transcript, the one from july, tg was a more formalized call when theyre trying to hash out certain things. The initial calls tend to be more congratulatory and more pro forma, and that was from back in april, before a lot of this stuff and a lot of giulianis freelancing really had matured. So we just need to wait to see if the president decides to release it and whats in it. Importantly, Mick Mulvaney, the white house chief of staff, is putting up legal road blocks from testifying. So it seems as though the universe of witnesses that we have is basically frozen and that we will go forward and the house and the senate will go forward based on the facts as we know them now. Now, there could be dramatic moments in the public testimony aspect and republicans could still decide to call some of their witnesses. And real quick, jo, lsu won the game. Guys . Lsu did win the game. A lot of people celebrating that this morning. Maybe a little hung over this morning, too. Hans nichols outside trump tower in new york, thanks so. Hannah trudeau is with the daily beast and Danielle Strauss with politico. Daniel, good morning to you first. Good morning. The requested witness list offered by republicans, we have that right here, includes the anonymous whistleblower and hunter biden. Whats interesting is that in the letter, nunes says President Trump should be afforded the opportunity to confront his accusers. What does that tell you about the gop approach here to the public hearings . I mean, look, this is part of the main strategy. Like hans said, hunter biden going on stage and testifying is a nonstarter. And we already know that republicans have been intent on criticizing the entire process of this investigation by saying that nothing has been fair, that the proper witnesses have not been brought forward, that the procedures involved in doing this are really problematic, and thats why the whole thing is a nonstarter. Do you think realistically any of the names on this list will these people actually appear, or is schiff going to say, nope, im rejecting all of them, and can he do that . I mean, ivan a feeling were going to see some people on this list come forward. Right. I am loath to guess which ones. I think that either way, the gop will make big deals about who is and isnt coming forward. The aminity of the whistleblower remains a major flashpoint, because just the fact that what we dont know about this person allows both sides to really play with the imaginations of the public. Hannah, what about the negotiation tactic of this . Do the republicans put out this wish list saying, okay, democrats or republicans eject and use this as a negotiating tool so they can talk about how the process isnt working for them. I would guess that thats probably likely. I mean, like daniel said, this is kind of a nonstarter with a lot of the people on this list, so i would assume that, you know, the more people that democrats refuse to put forward, the more ammunition against republicans i mean, its important to kind of keep in context the broader atmosphere that were working with. Obviously, we have President Trump at the top and hes running a Reelection Campaign right now, so this is all part of that political ammunition, at least from the republican side, and they see the democrats sort of as more fodder, you know, to use in potential campaign aids or just talking points as the president continues to go about on the trail. Daniel, we also had President Trump throwing out this, dangling this yesterday. Listen. Now they want to have a transcript of the other call, the second call, and im willing to provide that. Well probably give it to you on tuesday. Monday being a holiday. Well probably give it to you on tuesday. But we have another transcript coming out, which is very important. They asked for it, and id gladly give it. Daniel, why does the president think that contents of an earlier call is going to change anything from the one we already know about here . I mean, what is the strategy behind this, do you think . Im not really sure. Its a little puzzling. But obviously, the president thinks that an earlier call will demonstrate that his relationship with the ukraine government has always been germane. I mean, i havent seen the transcript of the call yet. Right. But it sounds from what the president has said that the argument will be, see . In this call, i did not say to the ukraine government, if you dont investigate hunter biden, were going to withhold all u. S. Aid to the country. Therefore, nothing happened. But hanna i guess thats what hes going to say. Is it possible for that logic to actually work out for the president here, looking at what we know as just the facts . No, because i dont think the logic really makes much sense. I mean, weve seen other i think whats important is, as the public testimony ramps up, i mean, this is a chance for people to really get a sense, sort of a birdseye view and not so much of the nitty gritty of whats going on. So, i think that sort of defense or that rationale that President Trump has outlined there doesnt seem to make much sense, and i think as the public testimonies become more prominent and in full view for people to see, its going to make less and less sense as that kind of continues because it doesnt sort of jive with the facts as they stand currently. Okay. I want to also get to this other big headline out this morning, some good news for Michael Bloomberg, whos thinking about getting into the race. A new Morning Consult poll out today shows the former new york mayor, whos weighing that run for president , he would lead President Trump by six points in a hypothetical headtohead matchup. Bloomberg originally said he would not run, but news broke this week that hes reconsidering that because his adviser says hes, quote, increasingly concerned that the field of current or the current field of candidates is not well positioned to beat trump. Now, this morning, consult polls shows that if he does not officially throw his hat in the ring, bloomberg would enter the race in sixth place between Kamala Harris and andrewening. And of course, joe biden at the top of that heap there. So, hanna, how do you interpret this poll . Is this realistic in your mind in terms of what the field actually looks like on the ground . Its interesting. You know, i think we see a lot of democrats right now currently beating trump, so he would be one of, you know, almost two dozen who are still in the race. But you know, i think a lot of democrats have kind of rolled their eyes to be diplomatic about it with the possible entrance of bloomberg, including joe biden, who in particular would kind of sort of occupy that same moderate lane. Of course, hes had many more fundraising struggles, so i think hes looking at Michael Bloombergs 50 billionsome that hes worth and thinking, you know, this could be a potential threat to me. But in terms of the other candidates, i mean, everybody, you know, is kind of intent on running their own campaign. Thats what a lot of these aides and strategists say. But i think, you know, its definitely ruffled a few feathers and just, you know, potentially shaking up the race in a way that nobodys sort of saw coming at this point. Daniel, do you think that bloomberg potentially weakens the democratic field by getting in . I mean, theres always this worry that more candidates in the race will split the vote. For moderates and skeptics of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and the wing of the party that sees an ultraliberal candidate as the antidote to donald trump, bloomberg is a welcome face. The fact that he has a deep war chest, that hes always styled himself less as a hyper liberal and more as a moderate and that hes incredibly competitive in a primary probably gives moderates a sense of relief, especially since joe biden, while leading for the entirety of this race, has still not been able to scare away most of the democrats hes been running with. All right. Daniel strauss, it is extremely early central time. Thank you for joining us. Hanna trudo, also thank you for getting up early in d. C. We appreciate it. Thanks. Thank you. Next in the impeachment inquiry, President Trump wants Mick Mulvaney to testify, but does he really . And scapegoating the three trump allies who could become the fall guys. P allies who cldo the fall guys. 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It is funding will not flow unless the investigation into the democratic server happened as well. We do that all the time. Id love to have mick go up, frankly. I think hed do great. Get over it. Theres going to be political influence in foreign policy. Id love to have him go up. The president is now on defense saying hed now prefer to have his acting chief of staff testify before the houses impeachment inquiry. After facing new questions about his efforts to block current and former white house officials from testifying with 11 noshows just last week. Mulvaney was one of those 11 and is now requesting to join an ongoing federal lawsuit on whether he should comply with his boss, the president , or the houses subpoena. Joining us now to discuss this is msnbc legal contributor and trial lawyer katie phang and former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst glenn kirshner. Good morning. Glenn, does the president really want mulvaney to testify. No, he doesnt. Rarely can we take President Trump at his word. If he didnt want him to testify, he could say raise the right hand, swear to tell the truth and then incriminate the president , which is likely what all of these witnesses would do. I actually think its a smart move on mulvaneys part to join the suit that is differently going on in federal court to determine how to break the tie between congress issuing a subpoena and demanding testimony and the president telling people, do not testify. I dont really think its a tie, because i think the way this thing should be handled is the witness should appear, should answer questions, and then if there are questions that conjure up notions of executive privilege, thats when the witness should invoke it and only those narrow issues should then move into the courts to be decided. So, this is nothing more than sort of delay and try to keep the witnesses from presenting incriminating information about President Trump. Okay. We also have this new report in the New York Times that calls mulvaneys move, this legal move as head spinning, because instead of just going with what his boss says to do, to cooperate, he sent his lawyers to ask a judge whether he has to testify. So, do you see this as a move that should concern President Trump . It definitely should, because for mulvaney, kupperman and john bolton, the ultimate determination by the court gives cover to those witnesses to be able to say, hey, look, i was going to come, the court said i didnt have to, or hey, look, i have to go because the court says i have to show up. And so, whats really interesting, though, is its gotten very convoluted, jo, because the kupperman lawsuit, actually, the house subpoena has now been withdrawn for Charles Kupperman and the house said, dismiss that lawsuit, judge, because its really moot now, theres really nothing for you to decide. But the judge in that case, because we now have this motion from mulvaney to join in that lawsuit, has scheduled a hearing by phone, 5 00 p. M. Tomorrow. Tomorrows veterans day. Courthouse is closed, but that judge in federal court wants to be able to make a decision as to whether or not mulvaney can join this lawsuit to be able to have an ultimate determination. But really, we have another lawsuit thats been going on by don mcgahn, and that mcgahn lawsuit should have a ruling by the end of this month, which would be before anything that came out of that dunk kupperman case. So everyones waiting with bated breath to see what happens in that mcgahn lawsuit because that will determine whether things need to be done with subpoenas or not. But you should not defy a subpoena and this is obstruction of justice. Its keeping congress from getting answers that we as the American Public deserve to get. Well, on that point, the oral arguments of the case, theyre set for early december. So looking at the calendar, both of you, glenn, first of all, do you see this as just a way to punt the ball and kick the can down the road from the white house, since the house dems have already expressed their interest in getting this done as quickly as possible . Whats your take on that reporting . Yeah, it is. Its in part running out the clock. And you know, i agree with katie, the mcgahn lawsuit, which is kind of still up and running, the kupperman lawsuit is sort of in a precarious position right now. Well know more tomorrow, perhaps. But heres what i think is going on. If they can sort of delay having to appear before congress by waiting for the courts to decide if these witnesses have what is really a fiction, absolute immunity, they dont, then what theyll do lets assume the court says, no absolute immunity, comply with the subpoena. Theyll go to court, theyll begin testifying, and then theyll do what i suggested a few minutes ago. Theyll say, you know what, i had to appear, i have no absolute immunity, but i still invoke executive privilege. That now requires yet another round of hearings in federal court, which is just another way to delay all this. I think the house has got it right. When they say, listen, you dont want to appear, were going to assume that that would be because youd provide incriminating information against the president , and were just going to move on to the patriotic witnesses, the vindmans, the fiona hills, the ambassador yovanovitches, the kents, and that is where well get our evidence. Katie, do you agree with that . Oh, yeah, absolutely. Because look, when you actually invoke, for example the fifth amendment if youre being questioned and you say i invoke my fifth amendment right against selfincrimination, what happens is an adverse inference or negative inference can be drawn and presented to say a jury. So, i think its a really important thing here for everybody to also remember, as we saw in the runup to this segment, mulvaney has already basically testified, hasnt he . Hes already told all of us that the quid pro quo not only happened, but it happens all the time in this Trump Administration. Do i really need mulvaney anymore if im congress . No. He gave me what i needed and you know what hes going to say, i was lying when i did that presser in front of the world . Hell never do that. So mulvaney, lets check that box, move on and try to get bolton there. But glenns right, if youre not going to come forward and be truth and transparent, well just assume you were going to hurt the ultimate person, which is President Trump. Is that a safe assumption to make, though, as the democrats are trying to gather evidence . Because we are dealing with an administration here, including the president himself, who routinely say things on the record publicly and then routinely do not want to do the same in a setting like a hearing or a more sort of stratified setting. Well, is there a fear that maybe later on during the senate trial because listen, thats an inevitable thing. Were going to get articles of impeachment against donald trump. Were going to go to a trial in the senate. Is there a fear that maybe theyll come forward during the senate trial and Say Something that supports donald trump . Sure, but will we really be surprised . No. We have people who have come forward under oath, under penalties of perjury and have said whats happened and implicated these people. Now its like who are the patriots who said the truth and the people who hid behind some alleged privilege and didnt show up. Then suddenly when it came to the trial, suddenly they found jesus and they were able to find the truth then . No. It doesnt fly, in my opinion. All right, katie phang, glenn kirsch snare, thank you. Well talk about how the gop witness list could turn the hearings into a circus. Well see how that goes. Weve got the letter here and well dig into that. The warren tax proposal, is it just a small price to pay for americas money class . The bottom line coming up. Americas money class . The bottom line coming up. You may have heard some billionaires on tv recently crying about that 2cent wealth tax. Aw. Aw. Aw great riches will find you when Liberty Mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Wow. Thanks, zoltar. How can i ever repay you . Maybe you could free zoltar . Thanks, lady. Taxi only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. A wealth of information. A wealth of perspective. A wealth of opportunities. Thats the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. 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The frigid weather could also bring more snow already blanketing several areas of the country. Family and friends gathered saturday at a church in northern mexico to say goodbye to the last victim of a Cartel Ambush that killed several women and children from a mormon community. Survivors of mondays attack say Christina Langford johnson jumped out of her vehicle and waved her hands to show she was not a threat but was shot dead anyway. No arrests have been made in that situation. And a new controversial law many say criminalizes the homeless goes into effect today in las vegas. Earlier this week, city officials passed an ordinance making it illegal to sleep or camp in downtown in residential and public areas as long as there are open beds available at homeless shelters. The criminal provisions of the new law will not go into effect until february. Senator Elizabeth Warren catching some heat from some of the nations richest this week over her wealth tax plan. Warren wants to fund her medicare for all plan with a 6 tax on every dollar a person has over 1 billion and a 2 tax on anyone with more than 50 million. That did not sit well with some of the countrys top ceos. She uses some pretty harsh words, some would sayvilleifies successful people. I dont like vilifying anybody. Ive paid over 10 billion in taxes. Ive paid more than anyone in taxes. But you know, im glad to have paid, you know. If i would have had to have paid 20 billion, its fine. But you know, when you say i should pay 100 billion, okay, then im starting to do a little math about what i have left over. Elizabeth warren responding with a calculator where billionaires and anyone else whos curious can see how much the wealthiest americans would chip in under her plan. Sibile marcellus is a reporter with Yahoo Finance and is here with us now. Good morning. Good morning, jo. Okay, so, is this a good strategy for warren . Does it help further the fact that the current i mean, what does this do . Because the current occupant of the white house also happens to be a billionaire. Does this help trump . Yeah, so, i dont think it helps trump. It helps Elizabeth Warren. Lets remember, right now shes fighting to get the nomination to run for president as the democrat. So, right now shes fighting that battle. And when it comes to what the Democratic Party wants right now, its somebody whos going to lead the fight for fixing income inequality. Its a huge problem in the country right now. And what were seeing is that billionaires are revolting against her wealth tax. Now, to kind of break it down, this is what shes proposing. 2 tax for every dollar for households that have over 50 million and a 6 tax on every dollar for households with more than 1 billion. Now, experts say that with that wealth tax, its going to generate 2. 75 trillion, and she wants to use that money to pay for all her proposals that shes been saying on the campaign trail. Were talking about medicare for all. Were talking about forgiving Student Loan Debt. Were facing a 1. 5 trillion Student Loan Debt crisis right now. She also wants to use that money to pay for quality public education, free public college, and also expand ss. So, shes proposing a lot of things, but shes also coming up with a plan for how to pay for it. How did you read the reaction from jamie dimon and bill gates there. Yeah, so jamie dimon was basically saying Elizabeth Warren is trying to punish, vilify successful people. They should instead be applauded. And Elizabeth Warren is fighting back, hitting back, positioning herself as the person who cant be bought. Shes already said that she is going to turn down money from wall street firms, from fossil fuel the fossil fuel industry, and big tech, big pharma, if its over 200. She also said shes not taking any money from pacs and federal lobbyists. So in terms of her positioning for her campaign, this plays right into her hand. The billionaires actually attacking her only helps her image as the woman who actually wants to take on wall street and big money and reach some income equality in the country. What does this mean for Michael Bloomberg, whos thinking about getting into the race, another billionaire, someone shes criticizing, not directly, but in terms of how much tax bloomberg should be paying . What does this do with her argument with the base of the Democratic Party . Well, shes pulling all the punches. She actually put Mike Bloomberg on her website for the calculator for billionaires. And i even wrote it down. For Mike Bloomberg, she said under her wealth tax, he would pay 3 billion. So, shes on fire right now. She would definitely make sure that Mike Bloomberg is one of those billionaires that also pays for her wealth tax. But as we know, Mike Bloomberg actually wants to get into the race, so hes probably not likely wanting to pay that wealth tax himself. Well, you wrote a piece a few weeks ago, arguing that wall street is scared of Elizabeth Warren. We know that Mark Zuckerberg at facebook is certainly concerned about legal action that may be taken against big tech. I mean, why are investors so i mean, i guess the real question is, how nervous are they about the prospect of a warren presidency, given where she is currently in the polls and what we see in the current landscape . So, many investors are scared of Elizabeth Warren. They fear that if she is elected president , its going to have a huge impact on their wealth and also in terms of their investments and their portfolio. So, i was actually speaking to an analyst who said that when clients call, they usually love to talk about football and then talk about their portfolio. But these days, because Elizabeth Warren has been doing so well in the polls, sometimes shes the frontrunner, that its very tight, when they see that, they go, whoa. All they want to talk about is Elizabeth Warren. They want to catch up on her proposals and find out exactly how shes going to impact their money and their portfolio. Interesting stuff. Weve got it here on wall street. Sibile marcellus, thank you. Thanks, jo. Now to a story from liverpool, london, about john lennon and a place that inspired the artist on one of the groups most memorable songs. Nbcs Kelly Cobiella takes us to the new Strawberry Fields. Reporter theyre one of the greatest bands of all time and Strawberry Fields forever one of their greatest songs. Strawberry fields forever written by john lennon, who used to play in the gardens of strawberry field, a Salvation Army home for girls in liverpool. Its a beautiful space to just walk around. It is. Reporter julia baird is lennons half sister. What do you think this place meant to john . I think it meant an awful lot to him. The first thing that we know, which he wrote about, was strawberry field. The song is describing how he would come here. So it was obviously a place of importance to him. Reporter for decades, beatles fans have come here to take pictures of the famous red gates, but the gardens were overgrown. The victorian home empty, damaged by fire. Now, lennons playground has been reborn. Let me take you down to the new Strawberry Fields, open to the public for the first time, where fans can follow the beatles footsteps. This place, which was such an inspiration to a young john lennon, is now part museum, part meditation space, and much more. A place where young adults with learning disabilities are taught life skills. Ive done new things, bigger things that ive never done before. You feel like john lennons presence is here around the building, making your confidence grow. Reporter it all works out in a way john lennon the boy, playing in these fields, could never have imagined. Kelly cobiella, nbc news, liverpool. Kelly, thanks. The new Strawberry Fields will officially open tuesday with a ribboncutting ceremony. And its perhaps the biggest reason joe biden might survive the wounds of the 2020 battlefield and emerge with the democratic nomination. Next, the new evidence this morning helping bidens cause. S morning helping bidens uscae. dramatic orchestra performance comes in lots of flavors. Theres the ampedup, overtuned, feedingfrenzyof sheetmetalkind. And then theres performance that just leaves you feeling better as a result. Thats the kind lincolns about. Itso chantix can help you quit slow turkey. 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Prof Maria Ramirez mom and dad Maria Ramirez to help more employees achieve their dreams. Mom and dad Maria Ramirez must be hot out there, huh . Not especially. [ slurping continues ] what you drinking . Gasoline. Right, but i mean, whats in the cup . Gasoline. [ slurping ] for those who were born to ride, theres progressive. Now to 2020 and a new poll showing how big a threat Michael Bloomberg could be to the president s reelection bid. The poll put bloomberg six points ahead of the president in a hypothetical headtohead matchup. Elizabeth warren, Bernie Sanders and joe biden also leading President Trump by between four and six points each. And the margin of error, of course, 3 there. Joining us now is progressive commentator and radio talk show host Rashad Richey and Daniel Strauss back with us from chicago. Guys, good morning again. Good morning. Good morning. Okay, so, rashad, do these numbers help bloombergs case to democrats for getting into the race . Because if you also look at the other numbers, he has the highest unfavorability rating at 25 of all the dems. Yeah. Nobodys checking for bloomberg to run for president. And when you look at the numbers of him polling at 6 in a headtohead matchup against President Trump, thats not a great number because similar polling data shows that biden is actually 17 points ahead of trump in a headtohead matchup and then sanders is 15 points ahead of trump. So when you look at the comparative data, bloomberg is actually the low tier in the field, and this guy is a former republican, a white male billionaire running in a progressive atmosphere of democratic politics. He has absolutely no chance to win the democratic nomination for president. Okay. Thats a statement from rashad there. Daniel, how significant is it that bloomberg appears stronger . Do you buy what rashad is saying here from your reporting . I mean, look, if you look at that poll, there is a confidence among the electorate that a more moderate candidate is more competitive against President Trump. At the same time, though, you have to factor in that bloombergs name i. D. Is relatively low. Warren and sanders have been in the race for much longer. They have grown their name i. D. And Vice President biden as well. At the same time, though, the fact that biden is still polling pretty close to President Trump in this poll could indicate a question about his viability in this primary, and that bloomberg is a relative unknown gives voters the opportunity to think that he can be the viable candidate that seems to be missing from this race. Rashad, can bloomberg pull this off without going to those first four states and just pumping his own money into later states for super tuesday . Well, he can mathematically, but once again, i dont think that will happen. But mathematically, based on how the delegate count works for the democratic primary, he does have a roadmap to actually pull it off, but he still has to win the heart, the mind, the soul of the individual democratic voter. And while were looking at National Polling as it relates to the democratic primary, democratic primaries are not national contests. They are done state to state, caucus to caucus. And when you look at the breakout for state to state, he still doesnt fair well. And you have to look at the outside of this. Yeah, he is a viable candidate in a general election. He at least seems to be competitive, but he has to make it out of the democratic primary first, and thats the election he has to secure. Well, rashad, bloombergs adviser is telling politico the shift in this electability question in the general is certainly behind bloombergs interest in joining the race. And he said, the data shifted after impeachment. Democrats were always focused on electability, but after ukraine that impulse became even stronger. And the current field is not well poised for success. How do you see it . Well, 97 of democratic voters say that it is very important or extremely important to defeat donald trump. So, the electability argument is primary in this debate. But outside of that, you cant throw away the electability argument totally. There are some who are saying we dont care, we just want someone who excites us, who motivates the base. Where did the electability argument even start . Well, it started in the early 1970s with senator mcgovern. Senator mcgovern was the Democratic Party nominee. He ran on an antiwar platform. He excited the base. Democrats were happy that he was in it, that he was the nominee. He represented the Progressive Agenda of the Democratic Party. Well, in 1972, when that progressive senator mcgovern went to a general election against nixon, nixon mopped the floor with this guy in 49 states. He won 49 states against mcgovern, and it is to this day the largest electoral and popular vote victory in the history of the United States. So you cant throw away the argument of electability totally, but i dont think you need to lead with it either. Okay. So, daniel, maybe cant lean on it entirely here, but the monmouth electability ratings we have here dropped after biden, warren and sanders. So i want to ask you about these numbers. Do other candidates still at this stage have a shot to break into that top tier for the perception of electability . I mean, is there a shot here . I know we have a couple more debates to go before the end of the year, but what does your reporting tell you . Yeah, absolutely. I mean, what weve seen from these debates is that a breakout moment can be a gamechanger. It can shift a candidate from the lower tier of the primary to the very head of the pack. All you need is just a good moment in one of these upcoming debates, maybe the one in atlanta or the one in december hosted by politico, where there is an opportunity to prove that, somehow, if youre any of these candidates, you have an argument, you have a view of the case that can appeal to voters and counter donald trump. All right. Daniel strauss, Rashad Richey, thank you guys. Thanks. Thank you. New hope for an american kidnapped in iran more than a decade ago. Is he any closer to being released . Hane y closer to bein released oh theres no place like home for the holidays. cause no matter how far away you roam. When you pine for the sunshine of a friendly gaze. For the holidays you cant beat home sweet home. The United States Postal Service goes the extra mile to bring your holidays home. Rather than worry about how to pay for longterm care. 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I talk to my wife at least once a day, even though shes on the other side of the world. announcer they now get a year of amazon prime on us, and can mix and match their unlimited plans for 30 a line. Thats verizon. New today theres confusion over the fate of an american man missing in iran since 2007. The case involves robert we voin who disappeared working as a private contractor on an unauthorized cia mission. He was facing charges there. Levinsons family reacted with optimism asking for more information and saying they welcome iran taking the first step to end their 12 year nightmare. But today Irans Foreign Ministry now says the case does not involve criminal charges, its merely a missing persons case, quote opened on the basis of goodwill and humanityian issues. Joining me now to discuss this is columnist and member of the Editorial Board of bloomberg. Bobby, what does this development in the last 24 hours mean . Well, it seems that the Iranian Regime is of two minds whether or not to admit this person is in their custody. Yesterday it seemed like after years and years of denying it they seemed to acknowledge they have him and he was being tried and today they are once again stepping back to say, its a missing persons case. They are leaving ambiguity about whether hes actually in an iranian prison. This is not untypical of the Iranian Regime. Trying the to have their cake and eat it too. They are dangling the possibility that they have him and that they may be willing to make a deal over robert levinson, but at the same time giving themselves plausible deniability to say we never said we had him. Last week the u. S. Government as a whole rose the reward to 20 million for information and u. S. Calling on iran to discuss any potential prisoner swap through diplomatic channels. What do you know as to whats happening behindthescenes here . To be honest i have no special information about whats going on behindthescenes. But theres a formula for this. Theres been an international a tradition of countries exchanging captured spies, we remember many, many instances of this during the cold war between the soviet union and the United States. Theres a tradition of this. And theres also a form you go through in order to make these exchanges possible. In this case theres a complication that the United States does not have the diplomatic presence in iran and therefore an intermediate yery probably be the swiss would be used. There was a video released a couple of years after he was originally taken showing him alive. He was holding a placard saying help me. It was very clear that he had been taken by a group and was being held captive. But the iranian government cannot bring itself the to say openly they have him. Makes negotiation more complicated. Not impossible but more complicated. How do you interpret the optimism coming from the levinson family. Theres so much hope for more information here. We know theres at least four other americans in detention in iran and you see the Trump Administration making some of this more of a priority, pompeo talked a little bit about it recently. How do you interpret what the administration is doing here versus past administrations . Well, there are two aspects to this. For the family you can only feel enormous sympathy for their situation. Theyve not known for a while now whether their father and brother is alive or not. And so any indication that he might, indeed, be alive would be reason to have hope and we can only sympathize and hope with them that this is the beginning of the end of a long trauma for them. From the u. S. Administrations point of view, well again theres a tradition of these kinds of exchanges. After the signing of the nuclear deal in 2015 with iran, there was a release of some americans, dual nationals that were being held in iran. The other four, iran has acknowledged they have them and has actually the Iranian Foreign minister in new york earlier this year openly suggested that he would be willing to talk about a deal, an exchange of some kind. Iran wants a deal from the u. S. It wants first and foremost release from economic sanctions, but there may be other demands lower than that threshold that it could put in exchange for its hostages. Thank you for your perspective this morning. The republican wish list of impeachment witnesses, theres a sharp response this morning from the lead democrat. One word in particular stands out. Thats next. From managing inventory. To detecting and preventing threats. To scaling up your production. Giving you a nice big edge over your competition. Thats the power of edgetoedge intelligence. I am royalty of racing, i am alfa romeo. 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