District of new york claim it was a, quote, scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors. I want to go to Nbc National Security and justice correspondent tom winter, nbcs Shannon Pettypiece at the white house and nbcs ben collins who covers disinformation, extremism and the internet. Tom, ill start with you. Walk us through this indictment and what does it potentially mean for steve bannon . A couple of things. New details from our colleague in new york, quoting a senior Law Enforcement official, bannon was arrested this morning while aboard a boat off the coast of westbrook, connecticut. Bannon was not the owner of that boat. He is in federal custody as we reported earlier on msnbc, and he will be in a federal courthouse later today. We dont have the specific timing of that. Hell face his arraignment today and the judge will likely hear whether or not bannon will get bail. Its expected that he will in this particular case. The indictment here, two charges in two counts, focused specifically on what you laid out at the beginning, which is essentially they used this private group called we build the wall to solicit donations to privately build the southern border wall with mexico. According to the charging documents, that was not, in fact, what the money went to in large part. In large part the money went to one of the people that bannon was working with to fund his as the acting u. S. Attorney Audrey Strauss says, his lavish lifestyle. This is really a pretty straightforward indictment. It details something that is against the law. You cant solicit donations, say its going to a certain cause and turn around and use it for your own personal gain and personal good. Bannon is alleged to be part of this along with three other people. Thats kind of the heart of the charges here today. As you reported, based on the reporting of our colleague hallie jackson, hes expected to plead not guilty. The maximum sentence that bannon could get for both of the charges here is 20 years each, although a big asterisk on that. Those maximum penalties would only typically be reached in a much broader indictment and perhaps with a crime of violence. None of that is alleged here. Given his lack of previous legal exposure from the standpoint of federal criminal charges, i dont expect him to get anywhere near that. If he is convicted, probably o the order of perhaps a year or two, maybe a little more than that. Thats if hes convicted. What weve talked about here are just allegations today. Thats the latest on the case here so far, craig. Stand by for me if you can, tom. I want to turn to shannon pet pettypiece at the white house. Not the first person or the second or the third or the fourth or the fifth in the president s orbit to face legal trouble from the justice department. Steve bannon, paul manafort, roger stone, general flynn, michael cohen, rick gates, just to name a few. What are we hearing from the white house, from trump world about all this so far, shannon . Reporter were hearing the same response that we often hear from the white house, a number of the names, the president s former associates is indicted, the white house trying to distance themselves, saying they have nothing to do with steve bannon or his time at the white house. He left the white house a number of years ago. The president , though, last month brought this group up after there was reporting that a section of wall they built had been eroding. The president said he disagreed with their plan to build the wall and said it was only done and this is from a tweet that he posted as a way to make me look bad and perhaps it doesnt even work, he said. There was also a New York Times interview back from 2019 where this issue came up with chris cobat, the former kansas secretary of state. He said that the president did support this effort and he was quoted as saying the president said that this project has my blessing and you can tell that to the media. So unclear how much involvement the president actually had in this, even though it is separate from the white house and any efforts that the white house had under way to build a wall. Ben, date back to 2018, you were digging into the background of brian kolfage, the founder of that fundraiser who has also now been indicted. Walk us through what you learned in your reporting about him, this fundraiser and some of the other folks behind it, if you can. Brian kolfage is not new to this idea of scheming to get a bunch of email addresses. Once they get those email addresses, they use it to get more email addresses. Initially he ran a bunch of fake websites. After that, those websites were taken down. He started fundraising on the idea that free speech, he was silenced, because his websites were taken down. After that, he started this we build the wall campaign. That took off like crazy, 20 million in donations. Some through gofundme which they took down and refunded all those people. Some people gave them money, straight up, through the website. Now we know a lot of that money through shell corporations were spent to give kolfage plastic surgery. They said to fund a lavish lifestyle which is what was happening there. But by the time a lot of people in the trump orbit were involved whether kolfage or erik prince, betsy devoss husband, this became a large scale project to at least put up, i would say, immaterial amount of call along the southern border, to buy it from private land and put it up there. This is a long running, months long scheme that took in tens of millions of dollars. Its not a smalltime thing at all. Ben, to be clear, these are people who went online and were giving money to a private organization to build a border wall, not to oversimplify it, r but is that what they were doing . Thats precisely what they were doing. They were responding to a viral hasht hashtag. Just send us some cash, well find a way to make it happen, not knowing that kolfage is tied to some seedier parts of the internet. Thats what he did. He said i promise you, ill put this to use. Even at the time, we knew at the time that this was clearly not on the up and up, and the people around him were tied directly to bannon at the time. The press contact for this, we texted him this morning, dustin stockton, he had his rv raided this morning. He started a website with steve bannon two years ago. This is all one big soup. The far right wing mediasphere is all tied up in this we fund the wall thing. Now we find out there were shell corporations involved, funding this lifestyle of these people and not building that much wall at all. We were just showing pictures, before the pictures of man fort, we should tell our viewers the picture of the gentleman in the wheelchair is brian kolfage, a triple amputee, iraq war vet. You said the fundraiser could have larger goals beyond building a wall. Do we know what those goals could be or could have been . The point at the time, when we saw from leaked emails that were leaked to us from people close to kolfage. It was to build a massive email list, two purposes. One which is to fund that lifestyle and you can sell those lists to political organizations who can use them as they want to. There were people, republicans in government using these email lists tied to this website called big league politics. This is a big money game in politics, to get peoples information, harvested through other means which they can then target other political messages to them. Again, that is a theres a financial incentive to this, but also a political incentive as well. Tom winter, while i have you, this isnt the only big legal headline in the president s orbit this morning. The federal judge overseeing that trump tax lawsuit between the president and manhattans d. A. , cy vance, it sounds like he tossed out the suit brought by President Trump. What happens next . I believe its actually happened in the last few seconds while weve been speaking which is for President Trumps attorneys to come forward and to ask for an emergency stay. Essentially saying, judge, before these records are turned over, can you just stop that process for now, because we want to appeal to the Second Circuit court of appeals and ask them to take a look at the judges decision, as you said, craig, to toss that lawsuit today. The judge clearly agreeing with the arguments by Manhattan District Attorney cy vance saying this is part of the normal subpoena process. Seeing as the Supreme Court has cleared the way from the standpoint of president ial privilege, its time to turn over these documents. This was anticipated, that not only would the judge rule this way, but also that the president would then appeal to the Second Circuit court of appeals. At this point there will be briefs filed, possible this will be argued in front of three of the judges, perhaps then later a panel of judges. Again, the timeline holds that weve been talking about over the past several weeks since that Supreme Court decision that essentially its going to be perhaps a few more weeks, if not a few more months before Manhattan District Attorney cy vance will perhaps get a chance to look at those underlying tax documents taking us past, if the Court Schedule holds, typically holds, of course it could be expedited, but taking us past election day, craig. So much to digest on this thursday morning. Tom winter, Shannon Pettypiece, ben collins, appreciate all your work there on the dark web. Well be checking in with you throughout the afternoon. Lets bring in chuck rosenberg, former u. S. Attorney, former fbi official, now an msnbc contributor. Chuck, these charges against these four defendants including steve bannon, how serious are they . Very serious, craig. On one hand, its a simple straightforward case. They promised people they were raising money for a certain purpose, and then they diverted the purpose to their personal use, so simple case. That doesnt mean its not a serious case. So far theyve been charged with two conspiracy counts each, conspiracy to commit Money Laundering which carries a 20year statutory maximum penalty and a conspiracy to commit wire fraud which carries the same 20year statutory max. As tom winter said earlier, theyre very unlikely to get 40 years in jail each, but these are serious felonies in a simple and straightforward case. Sources familiar with this case, chuck, say bannon is going to plead not guilty. What are the next steps . Almost everyone pleads not guilty at their initial appearance. Ive seen people try to plead guilty at that stage of the proceeding, and a judge wont even take it. A judge wont take it until shes satisfied that defense counsel have done their work, theyve looked at discovery materials, they understand the case and they can present the defense, if there is one. We should expect everybody to plead not guilty today. That doesnt mean they wont plead guilty at some point. As i mentioned, this is a very straightforward case. Ive read the indictment this morning, it seems pretty simple. They promised one thing to contributors which was that none of the contributions would go for personal expenses and salaries, and quite the opposite happened. Dont be surprised, craig, to see some of these not guilty pleas turn into guilty pleas and some of these defendants, in fact, might cooperate with the government against their coconspirators or others. Chuck, i believe youve said this before on our air. Typically when the feds bring a case, they typically have the goods, right . They typically have the goods. In fact, im glad you mentioned that. There is an unsung federal Law Enforcement agency that did the lions share of the work on this case, the u. S. Postal inspection service. I worked with them as a prosecutor. Theyre wonderful. Its nice to see them doing a case of this profile. But, yes, quite so, craig. They have the goods. Everything in the indictment you should presume the government can prove and prove easily. In other words, what you see in an indictment is admissible evidence, stuff the government will use at trial. If you read the indictment its only 24 pages it lays out a very clear, simple, straightforward fraud scheme. So, yes, you should expect that the government can prove its case. The case at least according to the indictment appears overwhelming to me. Will there be defenses . There are always defenses, but the overwhelming majority of defendants in the federal criminal Justice System end up pleading guilty. Many of themnd up cooperating. Again, steve bannon taken into custody reportedly this morning in connecticut by the Postal Service inspectors. It has been a very long time in this country since weve spent so much time talking about the post office. Chuck rosenburg, thank you, thank you. What can we expect to hear from joe biden when he takes the big step of accepting the partys nomination today . Well also drill into the two big speeches from two historic figures, president barack obama and senator Kamala Harris, one an introduction, the other a dire warning. Dont you just love the look on the kids faces. Yea, that look of pure terror. No, no, the smile. And that second right before the first tear comes. What . pizza on a bagelwe can all agree with that. Do you want a hug . Techand your car. , were committed to taking care of you tech well fix it right with nocontact service you can trust. Tech so if you have auto glass damage, stay safe with safelite. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. For spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub . Grubhubs gonna reward you for that with a 5 off perk. doorbell rings [crowd] grubhub fireworks exploding Simon Pagenaud takes the lead at the indy 500 coming to the green flag, racing at daytona. Theyre off. In the kentucky derby. Rory mcllroy is a two time champion at east lake. He scores stanley cup champions touchdown only mahomes. The big events are back and xfinity is your home for the return of live sports. We are just hours away now from the final night of the Democratic National convention. Tonights theme is americas promise. After days of hearing from those who know him best, we will finally hear from joe biden as he accepting the partys nomination for president. It follows a night two of big speeches from former president obama and now the Vice President ial nominee Kamala Harris. I want to go right to Shaquille Brewster and ali vitali, both still in wilmington, delaware, ahead of the final night of the convention. Shaq, ill start with you. This theme, americas promise. Well watch joe biden accept the nomination tonight. What do we know about what were going to hear from him tonight . Reporter craig, Vice President bidens message has been consistent sainz the day he announced his candidacy. You heard the phrase that were in the battle for the soul of the nation. As we heard throughout the convention, tonight is the time for Vice President biden to make the case that he is the best person to lead this battle, to win this battle for the soul of the nation. A source close to the process tells nbc news this is a speech that has been developed and worked on really all through out the summer. Its been largely locked in for the past two weeks. The Vice President , the source says, has had a heavy hand in developing this speech. Its something that, you look at the entire convention and how this has been built up to. It has all built up to tonight. Monday we heard a lot about President Trump and the failures that the democrats feel this president has and the call for unity. Tuesday it helped personalize Vice President biden and talk about his personal story and how he carries that empathy with him. Yesterday we heard more policy details, policy proposals that he would bring to the white house and the call for urgency that we heard from president obama. Today it will be Vice President bidens chance to make the case for himself, to connect all those themes weve been talking about, his personal story and saying hes the best person to lead the country at this moment. But, of course, he will not be the only one speaking today. Theres another lineup of speakers well hear from. It goes from mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of atlanta, the governor of california, gary newsom. Well hear from his colleagues, chris kuntz from delaware, tammy wald win from wisconsin, Tammy Duckworth from illinois. You ol hear people who work for him day in and day out, by the end of the night, it will be up to Vice President biden to make the case for himself. This is the time for him to say this is his moment and to connect his personal story to the moment were in and saying this is the time for his leadership in this country. Craig. Vice President Biden hoping three times is the charm. Ali vitali, the speeches last night, history making. A forceful speech from former president obama, then senator harris accepting the nomination. Take us how these speeches came together. What do we know about that process . Even just the overarcing theme of the night, shaq touched on this, a master class in substantive storytelling, deeper on the policy front but still connecting this narrative of United America on a policy front trying to push past the Trump Administration. Its the democratic message weve heard throughout the week but with strong messengers like hillary clinton, elizabeth warren, of course, barack obama and Kamala Harris in those two keynote speeches to cap off the night. Start with president obama, it was unprecedented, and i know thats a word we toss around a lot, but in this case it really does fit. President s dont typically attack other president s, especially not in the way that obama did last night, rebuking trump not on seemingly petty policy politics, but instead focusing remarks on trump eroding democracy. That was clearly a pointed message. What it allowed was Kamala Harris then to use her own remarks as an introduction. This is something that shes able to do as a running mate. Its whats expected in this lowell. You operate on two tracks. You operate as the attack dog, someone who can take it to the opposing team. In this case she sprinkled in attack lines against president dru trump, but she needed to tell the story line, talking about the great rewowork she did in t recession as attorney general. But also telling about how Kamala Harris and joe biden have a plan to lead America Forward if they were to win in november. We mentioned, though, this was an historic night. Of course, that was the backdrop to it. What i thought Kamala Harris would do is really what she did, make reference to the women who came before her, who paved the way for her to get this historic nomination. She did a lot to normalize it, only kissing on the historic nature of the moment. Instead pushing past it to try to normalize as much as possible women and women of color in executive leadership spaces. All of us watched that speech on tv. I was actually in the room where it erie, all the pieces of this convention have been so unconventional. Youve been in convention halls, theyre loud, rowdy, raucous. This was none of those things. Hearing this speech, it hammered home to me that as much as this is very uncharted territory, the format has allowed democrats to do something i dont think they would have otherwise been able to do, which is to give somber and direct appeals to camera about the moment theyre in and why theyre the ones to lead america out of it. Ali vitali there in wilmington, Shaq Brewster in wilmington, delaware as well. A big thanks to both of you. Thank you both. I want to bring in ben lebolt now. Served president obama as press secretary during his last year as a u. S. Senator and on the campaign trail all the way to the white house. President obamas speech, it was a side of the former president that we have not seen. I believe i heard someone last night describe it as righteous anger. Felt like it was a Long Time Coming as well. Knowing the president the way you do, knowing how he works, what do you make of what we heard last night from your old boss . Well, look, i think it was a stark speech last night, maybe the starkest speech that president obama has ever given about the fact that our democracy is on the line. President obama gave President Trump a lot of space at the beginning of the administration. He wasnt out there writing opeds critiquing the president or holding press conferences. What he did with President Trump when he came into office was hold a serious briefing in the oval office about the threats facing the nation, like North Carolina north korea or the importance of obamacare. He knew the best chance for those critical policies, was not to be out there and be a daytoday critic. Donald trump didnt take any of that to heart. At this point hes a bit of a caged animal. Hes undermining the legitimacy of the Election Results long before the election happens and using the Postal Service to meddle with vote by mail. President obama who doesnt do hyperbole wants to make sure every last person in this country votes because if we dont, the country might not look like it has for the past hundreds of years come january. I want to play a part of mr. Obamas speech that stood out to a lot of folks. Here it is. They know they cant win you over with their policies. So theyre hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote and to convince you that your vote does not matter. Do not let them take away your power. Do not let them take away your democracy. He ended with a call to action, if you will, ben, speaking directly to those folks who did not show up in 2016. Do you think he broke through . Do you think that audience is going to get that message, or do you think he was just preaching to the choir last night . I do think theyre going to get that message. I think the sense this time around, look, democrats have lived in shock for the past four years. Not even donald trump thought that he was going to be elected president. And i think the message is not only get out and vote and get engaged, but you have to do it now. You cant wait two days before election day to send in your ballot. We cant guarantee that that vote is going to be counted. I think he has the unique ability to reach some of the voters that didnt turn out in 2016, that sat this one out. We heard a lot about the fact that the White Working Class helped put donald trump over the top. What we heard less about is that big pieces of the Obama Coalition didnt show up in the numbers that they had in 2008 and in 2012. I think he called joe biden my brother last night. Hes going to make sure that all those folks get out for biden. I also want to ask you about Vice President ial nominee Kamala Harris and her first moments on the stage. She reintroduced yourself and her skill set with this veiled punch. I have fought for children and survivors of sexual assault. Ive fought against transnational criminal organizations. I took on the biggest banks and helped take down one of the biggest forprofit colleges. I know a predator when i see e one. How effective was she last night . I think incredibly effective. Look, nobody has been more effective in prosecuting the case against President Trump and the Trump Administration than Kamala Harris. I think thats how the country has gotten to know her, if youve watched those Judiciary Committee hearings. She doesnt take no for an answer. Shes going to be so incredibly powerful on the stump, making that case against donald trump. Shes also a prosecutor with a record of reform and a record of making sure that our Justice System is fair, and i think that alone is quite the contrast with this administration. All right. Ben labolt, thanks as always for your insight. Nice flowers, by the way, behind you. The room rater is going to appreciate that. Out of service and dismantled, the jarring scenes weve seen come outs of more Postal Service facilities. What the po so were using a speakerphone in the store. Is that a good idea . One of the ways i do that is to get them out of the home. Youre looking for a grout brush, this is garth, did he ask for your help . No, no. No. We all see it. We all see it. He has blue hair. Okay. Blue. Progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. Keep it coming. You dont know him. When you bundle with us. Tech when youve got. Safelite can come to you. Tech and youll get a text when were on our way. Tech just leave your keys on the dash and well replace your windshield with safe, nocontact service. Tech schedule at safelite. Com. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. I got this Mountain Bike for only 11. Dealdash. Com, the fair and honest bidding site. An ipad worth 505, was sold for less than 24; a playstation 4 for less than 16; and a schultz 4k television for less than 2. I won these bluetooth headphones for 20. I got these three suitcases for less than 40. And shipping is always free. Go to dealdash. Com right now and see how much you can save. A live look right now at the white house. We can tell you that the president is meeting with the Prime Minister of iraq. And in an exchange with reporters just a few moments ago, President Trump was asked about the breaking news of the morning, the arrest of his onetime top adviser steve bannon. Were waiting on the tape to come in. Well play you those remarks when we get there. I can paraphrase, though, what the president said. He said, quote, i feel very badly. I havent been dealing with him for a very long period of time, havent been dealing with him at all. Dont know anything about the project at all. Its a very sad thing by mr. Bannon. I dont like that project. I thought it was being done for showboating reasons. It was something i very much thought was inappropriate to be doing. That coming from the president just moments ago. Im joined now by the democratic whip, senator dick durbin of illinois. Well talk about the post office in just a moment. Lets start with this breaking news. Your reaction to this indictment of steve bannon. Of course, this administration has been fraught with this sort of charge of corruption, indictments and the like related to the president s campaign and his administration. Weve seen it from the beginning. A reminder during the eight years of the Obama Administration we did not deal with this level of scandal and intrigue when it came to the white house. Theres something to be said for a president who refuses to disclose his income tax returns from the beginning. It is virtually unprecedented. There is something this president does not want america to see. As those around him are being suspected, a lot of investigations, a it really comes as no surprise. Senator, the postmaster general will testify on monday before the house and tomorrow before the senate. Less than 24 hours from now actually. Speaker pelosi apparently talked to him on wednesday. She issued a statement on the conversation. It says in part, quote, the postmaster general frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed and that plans for adequate overtime which is critical for the Timely Delivery of mail are not in the works. How troubled should americans be by that admission . What do you hope to hear tomorrow from his testimony . Let me tell you why theyre troubled. Here we have a political appointment, maybe the only postmaster general in history, with no background in the Postal Service. He comes on the scene a few weeks ago and says were going to turn this place upside down and make it an efficient service. This is the Postal Service, not the postal corporation, the postal company. He missed the premise. This is a service 90 of americans have a favorable opinion of because it serves us every day ak america and is the best Postal Service, despite its shortcomings in the world. Then comes the president and announces, oh, ballots by mail, cant count on them, fraudulent. Somebody is going to be up to tricks if we use them. So we got all the suspicion, political appointee turning the Postal Service upside down. The president doesnt want the ballots to mail to work. That is the environment that we walked into here. Now, if you listen to the Postal Service. I just got off a Conference Call with Tammy Duckworth, they say not to worry, plenty of capacity, plenty of overtime. Were going to do just fine. This is a very small part of the volume of the Postal Service, 2 to 5 , election mail. I can tell you all the leadup to it from the postmaster general and the president have genuine concerns across america created. What else came from that call, that call with senator duckworth . Senator duckworth and i were sitting down with the Postal Service and say what doesnt every piece of election material get treated as first class mail. That would be a priority treatment that america would expect when it comes to election of a president which occurs once every four years. That to me would be a good start. Secondly, lets make sure we have all the resources in place to deal with the volume of the mail in a timely fashion. I can tell you now, one of the 46 states receiving letter from the Postal Service, theyre questioning whether the Postal Service can live up to the standards of illinois law. Thats a real concern from where im sitting. Well have to leave it there. Senator dick durbin, thanks for your time. We have some breaking news, more breaking news on this thursday morning. Six years after the flint water crisis started, michigan Just Announced what could be its largest settlement ever for the victims. First though, jacksonville, floridas coronavirus outbreak was bad enough for the rnc to call off its vents there, but it has not stopped the county from reopening schools there. What more than 130,000 students can expect as they head back to the classrooms today. O the classrooms today m, readytot pieces of albacore tuna, or alaskan salmon, or ahi yellowfin with just water and sea salt. New wild catch from chicken of the sea. Enjoy the catch of the day any day. New wild catch from chicken of the sea. I wouldnt be here if i thought reverse mortgages, took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. Learn how homeowners are strategically using a reverse Mortgage Loan to cover expenses, pay for healthcare, preserve your portfolio and so much more. A reverse Mortgage Loan isnt some kind of trick to take your home. Its a loan, like any other. Big difference is how you pay it back. Find out how reverse mortgages really work with aags free, noobligation reverse mortgage guide. With a reverse mortgage, you can pay whatever you can, when it works for you, or, you can wait, and pay it off in one lump sum when you leave your home. Discover the option thats best for you. Call today and find out more. Im proud to be a part of aag, i trust em, i think you can too. Find your getupandgo. Find pants that arent sweats. Find your friends. Find your sense of wander. Find the world is new, again. At chevy wed like to take you there. Now during the chevy open road sales event, get up to 15 of msrp cash back on select 2020 models. Thats over fiftyseven hundred dollars cash back on this equinox. Its time to find new roads, again. If you add up the number of coronavirus cases in all of europe, africa, australia and new zealand, you would not get the number of cases that we have just here in the United States. Here are the latest facts on the pandemic on this thursday morning. Our country now has topped 5. 5 million cases, more than 174,000 americans have died from coronavirus. In the last three hours we learned another 1. 1 million americans filed for unemployment last week. Its the first increase in three weeks. Its also more than experts were expecting. No sign of help for those folks coming from the hill. Right now florida in day two of a hearing on reopening schools. A statewide Florida Teachers Union is arguing that heading back to the classroom for inperson learning, simply unsafe. Also right now, students in the biggest Public School district in florida to reopen so far, theyre heading back to school. Its duval county, home to the city of jacksonville. That city was set to host the Republican National convention but they pulled out because of the virus. Nbcs Priscilla Thompson is there. What are you hearing from parents dropping off their children this morning . Reporter nervous but hopeful, craig. Thats what so many parents have said to me this morning. That may be in part because of the parents had a choice in the matter. Duval county gave them the option to return students to inperson learning or they could choose out of two virtual options, one of which would allow students to start the year virtually but come back into the traditional classroom when parents feel like its safe. Most of the parents that ive spoken with today have chosen to send their students back to the classroom. I think thats important context because i did speak to one mom who is a frontline worker. She felt like she was too emotional to speak on camera. As soon as i asked her, what was it like dropping off your student today, she began to cry. She said its been incredibly scary for her, unlike any other first day of school, thats for sure. Because she doesnt know whats going to happen. I want you to take a listen to what some of the other parents said when i asked them that question. Listen in. Im feeling very good about it. Duval county has gone above and beyond to make sure the classes in the schools are safe and healthy for all our children. So theres no problem with it. Going back to school is very important, but i think theyre rushing it. I really do. I think theyre rushing it. I think we should just step back. Excited. Excited. A little nervous, but definitely excited. Reporter right now about a dozen School Districts in florida are reopen, and the state has opened that all but the largest three districts must reopen by the end of the month. Craig. Priscilla thompson in florida, thank you. Lets go back to the white house. President trump taking questions, being asked by reporters about steve bannon. This is for government, it isnt for private people. It sounded to me like showboating. I think i let my opinion be strongly stated at the tiechlt i didnt like it, it was showboating and maybe looking for funds. Youll have to see what happens. I think its a very sad thing for mr. Bannon. I think its surprising, but this was something, as you know, just by reading social media and by reading whatever it is and by speaking to mike and mike and all of them, i didnt like the project. I thought it was a project done for showboating reasons. I didnt know he was in charge. I didnt know any of the other people either. Its sad. Its very sad. Roger stone, michael flynn, paul manafort, michael cohen. Whats it say about your judgment well, i have no idea lawlessness. There was great lawlessness in the Obama Administration. They spied on our campaign illegally. If you look at all the things and all the scandals they had, they had tremendous lawlessness. I was not involved in the project. I had no idea who was. I can tell you, i didnt know the three people talked about were people i did not know. I dont believe i even met them. I dont think that should be a privately financed wall its too compl complex, too big. Were now up to 300 miles, almost. In another week, week and a half well be up to 300 miles of wall at the highest level. They were even having construction problems. I was reading the little i know about it i got from you. I was reading where they were having construction problems with the wall, they had a small area just to show people they could build a wall and having a pr lot of problems where it was toppling over and a lot of things. I didnt like it because i didnt want to be associated with that. We built a very powerful wall. It is a wall that is virtually impossible to get through. Its very, very tough. Its very strong, everything the Border Patrol wanted. I didnt want to have a wall that was going to be an inferior wall and i felt this was going to be an inferior wall. So i didnt know that. I didnt know about bannons involvement, but i didnt know the other people. But i do think its a sad event. Again, steve had a great career at goldman sachs. Hes had a career with a lot of other people. I havent dealt with him at all over years now, literally years, uh, and i guess this was a project he was involved in. But it was something that, uh, in fact you can see i made statements about it a while ago, it was something i felt was inappropriate to be doing. Please go ahead. No, go ahead, please. Reporter mr. President , the end of the [ inaudible ] one of the very important issues to civilize the country in iraq. How america is going to support ending the role in iraq. Youre very hard to understand. Could you maybe help me with that . Wait. Go ahead, try it again. [ speaking Foreign Language ] translator the United States helped iraq enormously in defeating isis and also in toppling the Saddam Hussein regi regime. We are working on building a strong relationship between iraq and the United States that is based on economic interests for the Better Future of the iraqi people and the United States people. When we came into office, isis was running rampant all over iraq and syria. And we knocked out the 100 of the isis caliphate. But the Obama Administration did a very, very poor job, they were running rampant all over, and we came in and we did a real job at that and that was a good thing. Now were working with iraq, they use the Great American dollar which is the most powerful currency in the world, and theyre starting to do well. And we are with them and this gentleman in particular, weve developed a very Good Relationship. And, uh, hopefully, uh, its going to be very strong for your country. Reporter there have been 32 attacks in the last ten months on u. S. Interests in iran, particularly in the green zone and u. S. Military bases. How are you going to help iraq to stop these attacks by pro iranian militia and hold these people accountable . There is some reporting that u. S. Troops would withdraw from iraq totally in three years, is this true . So at some point we obviously will be gone. We brought it down to a very, very low level. We deal, when there are attacks, we take care of them very easily. Nobody has the weaponry we have, nobody has the, uh, anything, of what we have, we have the finest, greatest military in the world. When somebody hits us we hit back harder than they hit us so we handle it. In addition to that, iraq has been very helpful where necessary. But we have been, uh, taking our troops out of iraq fairly rapidly, and, uh, we look forward to the day we dont have to be there and hopefully iraq can live their own lives and they can defend themselves which theyve been doing long before we got involved. Yes, please. Reporter about the bounties, you say you hit back hard but we havent seen any definitive strike back for bounties upon americans. Well, you dont know about the bounties. If you know something, you can let us know but you obviously dont know very much about it. If we found out that would be true, if we found that would be a very, uh it would be a fact, what you said, we would hit them so hard your head with spin. Go ahead. Reporter how do you see the role of the kurds in iran and what is kurds helped us greatly in defeating the as you know, the isis, and getting the isis, 100 of the isis caliphate so we have a very Good Relationship with the kurds and weve also treated them very well. Reporter mr. President , the end of the militias role in iraq is very important to stabilize the country. How american can help ending the militia roles and how can help iraq in the democracy payrolroc . What were doing, were helping where we can. Thats a country, thats a separate country, they have a Prime Minister, they have people in office. Weve been in iraq a long time. I wont say whether or not we should be there but frankly i didnt think it was a good idea but i was a civilian so who is going to listen to me. I made my point pretty clear as much as a civilian can do it. Weve been there, were getting out, well be leaving shortly, the relationship is very good, were making very good oil deals, our Oil Companies are making massive deals and, uh, thats basically the story. Were very were very happy with the relationship weve developed over the last couple of years. I thought before that, frankly, the United States was being taken advantage of. But were, uh, going to be leaving and hopefully were going to be leaving a country that can defend itself. Reporter mr. President , on the troops, mr. President reporter there are air strikes on Northern Iraq in the kurdistan region, killing one civilian. I know in your talks, in your meetings here you talk a lot about the sovereignty of iraq. Is that something youre looking for help from the United States . And mr. President , if iraq is asking for help, in terms of the interference from the neighbors, not just iran but other neighbors who are there attacking northern theyll have to make a specific request. But certainly, uh, the Prime Minister has my ear. So if he does that, well take a look. Uh, they do have its a very unstable part of the world. And im not talking about iraq. Im talking about the whole of the middle east. Its a very, very unstable part of the world. But were there to help, and, uh, because of the relationship, we would certainly, uh, be willing to lend you the kind of support that you need. [ speaking Foreign Language ] translator definitely the turkish attacks are not accepted. On the other hand, the iraqi constitution also does not allow iraq to become used to attack any neighboring country. We are entering dialogue with turkey to rectify this situation. And i look forward to solving this problem with turkey and getting our neighbors, the turks, to understand iraqs circumstances. But once again, the iraqi constitution does not allow iraqi territory to be used to attack any neighboring country. I will say this, the United States and me in particular has a very Good Relationship with turkey and with president erdog erdogan, and well be, uh, talking to him. But we have a very, very Good Relationship with turkey and with president erdogan. Reporter a followup on the troops question, sir. Do you have a time frame for the full and complete withdrawal of u. S. Troops from iraq . Mike, what would you say to that . As soon as we complete the mission. The president has made very clear he wants to get our forces down to the lowest level as quickly as we possibly can. Thats the mission hes given us and were working with the iraqis to achieve that. Were at the lowest level now, geoff, were at the lowest level in afghanistan that weve been in many years. Well be down to about 4,000 troops in afghanistan. And that will be when . A couple of months. Within a few months, couple of months. As you know, in syria were down to almost nothing except we kept the oil. But well work out some kind of a deal with the kurds on that. We left but we kept the oil. We left the border, we said turkey and syria can take care of their own border, we dont have to do it. That worked out very well. I remember when i did that, i was scorned by everybody, they said, this is terrible, why did we do it, we did it when mike pence went over and met with various parties and very successfully, and we removed our troops, nobody was killed. Nobody. And now they protect their own border like they have been for hundreds of years. And, uh, weve left. But we did keep a small force and we kept the oil. And well make a determination on that oil fairly soon. Reporter just one domestic question, sir. The manhattan case about your taxes has now ruled that you do need to give to turn over your taxes. The Supreme Court said if its a fishing expedition, you dont have to do it. This is a fishing expedition. More importantly, this is a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in history, theres never been anything like it, where people want to examine every deal youve done to see if theres a comma out of place. No president has ever had to go through this. The Supreme Court should never have allowed this to happen. What the Supreme Court did do is say, if its a fishing expedition, my interpretation is essentially you dont have to do it. So well probably end up back in the Supreme Court. But this is just a continuation of the most hideous witch hunt in the history of our country. We beat mueller. We won at every level in this in washington, in d. C. , we won at every level. Now what they do, they send it into new york so now we have an alldemocrat state, all democrats, and they send it into new york. This should never be allowed to happen to another president. This is a continuation of the most disgusting witch hunt in the history of our country. All it is. The Supreme Court said, fishing expedition. This is the ultimate fishing expedition. Nobody has anything. We dont do things wrong. But theyll say,
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.