tv MSNBC Live With Katy Tur MSNBC March 22, 2018 11:00am-12:00pm PDT
11:00 am
because chris has come in hot today. >> it is 11:00 a.m. out west, 2:00 in washington where there's even more legal chaos for president trump, with the lead lawyer for his defense exiting, and questioning whether anyone would take his place. john dowd resigned this afternoon refusing to speak about why. he's considered several times in recent months, and he only joined the team last summer. so what was dowd's tipping point? the tim"times" and "washington post" reporting that trump increasingly ignored his advice. >> would you like to testify to special counsel robert mueller,
11:01 am
sir? >> thank you. >> so you've got that. and then we've seen trump ignoring advice to leave mueller alone. trump also added controversial joseph digenova to the team, a frequent fox news guest and an avid conspiracy theorist. digenova publicly insisted the president is being framed by the fbi and doj. so that begs the big question, is the president, and only the president, now running his own defense? >> this is the first major shakeup right now and it comes at a critical moment as these very sensitive negotiations are ongoing between the president's legal team and with the special counsel. >> dowd had sold the president on a strategy of cooperation. they said the sooner, the faster you cooperate, the more likely you are to get cleared. they said it would be over by the end of last year.
11:02 am
obviously it's not, obviously it's intenseifying and the president is deeply frustrated by that. >> he's bringing in people that instead might appear to be more aggressive. >> let's bring in our team of reporters and analysts. geoff bennett of the white house. jonathan lemire, white house reporter, betsy woodruff, msnbc contributor, ken vogel is a political reporter for "the new york times." and ben wittes, editor of chief of law fare. so much to get to. ken, it was your paper that first reported dowd's departure. now trump saying he would indeed like to go before robert mueller. so what happens now and what do we know about dowd's decision? >> well, dowd's decision is a reflection of two things, both personality that he never quite got on with the president and he was telling the president,
11:03 am
pushing an approach that the president ended up souring on, this idea that the more forthcoming you are with mueller's team and the more documents you produce and the more willing tower work with them, the quicker this thing will work itself out and the quicker the investigation will move on from looking at trump. obviously that hasn't happened. that was a great frustration to trump so we see him pivoting potentially, looking at the types of folks who he's talking to and talking about possibly bringing into the legal team, to potentially a more confrontational approach that is less forthcoming with mueller's team and more combative. that's when you talk about folks like jay sekulow or marc kasowitz. these folks take more aggressive approach than what dowd was advocating. >> so jonathan, i want to lay out interesting dates we've been looking at that might gave us clue about where we are today. march 17th was there a big parade in town for st. patrick's
11:04 am
day. he goes after mueller on twitter saying his investigation was based on fraudulent activities, he called it a witch-hunt. the the next day he tweets more criticism. the next day, march 19th, he hired controversial attorney joseph digenova. on the 20th, the po"post" repor that trump's legal team tries for a second time to hire ted olsen. so i guess the question was is it possible dowd was already planning to leave? when you look at "the washington post" report in the last couple days, he's been thinking about it, been considering it, and you see sort of the lineup of things that happened, did everything just come to a head? >> there's no question the president has taken a much more aggressive tone in recent days. in fact, those tweets that mention mueller by name are the first time he mentioned biden by name on twitter.
11:05 am
this is an uptick on twitter. i think it's connected to a bigger point about how the president is governing right now. he is feeling sort of newly emboldened and confident. he's making decisions more with his gut, his instincts and trusting himself. we saw it with the tariffs decision. >> so his gut is, nobody can tell my story the way i can, let me go in front of the special counsel. >> and he's showing a willingness to ignore his advisers. he wants to get out there. he wants to tell his story. members of his legal team are saying that's not a great idea, we should broker an arrangement. >> maybe john dowd was fed up and maybe trump was fed up to?
11:06 am
the probe didn't wrap up as quickly as the president had been promised and we talked about they had very different ideas about strategy. what's the likelihood that the president just didn't want him around anymore? >> that's a good question. i think it's no coincidence that it was just a few days after joseph digenova joined trump's legal team that dowd decided to exit. digenova and dowd both are known for having healthy egos and it's likely the two men were tasked with working together to represent the president, that there could have been substantial friction there. digenova's joining of the time. when we talk about the president doing an interview with special counsel mueller, back in january is when trump told reporters that he would like to sit down with mueller and talk to him. shortly after the president made that comment, i spoke with dowd. what he told me was he was the
11:07 am
one who would decided whether or not trump would sit down with mueller. his framing is something people found slightly perplexing. >> you present the facts to your client. what does all this suggest to you about how this is going to play out going forward? and what now looks increasingly like the president doesn't want to walk around this? he wants to go in there and tell his story all by himself. >> the task of representing donald trump is an impossible one because he wants to do things his way, and that means%
11:08 am
simultaneously walking into the lion's den and telling his story, and having a highly confrontational relationship with the office of special counsel all at the same time. he wants his lawyers to snap their fingers and make this investigation go away. he wants to demand that the investigation wrap up. none of these things are things that he kind of gets to decide. and the job normally what you want in this situation is for a client like this to have arms-length legal advice, dispassionate legal advice, and legal advice that is not conditioned by the emotional demands of the president. and so john dowd was unable to thread that needle. and the task of delivering to the president, the emotional validation that he wants in
11:09 am
public statements is not consistent with the task of protecting his legal interests over the long term. >> the other thing that struck me, geoff bennett, i want to ask you about this because the president is someone who is no stranger to legal turmoil. this is somebody who himself was sued as a business person. he's used to dealing with lawyers. let's remember at trump u he had to settle and pay a lot of money, that he feels, again, in his gut, he's the guy who understa understands how to operate. what are you hearing from inside the white house about the strategy going forward? >> the president views himself largely as being in the driver's seat here. as jonathan and ken pointed out. the departure of john dowd is
11:10 am
one signal the president is going to become more aggressive in his approach to the special counsel investigators. john dowd had been taking the lead in those discussions about the terms of an interview between the president and the special counsel investigators. now that work falls largely to joseph digenova, the fox news regular who espouses conspiracy theories about how the president is victim to an fbi plot to take him down. >> completely unproven. >> don't forget marc kasowitz is still in the president's orbit. he's a tough talker who was the lead lawyer up until july when he stepped away, but we understand he's had the president's ear since then. and he can be bringing folks to the team as well. and all of this is shaking out as the trump legal team is trying to really put limits on the scope of this interview between the president and robert mueller. >> now you have ted olsen that has said know. you wonder, jonathan, what heavy hitter with real experience is likely to come on board?
11:11 am
if this was a boxing match, you would say this isn't a fair fight. on one side you have this chaos within the trump legal team. you have people for whom this is not their area of expertise what robert mueller is looking at, while his team has been described as a legal dream team, an all-star team, that you cannot deny these are people with very long experience in exactly the kinds of issues they're looking into. >> that's right. a number of top washington law firms turn down opportunities to be involved with this. yet this is a tough job. it's obviously an incredibly high-profile case, that would seem to be tractive for a lawyer, but this is an extremely challenging client. a president who does not like to be told "no," a president who trusts his own gut, a president who discards advice on a whim.
11:12 am
mueller's team is very professional a team of all-stars and they would seem to have the upper hand. especially if the president himself is perhaps charting more of the legal strategy, that might be the ideal situation for his legal future. >> we were all stunned by this, but on the other hand maybe not so stunned given everything we've seen developing over the course of the last several weeks. geoff bennett, jonathan lemire, betsy woodruff, ben vogel, thanks to all of you. more questions this hour about that phone call between trump and putin. we'll reveal what the president reportedly said off the cuff that's tong rattle advisers inside the west wing. how do you win at business?
11:13 am
11:14 am
that kinda put us in a hole. go someplace exotic? yeah, bermuda. a hospital in bermuda. a hospital in bermuda. what? what happened? i got a little over-confident on a moped. even with insurance, we had to dip into our 401(k) so it set us back a little bit. sometimes you don't have a choice. but it doesn't mean you can't get back on track. great. yeah, great. i'd like to go back to bermuda. i hear it's nice. yeah, i'd like to see it. no judgment. just guidance. td ameritrade.
11:16 am
on this busy afternoon weaver expecting president trump to speak at the generation next summit in washington a little bit later this hour. we expect the president to be heading over to the eisenhower executive office building just across the driveway from the white house. to new fallout from trump's call to moscow. the president didn't just defy his senior advisers when he congratulated vladimir putin on his election victory. he also shocked them with an off the cuff invitation suggesting the two men meet soon. this is just the latest in string of damaging leaks that reveal how the president either didn't to listen his advisers who prepped him for that
11:17 am
controversial call or maybe he never read the briefing notes that said in capital letters "do not congratulate." the white house furious at the disclosures has said their, quote, a fireable offense. our big question on this, why has special counsel mueller been able to conduct his investigation leak free, while comparison the white house has been a virtual sieve. david jolly is a former congressman from florida. and the ceo of the messina group. i was a reporter in the obama white house, i wish there had been more leaks. but are staffs controllable? what do you make of the leaking we see constantly? >> it's incredible. when i was deputy chief of staff, i try to figure out who was leaking. all white houses are all about the leadership at the top.
11:18 am
we were known as a no-drama obama white house because president obama didn't want drama. instead of you have a president who last week said he likes a little chaos, he likes staff fighting and that's what he's getting. i think it's unbelievable. i do agree with what the white house said today, someone ought to be fired for inviting vladimir putin and congratulating him. sadly, it's the president. >> we know that's not going to happen, so at least not because of this. but david, according to the associated press, trump says he thinks the deep state is behind the leaks. whoever did it, does the buck stop at the top with the president and his chief of staff? >> of course it does. it's a reflection, the leak, on how inexperienced this white house is, and the people the president has chosen to surround
11:19 am
himself, how inexperience they are. i don't buy for the deep state. that's food for the conservative right to defend this president. but the reality is, the big picture here is this is one more moment that feeds the suspicion that many people across the country as to why the president continues approximate to be more critical of fundamental democratic institutions in his own country than authoritarianism. we don't know the answer to that. >> i just want to let people know this live picture we're looking at is the president indeed walking over to the generation next event. when he has remarks at the top of the panel discussion, we'll bring those to you. meantime, this white house suffered all these breaches in terms of sensitive information, but they've never threatened action, saying it's a fireable offense. if they're serious about it, how hard is it to find out where a leak like that came from. there can't be that many people
11:20 am
that were privilege vee to this information? >> there's no chance they can fire anyone. >> can they find out who did it? >> it's very unlikely given today and at these apps. the bigger question is, why is he inviting vladimir putin? i was in the room when obama called putin after the last election. there was no congratulations. he immediately went to, we don't think this is a real election, we have real questions about this, here's our concerns, we should figure some of these things out. >> here's a theory i heard yet. kathleen parker is a conservative leading columnist with the "washington post." shared with me yesterday what she thought about the president's conversation with putin, why he congratulated him and why he invited him to meet. take a listen. >> what i've noted in what we've all talked about through the months of this first year in office is that every time
11:21 am
president trump does something kind of wild and unexpected and oh, my gosh, what was he thinking, how could he do this, it's usually because he's trying to distract the public from specifically the media from the more important thing, the bigger problem for him. >> in this case, jim, she says it was all the headlines about the sex scandals. what do you make of that theory? >> i think it's crazy. usually people who have real vulnerability, and trump's biggest vulnerability said is he's too close to russia. so usually a politician would look really tough on russia. they would do loots lots of things that seem tough. instead trump is cowed by this guy and is doing everything he can to suck up to him. so this makes it worse. we've been spending four days on this issue, which is what he doesn't want to us talk about. this this weekend when stormy does her show, we'll talk about that. >> how do we know that wasn't
11:22 am
ant attempt to alter the news cycle? we've seen i am do it before. >> he wakes up every morning thinking how can he control the news cycle. we're going to have that conversation about stormy daniels when it comes. one of the anxieties we have is his ability to act as chief diplomatic leader. >> i have to interrupt you. here's president now. let's take a listen. >> it's a very complex pile of word, but honestly, it's very simple. t we've lost so many factories, probably 60,000 factories. we lost anywhere from 6 to 7
11:23 am
million jobs in a relatively short period of time. coming back turnover last year we are bringing jobs back. as of about two weeks ago, 153 million jobs, it's the highest number of jobs we've ever had in our country. so it is coming back. but we're losing $375 billion with china. it could be approximate 504 bully demandi billion. we're doing something that's the start of making trade with china more fair. we're so far down and our presidents, our past presidents should have never allowed this to happen. this has been many, many years, sort of like the middle east, how did that happen? and other things, how did all these things happen? and north korea, how did it get so bad? this should have been done years ago, charlie. this should have been done by somebody before they were in the position that they're in right
11:24 am
now. but we got stuck with a lot of buttes, but we'll fix them. [ applause ] >> if a democrat president accomplished one tenth of what you've done, they would say it's unbelievable. what you've done for the american people to change the trajectory is remarkable. let's talk about the tax reform. the democrats call it crumbs. $1,000 is not crumbs to the young people in this room. it's also the biggest young person, the millennial tax cut. talk about the amazing economic benefits that we're seeing thanks to the tax cut package that you championed and you got through congress? >> the individual mandate was knocked out by itself. that would be a big bill. this is for obamacare where you have the privilege of paying a lot of money so that you don't
11:25 am
have to buy bad health care, okay? and we got it knocked out. we have that approved, one of the great energy reservoirs in the world. every president was trying to get it approved and we got it approved. and then, of course, we have the tremendous tax cuts for people. i guess if you think about it, millennials starting out, tremendous. you have a tremendous advantage now over what you had. you're going to pay less faxtax. that's part of the beauty. we're seeing the numbers. we were at about 1.2% gdp. we've now hit 3% and another 3% and a 3.2%. we'll see what this next quarter is. that could be a good quarter. our businesses are flourishing. jobs are now -- people are going
11:26 am
to have choice of jobs. before if they got one job, they would say there even if they didn't like it. now they're looking at five, six, seven jobs and making a choice. so that really works out. but young people coming out of college, coming out of even high school who are trying a big push for vocational schools. i remember i'd be in school, in the lower schools. and i'd be doing a test, and it would be somebody on my right who was not too good. this was not a great student. this was not going to be einstein academically, okay? and yet that person could fix an engine or a motor so -- he was incredible, blindfolded. that's what he liked. that's probably, i don't know, we lost track, probably what he ended up doing. but he had a great ability at
11:27 am
that, far greater than me or other people. >> we're going to ton listen to the president. a friendly audience of generation nexters to talk about that i want to bring in ali velshi. the dow is down over 400 now, but it's been going up and down on concerns about a trade war. you heard the president. he sort of sloughed it off and said we lost 60,000 factories, we have a huge trade deficit with china, he clearly thinks this is the answer. give us your perspective on what wall street is thinking with this big drop. >> the first thing i'll do is the fact check i do every time the president talks about this. it's a $375 billion deficit, like when you give your weight and you just give another false weight that's unrepresented to
11:28 am
it. it just is not true. he's right, we have been trading with china since 1980 in earnest, and since 1994 a lot. for a lot of americans who wonder why inflation has been under control for the last 20 years or so, it's because the things we used to make in america are now bought in china. we buy so much stuff from china. and the deal we made is we wanted cheap goods and we felt that improved your standard of living. and what we traded off, we didn't think about it at the time as well as we should have, were jobs. the president isn't wrong about the fact it's a bipartisan accepted fact that china is not a fair trader on a lot of levels. it would be better for him to use the accurate numbers and to target what needs to be targeted. in the presentation they did talk about intellectual property. that's one of the biggest things we're facing in china right now.
11:29 am
technology is stolen so that chinese companies, mostly governed owned or with a relationship to government employees makes the same stuff for cheaper. there is a real problem with china. i'm not sure this is exactly the right way to be dealing with this. you impose sanctions and then you negotiate, i'm not sure it will work. we need china for a lot of things >> why n. >> and his message to his supporters suspect he's making good on his promises. take a listen. >> we now begin a great national conversation about economic renewal for america. it's a conversation about how to make america great again for everyone, especially, and i say especially, for those who have the very least. >> these are the forgotten men
11:30 am
and women of our country. and they have been forgotten. people who work hard but don't have a voice. i'm running to be their voice. >> under a trump presidency, the american worker will finally have a president who will protect them and fight for them. >> david jolly, is this going to protect the american worker? is this going to protect the average american? we've heard a lot from agriculture. >> donald trump is pivoting from 25 years of economic and trade policy and it's a high-risk endeavor. look what he's doing. he's tried to juice the stock market and stock portfolios of those who hold assets. he has pursued tax cuts and deregulation. and then for the blue-collar workers he's suggesting to bring back high-paying u.s. domestic
11:31 am
jobs. the problem is that comes with immense debt, and it comes with inflation. that's where the high-risk, high reward is here. what he could have done instead of imposing trade sanctions, look at areas where we have a surplus. he's going after the sanctions and this could light something that, i'm not sure he's ready for the fire. >> ali, what are we likely to see from china and what the impact be on the average american? >> there will be two particular impacts. we listed the things and it's going to take two weeks of discussion to outline the things we're going to impose tariffs on, but it will be shoes and clothing and things like that. you will see costs going up in american. do we want those factory jobs back in america where we pay
11:32 am
people higher wages? if we do, things will become more expensive. when donald trump talks about air-conditioners being made in indiana, it's going to cost more than china air-conditioners. fox con promised to open a factory in pennsylvania in 2013, and it's not there. there are things grown in america, soy beans, live hogs, which are shipped to china for pork. so there will be an impact. there are people who export things, maybe we should emphasize exporting. one of the things you have to be careful of is you don't get counterveiling tariffs on things you sell to other countries. china said it will do that already. so you see things we export being toufr export and things we import getting more expensive. hopefully they'll be jobs to brag about out of this.
11:33 am
>> ali velshi, we'll see you next hour. david jolly, thanks for sticking around. mark zuckerberg updated his status last night to i'm sorry. nearly a week after allegationsed surface that 50 million users information was stolen. >> this was a major breach of trust. and i'm really sorry that this happened. and going forward, when we identify apps that are similarly doing sketchy things, we're going to make sure we tell people that too. that's something looking back on this that i regret we didn't do at the time and i think we got that wrong and we're committed to getting that right going forward. >> he's certainly saying he's sorry, but still to be determined is what exactly's going to do about all this. when pressed about whether or
11:34 am
not he would go before congress, zuckerberg didn't exactly commit. >> -- to get congress all the information they need to do their extremely important job. and we just want to make sure we send whoever is best informed of doing that. >> for his part, senator richard blumenthal who sits on the senate judiciary committee said zuckerberg is, quote, uneequivalentically the right person to testify. what's the feeling out there? is damage control working? is there still a lot of concern? >> reporter: i've just been texting with an employee at facebook here at headquarters and feeling that this experience relay to me is zuckerberg needs to own it a little bit more, and it needs to be more steps out loud. what we do know are -- we have specifics.
11:35 am
if there's companies stealing your information, they're going to limit your information, e-mails, profile pictures, and your name as well. so they're going to limit it down to those three elements. and they also say they will ban apps that are bad actors, if you will. there are quite a few specific steps, but the feeling here and investor confidence overall is not exactly unshakable at this point. we're also looking at two class action lawsuits, one from investors and one from users that there's been standard in this case. >> we spoke with cambridge analytica this afternoon. let me play that for you. >> well, let's see it. prove it. if you're welcome to regulation, let's see what you propose. we regulate electric and water standards, but we don't regulate the thing that's most important, which is our privacy and data.
11:36 am
they haven't done anything. what else can i say than a failure? this is a catastrophic failure. >> he talks about zuckerberg's claim that he's open to regulation. i guess the question becomes what form might those regulations on facebook and, frankly, other tech companies take? >> it's a really big question. now that question is officially being asked by the house energy and commerce committee. they are planning to issue an official invitation to mark zuckerberg to testify before congress. as you mentioned before, he's open to doing it if he's the right person. house energy and commerce saying we do want to hear from you. besides commerce the federal trade commission asking pretty major questions to zuckerberg and facebook, and that that add up to hefty fines and penalties as those questions get answered, confess. all the president's lawyers, the special counsel's russia
11:37 am
investigation just one of the legal troubles facing this president. and things could go from bad to worse this weekend. stormy daniels finally telling her story in prime time. remarks from outgoing secretary of state rex tillerson who was fired a week ago and gave a final goodbye ste tight end state department a short time ago. >> i'd like to ask that each of you undertake to ensure one act of kindness each day towards another person. this can be a very mean-spirited town. but you don't have to choose to participate in that. [ applause ] begins to change which may cause trouble with recall. - learning from him is great... when i can keep up! - anncr: thankfully, prevagen helps your brain and improves memory. - dad's got all the answers. - anncr: prevagen is now the number-one-selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. - she outsmarts me every single time.
11:38 am
- checkmate! you wanna play again? - anncr: prevagen. healthier brain. better life. there's nothing more important than your health. so if you're on medicare or will be soon, you may want more than parts a and b here's why. medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. you might want to consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like any medicare supplement insurance plan, these help pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and, these plans let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. you could stay with the doctor or specialist you trust... or go with someone new. you're not stuck in a network... because there aren't any.
11:39 am
so don't wait. call now to request your free decision guide and find the aarp medicare supplement plan that works for you. there's a range to choose from, depending on your needs and your budget. rates are competitive. and they're the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. like any of these types of plans, they let you apply whenever you want. there's no enrollment window... no waiting to apply. so call now. remember, medicare supplement plans help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. you'll be able to choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. whether you're on medicare now or turning 65 soon, it's a good time to get your ducks in a row. duck: quack!
11:40 am
call to request your free decision guide now. because the time to think about tomorrow is today. your body was made for better things than rheumatiod arthritis. before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. xeljanz xr is a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. it can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections.
11:41 am
11:42 am
. john dowd was the president's legal shield to protect him from robert mueller. but the special counsel's investigation is far from the president's only legal concern and the loss of dowd far from his only legal concern. three women have filed sex scandal lawsuits. two of them are ready to break their silence with affairs years ago, affairs that the legal team deny. former playboy play mate karen mcdougal has her first interview tonight. stormy daniels will appear on "60 minutes" this sunday. and adding to the legal drama, nbc news has learned that daniels' attorney is demanding the organization preserve all records related to daniels and plans to subpoena them. he sent similar rth >> ben wittes is back would you say. look, daniels' attorney first said she had been twlentd legal harm. now he seems to be incident mating cohen might have had something to do with it. he's been building interest towards the sunday interview. if he's going to make these accusations, is it time to come up with proof? >> it's inappropriate for an
11:43 am
attorney to make these allegations. if it's true, it's horrific, could you give another attorney acting on behalf of the president to threaten this woman, i can't think of a worse tra transgression, one by the bar. but i think at this point he needs to be very careful because threatening violence is a serious offense. it's a crime. so to kind of puff putt that out there and pull it back in is a bit odd. but i will say this. he seems to be beating trump at his own game. it's unfortunate, but it almost seems like the latest episode of a reality show, and that's how basically this administration has been conducting itself from day one. >> there is a legal side to this, ben. what do you make of daniels' attorney telling the trump organization and banks to preserve records, why is he doing that? >> here's what this is about.
11:44 am
it is impossible when you are the president of the united states to keep quiet a scandalous interactions you've had with people in the past. it simply can't be done. so the game is to raise the cost to the president incrementally, turning the heat up in order to force him to release these people from the confidentially agreements and the ndas, and the ratcheting it up increment by increment, and these document preservation orders are an example of that. >> the ndas, they haven't been released from them. i'm sure both of these interviews are going to get a lot of eyeballs, but are we
11:45 am
going to learn anything new? >> we just might. what i find most sbrooiurprisin donald trump said he had nothing to do with stormy daniels, he didn't have an affair with her. i find it interesting that his team would be fighting so hard to keep someone from talking about something that never happened, particularly this huge lawsuit they filed in california and moved it to federal court. to be continued. >> ben, thank you for sticking around. hope and fury, a side of the civil rights movement you haven't seen. it's the focus of a document airing on nbc and msnbc. joy reed will join me with a preview next. one. manatees in novelty ts? surprising.
11:46 am
11:48 am
11:49 am
11:50 am
inequality in america. one of those stories that energize the civil rights movement involved the murder of emma till. we do want to warn you here, this excerpt contains images, many may find disturbing. imagey find disturbing. >> in 1955, mississippi was ground zero for racial terror, the american south, when 14-year-old emmette till arrived from chicago to visit his great uncle mos right in a town call money. he was a big city kid and wasn't familiar with the dark art and social taboos of the jim crow south. >> black people and white people interacted only on a transactional basis. but they were largely two different worlds. you stick to your own kind, we'll stick to our own kind. >> one day he and his cousins go into town and they go to a little grocery store, bryant's
11:51 am
grocery store. and something happens inside. according to carolyn bryant, the wife of the proprietier, the woman who ran the store, em ill till alone in the store with her comes on to her and whistles at her. >> four days later bryant's gun-toting husband and brother-in-law went looking for the boy at his uncle's house. >> and mos right begs him to leave him alone and please don't take him and they take him and he never returned. he's thrown into the tala hatchy river with a 70 pound cotton gin. >> a boy discovered a body beaten beyond recognition. >> the body is too barely damaged to see who he was but he
11:52 am
happened to have on a ring with his >> in chicago, emit till's grief-stricken mother waited at the railroad station for the casket container handgun son's body to arrive. >> she is confronted with a sealed wooden casket nailed shut by the sheriff. it was her that demanded that that box be opened so that she could see her child. she kind of staggers in and sees this body and she can't believe her beautiful child is this lump of flesh that is lying in the casket. then she said to herself, the country is going to have to confront this. i'm not going to suffer in this b -- by myself. if this is what you are going to do to black boys, you're going to look at it. >> joining me now, joy reid host of a.m. joy. and if you go to the smithsonian african-american museum, there
11:53 am
is a -- there is a line to see the casket of emit till. why does this story still resonate so much? >> i think first of all because he was a child. this was the first of what you might call the kind of black lives matter stories. really in modern american history. because there had been these stories of lynchings, the naacp had been doubtfully covering them and documenting them in great detail. in verbal detail and newspapers would print the aftermath and sometimes even the preview of the lynching on the front page of newspapers all over the country so the country knew that lynching happened and it was a phenomenon in the south. but we never had seen a close-up look of the aftermath and the body and expanded the understanding of lynching beyond what were mostly portrayed of hangings of guilty men and even though there was no trial or evidence, people were presumed to be some guilty man. and this was the lynching of a
11:54 am
child not just beaten, not just shot, he was bludgeoned, his eyes were gouged out and he was tortured and then his body was thrown into the tala hatchy river by grown men. and because he was only 14 and his mother insisted on showing the two photos, the living child and this lump of flesh given of her child and it was shocking. at first it was only shown in the black press. it didn't make its way to the wider press for a while. but it shocked the world once it got out of the confines of jet magazine. >> two things, one, how extraordinary that in that moment of in tense grieve she found the strength not only to do what she did but to understand how important it would be to the and then she could not have -- 100% none back then what we know now from a book published last yeerp, the first interview with the accuser of emit till
11:55 am
recanting the story that was so widely sold. >> and carolyn bryant and her family, she knew what she had done she allowed this child to be dragged out of her uncle's home and taken out and tortures and bludgeoned and she lied about it in years and only in recent years she recanted. her husband and family member that did this killing dragged about doing it and admitted it in life magazine not long after being acquitted by an all white jury. there was knowledge in the black community there was very rarely justice for those who lynched black men and in this case a child. and the shock of murdering a child stays with the black community. the choice for the date on march of washington was the anniversary date of edge of emit till. that is why the march was held on that date. his name became repz -- resonate
11:56 am
as trayvon martin was now. he was the black lives matter choice. and family members of emit till's family marched with them in florida. >> and they've been on a -- on msnbc and i should obviously -- it is a very moving and people should go to the african-american museum. we only have 30 seconds left. but people who have seen this already who have seen the screening of it say, we learned things about dr. martin luther king even though we think we know everything, what did you learn? >> it is interesting, because watching dr. king is always fascinating for me. i've read so much about him. and you feel like you know so much. but i love to be reminded how young he is. he is 26 years old when he starts off in 1955 with the montgomery bus boy and younger than jay-z when
11:57 am
he died and these were kids. john lewis was in his early 20s when he delivers the speech at the march on washington. these were very young people. including children who were willing to face death just for the basic rights of human beings in this country. i think it is important that people remind ourselves of this history. this documentary does a great job of connecting the history and people will be moved and educated by it. it is important to watch. >> and you are one of the important voices in this so we thank you. thanks to joy reid. and catch her every saturday and sunday at 10:00 a.m. eastern on a.m. joy. and a reminder to watch "hope and fury" saturday evening on nbc. check your local listings. one more thing before we go. we want to show you the cover of the "time" magazine with one word -- enough. as we speak with students and those across the country they are taking the same message to capitol hill because they are having the march on saturday
11:58 am
where they will demand lawmakers act on gun control. kerry sanders was along with a bus load of students that just got to d.c. kerry, what did they tell you? >> reporter: well, they got up early and went to the airport and got a plane and landed in bal and made their way over here to the museum of african-american history. you can see many of the students here, they've arrived in buses, they're from parkland and this is one of the students. what grade are you? >> i'm a senior. >> reporter: and why are you here? what do you hope happens? >> i hope that our little steps will turn into something big and then there are more people understanding why we're doing this. >> reporter: what grade are you? >> i'm in -- 12th grade. >> you will hope in the next presidential circle and what do you hope to happen because youth vote doesn't mean much in this country traditionally. >> this is something we've never seen before and this is opening everyone's eyes to register and vote and get out there and do
11:59 am
something about it. >> last question, how do you define success. >> i think success is just everyone understanding and for the most part being on the same level and understanding why we're doing this and why this is so important to us. >> thank you very much. you and your classmates will take a little bit of tour of washington. the real reason they've come here is for a sad reason and that is the carnage that happened at their school, marjory stoneman douglas, 17 people killed by one gunman who now stands accused of 17 counts of murder. it does appear there will be a trial in that case. but the kids here hoping as one student told me on the bus ride and the airplane ride, i don't want to hear a fire alarm at my school and run out wondering, is there really a fire or is there somebody who has pulled the fire alarm waiting for kids to run out to get shot and mowed down. this is part of their life that quite frankly i think a different generation never really even considered. it is a very different environment for kids of this age. chris. >> and they are taking action.
12:00 pm
nbc's kerry sanders. thank you. that is going to wrap things hour. and i'm in for katy tur and ali velshi is here. >> and it has been a busy hour. thanks very much. i'll pick it up from here. i'm ali velshi. another chaotic day in washington. president trump is at the center of it all right now. take a look at the dow. continuing to tumble for fears of a possible trade war after donald trump announced a plan to impose sweeping new tariffs on $60 billion worth of chinese goods. the dow is up 2% but we'll watch it in the final hour of trades. chinese goods are in focus and that comes despite opposition from dozens of companies. the president insists this is what the voters wanted. >> we're doing things for this country that should have been done for many, many years. we've had this abuse by many other countries and groups of countries that were put together in o
166 Views
1 Favorite
IN COLLECTIONS
MSNBC WestUploaded by TV Archive on
