ben rhodes, joy reid and susan del percio are still with us. congressman, in sheer political terms, what is this president up to? where is he going with i'm going to build the wall, given all the hell we've been through for all these recent weeks. >> well, look, chris, even when the president announced the deal that we were opening up government a week ago on friday, he threatened a shutdown even then. i think he's just continuing to tee up this notion that he's going to declare an emergency, an emergency that, by the way, is rejected by a majority of members in the house and senate, democrats and republicans. that's got to be where he's going with this. >> well, the courts, do you think the republicans -- the republican court is partisan, but it's also conservative, and when it comes to the power of the executive, i don't know how anybody who is an american jurist is going to say, sure, do what you want, mr. president. it flies against -- except for the great depression and lincoln during world war ii with habeas corpus. the courts don't tend

joy" on msnbc and susan del percio, a republican strategist. i want to tastart with the congressman. i thought tonight might be an opportunity for trump to change course because most presidents when they lose a midterm, this was a wipeout for the republican party this november, they changed the way they were doing things so they can get re-elected. congressman, he didn't change anything. >> that's right, chris. i think one of the most surprising things that the president said was that he was somehow not going to work with us on legislation if we investigate him. >> yeah. >> that's not how it works. members of congress take an oath to the constitution. we have a duty to pass legislation and conduct oversight over the other two branches. we're not going to advocabdicat for the other. >> did you tie together the idea what the president said tonight, in other words let's kill these investigations, especially the mueller one with the idea of whitaker, the acting attorney general recently said this thing is almost over. were they working together, do

thank you, basil smikle and susan del percio. great to talk to you. >>> coming up, border battle. democrats preparing for battle to termination the president's national emergency declaration as political leaders are down at the border touring. are down at the border touring ♪ ♪ ♪ your grace. your majesty. your king. a legacy of leaders, speeders and serpent feeders. the alfa romeo giulia, stelvio and c37. why go with anybody else? we know their rates are good, we know that they're always going to take care of us. it was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. we're the tenney's and we're usaa members for life. call usaa to start saving on insurance today. if old sphow will theyense life. helps know i worked hard?, i've gotta make stuff harder. ♪ there, that's hard. ♪ the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a few years old or dinosaur old, we want to buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our t

beth and susan del percio and michael, thank you as all. >>> still to come, the virginia political fire storm. justin fairfax facing sexual assault allegations saying and also rape allegations saying he's making announcement by the end of the weekend. so will he stay? or will he go? and plus ralph northam makes a pledge but said he is focusing on for the rest of his term. essential for pine trees, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. xeljanz xr 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 and cancers, including lymphoma have happened. as have tears in the stomach or intestines, serious allergic reactions, low blood cell counts, higher liver tests and cholesterol levels. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. your doctor should perform blood tests befor

we want the same kind of thing here. >> susan del percio, this has a certain richness to it but i also think pete's ultimate point, which is after how many months and months of speculation, we may not actually find out what the heck this thing says. >> right. and i just can't help how many things we might find out about other offshoots of this mueller investigation takes. whether it's different courts being sent indictments for get indictments on other folks or if it causes investigations by senator or house investigations. perhaps we find out information that mueller couldn't indict on but maybe it's worth an investigation. i think we're going to be talking about some form of these findings for well over a year. >> philip, you wrote this week about all of the criminal activity by a former trump adviser that the special counsel has already uncovered. and you write, quote, america has been waiting for mueller to present a document that ties all of this together, either in part for evidence proving the president's guilt or exonerating him on charges he and his campaign worked with the ru

thank you so much susan del percio and basil smikle. love you both. >>> coming up, the trump versus the truth. we fact check the announcement of a national emergency and tell you how many false or misleading claims he made. and now that the president declared a national emergency, what is actually going on at our southern border. we'll take you live to the planet's busiest border crossing. planet's busiest border crossing let's be honest: dealing with your insurance shouldn't be more frustrating than the accident itself. that's why esurance makes it simple. just take some pics. [picture noises] go to sleep. wake up. grab a bite. maybe some racquetball. and boom - your money's on the way so you can get back on the road fast. well, not that fast. the editor had to make it fit in 30 seconds. it's pretty tricky actually trying to ... and ... tagline. when insurance is simple, it's surprisingly painless. to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it's best to make you everybody else... ♪ ♪ means to fight the hardest battle, whic

toluse olorunnipa and robert mccartney and still susan del percio. i want to go straight to robert for a moment. and this is on what the senate and the house might do in virginia. and as you know, very, very close in terms of gop-led senate and the house there in virginia. but only within one or two seats there. might they dive into this and begin what i think is article 17 there in the constitution and begin the impeachment process? >> well, they could. i think it is more likely that he would just be forced to resign by pressure from the democratic party as a whole in the state before it got to impeachment. but if it did get there, i think there clearly would be the votes to impeach him. you need a majority in the house of delegates and two-thirds of the senate to remove him, similar to what you get in the u.s. congress with the presidential impeachment. but the ome real -- and the democratic party both caucuses both the democrat and the house in the senate have called for his resignation. >> have you heard discussion there in the house of delegates

and i will say, i will follow up with susan del percio. hey, mitt romney, you think it's a cool idea that somebody is trying to kill nancy pelosi, trying to kill chuck schumer? you work with chuck schumer. you think you should condemn that plot? lindsey graham, you think it's cool, you think you might want to check with the justice department and see why oddly enough they're silent. they're silent about this unbelievable uncovering of a plot to kill half of the democratic field that's running against donald trump, kill the top democrat in the house, kill the top democrat in the senate, kill one of the top democrats investigating donald trump from a coast guard lieutenant who had been planning domestic terrorism -- >> for years. >> -- and was plotting and actually learning from another white supremacist, donnie. i believe it was in norway, killed 77 people. not a word from trump, not a word from mitch mcconnell, not a word from kevin mccarthy, not a word from the justice department. that is pathetic. and, by the way, donnie, you know trump.

we have mike barnicle, donny deuts deutsch, susan del percio and pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor of "the washington post" and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. we have a lot to get to this morning, including the mueller probe. new court transcripts suggests paul manafort had a pardon on his mind. plus the acting a.g., matthew whitaker, will testify today after a public showdown with democrats, the newly empowered house majority. and the latest from virginia as a top republican official is now also involved in the controversy involving blackface. and the supreme court has ruled that louisiana cannot enforce a lot that women's groups say would leave the state with only one doctor allowed to perform aworses. chief justice john roberts broke with the court's conservatives to place the law on hold while a louer court decision in favor of the measure is appealed. the 2014 law requires any doctor offering abortion services in louisiana to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. a lot to get to. but we begin, joe, with amazon's ceo accusing the pa

del percio. ladies, a big welcome to you both. elena, you first here. do you agree with how kamala harris is navigating this conversation? i mean, talk about the challenges in 2020 that democrats face when it comes to these conversations around, as she said, racism, sexism, homophobia. et cetera. especially during the trump presidency. >> i think we have a democratic field that is extremely diverse and that is embracing issues of racial justice and issues of identity with the exception, i will say, of bernie sanders who suggested that identity is something that divides instead of something that can be a basis for embracing a strong policy agenda. he suggested that he is, influen influencing, affecting policy. kamala harris isn't running on identity, a strong policy agenda but recognized race and the real effect of discrimination on today's american people. >> uh-huh. what do you think, susan, the trump campaign strategy will be when it comes to these issues? a repeat of what we saw in 2016? we ha

del percio and msnbc political analyst. basil, what stands out most to you? >> i think you mentioned it, the fact that the field is diverse and it's good to see that, particularly after the 2018 midterms where we had this diverse class of leaders get elected to congress. so i'm happy to see that. i in some ways thank obama, barack obama and hillary clinton for breaking down the barriers that they did and of course before that shirley chisholm, jesse jackson and others. so i'm particularly proud of it, of that as a democrat. i hope that the number of people that are in this race does not portend very contentious primary season but i am glad to see the diversity that we have. >> sure at this point. so, susan, in a new interview with cbs the president was asked about cory booker's entrance into the race. watch what he said. >> senator cory booker announced today that he's also running. there are a lot of democrats on the field. >> he's not go chance. >> no chance? >> i say no chance. >> why? >> because i know him. i don't thin

donny deutsch is here with us, and also susan del percio. editor of "commentary" magazine. >> just keep on talking, mika. >> we have john podhoretz with us as well and msnbc contributor joyce vance. there's so much to talk about. >> big day. i would like willie to start talking about the president's physical, but i guess we can get to that a little bit -- >> could live to be 200 from what i can tell. >> weighs 199, runs a 4.75 40. >> they're lying about his health. he can't stop lying. >> i know a guy who's 6'4" and weighs close to 240 pounds, he does not look look that. >> no. no. >> if he's fighting an obesity crisis, there's no doubt he is obese -- >> guys, it's not funny. he's dead serious. look up the stats. this guy is either obese or medically, morbidly obese. it's something he's obviously battling. i think he should talk about it with the american people. listen, i don't care if he weighs close to 300 pounds. i mean, that's something that he should talk about. mika, you wrote a book about this. >> i did. and we talk about america's f