“The level of sophistication in many of these campaigns, especially at the presidential level, is astounding. Targeting voters down to a single block — where they live, what their habits are, what they like, what they dislike. And it’s always been a wonderment that the Russians were able to so skillfully hone in on specific areas of this country,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during the panel conversation on the latest developments in the investigation into the Trump campaigns alleged involvement with Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Listen to more of the discussion here.
“Bob Bauer, I’d like to ask you on behalf of low IQ people everywhere: I’m sitting in a meeting on June 9th and I’ve got an attorney from Russia coming in, offering potential dirt on an opponent of my father running for President of the United States. Can my defense today be: ‘I was just stupid, I didn’t know anything about the law.’ Is ignorance a defense here?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of attorney and former White House Counsel Bob Bauer as the panel talks about Donald Trump Jr. – President Donald Trump’s son – having emails that spell out a meeting with a Russian lawyer during the election process after being promised damaging information on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Listen to Bauer’s response here.
“(President Donald Trump’s) biggest nemesis happens to be his oldest son, who can’t stop talking it seems. And you have as a result of that…you have the public face of the GOP in the Senate and the House, many people still standing and sort of supporting this; but, you have the private face of the GOP when you talk to these people off camera: They are crazy with doubt,” said Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during the panel discussion about the increasing isolation and lack of GOP support for President Trump.
In the ongoing discussion of the President’s son – Donald Trump Jr. – and his now-public emails about a meeting with a Russian lawyer during the election process to receive damaging information on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle asks MSNBC justice and security analyst Matthew Miller: “With regard to this one young man who is an employee of the federal government working at the White House, Jared Kushner. He has as high a security clearance as you can have, and yet he did not have the judgment after receiving those emails to realize that this was just wrong — that Russia is not our friend; Russia is our enemy. So, what would be the process now of revoking that security clearance?” Hear Miller’s response about the preferential treatment being afforded POTUS’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“I don’t know what the exact definition of collusion is. I’m not a lawyer. But I do know what the exact definition of right and wrong is, and this was wrong,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a panel conversion about recently uncovered emails that show that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer during the election process after being promised damaging information on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “I also know that the emails prove beyond a shadow of the doubt when the President of the United States said in Europe that nobody really knows whether Russia was involved. Well, we now know for sure that Russia was involved, and we now know for sure that Donald Trump Jr. sat there and was willing to participate with Russia.” Listen to more of the discussion here.
“What’s your sense about the source of these stories, the leaks in these (New York Times) stories. The intelligence community is multifaceted, located geographically distant from one another. What’s your sense?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of former FBI special agent Clint Watts during the continuing conversation about the investigation into the Trump family’s connections with Russia. Hear Watts’ answer here about the source of the leaks and why there’s “only one way to connect the dots.”
“I’ve covered a lot of campaigns. I know a lot of people who work in campaigns. If someone comes into a campaign office to see the campaign manager, or the brother, or the son of the candidate and says: ‘Hey, I have some great stuff from Russia. A Russian guy gave me this stuff.’ And, everything like that: You know what you do? – you call Clint,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as he references former FBI Agent Clint Watts, a panelist on the show, during the ongoing discussion about The New York Times reports that Donald Trump Jr. – President Donald Trump’s son – was told in an email of Russia’s effort to aid the Trump campaign, ahead of Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer he believed would offer him damaging information on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Listen to more of the discussion here and what might be next in the Trump Administration investigation.
“There seems to be a consensus that the President at the G20 meeting was a man alone. The question now is whether the diminished role of America that he defines — is that going to be forever? What has he done? What has he done to the presidency, to the role of the presidency, the image of the presidency, to the status of the United States and the world with our allies? Are we America alone now as opposed to America first?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the panel examines President Donald Trump’s performance at the 2017 G20 summit. Tune in to watch ABC Australia’s viral clip in which political editor Chris Uhlmann offers a serious critique of POTUS at the G20 summit.
“David, based upon your past reporting, do you think General McMaster and General Mattis are on the same page with regard to the Russians as it seems most of the White House staff are?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a conversation with The Washington Post’s foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius about National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ position toward Russia and whether they are in agreement with President Donald Trump about how to handle Russian relations. Listen to Ignatius’ response here.
“The tentacles of the Russian story are strangling his presidency in terms of getting anything done legislatively in Congress,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during the show’s ongoing conversation about the most recent reports that Donald Trump Jr. – President Donald Trump’s son – secretly met with a Russian lawyer during the election process after being promised damaging information on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Listen in on the discussion here.
While the Morning Joe panel discusses reporting in The New York Times that Donald Trump Jr. – President Donald Trump’s son – met with a Russian lawyer during the election process after being promised damaging information on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, senior contributor Mike Barnicle explains: “One of the keys to the story…is the line that `three advisers to the White House were briefed on the meeting,’ indicated to The Times that the meeting did occur. That would seem to indicate that they feel that Donald Trump Jr. has placed his father in some position of peril.” Hear more about the story and situation here with hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
“I am deeply sorry that I tweeted erroneous information this morning about Pete Frates — information that was provided by a family friend. I thank God that it was wrong. Pete is currently resting comfortably in the hospital here in Boston. He is a hero among us who needs our prayers and support more now than ever.” – Mike Barnicle
The Economist’s U.S. Editor John Prideaux joins the Morning Joe panel to talk about a new special report entitled “Trump’s America,” for which Prideaux traveled around the country talking to Trump supporters. “John, did you get the sense …that the average American lives on a different clock than we do in the media? And … that they feel (President Trump) is shaking up Washington, which they hate more than anything?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle. Hear Prideaux discuss his findings and read the report here:
www.economist.com/trumpsamerica
“My question is: Do the Republicans, who intend to vote for this piece of legislation, do they dress up in the kamikaze costumes before they vote or after they vote? Because they’re done,” explains Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during a panel conversation about whether the Senate Republicans’ health bill has a chance of receiving enough votes to pass. Listen to more of the discussion here with hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
“Senator, if you look at the House bill and the Republican bill, you see that the poor, the ill, the elderly, and the addicted really get whacked in both pieces of legislation. So, this question isn’t about substance. It’s about you in the Senate, not just you specifically, but the United States Senators and Congress people. When normal human beings look at what has been done, they get the sense that you are totally isolated from reality, from the way people live each and every day. What’s your response to that?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) during an interview about the GOP health care plan devised to replace Obamacare. Listen to Manchin’s response and his invitation here.
“Senator, 10.5 percent of the people in your state are on Medicaid. Kentucky is not far behind – Senator McConnell’s state. The opioid abuse problem in your state and many, many other states is catastrophic. Don’t you think in retrospect it would have been a better idea to go about approaching this issue, to have public hearings rather than to have done so much of it behind closed doors? Why did that happen?” Morning Joe’s veteran columnist asks Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) during a conversation about the Senate Republicans’ health care bill, which was kept under wraps while it was being drafted. Listen to Moore Capito’s response here.
“Where are the Democrats on the insurance companies? They were great on the banks. Guess what: My ATM machine works. My insurance company is constantly aggravating me. It’s a bag job that the insurance companies have with this health care legislation,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the panel talks about the difficulties and flaws of health care legislation with hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
While the Morning Joe panel examines the lack of support for the Republican’s health care plan that was designed to replace Obamacare aka the Affordable Care Act, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle explains: “The people drafting this health care bill in both the House and the Senate are so far removed from the reality of everyday life that it is nearly shocking, except when you realize who they are.” Listen to more of the discussion on the “unpopular” and “unappealing” GOP health care bill and President Donald Trump’s lack of involvement in it.
“One of the things that is most helpful to the United States and our role in the world is our relationship with other countries, specifically the NATO nations. What, in your view, is the state of America and NATO with regard to Afghanistan, the Middle East, and the safety of Europe?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Adm. James Stavridis and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Evelyn Farkas during a conversation about the U.S. relationship with The North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the era of President Donald Trump. Hear the their responses about the immediacy of the situation.
“Cecile, it’s apparent that the Republican Party has had an obsession for seven, eight years now with Obamacare. From your point of view though, what is their apparent obsession with Planned Parenthood?” asks Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. Listen to Richards’ response and her caution against putting politics before people.
