“Tell us about the art of the conversation, or slash interrogation, with Saddam Hussein. How do you get into it with him?” asks Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle of John Nixon, the CIA analyst who interrogated the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on behalf of the United States government after his capture 13 years ago. “Did he understand the United States?” Hear details of Nixon’s conversations with Hussein here and read about them in his new book, “Debriefing the President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein.”
The New York Times’ national security correspondent David Sanger joins Morning Joe’s Mike Barnicle to discuss the instability in the Middle East and tensions between Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama. “How much of the frustration that the Secretary of State has felt towards the ongoing and failed peace process [for] Israel-Palestine… has also been added to because of what we did not do in Syria?” Hear Sanger’s response here.
Listen in as The New York Times’ Yamiche Alcindor and Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle discuss the potential future of the Democratic Party under the Trump Administration and in the light of a nearly unilateral Republican government. What will happen with Social Security and Medicare? How will the Democrats rebuild the party?
“Do you think the Democrats as a unit, in the House and the Senate, can they get a majority among themselves to answer the question: Will you do what’s best for the country? Never mind (President-Elect) Trump, will you do what’s best for the country? Unlike Republicans did when Barack Obama became President,” asks Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle during a conversation with The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, MSNBC political correspondent Kasie Hunt, and former Ted Cruz communications director Rick Tyler about the potential political climate that might unfold between Democrats and Republicans in the coming years.
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, senior contributor Mike Barnicle is joined by author and historian Evan Thomas to discuss the historical significance of the Trump Administration, given his widely documented distrust in U.S. national intelligence agencies and what this could mean for his administration and for Americans in the coming years. “What’s your instinct having covered these situations for years given the fact that Donald Trump is… inexperienced in terms of governing [and] the idea that you’re going to have an internal fight between the National Security Advisor, the Director of National Intelligence, a new director of the CIA. That can’t be good to think about?” Barnicle asks. Hear Thomas’s reply here. Only on Morning Joe.
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, senior contributor Mike Barnicle, The Washington Post’s Robert Costa and MSNBC political correspondent Kasie Hunt discuss the current status of relations between the United States and Russia. “You mentioned Donald Trump has a very, very different view of the world order than does Barack Obama. Spell that out a little, what’s his world view?” Barnicle asks of Costa. Listen in on the conversation here.
MSNBC senior contributor Mike Barnicle speaks with The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein about recent White House statements about how the current administration intends to respond to the Russia following attacks against the United States and the purposeful interference into American politics in November. “I’m wondering what goes through your mind when you hear that Washington, the Obama Administration, intends to take covert action against the Russians for their role in … interfering in our election?” asks Barnicle. Tune in here to for Stein’s response.
Following the death of Hollywood great Carrie Fisher, best known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars series, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and the Morning Joe panel of experts discuss her life and career. More than just an iconic movie star, Barnicle recalls Fisher’s career as an author: “Postcards From The Edge is a great, great book… So revealing and so truthful about Hollywood.” Tune in to hear the rest of the conversation.
Mark Shriver, author of the book Pilgrimage: My Search for the Real Pope Francis talks with Morning Joe’s Mike Barnicle about the future of the leadership for the Roman Catholic Church. Asks Barnicle: “Pope Francis seems to be a part from several elements of… the Papacy that he has succeeded. Is there a schism, is there opposition to him within the Vatican?” Hear Shriver and Barnicle talk about how Pope Francis has dealt with important issues on the worldwide stage.
Morning Joe’s Mike Barnicle speaks with author Mark Shiver about his recent book Pilgrimage: My Search for the Real Pope Francis about the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. Asks Barnicle: “In your search for Pope Francis… what did you find out that surprised you about him?” Hear Shriver talk about his book here.
As President Barack Obama’s eight-year term in the White House draws to a close, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and the Morning Joe panel of experts begin to look to the legacy of the Obama Presidency. “His administration, his presidency was the first presidency to be subjected to the explosion of social media, to the venom [and] to the hate that explodes on Twitter.… The whole country was let in on opinion making and his administration… was buffeted constantly by these things and… that has an impact,” said Barnicle. Listen in on how the changing face of America has impacted the presidency.
On Morning Joe, senior contributor Mike Barnicle speaks with hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski about the highs and lows of the outgoing Obama Administration in the final 25 days of his eight years in the White House and the tone he set during his time in office. “I think one of the big things is going to be just the President himself. His character, his family, his seeming nobility in dealing with a country… rife with racial divisions, a world rife with terrorist implications, and yet for eight years this President has been scandal free. He has been unbelievably articulate and comforting to the country when the country needed to be comforted… [and] saving the economy from a truly great and really deep depression,” says Barnicle. Hear more on the topic here.
With only 25 days remaining until President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle speaks with host Joe Scarborough and presidential historian Michael Beschloss about Trump’s “Thank You Tour” to the states that carried him to victory during the November election. In what has been seen as a controversial set of rallies given his set of chosen locations, Barnicle gets directly to the point many critics have raised: “How about going to a state that he didn’t carry?” Hear the conversation here. Only on MSNBC.
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, senior contributor Mike Barnicle weighs in on a conversation with host Joe Scarborough and Rick Tyler, former communications director for Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, regarding what President-elect Donald Trump and his administration might be setting their sights on for the first 100 days. “I have an odd feeling here, an instinct — and often my instincts are wrong — that the first day of his presidency is the most important day of his presidency in the near future and that is because what he does, what he tells the country in that Inaugural Address is going to go a long way toward pulling the country together…. His rhetoric, his tone, his behavior at that inauguration and what he tells the country to calm the country, to pull the country together, I think is going to be the core of the first year and perhaps of his entire four years of the presidency.” Hear more of the discussion here.
Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle talks with The Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol about Kristol’s “The Party of Liberty” article in where he points out that the topic of liberty was excluded throughout the election process by both democrats and republicans. Barnicle asks: “I have been mildly surprised at the number of people I have encountered – ordinary people – who express some fear about a Trump presidency in the context of their own personal liberty…. Will they be changed? Will they be altered?,” Listen to Kristol’s response here. Only on MSNBC.
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle is joined by Peter Wehner from The New York Times to discuss the tone being set by the incoming Trump administration and the institutional checks and balances to guide against fanaticism in favor of moderation. Asks Barnicle: “Could you extend your definition of moderation, of moderates? Is it ideology? Is it rhetoric? Is it legislative proposals that might be made? … How does that impact a specifically hard block of ideologues, in the House especially?” Hear Wehner’s explanation of moderation here and why it’s so important for the new administration.
As the administration for President-Elect Donald Trump continues the transition process leading up to next month’s inauguration, Morning Joe’s senior contributor Mike Barnicle asks Jeff Mason, White House correspondent for Reuters: “Could you envision a time when the incoming Trump administration does away with the daily Presidential press briefing?” Listen to Mason’s response and discussion about what could be in store for the press corp.
As the Morning Joe panel discusses the depth of the ongoing atrocities in Aleppo, Syria, following a failed cease-fire agreement, senior contributor Mike Barnicle shares information he received from a doctor who had just returned from the Syrian/Iraq border. “The stories that poured out of the refugees…who were in shock, traumatized by what they had endured. (They) had seen their sons, their husbands beheaded in front of them…Some of them had seen their daughters raped. Some of them had seen their kin – husband or other children – burned to death…This is what has been going on for five years.” Hear the rest of the conversation and highlights from U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power’s powerful address to the United Nations Security Council.
As the Morning Joe panel kicks off the show by discussing President-elect Donald Trump’s “Thank you” rally in Wisconsin, senior contributor Mike Barnicle says: “It’s funny until it’s not funny. There’s a little lounge act element in Wisconsin. He’s President-Elect of the United States.” Tune in to watch a highlight of Trump’s remarks and a segment from Jimmy Kimmel Live! concerning Trump’s recent meeting with musician Kanye West.
Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle discuss the illustrious legacy of astronaut John Glenn, who died December 8, 2016, at the age of 95. Says Barnicle: “The rockets that we see on TV today or have seen in the past, those rockets allowed the rocket that took John Glenn into space for the first time as an American around the earth. That rocket was loud, but John Glenn was not loud. His service, his career was humble and quiet. On the day that rocket left the Earth on February 1962 at Cape Canaveral…much of the country listened to it on radio. Gathered around radios in gas stations and school auditoriums. TV was nowhere what it is today. John Glenn remained true to who he was, the spirit of his life and the spirit of his service until the day he died. Hear more on Glenn from Barnicle, Scarborough and presidential historian Michael Beschloss, who together weave into context the significance of Glenn’s iconic moment and life for younger generations.
