Mike Barnicle

As the Morning Joe panel discusses what role our allies, specifically Japan, will play in the Trump Administration’s push toward denuclearizing North Korea, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle asks Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations: “Hovering above all of this, though, is the fact that despite Pompeo’s trip to Pyongyang, there is no State Department. There is very little fringe element of a diplomatic approach on this. And one of our most vital allies in the region, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in Japan…are sort of on the outside of this looking in. How does that affect this whole thing going forward?” Listen to Haass’ response and more of the conversation here.

During the Morning Joe conversation about President Donald Trump breaking his Twitter silence about his battle with adult film actress Stormy Daniels, raising questions about the sketch of a man who Daniels said harassed her to keep her from talking about a sexual encounter with Trump, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle explains: “The odd thing, though, is you get the feeling that the back and forth over the tweets and all of the tweets from the president, specifically, have sort of immunized much of the nation into thinking that, ‘oh, yeah, this is normal.’ I think that’s the most dangerous aspect of all of this—that people think, ‘this is normal discourse. This is what the president does.’” Listen to more of the discussion here.

Morning Joe’s Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle talk with Washington Post reporter Shane Harris about his breaking news report that CIA Director Mike Pompeo made a top-secret visit to North Korea as an envoy for President Donald Trump to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “What do we know about the logistics of this meeting and how it was set up? What intelligence agencies were our allies in this? How does he get there and who sets it up, really?” asks Barnicle. Listen to Harris’ response here.

Listen in on the Morning Joe panel discussion about U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s rejection of a White House official’s suggestion that she had mishandled an announcement of new sanctions against Russia out of “confusion.” Veteran columnist Mike Barnicle asks Andy Card, former White House chief of staff to President George W. Bush: “Could you talk a bit about the danger of the lack of communication, the lack of discipline that’s so evident on a daily basis in this White House?” Hear the defense of Haley here. “She doesn’t go rogue,” said Card.

As the Morning Joe team remembers discusses the life and legacy of former First Lady Barbara Bush, who passed away yesterday at age 92, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle asks Andy Card, longtime friend and former White House Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush: “In this passing of Barbara Bush, one can’t help feel but a lingering sense that it’s accompanied by the passing of decency. She was a decent person above all else….Do you worry at all about the passing within the Republican Party of so much of what Barbara Bush and obviously her husband represented?” Listen to Card’s response here and the “conscience” of Barbara Bush that lives on.

Listen in on the Morning Joe conversation between veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and The New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt about White House counsel Donald McGahn, following the newspaper’s report that McGahn threatened to quit the Administration over President Donald J. Trump’s attempt to fire special counsel Robert Mueller in December. More here.

“Senator, in your border enforcement proposals over the years, has there been any provision that would successfully pass Congress that would impose rigorous penalties, rigorous financial penalties, on employers here in the United States who hire illegals?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of Sen. Tim Kaine during a conversation about the employment of undocumented immigrants. Listen to Kaine’s response here.

“Senator Kaine….What’s your level of concern right now about this imminent apparent strike, or something that will happen with regard to Syria? What’s your level of concern about that?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) during a conversation pertaining to President Donald Trump vowing his administration will make “major decisions” on Syria, following the Syrian government’s latest use of chemical weapons against its own citizens. “There needs to be a consequence for that, but it can’t be the President deciding on his own without Congress,” says Kaine. Hear the rest of the conversation now.

“Congressman, do you have a level of concern – any level of concern – about apparently imminent actions to be taken by the United States within Syria with a president who is nearly totally preoccupied with legal difficulties here at home?” asks Morning Joe senior contributor Mike Barnicle of Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) during a conversation about President Donald Trump vowing his administration will make “major decisions” on Syria, following the Syrian government’s latest use of chemical weapons against its own citizens. Listen to Kinzinger’s answer here about “strong team” Trump has around him and his confidence POTUS will make a “wise decision.”

Listen in on the Morning Joe conversation about what’s next in the process following this week’s FBI raid of the Rockefeller Center office of President Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, during which they seized business records, emails and documents related to several topics, including a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

“It might be actually our obligation today to report the truth about what happened yesterday…because the president is clearly setting up a separate narrative, a different narrative for his supporters to believe and follow. But…there’s a specific procedure that took place—that had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with the law,” said Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the panel discussed President Donald Trump lashing out against the FBI for having raided the Rockefeller Center office and hotel room of his longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, seizing business records, emails and documents related to several topics, including a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Listen to the conversation here.

Listen in on the Morning Joe conversation between veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and former FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi about the sensitivities surrounding the FBI raid on the Rockefeller Center office of President Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, during which they seized business records, emails and documents related to several topics, including a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
“A search warrant on a lawyer’s office is extremely rare, extremely dicey in how it’s conducted.,” explains Barnicle. Hear more from Figliuzzi here.

ICYMI: Listen in on the conversation among CNBC senior national correspondent Brian Sullivan and Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough and veteran columnist Mike Barnicle about the impact of President Donald Trump’s brewing trade war.

Join in on the Morning Joe panel discussion that followed a report by NBC News political reporter Vaughn Hillyard from a town hall meeting in Janesville, Wisconsin, organized by high school students for Speaker Paul Ryan in his hometown. But Ryan declined to attend. Veteran columnist Mike Barnicle explains: “Look it’s only anecdotal reporting that we just saw. It was good reporting, but the voices articulated at the town hall meeting that the speaker did not go to—that’s kind of a warning sign. That’s his hometown and it’s a coalition of youngsters, high school students who put that together. You would think that he would have gone, which lends credence to the rumors…that he may fold it up.” Watch the report here and listen to the conversation between host Joe Scarborough and Barnicle.

Journalists Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News and David Corn of Mother Jones join Morning Joe to talk with Elise Jordan and Mike Barnicle about their new, bestselling book, “Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump,” the timeline of the “Russian information warfare attack,” and who knew what, when. Barnicle asks: “Who was there first?” Hear the conversation now.

“What are the odds of us being able to put together a mini coalition of Great Britain, France, perhaps, perhaps even Turkey, to act in a concerted fashion within Syria when there is nothing at the State Department that would lead you to believe that the mechanics of putting together such a coalition would be there; and the verbal behavior and tweeting behavior of the president has our allies on the fence as to who we are today?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of former U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns as the Morning Joe panel talks about potential strategies for stabilizing Syria and defeating ISIS. Listen to Burns’ response here about what he sees as next steps for President Donald Trump.

Listen in on the Morning Joe conversation between veteran columnist Mike Barnicle and Washington Post White House bureau chief Philip Rucker about Rucker’s article that discusses the fate of the “out of the loop” White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly amid the “crisis” and “chaotic” nature of the Trump White House. Asks Barnicle: “General Kelly, given who he is and who he has been his entire life, he’s not going to quit, it would seem. But what does he do all day, every day, now that he has a president of the United States who I don’t know the last time that he released a public schedule with something on it?” Hear Rucker’s response here.

Morning Joe’s Mike Barnicle and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) discuss President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will replace his Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin with Dr. Ronny Jackson, an active duty Navy physician, who was nominated last week for a military promotion by the President. He is the president’s physician, and was appointed to the role by President Barack Obama in 2013, after having served on the White House medical team since 2006. But Barnicle notes: “He has never run anything. He gets high marks from…the Obama Administration, and despite his physical with Donald Trump and the explanation of it, gets high marks as a surgeon, as a doctor; but, he’s never run anything.” Hear more of the conversation here.

“There is no such thing as a former Russian intelligence official, a member of the GRU; but, you have to ask yourself the question and wonder: How much more can they pile – can the special prosecutor pile – on Manafort in order to get him to finally collapse and cooperate?” asks veteran columnist Mike Barnicle of the New York Times political writer Nicholas Confessore during a conversation about the ongoing Russia investigation that continues to swirl around President Trump, following a new court filing that indicates special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation drew what appears to be its most direct line to date between President Trump’s campaign and Russia. Hear more of the discussion.

“Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, is doing to the president of the United States and the presidency exactly what Donald Trump did to nearly every Republican candidate during the primaries last year….The fact that the president of the United States has not really been able to release a public schedule of his activities during the course of the day for nearly a week now is astounding when you think about it,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as the Morning Joe panel talks about President Donald J. Trump’s uncharacteristic silence about his legal battle with adult film star Daniels. Listen to more of the discussion here.